Is there an updated way of setting QuickTime streaming speed for iChat?

Question

I've been using iChat screen share to help a friend.  The first time we tried it, it worked well; the second time, however (same computers), the image of the screen I recieved was suddenly very low resolution (too low for me to see what I'm doing).  It sometimes clears up after around 30-40 seconds, but once a window is moved, etc, the problem reoccurs, making the process tedious to the point that I don't think I'd go through this.  I saw in a previous community tip that changing the streaming speed in Quicktime can resolve this issue; they specified that this must be done through the Quicktime icon in System Preferences, and not through the standard Quicktime app..  that was for OS 10.5.6; on my OS (10.6.8, and the new QT), Quicktime is now missing from the System Preferences panal  : /..  I also saw a user comment on another site saying, "Basically, [the new] QTX lacks the option to pick your codec, frame size, data rate, and so on."  So was QuickTime's streaming speed function lost, and do I really need Quicktime to accomplish better image quality for iChat?  If it can't be fixed, is there a better screen sharing utility I can get that won't have these problems?  Thanks for any help : )..

Answer 1

Hi,
Back before iChat 4 the Video part of iChat chats was based on the reading the app ttok from the Internet speed it could see.
This speed was directly effected by the then System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming tab setting.
Basically the Automatic Setting was read a 0 (zero) kbps.
The Fastest Setting of Intranet/LAN also got messed up  (it would not return a figure iChat could use)
For that reason we used to Suggest that people use the 1.5Mbps T1/Intranet/LAN setting
This limited Video streaming by any app to 1500kbps both as Upload and Download  (this is fact a rough figure based on using base 10 rather than the true binary based math involved)
At iChat 4 Apple made iChat see the Automatic setting as 384kbps
This should be fast enough for 4 way Video chats as the Host end. (the person that invites the others)
By Snow Leopard (iChat 5) the Quicktime Setting has gone in System Preferences.
The way iChat "reads" the Internet Speed is different and it is not restricted by Quicktime.
The only way to Cap iChat now is the App Menu > Preferences > Video Section > Bandwidth Limit
Apple state the minimum Internet speed that iChat should have for Screen Sharing is 128kbps
Internet Speeds tends to be based on Binary multiple at lower speeds - 56kbps  is max Dial-up Modem speed
128kbps is obviously twice that. The next speed split is like to be 265kbps
Check that you and your Buddy have at least 128kbps as Upload as well as download.
http://www.speedtest.net/
Ideally it should be faster as at that speed you can lose between 10 and 20% in the test  and the overheads of running the connection to the ISP
Setting the Bandwidth (in iChat) at 500kbps at both ends can eradicate the variances you can get in slower Internet speeds.
In Snow Leopard Quicktime has become Quicktime X and does have issues playing some Quicktime 7 movies.
This also applies to Lion and Mountian Lion
However there are ways to install the Quicktime 7 Player that will cover the codecs that may not be played.
This info does not apply to iChat though.
8:11 PM      Sunday; October 21, 2012
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