09-16-2006, 02:05 PM

My husband's in Iraq - he has a Windows based PC - he uses MSN.
I just switched to my Mac, I need to figure out what program to use so I can video with him.

Adium doesn't do video, right?
MSN isn't compatible with Mac, right?
Ichat? - Can I use this if he's using his MSN? ... If not, what are the alternatives.

09-16-2006, 02:07 PM

aMSN is a mac compatible program, and I believe it does video.. don't quote me on that, I don't use it

09-16-2006, 03:42 PM

Ok - so I couldn't find it on the MSN site - but clicking it into google I found where I can get it from ... thanks, I wouldn't have searched if you hadn't said anything.

09-17-2006, 01:54 PM

Microsoft Messenger runs on the Mac. I use it almost daily to communicate with others on PCs using MSN. Check out the following URL.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default...d=msnmessenger

09-17-2006, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by mac57

Microsoft Messenger runs on the Mac. I use it almost daily to communicate with others on PCs using MSN. Check out the following URL.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default...d=msnmessenger

no video capabilities

09-18-2006, 03:14 AM

yahoo messenger uses webcam fine. It uses iSight and built in web cams with no troubles. Skype is also a good program - the beta for mac uses video chat, and with skype, you can 'phone call' other skype users for free - basically, you use your computer as a phone. You can call any other phone too, but I think you need to buy credit (online) to do that. If you both have skype you can talk for free

09-18-2006, 05:27 AM

aMSN is what you want.. allows the use of the built in camera as well

you can download it from: http://amsn.sourceforge.net/

it even keeps your video logs as well as text logs :biohazard

09-19-2006, 09:35 PM

use skype video chat. that will work great on the pc side get a good camera something like logictech. the microsoft one's are poor quality. I went through the same thing about a week ago skype beta will need for the Mac it just came out with video chat the pc will not require anything different. I hope that helps

09-20-2006, 04:50 AM

whats the point of using skype or anything else when her husband is already using msn and aMSN already supports the built in camera and means neither of them will need to install anything else :biohazard

silverforth, ive been using amsn now for a week or so with all my pc based msn friend with no issues at all.. go get it now :headphone

09-21-2006, 03:12 PM

Two choices... Mercury or amsn...

Mercury : http://www.mercury.to
amsn : http://amsn.sourceforge.net

PS: amsn have less gadgets but use less cpu

that's all folks!

09-21-2006, 11:58 PM

Here is one other idea, if one or the other of you has a static IP address, vs. a DHCP'd one. If you don't know what I am talking about, you don't have a static IP address. If you did, you would know about it - you usually have to pay for them!

If your husband has a PC and a webcam, odds are he has NetMeeting on his PC (the program name, oddly enough, is conf.exe. It is usually in CWindows). NetMeeting can place calls directly from PC to PC, without any intervening service like MSN - just direct from one PC to another. That is the static IP angle. One of you needs to know the IP address of the other in order for this to work. While you *can* find out what your IP address is at any time, even if it is not static, typically, if you have a DHCP'd address it may potentially be NAT'd as well, and the calls just won't work (stopped by firewalls).

BUT, if one or the other of you has a static IP, use NetMeeting on the PC end and Xmeeting (see http://xmeeting.sourceforge.net) on the Mac. This allows you place full voice and video calls from a PC to a Mac. I make such calls frequently, for video calls with relatives who live up in Canada. It works well. Best yet - Xmeeting is open source freeware!

The way I work it with my relatives is that we agree ahead of time to a schedule (for example, we will have a call every Sunday evening at 8:00 PM). We "meet up" on line using MSN, and once we are both there, we set up the video call. To do this, the one without the static IP places the call to the one with the known static IP and all is well.

BTW, this works with Linux too. This is not relavent to the original post at this point, but Xmeeting is perfectly capable of engaging in voice and video calls with Linux's GnomeMeeting (now renamed Ekiga Softphone... yuch! I liked "GnomeMeeting" better!) as well.

09-22-2006, 01:27 AM

Originally Posted by andy_st200

whats the point of using skype or anything else when her husband is already using msn and aMSN already supports the built in camera and means neither of them will need to install anything else :biohazard

silverforth, ive been using amsn now for a week or so with all my pc based msn friend with no issues at all.. go get it now :headphone

skype allows you to make web phone calls for free, plus you can now use webcams at the same time. I only recently got aMSN, and it seems aMSN doesn't accomodate web calling.

09-22-2006, 04:29 AM

Well .. here's how this cookie got baked:

I have a webcam that isn't compatible with a mac - so I found macam - great, it works.

So - for the program, since he can't install anything at the moment (he busted his laptop - I have to get it fixed before he has the net in his room) we used yahoo - yahoo is compatible w/ mac and windows and we had no problems what so ever....and, through yahoo, i can im people who are using Windows Live Messenger (MSN) if need be.

However - we love the idea of skype and so we're going to go with that once he gets situated. I've already signed up for it and I've used it to make some business calls internationally - for free! totally awesome.

Thanks, everyone, for the input - much appreciated and very helpful.

One thing I could not figure out for hte life of me was Aol AIM and video - none of that made any sense or was easy to find or install properly.

09-22-2006, 04:40 AM

so you fetched a Mac Mini?

all the other consumer Mac's have built in iSight. sorry to hear.
you could just boot XP in boot camp or parallels and use it that way (if you have an Intel Mac of course.)

09-22-2006, 01:58 PM

Does anyone know of a mac os x client for MSN that does Video & Voice?

I'm currently useing amsn, it's very good, but no sound.