Can I Webcam with Ichat to Non-Mac PC?

Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
75
Reaction score
3
Points
8
Your Mac's Specs
Mini Mac
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.
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Messages
6,188
Reaction score
254
Points
83
Location
New Jersey
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Pro 8x3.0ghz 12gb ram 8800GT , MBP 2.16 2GB Ram 17 inch.
aMSN is a mac compatible program, and I believe it does video.. don't quote me on that, I don't use it
 
OP
S
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
75
Reaction score
3
Points
8
Your Mac's Specs
Mini Mac
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.
 
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
690
Reaction score
51
Points
28
Your Mac's Specs
macbook
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 ;)
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 15, 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
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
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Spokane Valley
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 2ghz Core Duo 2gb Ram 160gb Hard Drive
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
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 15, 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
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
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
4,576
Reaction score
378
Points
83
Location
St. Somewhere
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Studio, M1 Max, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD
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 C:\Windows). 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.
 
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
690
Reaction score
51
Points
28
Your Mac's Specs
macbook
andy_st200 said:
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.
 
OP
S
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
75
Reaction score
3
Points
8
Your Mac's Specs
Mini Mac
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.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
217
Reaction score
7
Points
18
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.)
 
S

skellious

Guest
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.
 
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
690
Reaction score
51
Points
28
Your Mac's Specs
macbook
Silverfroth said:
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.

iChat supports AOL AIM accounts - that and .mac accounts. I got an AIM account when I first got my iSight, since the guys at the mac store told me iSight wouldn't be compatible with anything but iChat. Heh, shows what they know. It worked perfectly with all mac chat apps that supported webcams.

A 3rd party one I bought and later returned didn't work with yahoo, and caused the app to crash constantly. I never got it to work with yahoo. Not surprisingly, the iSight gave a much better picture.

Anyway, you should be able to log into iChat with an AOL account. Just click the little camera icon. Mac to mac, this app worked brilliantly for when I was overseas, as on a cable internet connection I was able to use webcam and talk through the app with no real lag at all. Very nice.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Spokane Valley
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 2ghz Core Duo 2gb Ram 160gb Hard Drive
MSN has no video support on the mac side as far as I know and Yahoo has horrible Frame Rates and there is no sound. I did this for a week trying to find a program that was cross platform friendly. From my trial and error I have found that Skype was my best choice to go with it support video and sound. In fact I almost gave up then about a week after not trying I saw Skype Beta for Mac also its FREE til the end of the year. Go with skype it will be the easiest thing to do and the frame rates are good. ichat Aim doesnt work I would get a constant error when try to connect to a pc. I hope this works for you. Let me know how it goes.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Spokane Valley
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 2ghz Core Duo 2gb Ram 160gb Hard Drive
andy_st200 said:
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

Unless MSN has video support for chat you I dont see how it would work.
 
OP
S
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
75
Reaction score
3
Points
8
Your Mac's Specs
Mini Mac
amsn and msn are dirrerent things.
I don't know what the difference is, though.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top