is iChat always this unreliable?

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I'm using Adium for good now, but since Adium doesn't have video support (or at least I don't think it does) I can't chat with my friends back home on the east coast with my iSight.

So, I've been using iChat. It works well initially, but then every 3 or 4 minutes or so, the video freed freezes. The person on the other end can see me/hear me just fine, but I can only hear them, but not see them move. It's like a still image of them stuck on my screen.

Am I doing something wrong? Or is iChat crashing for some unknown reason? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
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I'm using Adium for good now, but since Adium doesn't have video support (or at least I don't think it does) I can't chat with my friends back home on the east coast with my iSight.

So, I've been using iChat. It works well initially, but then every 3 or 4 minutes or so, the video freed freezes. The person on the other end can see me/hear me just fine, but I can only hear them, but not see them move. It's like a still image of them stuck on my screen.

Am I doing something wrong? Or is iChat crashing for some unknown reason? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I don't have a webcam yet, so I'm in the dark with that one but I thought I'd pass this on to you:

aMSN http://www.amsn-project.net/
 

dtravis7


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I have NEVER in my at least 2-3 years using iChat had any problems with it. Any Video issues were bandwidth problems and nothing to do with iChat at all. I have had Yahoo do that though on both the Mac and Windows. There maybe a problem with your system and ichat, but iChat itself is for me a very stable application. I use it daily to keep in touch with many friends who live a long way away from me. It's never let me down except for issues with the AOL/AIM system itself. I wish I could help you but besides network congestion or lack of bandwidth from your friend to you, I don't know what is causing your issue.
 
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I have NEVER in my at least 2-3 years using iChat had any problems with it. Any Video issues were bandwidth problems and nothing to do with iChat at all. I wish I could help you but besides network congestion or lack of bandwidth from your friend to you, I don't know what is causing your issue.

Based on dtravis' positive experience I would suggest testrunning another client to further troubleshoot your issue.
 
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I have a standard Cable internet connection, so does my friend at the opposite end. It works perfect for awhile, but then it just freezes.

I can't imagine how it could be issues from my side. I have a new iMac and a high speed internet connection. My friend has an older computer but he uses high speed internet as well. If anything, I should be able to see him move, but I should be freezing on his screen instead. It seems like it should be the opposite.

And how exactly would I know if it was in fact a bandwith problem (on my side or his) or a problem with AIM, and not iChat or my computer?
 
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this is really giving me a headache. i've searched around a bit, and apparently i'm not the only person who has this issue. A lot of iChat/iSight users have been complaining about the same thing.

video conferencing was one of the reasons i chose an imac over another computer, so i hope i fortunately will figure out how to make this work.

but i'm desperately going to need the help from you guys since i'm a mac noob.
 
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Click Video -> Connection Doctor and look at the information in there to give you a better idea of why it isn't working. I have used iSights since they were first released and have never had an issue with them
 
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Alright, I opened up Connection doctor, these are the stats:

LOCAL:
Framerate : 10.0 fps
Bitrate: 112.3 fps

My friend:
Framerate: 8.4 fps
Bitrate: 138.3

Audio Quality: 100%
Video Quality: 100%


I don't know if that is good or bad?
 
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i dont know what all that means from connection doctor, but my guess was going to be your physical internet connection and nothing to do with iChat. Audio is the most important aspect of a video converence so if your computer is low on bandwidth it will allocate as much as possible to audio. what good is a video conference with only video and no audio at all?
 
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But why would my computer be low on bandwith? Is this because of the ISP? Because I'm not downloading or uploading anything while talking to my friend. In fact, iChat is the only application running, so I'm not sure what else could possibly be taking up bandwith.

Is there any way to fix this? Can I request more bandwith from my ISP?
 

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I am in a hurry but will say this for now, sometimes it's not your end or your friends, but in between the two of you. Remember, there might be 20+ hops between you two and many servers and routers in the way. Something else might be limiting the bandwidth between the two of you. There are a lot of variables.
 
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So basically, there is absolutely no way around this?
 
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Have you check iChat's preferences? It'll let you set bandwidth limits for your chat, maybe that's the issue?
 
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I haven't looked into this, but how do I know what bandwidth limits I should set?
 

dtravis7


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I have mine set to none and it works here, but again, that is here with certain friends. I would say try a setting and see if it's better and keep changing and see if you can get it to keep working.
 

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