iChat AV/iSight Experience Report

As noted above, some of our staff now communicate with our global headquarters via Apple's iSight over the beta issue of iChat AV. Dana Baggett used a G4 Cube and we a PowerBook G4. We both have broadband, Dana cable in Maine and we DSL in Virginia, and both of us have an AirPort base station in between our computers and our broadband "modem."

Unlike among the WWDC 2003 attendees last month, we got off a bit of a rocky start. While the video was fine both ways, Dana could hear us but we couldn't hear Dana.

The audio input in both System sound preferences were set to "iSight". The audio input meter under the video tab of iChat's preferences "danced" when either of us spoke. The Microphone popup menu under the video tab of iChat's preferences was set to "iSight" for the PowerBook. But that popup menu was missing in the Cube's version causing some confusion initially. This led Data to download a new copy and try reboots but no popup menu ever appeared.

Finally, we both set the Bandwidth Limit popup menu under the video tab of iChat's preferences to "100 Kbps", a suggestion that we had read on a forum, and suddenly the sound worked after a relaunch of iChat AV.

We found that when we don't have sound initially or lose sound during a call, hanging up and calling again solves the problem. With the bandwidth limit set to 100 Kpbs, the sound problem is rare.

The video clarity and sound quality are generally excellent. The color is a bit green at times and one must carefully set up the lighting just right to get a great picture. There is a small lag in the audio that takes a bit of experience to avoid talking at the same time. We are really excited about this technology and look forward to release of the final version of iChat AV.

iChat AV video requires a broadband connection, DSL or cable, and the broadband business is booming according to this MSNBC article. [Dana Baggett]