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Historical Document

These pages have sat here since 2008 with no update. In that time the AIM servers have been closed down (2017) and iChat has been superseded by Messages. That effectively make this a sort of Historical Document of how it worked.

I will make attempts to renew and refresh Links to either the most current site or use the Way Back Machine Archive so that people can at least look at what was used. I will make Edit Notes on this and on those where I can find no link to replace the older one as I go through the document.

iChat Preferences

iChat In Pictures >> You are in Folder 3_iChat Prefs >> Page: Video Prefs

5[6]

5 Video Preferences

02-10-2006

The title to this areas changes in later versions to read Audio/Video to represent More what is on this Pane.

This pic is actually a mock up. It is a capture from a Chat Window pasted over the normal preview. The effect is achvieable in iChat 3 before 10.4.10 with ChatFX and can be done in iChat 4 with the Effects that come with it.

However normally this will show you a Preview of your camera. Remember it is naturally Mirrored. Not like the picture but in that it will show you as you would see yourself in a mirror.

Alternative Pic (From iChat 4 with two cameras and alternative sound outputs) Video Prefs alternative

Below that you may have more dropdowns that is shown here in the top picture. You may have a camera one if you have more than one camera attached. (As the Picture on the left indicates). The amount of choice in Camera and Microphone dropdowns will depend on what you have connected. For instance, computers with Line-in and an internal Microphone will always show those two even if there is not anything attached to the Line-in.

An External iSight camera, if you have one, will appear in both Camera and Mic dropdowns if you have two cameras. (if there is only one camera it will still appear as a potential Mic choice as it has a Mic included).

If you have a BlueTooth able computer this will also have a Specific dropdown for matching a Headset.

Between the Video preview and the drop downs is the volume indicator (Partially hidden in the second picture). This moves left to right as green in-fill depending on the Volume set in System Preferences > Sound > Output tab and the Mic itself and normal factors such as how far away you are and how loud you speak. The point is that there is no Volume adjustment here if your Buddy says you are too quiet and it must be done in System Preferences.

If you have no Camera but can do A/V chats the Video pic will be replaced by a grey space saying there is no Camera.

The Bandwidth dropdown can be used to cap the Connection Speed you use. Generally it should be set to "None" but some ISPs do things to their data streaming to combat Peer-to-Peer File Sharing apps and iChat suffers as a consequence. Trying 500kbps or 200kbps set in the drop down may help. If you have a good high speed internet and a good spec processor but you Buddy lacks in one of these areas then capping the Bandwidth can also be useful.

Next:- The Chax (Add-on) Preferences

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Created with JAlbum 4.0.6

© 2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006
Updated October 2008. Reviewed and Updated to HTML 5 October 2024

Information Block

This site is about iChat from Version 1 through to iChat 5.x.x
Mostly this is kept as an Historical Document. Some small tense changes have been made but the content is by and large untouched.

It has a mixture of basic info and problem solving help.

The sections below will change for Specifics about info on the page on view

Options to This Page

To the right you can resize or colour the page as well as choose one of three Fonts.

About This Page

The Video Preferences Screen

Mostly the settings are for camera and Mic but if you are only able to do Audio Chats the Mic needs to be chosen here.

As iChat Video is Bandwidth Intensive there are adjustment settings here as well

Compatibility

Much of this page has been altered to be as HTML 5 compatible as possible. This may cause issues with any of the Browser below.

I have tested in Safari 18.1, Firefox 130.x and 131.0, Vivaldi 6.9.3447.48 and iCab 6.2.3 (All Mac Browsers) I don't have access to a PC let alone multiple browsers to test on.

Previously confirmed to work with Win/IE 5.5 and later (should work in 5.0, but not confirmed), Firefox 2, Safari 3, Opera 9, iCab 3.02 and later, Mac/IE 5, Netscape 6 and later

Old browsers (IE version 4 or earlier, Netscape 4 or earlier) may only see a text-based page which, while not the prettiest option, is still entirely usable.