Why can't our computers get along?

October 11, 2005 8:23 PM

My husband has a Mac in Rhode island. I have a PC in California. We would like to talk to each with webcams. Why won't our computers be friends?

The Mac is a I-Mac G5 with OS Tiger and an I Sight camera. PC has Windows XP and Creative Web Cam.

posted by slimslowslider to computers & internet (18 comments total)

iChat talks to AOL Instant Messenger. I think AIM is ugly, too many ads and clutter, so I use Trillian Pro ($30) on the PC, which is way worth it.

There's also a free program called oPhoneX for Mac that surely has a counterpart for XP; that should work too.

PC webcams are pretty lousy compared to an iSight, so your husband will see a much better picture of you than you'll see of him.
posted by ldenneau at 8:28 PM on October 11, 2005

Oops, got the computers backwards. You'll see a great picture of him from his iSight; he'll see a picture of you that looks like you're, well, on a webcam.
posted by ldenneau at 8:29 PM on October 11, 2005

Tell your husband to buy PC.
posted by mrkredo at 8:54 PM on October 11, 2005

Buy a Mac
posted by leafwoman at 9:18 PM on October 11, 2005

I have told him. Believe me. But he's very attached, so the Mac has to stay.
posted by slimslowslider at 9:21 PM on October 11, 2005

Or buy a mac yourself, if you can afford that. Or your husband can buy cheap pc. Or dont use webcam, just call him.
posted by mrkredo at 9:21 PM on October 11, 2005

I helped my sister though this recently. Could you explain in more detail in what way your computers are being "unfriendly"?

But to get started, here's what we had to do: On the PC end my sister's boyfriend had to open up the Windows XP firewall. On the Mac end, my sister had to run Software Update to get the most current iSight software, which apparently does a better job of working around all the obstacles that can get in the way of a video chat (local firewalls, border firewalls, NAT routers, etc.).

These links might help:
AOL's tips
OS X - XP videoconferencing
Letting video through the XP firewall
Apple's article about using an iSight behind firewalls and NAT routers
posted by epugachev at 9:21 PM on October 11, 2005

Videoconferencing with a Mac and an iSight is very easy and the video is high quality. There are no adverts.

I've used AIM on my PC with a USB webcam; it was awful (low quality video, perhaps due to my particular camera). Plus you're forced to see advertisements in AIM's window. Also, installing AIM seems to include spyware, or at least annoyingware in addition to the main program.
posted by neuron at 9:25 PM on October 11, 2005

We are trying to do this through AIM, and both of our cameras say that they are transmitting on their respective computers, but on the opposite end, it says the other person's camera isn't on or installed.
posted by slimslowslider at 9:25 PM on October 11, 2005

Install the same version of AIM... find a first version that aol supported video conference on.
posted by mrkredo at 9:29 PM on October 11, 2005

Make sure you use same number for mac and pc. I am genious! :)
posted by mrkredo at 9:30 PM on October 11, 2005

To see if the cross platform nature of your connection is an issue, you could try connecting to someone who has the same variety of computer as you. They don't need to have a webcam themselves in order to receive video.

Also, you should see how far away (as in, how many routers/hubs) someone has to be before you cannot connect to them. If you are doing this at work, and you have coworkers nearby, they'll likely be on the same local area network as you. If they can see your video, and people outside your LAN cannot, then you know that the problem is most likely not on your computer, but somewhere beyond your computer. Your husband should see where things break down, too, in an attempt to home in the problem(s).
posted by epugachev at 9:39 PM on October 11, 2005

We have the same version of AIM. I haven't tried connecting to someone else with a PC. I'll try that tomorrow. I'm not a part of a LAN, so I can't try that. Thank you for the suggestions and help so far. I have to wait until tomorrow when my husband is awake to see if anything will work, so check back if you can! Thanks.
posted by slimslowslider at 9:52 PM on October 11, 2005

Just update to the most current version of AIM on your PC -- I've done AIM - iChat video conferences several times.
posted by nathan_teske at 1:08 AM on October 12, 2005

Slim, I do this all the time and it's responsible for my 5 yr old niece knowing my voice/face and living 1k miles away.

1) Make sure the PC is using a USB 2.0 camera (not necessary, but worth it)
2) Mandatory have a high speed connection on both ends.
3) Have the latest version of AIM on the PC.
4) Use iChat not AIM on the mac

I need a microphone for my pc

Now, do it in steps. I'm sure you can text chat already.
Try the voice capability first.
Then try video.
If a two way chat won't work, initiallly, try a one way chat (audio first, then video).

epug has gotten some good articles...

Once connected:
High speed + better quality. The Mac quality will be higher no matter what.
posted by filmgeek at 2:42 AM on October 12, 2005

I've found that for this purpose, Yahoo Messenger is actually much easier to use than the iChat/AOL continuum.

I love Apple, but iChat is terminally borken.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:13 AM on October 12, 2005

Also, if both of you are on LANs (i.e., both of you have an IP addresses in the form of either 192.168.*.* or 10.*.*.*), you're not going to be able to create a direct instant message connection, which is what you need to do in AIM/iChat to videoconference.

If one of you is by chance using a linksys router, go into the setup page and use the DMZ Host option. DMZ the computer you want to conference with. It'll magically start working.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:16 AM on October 12, 2005

Solve the problem properly and get a Mac and an iSight. You won't look back from all the problems caused by your PC and the Windows version of AIM.
posted by Rothko at 3:47 AM on October 12, 2005