Video Chat


Free video-conferencing on your little laptop, all around the world! Robin's mother has called her for video chats in Oxford, Bermuda, London, and Amman (and regularly in Santa Fe). It's remarkably easy. If your computer is powerful enough and the broadband connection fast enough, you can video conference with four people at once.

It takes a more powerful computer and a faster Internet connection to initiate a video chat than it does to participate in one.

Set Up for Video Chats

  • Connect a FireWire-enabled video camera to your Mac and turn it on. Apple sells a great little FireWire camera called iSight for $150. The MacBook Pro laptops have a built-in camera. iSight cameras are automatically set to record.

    If you already own a digital video camera with FireWire, you can use that. Make sure the videocam is in Camera or Record mode.

To start a video chat:

1.

If your buddy displays a camera icon in the Buddy List, then you can start a video chat: Single-click the camera icon next to her name.

2.

An invitation to chat is sent to the buddy and the small window shown below opens.

3.

Your buddy will hear a telephone sound ringing from her computer; she has to click the button to "Accept" the call.

4.

Start talking.

5.

To add more people to your video chat, click the + button to get a list of available buddies to add.

One-Way Video Chat

Even when your buddy doesn't have a FireWire camera attached, you can still have a one-way video chat. You'll show up on the buddy's screen in an iChat video window and she can hear you and see you; you can hear her, but you can't see her.

To have a one-way video chat:

1.

Select a buddy in your Buddy List, even if he doesn't have a camera icon next to his name.

2.

From the Buddies menu, choose "Invite to One-Way Video Chat."

3.

Your buddy receives a video chat invitation. When the buddy clicks the "Accept" button, you appear in an iChat window on his Desktop.




Macs on the Go!(c) Guide to Mobile Computing for Mac Laptops Using Mac OS X
Macs on the Go
ISBN: 0321247485
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 119

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