iChat AV on 500mhz G3

F

Foxman26

Registered
So I have a 500mhz Pismo. What is wrong with apple making it so I cannot do video with iChat AV. Its not like my system couldn't handle it. There are other video chatting programs that will work with my computer. Why not iChat.
Is apple turning towards the way of PCs? I mean jees, they used to make it so everything they made was compatable with all their current processors. And now its not. Thats what PCs do, they come out with something new, so something thats not quite up to top of the line anymore gets shoved out even though it can still hang.
Is anybody else having this problem? I cannot believe apple shoved me out. I wonder if theres a way to trick iChat into thinking im on a compatable machine.
 
This is just a beta release, I think when apple releases the GM version, and charges people $30 for it, it should work on all the somewhat recent apple computers.
But who knows, mabye by then apple will upgrade powermacs to the G5 and iBooks to the G4...
 
One of the subjects that's been brought up about this requirement is processing power... Apple's requirements say a 600Mhz G3 or any G4. Apparently the video encoding that iChat does requires a lot of horsepower. Maybe this is how they get it to look so good... sophisticated algorithms that require a lot of processor speed.
 
It's time to buy
Their backwards compatibility for Jaguar suprised me, i thought my computer would left out because i only had 8 mb vram. But now I suspect it is the end of the ride for me. Obviously, iChat AV is going to be more integrated into Panther and the new mac's.
I can upgrade to a G4 but how long before that is fazed out...1-2 yrs.
Apple can't be there for all its old hardware.
 
Originally posted by Foxman26
So I have a 500mhz Pismo. WTF is wrong with apple making it so I cannot do video with iChat AV. Its not like my system couldn't handle it. There are other video chatting programs that will work with my computer. Why not iChat.
Is apple turning towards the way of PCs? I mean shit, they used to make it so everything they made was compatable with all their current processors. And now its not. Thats what PCs do, they come out with something new, so something thats not quite up to top of the line anymore gets shoved out even though it can still hang.
Is anybody else having this problem? I cannot believe apple shoved me out. I wonder if theres a way to trick iChat into thinking im on a compatable machine.
Click to expand...

While I can understand your problem you must take seriously in mind what you are trying to do:
-You want to surf that amazingly huge but beautiful wave of the sea with no surf board at all... :eek:

Still, keep in mind that we are talking about Beta software here and the final version may as well give you what you like... :D

Also, have you tried to install new/updated/other drivers for your webcam? And if it isn't webcam, what are you using to enable the AV part of iChat? Let us know, please!

Boom :D ;) :)
 
Just think about what it has to do:
Convert a DV stream(most likely DV. Definately if you are using a camcorder) on the fly to probably MPEG4 and stream that over the internet. Plus decode the MPEG4 from the other person you're talking to. That's going to take a lot of CPU power for sure.
 
I have an iBook700, but my old folks (1000 km away) have an old iMac 400. Like Foxman26 I'm totally gutted to see that the system requirements for iChat AV are G3 with 600 MHz. That just sucks!
There are still A LOT of people around running Jaguar, but under the G3 600 barrier, and they're left out.
If Apple don't do it themselves, HACKERS!, please come up with a hack that makes iChat AV run on slower machines!
I mean, there must be possibilities to slightly reduce processing requirements.
I don't care if the video is not fullscreen, for example, or if I need to buy more RAM.
 
I just tried out iChatAV with my camcorder on a G4 400MHz. The video size was the default size and I didn't chat with anyone. I just plugged in the camera to see how the video was.
It was pretty good. It was a bit jerky at times, and sometimes it would freeze and then come back. It'd probably be a bit slower/jerkier if it was streaming it over the net.

Unless Apple makes a lower resolution option for the video, I can't see it working on anything less than a G3 600 as their specs require. My G4 just barely meets the specs.
 
That's my point: am I naive in thinking that reducing the screen size to, say, half, also reduces processing requirements by half? Idem for screen resolution. That would seem to me (no tech giant) an obvious and easy way to take on board older G3s.
 
Reducing size doesn't scale processing requirements in a linear fashion. Also, consider what you mean by half: the current size is 640 by 480. If you scale to 320 by 240, that is actually a quarter size.

Also consider this: if you scale the image, that requires processing too, even if you only throw away every other pixel, which would give you a rather nasty picture. Even if you just crop the image you require processing, since the camera still delivers 640 by 480 video.

The only really viable solution would be to drop frames, which is what you do on most video conferencing systems. That is one reason why so many of them suck.

Apple probably don't want this to be a "me-too"-solution, they really want to use 640 by 480 with at least 15 frames per second, and that leaves older computers in the dust. Sorry, but I really think that's the case.
 
Then again: Your Pismo is quite old. A Pismo 500 is simply _not_ a recent machine anymore. Apple is interested in selling you a new PowerBook - or even an iBook only.

As Apple never promised to a) create iChat (which appeared long after the Pismo) and b) introduce AV features to it, what's your concern?

There's quite obvious reasons why not to support Pismos, both financial ones and logical ones. It'd stutter and all. Even DivX playback on Pismos is MUCH worse than on even a 600 MHz iBook.

But I've heard that the G3 processor is not a supported config for using a MiniDV cam with iChat AV, and I must say that _this_ seems strange to me. Both because the iSight is said to work and because it isn't officially said anywhere I could find it... :/
 
That's why some people hate the Computer industry (and that includes Apple). If you bought, say, a Volkswagen beetle in the 70's, then you can kind of expect that filling stations won't introduce new nozzles that don't fit into your tank, just to force you to buy a new car.
 
Originally posted by fryke
But I've heard that the G3 processor is not a supported config for using a MiniDV cam with iChat AV, and I must say that _this_ seems strange to me. Both because the iSight is said to work and because it isn't officially said anywhere I could find it... :/
Click to expand...

Well.... MiniDV is 720 x 480 pixels... that's even more pixels to process than iSight's 640 x 480. So, it's even MORE work for the processor to take video from a miniDV
 
:-( Sniff.... guess I'll have to tell my parents they should get themselves a new machine. Any suggestions what you can do with an old iMac 400? (flowerpot, doorstopper?)...

BTW, what about the windows world? Is there any videochat solution for Mac OS X (I mean, right now...) that'll work with a grey box at the other end?
 
Yeah, this thread was talking about video on a 500mhz G3, of course audio works fine. If anyone has anything to add about video feel free. I do not care to hear if audio works on your indigo imac.
 
Calm down Foxman. toast isn't retarded, he only tried to help you - his imac is as well a G3 and 500 mhz, more or less the same specs (and he does not have a firewire webcam). In Panther like in Jaguar, RAM counts, so it will help if you can max out your ram (640 or 1 G?) from your 256 MB. It could work. Panther will be more stable when it'll be released, and as said your system isn't any more able to run all the new softwares that are always more hungry for processor and ram. If i remember right, in the JAguar ichat av specs it was to have as minimum a g3 600 - does anyone remember whether it was for audio or video to work? The worst working scenario could be it to be able to run - with maxed ram - when you have no other application running and bouncung enabled.
 
Apple has crippled the software. It's not the 'physical' inability of a G3 below 600 MHz to run this software with FW video.
I'm sure there's gonna be a hack for iChat AV that lets it think the machine is 'ready'.
But quite surely: Panther won't change anything, more RAM won't change anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top