Success: Video conference with a PC user

by Volker Weber

tonykelleran.jpeg

Finally, after a few trial runs I was able to connect to Tony Kelleran. It turned out that he, like everybody else, had installed AIM, but not the RTC 1.2 fix. Tony had a public IP address, so it was kind of easy to connect to him. But shortly thereafter I was also able to connect to Cornelia and Martin, who are behind a NAT router. So it is supposed to work through NAT routers on both ends. These are the things you need to make it work:

You may want to try and read the AIM FAQ on this topic before proceding, especially this part:

If either you, or the person you want to Video IM with are behind a firewall and are having problems getting Video IM to operate, work with your Internet Service Provider, your company's system administrator or modify your firewall software yourself to open ports 1024 through 5000.

Once these ports are opened, Video IM should work if no other issues exist.

Nearly 4000 port addresses. That is a hole the size of Texas in your firewall. I am pretty sure, your firewall administrator will look at you as if you had two heads when you propose that. :-)

*) If you are so ready to go out and buy a webcam, resists the urge to get one on a budget. Cheap webcams are awful and useless. Your new camera absolutely positively has to have a CCD sensor. Important update: Don't even think about asking me for assistance if you can't get it to work. Read the comments, but don't IM me. OK?

Comments

Very cool! Glad I could assist with this experiment.

Tony Kelleran, 2004-02-06

Now everyone knows I am a PC user... :)

Tony Kelleran, 2004-02-06

At least sometimes, like myself. But I don't have XP. :-)

Volker Weber, 2004-02-06

XP only? that sux. Heck, Lotus Notes 6.5 still runs on Windows 95!

Ed Brill, 2004-02-06

Gee - I think Tony looks you Volker :-)

Bruce Elgort, 2004-02-06

So Ed, are you implying that you are running Windows 95? Looking like Volker is better than people telling me I look like Jason Alexander (George on Seinfeld).

Tony Kelleran, 2004-02-06

Volker or Tony,

Can you clarify if it is possible to initiate an audio only connection with the beta software (i.e. no webcam)? I can't imagine why one couldn't, but...

David Richardson, 2004-02-06

David, read here.

Volker Weber, 2004-02-06

From the AIM side, it appears that one could only initiate an audio only "Talk" by clicking on the icon AIM gives you. When video is available - for now only on XP - you would see that icon as well. I can't speak for iChat.

Tony Kelleran, 2004-02-06

Surprisingly, frame rate was really good! I was using a pretty cheap D-Link webcam, nothing special.

Tony Kelleran, 2004-02-07

Any USB-Cam will do. I was using an iMac G4 800 MHz. Check the Apple specs for the minimum CPU requirements, but I think 600 is good enough.

Volker Weber, 2004-02-07

Dear Friend of Esther, who sent me your way (Lieber Freund der Esther???)... I have followed these directions and still see a grey video icon in AIM when I bring up a buddy.

Windows XP: check. AIM 5.5.3572: check. RTC patch: check. Reboot: check. (You didn't say that, but what the heck.) Router: Netgear WR614 (v3, no less), on list of routers that work with this by default, tried with and without opening one port: check. Re-read AIM FAQ and this blog entry 7,000 times: check.

I'm using a hideously ancient Intel CS3330 camera, but it does work just fine when I try Video/Audio Tuning under AIM: Edit Preferences: Live Video, as does my microphone.

I'm mortified to even ask this, as it sounds cretinous, but does the following sentence mean the other person doesn't have XP (or the right version of AIM, or the special decoder ring you all forgot to tell me about), and therefore I will see a grey video icon regardless of my state of readiness with respect to AIM Live Video? "both you, and the person you want to Video IM with need the following: The Windows XP Operating System..."

K.G. Schneider, 2004-02-07

I suggest we try this out. Mail en route.

Volker Weber, 2004-02-07

I'm having the same problem as K.G. I'm on either on XP with a logitech camera (please don't laugh) or my mac with iChat 2.1 beta with an iSight. Both of my machines are behind the same firewall. My hubby is on iChat (2.1 beta) with an iSight. He's behind a corporate firewall.

Video IM works fine Mac to Mac, but PC to Mac - I can hear him, but he can't hear me and after about 5 minutes my image apparently goes grey on his machine (looks fine on my machine.).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

L Bricker, 2004-02-25

The actual port for AIM/iChat video chat is 5060. This is easy enough to open for your home network. It sucks big time in a corporate environment, where IT is often paranoid about exploits on port 5060.

Charlton Barreto, 2004-03-22

I'm preposting after vowe corrected me about the use of these ports (cheers!).

iChat/AIM Video IM requires ports 5060 (SIP) and 16384 through 16403 (for the actual data) to be redirected/routable.

Now, if only the IT people would get over their paranoia about exploits on these ports.... ;-)

Charlton Barreto, 2004-03-23

I've downloaded and tried the final version of ichatav 2.1 with a friend of mine (with win xp and aim 5.5).....I've had no problem when he invited me for a video chat(the connection was perfect) but I wasn't be able to start a video chat with him(he turned off his firwall and me too)...How come (He received an error message like "unable to connect due to firewall problem")?

Emanuele Robibaro, 2004-03-24

Thanks a lot from my end as well. Is it also possible to have a one-way video conference, i.e. only one side having a camera and being able to show exhibits (& their face)?

Cheers...

L Lawede, 2004-04-01

Well, shooooooot. It works on my laptop, even with aforesaid cruddy camera and old router, and without any particular tweaks. Yesterday, I was very hopeful about getting this to work on my PC, because I had just disabled hyperthreading in the BIOS, which did wonders for other problems I was having. However, I still can't use AIM Live Video. I feel I am making progress, if only because I can see and hear the other person, and see and hear myself. They just can't see me. I'm running AIM 5.53591 on XP, I've installed RTC, etc. Maybe I'll wait for another AIM release, and see what happens then.

K.G. Schneider, 2004-04-22

p.s. to clarify, by not working, I mean both the camera and the mike. Which both work with the laptop. I followed the advice for the ports--gulp. What service should I have specified? I just made one up.

K.G. Schneider, 2004-04-22

Did you try only an audio connection? We did not succeed. Between Macs it works, what is wrong. We are using iChatAV (2.1V153) on Panther 10.3.3 and WinXP AOL Instant Messenger 5.5.xxx (newer than you used). The Mic is working on the PC.
On the Mac the Icon of the phone does not activate, and on the PC the message: "body@mac.com" is not accepting TALK invitation or does not accept talk feature.
Can somebody help?

E. Novotny, 2004-05-14

Hi

I am win user and would liek to comunicate with a mac user ...

I installed all of the software and restarted the my PC My PC wpuold not initialie. It would not do anything. Only after I unplgged the webcam and my headphone both Logi's The PC started what wnet wrong!

Masuwa

MASUWAWIN, 2004-05-17

Hi

I'm trying to setup Video IM between a PC (Windows XP) and MacG4 (OSX 10.3.4), but am having problems and are looking for help.

The PC (in Australia) has AIM 5.5.3595 installed and the Windows XP component has been upgraded to operate in conjunction with Video IM.
It's using an D-Link ADSL Ethernet router. Windows Firewall is turned off and a Norton Firewall is permitting all internet access for AOL Instant Messenger.
In AIM / Preferences / Live Video / Tuning, it is possible to preview the USB Webcam, but when I try and Instant Message the MacG4, I can see the video icon, but are unable to select it. When I select Talk, I get an error message saying that MacG4 is not accepting Talk invitations or does not support the Talk feature.

The MacG4 (in Switzerland) is using iChat2.1 v153 to Video IM.
It's using a ZyXEL P623-ME ADSL Ethernet router. The OSX firewall has be setup to allow all TCP network traffic on ports 1024 through 5000 to be let through.
It is using a DV camera via firewire that is working in the preview window.
When I view the Buddy List in iChat, the PC (in Australia) has no Talk or Video icon, and thus I'm unable to select 'invite to video chat'

If anyone can help, or has any advise, I would be very grateful.

Thankyou

Shane Richardson, 2004-06-17

When using a PC with Windows XP behind a router, follow the instructions below. Works in all my cases!

- Install RPC1.2: http://ftp.newaol.com/aim/win95/aimrtc12.exe
- Activate Windows XP Universal Plug and Play Dienste: http://www.dl-router.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1361&highlight=upnp
means the following services need to be activated: http://www.dl-router.de/forum/download.php?id=519
and install the following service/component: http://www.dl-router.de/forum/download.php?id=525
- the router has to support uPnP and it has to be activated

Andreas Linde, 2004-07-18

Well, I've gone in the opposite direction since migrating to a Linksys WRT54G. Now I can't use AIM Live Video via the laptop *or* the PC, even with the firewall disabled. However, based on the last message, I just enabled UpnUp on the router, so if anyone wants to take pity on me and try again, I'm game.

K.G. Schneider, 2004-07-21

Thank you very much!
I was searching this information everywhere....

Eric

E. Baumann, 2004-08-17

Hi,

I'm having the same problem as Shane talks about above. I'm running windows XP and AIM 5.5 and trying to video IM with a G4 (OX 10.2.8, ichat 2.0)using a private airport w/ no firewalls. When I try and Instant Message the MacG4, I am unable to select the video icon and when I select Talk, I get an error message saying that MacG4 is not accepting Talk invitations or does not support the Talk feature. I have had successfull video IM (with both video and audio) with other Mac users so the problem would appear to be on the MacG4 side, but we can't figure out what it is.

For those people who are able to see the person chatting on the Mac but can't see themselves on the PC(and the person on the mac can't see them) and if you have an intel wireless card then you need to go to your control panel, select network connections, click on your wireless network, click on properties, and uncheck the box marked "QoS Packet Scheduler". Hope this helps, hope someone can help me.

Chris Andersen

chris andersen, 2004-09-20

Hi,
Jonas (2004-03-25 03:53) asked about this before but i didnt catch the reply.

I have been using AIM on XP, and my boyfriend is using iChat on a powerbook. Everything is ok with the video chat, except that i cant seem to resize my video so all i see is a stamp size video. Is there any way to make the video screen bigger?
Thanks!

Aoife Roche, 2004-10-04

These posts are very helpful. It is disconcerting that neither AOL or the router manufacturers address these issues at their sites.

Moshe Rubin, 2004-10-12

Hello

JonasJonas (2004-03-25 03:53) and Aoife Roche, 2004-10-04 22:10, have both asked this question, and there doesn't seem to be any response. Please can someone help?
I'm using IChat, my friend is using AIM on XP....everything's perfect except he doesn't have the ability to rese the video (it is TINY!). the AIM site is practically useless....there is virtually no tech support. Please let me know if you have a solution to this problem. Thanks!

Matt Pfingsten, 2004-10-12

Sorry, I made a typo in my last post...was asking if he could somhow resize the video on AIM in XP to larger than the 1 inch square he's getting now

Matt Pfingsten, 2004-10-12

hi im having the same problem as K.G. Schneider. im using windows xp, downloaded all patches and videochat works fine with other pc's. my gf using ichat on her mac has done the same and can use videochat with other macs. however when we try to videochat i can see and hear her but she cant see or hear me. i cant initiate the chat either, she has to via her mac.

any help woulg be great, thanks.

phil gregory, 2004-10-18

The AIM client cannot resize the window. This feature is just not supported.

Andreas Linde, 2004-10-23

I think this could do with an update about Service Pack 2 and the changes it can make to your Firewall.

Ralph

Ralph Johns, 2004-11-11

The "missing link" solution to getting AIM to work between MacOS X and Windows XP users (aside from having the right camera, XP patch installed, etc). I did disable my host-based firewall but left my perimeter (Netgear) firewall in place. When I get some time, I'll test out turning on my host-based Mac firewall, but check the "permit iChat".

Mac users open up the following ports on your perimeter firewall (I was missing the first two rows, but haven't tested whether it works with any of them blocked):

80 TCP and UDP (both, but for some firwalls, you can't specify)
21->23 TCP (21, 22, 23: careful, this is FTP, SSH, & Telnet)
5060 UDP
5190 TCP and UDP (both)
5297,5298 TCP and UDP (both)
5353 UDP
5678 UDP
16384->16403 UDP

I'm not sure why FTP, SSH, and Telnet are specified. When I get a chance, I test blocking some of those to see the impact...or maybe I'll sniff the traffic to see if they're really in use or not.

At any rate, it allows XP users to connect to OS X iChat users. I have noticed a hang when iChat initiates the connection and after XP accepts, so not sure why that doesn't work. It might be the case that the XP user has to open up some ports too.

Another weird quirk is that sometimes the video will freeze, but the audio will continue to work. I have to disconnect from the session and reconnect to get the video back.

I believe the XP users (the two that I have tried it with) did not have to make any firwall modifications on their end. Now if you are doing iChat to iChat, you don't have to make any FW mods either.

With iChat, the default window size is 3 inches by 3.5 inches and you can resize it to be the whole screen if you want. With AIM for XP, you're stuck with a one inch by 1.5 inch window. iChat is definately far superior. AND with iChat for Tiger (MacOS 10.4), there will be the ability to do multi-party chats and 30 frames per second (fps) (iChat-iChat max is 15fps, with iChat-XP 10-12fps). I think they get their higher fps from using compression. Of course, that might be a single user on a LAN, but hey :)

Doc BitBucket, 2004-11-19

Doc BitBucket:

I have an iMac with an iSight. I have the latest AIM and iChat upgrades. My mom has a PC with XP and a Logitec camera. For about 8 months we have easily used the cameras with total success -- ever since Apple launced iChat Public beta. Recently my mother had to upgrade her camera and AIM software and we can no longer use the webcams. Her camera will not recognize the iChat software or my camera when I try to contact her.

After much research it appears that Logitech has discontinued their compatibility with iChat -- or so it appears? She has uninstalled all the software and reinstalled it, trying to use the old software with no luck -- it forces her to upgrade. She has opened her firewalls etc...


Can you provide any update on this? Shall my mom get a new camera or do you think there is a way to make this work.

Thanks, Rachel

Rachel Kempen, 2004-12-01

For the past three days I haven't been able to get AIM video chat to work. It worked fine before but now every time I try to run video chat it asks me if I want to download the rtc upgrade but as soon as setup starts it tells me that the rtc upgrade has already been installed. I'm running Win 2003 Server which isn't supposed to allow video chat but it worked perfectly before. Rtc isn't running in background which is probably why AIM does not recognize it. The video and audio tuning still work fine.

Martin Petrov, 2004-12-29

FAQ

Ben Poole, 2004-12-29

Ben, this is NOT covered in the FAQ. This place may be used for discussion. I just don't want to provide free tech support myself.

Volker Weber, 2004-12-29

It's me again, just a note for Win 2003 users, to run AIM Video Chat simply install MSN messenger, I'm not sure but this might also work for Win 2000 users.

Martin Petrov, 2004-12-29

I don't think this question has come up, so here's OUR problem. My wife wants to video chat with our son in college. She got two Logitechs. One for her iMac and one for his Toshiba laptop. He's still home for the holidays, so both computers are sitting side by side. She gave up on the Logitech attached to her iMac and traded it for an iSight. We use cable modem and have a household LAN. We could type between the two machines using iChat and AIM, and YES, the video was working, but she could talk to me through her iMac but nothing was heard from the PC laptop back to the Mac. Seems like everyone else has trouble with the video. My audio doesn't work. Installed all the latest software updates including the famous patch but still nothing. Yes, restarted a few times. Finally, turned off the XP firewall and instantly had sound. Turned the firewall back on and still had sound. Rebooted the laptop with the firewall turned on, restarted and reconnected AIM to iChat. Still working fully, both ways. I guess I need to know what I did right to make this work now with the XP firewall enabled, and secondly, where do I find a list of the network ports to enable/disable? I must be the last guy on earth not to know this, but I've dealt with too many different operating systems this month, Any more ideas here? Oh, by the way, the good folks at Apple, both at their retail store and on line were all helpful but equally clueless as were the kind folks at Logitech who esentially told me it wasn't their problem. Thanks for your thoughts

Gary Danaher, 2005-01-09

Gary,

Apple has published a list of ports. I would also recommend that your son use the Trillian client instead of AIM. I have an iSight, and have had more success with my PC friends when they use Trillian rather than the AIM client.

Chad Salganik, 2005-01-09

Hello,

Okay so I have some issues with AIM's Video IM. I have the rtc 1.2 files. I have Windows XP, with sp2. All drivers for everything are updated. The camera I recently purchased is Creative Webcam Live! Pro.

My problem:
When I signed on to AIM and linked the video chat with a friend, her image showed up and mine did not (that is after we both accepted to link up). I got this message upon the connection of the two of us.

Starting Live Video (10:47:19 PM).

The video or audio source is in use by another application (10:47:19 PM).

I have all programs closed, and the camera operates in perfect order if I open up Creative Webcam Center, or do Video IM in yahoo messenger (which my girlfriend uses, so I had her check). Yet it fails to do so with AIM.

While we were still connected (her image sort of showing, and mine not), I went into Edit Options > Edit Preferences > Live Video > Video/Audio Tuning. I selected the Video/Audio Tuning to check to see if the camera was working in proper order. The first page instructs to turn off all video capturing programs, sound etc etc. I did so and made everything was properly turned on. Selected next. The Camera option came up saying "Creative Webcam Live! Pro." I selected next. This is what popped up next.

"Camera Error"
"The camera you have selected is not working properly, or may be in use by another program. Please click Back to try again, or select a different camera."

So I selected back. Selected the camera again "Creative Webcam Live! Pro." Selected next. I then get an "Unknown error message. Try again later" pop up covering up the previous message I typed out. This only happens while I still have a video feed connected to AIM. But when I don't it simply says the previous message that I typed out above.

Anyway... how can I fix this. I really would like to have a Video IM with some old friends, and preferably through AIM. I cannot seem to figure out what could be using my webcam when I have nothing else running. I have not found any viruses or anything. Please help!

Brandon Myers, 2005-02-02

I am having trouble with the live video IM feed from one computer to another. I have tried switching the cameras and both cameras work fine and the software is fine as well. I am using Logitech QuickCam Messengers. When I try to have live video IM with the other camera on an IBM laptop my feed to them works fine and they can hear me fine, but their feed to me is delayed a minute or so as is the sound. Even looking at their own camera the feed is delayed. I've tried everything I can think of. Any suggestions?

Dave Herrmann, 2005-02-06

Hi there,

I've got a similar problem as Brandon. I'm trying to video IM from my PC (XP Home SP2) to a friends MAC Powerbook. So I hook up my Sony DCR-TRV740 D8 camcorder (firewire and/or USB) and start a video connection. But I allways get "The video or audio source is in use by another application". The odd thing: Edit preferences -> Tune Audio/Video shows up with a perfect preview and speaker/mic test is OK, too!?!?!

I've checked if there is a user process occupying the video/audio source, but I couldn't find one. Just once it worked on firewire and USB, but I don't know how a managed it, and I can't get it working again. Any ideas? Is Window§ itself occupying it?

I'm lost - Please help

Thanks

Andy

Andreas Rothenwänder, 2005-02-08

Is there any way to invite an AIM user to a one-way audio chat from ichat 2.1...
Assuming they are running XP and have version 5.9 of AIM and no built-in microphone.
Thanks

Hunter

Hunter Jones, 2005-02-09

Can you resize the size of the video if you use the Trillian client instead of the AIM client?

Hwnasoo Suh, 2005-03-18

Encouraging to hear that someone has it working with 2000, Martin. I work at a movie special FX facility with hundreds of 2000 stations, all 2000 at home for my fx work too. I have a few XP machines (shudder)for wife and kids. Interested in hearing any 2000 sucess stories as the machine I want to use this on can not be XP (for now). Surely some young genius can patch this problem. -Dave

Dave Adams, 2005-04-04

Referring to the problem noted by Mr Petrov above December 29, 2004.
I'm having the same problem. AIM Video worked well for a while, then I received a message saying that an update was necessary. When the RTC 1.2 update loads, I get a message that the necessary files are already installed. I am stuck. Tried to download and relaod AIM--didn't help.
Would appreciate any help.

Mark Mosely, 2005-04-10

Hi All -
Here's a totally different solution that will solve all these problems - it's called INEEN (http://www.ineen.com/) - totally easy cross platform video conferencing - the video quality isn't as good as ichat or the new msn messenger but's it's still beta and will only get better - my mac friend and i have struggled with ichat/aim too long - this is very cool - check it out - good luck!

Brian DuBoff, 2005-04-19

I have iChat 2.1 with iSight, and am trying to connect with a logitec camera and AIM 5.9, when we connect, I can't hear him, his picture is very poor. He can hear me, but has a poor picture as well. Also, the session times out within seconds of our chat. He has downloaded the AV Patch for AOL, and we have disabled the basic firewalls on each of computers. I am at a loss as to what to try next.

clare johnson, 2005-04-25

Have a lot of problems! I can`t make a connection with my friend! What i must to do? Please help me! Thanks

Doutaz Daniel, 2005-05-09

After a lot of googling, I've concluded this is the best of the few available threads about video chat problems, so I'm adding in mine.

Running AIM from behind a LinkSys router and Time Warner Road Runner cable modem. Trying to chat with my sons, also behind a LinkSys with Sprint/Earthlink DSL. Initiated the video and my sons--who did not have a camera plugged in--could see and hear me. Once they plugged in a camera, however, neither of us to see the other.

I've tried opening all of the specified ports, including 1025-5000, but nothing helps (interestingly, before hooking up a camera, they could see me without opening any ports). Another thread mentioned disabling QoS on both machines.

Also, anybody know if the AIM RTC 1.2 is different from Microsoft's? And whether its included in XP SP2? Administrative Tools does not show it as a service.

Jim Wiggin, 2005-05-16

I'm having a problem with the Live AIM Video. I continually receive a message saying that an update is necessary to update the video components. I click OK and it downloads the RTC 1.2 update. The update loads and I get a message that says the necessary files are already installed. I am stuck. Tried installing the latest beta IM 5.9.3782 and I still run into the same endless loop of trouble. Would appreciate any advice or help.

Nathan Clements, 2005-05-26

Have similar prob to Hwnasoo Suh (2005-03-18) which has gone unanswered thus far. I have iSight on a macG4. Sister has Logitech pro4000 using windows XP AIM on her Dell laptop. We can see and hear each other fine but she can;t find a way to resize my image to larger. Any suggestions?

joe schwartz, 2005-06-01

I am using iChat AV, G4, iSight. trying to get my PC laptop (AIM 5.9.3702) to talk with my mac. I have installed RTC 1.2 and I still get the same message "xxx is not accepting Talk Inv......not support the talk feature.

Video can connect OK but the PC does not receive audio. Mac receives audio fine.

The mac and the pc are both behind the same NAT firewall ADSL router. i.e. the same LAN. Is this going to make a difference? (this is only for testing purposes.)

I suppose my question is, do I start to now troubleshoot my router ports or is it something that will not work with my current configuration.

Lindsay Teychenne, 2005-06-04

Judging by the above this is a common problem. I'm on a MAC OSX 10.3.9 via ichat. My mother in the UK is on XP with a logitech through AIM 5.5. When we connect she can see and hear me and yet I can't see or hear her. She says she has a message saying "The video or audio source is in use by another application". She has disabled her firewall. I have disabled mine. What can we do?

Tony Paull, 2005-06-05

Hi,

I'm running a Mac imac G5, latest iSight/iChat etc and connecting to my family in the UK who are using AIM. I am experiencing a loss of sound on my end, we can always see one another and they can always hear me, but their sound breaks up. This happens with no other PC or Mac users.

I upgraded their camera to a Logitech Pro 4000 and still the same problem. This also happens with my brother - they are in the same town with the same broadband provider. Could it be the streaming?

I'll have them install RTC 1.2 and upgrade AIM if they have not already.

Could there be anything else?

Many thanks.

ben franklin, 2005-06-23

hi Volker Weber and all collaborators,

my name is joao from portugal... pleasure!
sorry, i didn´t explore the site enough for commenting but i have a quick question for you guys. i´ll apreciate very much if you can help me.

i want to buy and connect a webcam to my powerbook g4 but i can´t find a compatible model. i found the isight and a poor macally model... is there other cheap and functional options that i can use?

thanks in advance, best regards!

joão

joao martins mendes, 2005-07-01

Hi,
I have an imac G5 with a built in microphone and ichat av 2.1. Is it possible to to audio chat without an isight camera? I would think there has to be a way since I have the microphone. I have heard that you have to have the camera, but that just doesn't make any sense.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Lois Erlacher, 2005-07-08

Hi all,

Making a connection between a MAC (G4) /PC (XP) gives good resolution from the mac side but the image generated from the logitech camera on the PC is very poor. Any ideas what can be done to improve the image quality?

Thanks,
Simon

Simon Brown, 2005-08-09

Ok I have everything set up fine. I have a new powermac g4 with an isight and ichat, and my gf has a toshiba satellite XP, New Aim, New webcam.....and we can click the green camera, but once I Click to accept the vid chat, it says I "didn't respond" I dont get it...

alex yerks, 2005-08-12

To get Fullscreen Videochat, use Trillian. AIM doesn't support Fullscreen Video, but Trillian supports AIM!

Janning Cunis, 2005-08-27

I'm trying to connect to my son in China. He tested with his wife before they moved. They are both on AOL, but I'm using the latest version of AIM, and we're all on Windows XP SP2. I'm using a netgear WGR 614V5. We connect video im intermittantly. When we do complete a connection, everything works well. We can connect and reconnect without issue. But, if I reboot my computer, we can't connect live video. Audio always works as does IM. I now have Trillian running and we have never made a video connection, and apparently audio doesn't work. Yet IM works in Trillian. The real issue is why sometimes we can connect video, and other times we can't.

Murray Freeman, 2005-09-06

after struggling with cross platform communications, my wife and I resorted to using msn messenger on the xp machine and mercury messenger on the mac. this is working well... I still have some pet peeves, but at least the video comes through!

Travis Shepherd, 2005-10-18

Strongly recommended for Mac and for Windows OS-based PC: SightSpeed.com

On our LAN/WAN router firewall (D-Link DI-624 connected to a Motorola "Surfboard" cable modem), we made sure that we were not blocking any of the above-mentioned ports (as described in the many contributions).

Generally, the router firewall's "factory default" setup of using "stateful packet inspection" has been sufficient, and we do not list "high end" (1024 - 65535) ports to be blocked on that firewall (though we did ... up until the wrestling match with video-conferencing).

On the Windows PC (Windows 2000 Professional) running ZoneAlarm Pro, we did similarly - making sure that we were not blocking most of the above-mentioned ports. We made sure, in the Expert section of the ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall, where you can add your own customized Allow or Deny rules, we allow from these IP addresses:

65.241.182.1
67.133.32.38
67.133.32.39
67.133.32.40
67.133.32.41

Those are SightSpeed IP addresses "of interest."

On all our Windows PC's, if "high end" ports must be blocked, we do it in the ZoneAlarm Pro > Firewall > Main (tab) > Internet Zone Security > Custom (settings) and Firewall > Main (tab) > Trusted Zone Security > Custom (settings).

On the Mac, we made sure that we were not blocking any of the above-mentioned ports. We also have Little Snitch 1.2 installed. If functions like a stripped down version of the simple, free, download version of basic ZoneAlarm. Little Snitch prompts the user, to OK some process requests on outbound traffic (for the just-mentioned IP addresses); and we did so.

Our ranges of open ports in the Mac's firewall:

1024-5699, 11523, 13784, 16000-17000, 49151-65535

We named that, " AOL iChat " , and we enable/disable it for video-conference sessions. Yeah, "Why don't cha just turn OFF the whole dang thang?!" Well, we like the appearance of at least trying to do what is right, in contrast to the "suit and tie" "corporate high-tech America" types who represent themselves as being "innovative" and "security concious" while selling software shot full of holes ... "but I digress."

We installed the SightSpeed software on the PC and on the Mac. The software had no trouble "finding" the cameras. In fact, given what is "out there," we found that these choices found the cameras easily:

iChat
iVisit
SightSpeed

These had difficulty finding the cameras or did not at all - "typical" :

AIM
Trillian

BTW, we did "fall for" the AIM Triton fiasco of AOL's "hell." We next tried AIM 5.9, but of course, no luck again.

Strongly advise at least Mac OS X v. 10.3.9

Strongly advise Windows XP Pro Svc Pk 2, with ZoneAlarm Pro - and with the Windows firewall totally disabled. Use ZoneAlarm Pro. Speaking of which, here are the port numbers that we block, therein:

Custom Firewall Settings > Internet Zone

Block incoming UDP ports:

1-19, 23-24, 26-52, 54-66, 69-79, 81-109, 111-112, 114-134, 136, 140-142, 144-406, 408-442, 444, 446-499, 501-547, 549-999, 1001-1018, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 3697-4499, 4501-5000, 5700-6969, 7171-8079, 8082-8999, 13785-15999, 17001-49150

Block outgoing UDP ports:

69, 123, 444, 593, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 3842, 4444, 5000, 5700-6000, 6129, 8998, 9996

Block incoming TCP ports:

1-19, 23-24, 26-52, 54-66, 69-79, 81-109, 111-112, 114-134, 136, 140-142, 144-406, 408-442, 444, 446-499, 501-547, 549-999, 1001-1018, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 3697-4499, 4501-5000, 5700-7069, 7071-8079, 13785-15999, 17001-49150

Block outgoing TCP ports:

69, 123, 444, 593, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 3842, 4444, 5000, 5700-6000, 6129, 8998, 9996

Custom Firewall Settings > Trusted Zone

Block incoming UDP ports

1-19, 23-24, 26-52, 54-66, 69-79, 81-109, 111-112, 114-134, 136, 140-142, 144-406, 408-442, 444, 446-499, 501-547, 549-999, 1001-1018, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 3697-3841, 3843-4499, 4501-5000, 5700-6969, 7171-8079, 8082-8999, 17001-49150

Block outgoing UDP ports

69, 123, 444, 593, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 4444, 5000, 5700-6000, 6129, 8998, 9996

Block incoming TCP ports

1-19, 23-24, 26-52, 54-66, 69-79, 81-109, 111-112, 114-134, 136, 140-142, 144-406, 408-442, 444, 446-499, 501-547, 549-999, 1001-1018, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 3697-3841, 3843-4499, 4501-5000, 5700-7069, 7071-8079, 13785-15999, 17001-49150

Block outgoing TCP ports

69, 123, 444, 593, 1025, 1433-1434, 2000, 2222, 2745, 3127, 4444, 5000, 5700-6000, 6129, 8998, 9996

* * *

I'm no expert; just trying our best to narrow down the ports openings, while not cramping the new video-chat-conference wave that's a comin'.

Good luck.

Mike Fish, 2005-12-12

My brother and I have been struggling with the XPsp2 > iChat connundrum that seems to be vexing everyone. We can get video chat using AIM 5.9 on the PC side up and running for almost exactly 5 minutes. Then the video feed from the PC freezes (disconnects? drops all packets?) but the audio can continue ad infinitum.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the video chat works, but obviously a pain.

I've opened up the ports that the AIM faq suggests, and that's what got us connected in the first place. Are there others / or specific ones I need to open? Is Trillian the answer (or skype)?

Peter Whitmer, 2005-12-14

Hi All

I have the same problem as Mr. Alex Yerks, as of 2005-08-12 06:31

".....and we can click the green camera, but once I Click to accept the vid chat, it says I "didn't respond" I dont get it..."

Please help, I'm on a beefed-up Macmini/10.4.3/iChat/iSight, she on a custom-built-by-me PC (excellent machine)/XP sp2/AIM5.9/Logitech, both on sufficient broadband; tried to open ports/disable/firewalls but we're not sure if that's even causing the problem; "green cams" on both ends, text-chat works fine, she had no success sending me files although I can send anything but video invitations don't work: I'm clicking [accept] button and all I get is the message "failed to start videochat because: {I} did not respond" - this is crazy. She is [accept]ing my invites and then the connection is being estabilished... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [cancel]
I'm so tired googling around and this may be the only opportunity to spend X-mas (New Year) together (virtually at least).

Thank you for any information

Gregory Dworak, 2005-12-24

I'm having a problem similar to what Martin Petrov described almost a year ago. When I try to video chat with a friend using iChat, I get a message that says I need to install the rtc 1.2 fix which, I know for a fact, I aleady have. My computer seems to have trouble installing SP2, so I don't have that on my computer, although my computer doesn't have trouble installing SP2 hotfixes (anyone know what the deal with that is?).

Anyone know how to fix this?

Elizabeth Noyl, 2005-12-25

hi,

i have windows xp and i am trying to view my girlfriend through her web cam. i do not have a web cam myself. when she or i clicks on the video icon from AIM a window appears saying i do not have RTC 1.2. so it tells me to click "ok" and it will install the upgrade, exit aim, and restart AIM itself after installation is complete. when it closes AIM and brings up the installation screen, a window appears saying my computer already has this software. any idea on what i can do or download?

Steve

Steve Welsh, 2006-02-13

hi,

i cant hear anything when i speak into my microphone thats built in through my webcam how do i get to beable to hear myself speaking through it and and getting others to also hear me
chante-marie

chante-marie edwards, 2006-12-31

I am using AIM 5.9 connecting live video to Mac IChat. We are able to connect with the Live Video just fine but after around 5 minutes, the person with the MAC's video freezes so that he only sees the picture of me where it froze. I still see him perfectly and when I switch my view to "my camera" from "my buddy", I show me moving and in the current mode perfectly. If the person on the MAC signs off and signs back on, he can then see me moving and real time for about another 5 minutes or so and same thing happens. I have seen this problem posted but have not seen any corrections.

Jill Firth, 2007-08-13

I want to use this on can not be XP (for now). Surely some young genius can patch this problem.

David law, 2007-08-29

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