iChat MAC to PC Video Freeze after 6.5 min

Triton does not do video yet.

Hi badtz,

People are reporting that Triton does not do Video yet.

Ralph

EDIT: Opps did not see Defcom's reply when I got the first email alert.

That's funny that you timeout at 6.5 minutes because I timeout at 5.5 minutes every single time. My friend is using a Dell using Windows XP. Any thoughts on how to eliminate this would be most helpful.

James Weston reported that his Fater of his two PCs he uses for testing with people used nt to connect but he got a new camera and associated drivers and it worked better with that camera.

I am not sure if he has posted that in this thread or in the iChat 3 forum. It is a Logitech

Ralph

 Initial testing of Tiger Version 10.4.4 shows the PC video freeze has not been resolved (or even changed) by the new version of Mac OS X.

My TTF (Time to Freeze) is the same with Mac OS X 10.4.4 as it was when I used 10.4.3.

Hi EZ Jim,

Have they ever managed to get the RTC file ?

It now seems to be last but one in this listt ftp://ftp.newaol.com/aim/win95/

Ralph

 Hello Ralph.

Yes, the PC user with whom I tested has that file installed. His video freezes with me anyway (at 5:03 in my case.)

I have also linked the necessary "aimrtc12.exe" download in my Mac Video Chat with PCs Topic. Nobody I know can find it available from the AIM web site now. AIM 5.9 users would to well to download and save a copy now.

Following the link in the AIM® Video IM - Frequently Asked Questions for AIM for Windows now takes you to a download of AIM Triton for Windows.

According to AIM's View the New AIM® Triton Demo page, Triton apparently does not yet work for any Video chat, even between PCs.

Cheers,
Jim

HI EZ Jim,

Ok,

Noted.

Yep, Know that as well.

Yep. Be interesting to see what the Google infulence will be (? Codecs)

Ralph

 Hi Ralph. My latest test results ...

My PC Freeze Friend, John, has now tested with Jim Weston's new iNtel iMac. The freeze works exactly the same (5 minutes and a few seconds) for John's PC with Jim's new Mac.

We can add the new iNtel processor to the list of things that do NOT fix the problem.

Jim

G5 DP 1.8, 4.5G RAM, 2x160GB Seagate, 1,000va UPS Mac OS X (10.4.4) 20"ACD, iSight, AirportCard, Klipsch GMX A-2.1 Audio

Hi EZ Jim,


Ohhh Great !!!!

Ralph

Well that was depressing.

I just read all eight pages hoping to find a solution to this multi-year problem. Too bad no one has found one despite all the effort and hard work. It's also too bad that no one from Apple or AOL has become involved.

Here's my two cents:

I've video chatted with my sister-in-law for as long as I wanted: me at home in California with a wireless modem, SBC DSL, PowerBook G4 10.3.9, iChat 2.1 (v153); her in New York at home with a PC, Windows (not sure which type), Norton, AIM 5.9 and not sure about her ISP.

I've video chatted with my sister and consistantly had the freeze problem (I thought it had about a 15 minute period, but I never timed it): me same as above; her in Illinois at home with a PC, Windows (not sure what type) Norton, AIM 5.9 and SBC DSL.

I've also video chatted with my sister from work and never seemed to have a time problem (though take this with the proverbial grain of salt since I never timed the chats): me same as above, but with at T2 line from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; her same as above.

I've also video chatted with my wife at home and me at work both with iChat and no problems.

For my main point skip to the bottom, or else please read on.

I'm just as annoyed as the rest of you are with this whole iChat freezing issue. My conversations top out at 5:01 minutes. So I decide to take the most scientific approach towards controlling all variables to locate the problem and as such I found that you can video invite appleu3test01 and get a promo video that will loop until you close it. Well mine tops out at another 5 minutes and also does so with my girlfriend who is using XP, AIM 5.9. Thus, the problem has to be the iChat AV 3.1.1 (v429) software, right?

Interesting note: when you begin a video chat session, a process in Activity Monitor called vcencoder opens up (process ID 1996) under iChat. Because this process opens up at the same time we initiate video chats, it may in fact be this process that is somehow timing our sessions. I'm thinking this because some process on our Macs must know the right time when we start video chats to somehow 5-6 min later stamp out our incoming video feeds.

Oh and I decided to dabble in applescript for a way to reload our ichat windows after they close. Please update and refine!

repeat 4 times
delay 5
tell application "iChat"
send video invitation to account "aimusergoeshere"
delay 250
close window "Video Chat with aimusergoeshere"
end tell
end repeat

note that the second delay is set at 250 minutes so that it closes right before the glitch and the first delay is simply a break to let your chat partner's video icon light back up. Adjust accordingly.


PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.4) 1.5 GB RAM, iSight, DVD superdrive

Hi Stephonomon,

A work around. That is good.

Is that not Seconds ? (for the delay)

250/60 = 4.16666 minutes

I would have gone for 270 secs for 4.5 mins.

The first delay might need to be longer to allow the chat to close at both ends and the camea to appear available. (or a third added after closing the Video chat)


Ralph

Still enjoying FREEZE FREE video conference....minimum 30 minutes....some for an hour. Pc user has TRILLIAN Pro....Don't see the need for all the high tech when trying Trillain Pro could save time and thought processes....Given the time duration of this thread...years isn't it....why doesn't somebody else try it and report their experience.

I've gotten up to an hour with Trillian Pro 3.1 on my girlfriend's Win XP but Trillian is laiden with it's own issues. For one, it tends to freeze her computer completely and she has to restart. Second, trillian tends to have a weird sound issue that comes in on both users' speakers, almost like tools being hit together. Very odd. I do recommend Trillian Pro although AIM + iChat would be a solid bet without this freezing problem. For now I'm restarting my chat's every 5 min until I can find a better applescript to do it for me or until APPLE RECOGNIZES THIS THREAD.

Oh and in response to the previous question, the Delay is in seconds, at least according to a site I copied the function from.