iChat snow leopard video NOT working

Hi Ralph.

I've set the limit to 500. No effect.

It tells me "starting conference" but then I get the "declined" message.

At the same time I disabled the the firewalls, on both the router and the MacBook Pro.

Any other suggestions?

They should check they do not have a DOS or SPI feature active in their Modem.

In iChat 4 there was an Overall top end on your Internet Bandwidth usage based on System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming tab (essentially 1.5Mbps).

This is not there in iChat 5 as iChat 5 sees the total Speed you have.
If this Upload speed is very fast you may be bumping into the threshold for their DOS or SPI settings (It can not be changed).
Even at 500kbps you may still be bumping into this as iChat 5 is more efficient at using the internet speed.



10:19 PM Sunday; September 27, 2009

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

I may not reply until I have slept and worked.

DOS or SPI? going a little over my head there!
iChat 5 maybe more efficient at using the internet speeds, but that is a useless feature if iChat video doesn't work at all!

Would a complete, clean install of Snow Leopard correct this issue? Bottom line, if I upgrade my iMac (10.5.8) will I loose video conferencing on it as well (which currently works)?

What do you mean by upload speed? my upload to the internet is 381kbps.

Cheers.

Ok,

First we had Dial-up modems
These just did the conversion from Computer signals to telephone signals and did nothing about which ports were open.

Routing modems (or routers) then cave basic features of limiting the ports that were open by Default (there are 65535 ports in all).
This limits the ports to those below 1024 that are open.

Obviously if you are the Very Fast Buddy you may be bumping into these features on a Buddies modem.
Of the manufacturers that include these features there is no consensus as to where this Threshold is.

The amount of data is based on how many frames per sec your Processor can produce at what picture size and then how fast you can Upload it towards your Buddy.
Snow Leopard for iChat 5 does not have any other capping mechanism other than the Bandwidth Limit in the Video Section of the iChat Preferences and generally speaking tries to use all the Bandwidth (Full on Connection Speed) you have.

Then you have "Security" and "Protection" features.
Some have Firewalls in addition to ports being closed.
Some have Ping Blocking which stops your Modem or router responding to Pings (some "Hackers" check if a Ping appears valid first before anything else). Some Apps legitimately send Pings such as iChat.

DoS (Denial Of Service) is a feature that has come about from the days where lots of "Hackers" would arrange a day and time to request the same web page and then press the refresh button repeatedly causing the Web Server to collapse and lose it's internet Connection. Dos spots when Too Much Data is coming Too Quickly and cuts just the one port it is happening on to "Protect" the whole Internet Connection.

The unfortunate thing is that it is Preset and can not be adjusted to cope with modern Internet Speeds.
(mostly when you have a good enough download and your Buddy has a fast upload).

SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) tries to judge if the Data coming to the modem is valid enough to pass on.
Generally with modern Internet Speeds it can not and also cuts the port that it is happening on.

I find on my MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard I can now send 640 X 480 pics and in excess of 550kbps which is about a 70% increase in speed and twice the size pic over Leopard which is a significant amount of increase in data.



9:11 PM Monday; September 28, 2009

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Cheers for that info Ralph.

So basically iChat 5 is now so efficient, it's incompatible with most other routers/modems .... typical, rest of the world is always playing catch up!

I was able to establish a connection with myself (MacBook Pro -to- iMac) which eliminates incompatibility between the iChat versions.
I'm not sure but I assume the connection 'left' my network, went out into the net and then back again? - this would eliminate any of the things you talked about on my router, yes?

My buddy in this case is using aim messenger on xp .... is it likely that is were the problem is?

Cheers for help.

Hi,

If using two AIM names on two computers at you house it is Out and back.

On the AIM PC Buddy, were you able to Chat to this person before ?
They are stuck somewhat using the H263 Video codec (iChat 4 and Above can use it but defaults to the more efficient H264)
Internet Speed can be an issue in these circumstances.

If they are using AIM 6.5 or above the "Real Time" feature needs to Be Off.

It is more a question that Quicktime has caught up with modern Internet speeds and has s direct effect on the way the OS "Sees" the Internet Speed and this has consequences for various app that can stream Video.

Further replies will not be "Instant" (Sleep and work in that order)



11:19 PM Monday; September 28, 2009

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Yeah, I was and am able to chat to this buddy via iChat 4 (confirmed that today) it's only with iChat 5 that it's not working.

After getting the "starting video...." I get the "the other user declined the....." and that's it!

I'll make sure they confirm that 'Real Time' is off and try again tomorrow.

Sleep sounds like a good idea!

Hi,

So this iChat 4 is at the same location you are with the iChat 5 Computer ?
Using the same modem and router combo (If there are two devices) ?

How is any router or modem set up to allow iChat to works (Ports are opened/allowed by what method) ?



7:01 PM Tuesday; September 29, 2009

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Evening,

Yeah both are at the same location:
iChat 4 on my iMac and iChat 5 on my Macbook Pro.

I have a Netgear DG834PN modem wireless router. Attached to the Netgear is a Time Capsule, which is setup as a Bridge. Both the computers (and AppleTV) are connected to the Time Capsule Wireless (while other, slower devices, Wii etc. are connected to the Netgear).

I have made no changes to the default settings of the Netgear regarding it's firewall or Ports. And as I said iChat 4 video works with this buddy, while iChat 5 does not.

If you see anything in my setup which you think needs modifying then by all means let me know. I've told my buddy to update her aim to version 7, and will try chatting with a Mac buddy (iChat 4) later. I'm beginning to suspect that it's her out of date aim!! After upgrading to 10.6 video worked but then iChat would crash minutes in, after 10.6.1 I have the problem I have now.

Cheers

Hi,

I had a Netgear DG834G

I seemed to get better results if in the WAN set Up page DOS (OR SPI) and Port Scan was turned Off and if Responses to Pings on the WAN port were allowed
(tick both boxes even though the actions are reversed)

Defcom has had a selection of different DG834 models and says he has no Problem with DOS (Or SPI) left On

It is good that the Time Capsule is in Bridge Mode as both devices route and Bridge mode stops the Time Capsule doing this. (it is now a Hub and Wireless Access point only)

AIM on a PC need the Real Time Feature turned Off.
It also needs to be allowed as an Exception through the Windows Firewall
Start > Control Panels > Firewall
Exception tab.
Add button > NAvigate to the AIM folder and the AIM6(or 7).exe item

If they are using UPnP in their router then UPnP can also be ticked in the List (Scroll to see)

Close windows (the ones that got opened after Control Panels not the computer 🙂 ).

Also try limiting the bandwidth in iChat > Preferences > Video Section > Bandwidth Limit.
ichat may be suffering from speed differences now iChat 5 sees you whole Internet Speed.



10:27 PM Tuesday; September 29, 2009

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Hi Ralph,

finally got to test iChat with my friend after setting my bandwidth to 500mbps. Still no luck and I received several AIM service errors and lost the texting for a while. I've reviewed the previous discussions and will try some of the suggestions with my buddy. Interestingly, I did have the opportunity to test this with someone else who was using a MAC and, although he said the video wasn't perfect, we managed to have a full video conversation without errors or disconnections. My other friend is using a laptop PC.

If you have any other suggestions other than the ones you've already given, I'd be pleased to hear them. I also added a couple of the AIM video testers from the table that you sent to me (thanks!) but I haven't contacted them yet.

Hi,

The AIM names in that list are Apple computers at Apple doing Auto Responding.
They are not PC computers.

In AIM on a PC above version 6.5 the "Real Time" feature needs to be Off.
it is like the Bonjour "Show Text as I Type" feature in iChat but is not compatible with iChat and seems to effect Video Chats.



8:36 PM Thursday; October 1, 2009

I had a macbook air that i just sold to update to the macbook pro. (i wanted to be able to use the led display, but could not because it does not work with the first macbook air.)

with the air i was allowed to video ichat with my girlfriend on her imac (we both had snow leopard) from school. now i upgraded computers and she still sees the video icon, but all i get is the voice icon. why? it is not the network- i used it two days before i sold my macbook air.

any clues?

With iChat in the menu bar ckick on "view" and then make sure "show video status" is ticked.

Hi,

This has been driving me nuts and noticed you've been on a lot of forums helping.

So just tried the comment made in this thread about turning off "Disable Port Scan and DOS Protection" on my Netgear DG834G modem and iChat 5 came back to life.

Interesting issue - was running out of ports I could open 🙂

Thanks
Greg