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Audio/Video-conferencing

Overview

Apple and Microsoft offer competing solutions for users who wish to audio- or video-conference with friends and colleagues. Apple's solution is iChat AV, while Microsoft offers no less than four applications that have audio and video capabilities - Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger, NetMeeting, and Phone Dialer. iChat users can audio- and video-conference with AIM users on Windows. In comparison, out of Microsoft's four conferencing applications, only MSN Messenger is available for Mac users, and the latest version (5.0) lacks AV capabilities.

Apple has opted to restrict video-conferencing to users with a broadband Internet connection to ensure decent video quality. Audio-conferencing is available as long as the user has a 56k modem and is using at least a 600 MHz G3 (or any G4 or G5). Microsoft allows both audio- and video-conferencing over dialup, but the quality of each suffers greatly as a result.

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Mac OS X

iChat AV supports full screen mode for video-conferences, as well as picture-in-picture. iChat's buddy list automatically displays an icon corresponding with your buddies' level of conferencing support (a phone for audio, a video camera for video, or no AV icon).

iChat's buddy list clearly indicates the AV capabilities of buddies

iChat AV has a number of niceties. It appropriately flips local video left to right, so your own image will behave just like a mirror. When you plug in an iSight and open the shutter, iChat launches automatically. If you're listening to music in iTunes, it will stop when you accept an audio or video invitation. Any currently playing DVD video will either pause or mute, depending on your DVD Player settings.

iChat supports video-conferencing with up to 4 people (provided you meet the requirements - a minimum of a dual 800 MHz G4 to participate, and a dual 1 GHz G4 to initiate a chat session). Rather than having separate windows for each person, each participant is displayed in one window with their video streams angled to create the impression of sitting around a conference table. There's even a reflection below each video stream - very slick.

Video-conferencing with three other people

One-on-one video conferencing is available as long as you meet the minimum requirements of a 600 MHz G3 (and, of course, a broadband connection).

iChat supports up to 10 simultaneous users in an audio-conference.

Audio-chatting makes use of volume indicators to denote who is speaking

Windows XP

Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger are XP's primary audio- and video-conferencing applications. Because Windows Messenger allows video-conferencing over dialup connections, the quality is generally not high enough to look decent in full screen. As such, it attaches video to a sidebar in the main text chat window, treating video as an addition to text chatting rather than a replacement.

Video-conferencing in Windows Messenger - note how video is attached to the text chat window

Fortunately, MSN Messenger offers an improved AV experience. You can choose between one- or two-way audio conversations, one- or two-way video transfer (without sound), or full-duplex video conversations. Although MSN Messenger also allows video-chatting over dialup (and attaches video to a text chat window by default), it does offer full screen as an option. However, no more than two people can take part in a conversation with video at any one time. Like iChat, it can reverse your own webcam feed. MSN Messenger can connect to regular telephones (VoIP calls), for a fee.

Video-conferencing in MSN Messenger

NetMeeting is included in XP for legacy support, and many of its features are now built into Windows Messenger. Its main benefit is that it provides text, audio and video connections across a network, without an active Internet connection.

Phone Dialer is also a legacy product which "lets you make calls with a telephone connected to your computer, through a modem, over a network, through a telephone switch connected to your local area network (LAN), or an Internet address."

The following table summarizes the features of iChat AV, Windows Messenger, and MSN Messenger:

Conclusion

iChat's video quality and number of simultaneous audio- and video-chats far exceeds that of either of Microsoft's offerings. On the other hand, XP users can use MSN Messenger 7 to place VoIP calls (OS X users will need to use Skype, free). XP users can video-conference over dialup, while iChat users cannot.

Mac OS X: 8
Windows XP: 3 (6)

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