Mac Leopard has a pretty sophisticated video features built in including iChat AV which is a video conferencing application. Imagine the old Jetsons Cartoons where George could see his boss on a video screen when he answered the phone. That’s pretty much how iChat works.
Now, to get started with iChat AV, first make sure your Ethernet cable is connected to your computer. The Ethernet cable is the fat one, not to be confused with the phone cable. You'll also need to have a webcam setup. If your Mac doesn’t have a built in camera, a popular one called iSight connects to your computer with the FireWire cable and mounts on the top of the monitor at eye level. If you're using iSight, make sure the lens is open by turning it to. I’ll be using the camera that’s built into my monitor. Now, you launch the iChat AV program by clicking it's icon down in the dock. Select the body from your listed iChat users and click the camera icon to let the person know that you want to have a conference. Just wait for that person to reply. You will see yourself on the iChat window while you’re waiting and when your buddy accepts your invitation, she shows up live on your screen and the video of you shrinks into the corner and now you can start chatting.
The live audio is connected as well. It's like having a video telephone. If you want to make the video fit the whole screen, click the icon with the two arrows at the bottom of the window. It's like your live size and now you can press the escape key to get this in smaller view. When you want to end the conference, click the red button on the top left corner of the video screen. If you want to close iChat all together, click iChat and choose quit iChat from the menu. I'm going to leave the program open right now. If you're in iChat and someone invites you to a video conference, you'll see a notice pop up on your screen. Just click the notice and click the accept button and you’re joined in the video conference.
Up to four people can be in a video conference at one time. The iChat AV is a great way to stay in touch with friends and family and provides more efficient business meetings by cutting down on travel cost. Welcome to video conferencing in the new millennium.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services