Ralph Johns UK

"You can only see the green camera icon next to a PC buddy name in your iChat buddy list if your buddy's PC camera is ON and working AND YOUR CAMERA is on and working.

This picture is of a iChat 2.x Buddy list. It would look the same in iChat 3 if you do not have the Specs for Multichatting or all your A/V Buddies were on PCs

(NOTE: As explained in the FAQ links below, audio between Mac and PC is only supported using video <Edit 26/08/2007> (In AIM 5.5 and AIM 5.9). This has now changed in AIM 6.1 </Edit>. Camera icons disappear when you disconnect your firewire or USB camera from your Mac).

So first,

• Is your iSight camera on and can you see a camera icon next to your name in the Buddy List?
• If not, make this happen first.
  
  EDIT: This may involve Setting the Enable items in the Video Menu in iChat as well as turning an external camera On

If iChat is active - and you have your iSight camera working, - you can click on the camera icon (to the right of your name in the upper, gray part of your iChat Buddy List - your Buddy Pic is further right again.) and a window will open. You will now be able to see what your iSight camera sees. If this works, you KNOW your camera is working.

Edit: is is the same preview as seen in the Video section of the iChat Preferences found in the iChat menu.

If your camera is on and working but there is no green camera icon next to a PC buddy's name in your iChat Buddy List, either

1. The PC buddy's camera is not working, or linked to the AIM Application
2. You have not got the Show Video Status selected in the View menu
(or possibly you have connectivity or firewall problems).

Solutions and Checks.

• Check your girlfriend has her camera plugged in and turned on.
• Try taking your Airport Express Base Station (or any other router) out of the loop and plugging your Mac directly into your modem, or try turning off any firewalls to see if your problem goes away. If it does, you know where your probem is. If not, you will likely need to do some reading.
• Check they have selected the camera in their Application's Preferences
  1. Press F3 in AIM 5.5 or AIM 5.9 and go here to message 570
  2. Press F7 in AIM6.1 and go to the Advance IM button then the camera selection
• Check the iChat Video Menu and that the "Camera Enabled" item is ticked.

If you are new to iChat or Macintosh, you will find the answers to lots of common questions here Starting Up iChat (It was a link to this site and now points to the Starting Up page). EDIT: In fact go to Ryan's Pages for another view of the Start up Proceedure

Connection speed is not always as high as promised. Actually check your connection speed using the link provided (EDIT: Now points to a list of Speed test sites within this site. There is also a list under this yellow section. ). Note the uplink and downlink speeds and post back (click on the little black, curved arrow in the upper right part of this window) the results (EDIT: This is a reference to how the reply posts work in the Apple Discussion pages)

If you have already read the Basic helps, or if they are too "Basic", you should next read iChat AV Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), starting with What do I need to start in iChat ? .
Then check out How do I Get Video and Audio Chats with PCs ?
Assuming your PC buddy has a compatible camera properly connected, pay particular attention to the instructions concerning the extra XP file that may be needed and to "Tuning" the camera and mic. (Tuning is accesssing the AIM applications Preferences and matching the camera and mic to the app. See message #570 in that link)

(Edit: Refering to the Video File in the above paragraph. It is at Add on AIM Video File Grab the aimrtc12.exe file from the list.
Second Edit: For Windows XP users having trouble with starting out. This was certainly needed more for Windows 95 and 98 but seems less needed in XP, particularly Service Pack updated versions. The file is now found on a FTP server. Clicking on the named file will download it.)

If the problem persists, read the FAQ titled How can I get my router to work with iChat?

This should be enough to give you plenty to try tonight. Post here at the Apple iChat Discussions if you are still having trouble.
EDIT: Note. The above paragarph has had the links edited to the New Discussions at Apple. The last link is the Category Level where you can select either the iChat 2.x or iChat 3 Dicussion areas

If you still have problems after you read and follow the suggestions in the above links, post back with your connection speed info and all the specifics you can find about your router and your PC buddy's router. Also tell what things you tried since your original post. Include as much specific information as you can. It will increases the speed and quality of the help you will get.

Mr. James Weston, our connectivity expert, and (edit: it said my name but you are here), who writes the FAQs here (At Apple FAQs), may have specific suggestions to help you. If either of these two gentlemen offers help, use it over mine any time (and every time.)

Good Luck!"

If the SP2 firewall is enabled:

1. Go to Start>Control Panel>Security Center>Manage security settings for: Windows Firewall>Exceptions tab> add or check UPnP Framework as an Exception.
   (EDIT: You can go straight to the Firewall Control Panel [Start>Control Panels>Firewall if in Classic Mode of the XP display] )
2. Select UPnP Framework and click the Edit... button.

(EDIT: 2a Use the Add Button and Add the AIM appliction.
This is AIM for 5.5 or 5.9 and AIM6.exe for AIM 6.1
Or use the Applictaion name you want to allow such as Trillian
3. Be sure that both the TCP 2869 and UDP 1900 ports are checked and listed as 'Any' under Scope. (refers back to the UPnP entry).
4. If the Scope of each port is listed as 'Subnet,' click the Change scope... button, and select the 'Any computer (Including those on the Internet)' radio button. Do this for both ports, and then save the changes by clicking the OK buttons.

For Basic AIM set up go here for the work by Hanspeter Tschupp at Pan Flutes
These WEB blog entries also detail how to run down the 'Tuning' Listed by EZ Jim.