Datasheet

15
Product Guide
Mac OS X Tiger
iChat AV
Mac OS X Tiger takes the innovative one-to-one audio and video conferencing intro-
duced in Panther to the next level with multiway conferencing. With iChat AV, you can
now video conference with up to three friends and audio conference with up to nine
friends over the Internet—with the same high-quality full-screen video, crystal-clear
full-duplex audio, easy-to-use interface, and effortless setup that have set iChat apart
from the competition.
1
Multiway Video Conferencing
Until now, video conferencing for the rest of us was the stuff of the Jetsons. Early
efforts delivered small, poor-quality, low-frame-rate video with one-way audio, rein-
forcing the perception that video conferencing was not yet a reality. iChat AV changes
everything. It is the first computer-based video conferencing application to leverage
the convergence of broadband Internet and increased processing power to deliver
high-quality video conferencing over the Internet.
High-quality digital video cameras with fast FireWire interfaces provide pristine, origi-
nal source video. PowerPC G4 and G5 processors handle the demanding task of com-
pressing and decompressing video on the fly; this allows iChat to send more video
data across the Internet and display more video frames per second, resulting in vastly
improved picture quality and the capability for multiperson conferences. Graphics
cards with onboard processing capabilities, together with Apple’s OpenGL-powered
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Source: How to Forecast Consumer Technology Adoption,
Forrester Research, Inc., October 2004.
U.S. broadband adoption rates
U.S. households (in millions)