Tele-conferencing

[Tosh McCaber]

I hate typing- that's why my emails are normally so short, (or take forever to type!)

Can anyone with a webcam give me some info on tele-conferencing from home via the net? I was in someone's home last year, and we were conversing with their parents, who live in Canada, via their computer webcam and a mike, realtime. Do you know how I can set this up between my rriends and myself?

Is Broadband needed/ useful? I am on broadband, but some of my friends aren't.

Can it work on different Operating Systems

Advice will be appreciated.

[PPRuNe Towers]

I know that ultimately someone's going to take a swing at me for this but - try a Mac..........

I Chat is built in - not just text but now full broadband video conferencing. Remember to ask the tricky questions they'd rather you didn't out there in the windoze zoo.

Is what they're recommending full duplex/multiplex for sane conferencing just like your own home phone?? The Apple system is.

Additionally us Mac types have internet telephony if the data rate/contention drops too low for decent video.

Did I mention it is free???

[rickity]

The latest MSN Chat can do voice and video, and its free. Daughter managed to set it up so must be easy to do.

good luck

[Ausatco]

I've done voice with MS Messenger. Haven't tried video yet, but I think it will do it.

Free with all versions of Windows.

Edited to add:

I just checked Messenger (had to shut down for a minute due laptop battery, sorry 'bout that, Chief)). It definitely does video conferencing.

Broadband would be the go. The connection is only as good as the slowest link, so if you connected with someone on broadband you'd fly, but a 56k friend would slow things up.

I remember now, that a mate and I tried it a few years ago with 56k dialup. IIRC, 56k was not good enough for voice and video, so we typed and had jerky video! We proved the technical feasibility, but IMO it was pretty poor.

The voice I did in the top paragraph with Messenger was broadband both ends, but my recipient didn't have the camera, hence the voice only. It worked fine. I can't recall if it was full or half duplex; it was just like an international telephone conversation if that helps. A bit of delay or lag, but very clear.

Cheers

AA




AA

[SLF 999]

If its something that you are going to do often, then broadband, but remember it will be better if both parties on the call have broadband. its do-able with 56K but not great.
Get a decent quality cam and mic and you will see the results, I use it either via MSN or Yahoo , both free and its easy to setup

[WeatherJinx]

Towers

As I recall Tosh already has an iMac :ok:

Tosh

Other than iChat, I think Yahoo is the only 'mainstram' IM service that allows videoconferencing on a Mac - albeit with no sound, just text-typing (very easy to set up though). Sounds like iChat is the way to go, providing you are using X..

But how do you fare if you are a Mac user wanting to talk to, say, an AOL user who's using a PeeCee? Anyone know?

Jx

[Tosh McCaber]

WJ,

You're quite right! The problem is that, since I went Broadband,
and the deal(Pipex- superb) came with a PC modem, it's my PC which is presently hooked up to the Web. That is, until I can get a network soution resolved between them (- almost there, but not quite-they can see each other, but won't communicate!!)

Thanks for the replies. I'm just going to buy a webcam, and will let you know how I fare.

PS Should I buy a webcam with a built in mike? eg Logitech QuickCam Messenger or similar?

[SLF 999]

I know a couple of people who have cams with build in mics, and the opinion of them is its better to have the individual units , as they seem to get a better quality on mic, eg less background noise, but I think is a matter of taste, I have never used on myself, so cant comment on ease of setup etc

One other thing to bear in mind is that since you hate typing it might be worth looking at the "speak and type" type software, so you speak and the software recognises the words and types them, a separate mic could be usefull if you want to go that way. Im told that setting up the software can be a bit of a chore but worth it in the end. Just a thought

[Eboy]

Can my PC webcam teleconference with those $2000 corporate video conferencing systems at companies I do work with? If so, how? That would be handy.

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

FWIW Tosh I use standalone cheap webcam, I set the same up at my dear mothers and it is OK for the occasional broken up chat.

If you don't already have it get messenger v6 which just works better than previous versions and is childs play to set up however your partner in chat has to have to same software.

Eboy

If you can get broadband to broadband connection then it really can be as good as overpriced dedicated systems. My brother uses a similar setup to watch his newborn daughter at home when he is at work.

[Eboy]

How do you make the broadband videoconference connection? Do you link tthrough a common third-party web site? Does one somehow "dial" the other over the broadband connection? I have DSL but it does not have a static IP address. It is dynamic. Do I need a static IP address?

THanks!

[SLF 999]

If you are using MSN or Yahoo you just start an instant message conversation with the other person and then you can invite to view webcam and start voice, the other person does the same and you should have a video conf. Sure you dont need a static IP for these services

The other option is to use Netmeeting (from microsoft), Im sure it will probably be on your PC, but dont have very much experience on that.

There are a few sites out there that have chat rooms for cam users , but be aware there are adult and normal types of rooms.

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Eboy

As SLF suggests if you use MSN or Yahoo then IP addresses become unimportant as it resolves it for you.

Netmeeting is OK if you have IP addresses from both ends, there used to be servers that you could connect through but I remember training a guy how to use his webcam some years back when we had to connect through a third party server and the only person about was a guy who had the webcam pointing in the direction of his naked nether regions... We left PDQ