Video chat help

October 10, 2007 6:05 AM

My grandfather read a review of Oovoo last week and wants to get everyone in the fam web cams so we can chat video style. I was hoping to get some input on people's favorite webcams and chat software.

My experience with video-chat thusfar has been on a macbook via ichat, however I have always preferred just using text because I can multi-task whilst chatting. Video conferencing does seem like a nice way to keep in touch though, especially with family members scattered across the country. That being said I was hoping some folks could tell me a bit about their recent experiences and favorite setups.

As far as hardware goes everyone runs XP except for myself and my sister who are both on OS X (I also have a machine running feisty fawn if that helps... I imagine it does not). Also my sister and I are on that ppc tip so there will be no parallels, bootcamp, windows on my mac, etc.

I'm looking for a webcam that has its own mic [maybe the logitech quick cam 5000] and an application we can all run. I've used skype for talking to folks, but never video, and it looks like Oovoo currently runs on Windows only. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

posted by bernsno to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Do you want it to be person-to-person video chat (in which case skype, msn, etc will be fine), or more like a video-conference call?

oovoo (what a grrrreat name) is, according to the website, a conference like service, but I think that'll be problematic if you're trying to conference with more than a few people at once (your limited by the person with the slowest connection).

As for cameras, people swear by logitech, however I'd get a separate microphone (to allow it to be used independent of the camera). The sound is pretty bad on built-in microphones. Garbage-in, garbage-out, etc.

Good on your paterfamilas for taking an active interest in technology.
posted by oxford blue at 8:00 AM on October 10, 2007

IIRC, AIM and AIMPro uses the same video protocol as iChat. That should allow you OSX'ers to communicate with the XP folks without having to get a separate video client for OSX.
posted by chocolate_butch at 9:00 AM on October 10, 2007

I have to recommend skype, hands down. My family is spread over the globe, on 3 continents. With skype, I can call and/or video chat with any of them for free, and with minimal set up. Even the most computer illiterate in the family were able to set up the software and start chattin. (You just gotta go to skype.com, it gives you the correct download automagically, regardless of OS) I'd say that the quality of the connection matches a phone-line. Never here any of the strange echos you get when you call over-seas on the telephone line.

Works great accross platforms too. Dad's on a Mac, moms on a Laptop, and the brothers are on windows machines.
posted by ShootTheMoon at 9:23 AM on October 10, 2007

for group chat video solutions you can all use, look into flash based video conferencing solutions. That makes it easy for everyone to use, the flash player will recognize any video camera or webcam that the OS recognizes... I've used a miniDV cam on my mac plugged in through firewire to chat through flash before. Thats a bit much unless you already have the cam... then it saves you form having to go out and buy a webcam.

If you're looking more for a local client to do to group video chat, CamFrog has both windows and mac clients that seem to be free, as well as a 'Pro' version you can purchase for $50.

and as far as webcams go, on windows ive always been a huge fan of logitech quickcams. find the latest one with all the features you want on logitech's website and then go over to newegg.com and buy it for a little bit less money. for you mac users, make sure the logitech quickcam you get has OS X support... should be listed in the system requirements section of the logitech pages.
posted by hummercash at 9:34 AM on October 10, 2007

chocolate_butch: "IIRC, AIM and AIMPro uses the same video protocol as iChat. That should allow you OSX'ers to communicate with the XP folks without having to get a separate video client for OSX."

FYI, I have a cross platform family and was never able to connect to video chat with my parents using Aim<> ichat. I know it's supposed to work so it may have been a driver/ version problem. PC Skype <> OS X skype has been the best solution for us.
posted by sharkfu at 9:59 AM on October 10, 2007

I've had good luck with skype (parents on Windows desktop, not techies, me with a MacBook, not a techie.) I've also found that skype works great for three-way calls in voice-only mode, but haven't tried conferencing with video.
posted by escabeche at 12:55 PM on October 10, 2007

Nthing Skype! I've used two-way video but not more than that, and multiple-person calls are usually very reliable.
posted by lhall at 10:24 AM on October 11, 2007

Hey there, Bernso, I am actually working on behalf of ooVoo and wanted to address your Mac-addiction. Why don't you check out ooVoo Alpha for the Mac which might help you connect to your family before Christmas. So, please let me know if it helps.

You just to make sure that your Mac is up-to-spec: note: only G4 and up processors, and OS X 10.4 and up.
posted by chrisabraham at 2:59 PM on December 22, 2007 [1 favorite]