How do I set my mom up with a webcam for chats with the grandkids?

January 21, 2009 7:03 AM

How do I set my mom up with a webcam for chats with the grandkids?

My mom has an HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop. I want to buy a webcam and mail it to her for her birthday. She likes new gadgets, but neither of us knows anything about video chats and I want to keep it simple. How should I do this?

We both have decent Internet connections, and we're both in the US. I have an iMac with a built-in camera. My only experience with video chats is using iChat and my .mac account.

Is there a company I should sign her up with ahead of time? Do I need to have an account with the same company?

What application would we use?

Any recommendations for specific webcams for her?

Any other advice? I want to make this as close to "Open box, plug in camera, talk to grandkids" as possible.

posted by The corpse in the library to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Best answer: We all use skype in my family. Just go to skype.com and follow the download prompts - it's really easy. I know that with the Mac, Skype will just find your camera and start using it immediately. I don't know about PCs, but I assume if you get a webcam that plugs into USB, then skype will just find it. My sister uses a PC and she said setting up her external webcam and getting it to work with skype was incredibly easy. Skype is free and fast. We love it.
posted by billysumday at 7:09 AM on January 21, 2009

Another vote for Skype.

We bought my wife a Logitec QuickCam® Communicate MP for her laptop and the installation was quick and easy. The lens on this model will give you a wider angle view than those built into most latop computers, which is nice too.
posted by imjustsaying at 7:16 AM on January 21, 2009

Seconded.
posted by jragon at 7:16 AM on January 21, 2009

Since Google Chat added their video feature, I've been using that with the rest of my family. You can use it via gmail and

It's a quick install, and the noise/echo cancellation is good enough to use with my MacBook Pro's built in speakers and microphone without any tinkering or extra hardware.
posted by SpecialK at 8:07 AM on January 21, 2009

My wife and I bought camera's for her parents since her dad was travelling a lot in a new job, set them up with Skype (we had the benefit of being there over the holidays to actually install it), and away they went. Skype is great. Other options may be easier on one end to use (I'm thinking Gmail video chat since it's integrated and all, but if they don't use Gmail that's pointless), but Skype is a great all-around tool. Also consider installing Logmein Free on her computer so you can take control and run the install and setup yourself since you can't be there in person.
posted by genial at 8:09 AM on January 21, 2009

nthing skype, mainly because my parents use it all the time and so does my Aunt, and they are all in their 80s and my Aunt is in Australia and her and my mom are particularly clueless about computers, yet they got the webcam set up and skype installed all on their own. It works fine to Australia and my sister in France and it has been great for them to be nattering away to each other all the time and yet they never call me.

You can text from skype as well which can be an advantage sometimes. Just don't use the webcam in your library.
posted by Rumple at 9:05 AM on January 21, 2009

Skype has really good abilities to bridge different firewalls and cross platform (mac/pc) with little difficulty.
posted by filmgeek at 9:54 AM on January 21, 2009

Another Skype family. In anticipation of an interstate move away from my parents, we bought each set of grandparents a Microsoft LifeCam 5000 for Christmas. Even though we live, as yet, only 25 miles away, we already do video calls with the less tech-savvy grandparents via Skype. Occasionally we have to say "did you hit 'Start my video?'" but that's the only major issue we've had.

(Oh, and the LifeCam drivers wouldn't install on my parents' computer from the disc or download but when I plugged it in in frustraiton, it worked immediately. I don't know why/how.)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 10:22 AM on January 21, 2009

Another vote for Skype + an older $20 webcam from eBay.
posted by fracas at 11:11 AM on January 21, 2009

See my comments on previous similar posts:

http://ask.metafilter.com/108078/Moms-first-grandchildcam

http://ask.metafilter.com/101755/How-to-watch-shows-together

I still like TokBox and use it frequently with Meebo (Meebo.com - web-based IM Chat client)

I used TokBox to let my mom watch and talk to her grandkids all Christmas morning just last month.

Also Seconding logmein.com as it's very easy to setup and configure initially, and saves SO MUCH hassle later on when you are trying to help out over the phone.
posted by emjay at 12:13 PM on January 21, 2009