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General discussion

Video Chat - Best S/W - Yahoo? Eyeball Chat?

Jul 25, 2005 1:45PM PDT

Hi -
I'm on an out of town job and would like to be able to video chat with my wife and baby back home. I just bought us both logitech cams (which seem to work great) but the problem is software....

There doesn't seem to be any good video chat software available that I can find. We can see each other on Yahoo Messenger (version 6.0) but the speed of the connection is terrible. We can get at best 3 frames per second (tested w/both PC's on the home network) and I know the camera is capable of 30 Frames per second.

We also tried eyeball chat, but it crashes repeatedly and there seeems to be no support for available for it.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!!!!

(setup - home PC is running Windows XP Media center edition -- my laptop is Windows 2000 Pro).

Discussion is locked

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Speed. . .
Jul 25, 2005 10:15PM PDT

Your internet connect speed is the driving factor. A home network speed is far faster than the internet speed. When I tested my web cam on my network It was almost like TV. When I talked to a friend it was like you describe.

What type of connection do you have?

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Horn, my experience
Jul 25, 2005 11:57PM PDT

in using MSN Messenger 7 software (free download). I have much the same setup using Logitech Cams as you. The video is not as good as real time but quite satisfactory... does vary some from time to time. I think conditions on the Internet have an influence on quality at times.

I use MSN Messenger to communicate with a friend a third of the way around the earth almost daily. Using dial-up with 56K Modem connecting at 50+Kbps.

Hope this helps!

Glenn

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I've used all the SW discussed here
Jul 26, 2005 3:27AM PDT

and a few more, and I agree MSN's cam abilities surpass most of the others, and it's free. There are some "pay" services that might be slightly better but not worth the expense.

FWIW, it also seems that some webcams do not work well with anything BUT MSN's SW. This may be important should far-away relatives or friends join the 21st century and want to videophone with you down the road. (FYI, I am no shill for MS, generally don't even use MSN if I can use another service, but the webcam service is the one thing about MSN Messenger I highly endorse.)

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Bglover, thanks for the input...
Jul 26, 2005 5:34AM PDT

I have only used Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger and have been generally pleased with both. So I am glad to see your indorsement and not really surprised. Some question MSN's security but I have never had a problem... I am security conscious and protected as best I know how. I would never click any link appearing in messenger that is not expected or did not know its origin. Never had such an occurance either. {fingers crossed} Grin

Thanks again!

Glenn

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SIGHTSPEED
Jan 10, 2009 7:29PM PST

works for pc or mac on all versions of vista with full screen size viewing as well as quality sound with echo & back ground noise filters for chatting with out useing headsets.