video conferencing in Mac

Y

yokim

Registered
Hello.

This is my first post and it is a question.
I am considering buying a web-cam so that I can talk to my parents who live abroad. I know that MS netmeeting can be used in PC for this purpose. (is there anything else?)
But what shoftware is available in Mac for video conferencing?
Can anybody help me by suggesting a software which can be used both in MAC and PC?

I searched the post and it seems that there are still problems using web-cams in Mac OS X. Which web-cam will be least complicated to install both in PC and MAC?
QuickCam Pro 3000 website claims that it adds video to MS Messenger, AIM, Yahoo IM, but I never saw video conferencing menu in MS Messinger. Does anybody know hot to do this? OR is it better to use some other software for video conferencing?

I'd appreciate your help very much!

Thanks,
 
The new Yahoo Messenger for OS X supports webcams between Macs and Windows .. however you can't talk yet, you have to type.
 
Thanks guys.

By the way, can a digital video camera work for video conferencing?
I thought about it I don't see why not...
Is it just because no driver is available?
 
Not sure how many other flash fiends there are here.. but I've been playing with this stuff lately:
http://psychlonex.dyndns.org/~john/who/videoconference.html

Pretty cool stuff -- and more importantly-- cross platform.. and you can put it on your website! How much easier does it get? I've also made standalone versions that run just like regular apps for osx, classic and of course windoze. If we had a unix version... we'd be rockin!
J5
 
Many camcorders have a USB connection that supports video conferencing with NetMeeting, but I'm not sure how that would work on OS X - though I have a new camcorder coming in any day (Sony DCR-TRV27) and will try it out and let you know (little bit more pricey than a web cam!!!).
 
Is there netMeeting for the mac?
I'm gonna have to check that out if there is!

J5
 
Hey J5 - we keep meeting in different posts this afternoon!

Nope, no NetMeeting for Macs, never was and probably never will be. It is heavily tied to Windows and IE, plus I'm sure they don't want to give Apple too much.
 
hehe - I didn't think so! I saw something about timbuktu -- but this flash stuff is way cooler (to me, being a flash geek!).

Check it out if you have a cam.. even if you don't you should be able to see mine if I'm in there. I'll be around for another hour or so and then I have to go out for a while.

J5

Ps - I'd be interested in anyone's experience using the flash vid-conference... ie:

did your camera work?
If yes/no - what sort of camera? firewire, usb, etc

What sort of performance did you get?

With this stuff-- I'm thinking I can do everything netMeeting can with the exceptions of program sharing and file sharing... although file sharing may actually be possible with a little work..

So if you do check it out-- post here what you think, or email me with your opinions/feature requests/etc.

Thanks!
J5
jrobinso@nycap.rr.com
 
J5 - I saw you - baseball cap on backwards, blue curtains in the background and I could hear some typing now and then, but not all the time? Your image is a little dark.
 
Hey --
I just noticed that you had stopped in.. I wasn't paying any attention. That was me! I have a big window behind me.. so's I look pretty shadowy during the afternoon hours. :)

J5
 
Sorry I couldn't stay around - I'm too busy talking to ATI about problems with 10.2 and the Radeon 8500...

So this was all done in Flash? When I get my camcorder I will check it out to see if I can be visible.
 
Good deal -
Hope you get it sorted -- that's a major letdown to buy something and have it not work.

Drop me an email if you want to check it out and I'm not in there. I'm usually around.. but not always in the conference.

J5
 
After trying several programs, I find that the only software that acttually works is Yahoo IM.

I bought a Logitech quickcam pro 3000 and installed IOsomething's driver. Once this is installed, quickcam works in Yahoo IM, but only 30 min. a time. In OS 9, logitech driver works fine with Yahoo IM.

Although I don't want to pay >20 bucks for a third party driver for the quick cam, it looks like this is the only option... in OS X. This is weird since in windows world, people hardly pays for the driver programs... oh well...

I tried MSN and netmeeting with quickcam. I find that this is not very good because if the other party is behind a IP router (software or hardware), netmeeting is not able to find the person.. most of the time.

since I am using a IP router and people that I want to talk to are also using a IP router, I guess I am stuck with Yahoo IM.

do you guys know any otther way?
 
Yokim -
The flash-based video/audio conferencing works well with macs.. although a bit slow on some older macs. I'm running 300mhz, and it's quite usable for me. Unfortunately but not suprisingly, the pc I had running the flash communication server has decided to die. Go figure.

Although I don't want to pay >20 bucks for a third party driver for the quick cam, it looks like this is the only option... in OS X. This is weird since in windows world, people hardly pays for the driver programs... oh well...
Click to expand...

There is another driver you can try, it's not perfect, but it does work.
http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/

Also - you are right.. in the windows world, or even in the mac world I've never paid for a driver. Usually the driver comes on a cd that you get when you plunk down $100 for X hardware. Seems Logitech doesn't mind taking my $100 but providing a driver for osx is something their programmers can't handle. Call or send them an email and complain!

J5
 
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