Webcam Private Chat Software?

[eric_darling]

Just bought two USB webcams, so that I can chat live with the family from the office.

The software that comes with these things is pretty limited. I would like to be able to set up a private live chat over the internet from one computer to the other. I know I could use MSN Messenger, but I'm thinking of turning that thing off so that I can avoid pesky junk popups.

Does anyone have any experience in setting something like this up? What software did you use?

[Corey]

I haven't. But several times I have witnessed fairly insensate humans set that up with little or no resulting dolor. So I'm sure it's pretty easy to do once you get a line on it...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Worm]

Eric,

I might not be on track here, but the Messenger service that does the pop-up junk ads is not the MSN Messenger.

The service that is being exploited to do pop-up ads is the Messenger service in Windows that does the Net Send pop-ups for commumications between PCs. Look in your Administrative tools, Services for a service called Messenger, that's the one.

[eric_darling]

What would we do without the Worm around here? Big votes for IR forum participant of the year!

[Worm]

I dunno bout that...

Maybe the person who tends to think they know more than they actually do of the year award.

That sounds a bit more realistic.

[Corey]

Nope, Rush Limbaugh has been working hard on his disinformation skills all year long and has that one locked up for the 9th time in a row.

How about instead, "The person who should really seriously consider changing their socks more often and seems pretty smart and is a good guy except for on those days which he isn't but whom still manages to make cool .dlls yet forgets to put his cereal bowl in the sink." Has a nice ring to it, no?

I'm running for, "The world's angriest vegetarian". I've got my fingers crossed, it's quite an honor.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Worm]

I'm a shoe-in, cept fer maybe that pretty part, unless your talking about my one tooth, it's kinda pretty.

[Corey]

OK fair enough, I take it back then even though it was attached directly to the word "smart" as an adverb and so wasn't actually intended as a standalone compliment, i.e. "pretty" AND "smart"... [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[TJ_Tigger]

I have dont this several times. I used to live in California and the grandparents would talk with the kids over the cam. If you have the persons IP address, you can use NetMeeting. I used to have mine configured so that it would not list me in any of the chat rooms and I had to know the IP address of the person I was calling. For that I used to use ICQ to find their IP address. If you use ICQ or MSN Messenger, you can use both NetMeeting or software like CuSeeMe directly from both software. The other party would also need to have the same IM service and software. NetMeeting is available on most Windows machines, including XP. To find it on XP click on Start: Run, and then type in conf and hit OK. This will launch NetMeeting in XP so you can configure it.

Video chat is easy to use especially if you use IM software as well. NetMeeting works OK for one-on-one chats, and CuSeeMe is good if you are going to have more than one person on the chat. As I said, I used NetMeeting a lot when I lived in California. Used to play yahoo card games with a friend over the internet, and we could see each other and chat the entire time. Worked great.

If you want any help in setting up either software let me know. You are more than welcome to connect to me as well to test your cam. I may need to figure out what port NM uses to get through my firewall, but that should not be a biggy.

Tigg

[kaylward]

Ditto's (or mega ditto's - as I say Rush's name mentioned previously) on NetMeeting. For one on one conferencing with family NetMeeting is good. Advantages: Both sides probably already have it (yes it is in XP, just no icon by default), it should work with your camera.

Potential problems: NAT!!! Both sides need a public IP address to make your life easy. This shouldn't be a problem is both are dial-up, but if you've got a fancy home setup with Cable Modem or DSL you may run into issues.

Go here for lot's of good info
http://www.meetingbywire.com/NetMeeting101.htm

[eric_darling]

Thanks for the update. I've found that Eyeballchat http://www.eyeballchat.com is working very well for my needs. Thanks to all who have responded!

[Lorne]

Eyeball chat...does that have something to do with Bruce's wife? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[eric_darling]

Ouch! [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Corey]

Why not use flash comm server to create your own chat software in AMS??? [evil grin]

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[eric_darling]

I haven't heard anything until now about flash comm server, but did some quick checking, and it looks cost-prohibitive, to say the least. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]