Tech Tuesday: how to video chat with multiple users

With high-speed broadband connections becoming a normal expectation and even phone companies that use VoIP (voice over IP) to make phone calls through the Internet, video conferencing and video chat is coming online for the masses too. Just in time to deal with escalating gas prices. The Los Angeles Times article, Envisioning a world of $200-a-barrel oil: As forecasters take that possibility more seriously, they describe fundamental shifts in the way we work, where we live and how we spend our free time, has noted this:

Dramatically higher transportation costs would usher in an era of virtual mobility, or zero mobility, for many workers. ... Videoconferencing, touted as "the next big thing" for years, would finally have its day, thanks to improved technology and a desperation to cut corporate travel budgets.

Had scheduled a future post about this topic, but didn't set the date right and it went live while I was on vacation and I didn't catch it. My apologies for sending out a blank post. Enough with my mea culpa. On to the topic at hand.

How can you video chat? Most of the instant messaging softwares have 1-to-1 video chat, i.e. Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN Messenger. The two most popular softwares are probably Apple's iChat and Skype's video chat. (Apple used to show the iChat screen where you had 4 video chats going all at once, but finding an image to post here was quite difficult.)

Having tried to use Apple iChat for a 2-way and 3-way video chat, I quickly realized that bandwidth was a big challenge, and I was either not getting a good connection or getting fuzzy images. 2 years ago, I was trying to find a video chat program that would work reliably cross-platform between PC and Mac. There are several out there -- 2 other cross-platform video chat softwares have endured the test of time, SightSpeed and iVisit.

In the multi-user video chat software category: there's ooVoo, which supports up to 6 users, and SightSpeed, which has a version that can support up to 9 users!

Now, video chat by software is great, but what would be even better is something that doesn't require a software download and install. Adobe Flash player supports webcam broadcasting, like what's used for streaming/recording on YouTube and uStream.tv, so why not multi-user video chat?

Here's what I'm looking for: [1] multiple users (at least three), [2] no software installation needed (cross-platform), [3] free. I've found several that seem to fit the bill: stickam.com and Userplane Webchat 2, and Chatablanca. [caveat: inappropriate content may occur on open video chat rooms, and Stickam may still be sorting thru controversies.]

Haven't tried them all out; have you? What do you think? Anything else you'd recommend?

With multi-user video chat, the web can connect people even more than words in an instant text messages, email, or blog. Granted, you'd probably want high quality video if you're using it for a staff business meeting, but for personal use with friends and family, or a small group for Bible study or prayer, multi-user video chat is a great way to connect!

-- DJ Chuang, Director at Leadership Network

Comments

[Chris S.]

I joined Tony Steward a few weeks back while he was testing out the capabilities of Stickam. I had not been to that site in quite a while and I was impressed with the improvements that they had made. It looked like there could be up to 7 people via video. I would suggest going wired though for a video conference to avoid any possible glitches with a wifi signal.

[Ustreamtech]

Just happened to cach your post and though I would share some info with you, multi person video chat is actually easy with Ustream, One way is to use the co-host feature and bring in up to four cohosts onto your stream, of course everyone has to have a Ustream account. But it is all Flash based, another is to set up your friends as Partner shows and chat with them concurrently or go to another Ustream property at www.streamingrooms.com and set up a streaming room for all your attendees.. just some ideas..

[Ben Pun]

DJ, I've used Apple Ichat, Skype and Ivisit, all for just 2-person videoconferencing. Ichat crashes after about 10-15 minutes pretty consistently; it simply disconnects for some reason. Skype doesn't crash, but the video is a little choppy sometimes. I've used Ivisit twice, and it hasn't crashed and the video/audio quality seems to be better than both Ichat and Skype. However, Ivisit is not as user-friendly as Skype and Ichat, but most people will be able to figure it out.

[Jarrod Skeggs]

The thing to remember when video chatting is that the more bandwidth you and those at the far end have, the better the quality of the audio and video will be. I'm a long time Mac user and have had good success doing 3 and 4 way video chats with Apple's iChat application when sitting on the backbone or close to a big fiber run but with standard DSL and cable modem speeds, a two way is about all you'll get with decent quality.

[David]

DJ It sounds like you are after something similar to several videoconferencing sites I've recently been using for review. (Hopefully I'll get around to publishing that review.)

http://mebeam.com
http://orgoo.com
http://tokbox.com

Of the three, I really like TokBox. It feels very mature, has an intuitive design and seems to be well-cared for by the devs there. I like the applications that make me passionate about using them and TokBox really does just that.

With that said, only MeBeam really offers a dead-simple solution. (Though, TokBox goes a long way to make things simple as well.) Unfortunately, that makes your caveat quite true in the case of MeBeam. As long as your URLs are very long and preferably alphanumeric, you should be ok. But I don't like the lack of guarantees with that.

TokBox is next simplest, a close second. Once you set up an account, it is as easy as sending your "public" URL. I won't be on until later this evening, but hit me up anytime. http://tokbox.com/davidrussell You don't even need a TokBox account if you hit that link. Like other services, it will find your cam if you have one and connect up. If you decide to sign up, you can leave video mail messages for others who are offline. It feels a lot like a web-based Skype, which is quite cool.

Orgoo seems nice. The quality of the video in particular seemed above the curve. But they seem to have a lot more going on as a company and don't exactly focus on the video side. It seems like a great app for chat and email with video as a side dish. Still worth a shot as I liked it over MeBeam (for reasons other than simplicity, where MeBeam shined.)

There is also http://live.yahoo.com, but again it's a little more in the public space which can be problematic. If anything, make sure your privacy settings block your page from being published in the public timeline (unless you actually want that.)

[djchuang]

Thanks for all the comments! Great set of links in one place for those looking for different ways to video chat.

Yes, bigger bandwidth and faster internet connections will get better quality on video chat/ conferencing. Those are mostly available for business use. I think the game changer will be when multi-user video chat is accessible to the masses. I think ustream.tv may well be that "first mover" with its streamingrooms.com

[djchuang]

Love the idea of streamingrooms.com - signed up today and tried to get it to work several times, several different ways, but couldn't get it to pick up my (or anyone else's) live Ustream.

Have anyone else got it working? (I know there are other rooms there already that look like they're working)

[Ben Pun]

the free version of iVisit only supports 2-way videoconferencing. I think it costs $50 to get more than 2-way videoconferencing. I just downloaded Oovoo, and I think you can talk to up to 3 others for free.

[Teleconferencing]

I’ve heard about Courts using video conferencing technologies especially in the rural areas and villages. Even though it’s an expensive approach but it’s a great way for developing these areas.