Webcams and other fun stuff
Yeah, it's a slow day at work today...
Wifey and I have been going back and forwards over the last few days trying to get some semblance of video conferencing working. I'm on a PC and he's on a Mac. I'm using a Logitech Quickcam Orbit and he's using an iSight. Overall my Logitech experience has been a really fucking annoying one. It took me over 3 hours to get the bitch installed and working right through a sub-par installation routine and even worse support. Eventually I figured out that you shouldn't try to install it when the camera's on top of its little stalk thingy, you have to have it on the base unit. Gawd knows why.
After playing around with lots of different options
:: Aol instant messenger worked for VC'ing Dave, not for Adam though
:: Yahoo webcam sucked, terrible frame rate
:: Trillian Pro 3 isn't quite mature enough to have decent webcam support yet.
It seemed that we were doomed to fail due to the differences between PC and Mac. Not so though! Today we found a decent shareware program in the form of iVisit. The interface is somewhat clunky to get used to but once you figure it out, it works well. Unfortunately they don't give you the ability to set up video conferencing 'homes' or the ability to message more than 1 person at a time without the purchase of their 'plus' account, which is around 40 bucks per year. If this was a 1 time cost, I would probably buy it - but a recurring maintenance stream makes me want to hold off. Probably until iSight comes out properly for the PC, whereupon all will be at peace with the world.
Hence, I'm writing today to those of you with webcams, fire them up and download this software. Who else is out there? Would be neat to chat to you guys while I can actually see you. I'm Phyxie.1896@ivisit.net on there. Look me up!
Wifey and I have been going back and forwards over the last few days trying to get some semblance of video conferencing working. I'm on a PC and he's on a Mac. I'm using a Logitech Quickcam Orbit and he's using an iSight. Overall my Logitech experience has been a really fucking annoying one. It took me over 3 hours to get the bitch installed and working right through a sub-par installation routine and even worse support. Eventually I figured out that you shouldn't try to install it when the camera's on top of its little stalk thingy, you have to have it on the base unit. Gawd knows why.
After playing around with lots of different options
:: Aol instant messenger worked for VC'ing Dave, not for Adam though
:: Yahoo webcam sucked, terrible frame rate
:: Trillian Pro 3 isn't quite mature enough to have decent webcam support yet.
It seemed that we were doomed to fail due to the differences between PC and Mac. Not so though! Today we found a decent shareware program in the form of iVisit. The interface is somewhat clunky to get used to but once you figure it out, it works well. Unfortunately they don't give you the ability to set up video conferencing 'homes' or the ability to message more than 1 person at a time without the purchase of their 'plus' account, which is around 40 bucks per year. If this was a 1 time cost, I would probably buy it - but a recurring maintenance stream makes me want to hold off. Probably until iSight comes out properly for the PC, whereupon all will be at peace with the world.
Hence, I'm writing today to those of you with webcams, fire them up and download this software. Who else is out there? Would be neat to chat to you guys while I can actually see you. I'm Phyxie.1896@ivisit.net on there. Look me up!
posted by CatSpit at
3:34 PM
