Saturday, April 21, 2007

Web cam

When you have a web cam, and you have a broadband internet connection, sometimes you don't mind if you share your life with other people, or your room. I have tried tons of software. This is for a pc with Windows. This is a list with the best solutions listed from top to bottom.

MSN Live Messenger is the best I would have to say combine with Messenger Plus! Live Alot of people have a lot of bias toward anything Microsoft comes out with. But this is the best way to share the camera with your friends. It's free and easy to use. Sign up with a hotmail account, install the Messenger Plus! Live software so you don't have to click answer the call when someone wants to start a video call, you don't even have to be there. Friend can see if your there or not. You can place things in the share folder and it synchronizes your folders to match. You can send nudges and winks which is kind of interesting and annoying when your friends decide to bomb you with it. Although it comes with advertisement, small price to play. You can see who your friends are with this thing, like who added you. Kind of prevent stalker kind of way.

Netmeeting was one of the first softwares I tried. Should be on all windows pc. It works in a way but becomes a hassle with all the security issue, firewall, opening ports and such forth. For netmeeting you need to be there to answer the call, and a user ip address. Because there isn't a central server to log on to it becomes a hassle. I would assume the quality is greatest with this since it connects ip to ip, without much overhead.

Yahoo Messenger, not bad, but comes tied with the chat window, even though video window comes apart. The software seems to be intensive, slows the computer. I had to use this for a while before I tried the Microsoft Messenger Live. Not bad if your friends are on Yahoo.

Camfrog is strange because it's a community based, it sort of froze my computers a couple of times, not very good, good if you want to meet exotic new people as the chat room allows you to share your camera with lots of people. Downside is it cost money for the better features as viewing in better quality. Connects to a central server.

I also tried alot of other ones, don't remember as they weren't really what I was looking for. Messenger Live was by far the best one, made better with Messenger Plus! Live on both ends. Allows you to initiate video without the person there. You can send message if the other person isn't log in yet, and your friend will receive it when he signs on. You can play games with your friends if your bored. Whiteboard, there are a lot of features. Too many to name, but I haven't tried them all, since video call is the features is the bridge the distance between your friends and family.

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