Jamie's Random Musings on Video IM
Having spent a good part of the last year struggling with a variety of video chat and IM programs, I have decided to write a few things down and see what other people have to say about them.
Wednesday 21 November 2007, 1:28 PM
First Results - SightSpeed
After several days of testing, I am ready to report some results and opinions on SightSpeed. It has been interesting, enlightening, occasionally frustrating and so far very useful.
As I said in my previous post about SightSpeed, the installation was quick and easy. I installed it on my partner's computer, a rather underpowered Dell with a Celeron CPU and an integrated Intel display adapter, and the "fish tank" test call worked just fine. In fact, if anything, it seemed noticeably better than on my laptop. (Hmmm. This could be troubling, more investigation on this below.) Next, I contacted my brother, on the other side of the world, and suggested that he try installing SightSpeed. The next day I got a SightSpeed video call from him - further proof that installation, setup and use are easy, even if you aren't a seasoned "Video IM" user!
SightSpeed seems to take a rather conservative approach to system configuration, especially in the audio and video devices. First, during the initial setup, it noticed that my webcam (I had a Philips SPC900NC connected at the time) was not one of the "tested and approved" models. The message was pretty clear, though, it basically just said that they didn't know if my webcam would work with SightSpeed or not, but I could go ahead and try. I assume that this is just their way of being conservative, or "covering their rear end", because I tried five different webcams with SightSpeed, none of which were their "approved models", and they all worked just fine. Second, when you start SightSpeed it will notice if your camera or audio devices have changed since the last time it ran, and if so it will ask if you want to run the "setup wizard" or just exit SightSpeed. Hmmm. Those are the only two choices; I would prefer to have a choice that says "yes, I know that it has changed, but it doesn't matter to you so just carry on and be quiet" (or perhaps "Continue" if that is too much text for one button). But again, this is probably just them being conservative and trying to avoid surprising the user. It is fairly common for users to have USB-connected headsets, and if SightSpeed has been set up to use that, and then when it starts the headset is no longer there, what are they supposed to do? The only options are for them to ask the user what to do (i.e. "run the wizard"), or take a wild guess at whatever other audio devices might be present.
Setting up a contact and making a call (either audio or video) is quite easy. The buttons next to the contact names are large and clear, and even have floating "tips" that tell you what they are for if you stop on them with the mouse for a few seconds. Both audio and video quality were good, with the exception of the audio problem on my laptop, explained below. I thought the video choices were sort of at the two extremes, either a rather small window, with good quality, or full screen, with more jaggy lines than I have seen since I last used a Commodore 64! It would be nice to have the choice of a medium sized window with reasonably good video. The default video is 320x240 resolution and 30 frames per second, which is pretty typical of Video chat programs today; if there is limited bandwidth, camera resolution or processing power, they will fall back to 160x120. They will also go up to 640x480 resolution if you have at least 1.5 Mb of bandwidth on both ends of the connection, but I think that kind of bandwidth is still fairly rare today.
Ok, so much for the "good stuff" - I think it's pretty obvious that I am quite pleased with SightSpeed. But it hasn't all been a bed of roses, I ran into a couple of problems. The first, and the biggest, which I mentioned above, was that SightSpeed audio on my main laptop was very choppy. I first thought that this was a general problem with SightSpeed, or perhaps with connecting from far away little Switzerland. But then I realized that my partner's system didn't have this problem, and it is a considerably less powerful system and it uses the same internet connection that mine does. I sent in a support request with all the details, then while waiting for a response I spent some time perusing the SightSpeed User Forums, and when I didn't find anything directly helpful, I posted a request for help there. I am very pleased to say that I got quick and competent responses from both places, within a couple of hours. What a refreshing change from Skype "Technical Support" where you must wait a minimum of four days before even getting an acknowledgment of your query, and then it is generally accompanied my some totally irrelevant or inane suggestions. Unfortunately it appears that the problem is something to do with my laptop, so we haven't been able to resolve it, but the advice and troubleshooting tips I have gotten has been very good.
So, there you have it, the first few days with SightSpeed in a nutshell. They had told me that they wanted to hear the "good, bad and ugly". Well, the good is that I like it, it installs easily, works well and looks good. The bad is that I ran into an audio problem, which apparently is something wrong with my laptop but doesn't appear with Skype or ooVoo, and there seems to be a bit more potential for problems with firewalls that with the other programs. I'm pleased to report that I have not found any "ugly" at all.
For those who are interested, I will follow up with more technical detail in the near future.
jw 21/11/2007
Monday 19 November 2007, 3:25 PM
Moving on - SightSpeed
In response to my first blog post, and probably to my comment on the article about the Skype "High Quality Video", I received an invitation to try SightSpeed. They said "we want you to give your 'no holds barred' comments", so I will - I hope that neither of us end up regretting it!
It was easy to locate SightSpeed, at the obvious web address, and download and installation went smoothly. It was an interesting contrast to Skype, because on one hand, the installation seemed more "user friendly", in that it presented various installation options clearly and in easily understood terms - unlike Skype, which "obscures" the installation options on a separate page which I am willing to wager 90% of the users who install it never even notice. SightSpeed also has "Wizards" to handle the options which might be beyond the capability of ordinary users.
Once installed, it presents a decent looking user interface, but I am obviously going to have some exploring to do in order to figure out what is where, what's possible and what's not, and generally get to really know the program. I particularly liked the "Fish Tank" as a simple audio/video connection test, as a nice contrast to Skype having only an audio test, and an "unofficial" video test that no one seems to find until they are explicitly told about it.
The calling controls seem quite nice, and intuitive as well. All laid out in the initial screen, with video, audio and chat connection buttons per contact very obvious. It certainly should be easier for inexperienced users, and should avoid the constant stream of "how do I start a video call" questions that I used to answer in the Skype forums.
I'm not sure that I like the continuous video preview when SightSpeed is idle, for a number of reasons - first, I don't particularly like seeing myself all the time, second, I'm not pleased with the load that it must put on the computer, and third it adds significantly to the clutter on my desktop. There are various ways to change or disable it, though, and I suppose it is a good indication that your webcam is working (or not).
I should note that I downloaded the "Personal, Free" version, as opposed to the "Personal, Plus", which has a monthly or annual subscription fee - although the features of the plus look very interesting, it is obvious that the marketing and technical people at SightSpeed did their homework, and talked to each other, because the "Plus" features are pretty much what I would be interested in paying for, and they are mostly things that are not included in other "free" video chat programs. I may very well end up shelling out $10 to test the Plus version, if I am happy with SightSpeed Free; in particular it would be nice to see all three of my brothers on screen at the same time. Hmmm. Or would that really be nice. Well, I'll think about it.
Of course, the "Free" and "Plus" versions bring up the other major point that is obvious when you first start with SightSpeed, and which I want to discuss briefly here - cost. Even with the "Free" version, you have (obviously paid) advertisements on the screen all the time, both across the bottom of the SightSpeed main window and in the contact area when you make a call. In some ways it reminds me of using Eudora in "Sponsored Mode". Now, I'm not necessarily against this kind of paid advertising; as Skype seems to be learning the hard way, you have to pay the bills somehow (I guess that's why Skype has gone from a slogan of "The Whole World Can Talk For Free" to "There's More to Life than Free"!). My first impression of the SightSpeed advertising is that it's a bit intrusive, especially the ones that pop up in the contact window, but it's not unbearable. I'll have to see what I think of it after some use - whether it becomes an unnoticed part of the program, as I would like, or whether it is too much "in your face", as it seems right now. It will also be interesting to see if the adverts still come up when running the paid "Plus" version.
So, that's it for first looks. Overall impression: quite positive. Now comes the first "acid tests" - a few calls between some of the systems I have around, including some rather underpowered ones that used to struggle with Skype calls, and tests with various webcams - none of which are the "SightSpeed approved" models, by the way.
jw 19/11/2007
Friday 16 November 2007, 7:07 PM
In the beginning...
I suppose the best place to start here is to get one thing out into the open. I have been a loyal Skype user for quite a long time, starting at a time when it was very useful to me in getting through a time of personal tragedy. However, over the past year I have watched with dismay as, in my opinion, the quality and reliability of Skype went steadily down hill, from one release to the next.
I began helping other users in the Skype User Forums, primarily with Skype Video problems. Over the past six months or so, I have made more than 1,000 posts there, and helped many people get Skype Video working. My motivation was simple; I had used Skype in a time of need, and it had been a tremendous help. I wanted to give others the same chance to benefit from it. So when a lady in Spain who was anxious to video chat with her missionary husband in Africa, or a man in Korea wanted to see his wife and children in America, I was very happy to have been of assistance to them in achieving that.
But I have a penchant for pointing out problems, and apparently a lack of diplomacy, and I have now been banished from the Skype Forums. The point of this initial blog entry is to address that, as I want to make it clear that I am not here only because I "have an axe to grind" with Skype. The stated grounds for banishing me were "done numerous double/triple posting of the same thing under different forums and he has insulted other forum users".
In fact, I made exactly one multiple posting, and that was on the day the Skype 3.6 production release became available. When I found that they had removed the capability to use higher resolution video with any but the "chosen three" webcams, I posted that information to the three Skype forums where I thought the users would be interested in known it - Skype 3.6 beta, where we had been discussing this capability and the possibility that Skype would take it away, Skype Video, for obvious reasons, and Skype for Windows, because it is the most widely viewed of the forums. I believe that the fate of those three postings is illustrative of Skype true motives in banishing me. The beta forum posting was locked and moved to Archive (read as: "oblivion") within less than two hours. The Video posting was locked, with a note about multiple postings and keeping discussion to a single thread, also within two hours of posting. The Skype for Windows posting has disappeared without a trace, which is rather interesting as this is the highest activity forum, so they were apparently anxious not to have that posting seen, and it does bring up some interesting questions about where the "single thread" for comments and discussion is supposed to be, since all three threads are now either gone or locked.
As for "insulting other forum members", I would like to say that in over 1,000 postings, there was never a complaint from anyone whom I was helping with a problem. There were several complaints from other people attempting to post "solutions" when I pointed out that their information was incorrect, misleading or simply irrelevant. As I said previously, I seem to have a lack of diplomacy.
With all that being said, I would like to say one more time, my purpose with this blog is to write about my experiences with a variety of video chat and IM programs, both positive and negative, and not only Skype. I have been using such programs since the very early days of ICQ, I used icuii and eyeball chat in the early days of video chat programs, and I am currently using and invetigating Skype, ooVoo, SightSpeed and others. When there are good things to be said, I certainly will say them. When there are bad things to be said, or hard questions to be asked, I will do that as well.
I hope this blog turns out to be of interest to some people. But if it doesn't, and I am only here talking to myself, so be it - it won't be the first time I have done that, and certainly won't be the last.
jw 16/11/2007
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