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| Face-To-Face Communication |
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More Communications Options July 2000 • Vol.8 Issue 7 Page(s) 126-127 in print issue |
Face-To-Face Communication How To Set Up A Videoconference | ||
Jump to first occurrence of: [VISITALK.COM]  A few years ago, video telephones were going to revolutionize person-to-person communication. However, the Internet happened along the way, and the videophone never really got off the ground. Now, instead of using your telephone to "see" the other callers, you can use your computer to see, hear, and share files with other computer users at the same time. Videoconferencing is here, and it actually works.  Communication Via Computers Videoconferencing is face-to-face communication via computers using Web cameras, microphones, speakers, and communication lines to transmit compressed audio and video data. Participants sit in front of a Web camera and speak into a microphone. As this occurs, the data compresses and transmits to another participant who receives the data by viewing the video on a computer screen and hearing audio via the speakers. The major reason PC-based videoconferencing has taken off in the last couple of years is because of the widespread connectivity afforded by the Internet. You can be just about anywhere and find an onramp to the Internet, whether through AOL (America Online), another ISP (Internet service provider), or a different service provider. The Internet is the backbone of videoconferencing, moving the sights and sounds from one end user to the other. What is nice—and drives the telephone companies crazy—is a coast-to-coast call over the Internet doesn't incur any long-distance charges. You can talk face to face with your family (no matter where they are) for the cost of your monthly Internet service. It is quite a bargain. Bandwidth One thing you need to know about before attempting your first videoconference is bandwidth. Bandwidth is the capacity a network or data connection has for carrying data. Even though videoconferencing does work, don't expect cable TV picture quality out of your PC, especially if you are trying to do this over a dial-up connection. Even using a 56Kbps (kilobits per second) modem, the video can be choppy. To get the best video results from your system, we recommend using a broadband service such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), or a cable modem. You need one of these broadband Internet connections to get smooth video playback. You have to send a lot of information (data) over the Internet, and slower dial-up connections just cannot keep up with all the images. Remember, the more bandwidth, the better. What You Need To get your first videoconference up and running, you have to have the right equipment. For a videoconference, you need a Web camera (a small camera that focuses on one object, such as a person sitting at a computer, and usually sits on top of a PC monitor), an Internet connection, a full-duplex sound card (one capable of recording and playing audio at the same time), and videoconferencing software. (Most computers come with a full-duplex sound card.) For best results and private conversations, we recommend using a headset with a built-in microphone. This helps eliminate annoying echoes your computer's speakers and microphone can cause. The camera. The key part to videoconferencing is the Web camera. There are a number of cameras available and a number of ways of connecting them to your computer. The newest and best cameras connect to your PC's USB (Universal Serial Bus) port. Most computers produced in the last couple of years come with at least one USB port. If your computer doesn't have one, you can add a USB port for less than $40. If you don't have USB or don't want to add it, there are serial and parallel cameras that work nearly as well as the USB models. There is one additional thing to know about USB and your computer: You need to run Windows 95b with USB support, Windows 98, or Windows 2000 to take advantage of the USB hardware. Windows NT 4.0 users cannot install a USB-based camera, even if the hardware is already in the PC. WinNT 4.0 does not have USB drivers and never will. If you must use WinNT 4.0 for your videoconferencing platform, choose a camera that either connects to your serial port or comes with its own interface card. Just make sure the interface card has WinNT 4.0 drivers. (A driver is a program that lets a hardware peripheral communicate with your computer.) Our choice for home videoconferencing is the Intel PC Camera Pro ($99; 877/649-5817, 408/765-6284; http://www.intel.com/pccamera/index.htm). This full-featured USB camera comes with all the features you need to put together a videoconference. Not only does it do normal videoconferencing, but you can also use it to import video into your PC from your VCR, as well as create video postcards and still images for Web sites. The PC Camera Pro comes with everything you need in one package. Know Your Numbers Depending on how you set up your videoconference, you may need to know the IP (Internet Protocol) address (the address of a computer on a TCP/IP [Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol] network such as the Internet) for both your Internet connection and your videoconferencing partner. No matter how you connect to the Internet, whether through a dial-up or full-time connection, you will have an IP address assigned to your computer. You need to know this IP address to establish some videoconferences. If you are running Windows 95 or 98 (Win9x), you can find your local IP address by going to the Start menu, clicking Run, typing winipcfg, and pressing ENTER. This will start a utility that will display the IP address presently assigned to your PC. In the top box, click the down arrow to select the interface connected to the Internet. For dial-up connections, choose the Dial Up Adapter. For broadband users, choose the Ethernet adapter. Your present address will be in the third field down, called IP Address. Make note of this address, you will need it later. (NOTE: For some systems, this method may not work.) Microsoft NetMeeting One of the most popular applications for videoconferencing and online collaboration is Microsoft NetMeeting (free; 800/426-9400, 425/882-8080; http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting). With NetMeeting, you can establish a conference using video cameras. You also can do text chat, transfer files between PCs, share programs, and remotely control another user's PC. If NetMeeting isn't on your PC, download a copy from Microsoft's Web site to your local C: drive (your hard drive) and then start the installation process. Installing NetMeeting isn't any different from installing most other software. You have the choice of an installation directory and the setup wizard takes care of the rest of the process. The first time you run the program, however, you have to supply NetMeeting with some personal information. Depending on your level of paranoia, you may not want to enter your real information in these fields. You also can control whether your information will be in the ILS (Internet Locator Service), which is a directory that lists NetMeeting users so they can easily find each other. In addition, during this initial running of NetMeeting, you can optimize your audio and video settings. Make any adjustments necessary now so NetMeeting can provide your callers with the best possible conference. You have two choices when making a NetMeeting call. You can directly call another NetMeeting user or you can pick one out of the Microsoft ILS. If you want to directly call a user, then you will need to know his or her IP addresses. From NetMeeting, you can type in the person's IP addresses and click the Call button. When the person accepts your call, you will see him or her in your window, and you will be able to start your videoconference. You have the option of seeing yourself next to your videoconferencing partner by clicking the Picture-In-Picture button. This helps you know if you are in frame with your caller. If you need to adjust your microphone or speaker level, click the icon that has the picture of the speaker and microphone on it. You also can mute one or the other by clicking the checkbox next to the appropriate device. When you finish with your videoconference, simply click the button with the picture of a telephone handset and the down arrow. The Future Of Videoconferencing Web sites are trying to make videoconferencing easier to do with the advent of channel or topical chat room formats. In an effort to give videoconferencing some organization, two Web sites, visitalk.com (http://www.visitalk.com) and CU-SeeMe World (http://www.cuseemeworld.com), strive to provide a means of finding other chat partners with similar interests, instead of being limited to only known friends and family.
Though not out of the ordinary, both sites have certain requirements on what software you need to use on their sites. CU-SeeMe World requires White Pines CU-SeeMe software (White Pines sponsors the CU-SeeMe World Web site). The visitalk.com site will let you chat with users of both CU-SeeMe and Microsoft NetMeeting. visitalk.com does, however, require you to install its visitalk.com Connector software to have the realChat feature, as well as other visitalk .com-only features. Most chat rooms are moderated (this means someone monitors the activity in the room) and usually all rooms are G-rated. Both of these sites require you to be a member, but there is no charge for membership. The advantage to using these sites for your videoconferencing needs is you don't have to know your partner's IP address or worry about keeping an address book up to date. You can surf to the sites from anywhere and still chat with your family members or business associates. This flexibility sets these sites apart from general one-to-one videoconferencing. Even though the video-telephone may never have gotten off the ground, videoconferencing with your PC is alive and well. It is still in its infancy, and the quality of your videoconferencing experience depends heavily on the amount of bandwidth you have. However, with some readily available hardware, a little software, and an Internet connection, you can now easily talk face to face over the Internet.  by Keith Schultz |
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