Skype Video

[Jersey Joe]

Does Skype on the NIT allow for video chat? I need to go from the NIT to a PC or LT. From what I've read on these forums it seems that only GTalk NIT to NIT will work or installing other SIP(?) apps like Eyebeam perhaps? Any help will be appreciated.

TIA!

Joe

[Moonshine]

No Skype video on the NIT.

For a video call from NIT to PC you have the following:

1) SIP based using h.263/h.263+ video (PC clients like Eyebeam, linphone, etc)
2) Gizmo Project with PC 4.0 beta software
3) aMSN on the tablet to MSN Messenger on PC

GTalk or Jabber/XMPP to PC would be an option also, *if* there were any PC software that supported jingle-video. It amazes me that there still isn't any out yet.

[brecklundin]

here is a YouTube video demo of an online video call using the N800. I think he is using GoogleTalk but I am not sure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2fhlh3hJs&feature=related

Pretty sweet...then again I dunno anyone with a camera. Us old guys are so out of touch. ;)

BTW, that video has a plug for ITT...

[Jersey Joe]

Thanks Moonshine...I really didn't want to have to tell my contacts to install yet another chat package but I guess I have no choice. Any preference in regards to your list of three options?

Breck...I did see that video which is very cool. Unfortunately NIT to NIT does me no good. Thanks for your help though!

--Joe

[IntrepidAnitpodean2]

whoa, aMSN does it! That's freeking handy. I think it'll be easier to convince people to have MSN running at home rather than a random other SIP client, on the off change that I hit a WiFi hotspot while I'm traveling.

Time to sign up for MSN I guess

[brecklundin]

joe it has nothing to do with NIT-to-NIT it's GTalk to Gtalk...it just so happens they demo'd using two NIT's because, well, they wanted to show how well it worked on both ends.

[IntrepidAnitpodean2]

So Brecklundin, are you saying IT GTalk to PC GTalk does video?

[Moonshine]

joe it has nothing to do with NIT-to-NIT it's GTalk to Gtalk...it just so happens they demo'd using two NIT's because, well, they wanted to show how well it worked on both ends.

Except the GTalk's PC client software doesn't have video capability currently.

Really there is nothing special about GTalk though. It's just Google's branded Jabber/XMPP based service. You could make the same video calls from tablet to tablet over any Jabber/XMPP server really. I've done it with a private Jabber server and it worked well.

If there was PC Jabber software that supported jingle-video (like the NITs use), then it could be done with PCs also.

As for what's *best right now* that sort of depends on what you're after.

Certainly aMSN wins for having the most popular PC client. (MSN messenger) I haven't tried it much, but it does work. The aMSN client is a little heavy on the tablet though, so do expect amazing framerates, etc. It's biggest advantage is that you're using a pretty popular PC client.

Gizmo is rather obscure but it still has presence notfication like MSN which you may want. (ie. user away, online, etc) Video works but quailty isn't the best. I've asked them over and over about the "bandwidth test" it does. Even on massive pipes I get "good" and some low rate selected. Still no answer.

If you are after the best quality video and voice, then SIP is it from what I've seen. It's actually quite good IMO. However most people aren't as familiar and related software like Asterisk, Eyebeam, etc.

I've been using video over SIP mainly though, using Eyebeam on Windows PCs. The only real hitch at this point is that I moved to an n810 recently and am waiting on this to clear up:

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2792

I'd prefer to find a Jabber/XMPP PC client though... still waiting.

[brecklundin]

oh, no kidding? the PC version does not have video? huh, I just assumed it did...geeze, nice move Google...and thanks for letting me know.

sorry fo not checking first...oops!! :)

[Laughing Man]

Well the Linux version of Skype does have video (it's in beta though).

[slip]

All this has got me thinking...what is the use of the camera anyway? So far it seems to be woefully unsupported. If you don't have a friend with an Nokia tablet, there seems to be very little that you can do with the camera at all. You can take stills with the 'camera' application, but that isn't very exciting.

With fun new tools like Qik.com, it would be nice if the webcam on the NITs could do a little more than it does now.

[Jersey Joe]

Agreed...I get the feeling the developers could make this more useful but it must be low priority if it even is on their radar. Since I just bought my n800 I'm guessing the n900 will come out tomorrow and support all video conferencing apps ...and turn on when you want it to :)

[brecklundin]

I have to concur that the camera is really of little use at all. Though I never even thought I would use it as none of the people I know have any grasp of how such a call could work.

It sure would be nice to see some real use of there component though...

And, yeah, since I bought my N800 last week that must mean the N900 s due out any second now. :D