No, probably not what you're thinking....

Long story short: my 13 and 15 year old boys are moving to California with my ex-wife while I stay in Austin. I want to be able to do video calls/chat with them once they move so we can see each other, and so that their 4 year old sister can interact with them.

I know nothing about video chat.

The own Apple macbooks, and I'm strictly Dell. So Apples and Windows. They'll have high speed internet access as do I. I actually own a logitech camera that hasn't really gotten used in the 2+ years we've owned it. Their macbooks have a camera built in.

So... looking for advice, both hardware (if necessary, the existing camera may be obsolete for all I know) and software, applications, services, etc. Advice from anyone with experience on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks!
Rich

Any webcam will do. The newer ones have fancier features like head tracking which can be interesting, aggravating and with buggy software downright impossible.
I've found the simplest cams the best. Newer cams tend to have better resolutions though, higher capture rates.

We use Skype for videoconferencing with family members. Have for years now.
Free, decent audio and video. Software works right through firewalls, no issues with XP SP2. I have a router and run Zonealarm as well.

http://www.skype.com/

Sorry to hear about the pending move, but here's hoping the videoconferencing makes 'em seem like they're right there with you...

You're right, I was somewhat disappointed to find out the true content of this thread...

Ray had some experience using a PS3 for this that I thought was interesting.

Good approach, Rich. You'll be in my thoughts.

I'm no help on the videoconferencing, but my heart goes out to you. I am lucky that way. My ex is a hombody and is extremely unlikely to ever move.

I hope the video conferencing works out.

iChat on OSX is perhaps the simplest way to do video chat, though if Skype works too you wouldn't have to upgrade your Dell to an MBP, though of course I'd still recommend that.

Fred, medic8r, and all--

Thanks for your kind thoughts. I didn't mean to make it melodramatic, and perhaps I should have omitted the personal details. But this forum feels like family, so I was just sharing.

I've been divorced for 9 years now, and we have had a perfectly fine working relationship. We've always made a point of working together in the best interests of the boys. The ex is a professor, and I always knew that this kind of a move was a possibility. It sucks, and I'm not happy about it, but all I can really do is make the best of the situation -- and not put the boys in the middle of this.

And Anthony11, let me give you a hint about why Dell systems: I live in Austin, I work for a computer HW company, the company's name has 4 letters, and it starts with a "D".

So I appreciate all of the advice. We'll have to start the testing immediately while they're still local. Gotta go ping Ray about the PS3 thing. Sounds interesting!

Rich

I gave my mom a Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 that I was barely using, and she uses it with Skype. She seems fairly happy with it.

In the past I've used the Xbox 360 with its webcam to share Christmas with my sister and her family, as they also had the 360 w/ webcam. It's kind of cool for that, since then you're sharing living rooms and not computer rooms.

That's the whole of my experience.

This article does not conform to Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy.

Bren R.

Lucky por moi that we're not on Wikipedia here

Skype works very well. Never used it with a Mac user on the other side though. I suspect their pony tale would constantly be whipping around knocking the latte smeared lens of the camera off angle anyways.

snicker.....

Ça plane pour moi...

The Mac user would spell better, though :p

I resemble that remark. Although my Macbook is merely coffee stained, not latte stained.

I'm a Skyper, too. In fact my obnoxious raspberry photo was taken with my Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. It's a very good camera, with built in microphone, and I feel comfortable recommending it. There is another, the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision SE Webcam which looks pretty good and may be superior to the 9000.

Wow, Plastic Bertrand. That's a blast from the past! And I'm still not sure I've ever heard 2 people agree on what it really means.

Rich

I bought the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 and 5000 (before the moving orb version) for the grandparents.
They've worked well.
I got my Creative Labs PCcam 600 about 8 years ago on eBay for $40. Still works fine.
The motion software works great. I caught our old cat eating my office plants with it and figured out whyre all the cat litter rolled dung logs were disappearing.
Silly dogs.

I have video.
Maybe i'll post it later.

Just tried Skype when I couldn't get iChat to work for video from my hotel. Worked like a charm, no real configuration needed. I understand that I could get much better quality with some tweaks, but it let me see my son tonight, which makes me happy.

Great info as always from this board. Thanks everybody. Got a starting point, and we'll test it out this weekend.

Thanks again, this one really means a lot to me.

Rich

You out of town Ken?

The grandparents get to see the kids almost every other week via Skype. It has been fantastic. Unfortunately my father lives in a land of no high speed, dial up only so he's limited to viewing when on hiatus down in Texas over winter.
Ironically enough during the remainder of the year he's about 45 minutes from the Axiom factory though so i have another reason, besides the spa, to hit the area sometime in the future.

Yeah, I'm in Dallas. Leaving tomorrow morning.

Did you get to meet Debbie?

Hey .. I was in Dallas last week for a few days.

Err... no.

Wouldn't she be, like, 60 or something now?

If you go back again, I have a restaurant for you.

That calls for a "ba domp pssht"!

Good one, Chess.

It's that damn Bravo channel.
All these late night shows.

I think you get a different Bravo channel than I do...

You sure it wasn't the Tette e Culi channel?

No but it really should be renamed the T&A channel.