On Monday 11 March 2002 09:36, you wrote: > I have set up video conferencing on windows machines but not linux. This > was a college project from 2 years ago -- I'm not a pro -- that I set up > videoconferencing among 4 homes over the Internet. But I did learn a few > things. Are you using wine? Not sure which cameras would work with linux. > Intel makes a decent camera -- it's the common one you see in the stores -- > which is what we used. Aside from compatibility issues, I can offer some > general advice. From all the reviews I read, there's not much difference in > performance among the low-end cameras. More expensive cameras come with a > pci card that increases performance, but it doesn't sound like you will > need that. Most, if not all, low-end *new* cameras use usb. I think any new > video camera will work fine, if you have usb on your linux machines. Some > older cameras use the parallel port, but that is a slower interface and usb > is much better. I always suggest a wintv card and your home video cam. by far the best color and speed, and you can use the same setup to save your home movies to cd, with a CDwriter.
> Another consideration is the connection between your computers. As long as > your home network uses ethernet, you'll have plenty of bandwidth. I know > that there are alternatives out there for home networking, but the more > bandwidth you have the better. Even with a 56K modem with a good > connection, you get decent results. But with ethernet (and good lighting, > see below) you can get flawless videoconferencing. Since you're not going > across the internet, fortunately, you won't have to worry about latency, > which can be a problem when using microphones. For microphones, I suggest > that you get the headset kind: the hand held mics tend to have an > irritating echo side effect while you're talking (but that going across the > internet, so it might not be bad in a home network). Still, those desktop > mics on a stand are just a pain to use. Headsets are much better. > > A lot of people install linux on older pcs; not sure if that will work well > with videoconferencing. I'd use at least a PIII or equivalent. but that's > something you can try and see. Videoconferencing is very cpu intensive, so > good video cards might are also in order. Don't use old computers with > cheap videocards, like the computer I have linux installed on :). The > cameras don't do the processing or display the images on your monitor. > Low-end cameras really depend on the computer and the video card. Higher > end cameras have pci cards to handle that, but you probably won't be buying > those, so you probably can't use any old computers. We used Dell PIII 500s. > And they were really working sometimes just to produce decent results, with > nothing else running. I would imagine that you all will want to be able to > do other things while videoconferencing, like surf the net, do work, etc. > But that's something you can try and see. Maybe you'll get better results > that I would expect. > > The last thing I can think of is something that people tend to not > consider: your rooms' lighting. I found this to be a real problem in one of > the home I set up. That person kept having really bad performance problems. > The other 3 homes were fine. I found out that the problem was not the > camera (after reinstalling everything a few times); the problem was the > room's lighting. This person had bad lighting in their living room, where > the computer with the camera was located. Low lighting increases the amount > of work the computers' cpu must do in order to process the video coming in > from the camera. Really bad lighting can slow the computer -- and the video > of course -- down a crawl or even freeze the computer. > > So: > > 1. get usb cameras (most are probably usb now, anyway). > 2. use ethernet (which you probably are) > 3. have good lighting, not just a small lamp but really bright lighting. > 4. use good computer equipment > > Mitch > > PS. I'm glad I finally had something to say on this list! You've helped me > out before, Paul. I hope this helps you. > > > > > Paul Rodríguez > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: newbie > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> om> cc: > Sent by: Subject: [newbie] video > conferencing newbie-owner@linux-m > andrake.com > > > 03/07/02 08:44 AM > Please respond to > newbie > > > > > > > What programs are people using (or know about) for video-conferencing? > > I am setting up Mandrake computers for my whole family and would like to > set up some video-conferencing for us. > > I need an easy and convenient way to set up a video-conferencing > connection with Linux and non-unix users. > > Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > - Paul Rodriguez > > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
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