Hi there. For Christmas, I was thinking of getting my mom and grandmother each a webcam, so that they can communicate a little more personally. My only concern is bandwith.....here in Pennsylvania, we have cable internet, but my grandmother in Kansas only has 56k. Has anyone had experiance with a webcam on 56k? Will this be too slow? Any input would be really helpful. Thanks!
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webcam on 56k?
- Thread starter pinto32
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Re: webcam on 56k?
It's gonna suck
consider this ... with a 56k modem you usually get downloads of 4 - 6 kB/s
now, your eye won't really notice if you only playing at 12 frames per second versus the 29.9 of NTCS or 24 of Film
still at 12 frames per second your gonna need 0.5 kB image size to send 12 of them at 6 kB/s ... and 0.5 kB is one $hitty resolution
It's gonna suck
consider this ... with a 56k modem you usually get downloads of 4 - 6 kB/s
now, your eye won't really notice if you only playing at 12 frames per second versus the 29.9 of NTCS or 24 of Film
still at 12 frames per second your gonna need 0.5 kB image size to send 12 of them at 6 kB/s ... and 0.5 kB is one $hitty resolution
Webcam on 56k
With a webcam on 56k you (well your Gran I mean
) will get very slow updates.
It would be useful for you to see each other really. Could use Yahoo Instant Messaging with typed responses and the basic image.
I'd recommend slow updates and a higher resolution.
Are you looking to speak to each other as well over the Webcam or would it just be to see each other, and chat via text?
I've used a webcam on a 56k connection but it was only video only no voice and 'spoke' via text typing,
Let me know
Andrew
With a webcam on 56k you (well your Gran I mean
) will get very slow updates.It would be useful for you to see each other really. Could use Yahoo Instant Messaging with typed responses and the basic image.
I'd recommend slow updates and a higher resolution.
Are you looking to speak to each other as well over the Webcam or would it just be to see each other, and chat via text?
I've used a webcam on a 56k connection but it was only video only no voice and 'spoke' via text typing,
Let me know
Andrew
I got a pair of Logitech Quickcam Messengers, due to the fact that they have built in mics. I am not expecting much out of the connection, but I figured this way they have plenty of easy options. Basically, I am just gonna try using voice and video, and work my way down the bandwidth ladder if need be. The whole point of this is to just make their conversations feel a little more personal, as they only get to see each other about once a year, so I am probably gonna try to get as much actual video out of it was possible, but I'll see what happens. Thanks for you help!
Unfortunatly, they both use Windows (one is XP, the other is 98), so iChat is not an option. Logitech includes Yahoo! Messenger on the software disc, so I figured I would give that a try, or possibly MSN Messenger. Any other ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated!
Ah, that is what I suspected. I soooooooo wish that Yahoo would update Messenger to do voice on the Mac. I used to use YIM on my PCs all the time for video conferencing, and even though it is not flawless, it was fun to use. I would love to know how Yahoo got Video support in YIM for the Mac, but couldn't get Voice support!
with a 56k you'll be lucky to see moving pictures..
its tough enough trying to have an audio conversation!
webcams require a lot of bandwidth.
so dont expect much from a 56k!
best of luck
its tough enough trying to have an audio conversation!
webcams require a lot of bandwidth.
so dont expect much from a 56k!
best of luck
I find that Yahoo's webcam support is much better than Windows/MSN Messenger's support.
Yahoo can work through more firewalls/odd network configurations than MSN can.