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Video for Skype Users
Kozmik writes "Looks like the first of likely many video plugins for Skype has arrived. Dialcom claims the plugin which works with Skype, will provided end to end encrypted video that will work behind NATs, proxies and firewalls. Currently only supports Windows."
I thought of this sometime last week. I was astonished to discover no results when I queried Google. I suppose someone out there is knocking together an IP over Skype stack and has yet to unleash it on the world... but at least I wasn't unsuspecting. I wonder if IP over Skype might win the 5000 EUR award for the Skype API Competition
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
Maybe I'm missing something, but how does this fall under the "Hardware" /. section?
Good point, well made.
Webcams and video conferencing have been around for a while and are pretty damn easy.
What I needed was an out of the box simple to use VOIP that I could give my mother and she could understand.
Skype filled that perfectly.
That it then went and replaced my home phone, gave me numbers in Manhattan, London and Stockholm are all benefits.
What I didn't need was video conferencing though... didn't then, still don't.
Sound is vastly more important than vision on these things.
What do you think you'll benefit from when one or the other fails? Sound or vision?
What I really need, and what I shall be arsed to code very soon, is an Outlook plugin so that my girlfriend can easily call people from within Outlook without it playing up on her.
Plugins should offer small fine tuning and niche functionality... not fundamental changes and bloat.
PS: Slashdot does not like TOR
That is the big selling point though. There's really no config required to use it behind a NAT box. This makes things a lot simpler for a lot of people. Even if users on both ends are behind NAT boxes, the traffic if forwarded through a 3rd party PC so that at least one end of the data is coming from a public IP.
This is a big bonus for home users and those who don't know how or don't want to play with the settings on their router.
And it works fine.
I was using Yahoo! messenger for video and skype for the voice but video4skype seems quite better than Yahoo!
I wonder what kind of algorithm they use.
le souvenir d'une certaine image n'est que le regret d'un certain instant (M.Proust)
Ineen doesn't seem to support Linux where Skype does.
More incentive to use a completely closed and proprietary VOIP solution. This increases its appeal level to less than desirable!
HandStand
Super Mario
??????
Just an observation, but they seriously need to get a new set of stock photos.
P2P VOIP app. It's main claim to fame is its ability to "just work" despite firewalls. This is done using several techniques that the clients automatically discover. Most frequently clients "hole punch" via UDP packets emerging from both ends so connections work when both sides are behind stateful packet filters. Other stuff fueling Skype popularity includes; multiple platforms supported (Linux, OS-X, etc.,) friendly API terms (thus these sort of plugins appearing) and, best of all, it's free (as in beer.)
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
Do we really need more crap?
What we need is an ITU-T recommendation for voice and video over NAT. Right now, we've got only H.32x and that simply does not cut it. Enter Skype and now this video add-on to make media communication seamless and easy, regardless of NAT.
The ITU needs to get their act in order and bake up an open standard. One freakin' port please. Yes, I am aware of H.350 but even that is too heavy compared to Skype.
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A four way, hetrogeous video chat shouldn't be a pipedream with todays technology
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
It seems like a lot of people say "Skype is just another VoIP product" when in truth it is, however, it does perform noticeably better than most alternatives.
I have yet to see another H323 based app with such a large user base that is as centralized as Skype. It really is easy to find people I'm looking for that I assumed would have Skype.
Audio quality and compression are also better than many H323 alternatives. Using gnomemeeting and several different codecs, bandwidth usage was much higher than Skype for much lower quality audio.
Integration with the public phone network is a great option also. I make regular calls to our mobile employees and offices in Hong Kong and Shenzhen and so far Skype is our cheapest and most convenient alternative.
Skype has some cool stuff...
Yeah, I don't like the wording of their agreement either:
"You also understand and agree that the Service may include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for Dialcom to provide the Service. You also understand and agree that the Service may include certain communications from Dialcom, such as service announcements, administrative messages and the Dialcom Newsletter, and that these communications are considered part of Dialcom membership."
Sounds like agreeing to adware & spam to me...
I have just tried it... And uninstalled it...
1) Doesn't work if you have any TV card installed
2) Why does he need an ActiveX component to download it ?
..communicate securely..
.. or you'll be in for a big surprise.
Are you implying that Skupe lets you to communicate securely ? Last time I checked that claim that but offer no prove. Sorry, but closed-standard security should be treated as no security at all
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