One of the services provided by the Internet is the Instant Messenger (IM). Using Instant Messenger, two or more people can type and chat with one another or even talk to each other just like using a telephone. You can also send SMS to your friend's mobile phone using IM. You can also use Video Conferencing using IM. You can even use Web camera to see each other's face while in conference.
Two most popular Instant Messaging software widely in use is Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger. Here we can see the steps to do video conferencing using these two IM. Remember that you can also use AOL or ICQ to do video conferencing.
Things required to do video conferencing
* You need a computer with a powerful processor.
* You need Internet connection
* You also need web cameras, Speakers, Microphones or headset.
* You need Yahoo/Hotmail/MSN accounts to use yahoo or msn messengers.
* The person with whom you want to do video conference should also have all these facilities.
* If either of you do not have a camera you can still do conferencing using text and voice but not video conferencing.
What type of Internet connection you need?
You may wonder whether dial up connection is sufficient to do video conferencing or you need a broadband connection. To understand more about this you will have to know a bit technical detail about video conferencing.
Frames per second (FPS) refers to the number of frames (pictures) per second that will be visible on the screen. You can get a continuous video only if the FPS is high. In TVs 25 FPS is used. Though we cannot expect to have 25 FPS in computers while video conferencing we should at least have 12 FPS. With this requirement you will agree that you need broadband connection for effective video conferencing. If you just want to see the face now and then you can use dialup which can produce 1 or 2 FPS.
How to configure for Video Conferencing
* Install the web camera and install the required driver software. Insert the Speaker and microphone or the headset into your sound card.
* Now start the Instant messaging software. Before you start using Video conferencing you need to configure the audio and video settings in the IM software.
* In MSN messenger click Tools->Audio/Video Tuning Wizard. In Yahoo messenger click Help=>Audio setup wizard. Just follow the steps given in these wizards and complete all the steps.
* In Yahoo Messenger click Messenger=>Start=>My webcam option. Now the video wizard will start and detect your webcam.
* Now connect to Internet. Start Messenger and login to the Messenger server using your login name and password.
* Now from your IM select the friend (if he is online) you want to do video conferencing and give the 'video conferencing' command.
* Now you can see your friend's face in your computer and your face will be shown in your friend's computer. You can talk to your friend using your headphone and you can also type messages in the IM window if you need.
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