Implementing Intercom-like Videoconferencing?

Tangential asks: "I run a small (~100 person) consulting company with developers located in several locations (including SOHO's.) We run a VPN, so network connectivity isn't an issue. I'd like to improve day-to-day interactions between everyone here and I'm thinking of setting up (for lack of a better term) a video-intercom. I want people to be able to see and converse with each other at their desks, much as they would if they were all in the same office. Some of the folks here use Windows and some of us use Linux. I'm looking for a software and hardware solution that will operate pretty well between them and not swamp my systems staff. I need it to carry both the audio and the video connection and it is safe to assume that all workstations and laptops here are at least 1 GHz units. I'd especially like recommendations on which cameras to use on the Linux boxes."

Re:Eyeball

[rmohr02]

Replying to myself, but o well...

There seems to be a Linux server, but no Linux client.

gnomemeeting and netmeeting

[bigmo]

work together relatively well. There are some connection issues, but they don't seem to be a big problem. I've recently used gnomemeeting to connect to Polycom videoconfernece units and had success, except with the Polycom FX model. Gnomemeeting will work from behind a basic NAT with no problem. Net Meeting doesn't seem to work with a NAT though, but it sounds like you've got control of that sort of thing internally. I've used GM with a WinTV Go card and a logitech quickcam. I have an odd problem with it trying to load up two copies of itself under Mandrake 9.1 right now, but I haven't really put a lot of time into fixing it so far.

I used to think all the videoconferencing stuff was just geek love, but after working with it over the last couple weeks, I think it really does add something useful to the interaction.

for a Windows environment..

[magores]

www.cuworld.com [cuworld.com] -- No hardware (other than camera) required. Audio and Video better than Netmeeting. Depending on circumstances, CUworld might be able to work with you on a dedicated solution that includes linux via h323. They host, so no stress on your staff.

I know in a windows environment you can get up to 25 people in one "room" at once and 30 video frames per second. Would like to see how the linux solution works out myself.

Hope this helps

Video Conferencing.......

[MeThOdXxX]

If you would like some advice about video conferencing you could go to Inview video conferencing [inview.net]. Inview is part of Intercall [intercall.com], which is the third largest conferencing center in the U.S.

Intercall offers "Complete Conferencing Solutions" for all audio, video, and web conferencing.

Webcam

[rikkus-x]

I recently acquired a Philips ToUCam Pro 740. It works perfectly with Linux. It was a breeze to make work. Anticipating its arrival, I changed my kernel config to include the Philips webcam module(s). If you're using some nice dist like SuSE, you may have them already built.

When the cam arrived, I just plugged it in and started gnomemeeting. It worked.

It works very well in low light, which is handy if you like to work in semi darkness sometimes.

Rik

VIC + related applications may do what you want.

[David McBride]

University College London have been developing a number of multimedia applications -- see http://www-mice.cs.ucl.ac.uk/multimedia/software/ [ucl.ac.uk].

The VIC tool, which provides peer-to-peer video streaming via multicast or unicast can be used to transmit video images to others whilst RAT handles the audio side.

It's free, there's source, and it works. We use it here regularly for conference calls with other institutions in the UK and the US.