TeaCam live tastings

[Sydney]

Yesterday on Yahoo! Live, Skype, and oovoo, we had many hours of video tea tasting and chat with various members coming and going. It was pretty cool.

The cost of pu may go up due to the sheer volume we consumed.

[Salsero]

In both, me is

salsero645


The Smell-O-Vision test failed except for a brief moment when Caradrake's dog committed an indiscretion. Padre has taken it back into the shop for extensive work.

[auggy]

it was quite a sight to see the true faces behind these sinister user names.

now we need more women to join!!!!!

I vote we get a way to notify Auggy and Victoria of the events!

I even have a webcam! I just need someone to tell me exactly what to do to get there because I've never really done any video chatting. But I wanna participate! Someone teach me?

[Vulture]

I even have a webcam! I just need someone to tell me exactly what to do to get there because I've never really done any video chatting. But I wanna participate! Someone teach me?

We are still playing around with different programs right now. For the moment it be best to get someones IM or setup skype. To get skype just go to the web site, download it, sign up for a free account. Then post your account name here so we can add you.

My contact name is B_Vulture for the moment.

[Sydney]

We've tried Yahoo! Live with mixed, but fairly satisfying results. Up to 5 people can broadcast simultaneous video while others type chat. But some times the sound can be troublesome.

Skype lets several people talk verbally simultaneously, or 2 people video chat together.

Oovoo seems generally pretty effective at letting several people videochat simultaneously, although we've yet to really put it through its paces.

Helpful suggestions are always welcome, of course.

[Vulture]

Also,

I put all my IM info in my profile so if anyone wants to add me. Be easier discussing this there. Also gives me something else to do at work

[Scarlet Glow]

I haven't been on TeaChat in a while, so I am extremely late finding this thread...

Anyways, I have a webcam and would love to participate! I guess that means I need to get on TeaChat more often so I can find out when these events are going to be happening.

I've never done anything like this before so if someone would be so kind as to PM me the details, like the link to the website you use, the list of user names, etc., then I will try my best to be at the 'events' and hopefully not look too much like the tea novice that I am.

Is there a "leader" of this group... what I am asking is who should I PM if I have more questions about this?

Very cool idea guys!

[Salsero]

Is there a "leader" of this group...

If there is, I would vote for El Padre. Unfortunately, he is often more effective as an anarchist than as a leader, but he's got initiative!

[Sydney]

OK, gang, especially those of you who have been in on our experiments thus far...

In what direction should we be nudging people interested in joining in the fun?

Yahoo! Live? (shows a max of 5 cams, but numerous people can type chat, audio probs)

oovoo? (multiple cams running simultaneously)

skype? (multiple people can high-quality audio chat, but no 3-way or better cam action)

Anything I'm forgetting to mention?

So far we seem to have gotten the best results out of yahoo and oovoo.

[Salsero]

In what direction should we be nudging people interested in joining in the fun?

They've all been great fun. As things are going, we may need a service that can accommodate a couple hundred video chatters ... and an enormous monitor.


After thinking about it, I think RINGLEADER would be the most appropriate epithet. That seems just about halfway between a leader and a raving anarchist.

[Vulture]

After thinking about it, I think RINGLEADER would be the most appropriate epithet. That seems just about halfway between a leader and a raving anarchist.

And makes us sound like a Circus!

Seeing how this is growing I definitely vote for a program to see everyone in.

[Vulture]

Something a cowerker found on this subject:

...It turns out he has managed to integrate MeBeam with the Skype contact list so that you can easily organise an ad hoc video conference. This fulfills a much-needed functionality that is missing from Skype but comes as standard with alternatives such as SightSpeed.

So how does this work?

* Add MeBeam as a contact in Skype.
* Get your friends to add MeBeam as a contact.
* Right click your new MeBeam contact.
* In the dialog box, add the contacts who you want to participate in your video conference.
* They will all receive a new text message containing the meeting room URL.
* Go to the meeting room.

Source (copyrights and all that)

Gonna take a look at oovoo right now and see how it is. Then SightSpeed after that.

Edit: Just looked at oovoo and it has a max of 6 people so we are back to the limit issue. And just looked at SightSpeed, it has a max of 4 for the free version and 9 by purchase/subscription(?). I think the above way is the way to go. I also suggest we set this up for a day, like Saturdays or something so more people can join in (as its a weekend)

[orguz]

If I remember correctly last Saturday there was a broadcast, right. IThat day I was checking teachat articles and by chance noticed that someone had linked the url for yahoo, had I not caught the chatting going on I wouldn't have known about it.

Should one just go to Yahoo to see if anyone is broadcasting, or is there a schedule of some sort or is it like a spur of the moment kind of a thing.

I found Yahoo pretty user friendly.

[Vulture]

If I remember correctly last Saturday there was a broadcast, right. IThat day I was checking teachat articles and by chance noticed that someone had linked the url for yahoo, had I not caught the chatting going on I wouldn't have known about it.

Should one just go to Yahoo to see if anyone is broadcasting, or is there a schedule of some sort or is it like a spur of the moment kind of a thing.

I found Yahoo pretty user friendly.

There is no set schedule YET. Yahoo was user friendly and didn't require having to download anything. Though it limits it to 5 video's being conferenced at a time. At one point I had to juggle the 6th person in and out.

Yahoo - User friendly, Limit to 5 video's seen though you can still hear the others.

Skype + MeBeam - Have to download a client and complicated setup. Unlimited Video and Voice conferencing ability.

oovoo - Haven't tested out and Yahoo seemed more friendly as a web ablication.

[tenuki]

go with yahoo, and just have a couple of 'virtual tables' that people can bounce between. that is what you would do in real life with that annoying limit that two objects can't occupy the same space...

It's not like more than 5 people at a time can hold a coherent conversation anyway.