BY LAURA GUEVIN
Managing Editor, INTERNET TELEPHONY

Is Seeing Enough To Believe Video Chat Will Succeed?

The promise of video chat. Ah.the ability to surf to a Web site and within seconds -- be connected to an interactive chat with strangers, a prearranged meeting with family or friends, or perhaps an online business conference. What an exciting proposition! Online video chat has actually become a reality. Well, at least the capability is there. Whether people are using, or are able to use this technology is another story, and my experience with a video chat Web site is the story I'm going to tell today.

I had a great conversation with the folks at White Pine a couple of weeks ago about the official launch of Cu-SeeMe World, their free video/audio/text chat conferencing Web site. It utilizes CuWeb, a less than one MB ActiveX plug-in that works with any JavaScript-enabled Web browser (this includes Internet Explorer 4.0.1 or later, and Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4.5 or later). Users need Windows 95/98/NT and at least 32 MB of RAM, a 133 MHz Pentium or faster processor, and a 33.6 Kbps or faster modem connection to use CuWeb. My PC setup met the requirements, and I was easily able to establish an account at the site and view the various chat rooms available.

Cu-SeeMe World offers several channels, including Family, Pets, Relationships, Sports, Teens, Travel, and Women, with various chat rooms available for each channel. I checked out all the options, but found only one room with any activity happening, and that was "Oceans," a custom created room within the Family Channel (any user can create a room for a specific topic). There were seven people in the room, including several "moderators" whose job is apparently to monitor the rooms and make sure folks comply with the G-rated guidelines. One moderator had video on, but no one else was using the video feature. Cu-SeeMe World allows visitors to view up to three different real-time video screens at one time, and you can choose who you want to view by clicking on their names. If they have video capability, you'll be able to see them - unless their software settings are not configured properly or there is some sort of other problem with their video setup, in which case you get the message "Invalid Codec."

I had a difficult time with the audio portion of the chat, although a basic text chat feature is also included. The moderator could apparently hear me, but I had spotty audio, even though I pressed the speak and listen buttons at the appropriate times. It is not clear if visitors are supposed to hold down these buttons while they speak and listen, or simply press them once and leave them turned on (highlighted). I tried both methods, with limited success. I also searched for online help but only found a FAQ, which didn't address specific audio issues. An "I" button on the chat interface that I thought might yield some information only brought up a form for reporting misconduct violations to the site administrator.

When I did get some sound, the quality was pretty garbled, but I later realized that one of the chat windows was not a single person, but actually a live demo at Telecon East, and the video showed various visitors walking up to the camera and checking out the chat room. The noise of the exhibit hall probably had a lot to do with the poor audio quality in this instance. I didn't get any response to my text chat inquiries about the audio, so I left that room and did a quick check of my headset, which seemed to be working fine. I should also mention that the text chat interface could use some improvement, and it was kind of inconvenient to have to press the "Send Chat" button instead of "Enter" each time I typed something in.

None of the other channels showed any sort of activity, so I decided to check out the White Pine Caf, and noticed that the Coffee Bar room showed 22 people chatting. The audio was apparently working fine in this room, at least at first, and someone was using it to broadcast Henry Rollins belting out "Liar" at top volume. Of course I had cranked up my headset after the experience in the previous room, so this was a definite mid-afternoon wakeup jolt. It's a good thing for my co-workers I wasn't using my speakers! After re-adjusting the volume, I brought up video for three of the chat-room dwellers, and realized many people in this room had video turned on. It worked pretty well with only a few seconds of latency, although I'm on a broadband connection at work and I don't know how well it would have worked on dialup. Most folks were text chatting, about nothing much in particular. The conversation definitely stayed clean, I must say, and the room lived up to its G rating, even though I got several invitations for "private" chats, which I avoided.

I ran into trouble when I tried to use audio in this room as well, and while many visitors said they could hear me, I had trouble hearing them. I did catch a few fragments of conversation, but they were also garbled and various voices seemed to run together. I asked for help with audio again, but no one seemed to know what the problem was, since my PC settings appeared to be working properly. The reaction of one chatter was to mock me for trying to use the audio, why not just text chat and get down to "business?" I wonder how prevalent this attitude is based on my audio experience here? Are people really ready to take audio chat seriously?

At this point I began to get frustrated, and called on a co-worker from TMC Labs to help me out. (This column certainly has the tone of a Labs review, although my non-engineering background prohibits me from delving into specifics like the video codec incompatibility. I'll leave those particulars to the engineers, should they decide to conduct a full-scale review of a later version of this product.) We logged into an unoccupied room (San Francisco, part of the Travel Channel) and immediately got working video and text chat. Again, we had audio problems, and my co-worker even went so far as to switch to a different headset, but to no avail. I could not hear him, and he said he heard me, but not consistently.

To ease my mind, I asked my co-worker to make a quick NetMeeting call to me to ensure my audio was working properly, and the call worked fine on both ends. I finally got in touch with Perry Donham, Internet community manager for Cu-SeeMe World and one of the site's engineers. He assured me that I had been clicking the buttons properly, and said he wasn't sure why I had encountered problems. It certainly could have been a bandwidth problem on my end, although the clarity of the NetMeeting call would point to other issues. In any case, Perry created a chat room for us and we were able to use the audio and video features without any problems. With the audio working properly (through my headset on one ear), and Perry also on the phone pressed up to my other ear, I encountered a couple of seconds of latency in our conversation. The audio was clear and consistent, however, a welcome change from the problems I had encountered a few days earlier.

When I first spoke to White Pine about Cu-SeeMe World, I asked if they thought people would really want to see and hear each other when they chat. This is something I always ask video and audio conferencing providers, as it's been my experience that the majority of entrenched text chat rooms on the Web are used for anonymous banter, much of which is focused on sex and software piracy. But White Pine sees beyond those uses, and thinks audio/video collaboration will really take off for personal and business uses. Willy Wiegler, executive producer of the site, says enterprise conferencing is on the way, and the company plans to add a business button to offer services to the SoHo market, on a fee basis. Existing Web sites can also add video chat through the Cu-SeeMe Web Software Development Kit (SDK), and a White Pine MeetingPoint Conference Server.

I understand the value of this technology, and agree that it has a number of uses, although I think most online chat-room visitors still don't have the connection speeds to support consistent multimedia applications. Broadband to the home will change that, and could elevate chat sites like Cu-SeeMe World beyond their current hobbyist status. And I don't mean to single out White Pine, they are in fact one of the only companies offering this technology for good, clean (i.e. non-pornographic) usage. Cu-SeeMe World could be the portal that will pave the way for real-time audio/video conferencing via the Web. It's simple to use, easy to access, and offers a great framework for chatting about a variety of topics. I think the audio and video latency make those chatting feel uncomfortable and unnatural, but again -- that will eventually change with faster connection speeds and familiarity with the technology. Overall, this site is a great launching point and has potential as a valuable application for service providers, as well as home and business users.

Laura Guevin welcomes your comments at lguevin@tmcnet.com.