The New Craze: Video Chatting

When I first moved to New York around July of 2001, my roomate at the time and i did a little test with a brand new application called quicktime broadcaster. We used to 2 powerbooks hooked up to our video cameras via firewire to create 2 live streams from one room to the other just to see what it would be like to be talking real time in video. Then I actually emailed Steve Jobs requesting that apple make video chatting accessible for everyone in their ultra easy apple way of doing things. Now, I’m sure they were doing it anyway, but the point is, video chatting is something a lot of people have for a really long time hoped would come into reality. Video Chatting has actually been possible for a good amount of time now with iChat but I guess what’s really kicked it into prime time is the fact that any new apple computer now comes with a built in camera. Next I’m expecting to see cell phones with video cameras that when your with-in range of your wifi let you video chat just like you can on the computer but from anywhere in your home, coffee shop, or anywhere you have a wi-fi signal. But today, here is how it all works:

Video Chat Capturing Tips:

There are three ways to set up your video and auido input of your video chat station:

A. Using a Built in camera and internal mic or usb mic.

*Tip: In noisy spaces you’ll need the USB microphone and you should talk directly into it. Phone operater style headsets that connect through USB can also do the trick.

B. Using an iSight attachable camera with the built in microphone of the iSight attachment.

*Tip: The same tip above applies in terms of being in a noisy space and even though the iSight has a built in mic, in the preferences you’ll be able to choose a different USB microphone.

C. Using a DV camera with a firewire port and either the video cameras internal mic or a proffesional mic connected to the video camera.

*Tip: This is by far the highest quality way to go. We use a sure KSM27 for radio quality audio hooked up to our DVX-100 through the XLR input. You need to have a pretty high end camera to have XLR inputs so hooking up a really nice microphone might not be an option unless you get an XLR to mini adapter. Beech Tech Makes a very high quality one. If you want to go a cheaper route, you can get a crappy radio shack 1/4 inch jack microphone and hook that up to your cheap DV camera and then connect that to your computer and you’ll have a hand held mic which will allow you to be in noisier spaces and will also allow you to be a few feet from the screen and camera and still pick up very close audio.

Video Chat Listening Tips:

You should use headphones if you can. If that’s too dorky looking or if you need multiple people to be listening, then go with speakers but have them as far from your mic as you can and keep them kind of low. iChat does have some filters that try to eliminate echo, but as we explain in our recent video, it can get out of control. The other thing to consider is iPod headphones because they are subtle, or you could use professional news style in ear monitors with the wire going down your back. Either way, it’s helpful to get a 1/4 inch female to 1/4 male cable from radio shack or wherever that extends your headphones so you are free to move around a bit. I suppose even wireless headphones could work. They make those for hooking up to your stereo system and being able to walk around.

Recording Your Video Chat:

You might be producing a documentery, you might want it for your video podcast, or maybe it’s just sort of a blackmail thing. I use Snapz which is probably the best way to go. But since that application costs money, there is another free one out there that I haven’t tried called Bullent’s Screen Recorder. Click that link for a complete tutorial on how to use that software.

Soon iChat will actually let you record conversations directly to iMovie, can’t say exactly when that will start happening, so in the mean time, I recommend having both sides record in camera and then mail the tapes to who ever will be editing. Especially for a remotely produced documentary that will be the highest quality way to work. At that point the iChat is really just to communicate but you could really have a local film crew make capture an awesome recording of an interivew.

Another way to record I haven’t tried is using quicktime pro to record your computers video input by clicking, new video recording and then hitting record button and then starting your iChat. Theoretically you could record your video and the other person could do the same, but I don’t know if using quicktime and iChat at the same time for the same video source would work. It’s worth someone trying if you have the time, just post results in the comments.

Lighting:

All the same rules of lighting video apply if you want to do a really good video chat, so 3 point lighting with a key light filling one side of the face, a fill filling the other side and then a back light defining the subjects edges. All that of course isn’t neccessary really because your supposed to just be chatting casually in a lot of cases, but, it might be hard for the other person to get anything out of the video aspect of the conversation if it’s just dingy and dark. So make sure you have enough light. I think it’s even a cool idea to structure the lighting around where you use your computer to be ideal for video chatting with one switch. That way your always ready to go and have a fairly presentable environment.

Also make sure your backround isn’t too busy. If you have a really complex backround the compression will have a hard time putting it’s detail attention on the face which is probably more important. The best way to blast out a useless backround is to just zoom in. Again, another advantage to using a camera rather then a built in one.

Okay thats it, feel free to add experiences or suggestions to this tutorial below in the comments and grab the comments RSS feed for your feed reader to stay part of the discussion.

*Update

Since posting this tutorial we’ve since made a video tutorial posted towards the end of this video. Also here are some pictures from our video chat experience in which we connected a party in LA with a party in NYC and got people talking back and forth using a microphone and headphones to deal with the loud music in the backround.

http://foureyedmonsters.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/profile_ichat.jpg