Ok, I took a look at MS Portrait, and here are my initial findings:
Did some testing on two systems:
- System 1: Dell Pentium III laptop running Windows 2000 Pro and an Intel Deluxe webcam.
- System 2: Gateway Pentium II desktop running Windows ME and a Logitech QuickCam Pro.
Installation was a bit of a pain. I had to download the installer (as described in the README) and the application. Two installs and two reboots later, everything was up-and-running.
You can setup Portrait to automatically scale the video quality (frame rate, color vs black & white, etc.) automatically, or if you know what your bandwidth is, you can specify it. It will actually do video even at speeds below 10kbps!!! Not very good video, mind you, but it does work!
Connecting with other users is easy if you are both running MSN Messenger. Portrait provides a list of your online buddies. You send them a request to start a Portrait session. The message they get includes a link to click. If they already have Portrait installed, it'll launch Portrait and connect the two. If they don't have Portrait installed, there's also a download link provided.
You also have the option of connecting via an ILS server (ala NetMeeting) or directly by IP.
Once you connect, it just works. It basically functions like NetMeeting, but with just three features: video, audio and text chat.
I tested at DSL speeds, and the audio and video quality was excellent.
If anyone is interested in testing, look for me on MSN Messenger as
jeff@bigblueball.com
Jeff Hester
BigBlueBall.com