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Enhanced CU-SeeMe - WhitePine Software
Price : $69
Operating system : MacOS System 7 or higher
Network connection :An IP network connection. For video, use a 28.8k
modem, ISDN link or better. For audio-only telephony use, Enhanced CU-SeeMe
works effectively over a 14.4k modem.
Platform : Macintosh and Power Macintosh, Windows, Windows 95, UNIX
"Enhanced CU-SeeMe is White Pine's desktop video conferencing software
for real time
person-to-person or group conferencing. You can use CU-SeeMe over the Internet
or any TCP/IP network giving you the power to communicate globally without expensive
hardware.
This software only solution runs on both Windows and Macintosh computers offering
full-color video, audio, chat window, and white board communications. You can
participate in 'Live over the Internet' conferences, broadcasts or chats. CU-SeeMe
can be launched directly from Web pages with your favorite Web browser."
(Source: WhitePine Software Web Site)
Features (Source: WhitePine Software Web Site)
- Supports up to 8 simultaneous multipoint video connections
- Supports unlimited number for audio and talk window
- Caller ID -- message alert box for incoming connections
- Whiteboard for collaboration during conferences; supports multiple users
- Mosaic browser support for direct launch of CU-SeeMe from Web page
- Selectable audio compression algorithms with 100ms and 50ms sampling settings:
- 2.4k and 8.5k audio codecs to support 14.4k and 28.8k modem connections;
- 16k and 32k codecs for higher bandwidth connections
- Color Support -- 24-bit true color and 4-bit greyscale
- Phone Book -- save, add, edit participant addresses and Reflector sites
- Video Compression -- standard and high resolution settings
- Security -- password, caller ID and other conference and inbound call security
- Installation -- easy, user friendly installation with TCP/IP network software
System requirements (Source: WhitePine Software Web Site)
If you are not running System 7.5 or greater or do not have the following extensions
on your system, you may need to download Apple's QuickTime, SoundManager, and/or
Apple Guide. If you do not have Adobe's Acrobat Reader installed on your system,
you will need it to read Enhanced CU-SeeMe's .pdf documentation files. QuickTime
is necessary in order to run Enhanced CU-SeeMe. SoundManager is necessary if
you want to send and/or receive audio. Apple Guide is necessary if you want
to use the Enhanced CU-SeeMe Guide on-line help feature. You will need Adobe's
Acrobat Reader in order to read the .pdf documentation files.
- TCP/IP network and node address
- 10MB of free hard disk space
- Modem bandwidth of 28.8k or better; 14.4k or better for audio only
- SLIP/PPP compatible
to receive video:
- Minimum -- 68030 processor with 25 MHz clock or faster
- Recommended -- 68040 processor with 25 MHz clock or faster
- 5 MB application RAM for color videoconferencing features; Grayscale
- conferencing can be accomplished with less memory
- 8 MB application RAM for full features, including WhitePineBoard
- Ability to display at least 16 levels of gray (e.g., any color Mac)
- QuickTime v2.0 or later
- Sound Manager v3.0 or later
- Speakers or headset to receive audio (built-in on some models)
- An IP network connection
- MacTCP v2.0.6 or higher, or Open Transport v1.1 or higher
- Bandwidth of 28.8kb or better
- SLIP/PPP compatible
to send video (equipped to receive as outlined above with added requirements):
- Video camera with serial port digitizer, or
- Video camera with standard NTSC output (like a camcorder), and video digitizer
- (AV-Macintosh has built in video digitizer)
- Recommended: separate microphone or headset for better "phone-like"
use
Evaluation notes
(+) pluses
- Cross-platform availability - consistent interface for a variety of platforms
- Cost - very reasonable
- Provides shared whiteboard capabilities
- Can use with 14.4K modem or 28.8Kmodem (doesn't require higher speeds for
operation)
- Phonebook feature - very nice way to record information for frequently called
person.
- Also provides a Chat Window, something missing from the regular CU-SeeMe.
- On-line help is availble under the ? menu. (System 7.5 users and above)
- Can launch within Netscape
- When first opening the application the 'Conferencing' menu opens and the
user can enter the name of the 'Local Window'. This allows the user to immediately
enter his name into the system.
(-) minuses
- Window design. Inconsistent ability to 'drag' windows (and menus). The
'Phone Book' acts as a separate window and allows itself to be dragged and
to be deselected. The 'Preferences' screens/windows do not allow this.
- Cannot take a 'snapshot' of the video screen.
- For the Preferences menu, too many selections are hidden from the user and
placed at a lower level.
Menu design
The pull-down menu structure is shown below
File | Edit | Conference | Windows
The top-level menu choices are consistent with those in BeingThere 3.01 Pro.
The choices are also fairly consistent with CU-SeeMe (The only change is that
the Participants menu has been renamed as Window).
The Edit/Preferences menu has been expanded from the original CU-SeeMe
and now includes five sub-choices.
- General
- Conferencing
- Audio/Video
- Communications
- Listener
Although more options are provided with this structure, it forces the user
to remember what is under each menu. Unclear why five categories are used in
the Preferences menu. The information could easily be grouped in two major categories
to increase clarity, reduce confusion and reduce memory requirements. This would
require larger screens for this information, but would reduce the overall confusion,
especially for novice users. The 'General', 'Conferencing' and 'Listener' menus
could be combined into a 'General' menu while the 'Audio/Video' and the 'Communications'
selection should be combined as an 'Audio/Video' menu.
Under the Edit/Preferences/Audio/Video menu, the first time user may
have difficulty understanding what the 'Digitizer' is and what the correct setting
should be. The first time user does not know that the he must use the 'Set'
digitizer command to change the Input type of the digitizer to either 'composite'
or 'svideo'. Since the Input is dependent upon the camera type and digitizer,
it should be able on the very first screen the user sees on start-up.v
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