A few weeks after looking at whether I could use the Mac mini as a media centre and it occurred to me that there's another potential use for having a small computer situated in the lounge - video conferencing. Apart from that fact that I only know a handful of people that have a webcam, I do sometimes use it to keep in touch with family members. Video conferencing has never really taken off in the same way text-based chat has and I think there are a few reasons for this. Bandwidth is the obvious one, but with more and more people getting fast broadband connections, this isn't really an issue anymore. Here in the UK, many of the providers are rolling out improved (faster) packages to their customers at no extra cost. BT are doing it and I recently received an e-mail from PIPEX to say that my connection is being upgraded for free over the next few months. Wahoo!

Another reason for the slower take up of video conferencing, I think, includes the complexity involved in setting it up. Yahoo! Messenger runs well through my hardware firewall/router/modem setup, but I've never been able to get the "super" mode to run, even though the appropriate ports on the firewall were opened up and redirected to my PC. I even tried placing my PC in the DMZ and that didn't work either! Most other software also requires port redirection if you're running a DSL firewall/router/modem and my experience with this has been hit or miss. The last time I tried Apple's iChat, it worked for about 10 seconds then disconnected.

Anyway, assuming that you could get iChat et al to work through a firewall, video conferencing friends and family via your television, from the comfort of your sofa, could be pretty cool. The mini has a firewire port so you could hook up an iSight and leave it connected, ready to be used. Failing that, you could always use the iSight purely as a microphone because I don't think that the mini has a built-in mic. Skype and other VOIP services would also be worth trying too.

I think the other barrier to entry for video conferencing or VOIP, certainly for me, is that it's not as easily accessible as the telephone. I either have to go up into my spare room where my PC is located, or find the iSight and plug it in to my PowerBook. My feeling is that having a potentially always-on box in the lounge would make conferencing more accessible and I'd be tempted to use it more.

I know what I said last time, but I'm still tempted by a mini. I've just definitely ruled out the possibility of using it as a digital video recorder. Before I take the plunge though, I'm going to have more of a play around with my PowerBook hooked up to my television and make sure conferencing apps work through the firewall. I also think it's going to be worth waiting for the upcoming release of Tiger, whenever it's due.

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Posted by Simon Brown on 15 March 2005 09:33:20 GMT #