Bear in mind this is a beta release and is likely to have some teething problems, If you have any problems check out the help area at the new website which deals specifically with Camfrog mobile, you can find the site here

All we can say at videochatblog.net is this is a very, very cool development and be sure to look for the reiview in the not to distant future B-)

Download Camfrog for Windows Mobile Beta

Download Camfrog 5.1

Skype acts and looks for the most part like any other instant messaging program, chatting to a friend on your friends list is simply a matter of selecting their name and clicking on the green “call” icon. Once you are connected to your chat partner you can communicate via chat, video or text, or indeed all of them combined. You can play games from a large games library, install one of many plugins to enhance your experience or simply chat to friends, family or work colleagues.

Video: The video component of Skype is impressive to say the least, dependent as always on the quality of hardware the video sender is using Skype can deliver breathtaking images, that appear to suffer less from artifact loss than many other video chat solutions on the market.

Audio: The audio on Skype is also very clear although it can from time to time suffer from audio delay, in particular when using the voip to voip phone feature.

In addition to the video chat quality’s of Skype, chatting online via video or voip calls or even cheap local and international calls make Skype a must have. In fact the features of Skype are so numerous it will require a second (and possibly third look) into just what this awesome program can deliver.

Check out the Great offers at Skype’s clearance sale

The only negatives I have come across using Skype is it doesn’t seem to be totally Windows Vista friendly (I’m constantly reseting the audio in and out), then again this is nothing new as vista doesn’t seem to be compatible with numerous applications, and it does require a nice chunk of cpu usage which can slow older systems down. As for dial up users I can only imagine the program would be next to useless for the video side of things.

Readers of my previous reviews will know how much importance I place on the more community aspects of video chatting and sadly with Skype there are no multiuser chat room servers that users can check into to find someone to talk to, you can indeed launch a conference and have a few of your buddy listed friends chatting via video at the same time, but there is no faculty to meet random folks and make new friends, one can only hope that the rumors of chat rooms on the horizon is a reality for future releases

Having said this, using something like yahoo to make new friends, then moving them on to your Skype list is an option that is worth the time and effort as Skype is a very slick, stable and fun piece of software you will love using

Skype looks to be around for the long haul and as long as it doesn’t become bloat ware (its already extremely resource intensive) it will be exciting to see what features are added to it and how the application develops from here. Best of all aside from the extremely cheap rates for placing pc to home phone calls, Skype is free to use.

Click on the logo to take you to Skype download!

Rating: 4/5

From a video chat point of view, Windows Live Messenger almost has it all.  With true live video and fast frame rates Windows Live messenger is arguably the best video experience in a program of this type. You can pc to pc call with your friends by simply clicking their user name and inviting them to view your cam. Windows Live Messenger doesn’t appear to be as “buggy” as Yahoo! Messenger in that the video doesn’t appear to get interrupted, stutter or drop out as much as its main rival yahoo does.

Windows Live Messenger video “windows” are re sizable and like yahoo have a “sticky” feature so you can have a small video window open, always on top of all other windows. This enables you to watch video while you work or do other tasks on your pc without having to swap windows all the time.

So why did I say “almost has it all” is because it is lacking one very important feature, well rather it has removed one very important feature!. The feature I’m referring to is chat rooms. Back in the day when Windows Live Messenger was still known under the title “msn messenger” it had the best multi-user voice and video enabled chat rooms that we have seen to date in a free service. The chat rooms were bustling with a huge array of users from all walks of life, you name it you could find it in terms of subjects discussed in user created chat rooms.

I hear you ask, “so why did msn get rid of chatrooms?” the answer sadly is due to the amount of abuse that was going, whilst we acknowledge adult, cybersex activities in chat rooms is a big component of online chat, there is no place for exposing minors or even subjecting those who would rather not be subjected to nudity and adult themes. The job of policing these rooms and the threat of possible litigation was just to large and Microsoft removed the rooms totally.

It is sad that rater than try to fix them they opted for the easier option of shutting them down and while Yahoo Messenger chat rooms are now over run with spam at least they haven’t removed them altogether (although unfortunately for similar reasons they removed user created rooms).

I believe the messenger program that finds the solution to this problem and brings back user defined video chat rooms will ultimately come out on top. Whilst its great to be able to talk with those you know, its alot of fun to be able to meet someone in a chat room and instantly see who they are.

For this reason subscription programs like Paltalk are becoming more and more popular, users can create a room relating to whatever subject they want.

Windows Live Messenger has interoperability with yahoo users, so you can talk with them without having to have both applications open.

Currently Windows Live Messenger is a leader in the free video chat enabled Instant Messengers pack, they loose some points for no chat room but pick up some for the excellent quality of video and voice along with a huge user base.

Download Windows Live Messenger Here

Rating: 4/5

You can set up a room and broadcast your web cam to the public, indeed many users have set themselves up as DJ’s, Talk Show hosts, game reviewers, even celebrities of the likes of Leo Laporte and Danny “come on get happy” Bonaduce have found Stickam to be a great vehicle for delivering their content, whilst tapping into a potentially new audience.

Stickam has a subculture all of its own, on forums around the web you can read all about the drama some users have with each other, it plays out like a soap opera, quite a few users have almost star status, with loyal followings and niche “in groups” being followed by wannabes. The cult of personality is a live and well on Stickam.

Just like many social networking sites, you can paruse a list of user stickam chat rooms and if they have their status set to “public” you can join in the conversation, broadcast your own web cam, or like the majority just sit, lurk, listen and watch the video.

Unsigned (and for that matter signed) bands use Stickam as a forum to get their music “out there”, with many holding parties, and live launch events on web cam.

Stickam attempts to protect its minors and more private folks by allowing users to set an age limit to enter their video enabled chat room, as well as the ability to chat in private with invited guests only or set the room to be only available to friends.

Your personal page acts much like MySpace along with your profile you can upload images, video, music,choose from a variety of stickam layouts and each page contains a message board where friends or visitors can drop by and leave you a note.

Stickam is a great place to meet all manner of people and hang out, form friendships, be educated and entertained.

Stickam does have its faults though, some people question the fact that Stickam was developed by a porn production company, and there are real concerns about protecting younger users, whilst users can set an age restriction, a fake profile would be a very simple matter to set up, allowing older participants to deceive younger people into thinking they are one of them.

If you’re not in the “in crowd” or you are over 30, you will find the user moderated rooms will often have over zealous moderators that will kick you for no particular reason, but as the agenda of the room is set by the participants this is fair enough I feel.

Easy to setup and get broadcasting, Stickam also allows you to easily embed the Stickam web cam player in your own web site.

IN SUMMARY Stickam is a great place to hang out, the topic of conversation is often more entertaining than some of the other web cam communities on the net, some of the Stickam entertainers are very good indeed, whether you want to catch up with the latest tech news, listen to “crank yankers” style prank calls, listen to an up and coming band or just shoot the breeze.

Having said this if you are over 35 Stickam can be a lonely place, the content (conversation topics etc…) may not suit your tastes and you may be struggling (at this stage anyway) to find a community of your own to become a part of. Add to this the very real concerns about protecting our younger folks (Stickam does have moderators but these seem to visit fairly infrequently) forces us to bring the score of Stickam down a touch.

Check out this Youtube clip to see what ovguide.com has to say about Stickam

Take a look for you self and let us know what you think! Stickam

Warning Stickam can be a very addictive time sink!

Rating: 3.5/5

Camfrog 5.1 is the latest release from Camfrog. Camfrog has been around for quite sometime now and has an extremly large user base, at the time of writing this review Camfrog had almost 89,000 people chatting online in just shy of 4,964 webcam chatrooms and its website boasts “millions”.

When you first run Camfrog 5.1 you are greeted with your standard style Instant messenger screen. The Instant messaging capabilities of Camfrog 5.1 are as good as most of the IM programs available, with a friends list, to keep track of your favorite cam chat buddies, and a favorite(s) chat room list included.

Clicking on the room list you will notice in the window that loads, there is a drop down menu on the top right hand side which reveals there are different Camfrog servers for different regions of the world, which is great if your not from an English speaking country, being an Australian I couldn’t make head nor tail of what was being said, but they looked like they were having just as much fun as the English rooms.

After selecting your region you then can select a room from the huge number of rooms available, which whilst not as diverse in terms of the range of topics for each room as say Paltalk, is still overwhelming. Rooms have a variety of topics, you can choose to hang out and play karaoke, discuss current events, test your knowledge in trivia rooms, just goof off or enter the adult zones amongst many other topical rooms you have access too on Camfrog.

Not only do you have the option to join people in other rooms, but you can play host and set up your own.

The interface is extremely easy to use, friendly and welcoming.

Once in a room of your choice you can hover over viewers names to find out more details of them, the viewers icon are either male or female, and this is also determinable via the text over link information. Hovering over a name in the Camfrog 5.1 chat room of your choice will give quick to read info such as gender, age and whether or not they have camera or voice capabilities (much like, but an improvement on yahoo messenger), the users icon will also be male or female, with or without cam

A GREAT feature of Camfrog 5.1 is you have the ability to determine who is watching you, you can order viewers by “who’s watching me” and / or by hovering over their name. If someone is watching you would prefer didn’t you can ignore that user.

The IM layout is much like yahoo, you can send private video feed straight to your contact as opposed to the rest of the room.

You can also send your friends or new contacts virtual gifts which is a lot of fun and makes the experience a little more welcoming.

My only real concern with Camfrog was like all other similar communities you only have to agree that you are 18 to enter the adult areas, so I feel minors should be supervised when using Camfrog, but Camfrog is not unique there all chat communities I have used face the same issues.

Having said that the rooms are well moderated, to ensure the all ages / clean chat areas are kept that way, even in the adult areas rooms are moderated to ensure everyone is respectful and doesn’t over step the mark too far.

Camfrog has a unique following in the deaf community it would appear, with many rooms for those with hearing difficulties.

As mentioned before, like the majority of cam chat communities, there are Adults only zones to cater for the naughtier cam folk.

The Video and Audio quality of Camfrog 5.1 is extremely good, on par with most other video chatting software, although the ability to configure your cam would be a nice feature that we hope will be added in the future

You will never be alone on Camfrog with its Multi-user Videoconferencing capable of hosting over 1,000 people in one room

There are 2 different types of accounts, free and the advanced account which costs a one time fee USD $49.95 that gives you Camfrog 5.1 + future updates for as long as you want to use it.

The following lifted from their website www.camfrog.com explains what features become unlocked in the advanced “paid” version:

• Pro users can view up to 100 video windows in video chat rooms. Camfrog 5.1 is the only webcam software with Camshare technology that allows multiple SUPER FAST video windows. Some Camfrog 5.1 rooms have hundreds of users with super fast video, it’s incredible!
• See HUGE live video windows, resize video windows to any size.
• Locate what room a user is in.
• Add cool text effects to your video windows.
• Send files to other Pro users. Sending files works behind firewalls and routers.
• Make your IM and chat windows transparent so you can easily see the video behind them.
• Remotely access your webcam from another computer with a password. See what’s going on at your house while you are away via super fast streaming video.
• Show a time log of when you last received an instant message from someone.
• Keep a history log of all video chat room and one on one video chats, plus keep a history of all IM messages.
• Drag your contacts to the desktop to see when your friends come back from being “away”.

The rewards of using Camfrog 5.1 are rich, in particular being able to chat with some may different people across the globe, we at Video Chat 101 will be watching in anticipation of any further developments in Camfrog and will bring you the news right here.

News Fash: Camfrog also has a web based service for more information you can visit the site www.camfrogweb.com

I must say Camfrog 5.1 surprised me as I hadn’t heard that much about it compared to Paltalk, Yahoo and Windows Live but I found it a great place to hang out, one which I will return time and time again.

Be sure to tell us of your experiences with Camfrog 5.1 or for that matter any of the video chat programs out there…

Whilst not in the same league as Paltalk Scene it is well worth checking out.
If your new to video chat or want to expand your video chat experience Paltalk is the largest voice and video chat service. Claim your free trial of Paltalk Scene for video messaging and chat.
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Rating: 4/5

Paltalk are one of the premier players in the rapidly expanding video enabled online chat communities.

Whether you are interested in the latest gossip, looking for love or wanting to wax lyrical about global warming, talk wrestling or just have a good old chat to pass the time, Paltalk Scene caters for it all. It is a fantastic place you will quickly become addicted to and form life long friendships in.

The Paltalk Scene Instant Messenger can compete on its own with the top Instant messaging programs out there in terms of functionality and ease of use, but where Paltalk Scene really shines is in its chat rooms.

On their website Paltalk boasts a “community of millions”. As you peruse the chat room list window you will see they are bustling with activities, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the globe are interacting, whether it be discussing the latest conspiracy’s, getting pc help, elearning in one of the premium rooms, meeting fellow gaming clan members, conducting there own radio broadcast or simply having fun chatting, Paltalk Scene has it covered, it really is an exciting community that never sleeps and always has plenty going on. If you cant find something you want to chat about you can choose to setup your own room and wait for like minded people to drop in.

You can have a night “out” partying with your friends or just chat with kindred spirits as well as meet people from all manner of different cultural, racial and religious backgrounds

Claim your Free Trial of Paltalk Scene to experience thousands of chat rooms with live motion video.

A great feature of Paltalk Scene is the ability to setup a password protected room for activities like talking to your loved ones when your overseas or interstate, without being interrupted by strangers.

The audio and video quality are top notch, the ability to chat simultaneously with a large number of users in a room as well as select whatever video you wish to see is a great experience. Paltalk Scene also provides us with a bunch of fun animations which the user can overlay on their videos.

The Paltalk Scene User Interface is extremely easy to use, if you are subscribed to the Paltalk Scene extreme service you can view as many windows as your monitor can handle, removing them from the Paltalk Scene dock window allows for resizing to whatever size window(s) you prefer.

Private messaging is available in the form of a “whisper” or private message and you can select to broadcast video only to the person you are instant messaging. Paltalk Scene also contains interoperability with Instant messengers such as yahoo, aim and ICQ, so you never need to leave the Paltalk realm.

From time to time Paltalk Scene has celebrities conducting chat forums, for example Novelist Stephen King and Former Guns and Roses Guitarist “Slash” have conducted sessions where the average Joe can ask them questions directly.

The only drawbacks to Paltalk Scene is that is currently only available to pc users and you don’t have the ability when broadcasting your cam in a chat room to tell if someone your talking to is watching your cam or not and probably more disturbing you cannot tell if someone is watching you who you would rather didn’t. If someone annoys you and you know they are watching you, you can block them.

Another thing to be wary of is the only guard against entering the well patronised Adult area, is a warning pop up which you just have to agree to to enter, so underage folk should have a parent supervising what areas they are in. Paltalk Scene has implemented a rating system for each room which easily allows you to recognise which rooms are adult and which rooms are family friendly, They even have heavily moderated teenage and underage rooms to provide a safe place for younger folk to hang out. As for the Adult area if you are up for flirting or more then Paltalk Scene certainly caters for the more mature side of video chatting if thats your bent.

Free to try Paltalk Scene has three tiers of membership:

• Free (Basic) – Banner Ads, No motion video, Black Nickname
• Plus – Full Motion Video, Up to 6 Video Windows, No Banner Ads, Blue Nickname
• Extreme – Television Quality Video, Unlimited Video Windows, No Banner Ads, Green Nickname

With the advent of the new Paltalk Express, browser based environment (currently in beta), it has never been easier to stay in touch with loved ones and friends.

Get Paltalk for 7 days without giving your credit card!

rating 4.5/5

When yahoo launched its personal messenger program Yahoo! Messenger it addressed a growing trend for chatting online that companies such as ICQ had born. You could see when your buddies were online as well as make new acquaintances.

One on One Yahoo! video chat is a winner, simply click the “mywebcam” option and all your friends can see your cam is up and can click on it to view (unless you have chosen to restrict who can see you via the privacy menu). If you wish to be more candid you can invite only the person you are chatting with to view your cam. Similarly when someone on your list makes their cam available, next to their name will appear a cam icon as well as a message indicating they are available to be viewed.

Lots of extra features such as text chat, voice chat, re sizable video windows, customizable themes, games you can play against your online buddies, share photos, listen to online radio broadcast as well as many other features, place Yahoo! Messenger high up on the list of best video chat programs.

Yahoo! chat rooms on the other hand are a not such pleasant experience.

Yahoo! user defined chat rooms, now defunct allowed users to create their own chat rooms, but this led to what some viewed as unsavory behavior and sadly yahoo user created rooms were removed.

Nethertheless, Yahoo! created rooms remain unlike the sad demise of the msn video enabled chat rooms.

Sadly these days Yahoo! chatrooms are over run with spammers and bots to the point where it can be frustrating for the user to find some one to chat with. Yahoo! has now implemented an authorisation code that you must enter every time, this can be extremely frustrating and the bots this security measure is aimed at seem to be able to deal with the verification easily judging by the number of bots the rooms are filled with.

Those issues aside Yahoo! chat rooms are free! And this means many people from the more financially challenged countries make use of Yahoo! chat rooms, which will provide you with a unique experience as you meet people from totally different cultures and backgrounds.

More recently yahoo has implemented Yahoo Live which we will take the time to look at in a later review.

Its thought that yahoo are working very hard on implementing a better Yahoo! Messenger chat experience, I will bring you any news on this endeavor as it comes to hand, you too can check out whats going on on the Yahoo! Messenger blog at wwwymessengerblog.com

In summary, the Yahoo! Messenger video chat experience is still one of the best you can find, if they would just get to work and fix up those chat rooms this review would be a perfect score, we will keep a keen eye on any developments in this area and will update this site as soon as we have any news.

Download the latest Yahoo! Messenger Here…

Rating: 4/5