EdTech'98 and ACEC'98 Virtual Conference

Video conferencing - Getting Set Up!

    This is the page where you can find out about the software and hardware requirements to participate in the video conferencing activities, as well as useful setup hints and advice and other links to various informative web sites on using Cornell University's CU-SeeMe software.
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Introduction

The EdTech'98 and ACEC'98 Virtual Conference will use Internet based desktop video conferencing technology to provide real-time video and audio links with several keynote speakers in Australia and overseas. Virtual conference participants will be able to view video of these speakers and interact by asking questions should they wish, using both audio and text based modes. Those with the necessary hardware such as a video card and camera will be able to transmit video of themselves for others to view.

What is CuSeeMe?

CU-SeeMe (pronounced "see you see me") is a free video conferencing program (under copyright of Cornell University and its collaborators) available to anyone with a Macintosh or Windows and a connection to the Internet. With CU-SeeMe, you can video conference with another site located anywhere in the world. By using "reflector" software, multiple parties at different locations can participate in a CU-SeeMe conference, each from his or her own desktop computer.

The EdTech'98 and ACEC'98 Virtual Conference will utilise the free Cornell University version of Cu-SeeMe, which is available free to the Internet. White Pine have developed an "enhanced" Cu-SeeMe that is commercially available, the Australian agent being Namadgi Marketing [see Namadgi Demonstration for EdTech'98-ACEC'98]. White Pine's version, which supports colour, could not recognise the sixteen greyscale Cornell version of CuSeeMe.

However, Cornell have only very recently released an "alpha" test colour version of their Cu-SeeMe that does interact with the above WP commercial version. However, this new colour Cornell version is not yet widely distributed, the "sneak preview" release not being currently available on the Cornell web site. In addition, Cornell's CuSeeMe has been ported across to both the Linux and OS/2 operating systems.

Where to download?

At the time of writing (May 1998), the latest official releases of Cornell University's CuSeeMe (not including the colour 1.0 version) are available at the Cu-SeeMe web site, http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/
However, for convenience, copies are available by anonymous FTP at the host cleo.murdoch.edu.au, in the directory /pub/video_conf/internetvidconf/

To automatically download from the host cleo.murdoch.edu.au the latest Macintosh and Windows versions, choose from the following:

The Macintosh files are in MacBinary format (.bin) and may require a utility such as Stuffit Expander to extract them. Your web browser should automatically unpack these Macbinary files if Stuffit Expander is already installed on your machine. Netscape installs Stuffit Expander automatically when Netscape is first installed and should thus unpack CuSeeMe successfully. Internet Explorer can automatically decode MacBinary files if the Receiving Files / Download Options are so set under Explore's Preferences, which is the default.

The Windows files are in zipped format (.zip) and will require a utility such as WinZip to extract them. If required, you will find a self-extracting copy of WinZip for both Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 on cleo.murdoch.edu.au as follows:

Cornell University made available for just a very short time only a version 1.0 of its CuSeeMe software for Windows 95 and Windows NT. This version is no longer available on at the Cornell web site (at the time of writing, June 1 1998). However, a copy is available by anonomyous FTP to cleo.murdoch.edu.au. This version 1.0 supports colour and will interact with the Enhanced CuSeeMe provided commercially by White Pine software. However, to use the colour capabilities of Cu-SeeMe 1.0, an additional MPEG colour codec is required and this also is available on the host cleo. Again, WinZip95 (version 6.3) will be required to unzip these files.

For those who seek further information on Cornell's version 1.0 of Cu-SeeMe, see Cornell's CU-SeeMe 1.0 Information Page [link to http://www.rocketcharged.com/cu-seeme/cuone.html deletd from the archival version of this page].

What is needed?

Without any additional hardware such as video capture cards and a camera or microphone, CU-SeeMe can be used to simply receive video (and audio), in which case the user would be described as a "lurker". To send video, additional equipment is required.

Perhaps the simplest solution for video transmission is the use of the QuickCam camera for Macintosh and Windows users. These cameras plug into a serial port (modem or printer port) on the Macintosh or a parallel port on a Windows PC. The cameras were originally released only as black and white models and these now superseded models are keenly sought after, as the common consensus is that the quality of video image produced by these black and white models is better than that of the current colour models.

Firmware are the Australian Suppliers of QuickCams. Follow this link [link to http://www.firmware.com.au/html/quickcam.html deleted from the archival version of this page] for more information.

Some Macintosh PPCs (Power Macintosh) as well as the older AV Macintoshs have video input capability built into the machine, in which case all that is required for video capture and input is a video camera or camcorder. In addition, sound input capability is built into all Macintoshs. Thus, it is possible for a Macintosh CuSeeMe user to "lurk" in the video sense of not sending video but be able to transmit and interact with audio. In addition, both the Windows and Macintosh versions of CuSeeMe will permit text based "chat" interaction.

The situation for the Windows PC user is a little more complex. For the sending and receiving of audio, a sound card must be present in the machine. If a video camera other than the QuickCam type mentioned above is to be used, a video card must be installed in the PC. Not all video cards are necessarily compatible with Cornell's Cu-SeeMe. A point worth noting is the comment given by Cornell that PAL video cameras do NOT work with the current Windows 95 version of CU-SeeMe; they must be NTSC. At the time of writing, this has not been confirmed for the 1.0 version. In Australia, video output from cameras is usually PAL. Thus, use of the above QuickCam camera or another such as the Face-to-Face parallel port camera might be necessary.

The following information is extracted from Cornell University's CU-SeeMe Page [link to http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/ deleted from the archival version of this page], and may be of use:

CU-SeeMe is intended to provide useful video conferencing to as many people as possible and at minimal cost. The software runs on Macintosh and PC Windows platforms using an IP network connection. With CU-SeeMe each participant can decide to be a sender, a receiver, or both. Receiving requires only a Mac or PC with a screen capable of displaying 16 grays and a connection to the Internet. Sending requires the same plus a camera and digitizer which can cost less than $US100 to add to your system.

CU-SeeMe for the Macintosh:

Specifications to RECEIVE video:

Specifications to SEND video:

CU-SeeMe for WINDOWS - Win16 version:

Basic Requirements:

To send and receive video you'll also need:

To send & receive audio you'll also need:

Click here for COMPAT.TXT on CU-SeeMe for Win16 [link deleted from the archival version of this page].

Windows 95 version

The following is taken from Cornell's CU-SeeMe Windows version 0.92 Visual Users Guide [link to http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/V32X/V32XFront.html deleted from the archival version of this page].

Note that this version will NOT support PAL video cameras!

Video Capture Cards

CU-SeeMe sends and receives 4 bit gray images. You can think of 4 bit gray as an image with 16 shades of gray, with white being the "lightest shade", and black being the "darkest shade". Most video cards do not capture in 4 bit gray, and instead capture in color. CU-SeeMe converts the captured color images to 4 bit gray before sending them.

There are a variety of video formats (ways of digitally "encoding" a picture) used by various video capture cards. CU-SeeMe knows how to convert several of the color video formats to 4 bit gray. Here are the video capture cards CU-SeeMe has been tested with so far, along with the video format setting for each:

Additional NOTE:

To the above list can be added the following parallel port cameras:

If your card is not listed here, see if it supports one of the following video formats:

If your capture card is not listed above, but does support one of the above video formats, it will likely work. If you do get a funky local video image, it is because sometimes a video format is implemented differently by different vendors.

Much thanks to the folks at ATI, Connectix, Winnov, and VideoLabs for their support.

Image Size

CU-SeeMe can capture and send local video in 2 sizes: 160x120 and 320x240. Set the image size in the video format dialog. Although most capture cards can capture at a variety of other sizes, CU-SeeMe can only use those two sizes. The 160x120 video size is recommended for most uses, unless you have a fairly fast connection with some "spare bandwidth", as the 320x240 video size sends 4 times the information of the 160x120 size.

A Note on Cameras

Currently, this version of CU-SeeMe only supports NTSC cameras. I know, the Win16 version did PAL, but PAL support, for both big and small video will be forthcoming.

Sending images without a camera!

There are several utilities for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms that enable the transmission of images using CU-SeeMe without having a camera attached.

For the Macintosh, there is the Imposter software which enables the sending of images via a series of prepared PICT files. The software comes with a default set of images that can be used to test your CU-SeeMe installation. This application might have potential use in the educational context with the sending of illustrations and other graphics over CU-SeeMe to all receivers. This software is available by anonymous ftp to cleo.murdoch.edu.au

ftp://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/pub/video_conf/internetvidconf/utils/imposter13.sit (245kB)

For the Windows environment, there is a little utility called CuDoodle that enables the sending of a small part of a computer screen via CU-SeeMe. Thus, a drawing or graphic could be placed on screen and then sent over CU-SeeMe. Again, this software is available by anonymous ftp to cleo.murdoch.edu.au

ftp://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/pub/video_conf/internetvidconf/utils/cudood08.zip (35kB)

How to install and Configure CU-SeeMe

Assuming that your web browser is correctly configured to handle .bin files in the case of the Macintosh or .zip files in the case of Windows, there should be no problems in downloading and unpacking the version of CU-SeeMe required for your platform. Of course, it is strongly recommended that a new folder or directory be created to hold the CU-SeeMe application and other files that are unpacked.

For Windows 95, only the cuseeme.exe application and a readme file are unpacked. There are no associated DLL's.

For Windows 3.1, the zip file unpacks to quite a few different files so it is essential to unpack the cuseeme.zip file into a separate directory. You may have to relocate several of the DLL files to get CU-SeeMe to work. Do read the readme files!

With the Macintosh versions, only one file (the application itself) is unpacked.

In configuring CU-Seeme, not too much is required although some practice will be required in becoming familiar with CU-SeeMe's features and what it can do. The main configuration requirements are to do with ensuring that you give yourself a name (other than the default "Your Name") and adjust your Send / Receive rates accordingly.

For the Macintosh, to identify yourself, under the Edit / Preferences menu, change the "Video Title" accordingly.

In Windows, under View, Preferences, General, change the "Your Name" title to something short and appropriate.

The other main feature in using CU-SeeMe is to adjust the data rates. For multi-party conferencing, when sevral users can connect to a reflector and see each other, the reflector may be so configured that those sending with data rates higher than a certain level are disconnected from the reflector.

In particular, those partcipating in the EdTech98 virtual conference and connecting to the reflector on the host cleo.murdoch.edu.au (IP number: 134.115.224.60) will be required to keep their maximum send rate to below 50 kbits/sec.

For Windows, select View/Preferences/Rates and the Rates window will appear.

For the Macintosh, click on the bottom right hand button in the CU-SeeMe window and adjust the transmission rate in the pull down menu. See the diagram below.

Screen picture: Transmission rates

There are several useful guides out there on the Internet, assisting in both the installation and use of CU-SeeMe.

For Windows users, Bill Woodland's guides are particularly helpful:

The following are useful guides for Macintosh users:

The following pages are some FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and CU-SeeMe resource pages:

Using Audio

Audio uses quite high bandwidth. CU-SeeMe comes with several audio codecs. The lowest bandwidth one is the delta-mod 16 kbits/sec codec. Thus, to conserve limited bandwidth, it is recommended that all parties agree to use the delta-mod codec for audio.

On limited bandwidth connections, such as a 28.8 modem link, the quality of audio even using this codec, might be disappointing. Even on higher bandwidth connections, it may improve audio quality if sending of local video is paused while attempting to sen d quality audio.

On a Windows machine, an additional "sound card" (and microphone) will be necessary to send and receive audio, is such a card is not installed on the machine. a full-duplex card is recommended if sound is to be sent and received at the same time.

On the Macintosh platforms, audio capability is built-in and no additional hardware is required.

One-one video conferencing

Cornell CU-Seeme allows video conferencing between just two parties by using CU-SeeMe in direct or one-to-one mode. To achieve this, the IP (Internet Protocol) number of at least one of the two parties will need to be known.

In Windows 95, the IP number of the machine on which CU-SeeMe is running is displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the CU-SeeMe main window. For the Macintosh, the user will need to open up either the MacTCP or Open Transport control panel to determine the IP.

Once the IP for one of the two machines is determined, this is then communicated to the other party (by email possibly) and a connection made, using the Conference / Connect menu in the case of the Macintosh or the Conference / PhoneBook menu in the case of Windows 95, by typing in the IP number. The party to be connected to, must of course have CU-SeeMe running. This party would then be in waiting mode.

What is a reflector? Multi-party video conferencing

To permit multi-party video conferencing, a reflector is required. A reflector is simply software that runs on a machine that is usually well-connected to the Internet. That is, it has a high speed connection to the Net. This software "reflects" video (and audio and text) of parties connected to the reflector to all other parties. A reflector may have its own rules which will usually be displayed in the MOTD (Message Of The Day) when you connect to the reflector. In particular, pay attention to any maximum transmission or video send rates.

To connect to a reflector, you will need to know the IP number or name of the reflector and connect as above. Many reflectors are public in that anyone can connect. These have a Conference ID of the default value of 0. However, some reflectors or conferences are private and will require a special Conference ID number to gain entry to that reflector or conference.

A list of reflectors can be found at: http://www.rocketcharged.com/cu-seeme/general.html

Some of these are public and others are private, meaning that a conference ID will be required. Again, some will not permit "lurkers" to connect, that is, those who are not transmitting video may be prevented from joining a conference.

EdTech98's CU-SeeMe video conferences

Several sessions at the EdTech98 conference will utilise the host cleo.murdoch.edu.au as a reflector, implying that several parties will be able to connect to cleo and view video and audio from conference presenters.The host cleo's IP number is: 134.115.224.60

A conference ID will be required to enter any conference sessions. This will be announced prior to the event.

For the conference, "lurkers" will be permitted. Interaction will be possible for such lurkers via the text-based caht mode, using the chat window in Cornell's CU-SeeMe.

For those with audio capability, in order to ensure that the quality of audio is as high as possible, we will recommend that video be paused while audio interaction takes place.

For video, at the time of writing, the maximum transmission or send rate is set at 50kbits/sec.

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Author and original HTML: Geoffrey Rehn [rehn@cleo.murdoch.edu.au]
Editor: Roger Atkinson © 1998 Australian Society for Educational Technology
Last revision: 22 Apr 2003. This URL: http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/vconf/editorial.html
Previous URL May 1998 to 30 Sep 2002: http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/aset/confs/edtech98/vconf/setup.html