Deauville Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Having discovered the delights of Skype video (to watch the antics of an unexpected grandchild!!) I now want more. The quality of video is average and on full screen is so heavily pixelated as to be almost unwatchable - I guess some of this is due to broadband speed, my question is - will the addition of a video card improve quality, I'm currently using just the onboard graphics installation on the motherboard. Any comments would be welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob T Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I would probably say no. The poor quality picture is down to having to send it over the Internet and to get that twice as good would mean sending four times as much info over the web. What comes down from the other ends camera cannot be improved as far as pixels are concerned, by hardware at your end.If you lived in a big city with 80meg broadband, and so did the person at the other end, then you could both use a proper video camera and get better resolution, but web cams are deliberately a poor resolution so that they can be seen in a small window without too much jerking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 The answer is no. The integrated video is OK for watching video already; the limited demands of Skype will not trouble it.The problem is almost certainly the number of pixels that the webcam video is capable of processing.The advent of ADSL meant the introduction of higher quality webcams some 3/4 years ago. For example on my netbook I have a webcam installed in the lid which functions at 1.3 mega-pixels which would give a reasonable definition picture on a normal size screen.But if you show on a large screen as in 136 cms diagonal LCD then the pixels will be insufficient requiring to move your armchair to the end of the garden and view through the window.Note it is the webcam at the child's end which affects the definition quality on the screen at your end.The future will be HD webcams but these are still very expensive ti incorporate.I suggest you buy better equipment for your grandchildren; be much appreciated when they play on-line games.[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deauville Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 Nice concise reply Bob- thanks. So what are the advantages of a separate graphics card for a non games-player? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 None, or perhaps the possibility of a second monitor if you felt you needed one, but even then you don't need a powerful card for that just one with 2 video connectors.The point about video quality being determined by the senders camera also depends on their BB speed of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Good if you run DivX,XVid,TNT MPEG4.A concise reply![;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 [quote user="ErnieY"]None, or perhaps the possibility of a second monitor if you felt you needed one, but even then you don't need a powerful card for that just one with 2 video connectors.The point about video quality being determined by the senders camera also depends on their BB speed of course. [/quote]My akoya netbook wil clone or extend screen image with on-board video chip-set via VGA port; screen image switching with Fn + F2.[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deauville Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 Sorry pachapapa - I read Bob's thread before yours (which is just as concise!) Will a graphics card have any effect on normal computer usage i.e. improving page load up when surfing t'net? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 No for net surfing it will make no difference at all, anything above 1Mbit/sec will be fine for "normal" pages. Unfortunately tendency to overload pages with publicity; the Alice Home Page is a good example. Less bumph then quick load-up; Google is a good example of a quick loading page with minimum data. But Google Earth needs decent bandwidth for the 3D flying through the alps stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 [quote user="pachapapa"]My akoya netbook wil clone or extend screen image with on-board video chip-set via VGA port; screen image switching with Fn + F2.[:)][/quote]As will my Acer and the majority of other laptops/netbooks too but as I know of none which is upgradable in the video department so must assume that we are talking about the possible benefits of upgrading a PC's video.Deuville, congratulations on the grand child BTW, remiss of us to offer those, as a matter of interest what bandwidth do you have and your UK family have ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deauville Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 Thanks for the congrats Erniey - the grandson was an unexpected pleasure as we never expected to become grandparents and this was heavily instrumental in our move to la belle France - amazing how such a small thing can change your priorities eh? Google tells me I'm currently running 2.2 mbs but I don't know what my son runs back in UK - reasonably good I suspect as he's not too far from Manchester and on BT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 All this video webcam Skype,MSN Messenger, etc, has one very serious weak link. The transmission quality depends on the UPLOAD bandwidth which is normally less than 20% of the DOWNLOAD bandwidth. Even when you have nominal 10 mb/s the upload is unlikely to be seriously different. There are exceptions Issy Les Molyneaux and Montpellier come to mind or Numercable.Netbook "akoya" and it has "N" 300 MB/sec WLAN card on board![:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 [quote user="Deauville"]amazing how such a small thing can change your priorities eh? [/quote]Aint that the truth ![quote user="Deauville"]Google tells me I'm currently running 2.2 mbs[/quote]You'll have to elaborate on that one I'm afraid, I'm not aware that Google itself has a speed tester. 2.2mb however should be adequate for decent video but as has already been said this is far from the only factor in the equation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deauville Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 There's a toolbar button for a broadband speed tester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 If you say so, personally I very little time or need for Google toolbars etc. IMO a waste of resources and screen space, which is probably why I haven't seen it. Besides, I have my own favourite sites for doing that sort of thing [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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