We made our first road trip with Fiona recently, taking her to Springfield, IL to visit my side of our family. It was a great weekend that nearly wore out three cameras with all of the pictures taken.
That said, for the first time in a few blog posts, pictures aren’t what I want to talk about. At the moment, I’m more interested in video: Video Chat to be more specific. As Fiona’s due date approached, my parents and I began discussing setting up a way for us to use video chat. Amy and I already had a web-cam, and my parents quickly followed suit in purchasing one of their own.
In the days before Fiona’s Springfield visit, we were finally getting ready to take our first stab at video chat. After some hiccups in setting up the hardware/software, it was time to make good use of our AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet. My dad and I got the video chat up and running and after only a few seconds, Amy, Fiona, and I could see and hear my mom, dad, and grandmother, almost as though they were right in the room with us.
While it doesn’t replace getting to hold your grandchild/children or hug your parents, video chat can help make the world seem that much smaller, and any distance surmountable. When we aren’t able to meet in person, we can still share our beautiful daughter with our out-of-town family by using video chat.
Wondermonkey2k says:
November 20, 2009 at 9:51 am
Great post and video! You know what that setup needs though? A Magic Mouse. I’m just saying. Just saying.
Botmann says:
November 20, 2009 at 9:52 am
just need to figure out how to make it more portable so you can walk around the house. It’s like having a cord phone all over again!!!
Betty says:
November 20, 2009 at 11:56 am
Video chat really is the next best thing to being there. If you haven’t tried it, you really need to check it out. You will find yourself reaching out to hug the monitor!
Emily Meyer says:
November 20, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Love you video. The picture & sound are so clear. I told your mom the whole thing(video phones, cameras, etc.) remind me of the Jetsons cartoons.
Gene B says:
November 20, 2009 at 3:54 pm
We actually tried video chat over the net when Cory was a Freshman at SLU, but it didn’t work very good at that time. It’s come an exctremely long way. The video actually is smooth with the mouth and words syncronized instead of like a foriegn movie. The voice is as good a quality as talkin on the phone. This is a great way for closing the distance between out of town family and friends.
Christy says:
November 20, 2009 at 4:45 pm
That video made me tear up. We need to start using that. I have a camera built into my mac. How do we start?
Patricia White says:
November 23, 2009 at 10:21 am
My husband and I met while he was serving in the US Army in Germany. We got married and had three chidlren. We since then left the military and joined the civilian world. His family lives on the west coast and we live on the east coast. It would be easier to stay in touch and up to minute with up to minute pitures and video and conversations with a product like this. Thanks.
Becky says:
November 24, 2009 at 8:57 am
Too cool!