It has been more than a fortnight since I wrote the article on No More Multiple Webcam Chatting in MSN and I have been receiving a lot of traffics from web queries regarding it. It reminds me time is dashing fast as more MSN Windows Live Messenger users are going to download and install the latest version of the chat messenger (currently Version 2009 Build 14.0.8117.416) and start wondering the lost feature.
Below is a list of searched queries over search engines such as Google:
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Yes, for those of you who are still figuring out how to do the multiple MSN webcam, you can jolly well forget about it for now because the team of MSN Windows Live Messenger is going to drop it in its feature list in future, and this is what many users and I mean as “downgrade of Windows Live Messenger”. Therefore, please stop searching for the “Show my webcam” or “View my webcam” button.
At least for now and future, you still get to do webcam with your contact using the Video Chat feature.
To summarise the difference between Webcam and Video Chat:
Features / Highlights
Webcam
Video Chat
Multiple windows
Yes. You can do webcam chat with a large number of friends at the same time. You can also view as many webcam as you like without having your own webcam. Both subjected to bandwidth though.
No. You can only chat with a party at a time.
Cross usage of Webcam and Video Chat
No. Once you are using Webcam, you may have multiple webcam windows but you cannot use Video Chat.
No. Once you are in Video Chat mode, you cannot even view other people’s webcam.
Sound
No. There is no sound streaming, which means you and the other party cannot hear each other’s voice.
Yes. There is sound streaming and both you and your friend can simply chat without using the keyboard. Both of you can also mute any party’s sound.
Video Quality
Reasonable, depending on both party’s internet bandwidth.
Better than Webcam chat usually. Larger amount of frames are streamed and thus it is more realistic.
Bandwidth
Webcam chat requires less bandwidth. It is more usable when one of the parties has low bandwidth.
Video Chat requires much larger bandwidth for the better video quality and inclusive of the sound streaming. However, if either party has a low bandwidth, it may result in disconnection.
MSN Windows Live Messenger team is removing the Webcam feature in their development as to concentrate on the Video Chat feature. This will greatly affect more MSN webcam chat users and soon, more users will be spending hours trying to figure if their chat software is corrupted or their windows are invaded by virus. As they start googling for the problem, it will take some time for them to figure out about the new development of the MSN team after viewing all the pages about how McAfee Antivirus software has conflicts with the messenger. This is a true experience of mine, and now I’m still feeling so silly about the hours of time I have wasted.
Seriously, the MSN Windows Live Messenger team needs to develop the Video Chat feature such that the MSN software allows multiple webcam chat windows as to please many users; otherwise, it is totally a wrong move to remove the Webcam feature.
For users with webcam experience using MSN, you should know the difference between Video Call and Webcam. Basically, Video Call is webcam chat with voice and both parties must own a physical webcam each in order to initialise the Video Call. The problem with Video Call is that it requires much more bandwidth and once the Video Call is on, you cannot make another Video Call or the soundless Webcam to another friend. Whereas, if you are using Webcam, you can broadcast your video feed to more than one friend at one time.
I installed MSN Plus! and after a few days, I tried to webcam with my friend and realised the "show my webcam" function was gone. I thought it was the third party software that caused the problem and thus I uninstalled it. I did numerous re-installation of WLM, with and without deleting its data folders in the system's drive. I wasted half a day before I found out about the removal of the feature because I never expected MS would downgrade its product. I'm sure many others have and are going to waste their time "debugging" their WLM before they come across this website.
The main issues of not having the webcam feature are: - Sometimes the users need to webcam with more than one friend instantly - Some users' internet connection is not suitable for Video Chat, and at the worst scenario which I had experienced before, my friend could not even connect to Video Chat.
The video chat quality is more than good enough for now and I don't think the priority should be upgrading it, or at least, not at the expense of throwing away the webcam feature. I don't think MS would take into consideration of the complicating coding for having both webcam and video chat functions since the programmers should be some of the best in the world. Regarding end-users mixing up video chat and webcam, I'm sure the smart team can solve it by re-designing the interface instead of removing the webcam feature. Maybe there can be a dropdown with radio button or simply another icon besides the webcam icon to choose whether you want to the webcam chat with (video chat) or without sound.
We really need the webcam feature back. Dear team, I'm sure you guys can do wonders even if you put back the webcam feature.
