Support
Email vchat@cu-seeme.org if you have problems with this software.

Requirements
A Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.2.5 or later with a working Internet connection. VChat may work with earlier releases of Mac OS X, but that is untested.

Sending Video
A working Web cam is required to send live video. VChat works with the Apple iSight web camera.

If you have a USB camera, it most likely will not work unless there is a driver available.

Drivers for many popular cameras are available at

Alternate "Duck"umentation with a better user focus
Daffi Duck very kindly built a web site that puts the detail from this page in to a more 'user-friendly' format. Thank-you very much for doing that Daffi.

CU-SeeMe Implementation
The following portions of the protocol have so far been implemented by VChat:

1. Connection to a reflector.
2. View other client videos.
3. View your own video.
4. Send Video using MJPEG, H263 or H264 codecs.
5. Send a single still image or a 'slide-show'.
6. Receive chat, both public and private.
7. Send chat, both public and private.
8. Direct Connection to another CU-SeeMe user.
9. Send and Receive Audio

Known Limitations
Only a limited number Audio codecs are supported.

Advertising
VChat displays a small advertising banner when you are connected to a reflector. This has been introduced on a trial basis and may be removed in the future. No information is sent by VChat from your computer to any other party, but on first connection to a reflector, VChat will download a file from the VChat Web Site specifying the advertisements to be displayed.

Reflectors
Group video conferences in CU-SeeMe are held by all participants connecting to a reflector server on the Internet.

VChat is distributed with no reflector data. You can either fill in the data manually on the Reflectors window or alternatively, the File/Import... command will download a list of current reflectors from the VChat web site. Many of these reflectors will have adult content. Do not import this list if you are not comfortable with nudity and sexual references.

Nick Name
Change the default nick-name to something that you feel represents your on-line personality.
You can change you nick-name any time, so this choice is not one of lifes major decisions.
You cannot connect to a reflector unless you change the default Nick Name to a name of your choosing. The name you choose can have a maximum of 19 letters and must contain at least one non-space character. Trailing spaces are stripped from the nick-name.

Network Setup
If you are located behind a firewall, you must open the following ports of the firewall. If you do not control the firewall, ask the System Administrator nicely :-)

UDP 7648-7652 in/out
UDP 24032 in/out
TCP 7648 in/out

If your firewall is performing Network Address Translation (NAT) you should check the Preferences option 'Fix IP Address Mismatches' should you be refused entry to some reflectors because of IP mismatch errors being sent by the reflector.

Connecting To A Reflector
Select a reflector from the list of reflectors, (hi-lite by clicking on it), then click the Connect button. Alternatively, double click the name in the list.

To disconnect from the reflector, click the Disconnect button or click the close botton (top left corner) of the Participants window.

To remove a reflector from the list, highlight it (i.e.click on it) and press the delete key.

Receiving Video
To see other participants in a conference, double click their name in the Participants window that opened when you connected to the reflector.

You can adjust the colours in the received vide by choosing Video Colours from the Video menu. If you click on either the users image or their name in the participants list, adjusting the controls on the Colours window will adjust that video.

Private Sessions (DC)
The CU-SeeMe protocol allows one-on-one sessions between two computers. Direct Connect (DC) can be initiated by either party and the remote party has the option to accept or deny the connection.

To initiate a DC with VChat, create an entry in the reflectors list with name of the remote person as the Reflector Name, their IP address or host name and a Conference ID of 0. Set the rates so the Send rate does not exceed your internet connection speed and the Receive rate to the same value. Clicking the Connect button will initiate the session.

To receive a DC, you must first ensure that VChat is listening for an incoming call. Check this option in the Preferences. When a remote party calls you, you will be presented with a dialog inviting you Accept or Deny the call. In addition, you should check that rates are appropriate for both your internet connection speed and also that of the calling party.

Peel the potatoes, cut into portion size pieces and boil for 20 minutes. Well that will help you boil the potatoes - probably not much help in getting a DC to work.

Filtering Unwanted Chat
Unwanted chat can be filtered in 2 ways.

Sending Private Chat
To send a private message to a user, select their name from the Chat menu. To revert to public chat, select the Public Chat option.

You can also select the user with a ctrl-click on their video, or their entry in the participants list.

To send private chat without switching from your current mode( you may already be in private session with a different user, or just in public chat) , if you type the first characters of a users name in the chat input box, and then press the TAB key, the name will be completed with >> appended to it. This indicates that chat will be sent privately to that user. If you accidentally get an incorrect user name, you must press the ESC key - which will clear the entire input chat field and try again with more characters from the name of the intended recipient.

Typing Indicator
If the Typing Indicator option is set in Preferences, VChat will display a small icon next to the Username in the participants window when that user is typing a message. Similarly, when you are typing, others will be able to see. If you are sending private chat, only the recipient of that chat will see that you are typing.
Not all clients or reflectors support this feature so you may not see indication from many participants.

Spelling Check
You can (optionally) have VChat perform spelling checks on your chat text as you type. Misspelt words are shown in red

To correct spelling errors, ctrl-click (or right-click) the mis-spelled word and make a selection from the menu

To enable/disable spelling checking, simply click the check box at the bottom the chat window.

Logging Chat Sessions
VChat will log all chat (if selected in Preferences) to text files located in the folder ~/Library/Logs/VChat/ . The VChat folder is automatically created if it does not exist.

A seperate log is maintained for each reflector you connect to. The name given to the log file is the name you have set for the reflector in the Reflectors window.

The logs may be viewed by selecting View Log Files in the VChat File menu. A standard file navigation dialog is shown and the selected log file will be opened with the standard MacOS X log viewing programme, Console.

You can use the Console application to delete unwanted logs or you can simply remove them by trashing them in the Finder.

Speaking Chat
If you check the Speech control at the bottom of the Chat window, VChat will speak the chat aloud.

Adjust the volume with your usual volume control.

You can choose one of the several voices available for each participant by selecting the Chat to Speech item in the Edit menu.

Participants are automatically added to this list with their voice set to the default system voice of your Macintosh.

Video and Video Codec Settings
These buttons on the Reflectors window provide access to the device drivers for your web cam and also allow you tune the codec used for transmission of your video.

For most users, the default settings will be the correct ones to use. The default settings are easily restored with a single button click. Further tuning of the settings will require you to once again click the appropriate 'Settings' button.

If you have multiple cameras connected to your Macintosh, you can use the Video Settings to select which camera VChat will use.

VChat provides a 'Brightness' control on the Reflectors window, to enable you to fine tune the brightness of the image produced by your camera. This control is not available for the adjustment of still images.

If you choose still images for your video source, you have the option of presenting a single image, or a 'slide show'. The time between slides is configurable and there is also a control to enable you to step backward and forward through the directory of images.

Unless you are sending either live video from a camera or have chosen a suitable still image (or set of images) to send, you will not receive video from other participants in a conference. You will still be able to send and receive text chat so you will be able to seel help frpm other participants on a conference in resolving difficulties you may be having with your camera.

Audio Settings
VChat captures audio from the input source selected in System Preferences/Sounds. You can use this panel to ensure that your microphone is working


The left side of the window is used to set your preferred output volume or to mute the speakers. The LED display can be disabled if you find the flashing distracting.

The right sight of the window has similar controls for the microphone. The small red triangle can be moved up and down to perform 'squelch control', preventing transmission of unwanted noise and conserving bandwidth.
'Push-to-Talk or 'Hands-Free' operation is selectable with check box.

A codec can be selected from the pop-up menu at the bottom of the screen

Preferences
The default settings in the Preferences dialog are suitable for most users, Following is a brief explanation of each option.

Default Video Size
This selects the frame size videos will be displayed at when they are first opened. You can always resize a video by dragging its resize region in the bottom right corner.

Connection Timeout
VChat will cease trying to establish a connection with a remote peer or reflector after this time has elapsed.

Client Time Out
If the reflector sends no data for a client in this time interval, VChat will assume that the client has left the reflector.

Maximum Frame Rate
You may wish to adjust this to a lower value (say 5 fps) to lower the CPU used by VChat when it is idling. The frame rate is adjusted dynamically when you are connected to a remote host

Session Time Out
If the remote site sends no data in this time interval, VChat will assume that the remote site has closed the connection and disconnect.

Marker Interval
Write a time stamp to the chat window every Marker Interval minutes. Setting this value to 0 will suppress the markers.

MOTD Timer
Display the MOTD or other ref messages for this number of seconds before automatically dismissing it. Setting this value to 0 will cause the message to be displayed until you dismiss the dialog.

Open videos automatically
Open a new video window when a user first appears in a conference. Please note that the participants in some reflectors/video conferences may be upset if you open their video without first asking.

Fix IP Address Mismatches
If you are behind a firewall that is doing Network Address Translation, and are receiving address mismatch errors from some reflectors, checking this option may correct the problem for you.

Show Local Frame Rate
Display the current video frame rate (frames per second) on the preview pane in the Reflectors window. This is the rate at which video frames are being sent to the remote host or server and is determned by the transmission speed of the connection and the video quality selected.

Listen for incoming connections
Enable this option if you want other CU-SeeMe users to be able to directly connect to you Macintosh to video-chat with you.

Use RTP Transport
This option is required if you are connected to a reflector running White Pine MPCS software and wish to receive audio. If you do not wish to receive audio or are not connected to an MPCS reflector, turning this option off may give you speedier connections to the reflector. If you cannot receive audio and are not sure what reflector type you are using, it is safe to leave this option enabled.

Auto Filter Chat
All new participants in the ref will be automatically added to the list of nick-names for which no chat is displayed. This is only useful if an abusive user in a conference is continually re-entering the conference under different names. Most users will have this option disabled.

Check For VChat Updates
The version number of VChat is compared to that of the current release by issuing a simple request to the VChat Download site. If there is a more recent version available you are able to click a button to take you directly to that site. No information is sent to the web server from your machine.

Log Chat Sesions
Enable or disable logging of chat sessions. See above for details on log file viewing and management.

Use Video Banner
When you check this option, the Banner Text is displayed at the bottom of your sent video.

Acknowledgments

Streak
CU documentation at www.cu-seeme.net. Unfortunately this site has now been taken down - maybe it will one day rise again.

Icon Design
The Daisy Icon was designed by Emily [em.8@comcast.net]

National Flags
The Flag watermarks were created by Ohs [osback@mac.com]

~Velvetine~, Kaith, Ohs and Em
Thanks for all the beta testing and bug finding.

Gregster
It certainly makes life easier to have some clueful people around.

Bruno, AprilShowers, Teejay, Greenman
Thanks so much for allowing testing of this software on live reflectors. It would have been an impossible task without your assistance.

French Translation
Localization provided by Jean-Pierre Kuypers

Japanese Translation
Localization provided by Tadashi Hamano

Support
Email vchat@cu-seeme.org if you have problems with this software.