Making a Video Call

Initiating a video call is as simple as clicking Video and then picking a contact. Much as with the audio call, the recipient has the option to accept, decline, or redirect. Redirect gives the option to reply with an IM or to mark the recipient as Do Not Disturb.

When the call is accepted, the usual client window opens in the Video view. The recipient initially sees the caller but the caller won’t see the recipient until she clicks Start My Video in the window. By default, each participant in a two-way call sees herself in a picture-in-picture window inside the main video window. The picture-in-picture can be moved anywhere within the video window and will not block access to the following buttons. The picture-in-picture, also called the preview, can be modified by right-clicking it. This gives the options to hide or resize the preview.

Inside the video window are several buttons, including the following:

• End video call

• Put video call on hold

• Enter full screen

• Mute microphone

• Adjust volume or mute speakers

• Network Quality

• Time in the call

Enter full screen expands the video windows to encompass the entire screen. The option at the upper-right corner becomes Exit full screen.

Clicking End video call ends the call and downgrades to a simple IM conversation.

At the default window sizes, video conferences across a LAN connection are quite good. Factors such as latency and bandwidth might affect video conferencing across a WAN connection.