skype woes

panyan · 27 May 2011 at 16:29

since upgrading to skype version 5, when i video call people, the image quality is shockingly bad - its like looking at someone through a window being rained on

- i have very good 25mb/s with low ping (~19ms)
- my girlfriend has a dell laptop on wireless G about 40% signal from router
- both webcams are logitech c200 decent quality video

do you think the dell would benefit from a wireless N connection or am i wasting my time and money?

i have a feeling that the time we skype (~9pm each night) becuase everyone is on the net, pings are just higher so video quality decreased?

3dcandy · 27 May 2011 at 18:17

Skype has always been very variable for me, video especially...

Brycheiniog · 27 May 2011 at 18:54

The next time you make a Skype call select call->Call technical info and paste a screen shot into this thread. You may need to resize the info window so that everything can be seen.

Ideally could you paste the screen shot from a number of times during the call. Say every two minutes?

panyan · 27 May 2011 at 19:02

Brycheiniog said:
The next time you make a Skype call select call->Call technical info and paste a screen shot into this thread. You may need to resize the info window so that everything can be seen.

Ideally could you paste the screen shot from a number of times during the call. Say every two minutes?

i dont know about every two minutes, but ill do it as often as i can

panyan · 28 May 2011 at 10:08

UPDATE: right then, when on skype last night i pressed the button for for call quality, went to connection, and all it says is "test now" that was greyed out and it said "your connection is fast". Well that wasnt very useful!

Brycheiniog · 28 May 2011 at 10:55

What I wanted you to do was select the Call menu on the menu bar and then view call technical info at the bottom.. The call quality information on the actual video screen is largely pointless..

You should see a screen that looks somewhat like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:S4PG.Skype42.Call.Technical.Info.PNG

panyan · 28 May 2011 at 16:07

Brycheiniog said:
What I wanted you to do was select the Call menu on the menu bar and then view call technical info at the bottom.. The call quality information on the actual video screen is largely pointless..

You should see a screen that looks somewhat like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:S4PG.Skype42.Call.Technical.Info.PNG

oh excellent

thanks for that, will do when i next go on skype

panyan · 29 May 2011 at 11:42

UPDATE:

i used a screen capture program to record the call quality window, i then converted it into mp4 without audio and 7z'ed it - it came to a stupidly small size!

i have not censored any of the information, but i hope that you are all adult responsible people who wont be stupid and only want to help me out with this problem

http://www.multiupload.com/PD8W1QVF4R

Brycheiniog · 29 May 2011 at 17:14

Ok the problems are all with the stream that you are receiving. The call starts out with VGA@30FPS in both directions. The problems start at ~12minutes when the receive stream drops to QVGA (320x240) and then QQVGA(160x120) at ~15 minutes. It does eventually recover towards the end of the call back to VGA. You appear to be sending VGA for the entire call.

My best guess is that what you are seeing is as a result of bandwidth problems at your girlfriends end. Skype continually monitors the quality of the connection in both directions and dynamically changes the video (and audio) settings to make what it considers the best compromise. The main factors are jitter, packet loss and bandwidth.

Would it be possible for her to try a wired connection to the router rather than wireless? That should point the finger at her broadband connection of the wireless link.

panyan · 29 May 2011 at 17:20

Brycheiniog said:
Ok the problems are all with the stream that you are receiving. The call starts out with VGA@30FPS in both directions. The problems start at ~12minutes when the receive stream drops to QVGA (320x240) and then QQVGA(160x120) at ~15 minutes. It does eventually recover towards the end of the call back to VGA. You appear to be sending VGA for the entire call.

My best guess is that what you are seeing is as a result of bandwidth problems at your girlfriends end. Skype continually monitors the quality of the connection in both directions and dynamically changes the video (and audio) settings to make what it considers the best compromise. The main factors are jitter, packet loss and bandwidth.

Would it be possible for her to try a wired connection to the router rather than wireless? That should point the finger at her broadband connection of the wireless link.

so the problem is not my video to her, but the video be recieved, could that be becuase of her processor? her internet connection?

her router is a netgear dg834g with normal wireless g from a dell laptop ~40% signal strength, would it be better with an upgrade to a n-router and n-reciever?

it wont be possible for her to use a wire:

- the distance is too long
- she doesnt have a 50m ethernet cable
- she wouldnt know how how to turn off the wireless and use the wired instead

is there something else that will prompt us towards an answer?

Brycheiniog · 30 May 2011 at 17:19

It might improve it but it is impossible to tell from these stats if the problem is her ADSL link or the wireless connection. Could she try a call to you when she is sitting right next to the router?

3dcandy · 30 May 2011 at 18:21

50m from a wireless connection ain't gonna help at all....as above try closer to router

panyan · 30 May 2011 at 20:53

when i convince her to haul her heavy laptop upstairs near the router - ill report back