What are webcams like to use these days?

[frogboy]

I've been thinking of getting a webcam to use like a video phone to talk to family, friends etc. I remeber back in the day when there was only 56k, webcams were like slide shows. What are they like now with broadband?

I've read on forums that the Sony Eyetoy beats the pants off all other webcams, so I might get one of them. On the software side of things what will I need to do video confrencing?

Thanks