Ourcam Video Chat User Guide

What is Ourcam Video Chat?
Ourcam is a simple to use videoconferencing program. Ourcam not only allows a 1-on-1 videoconference but also allows group conferences when connected to a Ourcam Server video chat room. Ourcam Video Chat also has a live directory of users to video chat with, a contact list, a live video chat room directory, status notification, and instant messaging. There is a freeware version of Ourcam and a pay version called Ourcam Pro. Ourcam Pro has many more features and gives the user access to more Ourcam.com website services.
Ourcam makes it easy to find new users to video chat with and allows any user to set up a video chat room if a broadband Internet connection is available. Some users may require a small free activex download, we guarantee this to be virus and spyware safe.

Ourcam Video Chat Features
Ourcam allows you to make video and audio communications with other Ourcam users all over the world. Ourcam runs on Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 software, plus Windows Server 2003. No webcam is required to see or hear users on Ourcam.
Ourcam has a live directory of users, a live directory of video chat rooms, a contact list, and instant messaging.

 

Before Using

Before using overview
Before using Ourcam you need to set up a nickname and a password to logon to the Ourcam central server. After you have installed and launched Ourcam click on the “Register for Nickname/Password” hyperlink in the main application window. You will then be guided through a registration wizard.
A webcam is not required to see and hear other Ourcam users.

Registering for a nickname/password
Click on the “Register for a Nickname/Password” hyperlink in the main application window to register. Your profile information will be available on our Ourcam.com public website user directory. Ourcam makes it easy to meet new people to video chat with.


Video configurations
To set your video settings go under the “settings” menu in the main “Ourcam Video Chat” application window. You can then choose your video capture device, your video stream quality, and the ability to flip and mirror your video stream.

Audio configurations
To set your audio settings follow same instructions as Video configurations

Profile configurations
To change your profile, click the “Actions” menu in the main “Ourcam Video Chat” application window. Choose “settings” then choose “your profile” on the left side and you will see your profile. You can also access this by viewing your local video under the “video” menu in the main application window then clicking on “User profile”. All of the information in your profile will be present in the public Ourcam directory. When you open your profile your local video window will also open.

 

Starting a video chat

Starting a video chat overview
You can easily video chat with any Ourcam user. Of course a webcam is not required to see someone, but it is required to be seen. Many users may not want to video chat with someone who does not also have a webcam.

Starting a video chat
To start a video chat first send the person you want to video chat with an instant message. You can do this by going under the “Actions” menu in the main application window and choosing “send an instant message.” If you do not know anyone to send a message to you can go to the user directory by clicking on “User directory” in the main application window. After you have sent the user a message indicating you would like to video chat you should click on “video chat” in the instant message window. If the other user agrees to video chat then you will begin to see and hear one another if you both have a webcam and microphone. You can tell if the other user is male/female, their status, and if they have a webcam or not by their icon in their instant messaging window, or in the user directory.

Accepting a video chat
When someone asks you to video chat you will be sent an instant message that says “nickname would like to video chat. Do you accept?” You then will click the hyperlink “yes” to accept and “no” if you do not accept.
If you are not sure if you want to video chat with another user click “profile” in the IM window to learn more about that user.
If a user behaves appropriately in a video chat you might want to leave them good karma. Click on the happy face in the IM window to leave the user good karma. If a user behaves inappropriately you can click the sad face next to “karma” to give them bad karma. You can view a users’ karma by viewing their profile. If a user has very negative karma you might want to avoid videoconferencing with them because they probably behave inappropriately.

Ending a video chat
To end a video chat click the “stop video chat” hyperlink with the webcam icon in the top of the IM window, or close the IM window, or close your local video or the other users video window.

 

Communicating with audio

Audio overview
Ourcam allows audio in a 1-on-1 video chat session or in a Ourcam Server Video Chat Room.

Audio in a one-on-one connection
Click the “hands free” check box to leave audio on all the time where the other user can constantly hear you. Click the “Talk” button to send audio only when holding down that button.

Audio in a video chat room
The video chat room only allows one user to send audio for 30 seconds so other users get a chance to send audio. Click the “hands free” check box to send audio hands free for 30 seconds.

Adjust audio settings
To set your audio settings go under the “Actions” menu in the main “Ourcam Video Chat” application window. Choose “settings” then choose “audio” on the left side and you will see your audio settings. You can then choose your audio playback and recording device. There is also a setting to override the default audio compression setting for higher or lower audio quality and bandwidth usage.

 

Communicating with video

Video overview
You can see yourself by choosing “preview video” under the “video” menu in the main Ourcam Video Chat application window.

Local video window
To view your local video window click on the “video” menu in the main application window and choose “preview video”. To pause your video in a one-on-one video chat, or in a video chat room click on your webcam icon in your local video window.


 

Communicating with chat and instant messaging

Chat and IM overview
Ourcam is not only a videoconferencing application but it also has instant messaging, a contact list, and the ability to show your online status.

Send a message
To send a message to another Ourcam user go under the “Actions” menu in the main application window and choose “Send an instant message.” Next type in the nickname of the person you want to message and press enter. If you don’t know anyone to video chat with try our user directory to find a live list of users. Click on “User directory” in the main application window.

Chat in a video chat room (Ourcam server)
To join a video chat room and chat click on “video chat rooms” in the main application window then click on one of the rooms under “Nicknames” to connect. You can then type text and enter it to communicate with the other users via text. To ignore a user right click on their name in the user list and choose “ignore”. To unignore a user right click on their name again and choose “unignore”.

Saving messages
To save a video chat room or instant message conversation go under the file menu and choose “save”.



 

Ourcam Video Chat Pro Features

Ourcam Video Chat Pro Features Summary
Ourcam Pro has many features that the free edition doesn't have including the ability to view several videos at once in a video chat room, the ability to set your user status, log video chat history, auto-accept video chat requests, and full access to the Ourcam.com website.

View several video windows
To view several video windows first join a video chat room. Next click on the nickname of "visible users" in the user list to view their video window. You can now view 4 or more video windows at a time.



Video Chat History
To see your video chat history look under the "actions" menu in the main application window and choose "history window". It is easy to see the different users you have called and the different video chat rooms you have visited. To clear your history hit the "clear" button at the bottom left of the history window.