CamChat

An integrated video conferencing and text chat system

CamChat is a networked Java application

CamChat users log on to a central server, where they meet and chat in predefined IRC chat rooms. They share their webcams peer-to-peer, by invitation.

Messenger-like friend lists allow the user to keep track of his/her friends. Users can easily block selected individuals or groups.

The CamChat client is a Swing desktop application. JMF (Java Media Framework) is used to capture and stream webcam data between participating users. Media streams are transmitted using RTP over UDP.

UDP allows fast, high quality video transfer and multiple webcam connections. However, this performance comes at a price.

Some internet service providers and personal firewalls restrict the flow of UDP traffic, and these must be reconfigured before CamChat will function properly. CamChat therefore works best where the user has full control over routing, for example in an intranet environment.