If you've been following along here on the VoIP Weblog, you know that I've been doing some experimentation with Skype's new High Quality Video. Unforuntately, my testing has been limited to a high-end Windows PC instead of my first generation MacBook that I normally use.

Skype has improved the latest 2.7 beta for Mac OS X to the point where I could actually use the Mac version of Skype for High Quality video. They now default to 640x480, which the iSight camera built into my Mac will support.

I had complained about inadequate debugging information in Skype before. It looks like they improved it in this release as well. I could clearly see I was sending and receiving 640x480 as well as other information previously that was only previously on the PC version.

I did a test between my MacBook and the Dell Precision 390 I had been using for the High Quality video tests. Unfortunately, I could not get the frame rate to be above 15 frames per second. I looked at the traffic flowing between the two computers and for some reason, my router was getting involved in all the communication when it shouldn't. I will need to do more testing to see if I can figure out what's going wrong.

Of course, the video still looked great, though the CPU utilization was around 70% on my MacBook while the call was in session. I guess they're not kidding when they say a Core 2 Duo is the bare minimum.