Introduction to CU-SeeMe
A videoconferencing program, CU-SeeMe, is available free from Cornell
University under copyright of Cornell and its collaborators.
CU-SeeMe provides a one-to-one connection, or by use of a reflector,
a one-to-many, a several-to-several, or a several-to-many conference
depending on user needs and hardware capabilities. It displays 4-bit
grayscale video windows at 160x120 pixels or at double that diameter,
and does not (yet) include audio. So as far as we know, CU-SeeMe was
the first and may still be the only software available for personal
computers which supports real-time multiparty videoconferencing on
the Internet.
CU-SeeMe is intended to provide useful conferencing at minimal cost.
Receiving requires only a personal computer with a screen capable of
displaying 16 grays and a connection to the Internet. Sending
requires the same plus a camera and video capture capability such as
a SuperMac VideoSpigot board.
At this time, CU-SeeMe runs in an early prototype under Windows and
in a more mature version on the Macintosh using an IP network
connection. With CU-SeeMe each participant can decide to be a
sender, a receiver, or both.
Warning: Although being improved with each version, CU-SeeMe is not
mature production software--USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.