Upcoming mcePhone brings Skype Video calls and chat to your TV


We are proud to announce the new version of mcePhone for Skype, which brings Skype to your TV using Microsoft Media Center (2005 or Vista). This next version 2.2 will have integrated Skype Video calls and Skype chat support.

This is a screencam of the complete overhauled version with new UI:

Unfortunately, Skype was unable to add an API to Skype in the past 3 years to give us access to the video of Skype calls directly, although we have asked and pushed hard for so long. As Skype video calls on TV was the most requested feature of mcePhone, we have invested a vast amount of time to make this possible even without any change from Skype’s side. With this new version, you will get fullscreen Skype video of the person you are calling on your TV and even see your video in the lower left corner (see ~1:30 in the video above).

Another very nice new feature is Skype chat integration: While you can still see the current media playing in the lower left corner of your TV (i.e. while the commercials are playing), you can chat with your friends and family. You even get a notification overlayed over your current media (TV, DVD, …) if a chat message comes in. With one click, you are in the chat conversation to answer the incoming chat message (see ~3:30 in the video).

We plan to make a beta of this new version available very soon to you. Be prepared to get a totally new feeling of Skype in your living room :-)

Let us know what you think.

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August 1st, 2008
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Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Robert Cunningham
Posted on:
August 15, 2008 at 18:11

Fantastic to see there is a new version. Would love to beta test. Will the video feature be compatible with the face detection technology on my webcam ?

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Christoph
Posted on:
August 18, 2008 at 0:04

mcePhone only pulls the video from Skype and does not process the video on it’s own. So just test your webcam with Skype (www.skype.com) and it will work the same way in the upcoming mcePhone.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
William Baxter
Posted on:
August 22, 2008 at 1:08

What will the price of 2.2 be for current customers? I want to get “mcephone” now but do not want to have to pay twice.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Christoph
Posted on:
August 22, 2008 at 14:11

All mcePhone 2.x customers will get the update to 2.2 for free. Your old license keys will still work in 2.2.
So if you buy a 2.1 license now, you are on the safe side.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Dalek
Posted on:
November 10, 2008 at 15:46

The big question is when… any news ?

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Christoph
Posted on:
November 13, 2008 at 2:56

mcePhone 3.0 beta 1 available: http://www.pamnews.com/2008/11/13/mcephone-3-beta-1-available/