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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Comments (8)
Sorry, we don’t have any timeframe yet, as other projects take more time than expected.
We’ll keep you updated here in the blog.
I would simply like to know when 2.2 will be released in beta or full for functionality with Windows 7.
I downloaded the current and no success.
Please provide a date of release to end my frustrations
mcePhone 3.0 beta 1 available: http://www.pamnews.com/2008/11/13/mcephone-3-beta-1-available/
The big question is when… any news ?
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.
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.
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.
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 ?