Group Video Chat via Skype on Xbox One with Skype Premium

coip

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Everyone that bought an Xbox One with Xbox Live Gold gets 6 free months of Skype Premium. One of the features of Skype Premium is group video chat. Group video chat has been confirmed for Skype on Xbox one:
For 1080p video call, both users must have compatible HD displays, web cams and messaging clients, and broadband internet. Up to four people can be added to a group video call on Xbox One. At least one person on the call must have a Skype Premium account.

I tried to do a 3-way video chat on Skype on Xbox One today, but we could only do audio chat. That is, it connected three of us, but none of us could see any one else's video feed. I've tried following the official instructions on group video chat on the Skype app for Xbox One, but it didn't work. Has anyone else been able to get it to work? Is the problem, based on the fine print quote above, the fact that only I have "compatible HD displays"? One of them was on a Windows 8.1 PC and the other on a Surface RT. I have the Skype Premium account (I logged into my account online just to double check), so what am I missing?
 

Laura Knotek

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Does each person in the video chat have fast enough Internet? https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need

[h=3]Before you make a group video call[/h]
1 Make sure that your webcam is working properly. If it’s not working, these tips can help.
2 At least one of the people on the call must have Skype Premium (for personal accounts) or Skype Premium in Skype Manager™ (for Skype Manager members).
3 Each person on the call will also need to make sure that their system meets these requirements.

 

coip

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Does each person in the video chat have fast enough Internet? https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need

[h=3]Before you make a group video call[/h]
1 Make sure that your webcam is working properly. If it’s not working, these tips can help.
2 At least one of the people on the call must have Skype Premium (for personal accounts) or Skype Premium in Skype Manager™ (for Skype Manager members).
3 Each person on the call will also need to make sure that their system meets these requirements.


Whoa, cool table! Anyway, I can video Skype with them each individually (one-to-one) no problem on Xbox One, so everyone is set up to Skype. It's just that as soon as we add a new participant to a call, the video goes away.
 

Laura Knotek

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Whoa, cool table! Anyway, I can video Skype with them each individually (one-to-one) no problem on Xbox One, so everyone is set up to Skype. It's just that as soon as we add a new participant to a call, the video goes away.
I'm thinking there is something that one person's system lacks that causes it to fail. I just thought maybe slow Internet, since that's a common issue.
 

xboxonthego3

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I have tried this before. I would be only audio and the other two would be video. I was on my windows phone and they were both on their xbox ones. It makes me think that the 6 months of premium may be restricted to the xbox one. Or that there could be some sort of limitation to the Windows 8 and Windows phone app when it comes to Group video chat. I know of several friends who have xbox ones. So in the next few days I will see if I can try to get 3 or 4 of us in a Group video chat on the xbox one to see if we can get it working.
 

coip

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I have tried this before. I would be only audio and the other two would be video. I was on my windows phone and they were both on their xbox ones. It makes me think that the 6 months of premium may be restricted to the xbox one. Or that there could be some sort of limitation to the Windows 8 and Windows phone app when it comes to Group video chat. I know of several friends who have xbox ones. So in the next few days I will see if I can try to get 3 or 4 of us in a Group video chat on the xbox one to see if we can get it working.

The way the fine print is worded it doesn't say anything about it only being restricted to Xbox One. It simply gave us Skype Premium for 6 months, so technically we should be able to do group video chatting on any device--whether it be Xbox One, Surface, PC, Windows Phone, etc.--right? Yes, please test it out. I'm going to test it out again too and see if I can't get it to work properly.
 

garyhartaz

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"The current limit is yourself plus 3 other users for a group video call that you host on the Xbox, though (as you have found) you can still participate in group calls that are hosted on another platform. Skype Clients on other platforms must be using the latest Skype version. Skype Clients not currently supported are on the IOS and Android platforms."
 

coip

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This link was already included in the original post.

"The current limit is yourself plus 3 other users for a group video call that you host on the Xbox, though (as you have found) you can still participate in group calls that are hosted on another platform. Skype Clients on other platforms must be using the latest Skype version. Skype Clients not currently supported are on the IOS and Android platforms."

So, if only I have the Xbox but someone else initiated the call, then group video won't work? Likewise, if one of the parties is on an iOS or Android device, then the group video won't work? What if it's 1 Xbox One and 3 Surface RTs. I'll have to test that out.
 

Reflexx

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Okay... one thing I just recently discovered is that Group Video will not work on mobile versions of Skype.

This includes... iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Windows RT... and Windows 8 Modern app. That means if you are Skyping with people on any of those platforms, the video will not work.

With Windows 8, they have the option of downloading the Desktop Skype client.

I hope that Skype is working on fixing this. It seems like something that should be prioritized.
 

coip

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Okay... one thing I just recently discovered is that Group Video will not work on mobile versions of Skype.

This includes... iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Windows RT... and Windows 8 Modern app. That means if you are Skyping with people on any of those platforms, the video will not work.

With Windows 8, they have the option of downloading the Desktop Skype client.

I hope that Skype is working on fixing this. It seems like something that should be prioritized.

I tried doing group video chat on my Xbox One with the other 2 people on Surface RTs and it didn't work. Then I had them switch to PCs running the desktop version of Skype and we could do group video chat on Xbox One without problem. So, you seem to be correct. While the Skype Desktop app (Windows 8/7/Vista/XP) and the Xbox One Skype app can do group video chat, the Store App version (a.k.a. Metro version, a.k.a. Modern UI version) on Windows 8 and Windows RT--along with mobile versions on Windows Phone, iOS, and Android--cannot do group video chat! Ridiculous that the Store App version of Skype on Windows 8/RT can't do group video calling. Microsoft is trying to encourage everyone to move from desktop mode to modern mode but important apps like Skype are half-baked--missing crucial features like this. Not acceptable. I'll be tweeting Microsoft and Skype with the hashtag #MobileEquality to tell them to bring these features to all of their platforms. Please join me by tweeting and re-tweeting them.
 
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