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Skype's Newest Beta Adds Group Video Chat

Have you ever used group chat wishing that you could use video? Now you can chat with up to four other people by using the latest beta version from Skype.

Unfortunately, the group video chat is a premium feature, which will require you to pay for it; however, it is free until the full version is released later this year. Regular video chat will continue to be free of charge. Skype has not released pricing plans for the new feature. However, compared to competitors, Skype has been known to have remarkably cheap plans. For only a couple dollars per month you can make calls to landlines and mobile phones. If current trends continue, you can expect group video chat to be not much more.

Skatter Tech tried out the beta and found that both the video and the audio quality were surprisingly good. According to Skatter Tech, the program is a bit buggy; users would sometimes be dropped or the video and audio would hiccup, but testers loved the interface overall. Hopefully the full version will be better.

To use Skype Group Video Chat, follow these steps:

Download the new beta. All people involved in the group video chat must have the new beta version.
Start up a conversation and click the Add button to invite others into the conversation.
Click the Video Call button and you're all good to go!

Currently the new beta is only available for Windows users, but Skype says that it is working on one for Mac OS X and Linux. Windows 2000 is also not supported in this Beta version.

[Via Skatter Tech]