Current Best Chat Prog? (Vent/TS)

S

StreamsOfInferno

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 14, 2006
Messages
91
Anyone throw me some info/feedback on what the best chat prog currently would be?

I've always used Vent, due to it's voice quality, ease of use/set-up etc.
Never used TS.

Usually rent servers from Nuclearfallout.
Is Vent still a good/viable choice these days?

But, if someone has a good suggestion, please let me know.
Thanks.
 
Mumble has gained popularity. I haven't used anything else but Mumble recently so I cannot comment on the quality versus TS/Vent. It does sound quite good though and is pretty easy to set up as it has a wizard that will walk you through it.
 
mumble by a long shot.. thanks to mumbles overlay i don't have to use that annoying yellow FPS counter in fraps.
 
Vent. Tried TS for awhile, but it's so large and clunky, I didn't like it. My friends and I have used vent now for 8+ years.
 
At the end of the day they are all the same and the differences are base on the codes used and the quality of the host. I prefer Vent but it only runs on Windows, TS runs on LOLnix and I think Mumble does too.
 
Vent. Mumble isn't bad but its a bit confusing at first.

I don't bother with Teamspeak.
 
I prefer Teamspeak. It was easy to set up to just talk, vent I always had to use push to talk because it was such a PITA to get regular to work correctly. That said, I don't dislike either, just prefer teamspeak.
 
The clans/guilds/corps I have been with would kick people out if they didn't use push-to-talk. Don't want to hear some dude yelling at his mom to bring him some juice.
 
Vent, easily.

I was using mumble for a while and just can't see the appeal. Some microphones don't sound good in mumble and it's hard to get your average users on and setup properly. Either they can't hear you or you can't hear them, it's a pain.
 
Mumble has good voice quality, on par with vent but it has the worst interface out of it, TS, and Vent. It's laughably bad.
 
Mumble is the absolute best


It's cheaper to host, the latency difference is enormous and borderline nil compared to vent / ts, and the quality is excellent once you set it up. The user sets their quality, the server just sets a limit on how high it can go. The voice delay is probably one of the things it's best known for, if you really feel the need to save more precious milliseconds and don't use other voice applications you can be hardcore and break other applications in favor of lowering it even more.

The interface isn't bad, it has a lot of knobs for sure though.

I rent from nuclearfallout, it comes to $2.29 for 15 slots.

edit fucking hardforum shitting the bed
 
Last edited:
I use Teamspeak because everyone who plays ArmA2 uses Teamspeak + ACRE.

Works fine, haven't really tried any others except Ventrilo and that was a long time ago.
 
Mumble, takes a little effort to get it set up, but after that it's great, though I wish there was volume control because some people can be too loud or too low.
 
Vent is easiest but not costs the most when you increase user slots.
Mumble's overlay can sometimes be identified as a hack, and I dont know how to easily change my user name or logon with a previous name after a new windows install or trying to connect from a different computer.
 
Oh god not this again.

All of the decent chat programs use the same set of audio codecs and can use them at varying quality, one does not sound better than another unless you specifically choose to use different quality audio codecs.
 
I think vent has the best gui and easiest program to use + alot of features.. However mumbles lower delay is awesome. For serious gaming mumble is w/o a doubt the best option. For every day use. Vent for me.
 
Mumble is the best in many ways, in my experience. Its open source and thus works on all 3 major platforms equally, its the only one of the big 3 VOIP that has dynamic client-side codec decisions - this means that audio quality isn't set by the server for everyone, but by your own bandwidth,. It also has an excellent overlay and even the ability to stream video - the coolest thing I've personally done with it is stream a video of a WoW Raid encounter, in the mumble overlay, before we take on the boss. Positional audio, in games that support it (WoW included) is cool, and there's plenty of customization settings for pretty much anything you'd want, like Logitech G-Series displays etc.. Being FOSS means that its cheaper to host due to no hosting fee. I have a an account with a 50-slot server (web control panel/auth too) that is 8.99 MONTH TO MONTH, a nearly unbeatable price. Its even cheaper if you do 3, 6, 12 blocks! If anyone is interested I can send you a referral link which should secure you the same pricing structure, even if its currently promotional. Mumble is typically my first choice.

Next in my line comes TeamSpeak 3, and then Ventrilo at the end. I have all 3 clients because I connect to those who host all 3, but Mumble seems to be the best.
 
Id love to say mumble, save the fact it is the least noob user friendly app out there and virtually everytime anyone tries to convert their guild/corp/other over to it its a massive failure and they go back to TS3 or VENT.
 
Xaeos said:
It also has an excellent overlay and even the ability to stream video - the coolest thing I've personally done with it is stream a video of a WoW Raid encounter, in the mumble overlay, before we take on the boss.
Click to expand...

what the fuck since when can you do this

the shit i could use it for...
 
Vent for regular convos..
Skype for Arenas

some people use mumble.. I havnt had used it yet though.
 
socK said:
what the fuck since when can you do this

the shit i could use it for...
Click to expand...

I used it back on a 1.2.3 development branch. At the time video streaming was only around 15frames/sec , but it was smooth enough to get the point across. I'm not sure it is an "official" feature yet in 1.2.3 proper. There was a fair amount of fracking around I had to do, with help of someone more knowledgeable to basically magnify the video so it would be visible, otherwise its the same size as a typical icon. I wouldn't say its a feature ready for prime time yet.
 
Last edited:
I love mumble. I tried to get people to switch but since it wasn't vent alot of folks wouldn't. Damn shame because I love the lower the volume on all other processes but mumble feature when someone is talking.
 
I used Vent in the past with guilds, but for my friends we're using Skype. It's just much easier to work with and less to configure. So far playing with three people it's been extremely stable and easy to configure.

What is the benefits to using Vent or Mumble for smaller groups? Only think I miss from Vent is push-to-talk which I think is better than leaving the mic open the whole time.
 
robscomputer - For a group as small as 5, I find Mumble (or TeamSpeak3...) to be better for a number of reasons. First of all, it IS more initial setup and people do have to learn the new software, but especially on Mumble, after initial config everything is saved - Mumble even has ACLs and certs, plus default encryption on, that really makes it easy to secure a server and make it nearly transparent to users.

Audio-wise, between better controls, quality, latency etc... its just "easier" to have Mumble work for you than something like Skype, where you have to do a lot of alt-tabbing or a lot of keybinding ahead of time to have the same kind of control. If you're only talking to 2-3 people and everyone can pretty much fall into an exclusive rhythm then Skype is fine, but Mumble helps as the number increases and you can do things like have "Power speakers" where when they speak, everyone else is automatically either muted or attenuated until they get done.

Visually, the overlays are helpful as are the G-series GamePanels, if your users have them, that show who's talking when. 3 people, not such a big deal but get much over 5 and if you bring in any people you don't talk to on a frequent basis, it becomes a big issue identifying who's who in a heated battle - if that guy saying "No you idiots go left" is just an upset player they're free to ignore, but if they're the "guest raid leader", you'd better follow and have a discussion about proper management techniques later!

Finally, Skype is ultra-proprietary and not exactly friendly with keeping your personal information secret; especially since the Microsoft buy-in. Using something like Mumble which is open source, or at least Teamspeak3 and Ventrilo (which I assume) aren't data mining you as they don't have a large "free" userbase to "sell", like Skype does.
 
Xaeos said:
robscomputer - For a group as small as 5, I find Mumble (or TeamSpeak3...) to be better for a number of reasons. First of all, it IS more initial setup and people do have to learn the new software, but especially on Mumble, after initial config everything is saved - Mumble even has ACLs and certs, plus default encryption on, that really makes it easy to secure a server and make it nearly transparent to users.

Audio-wise, between better controls, quality, latency etc... its just "easier" to have Mumble work for you than something like Skype, where you have to do a lot of alt-tabbing or a lot of keybinding ahead of time to have the same kind of control. If you're only talking to 2-3 people and everyone can pretty much fall into an exclusive rhythm then Skype is fine, but Mumble helps as the number increases and you can do things like have "Power speakers" where when they speak, everyone else is automatically either muted or attenuated until they get done.

Visually, the overlays are helpful as are the G-series GamePanels, if your users have them, that show who's talking when. 3 people, not such a big deal but get much over 5 and if you bring in any people you don't talk to on a frequent basis, it becomes a big issue identifying who's who in a heated battle - if that guy saying "No you idiots go left" is just an upset player they're free to ignore, but if they're the "guest raid leader", you'd better follow and have a discussion about proper management techniques later!

Finally, Skype is ultra-proprietary and not exactly friendly with keeping your personal information secret; especially since the Microsoft buy-in. Using something like Mumble which is open source, or at least Teamspeak3 and Ventrilo (which I assume) aren't data mining you as they don't have a large "free" userbase to "sell", like Skype does.
Click to expand...

Thanks Xaeos for the awesome reply. I didn't know it was open source and that's a big plus. Also I checked on some hosting packages and for 10 people it's extremely reasonable, now I'm looking for a vendor and trying it out for our weekly gaming night.

I'm interested in the control panel and overlay. I have a G15 keyboard but it would be nice to have extra features that Skype doesn't have.
 
mumble is most likely going to be the best if not the best.

Vent had much bettter codec than team speak but it wasnt free.
 
I hate Skype. It feels bloated and I wouldn't be surprised if it spys on users one way or the other. I mostly use Ventrilo when I need to chat with people, though I've also used TeamSpeak. Mumble sounds interesting.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
Oh god not this again.

All of the decent chat programs use the same set of audio codecs and can use them at varying quality, one does not sound better than another unless you specifically choose to use different quality audio codecs.
Click to expand...

oh god not this again.

it has nothing to do with the codecs and has everything to do with the software and features of the software. for example vent, TS3 and especially skypes crappy delay when some one talks and you finally hear it. TS3's overlay sucks.. not even sure vent has an overlay but since vent sucks i'm not going to bother checking.
 
TS3 is an admin's dream, and sounds better then vent, and doesn't require normalization hacks to function correctly. If you run large it's down to TS3 or Mumble, vent admin simply sucks.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
oh god not this again.

it has nothing to do with the codecs and has everything to do with the software and features of the software. for example vent, TS3 and especially skypes crappy delay when some one talks and you finally hear it. TS3's overlay sucks.. not even sure vent has an overlay but since vent sucks i'm not going to bother checking.
Click to expand...

I was referring specifically to claims that one has better audio quality than another, it's simply not true, the audio quality is variable on all of them since they all support multiple audio codecs and it's the codec that decides the quality, not the application.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top