Both my son & I have v.3.5.0.234 installed. He has an Acer orbicam on his laptop and I use a Microsoft Life webcam. Both have video set to start auto on call. He can see me fine, but I just get a flash picture of him on his webcam before he disappears from view - he can still see me. Is this likely to be down to his Video settings (who he allows to see him) or is this a known issue with this Version of Skype?

If you see anything at all of his video, it is not likely to be a problem with his settings concerning allowing video.

Please clarify what you mean by "disappears from view" - does the incoming video window disappear entirely, or does it go grey/black/green/whatever?

I see the view of him for a second or so and then the window disappears entirely. Similar to someone minimising a window on the desktop but there is nothing to maximise again

Wow, that's pretty impressive, I haven't heard of that one before... Does he still see his own outgoing video (in the little preview window at the bottom of your incoming video) after it has disappeared on your system? That will indicate whether the problem is at his end (no longer sending) or at your end (not receiving/displaying correctly).

Two relatively simple things for both of you to try first:

- Make sure your Microsoft DirectX is up to date. Do NOT assume from the version "9.0c" that it is up to date, because Microsoft has issued numerous DirectX updates without changing that version number. Do NOT assume that it is up to date because you have automatic Windows Update enabled, because it isn't included in that. Simply go to download.microsoft.com, and get the "DirectX End-User Runtime" (at this time the latest version is dated August 2007), and execute it.

- Make sure your display adapter drivers are up to date.

If neither of these help, please provide this information:

A) Skype version currently installed (Skype->Help->About)

B) What type of PC, Desktop or laptop.

C) Operating System, Version, Patch level (e.g. Windows, XP, Service Pack 1 or 2, etc)

D) CPU Type and Speed

E) Amount of Memory.

F) Type of Internet connection and speed (e.g. dial-up or broadband, 768 down/128 up, etc)

G) Router in use? If so, which model?

H) Firewalls in use? If so, which?

I) Headset in use?

J) Have you BOTH tried a test call to 'echo123' if so, what are the results?

K) Is it a PC2PC, Skypeout or Skypein problem?

L) Webcam in use? If so, what make, model and software/drivers?

I have now managed to resolve this. By both of us deselecting 'start my video automatically when in a call' option and starting video manually the problem has disappeared. Stay away from auto option ......

Thank you for your time & input

Hmmm. If manual start works, then autostart should work, this is the first case of it not working that I have heard of. But I am glad you got it going, and thanks for reporting.

I think I have spoken too soon. Back to having the same disappearing problem now when I take/make further calls