Gave Roll20 a Quick Try with My Group

We used the default TokBox.  I just wanted to show them how everything works and see how it goes. Video and Audio was unusable basically. I'm going to try google hangouts when I get a chance to get some of my group to sign up for it.  I'm sure it will work better. One problem I can see with google hangouts is you lose a lot more screen real estate.  Roll20 already takes up a bunch, but google hangouts steals a bunch at the bottom for video and a little on the left for its toolbar.  With the Chat window in Roll20 being so large even at its minimum there isn't a lot of map room left on my notebook which is what I'll be using for face to face games. I also noticed that my notebook lags a lot in Roll20, may need to think about an upgrade. We will see how google hangouts goes.  Luckily in the face to face games as long as everyone is able to show up then we don't need google hangouts or video/audio at all so there will be more room available! I can't wait to give it a try on Saturday.

Use skype

Hangout works a lot better than the default for audio + video features.   In terms of lag, make sure you don't have visual dice on.   Let us know how your session goes. 

Skype only works if you have two monitors and put voice/video on one and Roll20 on the other. Google hangouts are the best solution to have both video/voice chat and Roll20 on a single monitor.

Skype also works if you are only using Audio. :) - Gauss

When using google hangouts try setting the avatar size in roll20 to "names only" to get a little more realestate.

You can have your cake and eat it too actually. Let me explain:  In my group we all use Google Hangouts for our voice (and video if we want it, but which we don't find "essential").  Some folks use the Roll20 App in the hangout, but some of us just have the Hangout window running in the background while we use the main Roll20 website in the foreground.  We get the benefit of having the greater screen real estate of the main application while retaining the voice chat reliability of google hangouts.

Phillip W. said: You can have your cake and eat it too actually. Let me explain:  In my group we all use Google Hangouts for our voice (and video if we want it, but which we don't find "essential").  Some folks use the Roll20 App in the hangout, but some of us just have the Hangout window running in the background while we use the main Roll20 website in the foreground.  We get the benefit of having the greater screen real estate of the main application while retaining the voice chat reliability of google hangouts. Oh, thats smart!  I'll give that a try I think!

Even better... buy a second monitor and put voice/video on one and Roll20 on the other.

I already have two 27" monitors and a 17" notebook on my desk at home. :)  But at the gaming table I will only have my 17" notebook.  I think I'll bring a spare 19" monitor and leave it at the gaming table for this purposes.  I eventually will have Roll20, Google Hangouts, Herolab, and Realm Works all running.  Yikes, I need a faster notebook!

I also have been trying Roll20 with my group, I'm GMing. The space issue is bad with Google Hangouts, but the quality of the video/audio is fine and we haven't had an issue at all. I have two monitors, and have the Hangout+Roll20 on one screen, and the PRD (Pathfinder) website on the other. I have all the monsters up in tabs before the game and any rules or special info up too.  The more I use Roll20, the more I really like it.

I don't like how Google gives less space on the screen for the Roll20 stuff, but you can run it in a Google hangout, and in a separate tab at the same time. Kind of a silly solution, but it works for me.

Just a matter of preference I suppose, I've run groups of 8 chattering players and found skype holds up pretty well. But then I never use video because it requires too much map space. All in all everyone would probably agree that TokBox is the poorest of all of them.