Host a Skype Movie Party With Your Friends

A Skype movie party is a great way to stay connected with friends or loved ones, even if they are far away. You can spend quality time together, and do something fun at the same time. It's great for celebrating special occasions over long distances, or just a regular way to stay in touch. It doesn't take much planning or setup, and it costs much less than hosting a real party.

Steps

Creating Skype Accounts

1. Create a Skype account. Skype accounts are easy to set up and free. You will need to download the latest version of Skype and install it to your computer. Open the application and follow the instructions to create a new account.
2. Invite your friends. You can have up to 9 people on a group call in Skype, however the recommended max is 5 people. Having more than 5 people will make the quality drop off significantly.
3. Make sure your friends have a Skype account. If they already have an account, check to be sure they are in your contacts. If they do not have a Skype account, they will need to sign up to join your Skype movie party.
4. Set a time when your friends are all free. In addition to picking a time when every is free, go for a time when your internet connections will be sufficient. It's a good idea to try and avoid peak usage times in your area. Peak times are weekday evenings when people are home from work and school.
5. Start a movie group. This will set you up to call everyone attending your movie party at once.
   • For Mac users: click on the File tab of the menu, then select New Conversation. Add the desired contacts to the conversation. You can then click on the title of the conversation to call it “Movie Party.”
   • For Windows users: go to the Contacts menu, click on Create New Group. Drag contacts from the contact menu into the highlighted area under Empty Group. The name of the group should automatically be the names of your contacts.
   • Right-click on the name of the group to change it, then type in "Movie Party.”
   • Click the icon near the upper right-hand corner that says Save group in Contacts. This will allow you to pull up the group the next time you start the application.

Sharing Movies From Your Screen

1. Go to your Movie Party conversation or group and click on phone icon. This will call all the contacts added to the conversation. Wait until everyone is on Skype to proceed with watching the movie.
2. Insert your DVD or Blu-ray. You can also try a website like Netflix or something like it to watch a movie, but it might be a lot for an average desktop computer to stream that much at once. Turn your sound up high and make sure everyone can hear it. You can also connect a microphone to your computer and put it by your speaker to improve the sound quality.
   • If you want a more ideal sound experience you can spend some extra money to purchase a better hardware solution. It will cost about $30 or $40 but will give you much better sound for your movie party.
   • To improve sound with additional hardware you will need an audio splitter that goes from a single 3.5mm male connector to two 3.5mm female connectors. You will also need two RCA to 3.5mm headphone connectors. Finally, you will need a mixing board, some headphones and a microphone.
   • Take the splitter with two female 3.5mm connectors and insert the single 3.5mm male connector into headphone output on the computer. Attach the headphones to one female connector and attach one of the 3.5mm to RCA connectors from the other line to input the mixing board. Plug your microphone into the mixing board as well. Connect the last RCA connector to the output of the mixing board and connect it to the auxiliary audio input on your computer.
   • Use the mixers on the board to control the sound.
3. Click on the + menu in the call bar, then click Share Screen. This will make it so everyone on the call will now see what you see on your monitor. Start playing the movie and you can adjust the size in your window so that everyone can see it.
4. Have fun and enjoy the show! Just like a real movie party, you can talk about the movie as it's playing, or pause the movie and just chat. This method is great if you plan on stopping the movie a lot to catch up.

Syncing Your Televisions

1. Agree on a movie with your friends ahead of time. You will need to do a little more advanced planning to watch the movie on separate televisions. Everyone will need time to get a copy of the movie to watch at their own home.
2. Have your snacks and drinks handy. It’s a good idea to use the bathroom too. Pausing the movie will make it difficult to keep in sync with your friends. It’s most enjoyable to keep the breaks during the movie to a minimum.
3. Call your movie party group on Skype at the chosen movie time. Click on your movie party conversation or group and wait while the phone rings. You may need to give everyone a few minutes to get situated before they will be ready to watch a movie.
4. Queue up your movie. You can start from the title screen, or you can pause at a frame and show everyone the screen to match it. This makes it easier to sync your movies if some people have different means of watching the film, such as streaming content providers.
5. Count down to start the movies in sync. This is the tricky part. Have one person count for everyone. With a little effort of fast-forwarding and pausing the movies, you can adjust the movie so you don’t get an annoying echo over Skype. If you prefer, you can just have one person turn up the volume and mute the other televisions.
6. Press play. You can talk and see your friends on Skype while you each watch the movie on your own television. It’s really enjoyable to share the movie watching experience with your friends, but still be able to watch it on a big television in your home.

Tips

• Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. Just go with whichever movie watching method is most enjoyable for you and your friends.
• Be sure not to have your email or anything personal on the screen, because everyone can see it if you are sharing your screen.
• Make sure the movie is one you all agree, and is acceptable to your parents.

Things You’ll Need

• Computer
• Skype account
• Movie
• Internet with sufficient connection speed

Related Articles

• Install Skype
• Set up a Skype Account
• Add Contacts to Skype
• Make Friends on Skype

Sources and Citations

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