Skype 3.8 for Windows goes public with audio improvements, other tweaks
By
Villu Arak on April 29, 2008 in News, Events, Milestones, Skype Beta and new releases, Skype announcements.
Beta-friendly users have been running Skype 3.8 for Windows since April 2. But with the usual beta imperfections now sanded off, this audio-focused iteration of Skype is ready for public release. If you’re a Windows user, head to the download page to get it.
The main improvements can be found under the hood of the audio engine. In the real world, this translates to significantly reduced background noise, less delay, fewer call drops, and fewer cut-outs. And if you change your headset, headphones or microphone, there’s no need to mess around with sound settings. 3.8 takes care of it behind the scenes.
One technologically minor but user-friendly change is this: by default, we’ve hidden the user’s profile image in incoming authorization requests. Some people have been using offensive images, so we decided to put them behind a veil. You can still see the hidden avatar if you click on it.
The release also includes a number of video-related bug fixes, our own UPnP implementation and other tweaks. And even if you’re happy with an older version of Skype, we recommend upgrading to the latest. If only it’d come with that new-car smell…
Comments
I've lost all audio out....No one can hear me as of today....
I've downloaded the 'new' 3.8 and installed it and it still says I have v.3.6.0.248....
This has just killed my business. I use skype EveryDay to call clients around the world and basically....I'm out of business.
pocketchalker | Tuesday, Apr 29
Update to 3.8 seems to work only from Explorer not Firefox. do not know what happens with other browsers.
jaygeex | Tuesday, Apr 29
Works fine for me on Firefox.
Thanks guys for another iteration.
Keep'em coming.
acceinlondon | Tuesday, Apr 29
It promising to me, but when is the Mac edition coming out? That would be more promising
Peace,
Gene Steinberg
www.theparacast.com
genesteinberg | Wednesday, Apr 30
This is an awful release. Not only is this buggy, as stated above, the promised fix for Skype in Windows Server 2008 is not in this! It still crashes on start-up.
It's almost as if you have just ONE guy doing all the coding and testing. Pathetic.
ncalliari | Thursday, May 1
Still crashes on Windows 2008 for me too.
andyn3 | Thursday, May 1
I'll start using skype regularly again when it supports true video conferencing...does this release fix that?
I mean I like being able to do video chat with one other person, fine, but I've got a group of friends I want to hook up with all at once. Why can't skype accomodate that need? Fix that issue, and I'm back. In the meantime, I've moved to ooVoo, and I'm not really that happy about it since it kills my processor. All I want is light-weight video conferencing between me and five or six of my closest friends. Please.
benjamin.orchard | Thursday, May 1
Indicates an older version when you attempt to upgrade, even a manual update ends up with a version identifying itself as v.3.6.0.248 not 3.8...
jdawson4474 | Thursday, May 1
I would also like to have some multi-point video conferencing capabilities instead of just point-to-point. That would be a major feature!!
Hooks in place to call a H.323 video conferencing system would be great to have.
Hooks in place to call SAP systems.
mkaylor | Thursday, May 1
my modem kept on crashing and i reported it to my ISP to replace it. i just discovered that for some reason, 3.8 was the one causing my modem to restart every time i log-in on skype. good thing i had a back-up installer of 3.6 on another PC to downgrade.
jmtvlim | Thursday, May 1
I want the 3.6 version again!!!!
The new version is giving me many problems of disturbnces!
Every time my contact speaks I hear horrible noices.
It's a pain really!
where can I download the old versions of skype? pls help!
arowhena | Saturday, May 3
IVE DOWNLOADED THE NEW 3.8 AND IT TELLS ME,TO COMPLETE INSTALLATION YOU NEED TO LOG IN AS ADMINISTRATOR??IM THE ONLY ONE ON THIS PC.IM RUNNING VISTA HOME AND CANT GET IT TO WORK.ANY HELP WOULD BE NICE.THANKS!!
northwoodspokerdog | Saturday, May 3
IVE DOWNLOADED THE NEW 3.8 AND IT TELLS ME,TO COMPLETE INSTALLATION YOU NEED TO LOG IN AS ADMINISTRATOR??IM THE ONLY ONE ON THIS PC.IM RUNNING VISTA HOME AND CANT GET IT TO WORK.ANY HELP WOULD BE NICE.THANKS!!AKADUNMOVIN@YAHOO I CAN BE REACHED
northwoodspokerdog | Saturday, May 3
old versions of skype can be downloaded from www.filehippo.com
skype has been nothing but problems for me. im lucky if one in 30 calls actually connect properly
zach_lutner | Saturday, May 3
I see a thick yellow bar across the incoming video. It's annoying. But when I snap the picture the yellowline is gone.
slayed_by_lucifer | Sunday, May 4
I have posted my comments in the forum: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=129201
Basically I am a podcaster and this version of Skype thinking it knows best stuffs my audio every time I make or receive a call. I have told it not to alter my audio setting and yet it still does. I have to manually reset every time.
One of the worst releases of Skype yet. The forum post says it all.
gonzo_001 | Monday, May 5
How do I get rid of the VIDEO SELECTOR ? Does anyone know?...I got a page there with videos and I can't find the way to replace it or delete it all together.....I'd appreciate some help...BTW I have skype version 3.8
pedro.a.cohen | Thursday, May 8
We use skype in the office .Most of the time skype shows my contacts offline even them they are online . what would be the problem .We all (about 4 users) have the same problem . we have upgraded from 3.6 to 3.8 version also
quranteaching | Friday, May 9
Garbage... Update Firefox extension is broken. It breaks displaying jpg images by themselves such as.... http://test.com/image.jpg
Also, audio is garbled on some calls. This never happened with 3.6
Lastly, I lost speaker sound when making a simple phone call.
Reinstalling cleanly doesnt help. It's just the software.
michael.avanessian | Sunday, May 11