I'm looking to get a webcam for chats but I've heard that video on the webcams appear jerky...not smooth. People have said it depends on the webcam itself, others say it depends on the broadband speed. Is there anyone who has experience with using webcams...I'd like to hear your experience or solution?

both bandwidth and quality of web cam
thoe last will be of the main issue for you as you would need to be very far from the exchange to have so little bandwidth it effects the stream,

also it depends on the application you use your webcam with, i find msn messenger to be worse than a website chat site i some times use, and the likes of justin.tv site allows you to select the qauilty at what you set your webcam stream.

i use the microsoft lifecam vx-5000 but there are many on the market and its a case of you get what you pay for, shop prices i would say bargin  cams 10-20£ mid 30-40£ and top end upwards of that, i find the mid range cams fine for my use.

if you go for the low price ones insure there is a mic built in

It's also going to be down to the software that you're using for the video interchange.

I've always found MSN/Windows Live to be particularly choppy regardless of the camera/internet quality.

I thought about using the software that comes with the webcam. But I suppose we can use a different one...any suggestions? Free download?

the software that comes with them are mainly for taking photos and video direct from your cam and also they now like to add funny features that you can selcet so it places a hat on your head or glasses ect.

the software/ apps you will use will be the likes of msn messenger, yahoo messenger, skype or websites many apps out there just depends on which is the most popular with your friends really