All You Need To Know About Video Conferencing

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Telepresence and Holography / Holograms - November 2008

Editor’s viewpoint on their differences, likenesses and future...

We all just recently viewed an historic CNN holographic interview on an historic Election Night. CNN stated this type of imaging has never been done before on National TV and I believe that. I haven’t seen anything like it. The live interview caught me by surprise and sure had the “wow” factor attached to it didn’t it? Here’s a link to the actual interview.

CNN Hologram Video

The question now has to be asked. Is it Telepresence?

I’m no expert on the subject but I’m going to throw my hat into the ring, go out on a limb and say yes, I believe it is. Although I know many video conferencing purists are rolling their eyes and grabbing their guns right about now with my statement.

While I do know that Telepresence still hasn’t been universally defined (Houston, we have a problem), here’s how I see it…. Broken down to its simplest form - “tele” (through electronic means) and “presence” (present). This is how I’m justifying my opinion by lumping holography and Telepresence together. Just as Telepresence is surely an offshoot of video conferencing, holographic imaging (like we viewed on CNN) surely has to be considered an offshoot of Telepresence. The interviewer was “telepresent” from Chicago and beamed into the CNN Election Headquarters. She was most assuredly - “telepresent”. There was negligible latency, the imaging was fantastic and both interviewers were rehearsed on what they would say. I’ve just recently read that CNN actually “downgraded” the experience to make it “movie” quality and not as good as it could have been. Maybe they thought us mere mortals would be shocked if they showed their complete hand. I have a feeling it was so big to them, they didn’t want it to get upstaged by the historic election. I’m willing to bet we’ll see the “true” power of this technology in the upcoming weeks and months when they can put the pedal to the medal and show it off without having it sidetracked.

What an amazing time for this technology (all differences and opinions aside). Telepresence Doctors, nurses, teachers, schools and healthcare (healthpresence) will benefit from the recent gains in this state-of-the-art industry whether holograms, Telepresence or holography. Airlines also have to see the threat to a portion of their business travel. Hell, who wants go through security and fly to Miami for a two-hour conference when you can look them in the eye via Telepresence?

Beam me up Scotty! Simply amazing…!

Visit the free Telepresence Forum for more information and discussion

Your Editor and Administrator - L II
"Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" TM

Video conference is either a point to point or a point to multipoint conference. This permits a number of participants to hold face to face meetings and discussions with out actually leaving the office. Data like text, graphs, pictures and even video can be exchanged between the participants. For online video conferencing to take place the video conferencing equipment needed is essentially a communication medium which can transmit high speed data. Broadband cables both copper and fiber optic are used. Even satellite communication can be adapted as a means for video conferencing. The equipment needed for video conferencing are Audio and video input and output systems (mic, speakers, video camera, Display), and ISDN lines for full duplex transmission. (transmission in both the directions are simultaneous). Codec?s which encode and decode the video and data is a vital part of the conferencing equipment. It consists of a processor to reduce reverberation, and feedback. An acoustic echo cancellation AEC algorithm aids in this task. This task of the codec is processor and memory intensive. Multipoint video conferences are more specialized requiring activation only on one location for audio. This is rotated between location using specialized software controls.

Types of Video Conferencing equipment ? Dedicated Systems have all the necessary hardware and software packaged into a single piece of equipment. These are known as PTZ cameras and come with a console which contains all the electrical interfaces and has the computer and software and hardware codec?s. The console is connected with omni directional microphones, Monitor or projector and loudspeakers. Larger groups require more costly devices. These are used in large video conferencing rooms and auditoriums. For smaller groups, less expensive devices and systems are used. Individuals can avail portable devices as the camera and microphone is single and can be fixed. In this dedicated system everything is fixed into the console. ? Desktop systems are PC?s that are made use for video conferencing plans. All that is required is an ?add on card?. Some advanced processors would require less expensive add-on-cards. A range of web camera?s and microphones can be used with the board. The codec?s is usually software; the hardware on the add-on-card contains the processor as well as memory for real time computation that is required of coding and decoding. The standard of most video conferencing desktops is H.323 standard. These video conferences that take place via the desktops are also known as e-meetings.

Benefits For large enterprises where focused face to face meetings are necessary. Video conferencing can save the travel time of the effective top management. It thus improves the decision making process and speeds up the execution time of various projects. Video conferencing along with data conferencing is useful to any project development and management cycle.

Meetoncamera.com is an information hub to video conferencing. This site dedicated to information on Online Video Conferencing , Video Conferencing Equipment, etc. This is a place to look for information on video conferencing basics, systems, accessories and much more.

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To learn more about Telepresence, the revolutionary new style of immersive video conferencing; visit these websites:

Telepresence - "Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" - Telepresence
Telepresence Web Portal - Telepresence Internet web portal
Telepresence Report - 24/7 breaking Telepresence related news and information
Via Telepresence - Video conferencing via Telepresence
Telepresence Forum - Free user discussion forum for everything Telepresence related
Telepresence Today - Telepresence information and editor qualified headline news
Telepresence Resource Directory - Telepresence web resource directory
Telepresence Tube - Telepresence videos, pictures and more