Bridging Time, Connecting Lives: History Of Video Conferencing

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Once upon a time, video conferencing did not exist. If you want to speak to several people, you’d have to climb up the apex of a hill and loudly invite them to visit your cornfield. While therapeutic and easy, shouting can, nevertheless, be exhausting. Soon, people grew tired of shouting, so they tried communicating by telegraph. However, talking by clicking sounds was not very user-friendly. For a while,the telephone seemed the best solution. The invention of the television, however, opened the doors to better and even more dramatic means for communication. It was not long before video conferencing was developed, and in time, it became the most virtual form of person-to-person communication. Ironically, the history of video conferencing did not start with video conferencing. Talking Televisions
The history of video conferencing really began with television. Thanks to the invention of television, analog conferencing became possible. The term “analog” means “copy.” Simply put, this form of conferencing consists of a cable that connects two TV systems. While analog conferencing is extremely basic, many TV stations continue to use it.The Future Then
A fake helicopter ride to view a model of New York City was not the only exhibit during the 1964 World Fair. A milestone in the history of video conferencing took place, and this milestone goes by the name video conferencing. About half a decade later, in 1970, At&T unveiled its Picturephone video conferencing gadget. With a hefty monthly charge $160 and payphone calls costing about 10 cents, the Picturephone was simply too pricey. Enterprising Ericsson
1976 was another red-letter year in the history of video conferencing. On this year, Ericcson gave a demonstration for the first trans-Atlantic LME video telephone call. This motivated other companies to polish their own video conferencing models, in the hope of striking gold. The result was the creation of new video protocols. These were never included in products that were marketed to the public, however.
That same year, a Japanese company successfully created video conferencing between Tokyo and Osaka, covering a distance of about 325 miles.A Very Expensive Chat
The next era of the history of video conferencing unfolded in the early 1980s. At the time, video conferencing products were still novelty items, and they cost an arm and a leg. Consider these:
1. In 1982, Compression Labs’ video conferencing unit cost a whopping $250,000, with lines that had a $1,000 per hour price tag.
2. In 1986, PictureTel unveiled its own video conferencing component, which costs a “mere” $80,000. Its hourly line fee was $100.
3. In the late 1980s, Mitsubishi created a phone with a still-picture. The picture was black and white, and both parties had to clam up while the picture was transmitting. Understandably, the unit only stayed on the market for a couple of years. The Net Catches the Video Conferencing Bug
Several technological breakthroughs in the 1990s were instrumental in improving video conferencing systems. For example, video files could be made more compact, allowing videoconferencing from the comfort of one’s desktop computer. Also, Internet Protocol, or IP, became more complex. IBM unveiled another black and white video conferencing system in 1991, but this time the pictures moved, and they could be viewed on a PC. Eventually, breakthrough software allowed video conferencing to be enjoyed through programs such as MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger.
What lies next in the history of video conferencing? No one knows. One thing is certain, however: video conferencing has a big and bright future ahead.

The Basics of Video Conferencing

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Modern business operations all share the same rapidly depleting commodity: Time. When time is leveraged, productivity and output invariably increases within a business organization. Technology continues to provide workers and businesses with new tools to help leverage time. Video conferencing could prove to be one of the most important time leveraging business tools of the 21st century.

Once a luxury for only the largest companies, video conferencing is beginning to change the landscape of how businesses communicate with both employees and clients. In its simplest form, video conferencing allows two individuals to be thousands of miles apart yet still effectively communicate as if they were in the same room. Systems in use today can now connect multiple parties across multiple continents – in real time with excellent and high quality video and audio.

The Origins of Video Conferencing

Video conferencing capabilities originated in the 1970s. Similar to every other technology in use today, video conferencing has changed dramatically since first being developed. Early proponents of video conferencing technology had no standards or protocols to rely on. This fact made a teleconference via video an expensive proposition – one that only huge companies and government agencies could afford. In a time where cell phones were still a decade away for most consumers and businesses, video teleconferences were few and far between.

Today, affordable networks and systems are widely available across the globe. Interoperability of video teleconferencing systems is virtually guaranteed now that standards and protocols have been clearly established.

Specific Standards and Protocols for Video Conferencing

To make any technology usable for the masses, standards and protocols are required to insure systems, software and hardware are ubiquitous across the board.

To help guarantee video teleconferencing compatibility between manufacturers, the International Telecommunications Union developed and defined a series of video conferencing standards. In place since the mid-1990s, current standards are defined in terms of H.3xx.

H.3xx are “umbrella” recommendations for video conferencing. They include the protocols for coding video/audio, multiplexing, signaling, and control.

The core H.3xx recommendations are as follows:

H.320 – Narrow-band video conferencing over circuit-switched networks (N-ISDN, SW56, dedicated networks) H.321 – Narrow-band video conferencing over ATM and B-ISDN H.323 – Narrow-band video conferencing over non-guaranteed quality-of-service packet networks (LAN, Internet, etc.) H.324 – Very narrow-band video conferencing over the general (dial-up) telephone network H.310 – Wide-band (MPEG-2) video conferencing over ATM and B-ISDN H.323 is a standard for audio, video, and data communication over IP-based (Internet Protocol) networks.

All major video conferencing manufacturers produce ITU compliant equipment. When choosing video conference equipment, be sure that you select a system that does not offer only proprietary methods of operation.

How Video Conferencing Works

The success of a video teleconference depends entirely on the equipment and network capabilities behind that equipment.

Since real-time video contains a tremendous amount of data, it is imperative that the system being used can handle a high amount of bandwidth at any given time. Fortunately, video conferencing systems are designed to “sample” and “compress” a certain portion of data (such as the unchanging “background’ of the room) to help conserve bandwidth. This compression is accomplished through what is commonly known as a “codec”. A video codec is the device or software that enables video compression and or decompression for digital video.

It is the job of the codec to “sample” data at specific time intervals (fractions of a second) and then compress this data so that it can be delivered across the network. The codec on the receiving end then reassembles audio and video for transmission onto a television or computer screen. To conserve bandwidth, the codec focuses on the most important data – i.e. moving objects such as people, props, etc. Moving objects take a considerable amount of processing power, so the better the codec, the higher quality your video conference will appear.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Video Conferencing Solution

A wide variety of video conferencing systems are available in the marketplace. Before purchasing equipment or services from vendors, consider the following as a starting point to narrow down the requirements of a system that fits with your business needs:

How will you be using video conferencing? A simple video conference between employees in the same town, building or area will require a more basic solution than video conferencing multiple parties across the vast distances. Determine the maximum video conference scenario you will be utilizing to narrow down bandwidth and equipment requirements.

How large is the meeting room where you plan to conduct video conferences? Camera capabilities will depend on the size of the room and number of people involved. Conducting a video conference in a small auditorium with dozens of participants will require a quite different solution than 1-2 individuals transmitting from a small office.

On what type of network will your video conference be hosted? The network you choose to host your videoconference will play a key role in overall reliability and performance. Most video conferencing systems sold today include an IP interface with ISDN as an option. Determine the capabilities of your network before deciding on any one specific video conferencing solution.

The Future of Video Conferencing

Increasing productivity while reducing costs will always be an important part of any business. The popularity of video conferencing will undoubtedly increase in the coming years. Virtually all industries will eventually utilize video conferencing in some form to help bring people together – at considerably less cost than physical travel for face-to-face meetings. As more corporations, health care providers and governments experience the value in video conferencing as a time and money-saving tool, the technology will become more necessity than luxury. The age of the video conference has just begun!

How To Video Conference With Modern Conferencing Systems

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Video Conferencing is defined as an interactive means of communications between two or more locations. The interactivity is accomplished by various means but the most common include a live video and audio feed in both directions. Other options include the use of computers for displaying slide presentations and interactive whiteboards that allow others to see what you are writing on it.

Videoconferencing has been around since 1968 in various forms. Many of us received our first exposure to video conferencing by watching the NASA space missions. We saw mission control and the astronauts communicating with each other in real time. We also gained exposure to video conferencing by watching the evening news when they would have several people on live video feeds talking to each other.

The most common way today that we gain exposure to video conferencing is through the use of instant messenger programs. Instant Messenger programs from Yahoo, AOL and MSN have had video conferencing capability for many years now. This same concept has made it into the business community to help facilitate communications while reducing costs.

The core technology that has made it possible to have video conferencing is the audio and video compression programs available. This is accomplished by the information being compressed into small packages so they can be transmitted over the Internet or dedicated lines. Video and audio compression software has been improved greatly over the last forty years, meaning that the packets are even smaller and able to be transmitted faster using less bandwidth. This improvement in the quality of the compression software also means an increase in the quality of the sounds we hear and the images we see.

Video conferencing used to mean grainy images and sound quality that resembled a tin can and string. Today, thanks to the improved quality of the software we have, clean, clear and crisp video images and high quality sound. Another benefit of the improvement in the software has been a reduction in the delay that we experience. This reduction in delay has made it possible to have real time videoconferences.

To be a part of a videoconference you will need the following hardware; video camera or webcam, microphone, computer or TV, a set of speakers and an Internet connection. Broadband Internet connection would be best for transmitting the large volume of information that is created and will deliver the best results from an audio and video quality standpoint.

The final thing that you will need to participate in a videoconference is a video conference system. There are two types of video conferencing systems out there. The first would be a dedicated system and the second is a desktop system. Within the dedicated system you will find three groups – large, small and individual. The large group would be an auditorium full of people and would be part of a convention or stockholders meeting. The small group would be a classroom or boardroom type of a setting and the individual group, which would be one on one types of video conferences.

Each of these different sized groups have their own special needs, which can be the level of expertise that is needed to set them up to the complexity of the equipment that is needed. With the larger groups, you will need very expensive equipment and a high level of training to set one up. The classroom or boardroom type of setting will still need some higher end equipment and training but can be handled by most network administrators.

The individual level requires the least experience to set up and use. Most computers today come with the equipment you need already installed on them. The equipment is basic and you can upgrade it by buying higher end speakers or video equipment or even a higher quality microphone. The software is available for download as part of any modern instant messenger package. There is higher end software packages that can be purchased at your local computer store and they generally work with specific video conferencing services.

There are several video conferencing software and services available such as iVISIT, Breeze and WebEx. They all offer services and higher quality that you will get from an instant messenger program and there is a price that comes with it. You will need to do some shopping here to see who is going to have the best package to meet your individual needs.