Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Desktop Video - Re: If you had to spend $5K by Friday...
Author: David Carter-Tod Posted: 4/20/2000; 8:19:25 AM Topic: If you had to spend $5K by Friday... Msg #: 16433 (In response to 16423) Prev/Next: 16432 / 16434
Desktop video is really not all that cool(sorry video buffs, but it just isn't). 5000 dollars is a lot to pay for CUSeeMe on steroids.In general terms I'm a sceptic, however for a distributed organization like ours (state community college system) it can make sense -- it's not unusual to travel 3-6 hours in a day for a 2-3 hour meeting. With room-based systems (we've heavily invested in VTEL H.321 systems - full screen, high quality, two-way interactive video) we can also share enrollments in classes that wouldn't otherwise happen - try finding Japanese instructors in Southwest Virginia.
However, VTEL systems are expensive - $30,000+ per unit. We're finding that the quality on the VCON room-based systems (about $8,000) is comparable with point-to-point connections (we haven't thoroughly tested multi-point connections yet), and we get T120 data-sharing as well. We can also use it to hook into CISCO IP/TV which is full-screen, high quality video on demand.
For about $800 I can get a VCON desktop product for my PCs, that with our bandwidth gives me high quality video with T120 data sharing. We've got to watch our bandwidth and probably create VLANs with a bandwidth management solution - gatekeeper software update to our CISCO 3640 router is coming in a couple of months, but we can do that.
So, I remain a sceptic, but I really think it's becoming more feasible and usable.
David
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