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Videotelephony

Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing, video teleconferencing, or simply video call) is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real-time communication.[1] A videophone is a telephone with a video camera and video display, capable of simultaneous video and audio communication. Videoconferencing implies the use of this technology for a group or organizational meeting rather than for individuals, in a videoconference.[2] Telepresence may refer either to a high-quality videotelephony system (where the goal is to create the illusion that remote participants are in the same room) or to meetup technology, which can go beyond video into robotics (such as moving around the room or physically manipulating objects). Videoconferencing has also been called visual collaboration and is a type of groupware.

"Videophone" redirects here. For other uses, see Videophone (disambiguation).

While development of video-conferring started in the late 19th century, the technology only became available to the public starting in the 1930s. These early demonstrations were installed at booths in post offices and shown at various world expositions. It took until 1970 for AT&T to launch the first true video-conferring system, where anyone could subscribe to the service and have the technology in their home or office. Videotelephony also included image phones which would exchange still images between units every few seconds over conventional plain old telephone service (POTS) lines, essentially the same as slow-scan TV. The development of advanced video codecs, more powerful CPUs, and high-bandwidth Internet service in the late 1990s allowed videophones to provide high-quality low-cost color service between users almost any place in the world where the Internet is available.


Useful applications include sign language transmission for deaf and speech-impaired people, distance education, telemedicine, and overcoming mobility issues. It is also used in commercial and corporate settings to facilitate meetings and conferences. News media organizations have begun to use desktop technologies like Skype to provide higher-quality audio than the cellular phone network, and video links at much lower cost than sending professional equipment or using a professional studio. More popular videotelephony technologies use the Internet rather than the traditional landline phone network, even though modern phone networks use digital packet protocols. Videotelephony software commonly runs on smartphones over digital radiotelephony networks.

videophone and videoconferencing systems, either stand-alone or built-in, that serve as complements to personal computers, connected to other participants by computer and VoIP networks—lowest direct cost, assuming the users already possess computers at their respective locations. Quality of service can range from low to very high, including high definition video available on the latest model webcams. A related and similar device is a TV camera which is usually small, sits on top of a TV, and can connect to it via its HDMI port, similar to how a webcam attaches to a computer via a USB port.

Web camera

—low to midrange cost. The earliest standalone models operated over either plain old telephone service (POTS) lines on the PSTN telephone networks or more expensive ISDN lines, while newer models have largely migrated to Internet Protocol line service for higher image resolutions and sound quality. Quality of service for standalone videophones can vary from low to high;

Videophones

Huddle room or all-in-one systems —low to midrange cost, newer endpoint category based on standard videoconferencing systems, but defined by the camera, microphone(s), speakers, and codec contained in a single piece of hardware. Typically used in small to medium spaces where microphone arrays located in the system are sufficient, in lieu of table or ceiling microphones in closer proximity to the in-room participants. Quality of service is comparable to standard videoconferencing systems, varying from moderate to high. Some manufacturers' huddle room systems do not include the codec within the soundbar-shaped unit, rather only camera, microphone, and speakers. These systems are usually still classified as huddle room systems, but, like webcams, rely on a USB connection to an external device, usually a PC, to process the video codec responsibilities. Despite its name, video conferencing systems for Huddle Rooms prevent participants from huddling close together to be seen in the camera. All-in-one systems for these types of rooms range from wide angles such as 110° Horizontal field of view (FOV) to as much as 360° FOV that allow a full view of the room.

beamforming

—midrange cost, usually using multipoint control units or other bridging services to allow multiple parties on videoconference calls. Quality of service can vary from moderate to high.

Videoconferencing systems

—highest capabilities and highest cost. Full high-end systems can involve specially built teleconference rooms to allow expansive views with very high levels of audio and video fidelity, to permit an 'immersive' videoconference. When the proper type and capacity transmission lines are provided between facilities, the quality of service reaches state-of-the-art levels.

Telepresence systems

Security concerns[edit]

Computer security experts have shown that poorly configured or inadequately supervised videoconferencing systems can permit an easy virtual entry by computer hackers and criminals into company premises and corporate boardrooms.[24]

A live conversation is needed

Non-verbal (visual) information is an important component of the conversation

The parties of the conversation cannot physically come to the same location

The expense or time of travel is a consideration

For over a century, futurists have envisioned a future where telephone conversations will take place as actual face-to-face encounters with video as well as audio. Sometimes it is simply not possible or practical to have face-to-face meetings with two or more people. Sometimes a telephone conversation or conference call is adequate. Other times, e-mail exchanges are adequate. However, videoconferencing adds another option and can be considered when:


Bill Gates said in 2001 that he used videoconferencing "three or four times a year", because digital scheduling was difficult and "if the overhead is super high, then you might as well just have a face-to-face meeting".[25] Some observers argue that three outstanding issues have prevented videoconferencing from becoming a widely adopted form of communication, despite the ubiquity of videoconferencing-capable systems.[26]


These are some of the reasons many organizations only use the systems internally, where there is less risk of loss of customers. An alternative for those lacking dedicated facilities is the rental of videoconferencing-equipped meeting rooms in cities around the world. Clients can book rooms and turn up for the meeting, with all technical aspects being prearranged and support being readily available if needed. The issue of eye contact may be solved with advancing technology, including smartphones which have the screen and camera in essentially the same place. In developed countries, the near-ubiquity of smartphones, tablet computers, and computers with built-in audio and webcams removes the need for expensive dedicated hardware.

Video input: ( / 360° / Fisheye) video camera, or webcam

PTZ

Video output: , television, or projector

computer monitor

Audio input: , CD/DVD player, cassette player, or any other source of PreAmp audio outlet.

microphones

Audio output: usually associated with the display device or telephone

loudspeakers

Data transfer: analog or digital telephone network, , or Internet

LAN

Computer: a data processing unit that ties together the other components, does the compressing and decompressing, and initiates and maintains the data linkage via the network.

faculty members keeping in touch with classes while attending conferences;

faculty members attending conferences 'virtually'[61]

[60]

guest lecturers brought in classes from other institutions;

[62]

researchers collaborating with colleagues at other institutions on a regular basis without loss of time due to travel;

schools with multiple campuses collaborating and sharing professors;

[63]

schools from two separate nations engaging in ;[64]

cross-cultural exchanges

faculty members participating in thesis defenses at other institutions;

administrators on tight schedules collaborating on budget preparation from different parts of campus;

faculty committee auditioning scholarship candidates;

researchers answering questions about grant proposals from agencies or review committees;

alternative enrollment structures to purely in-person attendance;

student interviews with employers in other cities, and

.

teleseminars

"", an episode of The Simpsons which depicted a Picturephone (1995).[104]

Lisa's Wedding

a pop single and music video called "Video Phone" from her album I Am ... Sasha Fierce (2008).[105]

Beyoncé Knowles

In science fiction literature, names commonly associated with videophones include telephonoscope, telephote, viewphone, vidphone, vidfone, and visiphone. The first example was probably the cartoon "Edison's Telephonoscope" by George du Maurier in Punch 1878.[94] In «In the year 2889», published 1889, the French author Jules Verne predicts that «The transmission of speech is an old story; the transmission of images by means of sensitive mirrors connected by wires is a thing but of yesterday.»[95] In many science fiction movies and TV programs that are set in the future, videophones were used as a primary method of communication. One of the first movies where a videophone was used was Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).[96]


Other notable examples of videophones in popular culture include an iconic scene from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey set on Space Station V. The movie was released shortly before AT&T began its efforts to commercialize its Picturephone Mod II service in several cities and depicts a video call to Earth using an advanced AT&T videophone—which it predicts will cost $1.70 for a two-minute call in 2001 (a fraction of the company's real rates on Earth in 1968). Film director Stanley Kubrick strove for scientific accuracy, relying on interviews with scientists and engineers at Bell Labs in the United States. Dr. Larry Rabiner of Bell Labs, discussing videophone research in the documentary 2001: The Making of a Myth, stated that in the mid-to late-1960s videophones "... captured the imagination of the public and ... of Mr. Kubrick and the people who reported to him". In one 2001 movie scene a central character, Dr. Heywood Floyd, calls home to contact his family, a social feature noted in the Making of a Myth. Floyd talks with and views his daughter from a space station in orbit above the Earth, discussing what type of present he should bring home for her.[97][98][99]


A portable videophone is also featured prominently in the 2009 science fiction movie Moon, where the story's protagonist, Sam Bell, also calls home as well to communicate with loved ones. Bell, the lone occupant of a mining station on the far side of the Earth's moon, finally succeeds in making his video call after an extended work period, but becomes traumatized when viewing his daughter.[100]


Other earlier examples of videophones in popular culture included a videophone that was featured in the Warner Bros. cartoon, Plane Daffy, in which the female spy Hatta Mari used a videophone to communicate with Adolf Hitler (1944), as well as a device with the same functionality has been used by the comic strip character Dick Tracy, who often used his "2-way wrist TV" to communicate with police headquarters.[101] (1964–1977).


By the early 2010s videotelephony and videophones had become commonplace and unremarkable in various forms of media, in part due to their real and ubiquitous presence in common electronic devices and laptop computers. Additionally, TV programming increasingly used videophones to interview subjects of interest and to present live coverage by news correspondents, via the Internet or by satellite links. In the mass market media, the popular U.S. TV talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey incorporated videotelephony into her TV program on a regular basis from May 21, 2009, with an initial episode called Where the Skype Are You?, as part of a marketing agreement with the Internet telecommunication company Skype.[102][103]


Additionally, videophones have been featured in:

3GP and 3G2

Comparison of web conferencing software

H.331

Information appliance

List of video telecommunication services and product brands

Media phone

Mobile VoIP

Press videoconferencing

—a large U.S. business and social services videoconferencing network

Project DIANE

Smartphone

Telecollaboration

Teleconference

—the ancestral technology

Telephony

Teletraining

U.S.–Soviet Space Bridge

Visual communication

(Virtual Researcher on Call)

VROC

Web conferencing

Santanu Brahma & Axlator Communications Archived 2021-01-19 at the Wayback Machine, Real time updates and news about WebRTC technology and browser-based audio and videotelephony.

Audio Video Telephony

Burns, R.W., in IEE Publication Series, Institution of Electrical Engineers, Science Museum (Great Britain), 1998, ISBN 0-85296-914-7, ISBN 978-0-85296-914-4

Television: An International History of the Formative Years

Daly, Edward A. & Hansell, Kathleen J. , Artech House, Boston, 1999, ISBN 1-58053-023-0, ISBN 978-1-58053-023-1, CIPD HD9697.T452D35 651.7'3-dc21.

Visual Telephony

Mulbach, Lothar; Bocker, Martin; Prussog, Angela (1995). "Telepresence in Videocommunications: A Study on Stereoscopy and Individual Eye Contact". Human Factors. 37 (2): 290–305. :10.1518/001872095779064582. ISSN 0018-7208. PMID 7642183. S2CID 31369406.

doi

Nellist, John G. , John Wiley and Sons, IEEE Press, 2002, ISBN 0-471-15032-0, ISBN 978-0-471-15032-9.

Understanding Telecommunications And Lightwave Systems: An Entry-Level Guide

Schnaars, Steve; Wymbs, Cliff (2004). "On The Persistence Of Lackluster Demand—The History Of The Video Telephone". Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 71 (3): 197–216. :10.1016/S0040-1625(02)00410-9.

doi

Shepard, Steven. , McGraw-Hill Professional, 2002, ISBN 0-07-140085-0, ISBN 978-0-07-140085-5

Videoconferencing Demystified: Making Video Services Work

Stevenson Bacon, W. , Popular Science, June 1968, pp. 46–47.

Amazing New Picturephone: A Step Closer to In-Person Visits

Valinder, Anne. , University of Gothenburg: Department of Applied Information Technology, pp. 6–18, October 5, 2012. Web. January 23, 2013 (PDF).

Like a window in your living room: Video-mediated communication for extended families separated by space

Wilcox, James R. & Gibson, David K. , Focal Press, CMP Books, San Francisco, 2005, ISBN 1-57820-316-3, ISBN 978-1-57820-316-1.

Video Communications: The Whole Picture

Greenberg, Alan D. , Wainhouse Research, April 2009.

Taking the Wraps off Videoconferencing in the US Classroom

Kopytoff, Verne G. , The New York Times, June 1, 2011.

Hewlett-Packard Sells Its Video Conferencing Business

Lawlor, Julia. , The New York Times, August 27, 1998.

Videoconferencing: From Stage Fright to Stage Presence

Lohr, Steve. , The New York Times, July 22, 2008.

As Travel Costs Rise, More Meetings Go Virtual

Miller, Claire Cain. , The New York Times, November 11, 2009.

Logitech Buying a Maker Of Videoconference Tools

Miller, Claire Cain. , The New York Times, November 10, 2009 on line, and November 11, 2009, in print, p. B3. Discusses the acquisition of LifeSize Communications.

Logitech Breaks Into Videoconferencing

Millman, Howard. , The New York Times, July 12, 2001.

The Videoconference as a Bicoastal Pas de Deux

O'Brien, Kevin. , The New York Times, April 19, 2010. Article discusses the increased use of videoconferencing due to the eruption of an Icelandic volcano which severely curtailed air travel for several months.

Stranded Travelers Turn to Videoconferencing

Ramirez, Anthony. , The New York Times, September 15, 1993. Discusses the deployment of videoconferencing rooms in several hundred Kinkos locations.

More Than Just a Phone Call; Video Conferencing And Photocopies, Too

Shannon, Victoria. , The New York Times, August 29, 2007.

Videoconferencing's virtual leap forward

Sharkey, Joe. , The New York Times, May 11, 2009 online, and in print on May 12, 2009, p. B6 of the New York edition.

A Meeting in New York? Can't We Videoconference?

Vance, Ashlee. , The New York Times, October 1, 2009 online, and October 2, 2009, in print, p. B7. Discusses the acquisition of Tandberg.

Cisco Buys Norwegian Firm for $3 Billion

Wang, Ses , Help Net Security, 17 February 2012.

Open source tool detects videoconferencing equipment vulnerabilities

Wayner, Peter. , The New York Times, June 16, 2005.

Jerky Pictures and Sound Are History. Videoconferencing Is All Grown Up.

1970 video courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, N.J.

Debut of the First Picturephone

a movie reel news clip on the assembly and demonstration of a prototype British General Post Office 'Viewphone' at Taplow, Buckinghamshire; (February 1, 1970; video, 1:16 seconds length)

British Pathé news clip: Videophone 1970

Whirlpool Forums: Movies that feature videophones