Video phones improving, but not Jetsons' quality
The Dallas Morning News - 7:01 a.m. PDT Wednesday, July 22, 1998
The long-promised video phone is here, although it's not quite what
users might have expected from old Jetsons cartoons.
Video phones now on the market are designed for occasional visits with
family and friends across town or on the other side of the world: useful
for seeing a daughter in her new college dorm room or for showing off
a toddler's first steps.
The devices hook into either a personal computer or television set.
Fortunately, industry standards enable the two kinds of devices to
communicate with each other, so a person can communicate using
video phone on a PC with someone using a phone on a television.
They are not, however, substitutes for a regular phone for routine calls.
To appear on a video camera, subjects need to sit fairly still. Thus, the
freedom offered by cordless phones puttering around the house or yard
while chattering away is negated.
Today's video phone equipment runs about 15 frames per second, half
the speed of TV images, which means crystal-clear images shouldn't be
expected. But the current models are better than those from the early
1990s, which displayed a jerky, grainy maximum of 10 frames per
second.
''We like to say that, just as on a telephone call, you don't expect
compact-disc-quality sound, with our system you shouldn't expect
broadcast-quality video,'' said Scott St. Clair, a spokesman for 8x8 Inc.,
maker of the ViaTV television-based system.
Many who use video phones say they care less about the sharpness of
the images than about the enhanced experience of a telephone call in
which everyone can see one another.
''You don't really want to hang up,'' said University Park, Texas,
resident Bess Brooks, who got a ViaTV system for Christmas. Instead
of having one-on-one conversations, everyone gathers for family visits
using the ViaTV phone, she said.
''Once a week, our kids get to talk to their grandparents in
Connecticut,'' Brooks said.
The video phone is reviving the old-fashioned family meeting, said
Michelle Lee, director of marketing for the hardware group at
Connectix Corp. The company makes a system with an eyeball-shaped
camera that sits atop a computer monitor.
Brooks said video technology makes conversations much richer. ''You
see the nuances of facial expression, show off the haircut you just got.''
The PC-based video phones from manufacturers such as Connectix
and Intel Corp. are the cheaper option, with equipment costing between
$100 and $200. But they are economical only for those who already
have or plan to buy a computer with a Pentium-class or faster
processor.
ViaTV, which costs $300 to $400, is a good option for someone who
doesn't own a newer PC and has no plans to get one. 8x8 also says its
products are easier to set up than computer-based models.
Some computer users already might have Intel software for a video
phone installed on their PCs. Many late-model consumer PCs from
manufacturers including Compaq, IBM, Packard Bell and NEC have all
the equipment necessary, except the camera.
Any system must be compatible with the International
Telecommunications Union standards for video phones. They are
known as H.324, used for direct calls between two parties over regular
phone lines, and H.323, for use on Internet calls.
The Internet is a cheaper way to make any sort of long-distance calls,
including video.
Ryan Scott, a 21-year-old student at Southern Methodist University,
used the Connectix camera on his PC to show his mother in Altamonte
Springs, Fla., a tuba he bought. ''She saw me and heard me playing it,''
he said. ''And my friends in Florida, I show them how messy or clean
my room is.''
But the quality of an Internet call is not quite as good as a direct
connection over the traditional phone network, especially during times
when the Internet is carrying a lot of business traffic.
''An Internet video phone is like going to a party on a Saturday night.
Sometimes it's a great party, and sometimes it was just a good party,
and maybe it will be better next time,'' said Jeff Abbate, product
manager for Intel's Create & Share Camera Pack.
Indeed, some use video phones over the Internet for meeting people,
like an electronic chat room where people communicate using audio
and images instead of just typing text on a screen.
''The Internet is driving a lot of camera use,'' said Lee of Connectix.
And those who would rather be heard than seen need not worry. To
have any kind of video conversation, both parties have to switch on
their cameras.
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