fields_g
31st May 2008, 04:28
One of the roles that I have working at the University of Minnesota is to support the telemedicine program. About a month ago, I was asked to check out an new videoconferencing system called Vidyo that doesn't involve bridges, but routers. I looked and got a big grin on my face when I saw that it was SVC.
As far as I can tell, a router is used in conjunction with the endpoints to determine the capabilities of the source, and destination devices as well as monitor the network weather conditions. Depending on the bandwidth needed/can be maintained, the router whittles the SVC video packets down to the appropriate size and passes them on. This also allows endpoints to receive all the video streams from a multipoint call and for the end user to customize the layouts on their screen. They have a pretty sweet PC client program with a web interface call setup.
Anyway... earlier this week, a vendor came by and gave us a demo. The quality was very impressive! I wanted to know if anyone else has heard about other SVC developments. One of my other roles is to record and encode media assets for online learning. One of the biggest decisions we have to make is what resolution and bitrate to encode our material. SVC (along with end devices that support it) would be much better than having to choose HD/4CIF/CIF/QCIF, etc. and to guess at how robust the connection will be for each learner, now and in a couple of years. I would just do everything in HD! I know there are a few of you out there who are looking at x264 for its broadcasting abilities. Wanna let me know what you are seeing?
BTW... I only have the job at the university for a few more weeks. My wife got a job offer that convinced us we needed to relocate to Washington DC. Anyone happen to have some leads on open position in that area for a CCNA with teleconference, media, education, and desktop support experience? Give me a PM.
As far as I can tell, a router is used in conjunction with the endpoints to determine the capabilities of the source, and destination devices as well as monitor the network weather conditions. Depending on the bandwidth needed/can be maintained, the router whittles the SVC video packets down to the appropriate size and passes them on. This also allows endpoints to receive all the video streams from a multipoint call and for the end user to customize the layouts on their screen. They have a pretty sweet PC client program with a web interface call setup.
Anyway... earlier this week, a vendor came by and gave us a demo. The quality was very impressive! I wanted to know if anyone else has heard about other SVC developments. One of my other roles is to record and encode media assets for online learning. One of the biggest decisions we have to make is what resolution and bitrate to encode our material. SVC (along with end devices that support it) would be much better than having to choose HD/4CIF/CIF/QCIF, etc. and to guess at how robust the connection will be for each learner, now and in a couple of years. I would just do everything in HD! I know there are a few of you out there who are looking at x264 for its broadcasting abilities. Wanna let me know what you are seeing?
BTW... I only have the job at the university for a few more weeks. My wife got a job offer that convinced us we needed to relocate to Washington DC. Anyone happen to have some leads on open position in that area for a CCNA with teleconference, media, education, and desktop support experience? Give me a PM.