Bridging Time, Connecting Lives: History Of Video Conferencing

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What’s the difference between Video Conferencing and Telepresence?

Telepresence picks up where video conferencing left off. Telepresence IS real time, full-high-definition, immersible sound and vision. Telepresence IS most importantly: the feeling of being “there” when you’re “here”. Telepresence is lifelike, video conferencing is not. Telepresence is that hi-line Mercedes AMG, video conferencing is a Ford Escort - Period.

Why Telepresence now?

Video conferencing has been around a while now but has always lacked the feeling we spoke about above. Jumpy computer screens, broken audio and poor lighting add to the impersonal touches of video conferencing (ie slow motion camcorder on top of your computer monitor). Finally, technology, bandwidth, vision and sound have all converged on video conferencing to create the telepresence experience. It’s about time! Crystal clear surround sound and real-time full-high-definition visual effects enhance the feeling of being there – thus telepresence. That nervous twitch, roll of the eyes, sniffle, tap of the foot – things you see when you’re present and sitting across a conference room table – things you don’t see or feel from video conferencing, but do with telepresence.

Today, what “real” uses are there for Telepresence?

There is no short answer even possible here. We’ll name a few, more like we’ll put your imagination to work. Imagine a single specialist doctor in Canada treating patients in Haiti via telepresence. Robots in space doing the actual work while the telepresence operator dons his telepresence helmet and gloves at his workstation in Texas. Meeting your Russian company vice president while you’re in the executive telepresence room at the office in Denver. Just a few…

What are “real” savings of Telepresence?

Your imagination still working on the last answer? Don’t let up yet! What carbon footprint? Don’t need that airplane ticket to go check on your staff in Russia now do you? What lost life in the Iraqi war? Unmanned drones and soldiers via telepresence. Military and combat cost savings? Immeasurable. Less travel costs, airline frustration, fuel, lost time, carbon emissions, etc. Those are tangible, real savings to name just a very limited few.

You starting to see what telepresence can do that video conferencing can’t? We hope you see what we’re seeing! Telepresence – its time has arrived!

Check out the video thread in Section 8 of the Telepresence Forum where you can watch some Telepresence YouTube videos! If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a million!

Ride on the "Next Plane of Existence" TM

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.

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