Comments on: Living Room Video Conferencing Is Here – Are We Ready?

By: Danny

Danny — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:34:00 +0000

I’m in the videoconferencing business over in Singapore. I do not see Cisco doing a big push on their Umi Solution even our island is being wired up with fast speed fibre network.

SMBs business owners mindset over here do not like paying a monthly fee for some service. They rather own the system outright. But if Cisco price Umi at a very affordable price, they might own a huge market in the SMB segment.

By: Tristan Naramore

Tristan Naramore — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:44:29 +0000

I ran some usability studies on a “virtual presence” system by HP, called Halo, a few years back. It was pretty amazing. Custom conference rooms contained three large hi-def monitors, along with cleverly hidden cameras and microphones. Since the other room(s) matched in terms of decor, and the large screens presented people at life size, it almost felt like they were in the same room. Executives use this kind of system to cut down on travel time; I wonder how long it will take to get this kind of tech into the living room?

First, we’re going to need much better broadband connectivity, especially upload. I mean, who’s getting 3 mbit/sec upload in the US? Not unless you’ve got fiber…

By: DD

DD — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:40:29 +0000

The interesting spin off from this is going to be the impact on the business video conference market. At present video conferencing is largely underutilised and ineffective in business because there are insufficient facilities and it is still to awkward to use. IF (and I believe it will be) it takes off in the consumer market this will drive costs down to a point that will make it highly affordable for businesses. The impact is going to be massive – long mocked and derided as “it will never happen” it WILL take a BIG chunk out of business travel budgets. Lookout airlines!

By: James

James — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:22:11 +0000

Xbox 360/Kinect VideoKinect says hi….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBsTimrYTIQ

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:38:01 +0000

Cisco must be coyly marketing this to mid-small business as I don’t know of a single person that would lay out $600 PLUS $25 per month or $275 per year to do fancy video calls. And that doesn’t even pay for the Internet connection that you would need. If they charge a usage fee, they can’t charge for the device. If they charge for the device, they can’t have a service fee unless it can provide some real value (100 min of video mail doesn’t cut it).

Would I love to have the product so my parents to see their Grand Children in HD? Of course I would love that… Too bad they don’t have anywhere close to 1.5 Mbps up/down broadband.

This seems like someone from the Enterprise Video side of Cisco thought they could take the idea of what businesses might spend, and push that to consumers. I would love to have some of whatever they are smoking…

By: Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:18:12 +0000

Perhaps you wouldn’t. However there are others who might. That’s the beautiful thing about consumer products.

By: Fred Falcone

Fred Falcone — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:13:28 +0000

Next iPad will have front facing camera for Facetime as well as retina display so can serve same purpose. And my Panasonic Viera already supports 720p Skype calls. Why would I buy external gear/boxes from either Cisco or Logitech?

By: Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:30:35 +0000

Yes I think the expectations for a living room video conf experience is very different then one on the mobile phone. I use face time quite a bit when I travel to talk to my kids. Given the demo I saw I would pick a 1080p big screen video call with them over face time any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I think HD is the requirement, not necessarily 1080p all though its nice. That’s also not to say you won’t be able to do HD video calls on mobile however the big screen is a way better way to see family and friends.

The demo is really quite amazing. When these devices are in retail in Nov you have to see them demo then judge it from there.

By: Fred Falcone

Fred Falcone — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:24:06 +0000

Really? Do you believe that 1080p is the requirement for people to jump in? Facetime is not 1080p and it’s very popular.

By: Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:09:04 +0000

Yes that is obviously very doable. However with the demo’s I saw I do have to say seeing folks on the other side in full HD and on the big screen was a much better experience then doing a video conf on the PC.

Perhaps its the sitting on the couch leaning back while talking experience that is more appealing then the lean forward video conf solution of the PC.

By: bonneyt

bonneyt — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:50:26 +0000

why not just use skype and your laptop with a webcam? it’s easier and most people already have the hardware and software