On Thu, 14 May 2009 18:07:28 -0700, "Vitaliy" said: > A vendor we work with, has this device and suggested we use it for video > conferencing. Unfortunately, the setup costs $3k, and I'm not too > impressed > with the video specs to justify the expenditure. > > Is there a way to interface this system, with any PC-based video > conferencing software? Since I work for 'em, I guess I should answer this one... I don't want anyone to think I'm turning it into a commercial, though -- just sharing what I know works... Polycom CMA Server/Desktop is a server and associated desktop application that handles "desktop" video with webcams, and integrates those into existing H.323 environments, like large room-based systems, etc. But it's really meant for corporate deployments to all desktops (which many companies are doing)... http://www.polycom.com/products/telepresence_video/telepresence_solutions/personal_telepresence/cma_desktop.html Also an individual copy of Polycom PVX works fine if they're already using a desktop conferencing system like the ViewStation. What specifically were you "unimpressed" with for the video specs? Videoconferencing in HD quality is available, but as you can imagine... most folks don't have 14-16 Mb/s of bandwidth laying around for every endpoint that wants to play unless you're on giant corporate internal networks with BIG backbones. Highly compressed HD is more common at a maximum of 4 Mb/s. And most home networks in the best broadband coverage areas will only barely support that without massive jitter/latency/etc. What kind of bandwidth are you willing to allocate to the conferencing endpoint during a call and what resolution were you shooting for? I find there's little need to examine the nose-hairs of someone I'm talking to via videoconferencing during a two hour long discussion about the minutae of a technical problem. Most of the time we're not even looking at the cameras, we're looking at our PC screens off to one side, for "techie" conversations. Are you trying also to send "content" as a separate channel to a separate screen? People + Content, or as it eventually turned into a standard, H.239 is only supported by certain endpoints at high resolution. Usually I find the "content" channel to be the more important one for presentations/collaboration. Are you calling each other directly on IP, I assume? Or do you need "legacy" H.320 ISDN functionality also? Is he saying he already HAS a ViewStation and wants to call you with it? Stay tuned for more integration with SIP Video in the future, also for many of the products -- there's a trend toward using that for many things. Anyway... more info needed... what are you trying to do? Nate -- Nate Duehr nate@natetech.com -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist