Struggling to Videoconference

We try PC-based videoconferencing packages and get mostly disappointing results.

Robert Lauriston, edited by Rex Farrance

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Why videoconference? Simple: to have face-to-face meetings while saving the time and money it takes to get employees together. The most obvious advantage is for those separated by long distances, but even getting a group together in a large building can often require significant time and resources--especially if you need to drag in equipment or presentation aids.

Many businesses can't afford a $40,000 videoconferencing setup with a 31-inch display screen. But there are a number of lower-cost PC-based conferencing products that cost as little as $199. Maybe one of these is the right solution for you. According to "What's Wrong With This Picture" in the forthcoming August issue, that's a really big "maybe." We tested a half dozen products for this issue, three priced under $350 and three that cost more than $1000. And we tried to test three other products that we couldn't get to work at all, even after extensive consultation with the vendors' tech support. We found that it's generally a struggle to get any of the packages installed, connected, and working.

What Do You Get?
All the packages include a digital camera, an ISA or PCI video-capture board, and videoconferencing software. As you might expect, we found that the higher-end products are more effective for business use than the low-ticket packages. The best products produce adequate video in Common Interchange Format windows of 352 by 288 pixels. Of course, that's pretty small: For example, if you're using a 1024-by-768 screen, the window would fill only about one-ninth of your display area. Our definition of adequate video is 15 frames per second. That's the maximum these products deliver--and at only half the rate of standard full-motion video, it's still on the jerky side. With a really high-speed connection, such as over a local area network, we found that we could get a pretty good look at a single subject's facial expressions. But forget seeing much detail if you're viewing a group in such a small window.

The worst packages were frankly terrible, providing tiny, blurred pictures, especially over low-speed modem connections or through a busy Internet service provider. The video on the low-end packages fell as low as one frame per second, depending on the speed of the connection. And the windows displayed were not much bigger than a postage stamp in some cases. So for most of us, it's not time to stop buying those airline tickets yet.

For the full story, see the upcoming August issue of PC World magazine.

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