UCI Videoconferencing Services and Resources
Summary: This page provides information about videoconferencing (aka VTC) in general and provides information about video conferencing services at UC Irvine.
What is a video conference?
In short, a video conference (also known as a video teleconference, or VTC for short) involves audio and video technologies at two or more points to present geographically separated parties to each other both visually and auditorily through a set of interactive telecommunications technologies. Traditionally VTCs have been held at dedicated centers such as UCI's TLTC (Teaching, Learning & Technology Center) videoconferencing center in the AIR (Anteater Instructional and Research) building, room 3030 (formerly in Social Science Tower 122). However, nowadays individuals can video conference in pairs using their personal computer and applications such as Google Talk or Skype 2.0 (limited to two people per conversation) and some additional hardware such as a webcam. Also, applications like Polycom PVX can be purchased which have all the required software and hardware to turn a PC into an H.323 (H.323 is a standards-based Internet Protocol videoconferencing) endpoint.
From a hardware standpoint, all that is really required is a television and a unit such as the Polycom VSX 5000 on a rollaway cart to get non-computer-based videoconferencing. In fact, TLTC will deliver such carts to campus locations involved in undergraduate education. So, in short, videoconferencing can start on the low-end with a freeware application loaded on your computer and continue on to the high-end to involve elaborate production facilities which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Is it really that simple?
Well, yes and no. Originally supported via special phone connections known as ISDN using a standard called ITU H.320, it is now commonly supported across IP (Internet Protocol) networks using a standard called ITU H.323. With special equipment and/or software, a video conference may also support the sharing of documents such as Microsoft Power Point slides along with the video image and audio of remote locations. If the quality of the equipment involved is very good and the software which manages the video images for multiple locations is clever a video conference may be quite enjoyable and useful, but the cost is often prohibitive and such centers are not common (However, there are some fairly good quality locations on the UC Irvine campus). Most people who have had a good videoconferencing experience with good quality equipment and connectivity would be disappointed with freeware PC-based solutions. Then there is the issue of point-to-point (such as what Google Talk supports) conversations and multipoint conversations. Multipoint video conferences have until recently involved a device called an MCU (Multipoint Conferencing Unit) which bridges together three or more H.323 endpoints in a single conference. As these devices are typically costly to purchase, maintain and operate, many organizations will pay by the hour for specialists who provide this type of service. Large organizations such as the University of California may provide a centralized service. In fact, UCOP has been doing this for years now, but is currently in the process of migrating to CENIC video services, or CVS. There is more detail on MCUs later in this page.
What is Telepresence?
Telepresence is a term used to describe videoconferencing which feels--if not "real"--at least "more real." It is also turning into both a buzzword and a product name. It is a buzzword in the sense that some vendors are offering very good quality videoconferencing equipment which lends a sense of telepresence. It could be used like, "yes, but I'd rather fly for the meeting than VTC in, because there is no telepresence," or like, "the telepresence was so good I felt like I was there."
Ideally, telepresence requires that the senses of the user, or users, are provided with such stimuli as to give the feeling that they are in that other location. Telepresence instantiations typically employ very high-end equipment associated with extraordinary cost. Typically, the term is used loosely, as a buzzword.
However, a new telepresence product was introduced by Cisco Systems in the winter of 2007. Called Cisco TelePresence, it is designed to create a "virtual table" seating up to twelve people (split between two locations of up to six people each) where participants supposedly feel as if they are in the same room at the same table. TelePresence uses life-size images, ultra-high-definition video (1080p), and spatial audio create a "room-within-a-room" environment using the latest in IP video, called H.264. This technology has not been deployed at UC Irvine as of February 2007. For more information see the link in the Related Information box at the top of this page.
What are the differences and costs in the various types of systems out there?
Summary: A combination of hardware and software can turn your computer into a VTC unit for a couple of hundred dollars, or you can have an entry-level stand-alone system for offices and small conference rooms for around four thousand dollars, but serious VTC solutions for dedicated, high-quality videoconferencing centers probably require a minimum investment of sixteen to eighteen thousand dollars.
| Type of VTC system | Description |
|---|---|
| Desktop systems | A small camera and external microphone are connected to a personal computer via either a special board or using a USB port and the microphone-in jack, and specially designed software is loaded on the computer which allows a point-to-point H.323 IP-based video conference to be initiated with any other H.323 VTC system. The computer monitor is used as the video screen. One example of this is the Polycom PVX personal conferencing solution. The distant VTC participant typically sees just your face and shoulders. QoS (Quality of Service) is usually not available, so there will be occasional jitter in the audio or video, typically. These types of units begin in the low hundred dollar range. |
| Dedicated office systems | This is a small, dedicated unit suitable for an office which allows a point-to-point H.323 IP-based video conference to be initiated with any other H.323 VTC system, but which does not run on the personal computer and has its own video display. One example of this is the Polycom VSX 3000, which looks like a flat screen computer monitor and in fact may be used as a computer monitor when not in use during a video conference. The distant VTC participant typically sees just your face and shoulders. These units run in the two to three or four thousand dollar range. |
| Dedicated conference room systems | These are typically relatively light consoles with everything in one bundle except for a remote control and a television of some type for video display. The camera is of a higher quality than an office system and in better units can be remotely controlled to pan and tilt, zoom in or zoom out. Entry-level units such as the Polycom VSX 5000 are designed to sit atop a television, which typical sits atop a movable cart. In dedicated conference room systems, entry-level units are designed to handle conferences of one to six people, while more expensive units supported larger displays and better cameras scale to larger groups. Also the higher-end units can encode better quality video pictures and may support document sharing via a second television screen through the use of a laptop video feed. The entry-level units start at around $3,000 and get up to $10,000, not counting the display units. The higher-end units include multipoint capability (see the next section following this table). |
| Dedicated large-room or auditorium systems | These are generally hybrid systems which use an expensive control console with high-quality external cameras in multiple locations so the aspect or view can be switched by an operator, and typically use projection technology to create a large video image. These systems are quite expensive and require a trained operator to manage them. Such systems typically have special IP networking requirements, either for QoS (Quality of Service), high-capacity bandwidth, or both. Something like this was demonstrated by Calit2 UCSD in 2006 in a HD-over-IP Telepresence Partnership with University of Washington. It is worth noting that the TLTL portable (mobile) conferencing units can be paired with a classroom or auditorium projection system for a large-format videoconference (Please see the "Table of Dedicated and mobile videoconferencing/VTC facilities available to UC Irvine community") |
Point-to-point versus multipoint conferencing
Basic H.323 (IP-based) VTC (video teleconferencing) units (including H.323-equipped desktop systems) are point-to-point units. That is, they have the ability to talk to one other H.323 unit. Higher-end dedicated VTC units may include the ability to do multipoint conferencing because they include a multipoint conferencing unit, or MCU. This allows the facility with this unit to connect to or accept videoconferencing "calls" with more than one endpoint. This added flexibility adds cost to the installation. For example, a 4-way Polycom unit with a cart and a 32" television screen would cost about $12,000 if installed and setup by a third party specializing in such work.
In addition, the MCU can be part of a more complex device known as a videoconferencing gateway, or just gateway. A gateway typically supports more than four videoconferencing endpoints and thus allows larger video conferences. As these are expensive devices, most organizations do not own one and typically pay by the hour to use one through a provider on the Internet. Adding a gateway and operator to facilitate the video conference can run up thousands of dollars in fees! The UC Office of the President has provide a gateway service to UC campuses, and is working with CENIC to provide a system-wide service which will allow gateway use and scheduling services. UC Irvine's participation in this will be through the Teaching, Learning & Technology Center (TLTC), previously known as the IRC and ITC.
Things never stay the same for long though. A new piece of software called Festoon (http://www.festooninc.com/) runs an additional application layer that integrates either the Skype or Google Talk interfaces (or both), enabling videoconferencing for groups of up to five people using freeware designed to allow two people or groups to video conference between two computers!
What are the issues of quality?
There are all kinds of them. For a video conference over a network (H.323) to work well, there needs to be support for Quality of Service (QoS). In this way, digitized and packetized analog video and audio data gets a higher priority than, say, somebody's download of .pdf documents. UC Irvine's backbone (connects the networks in various buildings to each other, and to the world) and CENIC's CalREN network (our connection to the outside world) do support QoS. But most campus networks do not. Some can be configured to do so, but many can not. QoS is not always needed if the network is adequately supplied with bandwidth, but when video/audio traffic competes for bandwidth this leads to a situation known as jitter, which is evident in a variability of the time between arriving packets of information to be decoded from the network and presented as audio and video for the other end.
Even more important than QoS some say is the quality and speed of the device known as a Codec (Coder/EnCoder). The Codec is what turns the analog video and audio into a digitized form or unencodes it from that form, and as this is a very processor-oriented activity there is therefore time involved. The more time is involved in the encoding or decoding process, the more latency (time lag) there is between the origination of the spoken word or video frame and the transmission of it towards the endpoint it is intended for. Both Codecs have this effect! Latency is induced on the encoding end and on the decoding end. Well, what does this mean? It means that if the software/hardware and network are good enough for you to hear the words at the same time as the distant, moving mouth mouths them, it does not mean that you are hearing them or seeing them in real time! The delay can be substantial... from a fraction of a second to several of them.
This is where the big difference may be seen between dedicated hardware systems and PC-based solutions. The PC is doing many things other than acting as a Codec. How much of the PC's processor time is available to run the Codec? Also, it only takes one slow PC or Codec to create this latency, no matter how good the other end is.
Finally, there are issues of video and audio quality. How good is the equipment that records it? How good is the equipment that presents it? If bandwidth is a problem, the number of frames of video being produced and encoded may have to be adjusted downward, or the resolution of the images being recorded and encoded. So quality is in the hands of equipment on both ends, the networks in-between (the slowest one being the limiter) and the settings of the equipment on each end to accommodate the equipment and the networks.
Related to this is viewing area. A seventeen inch LCD screen may be great for a single person in a two person video conference, but terrible for a room full of people sitting around a table. A webcam might be fine for a close-up of someone's face in a two-way conference, but terrible for dealing with a room full of people. So the size of the group and distance from the camera and viewing medium will affect the feeling one gets out of the event.
OIT gratefully acknowledges the assistance that Iain Grainger, Jeffrey Fisher, and Austin Kearsley of the TLTC gave in the creation of this table.
Table of Dedicated and mobile videoconferencing/VTC facilities available to UC Irvine community
| Type | Location | Fee | Reservation | Contact | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | AIR building, room 3030 | Free for undergraduate educational use, otherwise a reasonable fee | 48 hours notice | William Alvarez (walvarez@uci.edu), 949-824-4136 | Seats 16 plus presenter |
| Small Conference | Beckman Center, 100 Academy off California | $220.00 per hour VTC fee in addition to daily room rental | Based on availability | 949-721-2200 and ask for Conference Services | One to to twelve people |
| Conference | Beckman Center, 100 Academy off California | $220.00 per hour VTC fee in addition to daily room rental | Based on availability | 949-721-2200 and ask for Conference Services | Twenty to ninety people |
| Auditorium Facility | Beckman Center, 100 Academy off California | $220.00 per hour VTC fee in addition to daily room rental | Based on availability | 949-721-2200 and ask for Conference Services | Up to 230 people |
In addition, some departments or schools have VTC units for internal use. These include the Henry Samueli School of Engineering Dean's Office conference room (Rockwell Engineering Center); the libraries on campus and at UCI Medical Center; and the Calit2 building, suite 4100 (this information is provided for people within those campus organizations only).
It should be noted that the Beckman Center will allow use of their facilities only for academic, research-related or medicine-related purposes.
What's next at UC Irvine in videoconferencing?
The University of California is migrating videoconferencing services to CENIC Videoconferencing Services. OIT is working with CENIC to set up a network-based gateway into these services, and with TLTC (formerly IRC/ITC) so that they can incorporate these services into the video conference facility in room 3030 of the AIR building, as well as to be able to use the CENIC Videoconferencing Services reservation system. This will allow the CENIC MCU/Gateway to be used to facilitate multipoint video conferences. OIT is investigating how Jabber services might support videoconferencing through instant-messenger-type clients on PCs (such as Google Talk). This would likely improve quality as the traffic would not have to route through the Internet and would stay on campus.
