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www.internet2.edu. See http://apps.internet2.edu/talks. Looking over the H.323 Hill. Bob Riddle Technologist, Applications Development 09 May 2001. A word about H.323. I like H.323 I use H.323 H.323 is a useful COTS technology that can be (and should be) deployed today But ….
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See http://apps.internet2.edu/talks Looking over the H.323 Hill Bob Riddle Technologist, Applications Development 09 May 2001
A word about H.323 • I like H.323 • I use H.323 • H.323 is a useful COTS technology that can be (and should be) deployed today • But …. • H.323 is not the only interesting technology in the video conferencing world. • H.323 does many things well but not everything well (at least not yet!)
Other Interesting Technologies • VRVS (the “open” videoconferencing system) • MPEG1, MPEG2 (the here and now) • MJPEG (back to the Future) • DV/Firewire (HDTV - like for pennies) • Access Grid (think big!) • VIC/VAT/RAT • Things that keep me awake at night
VRVS (the “open” videoconferencing system) • General Observations: • Client agnostic video conference system • vic/rat, existing H.323 clients, Minerva • Currently deployed in Physics community • Comparisons to H.323: • Uses same video/audio codecs • Software reflector versus hardware gatekeeper • Windows, *ix clients available, Mac receivers • Easily extensible (we have the source code!)
MPEG1 (here & now) • General Observations: • 1 – 3 mbps, free streaming clients available for broadcast & VOD events • Many PC’s have built-in mpeg1 decoding • appliances (VBrick) available • How’s it compare to H.323? • video quality better than H.323 • cost per sending station usually more than H.323 • some interoperability between products but no standards govern transport like H.323
MPEG2 (here & now) • General Observations: • 3 – 15 mbps, no free streaming clients • hardware pricey ($10 - $25K per node) • Interoperability between vendors non-existent • know thy network (or at least the engineers!) • Comparisons: • better than VHS quality, low latency, its wonderful when it works (kids, don’t try this at home) • Little (or bad) multipoint support exists today
MJPEG – Back to the future! • General Observations: • 5 – 10 mbps, video quality similar to MPEG2 • hardware cheap – but you gotta roll your own • both software & hardware decoding clients are currently available from Berkeley • http://www.openmash.org • http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~delco/rtpvb • Comparisons: • Great video, inexpensive, multipoint support • Deployed today at Berkeley to support teaching • Still work-in-progress, requires bandwidth
DV/Firewire (HDTV - like for pennies) • General Observations: • 30 mbps, video quality better than MPEG2 • http://www.sfc.wide.ad.jp/DVTS • Promise of inexpensive high quality nodes • COTS: DV camera, player, firewire board • hardware cheap – but …. • only working implementation is FreeBSD • some work on Linux (UW) but incomplete • Mac OSX work underway, anyone up for Win2K? • Status: • Harder that it looks! (internal “race” problems) • Current implementation is compelling (when it works!)
Access Grid (think big!) • General Observations: • Group to group collaboration, persistent electronic presence, “Internet Café” • 4 video inputs per node, virtual rooms • Multicast required! 10-20mbs for a meeting • COTS technology - @ $40K for a node • Need to know ALOT to get going • Comparisons: • Video / audio quality about same as H.323 • Continuous, multipoint presence is useful!
VIC/VAT/RAT • Many good version of these tools freely available • Too many different versions of these tools freely available • example: USB cameras work with openmash version but not VRVS version • AG folks added nice usability functions not found in other versions • User interfaces different – adds to confusion for users • No one is minding the store (UCL)
More Info ... • http://www.vrvs.org • http://www.accessgrid.org • http://www.sfc.wide.ad.jp/DVTS • http://bmrc.berkeley.edu • http://www.openmash.org Bob Riddle – Internet2 3025 Boardwalk Suite 100Ann Arbor, MI 481081.734.913.4257 bdr@internet2.edu