Encounters in Videoconferencing

If you haven’t checked out what’s new in videoconferencing lately, you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise: It’s gone high definition.

About two years ago, LifeSize Communications, an Austin, Texas–based major videoconferencing-equipment manufacturer, introduced a system of displays, cameras, and other components for high-definition videoconferencing. The new system was capable of handling high-definition signals, which transmit an image that is 1280 by 780 pixels. (A standard TV screen displays an image of only 480 by 240 pixels.) Other companies followed with high-definition systems of their own: Sony’s PCS HG90 HDVC; Polycom, Inc.’s, HDX series; and Tandberg’s Precision product line.

Videoconferencing had now caught up with the consumer market, where boxy TVs had given way to sleek wide-screen plasma displays, TV transmissions began changing to high-definition signals, and most computers came with high-definition monitors. Today, the industry landscape continues to shift as the videoconferencing experience changes to an environment that more closely mimics face-to-face meetings; Web conferencing takes on new importance for companies looking to reduce training costs; and the advent of videophones makes mobile, one-on-one videoconferences a reality.

High-Definition Hoopla

The change to high definition is readily apparent to users. “I videoconference about two hours a day every day,” says Jeff Stoebner, chief operating officer and director of marketing at AVI Systems, Inc., an audio-visual equipment installer and designer with offices in Eden Prairie. “To finally get to the point where conferencing is delivering high def is kind of like the difference between watching the old VHS tape that your kids have watched a hundred times—and thinking that’s okay—and then moving to high-definition TV at home. It’s dramatic.”

But like most new technology, high-definition videoconferencing is expensive. Tom Brandabur, founder and owner of Clarity Audio/Video Systems, Inc., a design-and-build audio-visual contractor in Plymouth, says that installing such a system in a boardroom could cost between $20,000 and $30,000. Stoebner says the price for an entry-level system is $10,000 and up. But professionals suggest that you compare the price to what you’d pay in travel costs for face-to-face meetings, including trip preparation and recovery time. Michael Werch, president and CEO of Video Guidance, an audio-visual installation company in Eden Prairie, says that many companies are now considering videoconferencing because it cuts down on the pollution created by planes and other vehicles used to travel to meetings.