Importance of Video seminar, Webinar and Video conferencing
asked: Jacob
Internet Conferencing – video web meetings
Learn all the features of internet web conferencing
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Filed under Different Places
Using Web Conferencing For More Effective Online Meetings
Joseph Ducat asked:
Web conferencing is a technology that offers many features and functions useful to many large companies and small business owners alike. If you are concerned about the price, no need to worry, there are Web conferencing solutions available for any budget. You can hire a web conferencing service provider, or install web conferencing software on the company server. Of course, you need to know what features you can expect to be implemented in a web conferencing application, so you can choose the commercial product or service that is best for your budget. Knowing the capabilities of a web conferencing application will allow you to get more out of it.
One very useful function of Web conferencing is screen sharing. This allows one person to make the view of a single computer screen available to everyone else who is participating in the conference. So if you like, you can run a PowerPoint slideshow or presentation on your computer and it will be seen by everybody else. In other words, it is just like giving a presentation to a room of people, except that you are doing it online and your attendees are somewhere else sitting in front of their own computers.
Another common function found in Web conferencing is a virtual whiteboard. This works much like a regular whiteboard as used at meetings in the real world. People can take turns inputting words or even drawings on the whiteboard.
Then there is application sharing. This is one of the most popular functions of Web conferencing platforms. In fact, nearly 90% of all over Web conferencing users have made use of application sharing. It allows people to let someone else access program functions on their computer during the Web conference.
Co-browsing offers the ability to surf the Internet as a group, and is very useful for going through a company or client website.
Web conferencing applications also offer instant messaging or voice Internet call capabilities. These allow you to hold numerous types of events online instead of having to host them in real world facilities. Such events would include interviews, press conferences, training seminars, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, client consultations, and sales presentations, among others. Instant messaging software lets the participants type in their discussions. Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP software allows people to make voice calls to each other using broadband Internet instead of traditional phone networks. You can set up a voice conference using VoIP, which is much cheaper than an equivalent long-distance conference call. That would help you trim some of your business expenses.
Valerie
Web conferencing is a technology that offers many features and functions useful to many large companies and small business owners alike. If you are concerned about the price, no need to worry, there are Web conferencing solutions available for any budget. You can hire a web conferencing service provider, or install web conferencing software on the company server. Of course, you need to know what features you can expect to be implemented in a web conferencing application, so you can choose the commercial product or service that is best for your budget. Knowing the capabilities of a web conferencing application will allow you to get more out of it.
One very useful function of Web conferencing is screen sharing. This allows one person to make the view of a single computer screen available to everyone else who is participating in the conference. So if you like, you can run a PowerPoint slideshow or presentation on your computer and it will be seen by everybody else. In other words, it is just like giving a presentation to a room of people, except that you are doing it online and your attendees are somewhere else sitting in front of their own computers.
Another common function found in Web conferencing is a virtual whiteboard. This works much like a regular whiteboard as used at meetings in the real world. People can take turns inputting words or even drawings on the whiteboard.
Then there is application sharing. This is one of the most popular functions of Web conferencing platforms. In fact, nearly 90% of all over Web conferencing users have made use of application sharing. It allows people to let someone else access program functions on their computer during the Web conference.
Co-browsing offers the ability to surf the Internet as a group, and is very useful for going through a company or client website.
Web conferencing applications also offer instant messaging or voice Internet call capabilities. These allow you to hold numerous types of events online instead of having to host them in real world facilities. Such events would include interviews, press conferences, training seminars, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, client consultations, and sales presentations, among others. Instant messaging software lets the participants type in their discussions. Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP software allows people to make voice calls to each other using broadband Internet instead of traditional phone networks. You can set up a voice conference using VoIP, which is much cheaper than an equivalent long-distance conference call. That would help you trim some of your business expenses.
Valerie
What You Need For Audio Video Conferencing
Chris Bradley asked:
Teleconferencing has become a common phrase in the world of communications today. Plenty of people are looking to get in on the action and with the help of the Internet; and audio video conferencing is now made possible.
Virtual conferences are connecting people all over the globe. With this technology, it is possible for a company to hold a staff meetings, seminars, trainings, etc. even when their employees are located in different parts of the State or even the globe.
All that is needed is the right software and equipment in order to conduct a conference, and there are plenty of equipments or channels used to conduct such a service. One of the most common would be using a standard telephone.
however, with the advent of the Internet, VoIP technology has become a more preferred method. VoIP is an Internet-based phone system that allows audio video conferencing.
Essentially, it combines not only digital audio signals and transmits them, but it also makes it possible to include video along with it. Clients or members of a company not only hear who they are speaking with, but also see them with the help of a webcam.
Of course, there’s no denying that teleconferencing isn’t fool proof just yet. There are still a few kinks in the system. Equipment malfunctions can occur in certain instances or the calls can be dropped due to power failures. It is important to know about them.
There are plenty of audio video conferencing providers available today. It is important to choose the right provider and get the service that matches your needs and budget.
Alfred
Teleconferencing has become a common phrase in the world of communications today. Plenty of people are looking to get in on the action and with the help of the Internet; and audio video conferencing is now made possible.
Virtual conferences are connecting people all over the globe. With this technology, it is possible for a company to hold a staff meetings, seminars, trainings, etc. even when their employees are located in different parts of the State or even the globe.
All that is needed is the right software and equipment in order to conduct a conference, and there are plenty of equipments or channels used to conduct such a service. One of the most common would be using a standard telephone.
however, with the advent of the Internet, VoIP technology has become a more preferred method. VoIP is an Internet-based phone system that allows audio video conferencing.
Essentially, it combines not only digital audio signals and transmits them, but it also makes it possible to include video along with it. Clients or members of a company not only hear who they are speaking with, but also see them with the help of a webcam.
Of course, there’s no denying that teleconferencing isn’t fool proof just yet. There are still a few kinks in the system. Equipment malfunctions can occur in certain instances or the calls can be dropped due to power failures. It is important to know about them.
There are plenty of audio video conferencing providers available today. It is important to choose the right provider and get the service that matches your needs and budget.
Alfred
Video Conferencing – An Introduction
James Hunter asked:
With videoconferencing people can interact as if they were talking face to face with both images and sound relayed in real time. This article is designed to guide you through the various options to arrive at the system type best suited to your purpose.
There are various types of videoconferencing; which is suitable for your application will depend upon the IT structure available and what it is that you actually want to achieve.
Video conferencing has in the past been relatively expensive, but prices are coming down and it is possible for anyone with a fast enough internet connection to operate a video conference.
Systems are available for hire, lease or sale.
Systems may be installed at all or any of the following: – on the desktop PC a dedicated videoconference suite mobile – for use when and where the need arises.
Each has various advantages and limitations which may be critical to your purpose.
Paradoxically it is far more critical that audio connections are maintained than the video. You may loose a video signal or it may be intermittent but the conference will still proceed – if you lose audio, nothing can be achieved (unless both parties are versed in sign language!)
Video speed for equipment is often shown as frames per second abbreviated as FPS.
In the UK video from most sources runs under the PAL standard which 25 frames per second – e.g. domestic VHS players. In the USA the system is NTSC which runs at 30 frames per second. Videoconference equipment commonly is specified as 15 fps or 30 fps. In layman’s terms – 15 fps will be jerky, it shows every other frame, 30 fps is full motion video.
The higher the frame rate the greater the data load, so the faster the connection required.
A minimum requirement for full motion video and audio between two points is 768 Kbps.
This made up of:- an encoding rate of 384 Kbps (typically used) is selected. This is broken down into two parts – 64Kbps is for the audio 320 Kbps is for the video.
The resulting 384 Kbps stream is compressed and sent (from you – the source) to the remote point (the destination). Similarly a 384 Kbps stream is received from the remote point to you. Thus twice 384 Kbps in bandwidth is required.
If there is a lot of motion in the video, very little compression is achieved. If there is little or no motion in the video, the savings can approach 50%. It would, however, be foolish to design a system which relied on the participants being forced to remain static.
There are two types of video conferencing, each has sub-types. Point to point – a live video / audio communication between any two locations. Multipoint – links between a three or more locations
Point to Point (P2P)
Point to point – a live video and audio communication link between any two locations.
P2P – Application
Where the need is to communicate between two points only at any one time: – Two offices of the same company Yourself and a business partner company, e.g. Yourselves and a major supplier Senior management/ teams from two divisions – e.g. research and manufacture.
P2P – Use
Virtual meetings on a one to one basis Project workgroup co-ordination of effort, live adjustment of data, drawings, documents or prototypes Virtual board meeting between two groups of people in specific locations – say 5 in one and 4 in another
P2P – Limitations
Bandwidth required increases in proportion to the amount of data being exchanged. Audit trail of actions taken by whom with a timeline sequence often required. Extra equipment is necessary to show physical objects, using a visulaiser for say engineering parts
Point-to-Point Videoconferencing
Consider two videoconference terminals (vct) that are connected to the Internet.
The vct and its associated peripherals allow the user to make a call to another client, send the local audio/video stream to the remote client, and hear/view the received audio/video stream on a local speaker/monitor that is connected to the vct.
Assume one user (the local user) uses a vct to call a user at a remote vct by entering the IP address of the remote vct. The clients setup a call between the stations following the specifications of the H.323 protocol. Once the call is setup, the clients exchange audio/video streams over the Internet. The point-to-point videoconference continues until one of the users “hangs up” the call.
IP numbers are difficult to remember; some users have dynamically assigned (DHCP) IP numbers that can change every time they boot their system and problems in using IP addressing when different vendor systems are used.
The Gatekeeper
To alleviate the problem of IP dialing, the H.323 standard defines the use of a gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper is a system that connects to the Internet just like the client terminals. The IP address of the gatekeeper is configured into the client terminals and when the clients “power up”, they communicate with the gatekeeper and transfer certain information to the gatekeeper that describes the vct.
When the clients register with the gatekeeper, they pass their IP numbers, H.323 alias, and H.323 extension to the gatekeeper where it is stored. This allows a local user to dial a remote user by entering the remote users H.323 extension in effect their video telephone number.
The local vct communicates the H.323 extension to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper then checks to see if the remote client is registered with the gatekeeper, then sets up the call between the two clients.
Once the call has been setup, the audio/video streams flow directly between the clients over the Internet.
Multipoint
Live video and audio links between a three or more locations.
To handle this situation, the H.323 standard introduces the concept of a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU). The MCU can be thought of as a “video bridge”. The MCU connects to the Internet and registers with the gatekeeper.
A MCU, depending on its design capacity, can handle a certain number of simultaneous videoconferences each with each videoconference being logically separate from the others and with each having a specified number of users.
When users want to join a particular videoconferencing session, they dial the service number/password combination. The gatekeeper checks to see if that service has been registered by a MCU. The gatekeeper completes the call by connecting the client to the specified videoconference on the MCU.
Once the call has been connected, the client’s audio/video stream is then sent over the Internet from the client to the MCU. Similarly, other clients connect to the session and send their audio/video streams to the MCU. The MCU selects one of the audio/video streams on the videoconference and returns that audio/video stream to all of the clients (that is all except the client whose stream was selected).
There are several methods for selecting an audio/video stream. Audio switching and chairman control are two alternatives. Typically, the method that is chosen is audio switching where the MCU selects the stream that currently has active audio (someone is talking or is talking the loudest).
As the user(s) at one site stop talking and the user(s) at another site start to talk, they capture the MCU. The process is repeated with the video from the newly selected site now being sent to all the other sites.
Streaming
To participate in a H.323 videoconference, users must have appropriate videoconferencing client terminals and have Internet connectivity with sufficient bandwidth to support the videoconference.
Some users may not have these capabilities but would still like to be able to participate even if that meant that they could only see and hear conference participants but not be able to interact with them. (Watch and Listen)
Users can receive the stream using a browser on a computer. They enter the URL of the server, and the server starts the encoded audio/video stream over the Internet to the computer.
Plug-Ins for the browser exist that are capable of decoding both RealVideo and Windows media streams. The user can thus see and hear the participants in the streamed videoconference in near real-time.
Alternatively, a user can connect to the server at a latter date and view the archived version of the videoconference.
Randy
With videoconferencing people can interact as if they were talking face to face with both images and sound relayed in real time. This article is designed to guide you through the various options to arrive at the system type best suited to your purpose.
There are various types of videoconferencing; which is suitable for your application will depend upon the IT structure available and what it is that you actually want to achieve.
Video conferencing has in the past been relatively expensive, but prices are coming down and it is possible for anyone with a fast enough internet connection to operate a video conference.
Systems are available for hire, lease or sale.
Systems may be installed at all or any of the following: – on the desktop PC a dedicated videoconference suite mobile – for use when and where the need arises.
Each has various advantages and limitations which may be critical to your purpose.
Paradoxically it is far more critical that audio connections are maintained than the video. You may loose a video signal or it may be intermittent but the conference will still proceed – if you lose audio, nothing can be achieved (unless both parties are versed in sign language!)
Video speed for equipment is often shown as frames per second abbreviated as FPS.
In the UK video from most sources runs under the PAL standard which 25 frames per second – e.g. domestic VHS players. In the USA the system is NTSC which runs at 30 frames per second. Videoconference equipment commonly is specified as 15 fps or 30 fps. In layman’s terms – 15 fps will be jerky, it shows every other frame, 30 fps is full motion video.
The higher the frame rate the greater the data load, so the faster the connection required.
A minimum requirement for full motion video and audio between two points is 768 Kbps.
This made up of:- an encoding rate of 384 Kbps (typically used) is selected. This is broken down into two parts – 64Kbps is for the audio 320 Kbps is for the video.
The resulting 384 Kbps stream is compressed and sent (from you – the source) to the remote point (the destination). Similarly a 384 Kbps stream is received from the remote point to you. Thus twice 384 Kbps in bandwidth is required.
If there is a lot of motion in the video, very little compression is achieved. If there is little or no motion in the video, the savings can approach 50%. It would, however, be foolish to design a system which relied on the participants being forced to remain static.
There are two types of video conferencing, each has sub-types. Point to point – a live video / audio communication between any two locations. Multipoint – links between a three or more locations
Point to Point (P2P)
Point to point – a live video and audio communication link between any two locations.
P2P – Application
Where the need is to communicate between two points only at any one time: – Two offices of the same company Yourself and a business partner company, e.g. Yourselves and a major supplier Senior management/ teams from two divisions – e.g. research and manufacture.
P2P – Use
Virtual meetings on a one to one basis Project workgroup co-ordination of effort, live adjustment of data, drawings, documents or prototypes Virtual board meeting between two groups of people in specific locations – say 5 in one and 4 in another
P2P – Limitations
Bandwidth required increases in proportion to the amount of data being exchanged. Audit trail of actions taken by whom with a timeline sequence often required. Extra equipment is necessary to show physical objects, using a visulaiser for say engineering parts
Point-to-Point Videoconferencing
Consider two videoconference terminals (vct) that are connected to the Internet.
The vct and its associated peripherals allow the user to make a call to another client, send the local audio/video stream to the remote client, and hear/view the received audio/video stream on a local speaker/monitor that is connected to the vct.
Assume one user (the local user) uses a vct to call a user at a remote vct by entering the IP address of the remote vct. The clients setup a call between the stations following the specifications of the H.323 protocol. Once the call is setup, the clients exchange audio/video streams over the Internet. The point-to-point videoconference continues until one of the users “hangs up” the call.
IP numbers are difficult to remember; some users have dynamically assigned (DHCP) IP numbers that can change every time they boot their system and problems in using IP addressing when different vendor systems are used.
The Gatekeeper
To alleviate the problem of IP dialing, the H.323 standard defines the use of a gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper is a system that connects to the Internet just like the client terminals. The IP address of the gatekeeper is configured into the client terminals and when the clients “power up”, they communicate with the gatekeeper and transfer certain information to the gatekeeper that describes the vct.
When the clients register with the gatekeeper, they pass their IP numbers, H.323 alias, and H.323 extension to the gatekeeper where it is stored. This allows a local user to dial a remote user by entering the remote users H.323 extension in effect their video telephone number.
The local vct communicates the H.323 extension to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper then checks to see if the remote client is registered with the gatekeeper, then sets up the call between the two clients.
Once the call has been setup, the audio/video streams flow directly between the clients over the Internet.
Multipoint
Live video and audio links between a three or more locations.
To handle this situation, the H.323 standard introduces the concept of a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU). The MCU can be thought of as a “video bridge”. The MCU connects to the Internet and registers with the gatekeeper.
A MCU, depending on its design capacity, can handle a certain number of simultaneous videoconferences each with each videoconference being logically separate from the others and with each having a specified number of users.
When users want to join a particular videoconferencing session, they dial the service number/password combination. The gatekeeper checks to see if that service has been registered by a MCU. The gatekeeper completes the call by connecting the client to the specified videoconference on the MCU.
Once the call has been connected, the client’s audio/video stream is then sent over the Internet from the client to the MCU. Similarly, other clients connect to the session and send their audio/video streams to the MCU. The MCU selects one of the audio/video streams on the videoconference and returns that audio/video stream to all of the clients (that is all except the client whose stream was selected).
There are several methods for selecting an audio/video stream. Audio switching and chairman control are two alternatives. Typically, the method that is chosen is audio switching where the MCU selects the stream that currently has active audio (someone is talking or is talking the loudest).
As the user(s) at one site stop talking and the user(s) at another site start to talk, they capture the MCU. The process is repeated with the video from the newly selected site now being sent to all the other sites.
Streaming
To participate in a H.323 videoconference, users must have appropriate videoconferencing client terminals and have Internet connectivity with sufficient bandwidth to support the videoconference.
Some users may not have these capabilities but would still like to be able to participate even if that meant that they could only see and hear conference participants but not be able to interact with them. (Watch and Listen)
Users can receive the stream using a browser on a computer. They enter the URL of the server, and the server starts the encoded audio/video stream over the Internet to the computer.
Plug-Ins for the browser exist that are capable of decoding both RealVideo and Windows media streams. The user can thus see and hear the participants in the streamed videoconference in near real-time.
Alternatively, a user can connect to the server at a latter date and view the archived version of the videoconference.
Randy
