18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 1 Videoconferencing in PPD John Hart 18 th December 2003

John Hart 18 th December 2003 Videoconferencing in PPD

18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 3 Introduction New options for videoconferencing are becoming available. The aim of this session is: to summarise current videoconferencing facilities and the new options, to provide feedback on PPD needs to the Computing Group.

18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 4 Options Options for participating in meetings without travelling include: Phone conference with plots and diagrams on the web - increasingly popular Studio videoconferencing (ISDN or IP) - need to book - useful for many participants - expert help Desktop videoconferencing Access Grid - primarily for e-science

18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 5 Essential jargon Videoconferencing standards: H.320 – over ISDN (long-established) H.323 – over IP (relatively new) Types of videoconference: Point to point – two sites Multipoint – three or more sites  Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) needed (but not for old “Mbone” IP videoconferencing and is hidden from VRVS users)

18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 6 Studio videoconferencing Five rooms at RAL are equipped: - R18 videoconference studio - Conference room 1 - Atlas Colloquium - R71 boardroom - Lecture theatre Except for the lecture theatre, all can handle H.320 and H.323 -H.320 costs £20-£30 per hour to US or Europe for a 128K ISDN line (reduced rate after first hour) -H.323 is free but not all sites are equipped

18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 7 Desktop videoconferencing Several groups use VRVS but often have problems. New possibilities: Windows XP will make it possible to use a USB plug-in webcam costing ~£30 The Polycom “ViaVideo” camera (~£400) includes hardware support for H.323 This could be made available with a laptop system for loan to members of PPD (as for the conference phone). Need to check that the ViaVideo is accepted by the JANET MCU at Edinburgh for non-VRVS multipoint conferences.

18 Dec 2003 John Hart - Videoconferencing in PPD 8 Points for discussion Recent experience - what improvements are needed? What type of videoconference is used by your experiment? Can you participate? Would you use a PPD laptop VC system if one were available on loan? Do you want a webcam to use VRVS on your PC? Other systems, e.g. NetMeeting.