Allegany College of Maryland Creates Virtual Classrooms with HaiVision's hai1000 MPEG-4 AVC H.264 Multi-stream codecs

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Telepresence and Holography / Holograms - November 2008

Editor’s viewpoint on their differences, likenesses and future...

We all just recently viewed an historic CNN holographic interview on an historic Election Night. CNN stated this type of imaging has never been done before on National TV and I believe that. I haven’t seen anything like it. The live interview caught me by surprise and sure had the “wow” factor attached to it didn’t it? Here’s a link to the actual interview.

CNN Hologram Video

The question now has to be asked. Is it Telepresence?

I’m no expert on the subject but I’m going to throw my hat into the ring, go out on a limb and say yes, I believe it is. Although I know many video conferencing purists are rolling their eyes and grabbing their guns right about now with my statement.

While I do know that Telepresence still hasn’t been universally defined (Houston, we have a problem), here’s how I see it…. Broken down to its simplest form - “tele” (through electronic means) and “presence” (present). This is how I’m justifying my opinion by lumping holography and Telepresence together. Just as Telepresence is surely an offshoot of video conferencing, holographic imaging (like we viewed on CNN) surely has to be considered an offshoot of Telepresence. The interviewer was “telepresent” from Chicago and beamed into the CNN Election Headquarters. She was most assuredly - “telepresent”. There was negligible latency, the imaging was fantastic and both interviewers were rehearsed on what they would say. I’ve just recently read that CNN actually “downgraded” the experience to make it “movie” quality and not as good as it could have been. Maybe they thought us mere mortals would be shocked if they showed their complete hand. I have a feeling it was so big to them, they didn’t want it to get upstaged by the historic election. I’m willing to bet we’ll see the “true” power of this technology in the upcoming weeks and months when they can put the pedal to the medal and show it off without having it sidetracked.

What an amazing time for this technology (all differences and opinions aside). Telepresence Doctors, nurses, teachers, schools and healthcare (healthpresence) will benefit from the recent gains in this state-of-the-art industry whether holograms, Telepresence or holography. Airlines also have to see the threat to a portion of their business travel. Hell, who wants go through security and fly to Miami for a two-hour conference when you can look them in the eye via Telepresence?

Beam me up Scotty! Simply amazing…!

Visit the free Telepresence Forum for more information and discussion

Your Editor and Administrator - L II
"Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" TM

(PRWeb) January 11, 2007 -- HaiVision Systems Inc. (Montreal, Canada) is pleased to announce that Allegany College of Maryland has selected and deployed the hai1000 MPEG-4 AVC H.264 multi-stream codec system to unite educators and students across their 3 campuses. Continuing the tradition of providing the best collaborative environments for remote education, Allegany College of Maryland selected the hai1000 because it provides DVD quality audio video connections between multiple sites with the lowest latency available. Using the HaiVision technology, an educator on one campus can effectively hold a single class session spanning the three campuses within a 60 mile radius. This eliminates the need for costly travel by students and educators alike - and gives back those hours to spend on academics.

John Moore, Associate Dean of Computer Services for Allegany College of Maryland, states "having access to such high quality audio and video simply enables a better learning experience compared with traditional video conferencing systems."

"The biggest win for our educators is continuous presence, having each remote site displayed precisely on separate displays to enable true multi-site collaboration," adds Ken White, Allegany College of Maryland's Director of Media Services. "Students can now attend classes without traveling 40-50 miles."

Allegany College of Maryland will use the system for English literature and vocabulary, as well as advanced math, nursing, and criminal justice. They are planning 5-6 multi-site sessions per day throughout the school year. The campuses are connected via wireless transmission provided by Stratex Networks (installed by TWR Corp. of Cumberland, MD), providing very low inter-site latencies and very high quality bandwidth.

Room design and codec integration for the project was provided by York Telecom, a leading visual collaboration and communications integrator.

The hai1000 is the world's premier system for multi-stream low latency audio visual connectivity as required within telepresence suites and virtual classroom environments. Using MPEG-4 AVC (also known as H.264) the hai1000 saves 60% of the bandwidth typically required for DVD quality transmission using MPEG-2 technology.

See case studies of this and other distance education installations at:
www.haivision.com/applications/education/.

About York Telecom
York Telecom is a leading provider of visual communication services and solutions for the Federal Government and Fortune 1000 companies, as well as State and Local governments. Founded in 1985, the company is headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey. The company offers total managed conferencing services, consulting, integration and operational services, professional video production and postproduction for visual communication solutions such as Videoconferencing, Streaming Media, Video on Demand, Custom Media Studio and Room Design and Multimedia Network Management. York Telecom has worldwide branch offices, a multi-lingual help desk and a worldwide integration, production and support force. For more information, visit York Telecom online at www.yorktel.com or email at info@yorktel.com.

About HaiVision Systems Inc.
Based in Montreal, Canada, HaiVision Systems Inc. is a private company dedicated to improving the way people live and work through the use of advanced network video technology. HaiVision's products are used in the foremost telepresence suites and boardroom video conference systems worldwide. They are also used in the medical field supporting information and service delivery within hospital campuses and across nations. The most progressive educational institutions also use HaiVision technology for distance education - continuous presence network video systems linking specialized teachers with students throughout k-12 and higher education systems. Please have a look at the product information, case studies, videos, and file samples available in the file download area of our web site.

For further information, please contact:

Ceicy Tsui               
HaiVision Systems Inc.   
Tel: (514) 334-5445, ext. 251           
Email: ctsui (at) haivision.com
Web: www.haivision.com

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To learn more about Telepresence, the revolutionary new style of immersive video conferencing; visit these websites:

Telepresence - "Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" - Telepresence
Telepresence Web Portal - Telepresence Internet web portal
Telepresence Report - 24/7 breaking Telepresence related news and information
Via Telepresence - Video conferencing via Telepresence
Telepresence Forum - Free user discussion forum for everything Telepresence related
Telepresence Today - Telepresence information and editor qualified headline news
Telepresence Resource Directory - Telepresence web resource directory
Telepresence Tube - Telepresence videos, pictures and more