VideoCentric Challenge Industry Leaders AMX and Crestron with Launch of VC Commander, a Touch Control System for Video Conferencing and Other AV Devic

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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

London (PRWEB) February 6 2008 -- VideoCentric to challenge industry leaders AMX and Crestron with launch of VC Commander a touch control system for video conferencing and other AV devices.

VC Commander, designed, developed and distributed by VideoCentric, is a Touch Screen controller for all modern VideoConferencing systems and their associated peripherals. Like higher cost alternatives from AMX and Crestron, the VC Commander can be tailored to suit a specific environment, but has been developed as an off-the-shelf package to control a wide range of Plasmas and LCDs, Projectors, Amplifiers, Visualisers, Auxiliary PTZ Cameras, DVD/Video recorders as well as the most popular VC Codecs.

All the leading manufacturers systems are supported including Tandberg, Polycom, Lifesize, SONY, Emblaze-VCON, Canon, NEC, Samsung, HP, Panasonic, Pioneer, Hitachi, Toshiba, Elmo, Wolfvision, Sanyo, Sharp, Philips and others.

David Shimell, Sales Director for VideoCentric, said, "Some customers own many different video conferencing systems with a confusing set of different remote control handsets & on-screen menus. VC Commander offers consolidation of look and feel for all systems, making it easier for users to become familiar with their controls regardless of which manufacturer's hardware they use". He went on to add "Rather than having to search for different remote controls for different functions, eg recoding your conference, operating a second PTZ camera etc, all actions can be undertaken from the one touchscreen. Unlike well known alternatives from AMX and Crestron, the new VC-Commander is MS Windows based for ease of maintenance and adding new modules, and the hardware platform is one which can fit in with your own corporate buying policy, eg Compaq, Dell, HP etc, or you can select an off-the-shelf package from VideoCentric with a choice of touch screens to suit your environment".

VC Commander is available in wired or wireless forms and can control a variety of devices including VC codec, SKY box, DVD, VCR, Plasma, LCD display, Projector & Projector-screen. If customer policy is to always buy one brand of PC, then VC-Commander fits perfectly. It can be purchased as a PC-less integration pack and the control software can be loaded on to your nominated PC. Alternatively VCC is installed by VideoCentric or one of its approved integration partners as complete solution with a 7" or 12" touch panel tablet built into a wireless Samsung or HP notebook PC. In hard-wired form a wider range of touch-screens includes 12", 15", & 17" models, most self standing, and some with wall or table mount fittings.

VC Commander runs under Microsoft(R) XP or Vista operating systems (licence included) and is additionally supplied with MicroSoft(R) Excel, Word and Powerpoint Viewers. Provided data sharing has been enabled on the VideoConferencing system, the VC Commander Control screen can be hidden and data sharing can begin from the same wireless tablet. No need for hardware data sharing pods or further wires cluttering the boardroom table.

For classroom and training room use, customers may wish to drive their PC from a touch-screen surface regardless of whether or not they are in a video conference, so VideoCentric has coupled its VCC with the SMART Sympodium, a 17" LCD panel-based touch controller which works in conjunction with a PC to allow interactive annotation and control of PC-applications. Being supplied with SMART Notebook suite & image gallery, it is ideal for interacting with data on a large or out-of-reach projector screen, an environment in which standard SMARTBoards are unsuitable.

Ahead of its February 2008 launch, VC Commander has already undergone several successful installations not only in VideoConferencing environments, but also in AV and Training environments previously popular with Crestron and AMX. One of the first live VCC applications installed by VideoCentric at a customer site was Dental Training application whereby 11 PTZ cameras and various screens needed to be managed from the system in addition to other devices. This has been so successful that orders for other similar projects have already been taken based on word of mouth recommendation. In a separate AV Boardroom application, VCC has been installed with wall-mounted 12" touch controller to replace an aging AMX system.

About VideoCentric

VideoCentric is a supplier of world-class videoconferencing and streaming products from Emblaze-VCON, Tandberg, Lifesize, Sony, Polycom, Aethra, Codian, RADVision and Exterity complimented by a wide range of plasmas, LCDs, and projectors and SMART Interactive Whiteboards. Its engineers have a wealth of design and development expertise and have been closely associated with R&D for the last 27 years. Its installation and training team is fully accredited with all its major manufacturers and spans the whole of England, Scotland and Wales with offices in the Thames Valley and central Edinburgh and an operations depot in Lancashire. For more details about VideoCentric go to www.videocentric.co.uk

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