Conferencing and collaboration in two different worlds
Last month, the Windows NT Magazine Lab began evaluating videoconferencing solutions for Windows NT. This month, I tested Intel Business Video Conferencing 4.02, which uses Microsoft's free NetMeeting videoconferencing and collaboration software, and ExoVision Technologies' VRCom Pro 1.0, a virtual-reality conferencing and collaboration program. VRCom Pro doesn't offer video, but the product's conferencing functionality can benefit businesses that need collaborative, audio communications capabilities over a dial-up network.
Intel is diversifying its consumer and business offerings to include tools with numerous uses, including videoconferencing. Intel Business Video Conferencing 4.02 (iBVC 4.02) with ProShare technology targets employees who need the convenience of face-to-face meetings but want to avoid the hassles of booking travel arrangements and braving crowded airports. This product works well; it is the quintessential video phone.
The iBVC package contains a composite-color video camera, a PCI video-capture card, a headset with one ear speaker and a microphone, a microphone with a stand, an ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) ISA adapter and cable, a CD-ROM that contains the iBVC software, and installation manuals in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. Intel built iBVC for international businesses. The product supports US and European ISDN connections and most international switching systems.
You can use the ISDN card for numerous purposes, including Internet access (Point-to-Point ProtocolPPPor Multilink Point-to-Point ProtocolMPPP) and offsite LAN access. You can split the ISDN bandwidth so that you use a portion of it for videoconferencing and the rest for other bandwidth-intensive tasks. The ISDN card is compatible with ISDN PBXs, and it supports the H.323 protocol for negotiating communications with a proxy server through a firewall. (For more information about H.323 and other videoconferencing protocols, see the sidebar "Videoconferencing Protocols," page 86.)
The PCI card is a combination video-capture and sound card. One of my test systems doesn't have sound support, but I didn't have to configure two cards and fill two of the machine's expansion slots to run iBVC. I placed the PCI video-capture card in one slot, installed the software, and was ready to configure iBVC.
The PCI card supplies power to the camera, so you don't need to plug in a separate power adapter, as you do with many PC-based video solutions. The iBVC system supports two cameras on one machine. The cameras don't need to be Intel devices. If they have a standard RCA input jack, they'll probably work. I couldn't get parallel port-based PC cameras to work with iBVC.
The camera that comes with iBVC features S-video and composite inputs, and it delivers crisp images. It has a sliding cover that protects the lens when you aren't using the device. You twist a knob on the side of the camera to focus the lens. You adjust the image's hue, sharpness, and brightness by selecting among the three properties with a three-position switch on the side of the camera, then using the up and down arrows next to the switch to adjust the selected property.
I installed the PCI video-capture card on a Digital Equipment PC 3500 with a 300MHz Pentium II processor, and on a Compaq WS 6000 with dual 333MHz Pentium II processors. Configuring the PCI video-capture card to run on NT didn't cause me any major problems on either test system, and installing the iBVC software was a smooth and easy process.
When iBVC starts, it opens two windows, as Screen 1, page 86 shows. The Conference Manager window lets you connect to other iBVC users, access an address book, chat, transfer files, participate in application and high-resolution image sharing, and configure a variety of parameters and preferences, including your network connection and proxy server.
The Video Window contains camera controls (beneath the left video image in Screen 1) that let you take snapshots, pan, and zoom. The pan and zoom options are limited in scope and only marginally affect the framing of your subject. The Video Window contains a volume control, mute control (for stopping audio or video transmissions or both), layout control (for configuring the iBVC windows' onscreen appearance), and conferencing control. The conferencing control gives you nearly all the functionality that the Conference Manager window offers, including the ability to connect and disconnect, use a white board, exchange photos, engage in a chat, and transfer files. For its collaborative capabilities, iBVC relies on Microsoft's NetMeeting, which comes on the iBVC CD-ROM and starts when you open the iBVC software. (For more information about NetMeeting, see the sidebar "NetMeeting," page 88.) In my tests, iBVC demonstrated compatibility problems with NetMeeting 2.1, so I used NetMeeting 2.0.
The Video Window provides the realtime video display. The Video Window remains on top of any other documents that are onscreen unless you minimize it. This feature lets you modify documents or spreadsheets while watching the person you're videoconferencing with. You don't have to switch back and forth between the application and video windows.