1. www.internet2.edu

2. Looking over the H.323 Hill Bob Riddle Technologist, Applications Development 09 May 2001 See http://apps.internet2.edu/talks

3. A word about H.323  I like H.323  I use H.323  H.323 is a useful COTS technology that can be (and should be) deployed today  But …. H.323 is not the only interesting technology in the video conferencing world. H.323 does many things well but not everything well (at least not yet!)

4. Other Interesting Technologies  VRVS (the “open” videoconferencing system)  MPEG1, MPEG2 ( the here and now)  MJPEG (back to the Future)  DV/Firewire (HDTV - like for pennies)  Access Grid (think big!)  VIC/VAT/RAT Things that keep me awake at night

5. VRVS (the “open” videoconferencing system)  General Observations: Client agnostic video conference system – vic/rat, existing H.323 clients, Minerva Currently deployed in Physics community  Comparisons to H.323: Uses same video/audio codecs Software reflector versus hardware gatekeeper Windows, *ix clients available, Mac receivers Easily extensible (we have the source code!)

6.  General Observations: 1 – 3 mbps, free streaming clients available for broadcast & VOD events Many PC’s have built-in mpeg1 decoding appliances (VBrick) available  How’s it compare to H.323? video quality better than H.323 cost per sending station usually more than H.323 some interoperability between products but no standards govern transport like H.323 MPEG1 (here & now)

7. MPEG2 (here & now)  General Observations: 3 – 15 mbps, no free streaming clients hardware pricey ($10 - $25K per node) Interoperability between vendors non-existent know thy network (or at least the engineers!)  Comparisons: better than VHS quality, low latency, its wonderful when it works (kids, don’t try this at home) Little (or bad) multipoint support exists today

8. MPEG2 Traveling Node

9. MJPEG – Back to the future!  General Observations: 5 – 10 mbps, video quality similar to MPEG2 hardware cheap – but you gotta roll your own both software & hardware decoding clients are currently available from Berkeley – http://www.openmash.org http://www.openmash.org – http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~delco/rtpvbhttp://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~delco/rtpvb  Comparisons: Great video, inexpensive, multipoint support Deployed today at Berkeley to support teaching Still work-in-progress, requires bandwidth

10. DV/Firewire (HDTV - like for pennies)  General Observations: 30 mbps, video quality better than MPEG2 – http://www.sfc.wide.ad.jp/DVTS Promise of inexpensive high quality nodes – COTS: DV camera, player, firewire board hardware cheap – but …. – only working implementation is FreeBSD – some work on Linux (UW) but incomplete – Mac OSX work underway, anyone up for Win2K?  Status: Harder that it looks! (internal “race” problems) Current implementation is compelling (when it works!)

11. Access Grid (think big!)  General Observations: Group to group collaboration, persistent electronic presence, “Internet Café” 4 video inputs per node, virtual rooms Multicast required! 10-20mbs for a meeting COTS technology - @ $40K for a node Need to know ALOT to get going  Comparisons: Video / audio quality about same as H.323 Continuous, multipoint presence is useful!

12. Mobile AG Node

13. VIC/VAT/RAT  Many good version of these tools freely available  Too many different versions of these tools freely available example: USB cameras work with openmash version but not VRVS version AG folks added nice usability functions not found in other versions User interfaces different – adds to confusion for users No one is minding the store (UCL)

14. More Info...  http://www.vrvs.org http://www.vrvs.org  http://www.accessgrid.org http://www.accessgrid.org  http://www.sfc.wide.ad.jp/DVTS http://www.sfc.wide.ad.jp/DVTS  http://bmrc.berkeley.edu http://bmrc.berkeley.edu  http://www.openmash.org http://www.openmash.org Bob Riddle – Internet2 3025 Boardwalk Suite 100 Ann Arbor, MI 48108 1.734.913.4257 bdr@internet2.edu

15. www.internet2.edu