December 4, 2009

Video Chats Move Into the Mainstream

打電話快過時了 視訊聊天成主流

By John Biggs

2007-09-17/聯合報/B6/UNITED DAILY NEWS


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videoconferencing


A few years ago, the phone was the only quick way to get in touch with distant
relatives. Their voices were all you got, so it didn’t matter if Grandpa was still in his bathrobe and slippers.
幾年前,電話是和遠方親人連絡的唯一快捷方法。只聽得到聲音,所以老爺爺是不是穿著浴袍、拖鞋說話,沒關係。

Now that it is easy and cheap to add video to your next call home, Grandpa might need a wardrobe
team.

Many video novices are sharing family conversations online using off-the-shelf products and a PC.
Once the realm of science fiction and boardroom meetings, videoconferencing at home is now highly
sophisticated and, in many cases, free.
許多視訊初學者正以現貨供應的商品和個人電腦,與家人在網路上對話。視訊會議一度僅存在於科幻小說世界與董事會議中,但家庭視訊會議現在非常先進,而且許多時候免費提供

Homes with youngsters might not need to look much farther than the game room to start a video
conversation.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 offers free videoconferencing with itsXbox Live Vision camera,
which costs about $40. The camera requires a gold-level XboxLive account ($ 8 a month), and it also
requires you to convince the children to take a
quick break from the latest violent video game for a
nice video chat with the cousins
.
有小孩的家庭,不必跑太遠,只要到遊戲室就能展開視訊對話。搭配每個約40美元的Xbox即時影像攝影機,微軟的Xbox 360提供免費視訊會議服務。這個攝影機需要一個黃金級的Xbox即時帳戶(一個月8美元),你還必須說服孩子暫停最新的暴力電玩,好好跟他們的堂表兄弟姊妹透過視訊聊天。

All the videoconferencing outlets have a method to keep calls private, so they are not available for all the world to tap into over the Internet.
所有視訊會議的輸出口都有保密的方法,如此一來,全世界才不會在網路上偷聽竊看這些視訊

The simplest way to start videoconferencing with a PC is to use a service like Skype (skype.com) or
AOL Instant Messenger (aim.com) and a pair of Webcams. The iChat
software that comes on all of
Apple
’s computers uses the AIM network to make voice or video connections to other PCs. Both Skype and AIM allow for fairly smooth video connections among two or more family members.
以個人電腦開始與人視訊聊天的最簡單方法,是使用Skypeskype.com)或美國線上即時傳訊軟體aim.com)的服務,另外還要一對網路攝影機。所有蘋果電腦的iChat軟體,都是以AIM網絡與其他個人電腦做聲音或影像連結。SkypeAIM都至少提供兩個家庭成員相當順暢的視訊連結。

All the members of the Sigur family in Brussels – Brandon, Sylwia and their 3-year-old toddler, Adrian – use Skype and Microsoft’s messaging service, once known as MSN Messenger but now called
Windows Live Messenger, to talk to Brandon ’s parents in
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
住在布魯塞爾的席格一家人,包括布蘭登、席薇亞和他們三歲的孩子亞德里安,是以Skype和微軟最早名為MSN Messenger現改稱Windows Live Messenger的即時通訊服務,和布蘭登在新墨西哥州阿布奎基市的父母對話。

“We talk for at least an hour every week, and they can watch Adrian jump around the living room, play his guitar and show off his Lego creations,” Mr. Sigur said. “We stopped using the phone to call.”

Mr. Sigur said that if his parents are not already online, he uses Skype to call their regular phone and remind them to get on camera. “Just knowing that we can see each other at any time has led us to
forget the distance between us,” he said.

In most cases, Webcams can automatically adjust your video feed to compensate for low lighting or
audio problems. The services allow for video chats between Macs and PCs,and most require a fairly
fast Internet connection. Skype, for example, requires a
minimum dial-up connection speed of 33.6
kilobits per second (Kbps) for voice calls, but Vincent Oberle, a Skype engineer, suggests a faster
connection at a minimum of 128
Kbps for video, while 256 Kbps is ideal.
在多數情況下,網路攝影機會自動調節影像輸出品質,以彌補光線不足或聲音問題。這項服務讓Mac電腦與個人電腦之間作視訊聊天,多數需要相當快速的網路連結。以Skype為例,語音通話時,最低的撥接連結速度是每秒33.6千位元(Kbps),若是視訊,Skype工程師文森‧歐伯爾認為,連結需要再快一些,最低需要128Kbps,理想的速度是256Kbps

These services usually take a “least best” approach to connection speed and video quality, which
means that a chat between someone on a fast Internet connection and a person on a slow or
congested one will run at the slower speed, reducing the number offrames sent per second. The latest version of Skype for Windows and some other chatservices offer an indicator of transmission speed
during video chats.
這些服務的連結速度與視訊品質,通常以「最差的一個」為取向,換句話說,聊天時,若一人用快速網路連結,另一人是慢速或塞車,此時聊天會以慢速進行,每秒輸送的影像格數減少。可供視窗與其他聊天服務使用的最新版Skype,是視訊聊天傳輸速度的一個指標。

Stephanie Cottrell Bryant, a technology writer and the author of “Video-blogging for Dummies,”
suggests getting a laptop with a built-in camera.

If you want to take family chats to another level, there is also an entirely new set of tools appearing
online that allow broadcasting of live shows with multiple participants.

One of the simplest video broadcasting sites is Operator11 (operator11.com), which allows you to
create live shows that are then recorded and available for replay online.
It acts as more of an online
meeting room with video and audio built in.
視訊播放網站中最簡單的一個是Operator11operator11.com讓使用者現場表演,然後錄影,在網路重播。它的功能比較像建有影音功能的線上會議室。

The service lets you to create a “studio” where you and up to five friends or family members can
participate. The show’s director controls the camera and can turn
participants on and off and add
video clips to the mix.

Ustream.tv is another live broadcast system that lets you stream live video from a Webcam. Anyone
can create an account and broadcast live all day.

Ustream’s founder, John Ham, said he had seen a growing number of family videos appearing on the
site. “Families are using Ustream to connect when they can’t be
together physically,” he said. “We’ve
seen weddings, birthday parties, student
graduations, all over Ustream.”

BlogTV.com is a streaming video site that allows two people to talk at once in separate windows, as on a TV news interview. A text-only chat room alongside the video adds a bit of interactivity, allowing.
broadcast.

BlogTV.com是個影音串流視訊網站,就像電視新聞訪問,讓兩人於不同的視窗同時對談。視訊一側還有一個只能傳送訊息的聊天室提供更多互動,讓收看者在播放時提問題與下評語。

Whether these tools and services will replace the call home or the family newsletter is unclear. But
some preparation might be in order for an all-video, all-the-time world. Maybe some acting lessons and
stage makeup classes – and it probably wouldn’t hurt to put some clothes on before you pick up the
phone.
這些工具與服務會不會取代打電話回家或家庭通訊,還在未定之天。不過,為了迎接全天候全視訊世界的到來而預先作些準備,或許有必要。你也許可以上一點表演或舞台妝的課,還有,接電話時穿點衣服免得失禮,也沒什麼不好。



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