This Gizmodo entry wonders what the big deal is about a price drop in the Polycom Via Video II product. Gizmodo wonders,
I mean, it looks nice enough, feature-wise, but it’s still basically just a webcam with some bundled software, right? It’s not as if the internet has gotten that much faster since in the last few years — is this really any better than an iSight or a Logitech webcam?
Wow, you’d think a gadget site would do a bit more research. The answer, IMO, is an unqualified yes.
I work with Polycom ViaVideo II’s regularly and am very impressed by them. These are much larger than something like a Logitech or iSight webcam, but the tradeoff is that the device has a hardware codec that can handle full-screen H.323 video.
Translation: with this little device you can do very high quality videoconferencing from a PC and connect to tens of thousands of IP-capable videoconferencing room systems that support H.323.
Even with the price drop, this is still a relatively expensive piece of equipment for home use at $429. But if you need to do high quality videoconferencing or need to connect to corporate videoconferencing rooms, the ViaVideo II is a very cost-effective way to do so. And if you’ve got someone you need to videoconference with regularly and can afford the $400 on each end (and the requisite broadband connectio) this will give you signficantly better results than using a Logitech or iSight webcam.
If broadband companies ever get their acts together and start bumping up the upload speed on their connections, I think personal H.323 videoconferencing with devices like the Polycom ViaVideo II really take off (and hopefully come down a bit in price).