H.324 Video Phones and V.80 Modems

See, Hear, Talk
At the World's Fair in New York, in 1964, AT&T showed the first video conferencing unit ever seen in public -- a unit designed for ordinary phone lines in the home. Now, through recent technology breakthroughs, Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. Communication Division is able to deliver on that promise made 32 years ago. Diamond's new V.80 modems allow you to see, hear, and talk to a person at a remote location over ordinary telephone lines.

Video Conferencing - A Quick History
The first commercially available video con-ferencing units arrived in the mid 1980's. They were designed for a business conference room to be shared throughout a large organization. The price was around $100,000 and they required special, digital phone service. Those business systems moved to the office desk in the early 90's shrinking their cost below $1,000, but they still required digital phone lines.

New Standards
Earlier this year, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) adopted H.324, a new standard for video phone technology over ordinary telephone lines. Products that support H.324 will arrive throughout the second half of 1996, enabling consumers and small business owners to realize the advantages of video phone calls.

Diamond's Evolution
Diamond is keeping in step with the evolutionary changes in modem technology by implementing the V.80 application interface into the entire Supra modem line. Imagine grandparents in Tampa speaking to their grandchildren in Los Angeles face-to-face with nearly three thousand miles between them. Parents in Chicago could video conference with their son at a West Coast college about money or grades. Picture a doctor's conference with an older patient who could be spared an office visit. Diamond's V.80 video phone-ready modems will make it easier and more affordable to communicate with business associates, friends and family.

Key Components of a PC Video Phone
Video conferencing requires a few, fundamental hardware components to operate. The following is a quick check list:

1. High speed modem -- connects and transfers data to the other video phone. Most applica-tions support 28.8kbps or 33.6kbps modems.
2. Sound card and microphone -- gets your voice into the PC.
3. Video capture card and camera -- gets your video image into the PC.

A Video Conferencing Ready Modem - V.80
V.80 is the application interface defined in the H.324 ITU video conferencing standard. A V.80 modem provides a standard method for H.324 applications to communicate over modems. With V.80, an application developer can design and test his video conferencing software on one modem interface, saving development time by speeding innovative technology to market. Customers seeking the broadest video phone application support and the latest technology should look for a modem that supports V.80.

Three Main Functions
A V.80 modem provides three main functions:

1. Synchronous H.324 streams to run on asynchronous modem connections.
   H.324 video phone applications are synchronous. That is, they accept and send data in synch with a timing device or "clock". Serial ports and modems are asynchronous - they accept and receive independent of any clocking device. V.80 converts the synchronous data stream of an H.324 application so that it can communicate through an asynchronous modem connection.
2. Allows for rate adjustments based on line conditions.
   Modems adjust to different line conditions throughout a call. Under bad conditions a modem will slow down. When conditions clear, a modem will resume at top speed. A V.80 modem alerts an H.324 video phone of its rate adjustments, allowing the application to adjust the rate at which it sends video and audio.
3. Communicates lost packets to the H.324 application
   During transmission data can be lost due to buffer overflows, phone line errors, and a number of other issues. Under these conditions, a V.80 modem communicates lost data information to the H.324 application helping it to keep real time audio and video flowing to both sides of the call.

All of Diamond's 33.6 Kbps Supra modems support V.80. They are video phone ready.