videoconferencing products like CU-SeeMe (Cornell University/White Pine Software), which are designed for meetings where multiple partici
pants contribute sound and video.
We downloaded version 1.0 of the
VDOLive viewer
for Windows 95 from the Web. When we went to view a clip on a computer lacking a sound card, VDOLive complained but showed us silent video. Although VDOLive's screen is tiny--only 160 by 120 pixels--you can double the size of the viewer window to ease the eyestrain. With Netscape 2.0, the VDOLive plug-in puts integrated video on a Web page.
When we ran VDOLive using an SVGA board at 256 colors, the picture was sometimes muddy and dark, and other times acceptably bright. The darkness was especially annoying with a network news feed shown on a bright-white surrounding, although with the stand-alone player you can manipulate the desktop background for easier viewing. Sometimes the image quality was quite high with considerable detail, while at other times it was heavily pixelated and uninformative. Overall, VDOLive worked best with talking heads and bright scenes.
With a 2
8.8-Kbps link on a 486DX2/66, the audio would occasionally break up and we experienced far fewer video frames than VDOnet claims--3 frames every 5 seconds was typical. This problem appeared to be mostly caused by our particular Internet link rather than by a flaw in either the server or the viewer.
Our experience indicates the Internet isn't ready for real-time audio and video without a faster-than-modem-speed connection. During a few near-perfect modem sessions, VDOLive delivered a few frames per second. However, a high-speed link is clearly crucial. ISDN users should see far better frame rates and audio quality.
Product Information
VDOLive......................................free via download
VDOnet Corp.
Santa Clara, CA
Phone: (408) 654-8400
Fax: (408) 654-9447
E-Mail:
info@vdolive.com
Internet:
http://www.vdolive.com
Circle 1027 on Inquiry Card.
Internet Video: Small Isn't Beautiful
