Telepresence:
Video Conferencing
Telepresence: What is the difference between telepresence and video conferencing?
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6 Answers Eddie Clifton, Operations Director, telepresence bu... (more)
4 votes by Anon User, Jane Sun, Anon User, and Anon User
A good question and one I get asked almost everyday!

In a nutshell telepresence is a rules-based video experience designed to deliver the illusion that meeting participants in two or more sites at completely different locations are in the same room.

A videoconference doesn't apply any rules and most of the time people receive a poor quality, UN-reliable experience when using traditional videoconferencing.

Above: Optimized telepresence room

As in the above picture, telepresence room with tuned lighting, all meeting participants are face forward with tailored lighting whilst incorporating the telepresence maxim of quality simplicity and reliability. When using a telepresence system like the above all meeting participants are visible in life-size high-definition.

Above: traditional videoconferencing room

The picture above is of a videoconferencing room where you will see lots of complicated technology on the table. Additionally most of the participants in the room have their back to the camera (due to sub optimal seating configurations) In addition to this the lighting and audio are not optimized. Videoconferencing implementations such as the above also suffer from very low utilization. And are likely responsible for the bad reputation of videoconferencing amongst business users.

Above:WebCam based video conference

A web cam based video call can no way be classed as telepresence. The resolutions of the images are too small and therefore cannot be blown up to life-size. The frame rate of the video is usually far less than the required minimum of 30 frames per second. Latency in this type of call is also very poor. On top of all this web conferencing often offers an unnatural up the nose video experience which often makes the call just an audio conference with pictures( unflattering ones at that).

Due to current USB restrictions and other issues it is not possible to have a 1080 p video call on a PC.... This may change in the future but it is not possible today.

Cisco pioneered the 20 rules of telepresence so that companies around the world could achieve a better videoconferencing experience resulting in higher usage and increased cost savings over and above what can be achieved with traditional videoconferencing.

1. People appear lifesize. Images on the TelePresence screen appear in the exact proportions that they would in real life.

2.
Good lighting. Knowing they’d be employing high definition 1080p images, Cisco engineers wanted lighting that would bring out human detail without making subjects uncomfortably hot. Users, they say, should see
“the gleam or the tear in the eye,” as well as the sweat on the forehead. In essence, they wanted their subjects to look like TV newscasters, only without the preparation.

3. Deliver audio that appears to emanate form the person who’s speaking.
TelePresence screens are augmented by their own speakers. As a result, when a person who appears on the left screen speaks, the voice comes from that screen.

4.
Make it simple. Although TelePresence signals traverse the Internet, users don’t have to type in IP addresses to make the calls. Instead, they dial a phone handset, just as they would at home. No training is required. Difference Between Telepresence and Video Conferencing type="text/css"> Video Conferencing can be done in airport, while travelling, at home or any where, they can even conference from laptops LCD TV's. Video Conferencing is not confined to particular location or PC, allows the users to do Video Conferencing ready anywhere any time. But when compared to Telepresence it is confined to a particular board room wherein we can do conference with the business patners , clients and where there should be no noise i.e echo free, audio should be clear, and sufficient volume. Video Conferencing can be done with Standard definition, High definition and also Fully high definition.

Low Bandwidth used for both Video Conferencing and Telepresence. Small companies who can not effort much on the cost of bandwidth for telepresence are using low bandwidth for conference. But some big companies are using high bandwidth for best telepresence to feel the presence of the person while they do conference. For the best conferencing one should have hardeware and software based video conference and web collabration tool.

Video Conferencing needs only the in build cameras for laptop or webcam with in built speaker mikes, head phones, internet to do point to point Video Conferencing. They can even share the powerpoint presentations, video sharing in single window or in dual screens. The sharing of prsentations in the conference can have the combination of PTZ Cameras and LCD screen in board room with high audio devices. High definition video conferencing needs a particular room wherein the hardware for video conference is installed and then only conference can be done.

For virtual conference they have an option of Telepresence where in the physical presence of the person is not possible but virtual presence is possible. We can even have the multiple display in boardroom with high end video wall where in each videos can be seen in different screens to have the actual feel in the video conference. As compared to telepresence, virtual conference is not possible in video conferencing.

Both Telepresence and Video Conferencing not only provides conference but also gives the features like interactive digital white board, sharing MS Office files, PDF file transferring can be done. For high end business conferencing they switch on to Telepresence which gives full screen videos option, unables to do multi party text chat and also private chat.

Video Conference
Video Conference (or sometimes written videoconference) is the most common term for video communication. It replaced the term “videotelephony” which was somewhat redundant, even though we will meet the “tele” segment again. A video conference is the form of any communication using image and audio of two or more locations, exchanging data in real-time and in all directions at the same time. Private video conferencing solutions such as Skype also find their home in this category but are not industry standard.
Telepresence
Telepresence is the “new term” for video conferencing. However most people would agree that the term telepresence includes only high-end codecs that support high bandwidth and provide HD resolutions. To be exact even we can break down the term into the two segments “tele” and “presence” so we are talking about being present in a remote location. And even though it is not really related to video conferencing entirely this also include the robotic telepresence.