Video Telephony Over IPTV - Living room device

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Riddler

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Dear Friends,

I am (with some other friends and colleagues) in the research for a home (Living room) TV based video telephony product (With some value additions). We are planning for the Indian market , and it will be a gadget made by Indians for Indians- not something that gets customized out of the blue for Indian tastes.Usability and localization are the primary design criteria - so that even my mom should be able to use this without any "learning curve". TV is so ubiquitous, so that is our platform. The idea is to bring the real juice of internet to the main stream and this has come out of our own experiences and requirements. All of us have worked abroad for a while at some point of time and has experienced the value (and the pain) of connecting back home through the available internet based telephony services.

Our team brings with us pretty rich experience in the multimedia consumer electronics domain , right from hardware development , system software ,middleware ,application development ,UX and marketing in the broadband space.


We have been researching on the opensource TV box media players for a while now,

XBMC(XBMC), Boxee(Boxee) and MythTV(Mythtv.org) to mention a few.

Certain plugins for mythtv are really good.Esp the mythphone , but i think the deveopment of that is stalled for a long time. And it has been removed from the myth distribution altogether due to inactivity.
/tags/release-0-21/mythplugins/mythphone/README ? MythTV


Also i see the old Skype guys are also in to the same thing now. Check Inkspin1 - Free video calls in your living room TV > Inkspin1 . I think there is some good market for such a product.

We are looking at a lot of features to provide and possibly move with some User Oriented Innovation , so right now we are conducting a market study.

I have created a survey here
Living room video telephony device
It would be extremely good if i can get some feedback. So please spend a few minutes to check the questions.

Thanks for your time,

-Deepak Narayan
9048529436
 
Skype Ushers in New Era in Face-to-Face Online Video Communication - About Skype

Panasonic, LG introduce Skype-enabled HDTVs
Tuesday 5 January 2010 | 10:10 AM CET

Skype has introduced a new version to support Skype video calls on PCs in 720p HD, as well as Skype software embedded into internet-connected widescreen televisions from its consumer electronics manufacturer partners. To make an HD video call, users will need a high-speed broadband connection, a new HD webcam, a PC with a 1.8 GHz dual-core processor and Skype 4.2 Beta for Windows. The HD webcams are due to arrive in early 2010. At CES, FaceVsion and In Store Solutions introduced new HD webcams that are optimised to work with Skype. The Skype Certified HD webcams handle the video encoding and processing onboard. FaceVsion has developed the FV TouchCam N1, an HD encoding webcam optimised for Skype video calling. Two versions of the FaceVsion webcam will ship, beginning in February 2010, including one with a microphone (USD 99) and one without it (USD 69). In Store Solutions introduced two HD encoding webcams, the Freetalk HD PRO (USD 120) and Freetalk HD Pro Plus (USD 140), which will be available in March 2010. Both the FaceVsion and Freetalk webcams will be available for purchase online via the Skype Shop. With Skype embedded into internet-connected HDTVs, the company is offering free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and calls to fixed-line or mobile phones at Skype's low rates. The HDTVs will also offer the option to receive inbound calls via a user's online Skype number, and Skype voicemail. It will enable users to participate in voice conference calls with up to 24 other parties and support for up to 720p HD video calls, depending on the availability of high-speed broadband and a HD webcam. Skype has signed contracts with LG and Panasonic to offer Skype-enabled HDTVs. Skype software will be embedded into Panasonic's line of 2010 Viera Cast-enabled HDTVs and LG's 26 new LCD and plasma HDTVs with NetCast Entertainment Access. Both lines are expected to be available in mid-2010. Both LG and Panasonic will offer specially-designed HD webcams that are optimised for Skype video calls as separate accessories.
 
I hope the Skype enabled TVs will be somewhat expensive and won't reach the mainstream usage in India.-D
 

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