MPEG-4

º Web Consortium Captures Captioning The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has commissioned a working group to develop standards for text captioning of streaming video. The Timed Text Working Group will base the standards on XML and hopes to further bridge the gap for disabled individuals seeking to use the multimedia features of the Web. "This is not just for the slacker in the office, but for people with disabilities to capture the information in the audio stream," said W3C representative Janet Daly.

º Apple Strikes Major Blow in Streaming Media Market; Lands QuickTime Deal with Japan's DoCoMo Japan's leading cell phone carrier NTT DoCoMo, generally recognized as the most technologically innovative of all the world's wireless telephone providers, has picked Apple's QuickTime 6 to be its audio and video platform for future mobile phones.

º MPEG: 58th Meeting (press release).

º MPEG-4 is streaming video Commentary by Robert Batchelder, Gartner Analyst.

º Tech giants push MPEG-4 standard A standards body comprising such tech heavyweights as Apple Computer and Cisco Systems has released a specification for streaming MPEG-4 video and audio via the Web.

Video Conferencing

º Videoconferencing Hole Exposed Several popular video-conferencing systems -- including the popular Polycom Viewstation -- are found to have a hole that could allow malicious hackers to snoop and distribute private broadcasts.

º Issues of H.323 low-cost client deployment [.pdf]

º A comparison of the RADVision hardware MCU with the CUSeeme networks software MCU [.pdf]

º Traversal of Voice and Video Data Through Firewalls and NATs In this white paper RADVISION examines the implications of traversing voice and video packet data through Firewalls and NAT devices and describes a selection of solutions and the issues they raise.

º The OpenH323 project aims to create a full featured, interoperable, Open Source implementation of the ITU H.323 teleconferencing protocol that can be used by personal developers and commercial users without charge. OpenH323 development is coordinated by an Australian company, Equivalence Pty Ltd, but is open to any interested party. Commercial and private use of the OpenH323 code, including use in commercial products and resale, is encouraged through use of the MPL (Mozilla Public license).

º IPVC, the H.323 IP videoconferencing discussion list, has been set up to allow all those interested in H.323 IP based videoconferencing to share experiences and knowledge.

º The International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. (IMTC) is a non-profit corporation comprising more than 150 companies from around the globe. The IMTC's mission is to promote, encourage, and facilitate the development and implementation of interoperable multimedia teleconferencing solutions based on open international standards.

º H.323 versus SIP: A Comparison

º ABCs of videoconferencing A comprehensive guide to enterprise-level videoconferencing that covers everything from bandwidth requirements to equipment options to deployment costs.

º Louisiana's Interactive & Collaborative Research Network An introduction to and outline of the H.323 network.

º http://www.ihets.org/network/ipvtl.pdf The findings of the IP Video Task Force for the Indiana Telecommunications Network; a very detailed and interesting report on H.323 videoconferencing, including equipment selection conclusions and good detailed explanations of why.

º Internet2 Videoconferencing Service Gearing Up With Site Coordinator Training (press release).

º H.323 Satellite Success On Nov 27-28, good quality H.323 video conferencing via low-cost earth satellite was achieved for the first time.

º Don't hang up New technologies make Web teleconferencing worth another look.

º Colleges experiment with routing phone calls over the Internet Though telephone service over the Internet is still a young area of research, the concept of IP Telephony is catching on at some campuses across the country.

º High-speed telecom services make trans-Atlantic surgery possible Surgeons in New York successfully completed surgery on a woman in France using video cameras, robots, and high speed telecommuncations lines.

Video Access

º Virtual Government in Virginia City Innovative deal gives Charlottesville an advanced network at a low cost

º Picture Perfect Video Digital video has infiltrated our lives. Cable providers are selling digital video to compete with satellite providers, which have been promising better video and audio to consumers. DVDs are making inroads and bringing hours of high-quality video and audio to a disc the size of a CD. Enterprise customers, too, are finding uses for broadcast-quality video, whether for internal security or for broadcasting corporate meetings.

º Software Pulls Collaboration Tools into Single Secure Workspace Asynchrony works with the Defense Department to develop software that offers a secure workspace for aggregating collaboration tools.

ºHardware or Software: Wading the Video Stream Wait a second! Your users aren't watching full-screen movies at their desktops. They're doing serious work. Corporate training. Videoconferencing. Distance learning. But they'll do it better if they can see clear, full-motion images on their computers. Bringing video to the desktop is an important cost-saving step for the enterprise. Your job is to find the best technology to deliver it to your staff and partners.

º Now Playing: Streaming Video Tuned in to IP video lately? It's come a long way, both in quality and in cost. And it's getting a serious viewing from companies contending with far-flung staffs and reduced travel budgets: They're learning just how kind to the bottom line videoconferencing and video training can be.

º Streaming Video: A Look Behind the Scenes Over the last few years there has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of IP-based network media technologies. Both real time and on-demand media can now be created, served and played at the desktop using PC-based platforms and software freely available across the Internet.

º Metadata in VIP MPEG7 - Dublin Core translation ... also contains a brief intro in the MPEG-7 and Dublin Core metadata standards, the VIP metadata requirements for the educational case (building playlists and using them in classes), and the XSL-T stylesheet translation.

Miscellaneous

º Will the Bells crush Net calling? Telephone calls traveling over the Internet are surging in popularity. From virtually nothing a few years ago, Internet-based calling now comprises an estimated 10 percent of international calls. While domestic numbers vary between 1 percent and 5 percent, there is broad agreement that Internet calling is quickly growing.

º From Chris Hodge: " We are looking at combining live 360 degree IP-streams, and Larry Rowe from UC Berkeley sent me this link from Penn's General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Lab which some of you might also find interesting: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~kostas/omni.html"

º From Bob Dixon: " California is changing from H.320 to H.323 and is using the Internet2 Commons and ViDe dialing scheme approaches."

º Lawrence Lessig Over the past three years, Lessig has given more than 100 talks like the one captured here. On July 24, 2002, at the O.Reilly Open Source Conference he announced this would be one of his last.

º Desktop Video Testing "What is middleware, anyway? A standing joke is that if you ask five people, you will get six definitions. Unfortunately, this is quite true..."

º Copywrong? We must be blunt about the current system's threats to free speech, intellectual freedom, and the free flow of information. We must be careful not to be trapped in nihilistic rhetoric about the "end of copyright." Copyright need not end if we can rehabilitate and rehumanize it. Our jobs depend on it.

º SWITCHvconf is the video conferencing (VC) project and service of SWITCH. At their desk, users within Swiss universities have generally access to the high performance IP backbone provided by SWITCH. It is a logical step to use this infrastructure for a new kind of applications and tools to facilitate remote collaboration between project partners at different sites.

º Welcome to the CBC Archives! On this Web site, you'll find a selection of radio and television clips from the Archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Some of these files have rested quietly at the bottom of our vaults for more than 60 years and are, for the first time, accessible to the general public.

º Desktop Video Testing "The State of Oregon is currently developing an H.323 desktop video service. We have published this site to share our interoperability test findings as well as our initial network testing."

º Object-based encoding challenges MPEG Has MPEG had its day? A Milpitas, Calif. startup will argue in the affirmative Monday (March 25) when it announces an object-based video coding algorithm that it calls a radical departure from the block-based coding used in all MPEG standards.

º Digital Video: Internet2 Killer App or Dilbert's Nightmare? Digital video--in some form--will play a major role in applications that will change how we teach, learn, collaborate, and conduct research in higher education.

º IP: Big Protocol on Campus Universities are making the most of advanced IP multimedia services

º Session Initiation Protocol A number of resources and references regarding SIP.