
Sounds like a boon for Chatrouletters
who can now indulge in widescreen wanking from the comfort of their own sofa
While purists might prefer a standards-based approach to Internet telephony, there’s no doubt that, for many people, Skype is much simpler to set up. Even so, with a few exceptions, most equipment is still tethered to a computer, especially if you want to use Skype’s video calling. Panasonic TY-CC10 What's on TV? Panasonic's …
We're using these (well actually the Samsung Skype TV) as a low cost alternative to Tandberg/Cisco/Polycom video conferences in our business. Works great.
Yes it doesn't work with old clients but that will be sorted in a few months. Do agree it is for early adopters at this stage.
In yesterday's Reg you published a story about Cisco's new home telepresence device, the "ūmi". It costs $599 plus $24.99 per month, and for now you can only call other Cisco users.
Compared to that, Panasonic's device offers connectivity to the well-established and highly popular Skype network for a third of the price (£130 ~= $205) and no monthly fee. Mac compatibility will arrive "later this year", so considering we're already in October, that means you'll be able to Skype your gran by Christmas.
Oddly, for someone who wears a metaphorical tinfoil hat, I've never cared whether Skype was encrypted or not. Maybe it's getting so used to assuming some guys in North Yorkshire have been running my conversations and email through patter-matching algorithms for years, or perhaps it's because I don't really care if anyone hears my usually inane babbling to my mates.
we have two of these, connected to panny plasmas in two offices
the camera has its own h264 encoder chip, and so you can only talk to clients with h264, which is why you can't talk to mac or linux and get video, only audio
the same problem exists, so I believe, with the samsung version
in theory the mac skype client will be sorted out some time
the skype client works OK, but there's none of the conferencing facilities of the full desktop client; you can add/delete contacts so you don't need to set up the account on a full computer first.
the camera is the same price in US$ as it is in GB£, so you can save a bundle if you know anyone visiting the USA.
I recently acquired a panny plasma, though not the latest skype model, along with a sound system and an asrock 330 box which is running xbmc, and one of my first thoughts was how perfect this kind of setup would be for my technologically-challenged parents; Skype is in the middle of open-sourcing their interface for their linux client, and when that comes to pass it shouldn't be too difficult to include skype as a plugin for xbmc, and it being a proper computer means I would be able to hook up any combination of webcam/mic and video-call anyone and not just tv users (:
Now we've seen the Apple TV tear downs exposing an A4 processor, decent RAM and 8GB of flash inside the Apple TV, isn't it only a matter of time before facetime hits the living room via a similar webcam device... interesting.
As someone who skypes often with my partner to other couples or family, I think sofa to sofa makes much more sense to me than having four or more people crowded around a couple of PCs so there is a really good usage case for this. A niche - but potentially a decent sized one.
This panasonic device and its like are likely the thin edge of a wedge.