How do you get an immersive telepresence from a standard videoconferencing system-- without upgrading to the more expensive (circa 250,000 euro) telepresence systems?
Array Telepresence, a start-up telepresence solution provider, debuts a new system that it says enables immersive telepresence using an organization's existing videoconferencing system in typical conference room.
Array says its approach works with existing videoconferencing systems and conference room furniture, has a concealed camera, stand up capture (without cutting heads off), uses less bandwidth, requires less physical space, better vertical gaze angle (perfect vertical eye-line), better horizontal gaze angle, more primary participants (8, 10, 12, or 14 depending on size of the table vs 6 in most telepresence group systems) and has a better format for local conversations where the local participants are easily visible to each other without having to lean around each other to talk.
By design, the Array DX Dual Camera Module and Array's Equal-i 2S Image Processor work together to dramatically improve the videoconferencing scene before handing it to either a hardware or software-based videoconferencing codec.
The system brings the farthest participants "Up Close and Personal", "Equal-i-zes" the size of the farthest participants to the size of the closest participants, improves the eye-line, conceals the camera, improves the meeting format, and powers dual displays creating a wide-format view into the remote scene bringing in the eye's peripheral vision increasing the sense of immersion.
The new Equal-i DX Camera Module, the first of three camera modules the company is bringing to market in the coming months, requires just 4mm between dual displays and sits between the displays at perfect vertical eye-line where it sits, concealed by the display bezels.
The camera plugs into Array's Equal-i 2S Image Processor which applies custom image improvement algorithms to improve the scene before handing the video stream to the codec for the trip across a network.Tvhe Equal-i 2S Image Processor combines both images from the dual headed DX Camera Module into a single video stream allowing a single videoconferencing codec to power dual displays.
The Equal-i technology brings the furthest participants "up close and personal" increasing the pixel count on the farthest person by 6.5X that of a conventional Pan-Tilt-Zoom videoconferencing camera. The system also improves the meeting format, conceals the camera, and improves the eye-line. The system also powers dual displays with HD video using a single videoconferencing codec and bit stream, creating a wide-format, immersive view of the remote scene with no discernable impact on latency.
The Equal-i System is $13,995 upgrade if you already have a videoconferencing codec. Distribution in Europe is being handled by Imago ScanSource.
