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D-Link DVC-1000 Videophone Review
Milton Linkle writes "One of the first H.323 compliant videophones, that doesn't require a PC, is slowly but surely making it's rounds. This review provides a very good overview of the product, and even includes a few video caps of the device in action. If this product, or others like it eventually take off, we may get to a point where we no longer have a need for traditional telephones."
Um..yeah, I can't make it in today. I've got such a cold I can't even come to the screen. Honest.
"Can you see me now?.... Can you see me now?..."
Trolling is a art,
"If this product, or others like it eventually take off, we may get to a point where we no longer have a need for traditional telephones."
Well, I guess I'm done conducting phone interviews naked.
Technology ruins the Perverts life...
"It's a tarp!" -- Dyslexic Admiral Ackbar
look - the only way i'm going to buy any new electronic equiptment, particularly stuff that relies on the inherently insecure TCP protocol is if it implements some of the new TCP security features.
Specifically, does anyone know if this supports RFC 3514 ?
thanks in advance.
... hi bingo
Or old fashioned automobiles!
Where's my flying car? I was PROMISED a flying car with my videophone!
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
If this product, or others like it eventually take off, we may get to a point where we no longer have a need for traditional telephones." I personally haven't gotten a phone hooked up at my apartment after I moved out of the dorms. I typically use IRC, or ICQ for communication, but for the calling home to ask for mone, I set up one of the Creative labs phone blasters at my apartment and home. I've been using it since after Christmas break, and it works like a dream. Even my mom doesn't have a problem calling me. (I'm just lucky I can get a static ip from my ISP)
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
This is part of a wave of all consumer devices to make it more palatable for the average consumer at the expense of sealing it away from people like us.
Remember, once upon a time you could adjust the timing of the distributer of your car.
Implementing DRM is easy with sealed boxes like this.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
No longer will I get to ask... ... what are you wearing?"
"So," pant, pant "..Oprah,
Best Windows Freeware
This article is a lie. The videophone was never reviewed. Even now, Iraqi soldiers are crushing the bastard American invaders! Victory is within our grasp.
Former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf
Yeah this is great being able to see what someone looks like the morning after or the women/man they picked up :)
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
.. how many of you are going to hook yours up to your DVD player so you can pretend Natalie Portman is calling you?
Check out 8x8's videophone. I saw a demo of this at their Santa Clara, CA office -- it's really cool. I have their VoIP service -- these guys are just really cool. Check it out.
... my new nickname will be Mooner.
"Derp de derp."
The technology for videophones has been around since the 40ies. Try and search the web if you don't believe it. The point is, users don't want it. No matter how many times a year a technology start-up pops up and tells us that yes, they can do it, users don't want it. Shouldn't be that hard to understand.
there's no way that I'm buying something that ties up the tv everytime somebody wants to make a phonecall. you'd think that for $269 they'd put some sort of display on the thing.
aoeu
What's that you say? I'm overreacting? "Get a grip?"
Ok, let's see how we like it when people aren't just holding these things to the side of their heads and blabbing, but holding it out front of themselves like a make-up compact and blathering away and/or showing everyone all the great video, too.
Sometimes the future isn't all it's cracked up to be.
"Hi, I'd like an e-bomb, just a small one, do you have something that could knock out electronics within a 15ft radius?"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
packages complete with a small condom-like rubber cover to protect the lens during shipment
I always figured that ejaculate on the lens would only be a problem AFTER shipment and receipt.
Seriously, though, I see major problems with this device with the Slashdot community. What happens to your online relationship when your significant other wants to call you on the videophone? I see many broken hearts in the future.
At one time, someone was working on a Linux masq module to get h.323 to work with a linux box used as a firewall, although (again, last I checked) this didn't work too well. If you use a linksys or other "dsl/cable" router, you'll probably be SOL.
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
do you ever get the feeling that people you see on the television are trying to communicate with you?
If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
Anyone else recall the vignette in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, where the introduction of video phones led to a downward spiral of self-consciousness and vanity until eventually people were talking with cardboard cutouts of their idealized, distorted selves staring at cardboard cutouts of the other persons idealized, distorted self?
Perhaps we should embrace the benefit of non-visual communication: "the bilateral illusion of unilateral attention..."
(2,3-Benzopyrrole)
If the video phone rings while I'm in the shower, I'm not going to rush out and get it.
they just bought linksys
netgear and dlink are the two major 'low-end' vendors now
Let's not confuse the technology and the poor implementation of the technology.
People talk loudly on their cell phones because the microphones are crap. They have to yell into the phones to overcome the background noise to get over the noise filter.
The technology exists to put a microphone in a cell phone that would let you speak at a barely perceptible level, but that would add, say $20, to the cost of the phone. Most people don't buy cell phones, they get them as loss-leaders from their service provider, so you can imagine how fast that's going to catch on.
Yes, corporate-greed/cheap-dumb-people are ruining your life once again.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
In their minds, you're getting free video phone service without paying them anything; in their minds, your cable modem bill is only for web surfing and e-mail.
I predict that they will specifically disallow these devices in their service contracts unless you pay a stiff extra monthly fee. They will probably also take technical measures to detect and block this "theft" of their service.
Companies like Polycom and Pictel have been making H.323 videophones for several years. Of course, they tend to be so expensive that I'm not surprised /.ers haven't heard of them.
I'm unsure about this. I hesitate to say "this is a bad product", but I'd want something that works more like a conventional phone. Having to run to the TV everytime a call comes in, throwing everyone off the couch, and positioning yourself for the camera seems a little bit of a production for a simple phone call. It's also totally lacking in privacy.
Instead, I'd like to see a shorter-range, desktop version with small LCD. The camera would be aimable, so you could pre-orient it to your height, and the LCD would be small so that you could view it privately. Obviously, the camera would have to have more of a webcam range than 5-10 feet. Microphone would be built into the case, of course, along with headphone jack.
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Actually, there are (at least) three. H.323 is the original ITU spec. It is shockingly complex and scales poorly, since it is incredibly chatty. It is, however, feature rich and is probably the most widely implemented standard, though vendor interoperability is spotty at best, due to the complexity of the protocol.
SIP is a reaction to H.323. It has damn near zero features, but is efficient and easy to implement. This is number two with a bullet, and rising fast, despite its serious limitations.
H.248 is the IETF's attempt to fix H.323. I don't know much about it except that it's allegedly much simpler than H.323 while being much more featureful than SIP. It's the cool new buzzword; it remains to be seen if anybody actually implements/uses it.
I refuse. I'd like to point out, particularly where I do my ~38 mile, each way, trek each day the traffic is such that a 911 call is usually from a stationary vehicle, as accidents tend to stop traffic. There's actually three components to my daily drive:
Fairly predictable Highway 17/880 from Los Gatos to near Highway 101, cell phoners tend to congregate in the left lane, to avoid worrying about merging traffic. Usually identifiable by slow reaction to changing traffic and/or driving slower than surrounding traffic.
Highway 17 winding through the Santa Cruz mountains, from ~sea level to 1,800 feet, back to ~sea level. Slow reactions, distractions, failure to compensate for variability of grade, turn, camber, as well as the occasional scumbucket speed-racer/lane-changer cause no shortage of accidents. Both hands on the wheel and eyes forward are highly recommended. Every trip is an adventure.
City driving. I honestly don't know how people do it. Driving city streets at rush hour requires absolute undivided attention. I've seen more than a few drivers drop their phone to avoid an accident. I've also seen a few who incorrectly decided their precious phone and/or call were more important than avoiding said accident.
It's like smoking. There are those who smoke a 3 packs a day and live to be 100. There's also those who smoke less than a pack a day and develop lung cancer in their 30's. Some get away with the roll of the dice and others don't. Best not to claim mastery of the situation and jinx yourself.
I've had 3 cell phones (first was a bag-phone, yeah, early adopter) and learned early on that you can't drive a stick and use a cell phone. Tricky enough with an automatic. I leave calls to when I'm stationary. I've had various cars in the body shop over the years and, though there's a hit-and-run ding on the front right of the current set of wheels, the inconvenience of doing without while it's in the shop is enough to encourage caution, if not just to keep insurance low.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar