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Are Videophones Ready for Prime Time?

Posted by Cliff on from the talking-at-12-frames-per-second dept.

Amigan asks: "Looking for a gift for my parents who live 1500+ miles away, I came across the Vialta Beamer TV. This device, with its claimed ease of use, would be helpful for my parents to see my son via the phone, but I'm wondering if the glowing WSJ review or Tech TV review are for real. Is 4-15 fps viable for conversation?"

2 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. 14 fps. by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Consider this:

    Movies are 24 FPS.

    TV is 30 FPS (NTSC) or 25 FPS (PAL). (frames per second, not fields per second).

    The "killer app" for video phones is not business conferencing - it is "Look at Grandma! Wave to Grandma!".

    And we USED to use postcards (1 frame per WEEK) for that.

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    www.eFax.com are spammers
  2. Frame rate needs to be 16 ... by foobsr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... to give the impression of continuous movement due to the idiosyncrasies of human perception.

    Thats why the old fashioned 8mm movies were (usually) shot at that speed.

    CC.

    --
    TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)