Our Purpose:
In August 2003, the Engineering videoconferencing facilities located in Engineering 2- room 1307G were upgraded to a
Polycom Viewstation FX and a
Visual Concert FX. The ViewStation® FX delivers near TV-quality video and superior audio and is specifically designed for the most demanding conference room environments. The functions of the Viewstation are performed using the remote control - a control that allows the users to make calls, activate camera control of the near site, zoom in and out, capture an image and send it to the far site as a snapshot, etc.
The Visual Concert FX is capable of transmitting high resolution SXGA (1280 x 1024) live graphics and high quality audio at speeds up to 15 fps, including a multi-point call! Just plug in your laptop, desktop or Macintosh to the Visual Concert FX and begin sending images from business applications, proprietary applications, the Internet, rendering applications or even a video clip, all at the touch of a button.
The videoconferencing facility seats 16 to 20 comfortably. The system is designed primarily for small groups to enable everyone in the classroom to be seen on the screens.
This facility is administered by the Associate Dean for Computing with the assistance of the Engineering Computing staff. The facility
is located in Engineering 2, room 1307G.
Booking information is available below.
Overview:
ViewStation is the most popular and widely deployed group videoconferencing platform in the world
- Supports four independent monitors plus a projector
- Bandwidth: 2 Mbps IP / 2 Mbps or 512 kbps ISDN
- Mixed network multiple site conferences
- IP, ISDN and analog telephone interfaces
- Add PC audio and XGA content to meeting
- See live PC presentations and presenter simultaneously
- Embedded multicast streaming to the web
- V.35, RS-530, RS-449 and RS-366 interfaces
Key features of the Polycom Viewstation FX :
- IP conferencing and combinations of IP and ISDN
- Multipoint videoconferencing without the use of a bridge
- Streaming video which allows the system to multicast the video conference to participants over IP
- Capable of viewing both the live PC presentations and presenter simultaneously
- Dial-in-calling which allows other endpoints (IP, ISDN or POTS) to dial into the call
- High-resolution live graphics support with the Visual Concert FX.
The Visual Concert FX allows the presenter to transmit live images and sound from any application that can run on a laptop (
PowerPoint? , Excel, Web pages, etc.) . It supports resolutions of up to 1280 x 1024. In addition, a high-resolution projection system for in-room displays can be connected to the Visual Concert.
Benefits:
This type of medium allows you to:
- present graduate courses in your interest area (for which there is not enough demand at your local site). Students in past courses have appreciated access to outside expertise.
- work with bright graduate students at other locations. Past students have remarked on the synergy that can result:
- "allowed alternate view of students"
- "the ability to get input from students at the remote site simultaneously and exchange ideas"
- co-operate with other universities to provide high-quality graduate education to students where the course may not be offered at their university.
- learn about emerging technologies that will be used increasingly in education.
- team-teach with valued colleagues.
- face to face student interviews by companies
- share live graphics from any PC
Equipment:
The following equipment is presently available for videoconferencing.
- main monitor with auto-PIP system
- second monitor
- viewstation H.323
- visual concert FX
- document camera
- VCR (recording/playback)
- podium camera/audience camera
- remote control
Features:
The videoconferencing technology supports industry standards and can communicate with a variety of other manufacturers' equipment.
Users of the facilities can make presentations using one or all of the following:
- full-colour compressed video (a one second delay in real time)
- full-colour still or live images (e.g. charts, graphs, overheads) with zooming capabilities.
- computer (in-house PC or a laptop) with zooming capabilities
- videos (vcr movies)
- a wall-mounted whiteboard
- other traditional media, such as flip charts
Additionally, you can record your presentation using the VCR provided for later review.
Glossary:
Numerous glossary links are available for videoconferencing users.
Links:
There are numerous resources on the Internet that deal with videoconferencing.
Location:
The videoconferencing facility is located in Engineering 2 (E2), Room 1307G.
Click on this link to see a
map of the campus. Parking for the non-university community is in parking lot (H) or (C). To get to our facility, go through the building South Campus hall (SCH) and keep walking on the path past (GH) Graduate House and (RCH) R. Coutts Hall. Directly in front of you is E2 Engineering 2. Go down the set of stairs to the first floor and take the first hallway to the left and then the first hallway to your right. Room 1307G is at the end of the hallway to the right.
Bookings:
To book the videoconferencing facility, contact:
Karen Critchley
- Phone
- 519 888 4567, ext. 33380
- E-mail
- kacritch@engmail.uwaterloo.ca
