A Brief History of Video Conferencing From 1964 to 2017

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Video conferencing refers to the conduct of an
online meeting between people in
different locations through two-way audio and
video transmissions. To put it simply, it is like
a conversation between two persons
(point-to-point) or more people (multipoint)
gathering together in a virtual meeting room in
order to communicate and collaborate in real
time. Besides the audio and video transmission,
the cutting-edge technologies expand its
functionalities, like screen sharing and file
sharing, etc. Then, how is video conferencing
developed and what is history of video
conferencing technology? Here we will briefly
talk over the history of video conferencing from
the beginning to the present.
1.1960s-The first video call appeared in 1964.
Early in 1956, ATT started the research of
Picturephone prototype which was able to transmit
images (1 frame/2 seconds) over analog PSTN
(public switched telephone network) telephone
lines. Finally in 1964, the company first
introduced Picturephone at the Worlds Fair held
in New York, which gave opportunities for
attendees to make a video call to the one in the
other place. A caller could not only hear the
voice on the other side of the line, but also
could see his/her picture. Then the concept of
video conferencing appeared.
2. 1970s-The early stage of video conferencing.
ATT began using video conferencing for its
Picturephone service in the early 1970s. However,
this new communication means was too costly to be
reached by most people. Besides, the equipment
also existed some problems, such as bulky body,
difficulty of use, etc. More importantly, the
photo was so small and blurred.
3. 1980s-Video conferencing developed slowly.
In 1982, another company Compression Labs
released the first video conferencing system,
which was huge and expensive, either. However, it
was the only video conferencing system available
until 1986 when the company PictureTel hit the
market with their much cheaper video
conferencing system.
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4. 1990s-Video conferencing continued to grow.
In 1991, PictureTel collaborated with IBM to
introduce the first PC-based video conferencing
system with relatively reduced costs. Since then,
a new chapter in video conferencing industry had
begun. Unluckily, at the stage, a well-equipped
conference room was required and its rent was
overpriced. In 1992, Macintosh released CU SeeMe
v0.1, a video conferencing software for the
personal computer. The first version had no
audio, but it was the best video system at that
time. The system increased multipoint capability
in 1993 and audio transmission in 1994. But it
was only limited to Mac users. Until 1995, the
new CU SeeMe was released after so many
reversions by developers, which was compatible
with Windows (Windows were the most popular
operating system at that time). By then, video
conferencing was available to almost anyone with
a PC.
5. 2000s-Video conferencing embraced its boom.
During the 2000s, video conferencing became
available for free through the Internet services
like Skype and iChat. In 2000, Samsung launched
the first MPEG-4 streaming 3G (CDMA2000) video
cellphone. In the same year, International
Telecommunications Union - Telecommunication
(ITU-T) released H.323 v4 that was widely
implemented by video conferencing manufacturers.
In 2005, Lifesize introduced the first HD
video conferencing system. Other technologies
and applications also enter into a flourishing
stage, such as the application of SIP protocol,
and private protocols from software-based video
conferencing vendors the appearance of video
compression standards like H.264, H.265, etc.
6. 2010s- Cloud-based video conferencing and
mobile devices.
Today, there are plenty of various video
conferencing systems and solutions in the market.
Video conferencing solution providers like
ezTalks have put video conferencing
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to the Cloud, which makes video conferencing
cheaper and convenient. This is also a new trend
of video conferencing in the future. By using
video conferencing services, businesses and
users across the world could easily start or join
a video meeting face-to- face anytime anywhere on
desktop or their mobile devices like laptop,
smartphone or iPad, etc. You can also get a
brief introduction on the history of video
conferencing from the following infographic
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The above are a brief list of important events in
the history of video conferencing, and many of
which still have an important impact on todays
video conferencing industry. Understanding the
video conferencing history can help you grasp the
development and revolution of it, and thus make
an accurate prediction for the future of video
conferencing. https//www.eztalks.com/video-confe
rence/history-of-video-conferencing.html