Get the Big Picture: Inexpensive Video Conferencing

US Robotics Bigpicture Video Kit

At first glance, the US Robotics (now owned by 3Com) Bigpicture video conferencing tool seems like science fiction: a video phone that allows Internet users to see and hear each other as they converse from anywhere in the world – without paying long distance telephone charges. And, when the Internet’s behaving, it works remarkably well. But that’s not the whole story.

It’s not especially obvious when you see the product in action, but the US Robotics Bigpicture videoconferencing kit includes some surprisingly versatile hardware. The package comes in three different versions, ranging from about $350 to $550. The top of the line kit includes a Philips color digital video camera, a 33.6K video-ready/voice/fax modem -- upgradeable at no charge to the latest 56K standard -- and a PCI-based video capture card that bears more than a slight resemblance to the hardware found in the Intel Smart Video Recorder III. In fact, the Hauppauge video capture card included with the Big Picture kit uses exactly the same codecs (compressors/decompressors) and video capture chipset (BT848) as the highly rated card from Intel. Although USR markets the card – which uses a technique called PCI Bus Mastering to achieve its high-speed captures, by the way -- and its included software primarily as a videoconferencing solution, it is quite capable as a video capture system as well. By simply running a digital video authoring program such as the one included with The Bigpicture Video Kit, you’ve got the ability to capture video at resolutions up to 640x480, with frame rates of up to 30 fps from the camera included with the Bigpicture, or any standard video camera, laserdisc or VCR.

Some of the finer points of the half-length PCI capture card include its live video-in-a-window, still image capture, YUV 4:2:2 digitizer and AVI capture driver. The card is compatible with virtually all the popular PC-based videoconferencing packages such as VDOphone, Microsoft NetMeeting, CU-SeeMe, Vocaltec IPhone, Smith Micro AudioVision and many more. The card has composite, S-Video and audio inputs, complementing the camera’s NTSC output.

Asymetrix’s Digital Video Producer is included with all three configurations available – the version that ships without the modem (model 1689) lacks the VDO Phone software shipped with the $349 and $549 bundles. The capture card works with virtually any Windows-based editing package on the market, such as Adobe Premiere, Corel Lumiere, MGI VideoWave, etc. The latter two packages are available for under US$100 each – a comforting fact, in case you find the admittedly low-end features of the Asymetrix software lacking (as PC Magazine did when it recently rated both Lumiere and VideoWave higher and, in fact, awarded its Editor’s Choice award to the MGI software). You can grab a still picture with the video camera or scanner and use Kai’s Power GOO Special Edition (also included) to do things one shouldn’t be able to do to a photo – and, indeed, stretching, deforming and otherwise destroying perfectly handsome faces is a big hit with the kids.

Also doing double duty is the modem that ships with the Big Picture Video Kit (model number 1622) and the Bigpicture Modem & Capture Card (model #1690). The modem, of course, supports the usual array of advanced telephony functions delivered by Windows 95 and other modern PC operating systems. However, in addition to data communications, you can use it to send and receive faxes, voice mail messages and video. Just beware of bad hair days if you exercise that last option.

The internal modem card (which connects to an ISA bus slot) supports 33.6 kilobit-per-second transfers but we were delighted to find that, by visiting the Bigpicture phone page on US Robotics’ web site, we could download a free upgrade to US Robotic’s 56K "X2" technology. It’s also worth mentioning that USR recently committed to a policy in which it guarantees that its modems will be upgraded for free to whatever the final 56K standard ends up being. The new standard, which is expected to be based on USR’s X2 technology or Rockwell’s competing "56K Flex," is likely to be ratified in 1998. With this guarantee, USR has effectively eliminated the uncertainty factor that made it potentially unwise to invest in a not-yet-ratified standard. Sadly, FCC regulations limit the modem’s download performance to slightly less that the theoretical maximum at this time – speeds top out at about 50K. Nevertheless, users will experience a significant boost over 28.8 or 33.6 speeds when connecting to V.90-compatible modems or Internet service providers.

The third kit does not include a modem (and hence does not include a free V.90 upgrade either).

Wisely, US Robotics has chosen to make its package conform to some of the most popular standards in the Internet and multimedia worlds, increasing the functionality and versatility of this video capture and editing tool.

For those people who already have a video camera, a version of the package is available that omits this component, and also lacks the VDO Phone software. Fortunately, the system works perfectly well with the freely downloadable NetMeeting software from Microsoft (bundled with most PCs that ship with Windows 95 and Internet Explorer). As mentioned earlier, it also works with White Pine’s popular CUSeeMe (also downloadable) and other video phone apps on the net.

A non-Internet video conferencing tool called RapidComm Video is included with the Big Picture as well.

It is a standards-based H.324 terminal for modem-to-modem use over regular phone lines. In other words, you don't need an Internet account. Because the direct connection bypasses Internet protocols and their associated slowdowns, it delivers even better video conferencing performance than VDO Phone or other Internet-based connections.

A few caveats: VDOPhone uses your sound card for audio input & output; RapidComm Video uses your video modem card for audio input & output. Obviously, some cabling adjustments will be necessary to switch between the two.

It’s also worth noting that the modem requires the Microsoft Windows 9x operating system. It will not support DOS or Windows 3.x applications. (The Hauppauge capture card, however, is compatible with a number of different OS environments using third-party drivers.)