- Businesses looking to improve productivity while lowering operating costs and becoming more environmentally responsible might want to take a close look at Panasonic's new HD Visual Communications System, introduced today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Panasonic System Networks Company of America is showcasing the new Full HD system as a way to dramatically enhance the distance collaboration capabilities afforded by conventional video conferencing systems, providing businesses and institutions with a genuinely viable alternative to business travel.
- Positioning the new system under the banner of "Business Without Boundaries," Panasonic points to its Full HD video and 360 degrees spatially accurate audio as just one part of the story. "The video and sound quality is truly impressive," says Bill Taylor, president of Panasonic System Networks Company. "You get a fabulous picture along with a smooth, natural conversation that is never clipped or hollow. This is not just a conference phone with video. It's a whole new collaborative experience that will make you feel like you're truly in the same room with your remote colleagues."
- In addition to transmitting high definition video and audio, the system employs H.264 video compression technology and requires roughly half the bandwidth of competitive systems. Yet, according to Taylor, what truly separates it from competitive systems is its flexibility and scalability. It allows for Full HD images to be displayed on a wide range of HD monitors, from small-scale desktop LCDs all the way up to a 150" HD Plasma, or even projected with an HD projector on a large screen at a conference presentation or an educational institution. It also allows for multiple HD cameras to be utilized, so a second camera can be used to zoom in and share incredibly detailed images of things like the solder joints or chips on printed circuit boards, manufacturing lines, or even close-up details during medical procedures. A third option allows full-motion, high-resolution video to be transmitted over the system from laptops connected to the system.
- Taylor explains: "The extraordinary resolution of this system allows you to share details that can't be easily seen with the naked eye, even by people who are present in the same room. Imagine a medical professional being able to collaborate with a remote expert on a difficult patient diagnosis that would otherwise require an in-person evaluation. Or an engineering team being able to share the finest details of a design or schematic with a remote production team. We really feel the mobility provided by our secondary portable HD cameras and the scalability of this system are potential game-changers for a variety of applications, opening up a broad spectrum of new collaborative possibilities in healthcare, education and manufacturing, to name just a few."
