Introduction
Videoconferencing has many benefits; it allows experts from all over the world to communicate with and learn from each other, while sparing the high costs and scheduling problems of travel. Additionally, it allows many viewers in the same room to watch lectures, meetings and conferences with a full-screen television experience.
NIH Radvision Videobridge
The NIH Radvision Videobridge (H.320 & H.323) went into production in July 2006. This essentially means the NIH can no longer guarantee video and audio connectivity or quality to sites using old legacy Picturetel videoconferencing units. Picturetel Concordes & Venues have been discontinued by the manufacturer and are no longer supported by Polycom, the corporation that purchased Picturetel. Because these systems are no longer supported, codecs and firmware for these units are not available, or maintained to properly interface them with modern video teleconferencing bridges. We will work with you to help you transition to new equipment.
How Do I Request Dial-In Numbers for a Lecture, Meeting or Conference?
If you would like to watch a lecture, meeting or conference with a full-screen television experience on your videoconferencing system, please request a video event at http://videosched.cit.nih.gov
How Do I Schedule an Interactive Video Conference Between Two or More Sites?
If you would like to include videoconferencing services to your meeting or event, consider the following questions:
- Who will be on the other end of the call? Do they have video conferencing equipment?
- When is my conference scheduled and how long will it run?
- Will I need other equipment, such as a VCR to tape the proceedings or a document camera to share papers long-distance?
- Will I also want to publish my event as a RealPlayer streaming VideoCast?
- Will I also want to publish my event as an MP4 video or MP3 audio Podcast?
- Will I also want to use CIT's Web Collaboration services to interact in realtime over the internet?
Service Notes
Polycom VS4000 - CIT has noted several VS400s fail within the last two years. If a Polycom unit starts rebooting on it's own, you might consider it as failing and take it out of service as soon as possible.
For More Information
See the CTIVS Teleconferencing page at http://videoconference.nih.gov/ for more information about requesting a videoconference.
NIH Collaborative Technology Innovation and Video Services
Call 301-594-8433
TDD/TTY: 301-496-8294
