Like most revolutions, home TV based video-calling made a quiet entry into the market on the back of a handful of Panasonic TVs, last year. There must have been enough of a success there to encourage Panasonic because it’s now added the feature to this season’s set of Blu-Ray players, by simply installing and supporting Skype.
While we can hear a thousand ‘grown-ups’ around the world saying, ‘Not in my house,’ our children will find that Skype on the TV, specifically geared for video calling and video conferencing, will be something they are at home with. They ask why shouldn’t video calling be a) free and b) available on every screen, especially the TV.
The neat addition here is that the Blu-ray player can store video messages when you are out, presumably on its hard drive (though the announcement doesn’t actually say and it could be only on recorders and on a Blu-ray disc).
Last year it brought the idea in for its internet connected Viera Cast branded Plasma HDTVs, something that would likely be taken up mostly by the corporate market we suspect. But at CES it slipped out this lovely idea of bringing Skype video messages to your Blu-ray player adding the feature to its new BDT310, 210 and 110 players, which just need the addition of a Skype-compatible camera ‘ effectively a webcam. The higher end models have WiFi built in already and the low end model can have it added as an extra, so consumer sets are pretty much good to go.
This may or may not take off, though we think it’s the right type of ‘trigger’ to bring video calling and messaging to the home ‘ working on a device which already has to be there, using software that most of us (124 million of us) use regularly. And it’s effectively free.
The system offers free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls, low rate calls to landline and mobiles, inbound using a special Skype number, voicemail, video mail and voice conference calls (but not video conference calls with more than one other person).
This version of Skype has been upgraded to support high definition video up to 1280 x 720 resolution at 22 frames per second.
To us this looks like a no-brainer and something that must be being pushed by Skype to all CE manufacturers, but why stop there. What about Skype on IPTV services? Or on cable or hybrid two way pay TV systems? Why wouldn’t Skype be automatically loaded onto Hybrid OTT set tops, of which millions are likely to be shipped in the coming year. Of course it will be in Tablets, and no doubt supported in the new Viera Tablet that Panasonic also launched at CES. But again you can either decide to speak to only people who have the same device with the same software stack, or pay for video calling or go with Skype.
For years we have marveled at how video calling has never taken off on handsets, because there never was a standard set of video codecs and data formats. Apple is pushing the idea, iPad to iPad, and so are various Android tablet vendors. Skype could solve all the incompatibility issues between the various devices and video formats.
We think that the sitting room, in easy reach of WiFi, is one of the best places to make video calls, not the PC in the study or the bedroom (well certain calls may best be made there) and we can see this making video calling more attractive. We’ll know for sure if Panasonic gives out download and usage numbers or if other TV and Blu-ray makers begin adding the same features. But it could be a quiet revolution which finally brings video calling and messaging to the masses.