Cisco demos its Umi home video conferencing technology

businesses' networking needs, announced today that it is making a move into the consumer marketplace with its new Umi video-conferencing technology.

The new tech, pronounced "you-me", allows consumers to directly connect a video conferencing application to their televisions and streamlines video conferencing for the every day user. Users plug the device into their high-definition television, setting up a camera that sits on the television and a box that can connect to the Internet wirelessly or over a wired broadband connection. The service will cost $600 for the device and $24.99 a month for unlimited calling, video recording and video messaging.

You can read the full story at VentureBeat: http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/06/cisco-consumer-video-conferencin/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• consumer video
• home video conferencing
• teleconferencing
• Cisco Systems
• Umi
• Umi home video

[UserIsAnFBIAgent]

I pay $43 a month for my internet service. I download Yahoo Messenger, with Video and voice chat, ... with full FPS. hook up a HDMI or S-Video cord from my laptop to my TV, right click on my desktop, choose output to : TV, and in a matter of seconds, I see my desktop on the TV, "with the messenger Video Chat" and beats the $599 that you'd pay for this crap. even if I had the $600, "I Will NOT" buy this crap.

[ihernandez581]

Bunch of idiots this is more for companies and business people that are used to spent $600 on a suit or a dinner not for you haters poor people!

[fern072]

Ps3 can video chat

[alienhddna]

google tv can do most of what that thing can do and more

[lg123xyz]

Pretty useless... $500 plus $25/month?! You can do the same with Logitech Revue without the monthly cost. I wouldn't want to be disturbed all the time when watching TV anyway.

[fmario20]

I use skype and logitech service and both are not very predictable. Quality calls can be very poor at times. At the end it really depend on what you want. You can certainly make it work with most of the free services.

[powdersprings30127]

$599 for the device, plus $25 a month for the service (????). I can use any number of video chat programs on my computer/webcam for FREE, or get one of the GoogleTV devices with a TV cam option and make the calls for a fraction of the cost of this. Your device is "neat" for sure, but if you were wanting to milk us for it, you're about 5 years (and a major recession) too late, folks.

[Sasquatch993]

Yall say that but this is pretty awesome. If you go to there main buildings you will the corporate versions of these and it is amazing it is so much more realistic and they have it set up to look like the people are sitting across the table from you. All of you guys just need to learn that this stuff is the future now it isn't a big step but it is a step and we need to be happy about that.

[kumagcow]

well skype aint hd and it doesnt look or feel real... its digitized... this is better!

[jerktrucker]

cisco sais it costs $25/mo but the other person also pays $25/mo.

then first a call has to be maid to coordinate a meeting.

just use skype.