Tandberg E20 desktop videoconferencing phone says 'Me too!'

Tandberg looks to get a piece of the desktop videoconferencing market with its E20 desk phone. The company promises DVD-quality video (at 448P) in a fast, secure, and relatively affordable -- at least when compared to its massive telepresence systems -- package. The E20 is compatible with most IP phone and video services and also includes a 20kHz speaker phone, and -- perhaps most importantly -- a 10.6-inch widescreen LCD display with WXGA resolution. As far as speed, it's listed with SIP up to 1152 kbps. Priced at $1,499, Tandberg argues a couple of these are a lot cheaper than a business-class ticket for that meeting in Europe. Expect to see availability in early 2009.

[Via InformationWeek]

[kal326 @ Jun 17th 2008 4:09PM]

Where I work has a couple of the older tandenburgs, they work alright but don't have there own screen or anything. They do have a remote controlled camera that can tilt and pan around. They look a lot like a mini hal, which also seems a little creepy.

[andres @ Jun 17th 2008 5:01PM]

i cant let you dial that number dave

[Andir3.0 @ Jun 17th 2008 7:17PM]

The only Tandbergs I know of are old tape backup drives...

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 8:36PM]

stop, dave. stop. i can feel it. i can feel it.

[From my Cube @ Jun 17th 2008 4:14PM]

Ill buy one right now if on the other side she is always there

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 4:15PM]

i'm sure you could find a way to word that and look less pathetic but i haven't come up with one yet

[From my Cube @ Jun 17th 2008 4:17PM]

I could do a lot of things, but from my mundane grey (or gray) cubeical working diligently for the man...having one of this video phones knowing everytime I turn it on shes there will make it suck just that much less

[rock99rock @ Jun 17th 2008 4:24PM]

Just pray when you buy it, that guy der isnt on the other end.

Is that ryan secrest (nozzle de douche)

[bohsocks @ Jun 17th 2008 4:38PM]

Pasty chaser.

Why can't we just get right to the Jetsons already?! You'd think it wouldn't be that hard.....

[Ian @ Jun 17th 2008 7:03PM]

you know there is this invention, im not quite sure what its called but it puts an image on to a piece of paper.. :p

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 8:45PM]

i'll give ya this, she does look like that chick on House, MD though. hot.

[Ryback @ Jun 18th 2008 3:52AM]

A friend of mine works as a secretary at Tandberg sales office. When ever they have sales presentations they call her up to demonstrate the product. She is hawt. All you need, From my Cube, is to get a Tandberg sales rep to come and demonstrate the product whenever you want to look at a hottie.

[TareX @ Jun 17th 2008 4:20PM]

Looks like something you'd see on 24... when it was on... b4 Keifer goes all DUI and locked up.

[Michael @ Jun 18th 2008 12:50PM]

Same old, same old.
Too expensive to be at all relevant.
Next!

[ethana2 @ Jun 17th 2008 4:33PM]

So get a laptop with a webcam.

[Andrew @ Jun 17th 2008 4:59PM]

Shows how much you know about this. These systems actually work for video conferences - a webcam is just cheap crap that simply captures a little video. The technology behind Tandberg's systems is what makes them a real player in this field. You don't know squat obviously.

[andres @ Jun 17th 2008 5:02PM]

@andrew
heaven forbid your videoconferencing setup capture video.

[Mike10010100 @ Jun 17th 2008 9:16PM]

Hmm.... Considering that my 8MP camera also has a web cam function, I highly doubt that this camera is better. Also, a business high speed internet connection could prove for speeds faster than 1152 kb/s.

Forget this, just go with a nice camera and a decent computer. If every office had at least one of the setups aforementioned, think of the cost saved from driving and flying everywhere. Have a dedicated room for conference calls, like that one concept that Engadget talked about before. On the cheap, that could be done with a camera and nice large monitor.

$1500 for this (plus the line required for this type of data connection), or $1000 computer and $500 camera.

[Russell @ Jun 17th 2008 11:02PM]

@Mike10010100: With a Tandberg unit and a good low-latency, reliable connection you can get a 448w picture as low as 384kbps. I've seen desktop systems and Tandberg systems side-by-side and the Tandberg always wins, hands down. Anyone who says "oh, a desktop and a webcam can do that!" really doesn't have any experience with proper videoconferencing systems and the full capability set that's provided.

[Atanas Boev @ Jun 17th 2008 4:35PM]

The picture is almost for the PhotoshopDisasters blog :)

[blackfeather @ Jun 17th 2008 6:05PM]

or else that poor guy has a reaaaally wide head.

[Shenzhov @ Jun 17th 2008 4:38PM]

It's called iChat.
If you have not seen how good videoconferencing works on OS X, then run to your nearest Apple store and have them show it to you.

[Quikboy @ Jun 17th 2008 8:11PM]

If good videoconferencing means a bunch of visual effects, than I guess that's what iChat is.

Plus iChat only works with AIM accounts. :(

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 9:05PM]

and Gtalk

[Shenzhov @ Jun 18th 2008 12:51AM]

Actually I've never used the visual effects, but iChat is the best video chat I've ever used on a computer. There may be some I'm not aware of that are very high end and professional, but heck, iChat is clean and like watching tv.

[Ray @ Jun 17th 2008 4:39PM]

Their marketing department must have written that before fuel costs went through the roof the past few months. $3,000 MSRP for a pair of these will barely get you a coach seat right now. But frankly more often than not the biggest hurdle to using this kind of technology is the crappy broadband available. And not just in the US either. Shitty ISP's that over promise, over subscribe, and under deliver on bandwidth and quality (latency, loss) of their circuits kill technologies like this dead in their tracks. A couple of conferences of choppy video and garbled audio and these things are back in the closet and everyone is back on a plane.

[Loun @ Jun 17th 2008 4:53PM]

who woud seriously consider buying this over a laptop with built in web cam?

[Andrew @ Jun 17th 2008 5:06PM]

Someone who knows what the difference is between a silly little
webcam and a real video conference system.

[Loun @ Jun 17th 2008 5:33PM]

fair enough, but then there is iChat which is superb for that kind of stuff.

[Venerabilis @ Jun 17th 2008 4:55PM]

Reduce the price, add Skype compatibility..

[andres @ Jun 17th 2008 5:03PM]

???
profit

[Twitchy @ Jun 17th 2008 6:09PM]

Skype is a bandwidth whore.

[Jake Maheu @ Jun 19th 2008 12:28AM]

Does anyone else think he looks like Leo from Charmed?

[farfisa @ Jun 17th 2008 5:25PM]

Propose, dammit! Propose!!!

[Mr_VTC @ Jun 17th 2008 6:01PM]

Obviously NONE of you idiots no anythting about real videoconferencing so "STFU" and learn something -

While i-Chat does rock on the MAC its proprietary/closed SIP protocol header makes it currently unusable for talking with mainstream codec based systems such as Tandberg, Polycom, Sony, LifeSize, etc. The same can be said for SKYPE, it rocks but it's proprietary nature keeps it from become adopted for widespread usage in most corporations. Before you say something REALLY stupid, stop and consider that many companies have invested a lot of money in VTC infrastructure that can host multipoint calls with more than just 4 participants - WHY? BECAUSE THEY NEED TO TALK TO MORE THAN JUST 4 PARTICIPANTS!! If Apple & SKYPE would play nicer with H.264 & H.323 systems they would definitely be welcome additions to many companies, until then...

As far as the E20 - IT DOESN'T RUN H.323 & SIP stacks simultaniouslly like most other Tandberg codecs - is this an issue? It depends on what your SIP/VoIP registrar server is. Since this device is marketed as a VoIP solution you'd think it would work with Cisco Call Manager 6 or Microsoft's LCS/OCS infrastructure - guess what - it currently doesn't. Is this an issue? depends on your environment - if you've got a Tandberg SIP infrastrure probably not, if you don't it's going to make a really expensive paperweight becuase you can't make a direct IP call because it doesn't run the H.323 stack.

Hopefully you idiots have learned something today because not matter what stupidity you continue to spew - it still won't talk to i-Chat or SKYPE

[Shenzhov @ Jun 17th 2008 7:04PM]

"Obviously NONE of you idiots no anythting"


I think you meant to say "know" not "no" and it's spelled "anything".

idiot |ˈidēət|
noun informal
a stupid person.
• archaic Medicine a mentally handicapped person.

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 9:06PM]

when you put STFU with quotation marks, do you mean it ironically? interesting.

[Russell @ Jun 17th 2008 11:09PM]

Tandberg is really pushing their VCS servers right now as a SIP registrar. And honestly, I wouldn't be suprised if there's a Cisco branded version of this right around the corner, similar to what they do with the T150.

[LHD @ Jun 17th 2008 6:06PM]

Wow. Bitter much?

[Mr_VTC @ Jun 17th 2008 6:12PM]

Not at all - I just get REALLY tired of reading posts from sophmoric idiots who don't know what they're talking about and only know how to repeat the same stupid worn-out crap over & over ("my box is better than your box becuase I said so"). If you don't know something and want to learn by asking intelligent questions that's cool, if you don't know the answer -DON'T BE AN IDIOT!!

[Travis @ Jun 17th 2008 6:22PM]

Does "secure" mean the audio and the video is encrypted?

[Mr_VTC @ Jun 17th 2008 6:41PM]

To answer an "intelligent" question - Yes, Tandberg and many other standards based codecs support anything from Triple-Des to AES encryption. During the call setup the most secured type of encryption both endpoints can support is selected. You can configure your codec to make only secured calls or a "best-effort" (if the other side doesn't support encryption the call will still go through but isn't encrypted). Hopefully this answers your intelligent question (unlike the DIPSH*T BluRayis Dead IDIOT)

[Mr_VTC @ Jun 17th 2008 6:36PM]

You just proved my point - THANKS

[TomTom2007 @ Jun 17th 2008 7:15PM]

not really practical.. is it?

[Russell @ Jun 17th 2008 11:09PM]

You'd be suprised how much something like this gets used in a corporate environment.

[Xee @ Jun 17th 2008 8:36PM]

The guy looks like a cross between Benjamin Bratt and Lou Diamond Phillips.

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 8:57PM]

he should have a very successful C-movie career

[phanbouy @ Jun 17th 2008 9:12PM]

lol VTC... who pissed in your coffee today? hey i know, use more caps and exclamation points, that'll really make you more persuasive.

[MarekB @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:08AM]

If anyone is interested in this type of product you are more than welcome to contact me at 702-499-3843. We offer a product that is already in active service with hundreds of thousands of customers on the company's own digital network, and the video phone is FREE when you sign up for a contract. High definition screen with features such as a digital photo frame, video voicemail and greetings, and much much more. For more information, just call me!

Marek Biernacinski