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Pathpartner demos 720p HD Skype videocalling using Android and OMAP 4 (video)
Putting Pathpartner and Ittiam right beside one another may not have been the best idea if these two were hot-headed, but shockingly, they were treating each other with a great deal of respect within Texas Instruments' MWC booth. All jesting aside, the former's 720p HD videocalling solution is aimed at an entirely different market than that of the latter. Rather than arranging for a four-way video conference, Pathpartner has concocted an Android app that enables 720p video calling over Skype -- you know, that VoIP application that you're already obsessed with. Currently, the company's working with Skype in hopes of getting it 'Skype-certified,' and like Ittiam, it's also chatting with a number of handset makers in hopes of getting it embedded on the phone's software stack from the get-go. Alexy Mathew Joseph, the company's senior technical lead, was on hand to showcase a demo running on a pair of OMAP 4-based development boxes, and the low-bitrate technology that he has helped create enabled smooth, high-def streaming of the call. We should mention that this particular demo was done over an Ethernet network, but he affirmed that it would operate on 3G and 4G networks as well. Also of note, the new software is capable on running on more than just TI equipment, though he wouldn't elaborate other than saying that NVIDIA's Tegra 2 was a platform he hasn't tested on just yet. Just think -- 720p Skype videocalls could be hitting your phone prior to the dawn of 2012, and the carrier's have to be weeping at the mere mention. Vid's past the break, per usual.
Panasonic's TY-CC10W webcam joins Skype, HDTVs mostly because it can
Panasonic is back with more information on its four-mic packing HDTV camera accessory, the TY-CC10W. Skype friends who would like to see your living room without actually visiting can take a peek in either 30fps VGA or 720p/22fps h.264 encoded streams, courtesy of any nearby video phone compatible VIERA Cast TVs this can mount on top of and plug into via USB. We're (probably the only ones) waiting for a Chatroulette couch surfing client, but if you prefer your internet face-to-face meetings without the PC then ¥18,000 ($193) on June 11 will make it yours in Japan, no word on U.S. availability.
