Understanding web video conferencing software (Top need-to-know list)

Web video conferencing software has wide marketability and with its uses, it is no wonder people all over the globe wants to know more about video web conferencing. Companies claim that the user friendly status or easy to use package scheme in marketing their services.

However, how user friendly can it really is? The following is word lists you may want to refer to if you want to better understand the world of web video conferencing.

Technical terms for web based video conferencing and its simplest definition:

Internet Protocol (abbv. IP)
Internet protocol or commonly known as IP is generally a broadband or a signaling method.  Meaning may vary according o context) connection of superior quality that is utilized to connect to the web video conference. There may be some variations when it comes to the quality of connection.

Integrated Services Digital Network (abbv. ISDN)
In other words, ISDN is a digital telephone lines. This is a set of communications standards that enables conventional telephone lines to transmit video, voice, and digital network services. Majority of web video conferences connects through ISDN. When it comes to superiority of connection, ISDN is mostly more steady than IP. The cost also is higher than that of IP.

Codec
Codec is a device that is able to encode and decode signal or digital information or data. It is actually a mixing of the words compressor (coder) and decompressor (decoder). It processes video and audio signals. It is a variation or the opposite of what a modem does as it compresses audio or video data sent and decompresses

Compression
This is simply the method of using lesser bits in encoding information.  Compression reduces the size of the file by doing away with data redundancies audio or video data being received.

Scan Converter
Scan converter is a piece of equipment used to connect a PC or a laptop to the video conference. It makes possible for the image shown on the PC to be seen by the far end throughout the conference. It changes the frequency of the video signal for different purposes and use. Scan conversion has a wide range in which it is applied. It is used on TV, LCD monitors, and video projectors.

Transcoding
Transcoding is when different video web conference systems that are not directly compatible are connected by a video conference bridge. It is basically linking two systems that do not work directly. For instance, IP (discussed above) is a different system from ISDN. Transcoding makes IP to ISDN conversion possible.

Standards in web and video conferencing
A standard for video compression is H264.

A standard for the display of two people and data simultaneously using two screens is the H239.

A protocol for video conferencing through circuit switched networks or via ISDN networks is H320

A protocol for video conferencing through IP networks is H323

Point to point

This is the direct link of two sites in a video web conference. It is necessary for both sites to use the same kind of connection for this to work.

Multipoint (abbv. MP)
This is the link for three or more spots in a single web video conferencing. Usually, a bridge is necessary for its function.

Kbs or kbps
An abbreviation for kilobyte per second. Numbers preceding this specify the speed of connection or bandwidth a particular device is able to sustain. The higher the bandwidth is, the more quality for the video conference. Speed can be 789kbs down to 128kbs.