Bandwidth needed for HD video conferencing

[jtvang125]

Seems the highest resolution available right now is 1280x720. What is the minimum bandwidth needed for this for smooth playback?

 

[spidey07]

I could be wrong but I was talking to our video over IP guy and the new codecs can do that with 768k. I didn't believe him but he insisted on it.

 

[jtvang125]

Hmmm, after researching it seems the requirements for 720p is 1.2mbps up and down. This is with skype so I'm not sure if there are other video conferencing software with more efficient codecs.

 

[spidey07]

You could check out cisco.com. I'm sure there is a sizing chart somewhere. The stuff we do is dedicated video equipment, I just don't deal with it much at all.

 

[Modelworks]

You really have to look at what software you will be using. There is way too many variables in the equation like what sound quality you want, what video quality, how many frames per second, etc.

Don't know if it helps but netflix streams HD movies at 3.8Mbit/sec for 720P content.

Saw logitech is releasing a new series of webcams that can do 720P , they list minimum as 1Mbit/sec
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/06/logitech-c910.html

 

[somethingsketchy]

A question that just popped into my head...are you only doing two person video conferencing or are you gonna have half a dozen people conferencing at once?

This would have an impact as well, along with the conferencing software as well. The OP's comment ("...720p is 1.2Mbps up and down.") sounds about right. This is of course depends if you have any throttling software enabled that limits other services from using network resources when you're in a video conference.