Before we go further, let's define quality. A video signal's quality comprises resolution, frame rate and compression ratio. Resolution can be 640x480 pixels or 720x480 pixels for television broadcasts in the United States. Analog cameras use the former, which is generally accepted as standard resolution. Most digital-video cameras use 720x480 resolution and provide a stepping stone to the HDTV standard. Lower resolutions can be used for transmission to desktop computers to conserve bandwidth.

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The number of frames transmitted each second also influences quality. For action sequences, the frame rate should be kept at the NTSC standard of 29.97 fps (frames per second). Anything slower may appear jerky. For talking-head video presentations or anything without a lot of action, a lower frame rate, such as 15 fps, can be used, as each progressive frame's data changes only slightly. Image compression can be applied to your video to cut down on bandwidth. But as with frame rate, the compression should be kept to a minimum for good-quality action sequences. Poor quality due to high compression rates will be seen as a chunky image of oversized pixels or as a series of diagonal lines.

Why Now?

Video has been flowing around corporate networks for years, though mostly in the form of low-quality streaming video. Transmission of video over WANs and the public telephone system first began in the videoconferencing arena. Streaming media filled some gaps by providing low-resolution, low-frame-per-second video for talking heads -- good enough for Internet users and low-quality corporate needs. Companies such as Apple Computer, Microsoft and RealNetworks produce servers and streaming software that distribute low-resolution video over wide area networks or the Internet. But these servers can't distribute the quality and resolution a VCR delivers, let alone DVD quality, because they are software-based. The processing power required to encode MPEG-2 video on the fly exceeds the capability of a computer CPU, which requires hardware-based encoders to keep up with the workload. Users are demanding something better, especially as bandwidth drops in price.

It's hard to beat the security of video transmission over broadband or Ethernet networks. Video signals are typically broadcast over the open airwaves either to terrestrial- or to satellite-based receivers, and then back down to Earth. Since radio and television waves are transmitted over open air, they can be intercepted easily. In addition to the intended recipient, anyone in the path can receive the waves. Digitizing and encoding video transmission and then broadcasting over fiber or copper networks reduces the number of people who can intercept a given signal.

Further security can be added to the digital video signal by using encryption techniques. The video signal can be scrambled so both audio and video are unintelligible to everyone except those who know how to decrypt the signal correctly. This type of encoding and encryption is already in use by governments and militaries around the world to keep prying eyes and ears from sensitive transmissions.

With businesses trying to cut back on employee travel for meetings, an easy solution is to use videoconferencing. But no one wants to hold a high-level meeting with a grainy, jittery, low-resolution video. High-resolution digital video provides quality rivaling that of interactive studio interviews.

High-quality video transmission also lends itself well to training applications. Whether students are at their desks or in an auditorium, both resolution and quality exceed those of regular streaming methods. When students can see everything being taught without graininess or missed frames, the learning environment is enhanced. While talking-head video can get by with lower quality, demonstrations require the audience to be able to see details. The same can be said of technical support, when a demonstration needs to be given to solve a problem.

The legal field is using broadcast-quality video to transmit live depositions in court cases and important trials to law students in universities or offices around the world. Digital video was even used in transmitting the execution of Timothy McVeigh to the families of those killed in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Transmitting over a ground-based fiber network instead of orbiting satellites allows better security, since the line would have to be physically tapped to intercept the video signal.

Any business -- from department stores to casinos -- that uses security cameras for active or taped monitoring will benefit from digital video. For large installations, the cabling reductions alone can be a great asset. Instead of having to run a video cable from each camera back to a control or tape room, you can route the video back over the data network. Each camera is directly connected to an encoder. The digital video from the decoder can then be placed on an internal data network back to the control room. At the control room, video from the network can be run through decoders and then placed on monitors or recorded. This arrangement reduces the amount of cables running through the business and can decrease troubleshooting time, since individual cables and connections need not be traced to locate a problem.

On the medical front, broadcast-quality video easily finds a home within hospitals and doctors' offices. With doctors constantly on the move and sometimes hard to pin down for consultations, digital video can provide an answer. Doctors can view a patients' checkups remotely and offer opinions on what they see. While this technology can't replace an actual office visit, it works well for several doctors' consulting on a patient's care.

In the surgery theater, a video stream of a surgical procedure may be broadcast to other surgeons for observation or consultation. Instead of a specialist being flown to the site, video can provide a good view of the procedure in progress, saving time and expense. Teaching hospitals around the country can also receive feeds to demonstrate particular surgical procedures to medical students and to update numerous doctors on new surgical procedures.

Television studios can use digital video to cut down on the cost of some remote feeds. Television stations now use satellites to broadcast remote interviews and events. Nationwide news programs often include guests who are not within the same studio. The interview is broadcast via satellite to the broadcast station, which then edits the video and retransmits it to viewers. While this procedure has worked for decades, satellite time can be expensive and hard to reserve on a moment's notice. By connecting to a broadband network, a remote studio can encode and broadcast video across the network or across the world. Cameras can be set up at sporting events and broadcast wherever the viewing audience resides.

Tape-delayed events, too, can benefit from the technology. A remote cameraman or crew can record footage, edit it locally and then transmit the finished piece over a data network to television stations. Video-editing studios can transmit needed video footage over data networks or receive footage from clients and remote production crews.

Taking video production a step further, video over data networks can be used for video-on-demand services. Since the video can be encoded and stored digitally on hard drives, the only thing necessary to view it is a decoder. Hotels can use this technology to store movies and then broadcast them to rooms whenever guests want them. Because the movie is in a digital format, it can be paused, fast forwarded or reversed on the fly. This technology is already in use today in some homes. Products like TiVo, a digital-video recorder and accompanying service, encode and store television shows on a hard drive to be decoded and viewed at a later time. The quality is just as good or better than that of conventional VCRs, and the viewer can instantly skip ahead or reverse -- similar to the difference between fast forwarding on a CD and a cassette tape.