Having a voice chat over the internet (nerdy VOIP) used to be somewhat of a start-stop conversation from Earth to the Moon. But technology has advanced so much that we’re back to square one again, for HD-video calling actually. Voice data might have been improved and optimized to be small and easy to transfer, but not for HD videos.

“Current low-delay video technologies require either a much higher bit-rate or rely on very expensive dedicated hardware,” said Dr.NikolausFaerber, low-delay video project manager at Fraunhofer IIS. “However, Fraunhofer’s solution is based on PC hardware, which is widely available at a very competitive price. The result is an HD video conferencing system for the home that delivers the best possible communication experience at a low cost.”

When more than half of the world are still running on 10Mbps Broadband or even lower, transferring a HD video in a two-way monologue is seriously a pain in the shiny butt of Bender. But fear not, as this might all change soon. Product research company Faunhofer is working on a new device, an encoder card actually, to kill the lag and speed up your data transfer. The card will be able to do hardware squashing of HD video via H.264 and audio via AAC, while filtering echoes and background sounds to minimize the size of the video. The system is said to even able to reduce hiccups on your streaming, and improve your network. A sub-100ms lag is the target, but don’t expect immediate availability for this new technology.

“The combination of Fraunhofer’s low-delay video technology and Audio Communication Engine will enable truly outstanding video conferencing experiences in the home,” said Ian Kegel, Research Group Leader at BT Innovate & Design and Technical Delivery Manager in the TA2 project. “Because the communication is so natural, users feel as if they are in the same room whether they are playing a game, interactively sharing videos or just having a conversation. This same-room feeling means that distance between people no longer impacts the quality of their communication and relationships.”

SOURCE via Engadget