British Telecommunications Plc has a new videoconferencing coder-decoder, which it says builds on the CCITT’s H.261 videoconferencing codec standard that gives improved picture quality, particularly for motion compensation. The VC2300 codec is to be marketed both for use in the VC5000 Series 2 rollabout videoconferencing system, and as a stand-alone unit for use by systems integrators and PTTs. The picture enhancement feature is called H.261 Plus, and is said to be particularly effective at lower data rates in the 128Kbps to 384Kbps range, although it operates at speeds from 64Kbps to 2.048Mbps. No pricing information for it as yet.
