Dial a face

Press, 28 January 1986, Page 17

Dial a face

From

CHRIS MOSEY

in Helsinki

The videophone, enabling telephone users to see who they are speaking to, and using only conventional telephone lines for transmission, is already a reality. And, say scientists at Finland’s Technical Research Centre in Helsinki, it will be available within five years at prices most householders can afford.

Already tested extensively in Finland, the videophone transmits live pictures in colour with a picture quality about half the normal resolution of a colour television set The prototype versions cost a little under $38,000 to build. “But by the late 1980 s or early 19905, the cost should be about the same as one of today’s mobile telephones,” says Harty Santamaki, who headed the four-man team which developed the videophone. The project was financed largely by the Finnish Government and the videophone took three years to develop, working

in conditions of almost military secrecy. ' , Even now, with the Finns having requested British Telecom to assist in the first international transmission test, probably next month, Santamaki is not giving much away. But he does note that a variety of patents have been applied for.

The Finnish videophone system consists of telephone, camera, and a “black box”, or Video Codec-64, which transmits the picture and can also be used to send documents, much as a telefac machine does today. The system has been developed as a desk-top phone plus screen, or as a “rollabout” console for video conferences. A special graphics console is also available, enabling participants at a video conference to show one another documents. — Copyright, London Observer Service.