Gallery: Polycom's video conferencing

This is the brains behind the Polycom HDX4000. It features a DVI in from your PC and a DVI out that goes to the display. The port on the upper left is a customized DVI port that has integrated power which powers the high-definition 720p camera.

This is the newly released Polycom HDX8000 which is a lower cost version of the HDX9000 released earlier this year. It comes bundled with the motorized remote controllable HD "Eagle Eye" camera ($5K by itself), mix array, and remote shown in the photo. I did ask Polycom why they didn't add an HDMI interface which carries audio and video data. When Polycom showed a video coming from a Blu-Ray HD player over the HD Video conferencing link, it had to be inputted via analog component video because of HDCP copy protection restrictions because Polycom didn't implement HDCP. In fairness, I haven't seen any other vendor provide HDMI yet.

This is the back of the HDX8000 which has a starting price of $11K which lets you have one camera input and one DVI input. For the $14K model, all the ports are enabled.

This is the Polycom HDX9000 launched earlier this year. It's designed to integrate in to a rack.

This is the back of the HDX9000. Prices start at $14K for the standard definition model. The HD models cost $17K for the 9002 and $20K for the 9004. Prices don't include the EagleEye HD camera which costs another $5K.

This is the EagleEye HD camera which supports 1280x720 resolution. It is motorized and can be remotely controlled.

This is the HDX Mic is similar in shape to the Polycom phones people are use to seeing in the offices. It is designed for use with Polycom's video conferencing systems.

This is the new HDX remote which can control everything including the motorized camera.

This is the HDX monitor and camera stand. The second display requires additional bandwidth and an addition video conferencing session. You can use something like Microsoft LiveMeeting or Cisco WebEX to do the data display which uses far less bandwidth but requires separate setup and pay-per-use.

This is the Polycom TPX tele-presence solution which costs $200K for the three screen 6 person version. It is essentially 3 HDX9000 series systems and 3 large Plasma displays plus the wood furniture. While the individual HDX9000 systems are compatible with other video conferencing solutions, there are no standards for merging the three screens and tele-presence solutions are all proprietary today. The system that was demonstrated to me at Polycom's office used ceiling microphones so that the desk could be wide open and not susceptible to noise generated from tapping the desk. However, I found this Mic arrangement less than ideal because the people on the other side had too much of a hall-way sound.