Rating: 5 WaterTowers
Every now and then I see a product that blows me away. It has been happening a lot lately (a good sign for technology) and it happened again last week with the Librestream Onsight.
The fact that it is one-way video (and I’m a two-way video kind of guy) is even more impressive!
TelBitConsulting says: The Librestream Onsight ease-of-use and naturalness / robustness of communication is superb.
What is the Onsight?
The Onsight is a hand-held device that is designed to be used in the field. Unique to the Onsight is the fact that it connects to the Internet or Intranet to send high quality video and two-way audio from the field to an expert anywhere in the world.
Using this camera and the Librestream SIP infrastructure, a remote expert on a Windows PC can work with the field person as easily as if they were both in the field.
Super cool.
TelBitConsulting Example
I am the developer of a a new electric vehicle (yeah…I just picked up a ton of stimulus money) and there is a problem with one vehicle in Lawrence, Kansas. Apparently the battery is not charging as quickly as it could be and the local mechanic (who has a PhD in Electrical Engineering) cannot figure out the problem.
PhD grabs the Librestream Onsight and turns it on. The shop area has WiFi connectivity and the Onsight in Lawrence shows up on my computer screen as being available. I double click on it and a few seconds later I see the inside of the shop from the perspective of PhD.
PhD takes me to the car and we look at every diode, chip, resistor, and capacitor in the control system. PhD loads the code and we observe the LCD panel’s error codes. Working the Librestreams markup capability I see something and circle a possible problem. An old fashioned cold solder connection. PhD fires up the soldering iron and fixes the problem. We both watch the charging process proceed normally.
Success!
Installation
The installation proceeded normally on my Toshiba laptop. Remember my laptop connects to the remote Onsight via the Internet. I can control it, see the video, and hear the audio.
Librestream sent me more detailed instructions for connecting to the SIP network, which was a bit more complicated, but the instructions were perfect and all I had to do was follow along step-by-step.
Once I had SIP working it was easy to connect.
Making a Call
Watch this Oscar nominated (I wish) documentary short showing how we used the Onsight one day last week.
UPDATE: The Librestream produced video has been uploaded….go here to see it!
Features
There are many features, here is a quick list.
1. Connection via 802.11 wireless network
2. Uses SIP
3. Battery operated
4. Embedded light source (see video)
5. High (~1 Mbps), medium (~250 kbps), and low (~150 kbps) bandwidth MPEG4 video. Note that they were all VERY clear and crisp.
6. Speaker and Mic controls and two-way audio.
7. Auto Focus or Manual Focus
8. Zoom (Note that there is no panning capabilty. The field person needs to point the camera in the right direction)
9. Recording Capability (stored on computers hard drive)
10. Snapshot capability (notice the quality)
11. Auto Answer (I called an Onsight that was pointing out the window, figure 1)
12. Two way audio
13. Annotations from either end.
Pricing
I know some of you have been asking….so to get pricing information you will need to email Librestream at information@librestream.com or, alternatively, you can fill out the contact form here.
Summary
The Librestream Onsight is a great tool for those needing remote expertise without requiring the remote expert to be physically on site.
Who can use it? Travel agents, air conditioner repair, pool leak detection, police, fire, ambulances, remote health facilities, insurance, news…..
Your imagination should run wild a bit to understand the potential uses.
Hmmm, I want to see the view outside my friends condo in Kauai. On the beach by the big log is where the original “TelBit Consulting” was born way back in 1995 or so (click on the panorama view).
TechyMike: Technology Made Easy 