Skype comes to HD TVs

Posted on 5 Jan 2010 at 17:51

Fans of pretty much any sci-fi film can rejoice, as video calls are coming to our TVs thanks to a deal signed by Skype with HD TV manufacturers.

A partnership with Panasonic and LG will see the two companies make internet-connected TVs with built-in Skype clients. Both companies will offer specially-designed webcams that plug into the TV so that video calls can be made.

Skype has also announced that video calls can now be made in HD at a resolution of 720p (1,280x720) at up to 30fps. This follows on from several manufacturers releasing 720p webcams, such as the Trust Widescreen HD Webcam. When we reviewed this camera, we said "those who want to video chat in HD should wait for popular software support first", which would appear to be now.

"With HD-quality Skype video calls, we can bring our users even closer to the ones they love through an even richer, more meaningful video calling experience," said Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype. "Imagine being able to see the sparkle of your grandchild's eyes or the setting of your best friend's engagement ring. Through the innovation of Skype's engineers and our hardware partners, these scenarios are now possible without having to buy expensive equipment or software."

The downside of the new technology is the bandwidth it requires: Skype recommends that you have 800Kbit/s of bandwidth available in both directions. This is a lot of bandwidth, particularly as the best 8Mbit/s broadband connection we've seen has only a 1.3Mbit/s upload capability.

You can try out the HD features by downloading Skype 4.2 Beta for free. You'll need an HD webcam and a PC with a 1.8GHz dual-core processor to stream HD video.

Author: David Ludlow

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