Videotelephony is a technology using simultaneous two-way transmissions of audio and video between electronic devices. Devices can be so called "videophones", but also computers. A videophone is a telephone with a display and a camera either attached to it or directly built-in. Videotelephony allows real-time communication including video between people at different locations.
History[]
Early concepts[]
Early concepts of videotelephony date back to the late 19th century, however, it took about another 50 years for the science and technology to be ready for very early trials.
Space Race[]
During the first Moon landing missions, NASA felt the need of simultaneous audio and video transmission from the Moon. In 1971, during Apollo 15, live audio and video from Molly Cobb's search for ice inside the Shackleton crater were transmitted to Mission Control in Houston. However, the video transmission was one-way only, the astronaut's on the Moon only received audio.[1]
Later, two-way video communication was established, both using external cameras, like during a speech from NASA Administrator Weisner before the launch of Apollo 23 in 1975, as well as with communication consoles with built-in cameras.[2]
Space Boom[]
During the following Space Boom, videotelephony became more widely spread. First used mostly in science and business, videophones started to become a common device also in private households in the 80s.[3]
In the 90s, miniaturization lead to smaller devices with integrated videotelephony applications. Apple ComputersW developed an attachable camera for its Newton MessagePad 120W, allowing video-calls also on a mobile device.[4]
Other forms of video communication[]
In the 90s, recorded video messages were also shared through d-mail, called "vidmail".[5]
Gallery[]
1970s[]
1980s[]
1990s[]
2000s[]
Behind the scenes[]
- Videophones in the real world have been around to some degree since the mid-20th century, although applications with video call function did not take off until the mid-2010s.
- The videophones seen in Season 2 of For All Mankind seem to be based on the PicturephoneW developed by AT&TW in the late 60s.
See also[]
External links[]
Videotelephony on Wikipedia- History of videotelephony on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 1, episode 5, "Into the Abyss"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 1, episode 6, "Home Again"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 2
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 3
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 3, episode 5, "Seven Minutes of Terror"