VideoHandshake.com

video-depostions • sales meetings • long-distance mediation • candidate interviews • videography • annual meetings

"Extend your reach."

Photo (taken from the Decatur, Georgia site's monitor in a video-deposition held in California) shows detail of scarring. The local site was able to remotely control the zoom function of the camera located at the remote site. (Photo used with express permission of the deponent.)

Photo of the Decatur site demonstrating a Power Point slide show (prepared in French by VideoHandshake) that is complimenting a lecture given to the World Trade Center in downtown Algiers, Algeria from Decatur. The document camera is also available to demonstrate operations or documents in real time.

FAQs

Q: How does VideoHandshake's technology compare to Skype's or that of an off-the-shelf webcam?

A: VideoHandshake offers high-end technology, a professional studio, and one-stop shopping, none of which you get from Skype or an off-the-shelf webcam.

More specifically:

Video Quality. With VideoHandshake's high resolution camera and monitors, and with the collaboration of the remote site, joining a videoconference in our studio is an experience that's as close as you can get to actually being at the remote location. Broken connections are extremely rare. Skype, on the other hand, does not use a direct (peer-to-peer) connection between sites. Its signal has to be relayed. Thus, its resolution suffers, and its video link is often interrupted.

Comfortable Viewing. You can only view a Skype session on your computer's monitor. If several people need to participate in your videoconference (such as attorneys, clients, court reporters, support staff, and videographers) crowding around a single computer monitor is awkward and inefficient at best.

Sound Quality. VideoHandshake's sound system offers crisp, clear audio in perfect sync with its video. The quality of the voice transmission over VideoHandshake's VTX technology is without equal. Participants in VideoHandshake's videoconferences can speak in normal tones of voice. Because court reporters must be able to hear and capture every nuance of a conversation, corner-cutting on the sound quality of a videoconferenced deposition is not a good idea. Skype is free, and you get what you pay for.

Echo Cancellation. VideoHandshake offers the echo cancellation one is accustomed to when talking on the telephone. (You don't hear your voice coming back to you from the other side.) Skype lacks crisp audio and echo cancellation. Skype even recommends the use of a headset, which helps to cancel the echoes. But using a headset is impractical, if not impossible, with multiple participants at each location.

An Immersive Experience. A real-life deposition is more than just "talking heads." VideoHandshake's videoconferences allow a participant to see and be seen, and to show documents and other materials to participants at remote locations. Using our studio's integrated document camera and multiple monitors, an attorney can highlight a portion of an exhibit or point out a location in a photograph to the witness while each participant can simultaneously view (i) the exhibit and (ii) each other. Try doing that with Skype and personal web cams. You can't. Until Star Trek's transporter technology is perfected ("Beam me up, Scotty!") our system is the best available technology to simulate the verbal and visual language necessary for an effective deposition.

Field of View. Our studio camera, when it's not panning or zooming, can enlarge its field of view to 130 degrees, while maintaining almost-as-good-as-being-there resolution and clarity. Plus, with the layout of our studio (a wedge or trapezoid shape) up to ten people at time can easily see and be seen from remote sites. With off-the-shelf webcams or Skype, you're lucky to get more than about one-and-a-half "heads" in a view as the participants huddle around a single webcam.

Control. Videoconference participants can typically take control of the remote site's camera to pan or zoom the remote camera to give themselves a preferred view of the remote site and to confirm just who is present at the remote site.

Multi-Point. Our multi-point abilities allow us to link up to four different locations into a single videoconference. Skype can only do two.

Security. There are security issues with Skype. Opening a Skype session in an office can also open a virtual door to viruses and other nastiness. We guarantee you won't get a computer virus by attending a VideoHandshake videoconference.

Neutrality. There are obvious advantages to having a neutral professional location at which different parties may have to conduct business, a deposition, or an interview.

Full Service. VideoHandshake is plugged into a global network through which we can source and coordinate remote sites, court reporters, videographers and similar professionals. Skype does not provide coordination of services.

Our technology is designed for business. And it means business.

Q: Can I use Skype or a Mac to connect to a videoconference in your studio?

A: No. Their protocols are different. For more detailed technical requirements to participate in a videoconference don't hesitate to contact us.

Q: What does videoconferencing cost?

A: A typical one-hour session will run you under $200 per location. The factors that determine the ultimate cost include the duration of the session, the time of day during which the session is held, the degree of effort required to handle unusual logistics, membership in one of our affiliate organizations, whether a bridging service is required to address cross-protocol compatibility, and other value-added services.

Q: What value-added services can VideoHandshake contribute to my video sales conference?

A: Consider just one example. Our consultants can prepare Power Point slide shows and document camera (i.e.. Elmo) procedures that coordinate seamlessly with your video conference. While we broadcast your image and your voice on one monitor, we can simultaneously display a Power Point slide show or a close up document camera procedure to complement your message on the other monitor. Your audience can see, hear, and interact with you in real-time while the slide show that gives your message extra impact is broadcast in dual-monitor mode. Other services can include court reporting, videography, and catering.

Q: I've been giving conferences and lectures to live audiences for years. Why would I need your assistance with something as mundane as a Power Point slide show?

A: The variables presented by the web-video environment (including occasional bandwidth and technological limitations) impose approaches and solutions that one familiar with traditional methods of communication may not anticipate. Our experience coordinating web video sites and conferences around the world (sometimes up to four sites at a time) have taught us that the challenges and solutions one finds in any two web video conferences are never exactly alike.

Q: Can I do the videography for a deposition from your studio of a deponent who is at a far site?

A: Yes. The final product is pretty good. For an example, take a look at the split-screen expert deposition done in our studios via the following YouTube link:

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Contact / Directions

315 W. Ponce de Leon Avenue
Suite 250
Decatur, Georgia 30030 (USA)
1-877-737-7518

long-distance arbitration • board meetings • annual meetings • video lectures • video-depositions• sales meetings