videoconference

A video telephone call involving more than two parties.Videophones originated with the AT&T Picturephone, which was demonstrated at the New York World's Fair in 1964. Never intended for practical application, the Picturephone required bandwidth of about 90 MHz, and weighing about 26 pounds. During the 1980s, AT&T, British Telecom, and others developed videophones that sold for less than $1,000. As the cost was high, as each party was required to have a videophone of the same manufacture, and as the picture quality was poor at 2 frames per second (fps), videophones were stunning failures. A contemporary videoconferencing system can be in the form of an expensive and complex room system, a portable and less expensive rollabout system, or a desktop PC