Will Cisco's Consumer Telepresence System Umi Replace Traditional TV Remote Equipment?

By Michael Silbergleid

Cisco announce the consumer version of its telepresence system, Umi, today. The system appears fairly robust, which begs the question: Will TV stations turn to Umi as a well to get decent quality remotes via broadband?

Here’s the system requirements:

• HD via HDMI out
• Minumum upload speed of 1.5 Mbps required for 720p Umi calls
• Minimum upload speed of 3.5 Mbps required for 1080p Umi calls
• Umi service plan of $24.99/month for unlimited calls (needed for both sides of the Umi call)

Umi adjusts based upon the speed of the broadband connection. The greater the bandwidth, the sharper the image. Cisco considers the image quality of 1080p with the minimum spcs as “optimal for clear, crisp calls and lifelike HD picture quality.”

The Umi system comes with a camera to connect to the Umi box. Best Buy and Verizon (for FIOS subscribers) will be carring Umi.