[AG-TECH] Status of vic support

[Osland, CD (Chris)]

Many thanks to Andrew, Robert and Lawrence who replied in
considerable detail to my request for information about
high res video streams in AG VIC session.

Their comments triggered a number of ideas,
but one theme that comes out is that, as far
as I can see, there is a danger that the generally released
video tool (roughly speaking UCL vic) is, through lack of an
ongoing support team, now less than what is really needed.
Lawrence e-mailed me some time ago about the history in this
area - that doesn't need to be re-iterated here.

First let me say that I have no wish to tread on toes, so please
tell me if work is already in hand in this area, and I'll sit down,
applaud and hopefully reap the benefits along with the rest of
the AG community.  Lawrence has told me what is in hand at his
site, and what he hopes may have some work done on it before the
end of this academic year.  In addition, I have to confess that
a prior engagement meant that I couldn't be at the latest
Town Hall meeting, at which I think this topic was mentioned,
so apologies to Ivan for that.

It does appear to me, from the information I have been given,
that the following statements may be true:

1.	UCL vic is the default video capture and display system
	distributed with the AG.

2.	UCL vic generally works fine at low resolution (the one
	that's something like 388x288) but has problems at higher
	resolutions.

3.	No-one is currently responsible for upgrading UCL vic,
	in a strict contractual sense [Lawrence, tell me if I'm
	wrong on this!]

4.	OpenMash vic addresses some of the deficiencies in UCL vic
	(of which high resolution is just one) but is not a complete
	solution either.

5.	OpenMash is itself not funded into the future [I'm not
	quite sure of the situation right this minute].

6.	There is a mission-critical dependency of the AG on a
	working, maintained and supported vic-like tool; support
	must include the tracking of upgrades to operating systems,
	computer hardware (e.g. new chipsets) and capture cards.

7.	There is a non-mission-critical requirement for
	development of applications - preferably as integral
	parts of the vic-like tool - such as higher resolution
	video.  DPPT/RPPT, RTPTV and VNC address this in a
	non-integrated way.

While I look forward with eager anticipation to the greater
integration, security and user friendliness that should result
from AG 2.0, I feel strongly that the tools at the base of the
system, notably vic as documented above, need the attention of
a funded support team.

Exactly how this would be distributed
and organized is beyond the scope of this e-mail, but there
appear to be people on both sides of the Atlantic who take
this matter seriously, although at present this unfortunately
does not include any funding sources!

In addition, from what was said at
the AG Retreat last February (was it really a year ago?!)
the Chinese AG community have themselves done quite a bit of
work on vic (I think it was vic rather than OpenMash),
claiming up to 50 simultaneous video feeds on
a display machine with reasonable hardware.  Whether that
work includes maintenance and development in any of the
areas mentioned above, I cannot recall.

I do not believe that relying on the AG community to provide
the required support on a goodwill basis will work - the support
needs to be funded on a formal basis.

Enough from me - I open the floor to comments, corrections
and expressions of alternative philosophies.

Cheers

Chris

____________________________________________________________________
Chris Osland                         Office tel: +44 (0) 1235 446565
Digital Media and Access Grid      Medialab tel: +44 (0) 1235 446459
BIT Department             Access Grid room tel: +44 (0) 1235 445666
e-mail:   C.D.Osland at rl.ac.uk               Fax: +44 (0) 1235 445597

CLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Bldg. R18)
Chilton, DIDCOT, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK

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