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Technology
World's First Video Call Took Place 50 Years Ago Today Using Picturephone Mod II

AllNewsAppsScience And Future
Technology
News
World's First Video Call Took Place 50 Years Ago Today Using Picturephone Mod II
NEWS
3 years ago


WORLD'S FIRST VIDEO CALL TOOK PLACE 50 YEARS AGO TODAY USING PICTUREPHONE MOD II

Monit Khanna
Updated on Jul 01, 2020, 13:09 IST- 1 min read -173 Shares


Today, with most of us following social distancing norms amidst the COVID-19
pandemic, video calls are the best way to interact and talk with our loved
ones. 

Most of us are making the most of video conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Meet
and so many others to talk and stay connected in times where connecting
physically can be dangerous. 

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Reuters



Some are using this for casual communication whereas some are using it for work,
many are even using the technology for studies. It has surely been a boon to us.
However, did you know, the first-ever video call took place 50-years ago, today?





JUMP TO

 * World’s first commercial video call
 * What is Picturephone Mod II
 * Expensive video calls




WORLD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL VIDEO CALL

No, I’m not talking about video calling on an app as we do right now. Exactly 50
years ago on July 1st 1970, a revolutionary phone call took place between
Pittsburgh mayor Peter Flaherty and Alcoa CEO John Harper on a device that was
called Picturephone Mod II.

In that era, it was called as a videophone and this phone call was the first
commercial video-calling device that could be owned by someone, meaning, that
the Picturephone could be installed at your home or office.

AT&T/ CMU



You can see the video of the mayor and Alcoa CEO’s conversation at the time,
with people cheering and applauding the revolutionary way of making calls. In
the 1970s 38 such phones were installed in 8 companies in Pittsburgh.



WHAT IS PICTUREPHONE MOD II

Picturephone Mod II was a small and futuristic looking device in a cube-like
shape, featuring a 5.5-inch black and white CRT display with a 250-line
resolution as well as a refresh rate of 30 interlaced frames per second.

The camera atop the unit wasn’t the best but it got the job done. The resolution
was roughly similar to a 0.8-megapixel camera seen today. The device also had an
ability to screen-share, sort-of. It had a mirror which could be flipped to show
documents on the desks. 



CMU


EXPENSIVE VIDEO CALLS

Using the feature was surely not cheap. AT&T charged people $160 a month to use
it which when compared today is similar to $1,092 (approximately Rs 77,000) and
you’d get 30 minutes of call time.

AT&T had believed that by 1975, over 100,000 will go live on its network, but
due to its expensive nature, it didn’t quite catch on and only 450 mods were in
use till 1973. The company spent nearly half a billion dollars developing the
technology and didn’t give up, bringing different iterations with better
features, until finally giving up in the 90s.



Regardless, it is an iconic feat that cannot really be ignored. To celebrate
this, on the 50th anniversary, the current Pittsburgh mayor William Peduto and
Alcoa chairman Michael G. Morris conducted a video call today. Carnegie Mellon
University has a couple of Mod II’s that it has upgraded to support current
video-conferencing technologies. 


Check out the first commercial video call below:




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