Can’t say I disagree. And yet, most uses of the technology today is for video calling.

webRTC is more than “Skype”

And how will that fix the usability issues?

Jim, thanks for the inputs. I am wondering how much real uptake and use Skype sees in consumer TVs. My guess is that it doesn’t amount to much.

Michael,

Thanks for mentioning it. I have seen that VUC. I just didn’t remember it when I wrote this post.

Serge, that’s true. These products (=TVs and STBs) are just not designed for real time conversations at the moment.

In the early days of Skype on TV each vendor had its own proprietary operating system. Some had built a relationship with Skype. And you had to have a special top-mountable webcam with a microphone – most were offered on the Freetalk brand. (Only a few remain available.) Some vendors built a webcam/mic into their set but that appears to be dying away. At CES 2015 it started to become apparent that the TV vendors were realizing they needed to use an industry standard (forked) Android setup to build an application base that could be updated and promoted, etc. Some vendors also have the ability to continue watching TV while on a Skype video call. At one point Skype claimed to be installed on over 50 million sets and I still see it being promoted on the boxes of TV sets at, say, Costco.

At CES 2012 Tely Labs launched TelyHD. Built around an Android fork with a webcam and microphone suitable for room size environments it works with any HDMI TV set and provides an excellent quality Skype video call; it is still available as Tely HD Base Edition for US$249. However, Tely Labs realized they needed to work with other Video conferencing vendors and now have a Tely HD Pro which works interoperably across several conferencing services.

I have also reviewed all the Skype for TV options in my recently published book Experience Skype to the Max – available on Amazon. I did check out Tely HD’s latest updates as one element of the research for this book.

BTW, you make an excellent point in mentioning that watching TV is a “lean back” experience while actively participating in a call is a “lean forward” experience.

Comcast launched a Skype option that involves renting an extra hardware box for $10/mo. No-one wanted it.

Skype is available on many Smart TVs. It required an optional hardware module with a camera and microphone array. Consumer uptake of this function is immeasurably low.

Comcast has used WebRTC to good effect in their X1 Cloud DVR, specifically with regard to the Share function that was shown in VUC 536.

http://www.voipusersconference.org/2015/vuc536/

Also…http://allthingsd.com/20120104/cisco-kills-umi-video-conferencing-product/