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last update 06/28/2008  

 

 

REMSEM ™ Homepage

Video Conferencing + Remote PC all-in-one Software

Werner Kaminsky

Office (206) 543-7585  Lab (206) 543-0210
kaminsky@chem.washington.edu  

  • Easy to use,  free, optimized for teaching, working from home, and  presentations

  • No signing up, no server in-between: ENCRYPTED Peer-to-Peer connection: only for retrieving a computer's IP address is a third-party server provided; for convenience only, if wanted

  • Remote office capabilities including drag-and-drop file up- and downloading , full keyboard and mouse support

  • Bi-directional sound / video, unrestricted PowerPoint® presentation remotely controlled by the speaker with shared mouse and keyboard

  • REMSEM allows to save a movie or audio of the talk online or offline

  • presentation quality layout without frames and disturbing buttons

  • REMSEM uses only little internet bandwidth and works inter-continentally (12 kilo bytes per second  for the sum of incoming and outgoing data) for the highest image and sound quality (about only twice of a dial-up connection)

  • Automatic detection of audio driver, camera, or DSL-modem and works even without cameras attached and automatically reconnects in case of trouble

 
How REMSEM connects:

REMSEM requests an identifier like the email address at program start. To connect, retrieve this email from your contact he used and use that when starting to give a talk. REMSEM then retrieves the active IP of the remote computer via a name server and  connects directly to the other machine - no server in-between - all automatically build into REMSEM. 

 REMSEM

DOWNLOAD

3.853 MB (free for personal use)

Requirements

Windows  2000 / XP, 10MB space on hard drive for installation, internet connection via DSL, cable, or LAN, installed windows compatible web cam of any brand, installed soundcard + microphone, Powerpoint®, 128MB Ram. Runs on PC of any brand, MacBook Pro with Windows XP (Boot Camp utility)

Firewalls and ports

REMSEM uses ports 10000-10004. To receive a talk, any firewalls and modems need to be configured allowing these ports to accept incoming calls; to give a talk, the firewall needs to let outgoing calls initiated by REMSEM pass through these ports. Companies which usually have very restricted internet and port policies may need to acquire a DSL modem for running the internet separately from the company network and a computer not connected to the company network to safely open these ports for using REMSEM.

HELP

Check out features and how to use REMSEM via this Powerpoint® presentation

Movie 

Check out REMSEM via a movie created with REMSEM (MPEG 10.32Mbyte, 12 minutes)

Movie 

Check out REMSEM via a movie created with REMSEM (DIVX 5.69Mbyte, 12 minutes)

Movie 

Learn how to make movies with REMSEM (MPEG 3.69Mbyte 6 minutes

Reasons for getting REMSEM

  • Want to have access to office computer from home
  • Need to give a lecture but cannot go because of the weather, an illness, being on a conference
  • Ran out of travel funds to visit
  • As a single parent can't just leave to give a talk
  • Need to invite a famous speaker who would allow but a few hours of his time to speak to a class
  • Organize a conference and want to give speakers a way to participate who at the last minute got problems to come 
  • Do not like to travel but want to speak to another group
  • Missed your flight or flight got canceled
  • Got to give two talks almost the same day at different locations
  • Need to give a series of lectures on a regular basis at a far remote location
  • Presentation includes movies, programs, VRML, JAVA or other animations
  • Do not travel to reduce fossil fuels consumption.
  • Seminar representative is inexperienced in things like video conferencing and needs a really easy to handle software
  • Want to share photos with friends
  • Need to show how to handle a program installed on a client's computer
 

Compare REMSEM to MS Net Meeting, Adobe Acrobat Connect, MS Live Meeting, WebX, GoToMeeting.com

MS Net Meeting

 

Complicated to set-up presentation window; no simultaneous mouse sharing, larger bandwidth usage with desktop sharing; no rescaling of the shared desktop window; does not save audio or movie, does not wait to connect or will not reconnect and requires messenger service for connection by name.
Adobe Acrobat Connect $39/Month or $395/Year! remote users listen in - no real time objects in presentation; is not supported worldwide; requires 3rd party server to run; does not save movie, only audio. 
MS Live Meeting $375/Year! same problems as Net Meeting; remote users listen in - no real time objects in presentation; one-way audio only because of multi-user environment.
WebX

 

 Expensive (60 minutes are $20 per user), uses telephone for audio, video conferencing costs extra, multi user, not suited for presentations like REMSEM but allows companies to go out through port 80 without opening other ports.
GoToMeeting

 

 $49/Month or $468/year! Quite similar to Adobe Acrobat Connect. Multi user and the presentation runs on the side of the presenter. So much for movies or animated objects which when used will call for trouble for overseas connection.
TEST REPORTS (just started) 
Speaker Local Remote Connection Comment Money saved
Jana (8 years old daughter) Home Work DSL to LAN Perfect N/A
Werner Kaminsky Seattle, USA Cologne, Germany DSL to LAN Offered lectures that were cancelled on short notice; avoided an unnecessary trip ca. $2000
Werner Kaminsky Seattle, USA Madrid, Spain DSL to LAN Full talk given; pre-beta release REMSEM version; had some sound problems that needed fixing ca. $1500
Michael Glazer Oxford, England Seattle, USA DSL to LAN Connection test, worked fine, pre-beta REMSEM version needs some layout improvements N/A

In remote office mode one would see the whole screen of the connected PC
  • Drag and drop multiple files to and from the remote PC
  • Edit in Word or other applications
  • All (normal) keyboard and mouse functions supported
  • Run programs remotely
  • Bidirectional audio contact while working remotely
The picture on the right shows the program on the  speaker screen during connection with the sample presentation running.

The class (seminar side) will see similar images like the one on the right which fills the whole screen with a video of the class and that of the speaker.  


Department of Chemistry
University of Washington
Box 351700
Seattle, Washington, 98195-1700
Voice: (206)543-1610
FAX: (206)685-8665  

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