Video transmission for telemedicine.

The transmission of moving pictures to remote locations is an important part of telemedicine. Although the first videoconferencing demonstrations were performed in the 1930s, the technology is still fragmented and its quality is sometimes too poor for it to be useful. Conventional television technology is analogue (the fundamental television standards were developed before the Second World War) and does not 'fit' the digital world very well. This paper reviews video transmission and videoconferencing technologies and the results that can be expected. While trained professionals may be able to make use of poor-quality video systems, real advances in telemedicine require studio-quality video, which is possible only with high-bandwidth technology.