A method to convert HDTV videos of broadcast satellite to RealSystem multimedia contents.

Recently, the Internet is widely used in the field of medicine. Daily use of e-mail for medical communication is very common. Also various information regarding hospitals can be accessed via the network. Apart from this practical use of the computer network, the mediums of telemedicine, tele-education, and telecare are also available. The Medical Information Network via Communications Satellite for University Hospital (MINCS-UH; http://www.umin.ac.jp/mincs/) was constructed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. These programs feature high quality images viewed on High Definition Television (HDTV) through the Broadcast Satellite (BS). We have compiled a video library of MINCS-UH program contents with W-VHS tapes for HDTV and VHS or S-VHS tapesfor NTSC, available to medical staff in our university hospital through the Hospital local area network (Hospital intranet). We have also constructed a web-based streaming system that is a low cost, user-friendly multimedia delivery system capable of providing medical lectures. This system was constructed using the RealSystem package with the Internet Protocol (IP) network. Although the image quality of RealSystem is inferior to that of the original video, users can review lectures and medical congress presentations with video and audio through Hospital intranet, at any time that is convenient to them. This system can also be an efficient tool for distance learning and supports the diffusion of up-to-date information and technology to busy physicians via the Internet.