The History and Evolution of Video Conferencing

Like so many technologies, the concept of video communication and video conferencing was way ahead of the technology of its day. Soon after the telephone was invented in the late 1800s people were dissatisfied with just hearing the other party -- they also wanted to see the other party.

It was a long trip from the first video call to Zoom meetings with a dozen people -- and many steps toward video calls since they provided the only means of telecommunication for decades. Let’s go back to the beginning of video camera’s emergency and see how it evolved.

• 1800s

The concepts of video conferencing appeared from Bell Labs

• 1920s

The first stable and operational TV cameras entered the market, setting the stage for video communication.

• 1930s

AT&T（American Telephone and Telegraph) demonstrated a two-way video communication session between two AT&T offices indicating the birth of two-way video

• 1936s

Georg Schubert developed a prototype of modern video telephony that could be used for commercial purposes.

• 1950s and 1960s

Bell Telephone Laboratories created a prototype of a clear and stable two-way video communication system.

• 1980s

PictureTel was invented and take into commercial use

Some MIT students and their professor formed PictureTel Corp. in 1984. It invented the first commercial video codec for more efficient data transfers. In 1989, AT&T chose PictureTel for an international video conference. It provided two-way, real-time audio and full-motion video connections between PictureTel headquarters and the AT&T office in Paris. In 1991, PictureTel became an IBM multimedia business partner and pursued a PC-based video conferencing system.

• 1990s

Internet boom and digital telephony advancements. The first webcam in 1991 was formed. It provided a 129×129 pixel grayscale picture at one frame per second, pulling images three times per minute.

• 2000s

Rise of smartphones -- Skype, WhatsApp and FaceTime emerge

• 2002

Minrray was established and focused on camera industry

• 2018

Minrray launched highly competitive 4K P60 communication camera

• 2020

Coronavirus pandemic boost Minrray video conferencing development and earned many international reputation