LifeSize: Express lane to telepresenceLifeSize offers four conferencing solutions, but all meet the company's criteria for telepresence: People need to appear life-size, in high-definition, full 30-fps video, but without a high price.

The product line starts with LifeSize Express 200 ($5,999 or $6,999), which I tested. The codec (main unit) is about the size of an 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper and a little over 1 inch thick. LifeSize Team ($10,000) lets you add an additional HD camera. LifeSize Room ($17,000) ups video to 1080p quality. And the Conference solutions ($39,000 to $49,900), with four monitors, compete favorable with the HP, Cisco, and Teliris products -- but at one-tenth the cost.

Common across all LifeSize products is superb audio and video performance. Video starts at high-definition 1,280-by-720-pixel resolution over the open Internet (as long as you have between 1Mbps and 2Mbps bandwidth). Therefore, there's no incremental networking cost. Full-duplex, high definition audio (with echo cancellation) lets participants have natural conversations. Dual streaming permits sharing of a computer screen or other digital video source.

Unlike high-end solutions, which are sometimes too heavy to be installed in standard conference rooms, all LifeSize systems can be placed inside of any office space, with no special lights or other physical requirements.

Moreover, standards are extensive (H.261, H.263, H.263+, H.264, and H.239), so LifeSize systems can interoperate with most other standards-compliance conferencing systems, without a gateway.

Hooking up LifeSize Express 200's remarkably small codec is simple because the backplane is uncluttered, sockets are logically arranged, and the number of cables is kept to a minimum. I made five easy connections: power, network, camera, HD video monitor (using a single HDMI cable for both audio and video), and microphone pod. The just-released model I tested has a second HDMI output to connect another HD monitor (which is used to display content from a PC).

After making a few initial settings, such as creating a room password, via the remote control, I was ready to make my first call. In all, I went from unboxing to making my first call in about 15 minutes.

Advanced configuration is done from a Web-based management tool, which is localized for 14 languages. The context-sensitive user interface makes it easy to create address book entries (up to 1,000 local entries are possible), change video or networking settings, and perform other similar tasks.

The difference between the two Express 200 models is that the lower-priced unit has a fixed autofocus camera, while the more expensive system that I tested includes an upgraded PTZ camera. In quantity, its 10 presets (any combination of pan, tilt, and zoom settings) don't match the 100 you get with the Polycom QDX 6000 but should be ample for most situations. Moreover, LifeSize camera's autofocus worked quickly and reliably.