Rating: 
Summary: Awesome - working across countries (USA-GERMANY)
Review: Bought this product before Christmas 2002, took it overseas to install two systems there, got one in addition here. Both my mother (67years) and my mother in law (72years) love it.Easy to use (just let them press the button for establishing the connection) and after 30s they see you and you see them (if you so desire).
While it takes a while for users to understand the limitations (don't move too much to not get choppy pictures, have good lighting, don't be too close, picture is a little delayed, ...) - both learned it pretty fast and are now VERY excited to be able to see and talk to their kids overseas !! Advantages: + NO monthly fee (you pay once for the units and get a lot hours out of it),
+ works with every analog phone (couple adaptors/power supply needed to work in Europe with TAE phones and 220V - nothing Conrad.de could not provide)
+ ENHANCES contact (you get shown things you might never see otherwise "...look what I just bought/got as a present..."
+ no computer (with steep learning curve and boot up time) necessary (I tried netmeetings via broadband on my side and modem on the other - which did not work even close as well as this one!) Negatives
- no wireless setup available yet (if you prefer to walk around with your mobile phone like us that would be a nice enhancement (we use a conference phone right now which is sitting next to the frame)
- price... after a while you forget about the investment though if you see how much fun you just brought into the lifes of your relatives (!!!)
- no storage in the unit (connection ends - end of pictures) while the unit looks kind of nice like a picture frame the unit does not have storage and does not keep pictures for permanent display
- relatively small LCD and no hookup for standard displays like TV - that would be a nice enhancement module Technology hopefully improves further but of course there are also the limitations of bandwith which a standard analog line can provide - so this seems pretty much the best you will get for a ... setup. Summary:
Think about how much fun you want to share with people who are close to you and how much you want to invest
Rating: 
Summary: Defective out of the box
Review: I bought the "2 fer the price of 1" units. 1 for me, 1 for my folks in New England so they can see my daughter via the video phone. Seems like a good deal, right? The 2 pairs arrived to me in the Midwest. I kept one and shipped the other to New England. My folks and I set up our units only to discover their unit is defective and does not power up when plugged in. Great! Terrific! Now my folks have to repack and ship the defective unit to me. I then have to re-repack it and send it with my working unit back to Amazon. By the time we factor in all of the extra postage required for the returns and the forwarding this dual deal is hardly worth it. We are going to try again and I've ordered a replacement pair. I guess I'm a sucker. Is it too much to expect this product to work? Buyer beware. And patient.
Rating:
Summary: Good way to keep in touch with faraway relatives...
Review: I bought this for my parents and in-laws as a Christmas gift (so, shelled out for three units). They live in Brazil (where the quality of phone lines is not all that great!) and we live in US. Since they are not computer savvy to use netmeeting (this thing actually uses the same protocol...) or a similar computer tool, I needed another way to let them keep up with their grand-daughter. Let me start by stating that the instalation and operation of the Beamer is a no-brainer! That in itself is a God-send to people that are not technology-oriented (like grandparents might be...). It's also portable! So if the other party travels a lot (like retirees might do...), they can pack it up and take it with them - BUT ATTENTION, it will require an analog phone line to use. Another good thing is that it doesn't require monthly fees of any sort. You only pay for your regular phone call (obviously, if it's a long distance or international you'll pay the appropriate rate); there is no extra-cost for adding video to it. The quality of the image is acceptable even on international calls. Better than using netmeeting over dial-up connections, a little worse than using netmeeting over broadband connections. You can definitely tell who is the person you are talking to and see their facial expressions with accuracy. Attention: lighting is essential to obtain good results! The units are sturdy and look beautiful. The LCD screen does have some pixels that seem brighter or darker than others (I would call them dead pixels) - and this is mentioned in the manual, but nothing that compromises the experience. Finally, it is non-obstrusive. You can plug it to the phone and it will only come live if someone activates a beamer on the other side. Otherwise it is just a nice looking portrait-like thing over your desk. I give it four stars for two reasons: a) price wise it could be better. [it] is a lot of money for any appliance and to use this you need to buy at least two... b) it would be wonderful if this thing could use the internet to place the calls (kind of like a netmeeting machine). This would eliminate long distance calls (although you would have to pay for an ISP). It might add to the size of the unit, but certainly would cut the costs on communication.
Rating: 
Summary: Costly repair
Review: I bought two units of the beamer and sent one to my family. Turn out one unit is defective - something wrong with the camera. If I send it back to Vialta for repair, they charge me close to $100 + shipping. I think this is a ridiculous amount, as it is almost enough to get a new one.
Rating: 
Summary: Brought My Family Together
Review: I purchased Beamer for Christmas from Vialta's Online store. I found their split delivery to two addresses very helpful, so I sent one to my sister and one to me. We had it working in under 5 minutes. Beamer's design and ease of use are the best features. I am glad it did not come with a phone, because I'd rather be using my high quality panasonic rather than a packaged low quality one. The video transmission is better than I expected! It is choppy at times, but being able to see my sister and her kids without having to jump on a plane or wait for photos is so handy. This product delivers what it promises, plus it looks very stylish in my living room. Good stuff Vialta, can't wait to see your next product!!...
Rating:
Summary: Brought My Family Together
Review: I purchased Beamer for Christmas from Vialta's Online store. I found their split delivery to two addresses very helpful, so I sent one to my sister and one to me. We had it working in under 5 minutes. Beamer's design and ease of use are the best features. I am glad it did not come with a phone, because I'd rather be using my high quality panasonic rather than a packaged low quality one. The video transmission is better than I expected! It is choppy at times, but being able to see my sister and her kids without having to jump on a plane or wait for photos is so handy. This product delivers what it promises, plus it looks very stylish in my living room. Good stuff Vialta, can't wait to see your next product!!...
Rating:
Summary: not ready for prime time
Review: I read a review of this product where the reviewer cautioned that his beamer was defective right out of the box, but I chalked that up to pre-production glitches. The first pair of beamers I ordered also had a unit defective right out of the box- it was as if the horizontal hold on one display was turned all the way up. When the replacement pair arrived, one of those units went dark and stayed dead within 15 minutes of being plugged in. It seemed pretty easy to setup, just plug in the power and attach the phone cord in much the same way you would connect an answering machine. But I really can't recommend the product because of quality problems.
Rating:
Summary: not ready for prime time
Review: I read a review of this product where the reviewer cautioned that his beamer was defective right out of the box, but I chalked that up to pre-production glitches. The first pair of beamers I ordered also had a unit defective right out of the box- it was as if the horizontal hold on one display was turned all the way up. When the replacement pair arrived, one of those units went dark and stayed dead within 15 minutes of being plugged in. It seemed pretty easy to setup, just plug in the power and attach the phone cord in much the same way you would connect an answering machine. But I really can't recommend the product because of quality problems.
Rating:
Summary: Vialta's Beamer Videophone - Great Product!
Review: I received the Beamer as a Valentine's Day present from my boyfriend, who has been working in Europe for the last year and it does a great job of bridging the distance between us. The thing I liked most about the Beamer is that it's incredibly easy to use, it costs the same as a regular phone call, and the resolution was alot better then I had expected. We tried using web cams before and that was just a hassle to set-up. It's one of the best presents I've ever received and it's definately worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Product!!!!
Review: I recently purchased a pair of beamer phones to use between myself (I live in Idaho) and my grandparents (in Hawaii). These beamers work great! The picture is very clear and setup and use are so easy even grandma and grandpa figured it out. These video phones are worth every penny!
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