Skype has just announced a new standard interface for communication to H.264 encoding cameras. Called the Skype UVC 1.4 standard, it will become the de facto standard for video calling, giving silicon vendors the opportunity to develop chips for cameras that can handle the processing of video – eliminating the need for the computer’s CPU to be burdened with the decoding and encoding of video.
Camera manufacturers can then make use of these standardized chips in their cameras to speed up development of high quality cameras that ensure a great Skype video/voice calling experience, without having to worry about consumers having to deal with poor quality due to low bandwidth, insufficient CPUs or low quality webcams.
Texas Instruments, Logitech, Quanta, Ambarella, and Maxiam are already onboard with Skype UVC 1.4 and you can expect more vendors to pick it up as well in the near future.
Find out more at the Skype Developer Blog.