I have a VP200, and it is a nice model.
I have a VP200 too and think it's a great videophone designed for Deaf users.
I noticed that the TV screen is a "snowy" when I contact someone with her/his VP100.
I noticed the same thing too. However, I think the problem is that the VP200 video processor is better quality than the older VP100 video processor.
Another reason is that I like to have an Ojo because I didn't want to miss a TV show so I have two eyes - one is for Ojo and another is VP200.
You can solve your TV dilemma by doing one of several things: Get a TIVO DVR to record your favorite shows...once you get in habit of using a TIVO, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it before; use a light signalling system to tell you a call is coming in, then use a audio/video switcher device to switch to your VP200 video input to your TV. Of course, with the OJO, no switching is required...I love the integrated screen on my OJO.
(Someone told me that Ojo is much clearer than the VP200, but she doesn't have the Ojo.
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Having both OJO and VP200, I can tell you that picture quality is similar (as long as you call direct to same device i.e., OJO to OJO or VP200 to VP200). If you call from OJO to VP200, the picture on the VP200 is very grainy, but the picture on the OJO will be very clear. The technical reason I believe is that the OJO uses a more advanced MPEG4 video codec to send video, but the VP200 doesn't have the necessary MPEG4 video decoding capability, so the VP200 receives the OJO video stream and displays it in MPEG2 format, meaning the video quality is basically cut right in half. On the other hand, the VP200 sends MPEG2 video data to the OJO, and the OJO's powerful MPEG4 decoder easily can handle the older video standard data. I hope no one got confused by this explanation
I forgot to tell you that I think that Ojo's tech support service is somewhat poor, but it does give you to look up the links that you are looking for the answers without the agent's "personal" e-letter. I am not saying that they are afraid to write to deaf people, but it seems that way.
I've sent messages to SnapVRS technical support a few times in the last couple of weeks, but received no response. However, my friend suggested I try the SnapVRS chat connection on their website. I got someone within a couple of minutes and had a good chat with a technical support person about a couple of my OJO issues. Their knowledge database is quite extensive, which is helpful for most things.
I guess that the Ojo is a very small company with a few employees. Who knows.
Actually, the company that makes the OJO is called
WorldGate Communications. They made the OJO originally for hearies and they still market them to hearies. It so happens that Snap Telecommunications, the company that owns/runs SnapVRS, is now under Aequus Technologies. Aequus and Worldgate have an
agreement for Worldgate to provide OJOs for SnapVRS purposes.
I am rooting for SnapVRS and Worldgate to succeed with the OJO. I think that SnapVRS will work hard to ensure that the OJO meets our Deaf telecom needs by working with Worldgate as needed. For example, I recently contacted SnapVRS tech support about how to connect my Alertmaster light signaller to the OJO. I was told that there's no way to do that. Must use a light flasher that depends on sounds from the OJO ringing (rather than pluging in a telephone line.) The tech support person suggested that SnapVRS is looking into the possibility of enabling OJOs to allow plug-in light flashers sometime in the future. If they continue to work to make the OJO more deaf-friendly, it will certainly gain favor in amongst us Deafies.