Television vendors warm up to Skype

High-definition Skype conferencing will soon be available via TV sets

VoIP vendor Skype has announced a new deal which will embed video chat services on HDTV sets.

The company said that LG Electronics and Panasonic are both working on a new line of HDTVs which, when connected to the internet, will allow users to videoconference in 720p HD over a traditional IP connection. The sets are slated for release by the middle of 2010.

Additionally, the TV sets will be able to use the traditional Skype VoIP voice calling and videoconferencing services.

The deal is part of a larger HD conferencing roll-out for Skype. The new Skype 4.2 Beta release will be the first to support videoconferencing at an HD resolution. The service will support up to a 1280 x 720 resolution at 30 frames per second.

Skype hopes that the addition of HD chat will help the service gain popularity as users increasingly adopt high-resolution cameras and more powerful PC hardware.

"Imagine being able to see the sparkle of your grandchild's eyes or the setting of your best friend's engagement ring," said Skype chief executive Josh Silverman.

"Through the innovation of Skype's engineers and our hardware partners, these scenarios are now possible without having to buy expensive equipment or software."

To use the HD conferencing feature, users will need to use the Skype 4.2 beta for Windows along with an HD webcam and a minimum 1.8GHz dual-core processor.