Andrei Jefremov
Video is a massive thing, even though Skype doesn’t have it yet. It’s no secret that we are working on it and keeping a close eye on many of the video add-ons already out there for Skype. So today’s Featured Skyper talk is with one of the Skype video developers, Andrei Jefremov, who spends his days tinkering in our Research Labs on core video and sound technologies.
Photo by Siim Teller
]]>**When did you first hear about Skype?**
Long before Skype was launched, I was contacted by Skype Team and asked if I could share my views on technical aspects of such interesting problem as transmitting high quality voice in real time over IP networks. We have kept in contact ever since.
**What do you do at Skype?**
Development of the Video Engine takes the bulk of my time now. I am happy to work (I should really say “privileged”) on all levels here: design, implementation and optimization. I also work with technology providers making sure that technology we buy/license fits perfectly into our solution. So I basically have to make sure that as the result of our hard work on this field we get results we can be proud of. Having my roots in speech signal processing I also work with speech related aspects of Skype. This involves brainstorming solutions to current problems, evaluation of current technology and keeping keen eye on up and coming solutions.
**What do you like most about working for Skype?**
I won’t be original on this page: The Team. Very professional team to work with. There’s this amazing sense that anything can be achieved and nothing is to big or complex to handle. This team doesn’t just apply standard solutions to standard problems, they solve problems that many didn’t and still wouldn’t dare to touch. And we do it in an elegant and innovative way. Working here one really does see the effect of his/her actions and gets immediate feedback on the results from all over the world.
(This interview also appears on our [Insider View](http://www.skype.com/company/jobs/insiderview/) page, where you can find brief stories with many more Skype people. We’ll occasionally re-publish and extend some of those here on blogs.skype.com.)
Are you looking at other audio codecs and software? I believe Gips has the best quality and has been a big factor in Skype’s success.
Hi Andrei! – I was wondering what codec technology you’ve choosen, assuming it’s not a proprietaty Skype format. I red somewhere that it will not be a standards based codec (MPEG4, H263, …), but something proprietary, more advanced at low bandwith. That doesn’t leave to much choice I guess (don’t expect it to be Microsoft WM9 or 10). Is it the codec of On2 (VPx) or doesn’t Skype want to unwrap the video technology of choice? – Mark
sorry folks – we don’t discuss the internals at this time (yet).
Hey Jaanus!
Keep the staff interviews going. They are great.
Andrei is real pro, does a fantastic job of “pushing the envelope”. I have really enjoyed working with him.
Regards, Bill
Why are you talking in the past Bill? We are still working with him
By the way great interview Jaanus! This blog is getting better by the day. It has earned a daily visit from me
IMHO staff interviews and user interviews should be put in different categories, not to confuse readers.
Regards,
Peter
c;est super:)
The prerequisite is SkypeX, not Skype COM wrapper. Please refer to “http://blogs.skype.com/directory/skypex/view/” .
I haven’t tried the newset 1.2 version. For previous 1.0 version, it can be download via “http://sheuming.myweb.hinet.net/download/SkypeX.zip”
Дабрый день просто хотел сказать что вы делаете офегительною роботу. так держыть
French interview :
http://telecharger-skype-fr.com/telephone-gratuit/209-interview-jefremov.htm