The camera does the video encoding in the camera hardware and outputs an already encoded steam for the TV to transfer over the internet. That is why it is expensive and how the TV can handle this when it is so much less powerful than your computer processor. Do more research next time article writer.

I have a Panasonic 42" Plasma, and the internet, and video calling is great on that, but the computer handles the load. One wonders how resource hog skype ( will it use the chips memory to aid the overall skype system ? ) and the new 3D, will perform well all at the same time, when one or the other may give problems to the set as a whole ? Why could not skype come up with a box itself with a USB port, and ethernet connection so it can just suck of that boxes chip, and leave everything else alone ? I use oovoo for the reason that it does not take YOUR computer power, and add it toward the whole skype network, and the free version looks, and sounds great on the big screen TV. I think this is a potential stumble by Panasonic as they should have concentrated on making the best 3D set out there, if they fail on that, people will blame the skype feature.

Or make the remote control a microphone or portable webcam?

WiFi webcam might be the answer.

Maybe we can get proper videophone one our Mobile Phones for a reasonable price? Are video calls even included in price plans?

@bogie, an Arm chip could possibly encode/decode 720p video and audio streams, but it can't encrypt/decrypt it for Skype quick enough. Not yet...

It still use smoke signal... what about that, Chucky?

My phone is way off and I still hate when it rings, so now it's gonna ring on my favorite show? Damn...

Make something more useful, like something that turns hearing off!

Its about time they started integrating phones with TV's. Holding a handset is so 20th century. I'm sure an arm ship could handle the encoding/decoding, if not there's always the cell chip that is going to be in a toshiba TV soon.

I would expect that the "you're also having to buy a USB webcam at over-the-odds pricing." would also contain some pretty advanced microphony. Handling living room distances is very demanding from an acoustic viewpoint - the telly vendors and Skype can't have ignored that. I hear that Skype's audio engineering is at the tip of state-of-the-art, so an educated guess would be that most of the extra cost would relate to audio, not video, and be irreplaceable to make talking to your telly work...