Hybrid meetings tech tips/suggestions

doodah

doodah

doodah

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
28,425
Location
London
As the tin says. I'm usually the unofficial IT guy in my teams/offices at work and one bugbear of late - finding a good solution for hybrid meetings. Some of our meeting rooms are kitted with a half decent giant TV video conferencing solution, but some are more geared towards teaching and so these setups aren't good for roundtable meetings. We are currently trialing different video and audio solutions, with the latest being the Owl (a big speaker with a 360 camera and microphone). It's cool how it tracks people in meetings but the camera quality is awful (1080p apparently), the microphone(s) don't do a good job beyond a few people and it costs £1,000. How!?

The only thing I can settle on is using a USB conference mic (currently have a £30 one and a £200 version) but even this has its limits when the table/room becomes too long. It would be good if there was a product that daisy chained conference mics but they acted as one. USB extenders are now my friends these days :cry:. And finally, any recommendations on USB cameras suited for these situations that don't cost £1k but provide decent video quality?

Edit - potential hit for sound/microphone. The Anker PowerConf S500 which is a speaker/microphone combo, seemingly certified for Zoom Rooms (not just personal use) so up to 12 people but you can also daisy chain 2 of them which would be ideal.
 
Last edited:
I've yet to see a really good solution, in my experience the biggest influencing factor is the setup of the room, moreso than the mics sometimes. If you have an echoey room, it's a problem. If you have an open plan meeting area, it's a problem. If participants aren't distributed evenly and fairly closely around the mics, it's a problem.

Probably the best setups I've seen have had a 'round the table' approach, with a single master mic (tripod thingy, not sure on the proper name) and then satellite speakers one or both ends (assuming a rectangular shape). Of course you then have to make sure the VC screen is in the right place. Can also be an issue if people have crap eyesight like me - I've been in plenty of meetings where I can't read the text unless I shuffle away from my position at the table.

I can't offer any guidance on specific equipment though.
 
Last edited:
doodah said:
As the tin says. I'm usually the unofficial IT guy in my teams/offices at work and .....
Click to expand...


Maybe they should make you the OFFICIAL IT guy and provide a suitable budget to implement a proper solution, rather than risk your rep putting something **** in? Just a thought. There is no cheap solution for a proper solution. I mean for reference I've used several types costing thousands which were ****.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, we don't mind paying (within reason) providing it's a good product. But £1,000 for trash can with what looked like 200p video quality and crappy microphones is laughable.
jaybee said:
Maybe they should make you the OFFICIAL IT guy and provide a suitable budget to implement a proper solution, rather than risk your rep putting something **** in? Just a thought. There is no cheap solution for a proper solution. I mean for reference I've used several types costing thousands which were ****.
Click to expand...
The set up we have is unfortunately complicated, two different oraganisations so two different IT policies and infrastructures. And I haven't been asked to do this, I just manage some meetings/events and would like to find a portable solution that I or anyone in our office could set up. The rooms set up with proper conferencing do a half decent job but you can't always get them when you want.
 
We use a Poly Studio conference camera, generally excellent (have tried a few others). Can't remember the model but this one can follow the speaker with digital PTZ, snap to the next speaker, slow pan etc. Audio pickup is excellent (whispering at the far end of the room is intelligible) and it has half decent speakers built in

Edit: it's also USB plug and play, shows up as a webcam. The config software is only needed to set up and it's well worth dialling in good settings for the room.

edit2: iirc it was £700, ex VAT I believe
 
Last edited:
doodah said:
We are currently trialing different video and audio solutions, with the latest being the Owl (a big speaker with a 360 camera and microphone). It's cool how it tracks people in meetings but the camera quality is awful (1080p apparently), the microphone(s) don't do a good job beyond a few people and it costs £1,000. How!?
Click to expand...
I wonder if yours is faulty, we've got a couple of Owls knocking about at HQ and I've been on several Teams meetings with people using it and can't say that the image quality looked in any way poor to me.

The audio was pretty good too.
 
Last edited:
I just feel your on to a loser from the off in that you want it to be portable. That doesn't tend to be a typical usage case aligned with high quality. But still...seem to be a few products out there. Good luck.
 
Have to say, the Owl thing had a pretty awful security issue a few months back. Like, unplug it and factory reset it kind of bad. We had one at a temporary office and while it technically had a good camera, it was always cropping down to poor resolution to focus on individual people. And its behaviour around that focus and activation was just a bit bonkers. Wasn't impressed with it, being on the receiving end at home.
 
Well after another patchy hybrid meeting, some of the higher ups are acting on this. Going back to ICT and have some proper budget committed. I think daisy chaining the microphone/speaker will be a good enough portable solution, it's just adding video to that I'm not sure which way to go. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
We use this, works alright. You can buy additional microphones I think, so we have a conference table that has two microphones.

www.onedirect.co.uk

Logitech Group Videoconferencing System

1080p HD video with 30fpsFull-duplex speakerphoneDockable remote control for pan, tilt, zoom and navigation 90-degree field of view with 260-degree pan10x HD zoomPlug&Play camera setup Up to 14 participantsLOGITECH TAP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEAMS
www.onedirect.co.uk www.onedirect.co.uk
 
Cisco Telepresence system like the ones shown on the show 24. My previous employer has quite a few of these systems and while the cost was about $150,000 each, they were awesome. I mostly used them to communicate with colleagues in Australia and Korea and it was like the colleagues were in the same room as me.
 
We're in the process of something similar, although we have to get an "approved" solution, so we're looking at Polystudio X50 and expansion mics. The X50 is just over £2k so well over the budget you've suggested, we've tried some of the lower end solutions and they dont perform as well.
 
Logitech webcam and Jabra 510 speaker/microphone.. Cheap and everyone likes it, the logitech 1080p webcam is crystal clear, nice wide field of view.. easily sits on top of the 65" Tvs we use in each meeting room..
 
Demon said:
Logitech webcam and Jabra 510 speaker/microphone.. Cheap and everyone likes it, the logitech 1080p webcam is crystal clear, nice wide field of view.. easily sits on top of the 65" Tvs we use in each meeting room..
Click to expand...
Any models for the Logitech? Yeah it's the Jabra speaker/microphones I'm considering suggesting to buy, though think I've trailed a higher end model.
 
doodah said:
Any models for the Logitech? Yeah it's the Jabra speaker/microphones I'm considering suggesting to buy, though think I've trailed a higher end model.
Click to expand...
We have a few, e.g. the Logitech Pro C920 is the most common, we have 20+ of those.

We also have some bullet style microsoft webcams (Lifecam Pro/HD) which get good reviews, it's just their field of view is s touch narrow for some of our rooms.

We do have 1 x Jabra 710's and I think the MS Teams specific one (750?), £200 or so, we feel they aren't that good VFM compared to the 510, but if you are just doing it for larger meeting rooms, then why not, the 710/750 just adds a bit more bass/volume and a slightly fuller microphone as well, and it looks nicer!
 
Last edited:
I'm fighting this exact same battle - echoey rooms, directional microphones not picking people up, multiple people on laptops in the same room causing feedback - it's a nightmare. Even if the tech is working nicely, an echoey room can make it impossible to follow a conversation remotely, or even figure out who is talking. With much of our communication being non-verbal (reading body language for cues, etc), even the perfect set up can unintentionally alienate remote participants.

IMO, if one person is remote, we all are. Laptops and headphones for every participant, regardless of where they may be located.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom