Hybrid meetings tech tips/suggestions

[doodah]

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 . 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.

 

[doodah]

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.

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 ****.

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.

 

[doodah]

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.

 

[doodah]

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..

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.