Different Ways To Do A Video Conference – Personal And Professional
Jun 19, 2017
There are so many situations when we wish we could see and talk to another person/ few people – both for personal and professional reasons. In this article, we will explore the various ways in which we can do that as long as there is some form of connectivity between the two people wanting to see and talk to each other. So, we will look at the various ways to do an effective video conference – both from personal and professional point of view and the infrastructure/ connectivity required for the same.
Personal Video Conferencing:
Video Chatting: Many services like Gtalk, Skype and even professional alternatives to the same allow to do a video chatting between two people connected over the internet/ intranet. This is the most common and least expensive form of ‘seeing and talking’ to each other, but the quality in most of the cases suffer. There is also some delay in the transmitted images at the far end which makes the visual movements etc. look slower and broken sometimes.
Required Infrastructure: PC, Webcam, Headset/Mic (or) speakers/mic, broadband/leased line internet connectivity and a messenger software like Gtalk, Skype etc.
Pros: Cheap, Available anywhere, IM service is free of cost, Uses the internet which is commonly available.
Cons: Average Picture quality (as most webcams come with a lower resolution) and delayed reception/display of images.
Before we move on, we need to know about an important video compression format called H.264. Also called MPEG 4 Part-10, H.264 is a compression technology used by video transmission/ storage systems to give a good compression ratio for transmitted/ stored videos. Since it is a standard, any manufacturers device at one end can compress and send the video files and the same can be de-compressed by another manufacturers device at the other end. The advantage of H.264 is the achievement of better video quality at a lower bandwidth (when compared to uncompressed video). Do look for this H.264 compression format enabled devices if you choose any of the below video conferencing devices – it really helps and is crucial for a good quality video conference especially over the internet.
Professional Video Conferencing Systems (Set-Top Boxes):
These systems are more for companies/ organizations which have a requirement of one or few people from one place to see and talk to one person/few people at another place. Normally, a set-top Codec is supplied by the Video Conference vendors which connect to monitors/ projectors/ plasma etc for display, microphones (mostly supplied by the manufacturer of the video conferencing systems), ISDN/PRI(E1/T1) Lines OR Internet Leased Lines. Most of these set top boxes support H.264 and require at least 128 Kbps of Internet Leased Line (Or intranet bandwidth) to work fine. Some of them even support HD formats for superior video quality but require higher bandwidth. You can also use document cameras/ dvd players to display objects/ videos to the other end. Most of them support dual video output streams for displaying video along with data (power point presentations etc) for better collaboration. Such systems support one person at either end or many people, depending on the model of the video conference system. Some of them even allow for viewing people from multiple locations simultaneously (normally 1+3/4, and can be expanded to accommodate many sites using a multi-conference system). Click here to know more about High Definition Video Conference systems and click here to know more about multi-site video conference systems. The below block diagram for professional VC systems should be self-explanatory.
Requirements: Video Conference system (usually codec), microphone(s), monitor (TV, projector, LCD display, plasma etc), speakers, bandwidth (Internet leased lines/ MPLS/ LAN). Some manufacturers who supply such systems include Polycom, Tandberg, LifeSize, Aethra, Sony etc.
Pros: Can accommodate single to multiple persons at each side, cameras support pan/tilt/zoom/preset functions, can display data (presentations) along with video, supports H.264/HD formats.
Cons: Higher cost and higher bandwidth requirements.
Tele-Presence:
A video conference system cannot get better than Tele-Presence (at least for now). This is the ultimate in video conferencing where the users are made to feel as if the other person is sitting and talking to them from across the table, in real time. A lot of preparation goes in to such systems for giving such an experience – right from the table size, colour, shape, monitor and camera locations, lighting arrangements, display of life-size images, bandwidth etc. at both the locations. Some manufacturers also let individual Video Conference systems to inter-operate with their Tele-Presence systems. Click here to get a better idea of the components involved and requirements for Tele-Presence systems.
If you need a video conference camera, Tenveo is the best choice for you. We have USB 2.0, USB3.0,HDMI,HD-SDI、YPBPR、CVBS output, fixed focus, 3X 10X, 18X,20X, 30X optical zoom, 720P, 1080P, HD1080P SD ,HD video conference cameras and, Radius of 2-6M Full duplex echo cancelation and speaker，USB driver free, plug and play Omni-directional microphones.
Contact me and I'll give you a gift.
Email:sales01@tenveo.com
Whatsapp:008613657740706
SKYPE:Rachel Liang
QQ:451810239
Wechat:13657740706
See more at :http://www.tenveo-video-conference.com/
