Any guidance/recommendations for a conference/meeting room video setup.

joneve

So we have a big meeting room and don’t currently have a video conferencing solution when we want multiple people on a video call. 

We have a HD tv wall mounted (with HDMI input integrated via hidden cables in the desk so it’s all wired under the floor and up a cable runner up the wall)

so I think I’m looking for a webcam (nothing fancy just not utter garbage) 

and some conferencing hardware for picking up room audio etc 

that we can plug into a laptop via USB. 

Any recommendations or different types of setups I should be looking for? 

guitartango

How much is the spend ?  

spark240

Microsoft Teams or Google Meets

guitartango

We have the Logitech Rally + (including Room Mics) , good quality Audio and Visuals. It also depends on the size of your meeting room. Some devices follow you around via voice, not always good when someone coughs in a meeting. Don't go for an OWL Device, maybe Gen2 are better but we wasted 1K on version 1 and its not that great. 

TimmyO

guitartango said:

We have the Logitech Rally + (including Room Mics) , good quality Audio and Visuals. It also depends on the size of your meeting room. Some devices follow you around via voice, not always good when someone coughs in a meeting. Don't go for an OWL Device, maybe Gen2 are better but we wasted 1K on version 1 and its not that great. 

I don't know what version it was but I worked with 2 companies that used the Owl and I really liked it - the problem with lots of boardroom type setups is that the folk on the other end end up looking at such a wide angle shot that you can't 'read' any of the people in the conversation, and the microphone is usually too far from someone. With the Owl it changes who it highlights (but still shows the others smaller) based on where the sound is coming from, and the mic (and the extension mic) work well. 

joneve

spark240 said:

Microsoft Teams or Google Meets

Software isn’t an issue it’s the hardware to allow full room visuals and not one single user via laptop camera

joneve

guitartango said:

How much is the spend ?  

It’s not getting loads and loads of use so not mega bucks I wouldn’t think. But I have no idea how much a setup would cost 

Sporky

How big is the room? 

Sporky

I don't like the Owl. People stick it in the middle of the table but look at the screen, and the auto framing is janky.

For most normal meeting rooms the Aver VB342Pro is a decent bet. Really good camera - with mechanical pan and tilt and optical zoom - and audio pickup to 7m or so. 

joneve

Sporky said:

How big is the room? 

It’s got a conference table that comfortably seats 5 down each side. 

Maybe  7m x 3-4m

Sporky

Then...

https://communication.aver.com/model/vb342pro

Adey

Teams meetings are so 2020 (and that isn't "vision"...)

Kittyfrisk

We really do need a facepalm icon on here.

Revolutions

Turn the power on.

Sporky

And in case anyone's interested, we've tested and used a load of conferencing bars at work.

Poly Studio USB - mediocre camera and audio. 
Poly X series - OK, but pricey as they have Teams/Zoom (set at startup, you can't switch getween them live) plus BYOC built in. Not worth it if you don't use one or other, and if you do you should add the TC8.

Logitech Meetup - aging, but good camera and sound for smaller spaces - 4m deep at most. There's a new version just out which we've not tried.

Logitech Rally - very decent cameras and audio, but people tend to buy one size smaller than they need. Like the Poly X series they're pricey as they have on board Zoom/Teams. Terrible if you want to integrate with a larger system, but good for their intended use (just add screen(s)).

Bose VB1 - rubbish out of the box. OK camera, audio needs careful setup. Looks better than it works. 

Neat bars - crap. Bad sound, awful camera processing, lots of features turn out to be "coming soon".

Biamp Parle bars - brilliant audio, terrible camera.

Lenovo One - crap camera, crap sound, terrible support, and the touchpanel cable is laughably short. There's a version that let's you extend the touchpanel over CAT6 but that adds ugly boxes at each end.

Jabra Panacast bar - very clever camera, OK audio, a bit flaky though. 

Owl Bar - just rubbish. Bad camera, bad audio (adding a Meeting Owl improves that but makes the camera worse), very distracting autoframing system that gets confused by photos and even a round lamp we had. 

Interesting ones coming soon - the Sennheiser, though the camera wasn't good on the prerelease one I saw. The Wolfvision Cynap bar might be worth a look if you make use of the wireless stuff. And the Vaddio Vantage, which I saw in February, and has an astoundingly good camera. 

I'm sure I've missed some. Happy to add any you think of if I've tried them.