Video Conferencing System

[newpersn]

Hello,

 

I have been asked to look in to a Video Conferencing System for our conference room. Our conference room is quite long (Sits around 16ish people around a large table) Currently has a projector and wall speakers

 

Could anyone share what system they use?

 

Thanks in advance

[SamanthaD]

Most important thing for us to know is what budget you have available. Pointless recommending a Teams Room with ceiling mics and PTZ cameras if you're hoping to do this with a £500 budget!

[newpersn]

Most important thing for us to know is what budget you have available. Pointless recommending a Teams Room with ceiling mics and PTZ cameras if you're hoping to do this with a £500 budget!

 

Hi,

 

Just wanted to know what people used. Just so i can feed this back.

[paulkerton]

Doesn't matter what other people use, it's really about what you use in the school already.

 

If you're a Google Workspace/Meet School or a Microsoft 365/Teams School, go from there.

[dhicks]

Could anyone share what system they use?

 

I spent yeterday installing a Google Meet setup into a meeting room with a capacity of about 16 people. This hardware, around £3,000 (price includes VAT):

 

https://meetingdevices.withgoogle.com/products/5768/asus-google-meet-hardware-kit-large-room-kit/

 

You also need a display - we installed a 75" TV and stand, around another £1,000. The above hardware gives you a PTZ camera, centre-table speaker mics and a dedicated control device with touch screen. You could probably put together a very similar set of kit yourself from Amazon or similar - a Chromebook for the controlling device (£400), a PTZ camera (£400), a couple of USB speakermics (£100 each?), plus a display with mount and assorted connecting cables - around £2,000-ish for the lot.

[TechMonkey]

Don't have fitted yet but we are looking at Sharp, VeryPC and Sonitus. Those aren't specific systems, but they will supply and install a system to match your specifications.

[networkmangler]

We have the Logitech Rally Plus system Logitech Rally Plus Video Conferencing Camera System

 

We did have a projector in the room but replaced it with a 65" TV instead

[SamanthaD]

We use various systems across various price points. Microsoft Surface Hubs, Teams Rooms, Sennheiser TCC2 ceiling mics with PTZ cameras running auto tracking, Logitech Meetups and Rally PTZ's. All of which would work for your application.

[newpersn]

Thank you.

 

We use Teams but would like it to work with other applications.

 

I will look at the above and see what I can feed back.

[newpersn]

We would like something that works with Teams but can work with anything else. Zoom, Cisco Webex etc...

 

Looked at the Rally plus system - It seems to locked to one platform (unless i'm looking at it wrong. Please correct me if i'm wrong)

[FragglePete]

Just setup a Sharp 75" Screen with a Logitech Rally Plus system for our library that gets used for meetings, governors, etc.

 

Proving very popular so far - impressive kit - tad pricey though.

 

Pete

[FragglePete]

We would like something that works with Teams but can work with anything else. Zoom, Cisco Webex etc...

 

Looked at the Rally plus system - It seems to locked to one platform (unless i'm looking at it wrong. Please correct me if i'm wrong)

 

You were more than likely looking at the 'Tap' solution which appears to be based on whatever flavour you use and then purchase. We have ours setup with a Windows PC running Teams. Have a remote wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo attached to it also so can be just used for teaching if need be. We then setup the 'Desk Hub' on the central desks with a couple of daisy chained mic pods for when it's booked for a VC.

 

Pete

[dhicks]

We would like something that works with Teams but can work with anything else.

 

You could just use a Windows laptop plugged in to a screen, camera and speakers / mics. That's basically what that Google Meet system I linked to above is, but with a Chromebase device acting as a kiosk - you can actually boot it into standard ChromeOS mode and use any web-based client on it, including Teams and Zoom, but I'm guessing if you're using Teams you'd want a Windows device. The PTZ camera included in the kit (and available separatly, probably cheaper, from Amazon) just acts as a USB webcam, and the speaker mics are seen as (separate) USB speakers and mics.

 

Something I haven't tried yet is positioning the display so it's the exact height to match up with the height of a conference table, then fitting the table flush against wall where the display is mounted. If you had a matching table at the other end of the connection (maybe a group of schools with the same setup) it would (kind of) look like your local table was continuing on to the remote location.

[SamanthaD]

Something I haven't tried yet is positioning the display so it's the exact height to match up with the height of a conference table, then fitting the table flush against wall where the display is mounted. If you had a matching table at the other end of the connection (maybe a group of schools with the same setup) it would (kind of) look like your local table was continuing on to the remote location.

You'd have massive issues with that, in terms of the camera position (typically under the screen) and wide angle view. The Meetup is the widest I've seen and even then sat right next to it you'd be out of shot...

[cworcester]

We would like something that works with Teams but can work with anything else. Zoom, Cisco Webex etc...

 

Looked at the Rally plus system - It seems to locked to one platform (unless i'm looking at it wrong. Please correct me if i'm wrong)

 

We have the Logitech Rally Plus system here and you can use it with any of the platforms, we have it linked to a PC which has both Teams and Zoom on it and it works with both. I guess the key is like someone else said is to get the "vanilla" one which isn't linked to a particular product.

[TechMonkey]

You'd have massive issues with that, in terms of the camera position (typically under the screen) and wide angle view. The Meetup is the widest I've seen and even then sat right next to it you'd be out of shot...

 

I've seen companies that do it. The idea is to make it more like they are in the room, as described. You just have to get the right camera and mark on the table where the view is so no one sits out of view.

[colly72]

We've just invested in a Poly Studio USB bar for our conference room. First impressions are excellent and it works with all the major players such as Teams, Zoom, Google Meet etc. We paid around £815 for it and it call be placed on the desk or wall mounted. Camera tracking and acoustic fencing (cutting out noise outside of the set area) seem to work well. Integrated mic pics up from a good distance but it can take external mics too if required.

 

https://www.poly.com/gb/en/products/video-conferencing/studio/studio

[Achandler]

The Logitech Rally setup with a TAP system still opens and joins Zoom meeting etc. It opens then using the web browser version of the meeting, so it isn't as good as the full app obviously.

 

You don't have to use the TAP part I don't think and just use the Rally. Our boardroom (not a school) has 3 mics on the table as well now and new TVs instead of a projector.

[Zoom7000]

I'm potentially looking at a Catchbox Plus for our meeting room for hybrid meetings. We've already got a TV, so we just need a decent webcam and speakers to add to the setup. Our main issue has always been virtual users not being able to hear others physically in the room.

[newpersn]

We've just invested in a Poly Studio USB bar for our conference room. First impressions are excellent and it works with all the major players such as Teams, Zoom, Google Meet etc. We paid around £815 for it and it call be placed on the desk or wall mounted. Camera tracking and acoustic fencing (cutting out noise outside of the set area) seem to work well. Integrated mic pics up from a good distance but it can take external mics too if required.

 

https://www.poly.com/gb/en/products/video-conferencing/studio/studio

 

Hi,

 

Thank you for this,

 

Can i ask how big your conference room is?

[colly72]

Hi,

 

Thank you for this,

 

Can i ask how big your conference room is?

 

At a rough guess, I'd say about 5m x 4m. The conference table seats around 10.

[mole]

Another vote for the Poly Studio USB with the additional mic, we've installed around 25 of these so far with great success, just make sure firmware is up to date (issue last year whereby many bricked themselves and had to be rma'd)

 

Easy to install great mic pickup, camera is very good and audio is loud and clear.

 

 

You can pretty much forget ip/h323 based vc these days, thank goodness.

Edited November 23, 2021 by mole

[newpersn]

Another vote for the Poly Studio USB with the additional mic, we've installed around 25 of these so far with great success, just make sure firmware is up to date (issue last year whereby many bricked themselves and had to be rma'd)

 

Easy to install great mic pickup, camera is very good and audio is loud and clear.

 

 

You can pretty much forget ip/h323 based vc these days, thank goodness.

 

Been looking at this. Although this might be a little under spec for the room size.

 

What pickup mic are you using?

[mole]

There's an extension mic you can get for it:

 

https://www.onedirect.co.uk/audio-and-video-conferencing/polycom/polycom-studio-expansion-microphone

 

 

Contact Poly and see if you can get a loan unit to try in the room.

 

 

Really tricky - if you go down a Teams room, then your stuck with Teams and any other vc platform integration zoom, etc... using the cameras/mics is hard/expensive - involves multiple controls - confusing for customers.

 

 

Or for an 'open' system to use with whatever VC browser platform you want to use, a good spec usb PTZ camera and separate mics and a dsp feeding into the PC via usb audio route, with ceiling speakers but then you'd be looking at 4k plus install/configuration.

 

 

Have a look on Biamp website, there's a good equipment/designer on there.

 

https://support.biamp.com/Design_Tools/Conference_Room_Designer

Edited November 23, 2021 by mole