Hardware suggestions for online conferences etc.

NPP

Like many others who teach at schools, universities, colleges etc. I face the prospect of delivering most of next semester's lectures, workshops and seminars online (partly live, partly recorded), and spending a lot of time in zoom meetings. In the academic year that is drawing to a close I made do with the laptop's built-in camera and mic and a set of crap Logitech speakers. However if this is going to last better hardware is surely called for.

What do I need?

- would it make sense to buy a microphone and stand?
- would there be any benefit in running sound through my HX Stomp to add a bit of compression and EQ?
- a better camera?  
- would there be any benefit in sound deadening / room treatment?

Or does none of this make any difference because once a audio and video have gone out through a fairly average broadband connection and down the line to someone else's home they will be crap anyway? 

spark240

Logitech do a conference cam, not sure whats special about it but all their webcams seem pretty good.

 I guess for audio decent lapel mic would be good?

Lighting is also a factor people neglect....me included ;-)

Roland

I’ve happily run conference calls with laptop mic and speakers. The first question I’d ask myself is whether I need two screens. For example, one to see participants, and the other for slides and notes.

If you haven’t already got them then get a laptop stand and a separate keyboard. Then you can have the keyboard directly in front of you, and the screen and built in camera further away. You’ll look better to participants. It’s also easier to organise yourself because you’ve got more table top space.

I’d also think about resilience. Ideally you need a second PC which you can swap to if the primary fails. You’ll probably lose the lecture you’re delivering, but will have time to swap over before the next one. 

Yes, lighting is important. Also think about the background behind you. Bookshelves are popular. Not only do they look good, but they help the acoustics. Listen to all the people appearing from home on television. It was fascinating how the BBC reporters rearranged their rooms for better acoustics, particularly to damp down bright rooms.

NPP

Roland said:

I’ve happily run conference calls with laptop mic and speakers. The first question I’d ask myself is whether I need two screens. For example, one to see participants, and the other for slides and notes.

If you haven’t already got them then get a laptop stand and a separate keyboard. Then you can have the keyboard directly in front of you, and the screen and built in camera further away. You’ll look better to participants. It’s also easier to organise yourself because you’ve got more table top space.

I’d also think about resilience. Ideally you need a second PC which you can swap to if the primary fails. You’ll probably lose the lecture you’re delivering, but will have time to swap over before the next one. 

Yes, lighting is important. Also think about the background behind you. Bookshelves are popular. Not only do they look good, but they help the acoustics. Listen to all the people appearing from home on television. It was fascinating how the BBC reporters rearranged their rooms for better acoustics, particularly to damp down bright rooms.

thanks @Roland, all good suggestions. I've got them covered apart from the rearranging the room for better acoustics bit. Any specific tips on that? 

Roland

It’s mainly about clatter from bright, flat surfaces. That’s why books are so good, because they provide a varied surface which is less reflective than a flat wall. Curtains and soft furnishings help, although they can mess with your light levels. 

Desk placement is important. Several of the BBC journalists had desks which faced windows or blank walls, as you naturally would. Moving further into the room, away from the flat surface, or turning their desk sideways, made a difference.

It’s worth recording a lecture to camera, then watching it back to see and hear any distractions.

NPP

cheers @Roland ! I've got the desk in the middle of the room already, and one wall covered with bookshelves. Quite a bit of bare wall though. My recordings are perfectly serviceable but not more.

Partly it's because it is physically and mentally more difficult to speak sitting, immobile, in front of a small screen than standing in front of a group of people and able to move around. In a Zoom meeting where there's some interaction it is fine but recording a video feels very unnatural. And, of course, there are countless attempts that are ok for a time and then end in 'ah bollocks' and have me start from scratch - in a room with real people I'd just carry on (and skip the 'ah bollocks').

Lighting is definitely a problem. Even with all the lights in the room on full blast I don't get enough light on my face, and thus the camera over-compensates and turns me into a featureless white blob. 

And then it's quite difficult to arrange myself, the backdrop, the laptop and keyboard so that I'm in shot, the keyboard is within reach, and the recorded image isn't larger than the backdrop.

For people who have done this before this may be second nature but for it isn't - by September I want to be up to speed though. 

Edit: I wanted to post a pic but should have known better - still haven't mastered it. 

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http://imgur.com/a/4Ti60Ep

SteveF

I am doing that a lot at the moment - I am having many meetings over Zoom and I also deliver lectures/lessons.  I am using a separate USB Logitech webcam with a built in mic.  I have a quiet space, so it's usually sufficient without worrying about sound bleed from other sources, but I have also used a headset/mic in the past when I was worried about sound quality. 

In terms of lighting, I have a couple of cheap LED lights that I got on Amazon that I face towards the white wall and bounce the light back at me - it's not perfect, but softens out the shadows enough to make it better. Pointing them directly was too harsh and was irritating on my own eyes.  I imagine a couple of photography soft boxes would work better but this was cheap and easy. 



It doesn't look like it would do a great deal, but it does make a difference.  On the left below is with the lights off, on the right is with them on.  I do need to sort out my background though - like you I am only just starting this online teaching lark and it's looking like it may go on for a wile so need to get something set up. 



This is the webcam I use - I've had it a while so there may be a newer/better version, but this is working very well at the moment and the sound quality of the mic is fine by all accounts. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Calling-Correction-FaceTime-Hangouts/dp/B07QZZS7S1/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

These are the lights - they were about £25 quid for the pair: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07V7JRTM6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Apologies, both things appear to be out of stock on Amazon at the moment but hopefully they give you an idea and you can find something similar. 

NPP

thanks @SteveF ! Looks like everybody is improvising at the moment, and books and brochures play essential roles as props and supports for our equipment. I did most of my meetings and teaching in front of books and a suitably themed picture which happened to hang behind my desk anyway, but also experimented with a grey cloth background for an open day video. It needs to be really big to fill the image!

The lights and camera you link to look very useful. 

Webcams and other essentials being sold out everywhere was a big problem for colleagues as even though the university was willing to pay for stuff it simply wasn't available. I'm sure that over the summer things will come back into stock. 

digitalscream

I went round and round the houses on cameras - I even had a decent video camera with a clean HDMI out and an HDMI -> USB 3.0 adapter at one point.

However, I've found that the best option is actually an Android phone with a decent camera and Iriun installed on the phone and PC - the camera works wirelessly across the network and job done. I bought a live demo unit Galaxy S7 for it - that's a phone that's missing all the phone network stuff, and cost £35 on eBay. It's pretty rare that I don't have the best quality video in any given meeting with that setup.

Roland

If you want to move around then you could try a mobile phone stand like the Ziyhun 4 which can track your movement. I know it works for recording videos, but I’ve never tried to make it work for live streaming.