Headphones and Headsets

We often want to turn up the volume on our loudspeakers so that we can adequately hear everyone else on the conference. But sometimes that can exceed the echo cancellation capabilities of our webcam and video conference software. You may also be disturbing other people in the room. The quickest way to eliminate potential echo and feedback is by using headphones or earbuds. Decent pairs of these can be had very inexpensively, and you can use the ones that came with your MP3 player. There are so many types and brands of headphones, find what is comfortable on your ears and fits your budget – whether that be $7 discount store earbuds, or audiophile “cans” that can greatly exceed $300.

If you’re in a noisy environment (e.g. open office work area, noisy kids at home, traffic noise intruding into the room…), you don’t want to assault your fellow video conference participants with the constant distractions being picked up by your microphone. You will need a headset, a microphone attached to headphones. The headset microphone doesn’t have to pull in sound from a distance, but just a few inches. Having it close to your mouth, you’ll be giving the mic a nice strong signal compared to the distant noises, greatly reducing the background noise getting into the video conference. One thing you do need to remember is to minimize touching the headset microphone arm with your hand, face, or clothes. You could generate handling noise into the microphone which will be a blast of noise to everyone else.

[August 2019: A separate computer headset guide document goes over the various designs and trade offs of headsets, and lists a number of models that were tested and can be recommended. Link to Headset article ]

Speakerphones

If you’re in a quieter environment (and won’t disturb any co-workers), if you don’t want anything on your head, a speakerphone could be an option. Also, if there are several of you in the room all participating in the meeting, a speakerphone will work better than the mic built into the laptop. A good speakerphone will be better than separate microphone and loudspeakers, as it will be designed to eliminate echoes and feedback (noise cancelling). If you’re in a larger conference room with a large number of people, you will need a speakerphone that is capable of being loud enough for everyone to hear, with a microphone array that can pick up everyone as well.

For an individual, and up to a small group of about 4-6 people around a small table:

ClearOne CHAT 50 (~$100): a personal speakerphone that’s slightly bigger than a deck of cards, it gets nicely loud with clear tone. It’s microphone is bright - high frequencies can get a bit harsh. Its USB cable is 3 feet long, and is detachable, with a mini-USB connector. It has a headphone jack, volume controls, and mic mute button.

Jabra SPEAK 410 (~$80): round, about the size of a CD and an inch tall, it comes with a travel pouch. The 3 foot USB cable is permanently attached to the unit and wraps around its base. The microphone is omnidirectional, which makes it good for small groups. The controls are touch sensitive. LEDs go around the perimeter indicating volume and change from blue to red to indicate that it’s muted. It can get louder than the CHAT 50 and not distort, and its microphone gives a warmer, cleaner sound than the CHAT 50. It has a headphone jack, volume controls, and mic mute button.

For larger groups (up to 20) in a bigger conference room:

ClearOne CHAT 150 group speakerphone ($315): capable of handling larger groups of people (20+) in bigger conference rooms. This unit gets impressively loud for its size and its mics pick up voices from a good distance. It comes with a 10 feet long USB to mini-USB cable. It has volume controls with LED volume level indicators, and mic mute button. The optional CHAT Attach cable connects a second CHAT 150 to cover an extra large/long room.

Cameras

When participating in a video conference, we want to focus on the purpose of the meeting, and not be distracted by video that pixelates or easily goes out of focus. The clearer people can see you, the more they’ll focus on you and what you have to say, rather than, “Whoa, you just went all pixelated again!”

So perhaps your desktop PC or your laptop didn’t come with a webcam. Or the webcam you have performs so poorly that you look like a blurry blob. Or you need a camera with more capabilities for a larger group meeting. What are your options? Remember, “you get what you pay for”.

Personal/Small Group/Small Conference Room Webcam

Logitech C930e (for Business) (90 degree field of view, ~$75) There are numerous small webcams out there that may be quite suitable and adequate. We have the C930e and it performs impressively well. It’s wide angle lens helps capture everyone around a small conference table. The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 (78 degree field of view, ~$55) would also be a great choice as it also supports H.264 encoding. If the budget is really tight, consider the Logitech C615 (~$36) for an individual.

Cameras & Integrated Gear for Larger Groups

When a simple webcam is used to cover a large group of people, what people see at the other end is a mass of tiny, unidentifiable people. If someone is talking, or presenting from the midst of the large group, others in the meeting often can’t find that person in the crowd.

We want a camera that has pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) capability and that gives a high quality video signal. If not PTZ, then perhaps a person assigned to moving the camera closer to the person doing the talking/presenting.

For groups of about 6 - 12 people, there’s the Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam (~$175) and the HuddleCamHD HuddleCam Go (~$299).

A comparison review of these units can be found here.

Another camera speakerphone combo, the Meeting Owl, has a 360 degree camera which automatically ‘highlights’ the person speaking. A review is found here.

A system that is much nicer and can support upwards of 20 people, is the Logitech Group (~$955 - $1200) We have the older model, CC3000e, pictured. This has a 10x zoom PTZ camera and an excellent speakerphone. The camera has camera threading under its base so that it can be mounted to a tripod, stand, or shelf. The remote’s controls are duplicated on the speakerphone, and the remote neatly sits on top of the speakerphone’s controls as a handy way of not misplacing the remote.

Pictured below is the set up we’re using for the Dallas dual screen video conferencing carts. One long USB 3.0 cable from the laptop going to a powered 4-port USB 3.0 hub. Into the hub is connected the CC3000e, and two USB 3.0 to HDMI converters, which connect to both TV screens. Power up the laptop, move the CC3000e speakerphone from the cart to the conference table, then join your video conferencing meeting.

There are several higher quality PTZ cameras with USB connections on the market (not bundled with a speakerphone), but they quickly leap in price (easily $1000 - $6000+). These cameras would be used in extra large conference rooms or small auditoriums, and be used in conjunction with a separate audio system or speakerphone array.

JAARS acquired a HuddleCam 10x 720p USB 2.0 camera (~$900), and have found it to work well.

Dallas acquired the PTZOptics 20x USB 3.0 camera (~$1700), and found it to be very high quality, solid, and very accurate. We’re very pleased.

Summary Chart:

VC Gear Chart.jpg

To repeat, the recommended gear listed here are only items that we own or have had hands-on testing. There are a number of other brands and models that may work just as well. This is just a short list of “go to” options that we know will work.