
Ask HN: Recommendation for remote conferencing equipments - houqp
Hi all,<p>I am looking for remote video conferencing solution for the team. We need a separate standalone physical device that can be plugged into a monitor so we can call in anytime we want. Any recommendations?
======
dyeje
Why do you need a separate standalone device? Do your workers not have
laptops? Just buy everyone who needs to video conference a decent USB headset
($20 - $60) and be done with it.

~~~
houqp
That's what we started with and we often ran into issues where one or two of
the clients will stop working for unknown reason. Plus if some of the team is
already in the same office room, it would weird for them to still go through
the video chat from their own device.

~~~
gtirloni
For a teleconference room, check the usual suspects Polycom, Cisco, Vidyo,
etc. You usually can have a room wired for that specifically or buy a cart and
move it everywhere. Maybe have a decent room with many microphones, two HD
cameras and a touchscreen interface. And a cart with less capabilities. That's
what we have and it works well when the main room is occupied, we just put the
cart in the middle of somewhere and people gather around.

I'd spent a good time making sure the softphone client that goes along with
that solution plays well with your target systems. Sometimes the quality
between Linux, OSX and Windows clients can vary a lot.

------
tixocloud
Polycom's been decent for the lower end of the spectrum but Cisco's
telepresence connectivity has been incredible. Wish there was something on the
lower end scale with the same quality.

Any reason why you need a physical device? Could you use an older/spare
machine, connect to Zoom/Skype to the monitor and use that instead?

~~~
houqp
Thanks for the suggestion! I tried zoom, hangout, slack and Skype before on my
laptop, the experience wasn't good enough for us. It's not very stable.
Sometimes the mic will just stop working on the other end for unknown reason
:( It can become frustrating very soon. I was hoping a dedicated device can
help with this.

~~~
tixocloud
Sorry to hear that. I've had numerous issues with Skype connectivity but Webex
on both Windows/Mac seems fine for me.

From which locations are you calling from and to? Wonder if it's a laptop
issue or connectivity issue.

~~~
houqp
We are calling within south bay, so mostly like issues from the laptop. We
have different OSes running on different hardwares :(

------
cdvonstinkpot
AFAIK Polycom is the industry standard. I installed lots of these during the
dot-com boom long ago. Things might have changed, but a quick Google search
returns similar offerings as what I was used to then.

Best of luck!

~~~
houqp
Thanks! I will check that out!

~~~
WhiteOwlLion
Polycom Video Conferencing. We use one at one conference room to video chat
with another conference room 30 miles away. Works okay. A bit complicated for
me.

General advice: always go wired on both ends when possible. This will optimize
the connection so any lag will not be due to wireless transfer of data.

