Anyone hate setting up video conferences

brewboy

Had one of those days today. Our video conference system is down so substituted with a $200 camera, a laptop and webex. Everything went wrong: trouble connecting, video froze, audio garbled, everyone staring at you like you're a tool. Tests went perfect yesterday of course. Our usual equipment isn't much better so I'm just SICK of setting up video conferences. Rant over

NetworkVeteran

Fortunately, it's rare that I participate in video conferences. Normally, it's either business as usual and an audio-conference plus photos plus screen-sharing is sufficient, or it's crucial and someone's getting on a plane. This week, several people made short trips and visited me, but I didn't have to do any videoconferences. it was a good week.

I have been at companies that overused them. As-if I need to squint to see on a daily basis what shirt my colleague is wearing and which precise way he wobbles his head when agreeing or disagreeing with my plan of action.

SteveLord

We only use Skype or Google Hangout for now. Generally runs fine with our $100 logitech camera and a decent laptop. But it does suck when you know issues are with the person's connection/camera on the other end, and everyone in the room looks at you like you can magically fix choppy audio or video.

DevilWAH

My Last company had a great VC set up, was simple to manage and use (based around Microsoft OCS/Lync). Having clients spread around the country / world VC was a great way to keep in touch and upto date.

My current company we have a terrible set up, however we are going through a project to replace all the conferencing room equipment with some top end solutions. Our conference rooms hold 200+ people, (think lecture theater) and we have people from all over wanting to watch talks and presentations we run. So we need to have a robust system.

I have to say the one area I would not scrimp on is VC, if you are going to invest in it then spend money on making the system user friendly. Other wise its not worth bothering with.

cyberguypr

This is one of those things where you better do it right the first time or you may end up paying a lot. My previous company tried some low end solutions and always struggled. At my current place they had a crooked OCS implementation. I designed and implemented a proper Lync solution and integrated two Polycom HDX7000 systems and things are now smooth as butter. Works like a charm for our highly mobile workforce.

With Lync 2013 thing get even better with video capability on mobile devices, video on web app, Skype federation, and other great features.

SteveLord

Nearly all of our clients are random members of the public. So they rely on their personal computers, office computers or library computers. Different animal. And one you only have 50% control over at most. I've heard good things about Polycom systems. But they're only good if connecting to another Polycom system right?