Recommendation Zoom / Teams equipment

[TopCat]

I have to do work from home now and want recommendations on extra equipment to make me look and sound great during meetings (tired, old face notwithstanding).

I dont want to be looming over the screen to hear quiet people for instance.

I see kits for ring lights and external microphones and hugely expensive 4k webcams.

The prices vary wildly.

Anyone use kit like this? What would you say to get or avoid?

 

[a_chap]

...recommendations on extra equipment to make me look and sound great during meetings

This should help.

 

[maomao]

The wansview cheap as chips webcam that was the best seller on Amazon a month ago when I needed one is fine. It's quite a wide angle lense so you won't loom unless you sit really close. What has really improved the quality of my picture is that I put a SAD lamp on my desk (cause my study is in the darkest corner of the house) and the unintended consequence is that my face is a lot more evenly lit.

I'm in a Teams meeting at this moment though and I've got the fucker turned off so I can hide and read shit on my phone.

 

[ska invita]

just shine a desk light at your face and wear headphones
maybe add a backdrop in zoom options

 

[belboid]

Don’t add a backdrop, they’re always distracting and crap. Good light is the key bit

 

[ska invita]

Don’t add a backdrop, they’re always distracting and crap. Good light is the key bit

Depends on the messs in your room

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

All depends what you want to spend. Ring lights make you look good, a clip on lav mic will make you sound good, a nicer camera makes you look better.. Pick your priority and go from there.

 

[TopCat]

All depends what you want to spend. Ring lights make you look good, a clip on lav mic will make you sound good, a nicer camera makes you look better.. Pick your priority and go from there.

Tell me more about sound and microphones. Clip on mike? Like a lapel mike?

 

[TopCat]

Tell me more about sound and microphones. Clip on mike? Like a lapel mike?

Mic even.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Tell me more about sound and microphones. Clip on mike? Like a lapel mike?

Yeah, even a cheap and cheerful one will give much better results than the crappy ones built into a laptop.

 

[editor]

Tell me more about sound and microphones. Clip on mike? Like a lapel mike?

I'll sit on your lapel for a price.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

Depends on the messs in your room

maybe a backdrop of a curated bookshelf?

 

[what]

Get a single ear headset. Has mic and only one ear speaker bit. Means you can hear people at the door etc as well as the meeting your in. Also leaves your hands free to write, type, smoke whatever.

 

[Crispy]

#1 on your list should be a headset IMO. Video compression will ruin whatever efforts you make to look good, but audio quality always comes through. It's obvious who on a call has a headset, cos you get no weird echoes, background noise or muffled voice, plus you can hear everyone else really well.

I got this one from work and it's great:

Logitech Support + Download

www.logitech.com

Wireless works in the next room so I can turn camera off and go make a sandwich while still in the meeting

 

[tommers]

Are you presenting the fucking news or something? Just buy a headset.

I use bluetooth headphones but ive got a logitech headset too, probably much like the one Crispy links to. Its fine.

 

[existentialist]

#1 on your list should be a headset IMO. Video compression will ruin whatever efforts you make to look good, but audio quality always comes through. It's obvious who on a call has a headset, cos you get no weird echoes, background noise or muffled voice, plus you can hear everyone else really well.

I got this one from work and it's great:

Logitech Support + Download

www.logitech.com

Wireless works in the next room so I can turn camera off and go make a sandwich while still in the meeting

I don't have much trouble with weird echoes, but I think that's because my speakers are completely separate from the microphone, and there's no chance of physical feedback between them; they're also far enough away from a (forward-facing) mic on the webcam that there seems to be no feedback issue there, either.

As for tech - I wouldn't bother with anything too tricksy on the webcam - as Crispy points out, the video compression will b0rk the image quite badly anyway. I used a Logitech C270, which cost me £20, and it's more than adequate. I am thinking of investing in a decent mic, though, as I am very aware from listening to others on Zoom, etc., that audio quality is a very variable factor.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I could lend you the setup we use at work if you like?

 

[weltweit]

For work I use my work laptop and its installed camera and mic which have been fine. I don't mind if the audio quality might not be top notch, people can understand me which is all I care about.

For domestic use I have a @lhua webcam with mic and my PCs speakers. The camera is quite a narrow view which isn't perhaps best and is manual focus which because the instructions were in Chinese I didn't realise for a while. The mic seems fine.

 

[TopCat]

#1 on your list should be a headset IMO. Video compression will ruin whatever efforts you make to look good, but audio quality always comes through. It's obvious who on a call has a headset, cos you get no weird echoes, background noise or muffled voice, plus you can hear everyone else really well.

I got this one from work and it's great:

Logitech Support + Download

www.logitech.com

Wireless works in the next room so I can turn camera off and go make a sandwich while still in the meeting

I dont like the bulky look to this though appreciate the performance is how you say.
I want something less visually distracting.

 

[xenon]

Get a Samson Meteor usb mic. You can connect regular headphones to it's 3.5 mm jack. It has it's own physical volume control is good enough quality for speech, 48khz sampling rate, very affordable but most importantly, it looks like a Star Wars droid...

 

[existentialist]

I could lend you the setup we use at work if you like?

View attachment 233273

View attachment 233274

Oh, that's nice. I'd never get it all onto my work desk, though

Here's mine...pathetic by comparison...

 

[TopCat]

So does anyone use ring lights?

 

[TopCat]

Lapel mic recommendations?

 

[mauvais]

Whether you get a headset or not, you should be using headphones so that sound isn't fed back into the mic. Zoom does a good job of filtering this out but it has consequences on your audio quality.

 

[TopCat]

Whether you get a headset or not, you should be using headphones so that sound isn't fed back into the mic. Zoom does a good job of filtering this out but it has consequences on your audio quality.

I'm up for a headphone for the reasons you state. I dont want big blocky headphones that look like a Princess Laia (sp) hairdo silhouette.
I will be looking for something less visually intrusive that doesn't give me ear ache.
Something much slimmer? I ain't looking for accurate bass reproduction after all.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Plantronics make some of the best headsets. Have a look at the Plantronics Blackwire. The 3200 series are good and cheap.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I just use the earbuds that came with the work phone as that has a mic built in - it works really well.

 

[TopCat]

Plantronics make some of the best headsets. Have a look at the Plantronics Blackwire. The 3200 series are good and cheap.

I have provided Plantronics headsets for my staff in the past as they really rated them.

Real call centre kit though. I dont want to look like I am in a Direct Line advert.

I want to sound and look good and hear what's going on.

I am leaning to a lapel mic, a ring light on a bendy stalk or poss a tripod. I would like a discreet headphone, flesh coloured or similar, over the ear on a clip.

Now. What do green screens do?

 

[miss direct]

Headset and a little shelf (or some books) to raise the screen if it's a laptop. That's it. I've been working online since the start of March and that's all I've had.

 

[mauvais]

Now. What do green screens do?

They make it easier to substitute your real background for a virtual one. Still doesn't work great though.