- I have had so many people asking me
about their setup for home video conferencing
whether using Zoom or Google Hangouts, or another tool.
So today, I thought we'd go through basic setup.
From the what you can find around just kind of cobbling
together your own decent video conferencing setup through
to the sort of setup that I'm using which does,
I think, pretty darn high quality video conferencing.
So setting up your video conferencing
to work from home today on Dotto Tech.
(upbeat music)
Steve Dotto here, how the heck you doin' on this fine day?
As I record this video, we are in the throes
of the Covid-19 shutdown,
and so many people now have to start
doing video conferencing from home,
and many people are using Zoom for video conferencing
but other tools are being used as well.
Regardless of which tool you're using,
you can do yourself a favor by having a decent setup
as far as video conferencing is concerned.
Now, I'm gonna go through the basic setup
of things that you can just kind of find
around your own home just using your own notebook
and maybe your ear buds from your smartphone,
all the way through to higher end setups
that we use for broadcasting our livestreams,
what work exceptionally well for video conferencing.
So it all really begins with figuring out
where you are going to work from.
Finding a fairly quiet environment that you can work within
because sound is so important.
People tend to obsess on what's happening
as far as the video is concerned on the video conferences,
I guess cause it's called video is the first word,
but to be honest, it's far more important
getting good quality audio.
People will, they will be happy to conference with you
if you have poor quality video
as long as your audio is good,
but if your audio sucks it is gonna irritate
everybody that has to listen to you.
So lets get started, what about a basic setup?
So I just went down into the kitchen,
and imagine that I had to set up a conferencing setup
and I'm gonna kind of walk you through the basic setup.
So beginning with setting up just using
your notebook computer, built-in webcam,
and built-in microphone, and this is the result.
Okay, I am recording this now using the internal microphone
on the notebook, so you can hear the quality
of the sound that you're gonna get,
and I'm also using the internal camera
that's built in right now to the computer.
You can see the angle is low and it's kind of tinty,
so let's see if we can step up the value
just a little bit by recording using the webcam
and using the built-in mic in the webcam,
that's gonna be next.
That's the baseline quality that we're gonna get.
What I did next is I plugged in my old webcam.
This is the Logitech C920, which is a very legendary webcam.
If you take a look here in this webcam,
you'll notice that it has speakers on either side,
excuse me, microphones on either side,
so it actually has stereo input microphones
which will improve the quality of the audio.
Now one thing to consider is the room that I'm in
is fairly quiet and I have control over the audio,
at least in this particular setup.
If you're gonna be in a noisy environment or an echoey room,
using an area microphone or using an open microphone
like this one here might not be the best choice,
but you'll see a dramatic improvement
in the quality of the video
and you'll also, I believe,
hear an improvement in the quality of the audio.
Okay, next up I've got the webcam now running
from the Logitech C920, and I'm also using
the built-in microphones that are built into the webcam.
That's gonna improve things slightly,
but the angle still looks terrible.
So lets do this, let's just increase the height here
a little bit by putting some books underneath,
and see if that picks things up a little bit
and makes it a little bit more acceptable.
That's if you still wanna be using your notebook
and you're in a fairly quiet environment.
So this is option one.
The simplest option is having the webcam,
using a area microphone like this,
and just elevating a little bit
so that it looks a little bit better.
From my point of view, that is a dramatic improvement
in video conferencing quality.
Just because we improve the quality of the sound
by going from the built-in microphone in the notebook
to the onboard microphone on the webcam.
Next level up would be to plug in a headset
into that notebook computer which is really as far
as most of us would ever need to go
as far as video conferencing, but if you want
even better audio, you could then plug in a USB mic
if you happen to have one available to you.
If you have a Blue Yeti, or if you have an ATR
or another version of a USB mic,
you can consider plugging it in, but make sure
that you configure the microphone properly.
That it's close to you, that you follow
the manufacturers recommendations for proximity.
A lot of people worry about having the microphone
in the video shot.
I don't think you need to worry about that.
Everybody knows that you have a microphone,
so why worry about seeing it?
Does it bother you seeing my microphone in my shot?
No, it doesn't, so don't worry about that.
Also as you start to kind of do more and more
video conferencing, increasingly I suspect
you will use video less and less.
Why? Video takes up bandwidth
and bandwidth is becoming increasingly dear
as more people are conferencing from home
and there's more stress on our infrastructure.
So I think a lot of cases, good protocol will include
turning off your video and just audio conferencing
and being able to turn on your video
when you're actually presenting
or using screen sharing technology to help communicate.
Two other points about the video
before we leave this section.
One, by elevating the camera angle
we've got far more appealing picture.
The image of a human face from down below
looking up at the angle is not flattering for most of us.
If it is flattering for you, congratulations.
You have incredible genetics.
For most of us, we don't look too good looking up at us.
We look far better if the camera is at eye level
or slightly above.
So elevating the angle really helps the overall quality.
The other issue is it's daylight as I recorded that demo
and we had big windows facing towards me,
so I was getting lots of natural light.
The quality of natural light on your face
is going to improve the quality of your video dramatically.
So light is always going to be an issue.
Next up, I want to talk to you about maybe considering
setting up your video conferencing setup
and not using your computer, but instead using your tablet
or your smartphone as your video conferencing interface.
Now often we think that we have to be using
our computer for any sort of a Zoom call,
but you can actually,
or video conferencing call for that matter,
but actually I think a way that we should really consider
is using our smartphone.
There are terrific apps, for instance Zoom
has a terrific app, on your smartphone
and overall the camera on your smartphone
and the mic on your smartphone are superior
to anything that we're gonna get as far as a webcam goes.
So think about doing this, having this sort of a setup.
There are a whole bunch of little tripods
just like this one here.
Take a look at this one, this is so cool.
We just open it up like this, pop it open,
and we can put our phone into this tripod
and we can use it now as a video conferencing camera
just like this.
Or, better yet, we can plug our headset into it
and get even higher quality out of it.
Once again we can take it,
oh gotta put it in the right side there,
there it is.
Once again, we can take this
and we can elevate the height if we choose to,
just using something like this,
we can elevate the height up to there
and make it look that much better as far as we're concerned.
The beauty of doing this is it then eliminates the need
for us to have to be using our computer,
so it frees our computer up for, kind of, parallel working
while you're video conferencing,
as long as you are concentrating on both tasks
at the same time.
Using your smartphone with any one of a whole bunch
of different types of tripods
that you can set it up on top of.
You can even set up your iPad.
If you choose to use your iPad,
there are brackets like this that will hold the iPad.
Lots of different options as far as doing
your video conferencing beyond just using
your computer and a webcam.
So you could consider having this kind of a setup here
where I'm now on my smartphone.
I am able to video conference from here
and still I have access to my computer,
should I need to be doing other work.
The quality of the microphone that we're dealing with
on the smartphone, being able to use our headset,
or even just using the mic in the smartphone itself,
vast improvement.
I have to say, I really like the idea
of using our smartphones and tablets to participate
in video conferencing calls, freeing up our computer
for other work and giving us a higher quality experience.
The beauty is if you're using Zoom for these conferences,
the Zoom app on both Android and IOS
is really well designed.
So as a participant, not necessarily as a host,
but as a participant it is a joy to use
and I think that you will benefit if you choose that.
I know you're wondering about my personal setup here,
so let me just quickly run through that.
I use the Logitech Brio, which is their HD,
their higher quality, high definition camera.
A little bit more expensive, a little bit higher quality.
My audio setup though is really kickass.
I use a studio broadcast quality microphone,
which is the Electro-Voice RE20.
It's an XLR mic, it has to go through an audio interface.
I used to use this old Behringer mixer
but just recently I purchased the RODECaster Pro,
which I am experimenting with and using
and getting my head around, I'm really liking it.
But this audio setup for video conferencing
is really overkill.
You're gonna get really good quality
out of a USB mic, or even your headset mic,
is going to be perfectly acceptable for 90% of video calls.
I hope that I've put your mind as ease
and that you now recognize that your existing hardware
that you have in place in your home
is probably gonna be sufficient for you to participate
in video conferencing, at least for the short term.
You won't be missing out on any aspect of it
with the gear that you already have in place,
and if you have more options well it's always nice
to have some better tools to work with,
but for the most part our basic setup
is going to work just fine.
I also hope that you've found this video useful
and as I say it's put your mind at ease
and maybe helped you transition a little bit
if you are spending more time on video conferencing
as our work environment shifts while we combat this virus
in a worldwide basis.
I imagine once we come out on the other side
of the Covid-19 epidemic that work will shift,
that our work habits will shift slightly
as more people are comfortable with the concept
of video conferencing.
If you have found this video useful
I would appreciate a thumbs up and for you
to share it with others who might find it valuable.
I look forward to your comments and questions.
I read each and every one and respond to as many as I can.
Also, check out our other videos,
we've got a whole series of videos on video conferencing
as so many of us are now focused on that
as a big part of our work life.
So there will be links below,
as well as at the end of this video,
to our other videos on the entire concept
of video conferencing.
Till next time, I'm Steve Dotto.
Have fun storming the castle.