tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35382634889501898792024-03-18T22:58:37.600-04:00The Experience MattersAncillary blog of the UC Test LabBryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comBlogger221125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-8613350603801360122023-06-19T17:49:00.003-04:002023-06-26T19:29:58.321-04:00For Sale<p style="text-align: left;">Looking to donate/sell all my old testing equipment as I'll no longer need it. Nothing has a warranty or guarantee, but everything worked the last time I used them. Here is the start of the list:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Elgato Stream Deck mini – lightly used to test.<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/46bmyEg">https://amzn.to/46bmyEg<br /></a><o:p> <br /></o:p>HD fury Diva with input lag tester cable – used in lab
environment. Works.<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/46bmcxq">https://amzn.to/46bmcxq<br /></a><o:p> <br /></o:p>Dayton Audio EMM-6 with PYLE XLR-USB signal adapter –
lightly used in lab environment.<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/43TN57K">https://amzn.to/43TN57K<br /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3XcOm7e">https://amzn.to/3XcOm7e<br /></a><o:p> <br /></o:p>Pyle Pro PDBC50 strip surge protector – 1U. Ran 24/7 for
years but works as new. <a href="https://amzn.to/3XgMDOf">https://amzn.to/3XgMDOf<br /></a><o:p> <br /></o:p>Razer Kiyo Pro webcam – lightly tested.<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/3NBrvii">https://amzn.to/3NBrvii<br /></a><o:p> <br /></o:p>3-port USB-based KVM<br /> <a href="https://amzn.to/3pawLA6">https://amzn.to/3pawLA6<br /></a>Used in lab environment. Works.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>SM208 screen brightness meter – lightly used in lab
environment.<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/44bPBpD">https://amzn.to/44bPBpD<br /></a><o:p> <br /></o:p>Poly P21 display. Used for demo purposes. Excellent
condition in box<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/3p9aRgN">https://amzn.to/3p9aRgN</a></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">BenQ Instashow – two different models (USB-C and
HDMI, I believe). In box, works.</span><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Elgato Facecam – note this may be bricked.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3XhDwNp">https://amzn.to/3XhDwNp</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Microsoft Modern USB headset – Used often, but still works
as new.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://amzn.to/42O7byD">https://amzn.to/42O7byD</a><o:p></o:p></p>Shokz OpenComm UC (first version)</span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3POCdUv">https://amzn.to/3POCdUv</a></span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Logitech Zone True Wireless Earbuds</span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JzCQ06">https://amzn.to/3JzCQ06</a></span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Poly Cube webcam</span></div><div><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-26717416546320326592023-04-29T14:59:00.003-04:002023-04-29T14:59:27.487-04:00Are online product reviews legitimate?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZw7-FUFHZXfLSX8zK1AN20zpi4tvgZOnkvgzwXjIVeKrLq1PT2wuP3Jrm30Ki8zepCS5-Uix17zRZIy6CBZ3qrBzUeNb5fZ_P-kJ7OrfmIzCr3t5zf2tPUA8fpNk-fzm7YRMdjwjBP4PBCmvF1bRejUZCWsVsqNojzDF163iWHYjBR_70gSpoTFZXQ/s4592/towfiqu-barbhuiya-0ZUoBtLw3y4-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZw7-FUFHZXfLSX8zK1AN20zpi4tvgZOnkvgzwXjIVeKrLq1PT2wuP3Jrm30Ki8zepCS5-Uix17zRZIy6CBZ3qrBzUeNb5fZ_P-kJ7OrfmIzCr3t5zf2tPUA8fpNk-fzm7YRMdjwjBP4PBCmvF1bRejUZCWsVsqNojzDF163iWHYjBR_70gSpoTFZXQ/s320/towfiqu-barbhuiya-0ZUoBtLw3y4-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/ja/@towfiqu999999?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Towfiqu barbhuiya</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/review?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></i></p><p>We've probably all done it. When looking for a product, one of the best things to do is read online reviews. I've found myself Googling "what is the best (insert thing here)" and while reading reviews it became obvious that some authors never touched the product. Yet, they were telling their audience what was best. Read on for my experience writing for one of these websites in early 2023.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>At my previous job, I would have my hands on products to provide an evaluation on everything from installation to management to usage and included bench testing metrics. After evaluating a product, I would typically do a Google search on it to see how my review compared to others. It was clear that few people actually put their hands on the products, or if they did, they didn't actually test it. I saw many glowing reviews over (frankly) subpar products. Poor performances were not discussed and glaring faults were never written about.</p><p>I cannot stress enough how much this in itself is an extreme disservice to readers wanting legitimate information.</p><p>Fast forward to January 2023, when I was hired as a freelance "tech evaluator" by a website. My intentions were good going into it, but it went south pretty fast. I was first tasked with writing an article on "the best (insert product)", yet I would not have access to any of the products. After Googling "the best product" and reading 20 other opinions, I formulated my list. I sent that to the editor with the order I deemed most appropriate and it got rearranged. In addition, a product I never heard of (and was not on anyone's "best" list) was added. So the list wasn't mine, the order wasn't mine, but the article was. This was a "training" article and I looked past it just to get it published. It felt more important that I had the formatting and affiliate links correct than having honest content.</p><p>I became the thing I hate.</p><p>My next article was a comparison - this versus that. Again, no hands on so essentially it became a spec review. After weaving the article the best I could, I was informed that I needed to craft a winner. So here I am again put in a spot where one company could potentially lose sales because I said it didn't "win" in an article where I didn't use the product. I cannot ethically do that. After I got my way without creating a "winner" my article was locked to me, edited and a winner was created on my behalf.</p><p>I quit a short time later.</p><p>To wrap up, my advice is to pay attention to any online product reviews you read and take them all with a grain of salt. The review could be one of the following:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A quantitative hands on review (extraordinarily rare)</li><li>A qualitative hands on review (eg: I am the expert)</li><li>An unbiased review by someone who used the product with no monetary incentive (typically YouTubers) except for getting paid for views.</li><li>A review not intended to piss off the vendor because they give free gear or pay the bills (analysts)</li><li>A review by a reseller of the product (wholly biased-why would they negatively review a product they sell?) </li><li>A sponsored/paid "nice" review</li><li>Specification reviews (just the facts, ma'am)</li><li>A review by someone who never touched the product and is filled with affiliate links</li></ul><p></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-68900311797004266732023-04-22T10:56:00.005-04:002023-04-22T10:56:43.121-04:00Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC Evaluation<span id="docs-internal-guid-aea6163b-7fff-73e2-a64a-147a3696de2c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 123px; overflow: hidden; width: 465px;"><img height="261.061878598102" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vcCjJvK_1MalmC_bUAOaU-WAGkh8GENxqcLQlTmVap6h1hvVJy72G3f3gHQfJap3_eG-HugjxeEqDQP-ymmEZ-q-xTzB65eGvOZb9wjbEAS4B15A2ncpoSiLSRcFjSBuKNLx8xLyQNRiclpdq4AHPnw" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -60.93879307060853px;" width="465" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With their announcement ahead of ISE in January 2023, Poly enhances their audio device product line with the introduction of the Voyager Free 60 enterprise grade earbuds. The Voyager Free 60s are true wireless earbuds and several models are available: Free 60, Free 60 UC, Free 60+ UC, as well as a Microsoft Teams specific model of the 60+ UC. This is an evaluation of the Free 60+ UC earbuds which were supplied to UC Test Lab free of charge by Poly.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a></span><p></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Specifications</span></h2><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Product Name</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Battery life</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - 5.5 hours talk time, 8 hours listening time (ANC on)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Noise cancellation</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Adaptive and Standard, plus Transparency mode</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microphones</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - 3 microphones per earbud</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Connectivity</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Bluetooth v5.3</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">IP rating</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - IP54 splash and dust resistant</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charging</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - USB-C to A; Qi wireless certified</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Price</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - $329.95</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Weight</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - 5.8 g</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Color</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Carbon Black and White Sand</span></p></li></ul><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Design and Hardware</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everything needed is shipped with the earbuds. Included in the packaging along with the earbuds are the charging case, Bluetooth dongle (either USB-C or USB-A depending on your purchase), a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, a USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable and three sizes of ear tips, with the medium tips pre-installed. Also included is a quickstart guide and a card containing a QR code for quick access to the Poly Lens control app.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 312px; overflow: hidden; width: 501px;"><img height="312" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/uwoIfnFkxzpAmdCGXYlVt_SK9K95-T5nQDluYLTAHNSSDiFHyUOXOwXfBGtNHeg6bcnfm2KHqbS1XsNta-D_FcKtJxS9SoVdJ0hmw8r4hpBd-abUxPQTzZEXqc0GIBJ0k3mo73y8LdUvQyVxS9HRuSc" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="501" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image Source: Poly</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each earbud has a physical button and a swipe sensor for control. Swipe controls can be customized however each earbud will have the same functionality, meaning swiping on the left bud will always perform the same function as swiping on the right, no matter what that function may be. The swipe function can also be disabled. The button is not customizable and is set to answer and end calls, pause music, Bluetooth pairing and activation of Siri or Google Assistant depending on length of press and the application running at the time of press.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The charging case for the Free 60+ UC serves a bigger purpose than just a means to charge and transport the earbuds, although it does provide two additional charges for them. There are several features that should be table stakes for premium charging cases in the future. First, the case has a touch screen that displays battery life as well as provides access to several settings so you don’t need to pull your phone out and open the Lens app every time you want to make adjustments. ANC modes, transparency modes, and connected device source can be changed and new Bluetooth devices can be connected. In addition, music controls for play, pause, skip and volume are available. The case is Qi wireless charging certified and there is a USB-C port for wired charging. This USB-C port is also the connector for one of the more ingenious features of the charging case.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Supplied with the earbuds is a USB-C to 3.5mm cable. Using this cable with a device that has a 3.5mm audio jack creates a bridge between the earbuds and the device with the case serving as a Bluetooth receiver. This is especially useful for air travelers who want to listen to on-board entertainment through the earbuds, but should work with any legacy device with a 3.5mm audio jack.</span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 386px; overflow: hidden; width: 460px;"><img height="726.527738748791" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/b1yhcb2dvS6agYfO-cSJElwO6dLF_80Jqm6EzouT6t-2XhmWCSXZ3sgMPLAzjB0JdMaQlZuUwDsuigDlZrjPocPutt0f0g7NahmtQeYXAUiTP6ztUV_x3TyIGT8Xt-R9iblYmrBxH0Ns0QbiI8FWLFI" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -227.18150562779536px;" width="545.7034220532319" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image Source: UCTestLab</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In our testing, we connected the case to a laptop via its 3.5mm jack and experienced high quality audio. There are, however, some things to understand while connecting the case to a device in this fashion. First, we found volume controls are independent between the case and the device. You may have to turn the volume up on both of them to get the audio level to a desired level. Secondly, the analog audio output is listen only, with no microphone capabilities. Lastly, only the 60+ UC model has the 3.5mm connection capability.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The case also has an interior space to hold the Bluetooth dongle. While a minor feature, this shouldn’t be overlooked for travelers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bryan’s take: The charging case is clearly front and center of the user experience and I appreciate the features available. Being able to use the case as an intermediary between the earbuds and a legacy device that has only a 3.5mm connector for audio is a “game changer” to me. The only drawback to the case is its size. If you’re used to tucking away your iPod Pro’s case in your pocket, switching to the Free 60+ UC model might disappoint. However, with all the features the case brings, I personally don’t mind the extra size.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 288px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="468.0516435905732" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WoQQn5LnLmMgUSu9827oupkR_bTItKA99Rpd09iTa4iWiVD415vRMbx8MdK48MQia1YjknSajhht50qeqbfAgOnF24He9j0idHbDxvoOWZICEgjbfg-c4l1sSfJWz80w-z8Z2cEPjMWczHjHlmF_4fI" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -70.20166495916978px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Voyager Free 60 and Apple Airpod Pro first gen cases.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image Source: UCTestLab</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With the earbuds, I like that the swipe and button functionality is the same. It’s a level of simplicity that I like and don’t have to remember what earbud performs what function. I’m sure there are those who would like differing settings, but I appreciate that they are the same.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Audio and ANC</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The earbuds have several audio features to ensure excellent call quality. Each earbud has a three-mic array that triangulates on your voice while simultaneously minimizing surrounding noise. There are three active noise canceling (ANC) settings: adaptive, standard and off. The adaptive mode adjusts itself based on earbud fit and movement for on-the-go usage, while standard mode is optimized for office usage. There are also three transparency modes: environment, speech and off. The environment mode provides transparency around the user while speech mode concentrates the transparency in front of the user. Speech mode is excellent for face to face conversations while wearing the earbuds and minimizing noises behind and beside the user. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bryan’s take: Poly is known in the industry for exceptional audio technology so my expectation was pretty high going into testing the earbuds. Overall the Free 60s perform very well for music listening, general audio and for calling. Remote participants noticed a slight suppression of background noises in calls with no perceived voice degradation. I recommend that these should be used in tandem with a meeting service’s noise suppression for best results. While listening to music, there is full range frequency response with no distortion, indicating a high build quality. On a personal level, I discovered these earbuds didn’t need to be crammed into my ears to achieve a good level of bass response. I can’t say that about many earbuds I’ve tested.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For video calls, the earbuds were tested using Google Meet and Zoom. Incoming and outgoing audio is exceptionally high. The only anomaly I discovered was Transparency Mode being disabled in the Lens Desktop App during Zoom calls and its setting is unavailable as an option on the case. It also appeared that the Transparency Mode automatically changed during my Zoom tests switching to Speech mode. I could tell by the change in the environmental noise when starting a Zoom call. Not a deal breaker, since I prefer Speech mode, but may be off putting to some. While testing in Zoom, I went through all of Zoom’s audio settings, including Music Mode to gauge voice quality changes. Voice quality was high with every setting and the only difference noticed was the amount of ambient noise that was being canceled based on the level of Zoom’s noise suppression. In both Zoom and Meet the mute notification in the client is displayed when muting the microphone via the case. It’s nice to have hardware correctly talking to software in this manner.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Users should test the various combinations of ANC and transparency to find out what works best for them. In my experience, I found that Standard ANC and Speech Transparency provided the best all around performance with hearing my own voice while in meetings. For music listening, I preferred Standard ANC and no Transparency.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Control and Battery</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The earbuds are managed via the Poly Lens app, either desktop or mobile device version. They are also enterprise manageable through the cloud via Poly’s Lens service. I’m only touching on the Lens app, mainly because I rarely used it in testing thanks to most of the settings I needed to adjust being available on the case. It’s worth noting however, that the Lens Desktop App does not recognize the earbuds when connected via the 3.5mm connector. But you have the case, so why worry?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I didn’t perform a rundown test for battery life verification, but they are listed as having five and a half hours of talk time or eight hours of listening time with ANC on. The Qi wireless certified case provides an additional two charges with a fast charging capability that gives the user up to 72 minutes of talk time with just a 15 minute charge. If you want to technically break it down, one could get about 33 hours of total consecutive talk time from the earbuds, if you’re willing to try it. Each earbud can be used independent of the other for up to 5.5 hours each, and the case provides two extra charges which gives six total times of 5.5 hours when using one earbud at a time.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Analysis</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As much as I like the earbuds and their audio quality, the charging case is the real superstar making them much more valuable than any other set of earbuds I’ve tested. Poly hit a clear home run with the case. That’s not to say the earbuds themselves are a slouch. They are anything but that, performing up to whatever task I put them through. The Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds were tested under various conditions using several devices and proved itself more than capable switching between the devices with little to no issues using the case. I did notice that at times, the device listed on the case changed from the computer name to BT700 and sometimes had BT700 listed twice, based on my workflow described below.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is one use case I became particularly fond of while testing. Having tested numerous devices from Poly has left me with spare BT700 Bluetooth dongles. While testing the earbuds, I connected the supplied BT700 to a desktop PC and a spare to a laptop, while also maintaining a connection to my iPhone. While the earbuds only have active connections to two devices at a time, it remembers up to eight total devices. Switching connections back and forth between devices is as seamless as I’ve ever noticed with a Bluetooth device with the exception that sometimes the device was listed as my computer’s name and sometimes it was listed as BT700. The switching is quick enough though that it is only a minor inconvenience.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Should you buy them?</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I segment products that I review into four categories to determine who the product is most suited for.</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who - the necessary experience level required from the user, novice through expert</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When - the amount of time expected to use the product from rarely through often</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where - where the product will be used, dedicated home office, mobile, multiple devices and locations</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why - specific use cases</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who? The Free 60’s are appropriate for all experience levels. They are easy to pair and use with mobile devices and laptops as well as transitioning between multiple devices. While they are easy to use and beginner friendly, expert users should find enough settings and features to dial in the best possible performance.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When? I would recommend that if someone is considering these earbuds, they should be more than just a casual or infrequent user. This is due to the price point and at $329.95, if they aren’t used often it may not justify spending that much on earbuds.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where? The “where” does not matter with the Free 60. They are appropriate for any and all work (and play) locations. The only slight exception may be to not use them for heavy sweat workouts as they are IP54 rated. These are an excellent choice for mobile, in-office and home office use. The addition of the 3.5mm audio capability earns them extra bonus points for legacy devices and airplane usage.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why? If you are a frequent flyer and traveling light, you should get these. Period. However, I may not recommend them if a user works in an Apple ecosystem exclusively, but once you add a Windows opening system into the mix, the included Bluetooth dongle allows them to play well with all devices.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only thing I would have liked included with the earbuds is a travel pouch to keep the cables readily available. Other than that, there is nothing missing and these have become my daily audio device based on the audio quality, ease of use and excellent connectivity.</span></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disclaimers</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This evaluation was generated based on a week-long, hands-on performance analysis by UC Test Lab. The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds were tested using the following devices: Windows 10-based desktop, Windows 11-based laptop, iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro (M1). Poly supplied the test lab with a pre-GA set of earbuds in consumer packaging for free for the purpose of testing. This is not a paid evaluation.</span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-91572042583597100482023-04-15T12:03:00.004-04:002023-04-15T12:03:48.345-04:00How to test AI transcription in meeting services<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7zxUruDjoU_KGygFAkP3wNXOsT8-APuDgRu7fX31waVdLe5rYPhumG6a8WkQCLdhqT7GJYZtiCBLXd-l_371ev0QWi5M9kUGen9w80TbPY-cIWS6_q1Og7v2PNihm4VAZc149CRauIBEgsMxle7MJE6qzRtqFDtrCLy7vcH4GdI0Bw81ErGls3B26Q/s3456/andrea-de-santis-zwd435-ewb4-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="2765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7zxUruDjoU_KGygFAkP3wNXOsT8-APuDgRu7fX31waVdLe5rYPhumG6a8WkQCLdhqT7GJYZtiCBLXd-l_371ev0QWi5M9kUGen9w80TbPY-cIWS6_q1Og7v2PNihm4VAZc149CRauIBEgsMxle7MJE6qzRtqFDtrCLy7vcH4GdI0Bw81ErGls3B26Q/s320/andrea-de-santis-zwd435-ewb4-unsplash.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@santesson89?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Andrea De Santis</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/ai?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></i></p><p>Lately, AI has been <i>the</i> buzzword, well, buzz acronym in conversations around enterprise communications. What is AI and how does it relate to communications? For the purpose of this article we will refer to AI as the ability to generate correct transcriptions from meeting attendees. This is how I would test meeting services to determine accuracy and benchmark them against one another. Note that I am an English speaker and while my test would primarily involve the English language, it could certainly port to any language supported by meeting services.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>The goal of a meeting service transcription feature is to be 100% accurate. The likelihood that it can be 100% accurate in perfect conditions is high, but when does a meeting have perfect conditions? Simply testing in perfect conditions seems pointless, so we need to overkill it just a bit.</p><p><u>Setup</u></p><p>We would start with a 50 word script of general, unspecific, content spoken in a normal tone and speed. Two voiceover artists, one male and one female would each record the phrase to a digital file. These are your base files.</p><p>A point to point call would be initiated in the meeting service to be tested. One base file would be placed in Audacity (or equal software program) and using VB audio virtual cable as the microphone source for the meeting service and played on a loop. Audio streams would be sent to the remote end point (both end points would be in the same lab, but each connected to a separate network) and recorded from the meeting service itself. Once the test is finished, a review of the recording is performed, noting any errors. With a 50-word phrase, each error is two points off giving maximum score of 100 for 100% accuracy. We would do this several times, likely several dozen time to achieve a baseline score for each meeting service we test.</p><p>Then we apply this logic under ever increasing levels of difficulty.</p><p><u>Proper names</u></p><p>A script would be created with proper names sprinkled in and retested. A separate test could involve the names of the meting attendees to see if there is any change of transcription spelling. For example, would Bryan be spelled the correct way if I was in the meeting.</p><p><u>Technical jargon</u></p><p>A script would be created using industry jargon and acronyms and retested.</p><p><u>Variable speakers </u></p><p>The next test would be the original script with several variables including rushed speech, sprinkling of "Ums" breaking the conversation and high and low pitch voice tests.</p><p><u>Noise cancellation and other settings</u></p><p>The original file would be used for testing all audio settings in a meeting service. Does increasing the noise cancellation to maximum affect the score? Here is where we would find out.</p><p><u>Noise</u></p><p>Speaking of noise, we would use the base file and overdub noises onto it and retest. From here we would also test all noise cancellation levels. Noises could include HVAC/brown noise, phones ringing, dogs barking, road noise, etc.</p><p><u>Distance to microphone</u></p><p>For this test, the base file would be played in a meeting space at various locations in the room to see if distance to the microphone has any affect on accuracy. This could also involve testing different microphones and mic arrays to see if hardware makes a difference.</p><p><u>Network conditions </u></p><p>The base file would be recorded while we introduce various network conditions. Does introducing packet loss mess up the transcription or is the "AI" so advanced it fills in the gaps?</p><p><u>Over talk</u></p><p>A file would be recorded with two people have a back and forth conversation. Does the AI distinguish between speakers? How does the meeting service handle two people overlapping each other in conversation?</p><p><u>Accents and Language</u></p><p>This is where it can get out of control by testing not only a variety of English accents, but switching languages in the middle of the conversation.</p><p>So to wrap up, any vendor bragging about "XX%" accuracy in transcription must be taken with a grain of salt. We need to know their test methodology and how deep do they dive into it because as mentioned before, testing in perfect conditions has little to do with a real world experience.</p><p>Bryan</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-44048877987148898912023-03-03T13:02:00.001-05:002023-03-03T13:06:13.037-05:00Poly Voyager 6200 UC Review<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKlKQtt06v-kgFeKk-bLMlseEaIdF-ZRzKA4Mqk4XUsR9d1l8cFrPQfu8xzk2_ag-J8bhls2uSfGTl7M-2l3hRXHvesJCza68DiILjkFBNA8R5J9iJVObNcG8QP0txufzpJGaC13_bwYs3KwtpBZF0zruDT_jYxew6_BW_4oA4hlzAeXRWsMSj-wW03Q/s917/voyager6200.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="917" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKlKQtt06v-kgFeKk-bLMlseEaIdF-ZRzKA4Mqk4XUsR9d1l8cFrPQfu8xzk2_ag-J8bhls2uSfGTl7M-2l3hRXHvesJCza68DiILjkFBNA8R5J9iJVObNcG8QP0txufzpJGaC13_bwYs3KwtpBZF0zruDT_jYxew6_BW_4oA4hlzAeXRWsMSj-wW03Q/s320/voyager6200.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source: Poly</i></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Poly Voyager 6200 is a wireless Bluetooth headset designed for professional use. The headset is equipped with noise-cancelling technology, making it ideal for use in noisy environments. Additionally, it features a comfortable and ergonomic design that allows you to wear it for extended periods without discomfort. Read on for more about the Voyager 6200</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span></span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the standout features of the <a href="https://www.poly.com/us/en/products/headsets/voyager/voyager-6200-uc">Poly Voyager 6200</a> is its noise-cancelling technology. The headset is equipped with four omnidirectional microphones that work together to cancel out ambient noise, making it easier for you to focus on your work or conversation. This feature is particularly useful for people who work in open offices or other noisy environments, like Bryan's home office.</span></span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The headset also offers excellent call quality, thanks to its integrated stereo speakers. The sound quality is clear and crisp, and the noise-cancelling technology ensures that you can hear and be heard even in noisy environments. Additionally, the headset features a dynamic mute alert that notifies you when you are on mute, ensuring that you never accidentally speak into a muted microphone.</span></span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In terms of comfort, the Poly Voyager 6200 excels. The headset is lightweight and features a comfortable neckband that is both flexible and durable. The earbuds are also comfortable and come with multiple sizes of ear tips, allowing you to find the perfect fit for your ears. The headset also features a magnetic snap closure that keeps the earbuds in place when you are not using them (Editor's note: I have no idea what this means - my set does not have that. Subtract one point from ChatGPT).</span></span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, the Poly Voyager 6200 is an excellent wireless headset that is perfect for professional use. The noise-cancelling technology, excellent call quality, and comfortable design make it a great choice for anyone who spends a lot of time on the phone or in meetings. The only downside is that it is a bit pricey, but it is well worth the investment if you need a high-quality headset for work.</span></span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The above was an adjusted review created by ChatGPT.</span></span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've been using these on and off for years and only recently put them back into more or less full-time service. My home office is incredibly noisy thanks (thanks?) to my house being close to a busy street. This means I require a headset for two reasons: Help block out road noise in my ears and help block out road noise from reaching the far end participants. Nothing is dumber, in my opinion, than cars activating my microphone and then displaying me full screen in an active speaker enabled meeting. The Voyager 6200 fixed those issues and are exceptionally comfortable to boot.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The primary caveat about this headset is that they are not appropriate for music playback as there is minimal to no low end response. However, as a device for phone or video calls, these excel in every way. Plus when using Poly's lightweight Lens Desktop software, you'll never a firmware update.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are currently<a href="https://amzn.to/3KUXgC9"> available from Amazon</a> for $154.98</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bryan is a tech reviewer and researcher for products in Unified Communications, AV and smart home. As an Amazon Associate, he earns from qualifying purchases. This article contains affiliate links where he will earn a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Your support helps!</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-71046544427504350882023-02-15T17:10:00.004-05:002023-02-15T17:10:56.528-05:00Is Lenovo's ThinkSmart View Plus the Right Solution?<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYj1gH_2VyM2RL4NwvmZqVNDjU1fLy1wzqjDBan4EFL5TBo7dZilH83MJLy509mkBBOWSqkRx-6W4lqEPwtmRM7yd_eRe6TlpqvzioCqq3dxVQUBsaZv_QpvaTIG5gB52P2O6PT3nW2ig5hWSe5MgnsI50IsHnRrj3KI4BWfZyIJuJNGrLvZiKtZ5oyQ/s640/markus-winkler-wpOa2i3MUrY-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYj1gH_2VyM2RL4NwvmZqVNDjU1fLy1wzqjDBan4EFL5TBo7dZilH83MJLy509mkBBOWSqkRx-6W4lqEPwtmRM7yd_eRe6TlpqvzioCqq3dxVQUBsaZv_QpvaTIG5gB52P2O6PT3nW2ig5hWSe5MgnsI50IsHnRrj3KI4BWfZyIJuJNGrLvZiKtZ5oyQ/s320/markus-winkler-wpOa2i3MUrY-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/ko/@markuswinkler?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Markus Winkler</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/wpOa2i3MUrY?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></i></p><p>Introduced at ISE 2023 was Lenovo's entry in the genre of "personal service integrated displays" (Bryan's term). This blog will dive right into it - let's go!<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>The Lenovo ThinkSmart View Plus is a 27" display that will list for $2,345 with an estimated release date of mid-2023. Let's look into the few specs we have available from the press release.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>4k camera with auto-framing</li><li>27", 1080p multi-touch display</li><li>Integrated Android OS</li><li>Dedicated to Microsoft Teams</li><li>Four-mic array</li><li>Can be connected to a PC via USB-C</li><li>Supports stylus input for Microsoft Whiteboard (assuming within Teams and not the standalone app?)</li></ul><p></p><p>No word on Touchback (controllability of a connected PC via the touch screen)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://news.lenovo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/07_Thinksmart_View_Plus_Hero_Front_Facing_Right_With_Camera-scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="383" src="https://news.lenovo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/07_Thinksmart_View_Plus_Hero_Front_Facing_Right_With_Camera-scaled.jpg" width="383" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Image Source: Lenovo</i></p><p><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p>Auto-framing on a personal device isn't completely necessary. You're close to it, you're interacting with it. No need for superfluous camera movement. However, it seems important for vendors to include a 4K camera in a solution that likely won't transmit at a resolution higher than 720p. Four microphones aren't necessary either for the same reasons.</p><p>Over the past couple of years I've tested several service based displays including:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Avocor's Google Meet-based Desk 27</li><li>DTEN ME Pro (Zoom Room)</li><li>Webex Desk</li><li>Webex Desk Pro</li><li>Google Jamboard</li><li>Webex Board 55</li></ul><div>After spending time with each of these in their native mode of operation, one thought keeps running through my mind:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"How quickly can I switch it to being a normal display?"</i></div><div><br /></div><div>The primary pain point with displays like this is the desk space that's completely used by a service device. Let's say you have one connected to a PC and using it like a "normal" monitor. You won't get notifications for activity in the service, unless it's also running on your PC. That necessity for redundancy, in my opinion, makes these types of display near useless if it is your only monitor.</div><div><br /></div><div>The press release states that it is providing access to Teams chat, calendar and files. What sort of workflow disruption is going to happen when you get a chat notification, if you can even see it?</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I'm not 100% against these types of displays and I think they have their place, just not on my desk. I see them as ideal for hot desking and hoteling so users don't need ancillary equipment to have a video call. As far as being a staple of home office users? I don't see it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The most interesting feature is described as: "...the ThinkSmart View Plus enables screensharing between two devices to simultaneously view content and presenters...". We will have to see what that exactly means but sounds neat.</div><div><br /></div><div>See <a href="https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/smart-collaboration-solutions-standalone-thinksmart-view-plus/">Lenovo's press release</a> for more information. Note that within their press release they refer to ISE as "Information Systems Europe" of which this <a href="https://www.xda-developers.com/lenovo-thinksmart-view-plus-release/">website</a> did no fact checking when rewriting. I digress.</div><div><br /></div><div>Disclaimer</div><div>This blog was written without hands-on experience with the device. The UC Test Lab was not briefed on this device. All information was attained from internet resources that may have subject factuality. </div><p></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-76065230401247629392023-02-01T13:48:00.003-05:002023-02-01T17:40:50.639-05:00Is Logitech's Project Ghost the new Telepresence?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBGy3jOu6tgLBfT1gJqhN0IYSN1OFLng1Nbv96loB8i-V-Qc1L0SHbBp1TUHnIBorscNPTiJBJtHXUkztok7HJqG2AExiUVUW6E9kKL1Gukzi8eQ6pxTh_npKo6kpxvNEl7EZiPuo6goOQVE7nd8oSZKy7i9_URoqe7wCMcmfs0I7V6KpLoXIC9WnXvQ/s813/drew-tilk-EhmLEzVSx1Q-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBGy3jOu6tgLBfT1gJqhN0IYSN1OFLng1Nbv96loB8i-V-Qc1L0SHbBp1TUHnIBorscNPTiJBJtHXUkztok7HJqG2AExiUVUW6E9kKL1Gukzi8eQ6pxTh_npKo6kpxvNEl7EZiPuo6goOQVE7nd8oSZKy7i9_URoqe7wCMcmfs0I7V6KpLoXIC9WnXvQ/s320/drew-tilk-EhmLEzVSx1Q-unsplash.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@drewtilk?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Drew Tilk</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/images/things/ghost?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></i></p><p>On January 31st at ISE2023, Logitech publicly introduced Project Ghost, an integrated video conferencing system utilizing Steelcase furniture. This system utilizes Pepper's Ghost (beam splitting) putting a camera behind a semi-transparent screen to achieve eye contact with a reflected image. Read on for more information about Project Ghost.</p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper%27s_ghost">Pepper's Ghost </a>technique has been around since the mid 1800's. Beam splitting / Pepper's Ghost has been used in the video conferencing industry for well over 20 years now. Both <a href="https://dveholographics.com/telepresence/">DVEHolographics</a>, formerly known as DVE Telepresence and <a href="https://www.telepresencetech.com/">TelePresenceTech</a> have been utilizing beam splitting technologies since the late 1990's as a method to have excellent eye contact for point to point video meetings.</p><p>Logitech's Project Ghost is now the latest entry of solutions to achieve eye contact in meeting using similar techniques of the companies listed above. While some may think this product is similar to Google's Project Starline (<a href="http://hellarddesign.blogspot.com/2022/10/is-google-project-starline-new.html">as I blogged about here</a>), these are two differently engineered systems to achieve the same sort of result - which is eye contact in a point to point meeting. Starline is intended for one person at each point, whereas Project Ghost may be capable of hosting two participants per suite.</p><p>Marrying furniture to technology has strengths and weaknesses. The primary strength is that organizations could (or may be able to if it becomes productized) purchase one SKU that includes everything needed for a video meeting. Another strength can be that since it's an integrated set of products, that it will look good and work good without a cobbled set of disparate technologies and horrid cable management. Disadvantages include "whose budget does this come from - IT or Facilities?", and technology refreshing far sooner than furniture.</p><p>Any product utilizing a beam splitter approach needs to be aware of a few things. Lighting must be strictly controlled where the camera is located, or else you will see it through the screen and not be able to see the remote attendee very well. Logitech appears to address this by the camera being in an enclosed cabinet. Next, you should understand the footprint the screen system will take up. The screen will be slanted at a 45 degree angle with the remote attendee's image being face up on a display so it can reflect off the screen to the user. This takes a lot of floor space and the bigger the perceived display is, the bigger the footprint. The display will get dusty too. Do not expect an image as good as that of a modern monitor. Since the image is reflected off a beam splitter, you're going to lose a large amount of light. Therefore, the entire lighting system needs controlled (where the camera is located, ambient light and facial lighting) and you can't expect to pop a beam splitter into a well lit room and have a bright image.</p><p><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p>While I appreciate most products that Logitech has introduced over the past couple of years, "Project Ghost" is a head scratcher. The goal of Telepresence is attempting to recreate a face to face meeting and, <b>in every form</b>, falls apart as soon as you add a third site, or sometimes even a second person at one site depending on camera location. The wonders of eye contact, which is the primary selling point, is immediately removed by adding a third point - unless the system introduces multiple cameras and thus starts to become unwieldy in technology and cost. When telepresence was first introduced into the market, Zoom (for example) didn't exist and video conferencing was an expensive Fortune 500 endeavor exclusively. Fast forward 20 years and nearly everyone has the ability to have high quality video meetings from their desk. In addition, most video meetings are either multi-point or include content sharing. Content shared on a beam splitter may be difficult to read due to light loss and multi-point breaks the eye contact experience. Project Ghost will be an expensive system and honestly a waste of money if not used strictly for point to point meetings. Anyone with a web camera and a large enough monitor can get a single participant relatively life size on-screen with good eye contact for an absolute fraction of what this may cost. </p><p>For further reading, please see <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/31/23577918/logitech-steelcase-project-ghost-video-chat-booth-starline">The Verge's story HERE</a>.</p><p>Note that this article was based on third party information and not on a demo or first hand testing by Bryan or the UCTestLab.</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Bryan Hellard has been in the video conferencing industry for over 23 years and has always been a proponent of telepresence, imaging and display technologies. He began his career as a developer of room-based telepresence products including those using beam splitters, rear projection and traditional displays. He has consulted with many of the top vendors in the telepresence genre providing insight, R&D and product design services.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-49761884213478380862023-01-02T12:10:00.007-05:002023-01-02T12:12:59.023-05:00I've been working from home for nearly 20 years - here are the best products I've used<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFAnzApH7BX1toLSv37cwsQ8lylNkg-aPMHk-o6a_8guSE7TtmQmddPyOjYLtVjVPKQU3dG4Dkjma_Erx5-d6WU1OLvIhK6VlkVnxEQWeKVcMApMBo-DPZzWpFuqykgn9j9EhLE2647K1AVXZdYtvbnge0V0B9cQ8HokG_dE0MBRWE2M5XeLaT15JOg/s4000/mikey-harris-kw0z6RyvC0s-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2667" data-original-width="4000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFAnzApH7BX1toLSv37cwsQ8lylNkg-aPMHk-o6a_8guSE7TtmQmddPyOjYLtVjVPKQU3dG4Dkjma_Erx5-d6WU1OLvIhK6VlkVnxEQWeKVcMApMBo-DPZzWpFuqykgn9j9EhLE2647K1AVXZdYtvbnge0V0B9cQ8HokG_dE0MBRWE2M5XeLaT15JOg/s320/mikey-harris-kw0z6RyvC0s-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@mikeyharris?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Mikey Harris</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/kw0z6RyvC0s?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></i></div><p>Now into my 20th year of working primarily from home, it's time to share some of the most effective tools I've found to get the work done. Most of my time is spent at a dedicated workstation in a spare bedroom of my house, but often I need to be "remote" from my home office so portability and flexibility is needed. Read on for more!<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Quite a bit of my time is spent writing and I used to rely on whatever was the cheapest keyboard I could find, or what came with the PC. When I upgraded to a <a href="https://amzn.to/3VFmia3">Logitech G213</a> keyboard, it made a world of difference in my typing ability over a cheaper, chicklet-style model. This isn't to say the G213 is expensive by any means, as it's one of the least expensive keyboards of its type and well worth the money. It's worth noting that even for the clutter they bring and limited range, I prefer wired devices including my mouse and keyboard. The only negative is that this keyboard has spoiled me and when I go mobile, my laptop and iPad keyboards are now more difficult to type with.</p><p>Video calls are a normal part of working from home and there are a couple of tools I use to present myself as well as possible to the people I'm meeting with. Over the years I have tested dozens of the top webcams and I find myself coming back to the <a href="https://amzn.to/3vA6LOl">Logitech Brio</a> time and again. It's the oldest webcam I own, but overall I've found it to be the best "all-around" camera for video calls and content creation. While the Brio has an automatic exposure setting that adjusts itself to changing conditions, I like to control the lighting in my room whenever possible. For that I use a combination of <a href="https://amzn.to/3G9DKxN">Neewer's 14" Ring light</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/3VFsuyZ">Blackout Curtains from NiceTown</a>. Blackout curtains are excellent to block sunlight, which may cause a poor video chat experience. An ancillary benefit is a slight reduction in room temperature without the sun beating into your home office. Note though, no matter what anyone says, these curtains do not - and I repeat - do not - block sound so please don't buy them if you think they will help reduce any outdoor noise. A light ring is great for both video chats and photography. The Neewer has a dimmer and color temperature controls and ships with its own sturdy tripod.</p><p>When I need to go mobile, whether it's to an outside office, coffee shop or even my back porch, I take one of two devices depending on what work needs done. </p><p>The <a href="https://amzn.to/3Z8GmF0">HP Spectre X360</a> is my current laptop of choice and has been for a couple of years now. It is relatively light and small and has good battery life. It has a touchscreen and a stylus, but I've never been a fan of a Windows-based touch experience on a small screen so the stylus has been lost and screen rarely gets touched. The keyboard is good, but like I mentioned above, it's getting harder to readjust away from my G213. I use the laptop when I'm writing in Word or need Windows specific tools. My only complaint with the X360 has been fan noise, which can get very loud and is a known problem. Hopefully, HP has addressed this in newer versions.</p><p>An <a href="https://amzn.to/3WXxuQn">11" iPad Pro</a> is likely the most used piece of gear I own. If I could choose just one device to be by my side at all times, it's the iPad that wins even over my iPhone and certainly over a laptop. Unlike a touch laptop, my fingers are all over the iPad screen and I've found that it is much easier to clean than screen of my HP. When I need to write, I pair the iPad Pro with a <a href="https://amzn.to/3WV5Unz">Magic Keyboard</a>. I will likely not use a third party keyboard again with an iPad. The connection between the iPad and the Magic Keyboard is immediate, stable and requires no setup. The keyboard experience is "good" and I like the track pad. Sure it's bulky and heavy, but I wouldn't switch to another keyboard based on weight or size. The only thing I don't care for is the Microsoft Word experience with the iPad. Google Docs is much better with the iPad, but if I need to use Word, I will opt for the laptop.</p><p>When the workday has wrapped up I like to spend some time on my back porch winding down and watching my dogs run around the yard. It's a great time for glass of bourbon before starting dinner. I like my bourbon neat in a <a href="https://amzn.to/3IgeJDK">Glencairn</a> glass. If you've never used one of these glasses, I highly recommend it!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGN2yzV7T_0vyRGGodh-HfZ45SClv2U-XsxuWkWNMsgk-fGB-JNDsSn2hgvvysGltcOvSR4qrk3VZMBLBoTHzCkLtW_MZ3-Y5B407vLS87yVxOkECZM5uIpE1-QGtUnM9oe3JI8W7D4ZmJ7r5XYtwEaOTSa75pOyUauFYcW8gQ-F5nHCbsEfE4P8U7w/s916/glass.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="850" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGN2yzV7T_0vyRGGodh-HfZ45SClv2U-XsxuWkWNMsgk-fGB-JNDsSn2hgvvysGltcOvSR4qrk3VZMBLBoTHzCkLtW_MZ3-Y5B407vLS87yVxOkECZM5uIpE1-QGtUnM9oe3JI8W7D4ZmJ7r5XYtwEaOTSa75pOyUauFYcW8gQ-F5nHCbsEfE4P8U7w/s320/glass.png" width="297" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Source: Amazon.com</i></p><p>Working from home may not be ideal for everyone, but if you can set yourself up with the right tools, it can be a rewarding experience. For more information of the audio tools I use, check out my <a href="http://hellarddesign.blogspot.com/2022/12/proper-audio-for-video-chat.html" target="_blank">recently published blog here</a>.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.9733px;">About the Author</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Bryan Hellard<b> </b>is a tech reviewer and researcher for products in Unified Communications. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry across several roles, including product engineering and management, R&D, and end user consulting. He can be contacted at: <a href="mailto:Bryan@uctestlab.com">Bryan@uctestlab.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This document contains affiliate links where I will earn a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Your support helps!</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-73181109247751171542022-12-26T16:30:00.000-05:002022-12-26T16:30:06.074-05:00Proper Audio for a Video Chat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidDSd6ei3vwK-JAcVn8xZA99h_OUWSOtnYIuERctqGLxypGa5MfLdA8KOYQfgI-r7BZyLuZJHCySVeTfU6C4KWl1OwSbar-UMdBgV-1IykeIuA8tav3LkNaGzoR9iHdBiMJSmD_vfkGcKZNl__CC2g-xd9x80aPyZ8da0fc-fZfzuEgWSi_7NjaZ3blA/s5184/videochat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidDSd6ei3vwK-JAcVn8xZA99h_OUWSOtnYIuERctqGLxypGa5MfLdA8KOYQfgI-r7BZyLuZJHCySVeTfU6C4KWl1OwSbar-UMdBgV-1IykeIuA8tav3LkNaGzoR9iHdBiMJSmD_vfkGcKZNl__CC2g-xd9x80aPyZ8da0fc-fZfzuEgWSi_7NjaZ3blA/w411-h308/videochat.jpg" width="411" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="text-align: left;">Photo by </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/@cwmonty?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="text-align: left;">Chris Montgomery</a><span style="text-align: left;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/smgTvepind4?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="text-align: left;">Unsplash</a></i></div><p>Not all video chat users are the same. If you are a power user on video calls all day long, this blog is not for you. This is an introductory article for those who may need to attend a random video call or may be just starting a position where they will need to be on video and aren't sure how best to make that happen from an audio perspective. This blog will focus solely on audio devices to aim for the best experience possible. Read on for more.</p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Laptops, tablets and smartphones have built in capabilities for the transmit and receipt of audio. However the typical laptop and tablet audio experience can be lacking with poor microphones and anemic speakers. Smartphones can have exceptional audio for calling, but when video is added to the equation and the phone is pulled away from the user's mouth, the quality can be less than ideal. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention the primary problem created with a video call on a smartphone - trying to hold a phone at arm's length for an extended period of time can cause a shaky camera affect for the remote participants. But I digress and let's get into some audio talk.</p><p>Audio devices for calling are a different animal than those used primarily for music listening. Music-based devices need broadcast capability in the lower frequency ranges, or else no one would want to use them to listen to music. Call-based devices can get away with less of a frequency range and they also require a microphone. In the past, the build quality on music only devices was superior, but business and calling based devices are finally starting to catch up to the point where one device can serve well for calls and music. Devices for personal meetings, like Zoom, WebEx or Microsoft Teams, can be broken down into three product categories: Headsets, Earbuds and Speakerphones, with each of them having wired and wireless versions available.</p><p><u><b>Headsets</b></u></p><p>Headsets have been around for a long time and USB wired versions to use for calls can be inexpensive. The low price does not necessarily mean low audio quality, however, lower end models may have poor music playback, depending on the device.</p><p><u>Wired or wireless?</u></p><p>There are as many opinions in the wired versus wireless debate as there are headsets out there. In my opinion, it really comes down to the individual's use case, device portability and simplicity of use. If you're going mobile, wired likely won't cut it. If your headset stays in one place all time, there may not be a need for wireless. Wired headsets have plug and play simplicity and are always ready for use whereas wireless versions aren't typically as user friendly. In general, wireless headsets are going to be more expensive than their wired counterpart. They also may be heavier due to having integrated batteries.</p><p>Voice quality between wired versus wireless, in my opinion, is entirely subjective to the user. Personally, I have found some wireless headsets having a slight lag in the audio-video sync, but haven't typically found one type having better sound quality than another.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheA9-thTO74fkB37lqSqQAN59Tf3GK4olVcB7GL5PxlO_8HeW7j4HUxj8EWf96PIuvJf02Fx-JsYbiKDYuPv94Rrlh1FDT517Ay82s-CTu1KSsy-xyJYUotywUWyTtFlvm7IvQl5D52WDaqHDFV45wqXmHIPXw7uKBeC4iia2VNKnPVRjgwGzJeMlI_w/s587/ms%20modern.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="587" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheA9-thTO74fkB37lqSqQAN59Tf3GK4olVcB7GL5PxlO_8HeW7j4HUxj8EWf96PIuvJf02Fx-JsYbiKDYuPv94Rrlh1FDT517Ay82s-CTu1KSsy-xyJYUotywUWyTtFlvm7IvQl5D52WDaqHDFV45wqXmHIPXw7uKBeC4iia2VNKnPVRjgwGzJeMlI_w/s320/ms%20modern.png" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Image Source: Microsoft</i></p><p>One such headset I use often, the <a href="https://amzn.to/3C3aKqi">Microsoft Modern USB Headset</a>, is available at Amazon and other online retailers. It's an excellent option for a wired headset.</p><p>Pros of headsets are:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If it is wired, it is always ready and available</li><li>Boom microphones help others hear you clearly and may block out ambient noises</li></ul><p></p><p>Cons of headsets are</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Potentially bulky</li><li>May be uncomfortable for glasses wearers</li><li>Limited by cable length if wired</li></ul><p></p><p><u><b>Speakerphones</b></u></p><p>I don't like the word "speakerphone" as it seems like a throw back to the old days of poor audio conference calling, however the industry uses the term and so will I. There are wired and wireless speakerphones that have some of the same pros and cons as headsets. What I have noticed though is a highly varied listening experience while comparing different speakerphones. Many "office use" speakerphones are nowhere remotely adequate for music listening as they lack low end frequencies. The good news is there are several devices that provide a high quality speakerphone experience and good music playback for a modest price. The primary concerns with speakerphones are using them in an open space or a noisy space. Privacy is always a concern, as well as not disturbing your nearby coworkers by the caller being on speaker. If you are in a loud space, the device may pick up the noise and transmit it to the person you are talking to. Or, if the device has on-board noise suppression (or the meeting service has on-board suppression), your voice quality may be negatively affected by the device/service as it tries to suppress room noises.</p><p>On the flip side, if two people are in the same room in a video call, a speakerphone is the logical choice over headsets or earbuds.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-2fH79EI91m79jQLiVwCH50AbEDAfU3ELoKUUF7IAKChVkvI57skOZ-AYhHkYNIbH1s1FxX5hiS1dNjgPu8OAXvBcTQIxyDsS9xarAjO4QvgED7tejIHQaeREbDeC3JFm3PDVzo8COsKY2hzKvD2sgSmNSw7x_-t9vJDubiwOA_HhOTDSKUbG6Ulyw/s761/poly.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="761" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-2fH79EI91m79jQLiVwCH50AbEDAfU3ELoKUUF7IAKChVkvI57skOZ-AYhHkYNIbH1s1FxX5hiS1dNjgPu8OAXvBcTQIxyDsS9xarAjO4QvgED7tejIHQaeREbDeC3JFm3PDVzo8COsKY2hzKvD2sgSmNSw7x_-t9vJDubiwOA_HhOTDSKUbG6Ulyw/s320/poly.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Image Source: Poly</i></p><p><br /></p><p>High quality personal speakerphones like the <a href="https://amzn.to/3GkJINM">Poly Sync 20</a>, <a href="https://amzn.to/3hV9vTi">Poly Sync 10</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/3hR8knE">Bose SoundLink</a> are available from Amazon and other online resellers</p><p>Pros of speakerphones are</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>You don't have to wear anything in or on your ears</li><li>Designed for more than one person</li><li>May have built-in noise suppression, which is helpful for the user on the other side of the call</li><li>May double as a portable speaker for uses outside of meetings</li></ul><p></p><p>Cons of speakerphones are</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Depending on the speakerphone and/or meeting service, ambient noises may bleed through</li><li>Privacy issues</li><li>USB versions may not have a long enough cable</li><li>It may not be adequate for music listening</li></ul><p></p><p><u><b>Earbuds</b></u></p><p>Earbuds are becoming more common in business communication. Not only do they work well with mobile devices via Bluetooth, but a few recent models have included a USB Bluetooth dongle that maintains a better connection with a PC/laptop with better audio quality. I hope this becomes a trend and not the exception to the rule. PC usage with earbuds can be problematic from my experience. The audio streams are fine enough, but I've found the microphone pickup to be lacking on devices without a dedicated Bluetooth dongle.</p><p>Pros of earbuds are</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Higher end earbuds have noise cancellation and transparency modes for the wearer</li><li>Good for music listening</li><li>Excellent option for mobile professionals</li><li>A case that provides charging</li></ul><p></p><p>Cons of earbuds are</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The microphones may be lacking depth in voice capture due to the proximity to your mouth</li><li>May not be good enough for PC use if no Bluetooth dongle is included</li><li>High end earbuds carry a high end price tag</li><li>Easy to lose</li></ul><div>I am biased both for and against Apple's AirPods Pro. While the experience using them on MacOS and iOS devices is top of class, they haven't been suitable (in my opinion) for usage on a Windows-based PC. The microphone capture quality is simply not good for the price.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://amzn.to/3viiBww">Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)</a> earbuds are available from Amazon and other resellers.</div><div><br /></div><div><u><b>Wrapping Up</b></u></div><p></p><p>In general, I recommend a USB based headset for "less than often" PC usage for a couple of reasons. First, a headset will typically stay plugged into the PC and will be ready to use quickly. Any time you deal with a battery powered device, you run the risk of it not being charged. Additionally, there may be Bluetooth related issues with the computer "forgetting" your device. Trying to troubleshoot a device directly ahead of an important meeting can lead to unneeded stress. Lastly, if you choose a portable battery powered Bluetooth speaker or earbuds, you may find that they grow legs at some point and is no longer where you last thought you put it.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.9733px;">About the Author</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Bryan Hellard<b> </b>is a researcher in products and services in Unified Communications. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry across several roles, including product engineering and management, R&D, and end user consulting. He can be contacted at: <a href="mailto:Bryan@uctestlab.com">Bryan@uctestlab.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This document may contain affiliate links where I will earn a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Your support helps!</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-12562381643011282612022-11-08T08:02:00.002-05:002022-11-08T08:02:47.520-05:00Neat Center<p> On November 7, 2022 Neat announced the "Center", the latest 360 degree camera for meetings. Read on for more information, including Bryan's take on the device.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>The Neat Center is the second 360 degree camera to be introduced in as many months, following up on Yealink's SmartVision 60 (<a href="https://hellarddesign.blogspot.com/2022/10/yealink-smartvision-60-camera.html">Read our blog about it here</a>) We note that the SmartVision is presented as a Microsoft Teams Room solution while the Center is marketed to Zoom or Microsoft Teams.</p><p>The idea behind 360 degree cameras are that they are supposed to create a better view of the participants by not capturing people in a row, and possibly having someone behind another person as presented to the remote side. This happens all the time in typical conference rooms. The Center, with "Neat Symmetry" capabilities aims to increase meeting equity in addition to having a better view of participants. Read more about Neat Symmetry <a href="https://support.neat.no/article/neat-symmetry-auto-framing/">HERE</a>. Meeting equity in unified communications means turning everyone in every meeting into their own small window so everyone receives the view from all participants equally, regardless of room or equipment choice. The jury is still out if customers like or want this type of meeting experience, but many vendors on both the hardware and software side have adopted the idea and are moving in this direction.</p><p><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p>The benefit of multi-lens/sensor devices is that there are more pixels to throw on a person's face. A single lens/sensor camera attempting to crop and frame a participant will result in lower resolution. An array of sensors will be able to capture multiple participants individually at higher resolutions.</p><p>The problem with multiple-lens/sensor devices is that they are electronically stitched together. Physics only allows for the images to be aligned at one finite point in space unless there is a dynamic stitching mechanism built in. I expect that Neat's engineers have addressed this in one way or another but in every multi-lens/sensor environment or device I've worked with has either a visible static seam or a dynamic one.</p><p>The primary issue with 360 degree cameras remains eye contact with the remote participant. With the current crop of 360 degree camera still living and playing in a "traditional" conference room world, you can't get around it. As you are looking at other people in your physical room, yes that perceived eye contact with the remote side is good with a 360 degree camera, but they aren't actually looking at the remote participants. Once they turn their head to look at the single display on the wall, all eye contact is broken and the effect is that the remote participants are talking to the side of your face. The other issue is the camera may think the on-screen participants are actually in the room and inadvertently captures them.</p><p>If 360 degree cameras are to become mainstream, it's my opinion that a different style of meeting room needs to be designed getting rid of the big display at the end of the room. I hate to say it, but several displays need mounted around the camera, almost like the Polycom Centro of several years ago but with a table. Or, we need to develop more multi-camera meeting spaces.</p><p>The Center will be available in Fall 2023.</p><p>The <a href="https://neat.no/stories/neat-is-proud-to-announce-a-brand-new-device-for-complete-video-meeting-equity/">announcement can be read in full here</a>.</p><p>This blog was written without the benefit of a demo, hands-on testing or prior knowledge of the device ahead of the announcement. All information was generated from the above announcement.</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-75654767304375399372022-11-03T16:22:00.008-04:002022-11-03T16:23:59.983-04:00REVIEW: Razer Kiyo Pro webcam<p> The Razer Kiyo Pro webcam features 1080p resolution at up to 60fps
with FoV of 103°, 90° and 80°. Initially priced at $199.99, the Kiyo Pro is
currently listed at the time of this review for $99.99 on Razer’s website and
through third-party resellers.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The </span><a href="https://amzn.to/3h1PpFX"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Kiyo Pro</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> used in this
review was purchased by the lab through a third-party reseller. This is not a
sponsored review.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ZkCq_B7urIdluyYMeH-KhWUba4jV3ufcJyHazO9qHNeP-pv2o7aX0J_J6_Vlaj0QekbHqzaKirFKvOdE42wOyFN1N655IFQEwy7wooZJiVAIknLbWTz086yG4PvSsM77xh040ebROXxrFkE0suHdfKSqDpYsGzpgCunzbi2ya1GNYscdx_YoGy78sg/s595/kiyo2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ZkCq_B7urIdluyYMeH-KhWUba4jV3ufcJyHazO9qHNeP-pv2o7aX0J_J6_Vlaj0QekbHqzaKirFKvOdE42wOyFN1N655IFQEwy7wooZJiVAIknLbWTz086yG4PvSsM77xh040ebROXxrFkE0suHdfKSqDpYsGzpgCunzbi2ya1GNYscdx_YoGy78sg/s320/kiyo2.png" width="261" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">Image Source: UC Test Lab<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the retail packaging the camera ships with a 1.5 meter
braided cable that has a USB-C connector on the camera end and USB-A on the
computer end, a robust mount that is removable, a lens cap that is also
removeable and quick start guide. The bottom of the mount has a ¼-20 thread. In
addition, the mount can be removed revealing another ¼-20 thread on the bottom
of the camera. We appreciate this attention to detail, allowing users multiple
mounting options. While attached to the mount, there is the ability to both
tilt the camera up and down and rotate it left and right.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2KDWHOiRwhOOl_BZt8ZTpGK4Qd67mwF0RZ8UFMM-bqNVKPdjCoNTrcqzD1wKffCCDRfxGs_vb01vJMng7-CB7CL6Nib6-Uppq10B2I8IVYJWIdhOgKX_jaBQ6OSVN0DKQJqY-8QLoe6Vra3xIBfKUYN4HJeuoQZuzkJJSJpeHo6ZuCng7lGLYn2Tzw/s1155/kiyo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="1155" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2KDWHOiRwhOOl_BZt8ZTpGK4Qd67mwF0RZ8UFMM-bqNVKPdjCoNTrcqzD1wKffCCDRfxGs_vb01vJMng7-CB7CL6Nib6-Uppq10B2I8IVYJWIdhOgKX_jaBQ6OSVN0DKQJqY-8QLoe6Vra3xIBfKUYN4HJeuoQZuzkJJSJpeHo6ZuCng7lGLYn2Tzw/s320/kiyo.png" width="320" /></a></i></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Image Source: UC Test Lab</i></div><o:p></o:p></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When the camera is connected to a computer, a pop up appears
notifying the user to install Razer’s Synapse software package. The Synapse
software contains all the controls and settings for the camera.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLNxcv6qS46d4OEvzZ92_qCVfCwGwUpvA4F21Jst3EHnMaQpbrzwVnGs-mhA61TA3AFbX4WRaYon3fGapbVrZCM8LGP-gU7_YJ1J23nToYph2IxxFsKznTtc5qNoQ5zCkfq7-P-o89CClSuLKob0Oj4yk1hRc5gTtQEoc6CgVpfWcDaLIRezzrZy1oA/s1296/kiyosynapse.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1296" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLNxcv6qS46d4OEvzZ92_qCVfCwGwUpvA4F21Jst3EHnMaQpbrzwVnGs-mhA61TA3AFbX4WRaYon3fGapbVrZCM8LGP-gU7_YJ1J23nToYph2IxxFsKznTtc5qNoQ5zCkfq7-P-o89CClSuLKob0Oj4yk1hRc5gTtQEoc6CgVpfWcDaLIRezzrZy1oA/s320/kiyosynapse.png" width="320" /></a></i></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Image Source: UC Test Lab</i></div><o:p></o:p></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Our only complaint about the Synapse software is that
settings cannot be changed while the camera is in use by a third-party
application like OBS or a meeting service. To modify any of the camera settings
while using OBS, the camera needs deactivated in OBS, then the “Preview” needs
toggled on in Synapse. Then the user can make changes. When finished, the
preview needs to be disabled and the camera reactivated in OBS. The camera
needs to be muted in a meeting service before any settings can be changed.
Overall, this is a clumsy exercise if needed to be performed in a meeting or
while recording content. We feel it is important to adjust any settings prior
to using the camera, which is a good habit to have anyway.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are “advanced settings” available in the Synapse
software that unlocks a few additional adjustments, most notably the ability to
digitally zoom and pan.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJzclW_fBpeLVaOjbX_ED7wzjAb1SVMPCF5QTgfWdYWJSYpkWPSVFDQgiRPF6R2k_4pvAkFN_-kyj04MLuYy9xx4RtvauwmOjJGuGPlWGjCfFB-1zjrRtFM1HsXbGkYnfpQxqxPdhgrsJGWoy5skagv9U7dMIcXma88nYBuVsHTU3pbmegF7HKsyQnA/s447/advancedcontrols.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="447" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJzclW_fBpeLVaOjbX_ED7wzjAb1SVMPCF5QTgfWdYWJSYpkWPSVFDQgiRPF6R2k_4pvAkFN_-kyj04MLuYy9xx4RtvauwmOjJGuGPlWGjCfFB-1zjrRtFM1HsXbGkYnfpQxqxPdhgrsJGWoy5skagv9U7dMIcXma88nYBuVsHTU3pbmegF7HKsyQnA/s320/advancedcontrols.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeKh3e3nhlqDirbKXbtkcHjEM9jIpavqyYs0orkN90VQFyjLD3ECx82-744R2RQlKwU6XpppTOd-ucoYUv7xjWUQPTaPlHi2W9NHK5HuglpKDDuZ44QFH1bHRfLzAfAoya8FUeHgC0YRkbks7CoYBe_lIl50Bb36bAue7XegggpcWSB_ImoltVRwf4bg/s446/advancedcontrols2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="446" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeKh3e3nhlqDirbKXbtkcHjEM9jIpavqyYs0orkN90VQFyjLD3ECx82-744R2RQlKwU6XpppTOd-ucoYUv7xjWUQPTaPlHi2W9NHK5HuglpKDDuZ44QFH1bHRfLzAfAoya8FUeHgC0YRkbks7CoYBe_lIl50Bb36bAue7XegggpcWSB_ImoltVRwf4bg/s320/advancedcontrols2.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">Image Source: UC Test Lab<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We appreciate the amount of control the camera has, but in
general usage we found the camera performs very well at default settings, with
the exception of the FoV which is defaulted to Wide.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The image at Wide FoV, and to a lesser extent on Medium,
shows distortion both horizontally and vertically. While this may not bother
some people, it is hard for us to ignore. In the Lab the Wide FoV is considered
unusable with far too much distortion. When set to Medium some distortion is
present but not to the point where we think it is unusable. For our purpose, we
find the Narrow FoV provided the best overall image with the least amount of
distortion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">The following pictures
show the three fields of view selectable in Synapse.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwCm9-Tp6-pPyX6ormXmUqFt3VsbHmbtS8n9uEvhK3DnVK_iQCkTumbrckbNuJe6lrgl6fsrffC7NYh7rDc3Gkj-Y6aarrJsY2HTIDDTk9O1eTttb9Yi_3WTr069mRleeu6sCCNY-aHAqQoZRWa0JwVSk1CSfmhBirKcfBytXstwUNOB-UE2EMNNwRug/s1484/kiyowide.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1484" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwCm9-Tp6-pPyX6ormXmUqFt3VsbHmbtS8n9uEvhK3DnVK_iQCkTumbrckbNuJe6lrgl6fsrffC7NYh7rDc3Gkj-Y6aarrJsY2HTIDDTk9O1eTttb9Yi_3WTr069mRleeu6sCCNY-aHAqQoZRWa0JwVSk1CSfmhBirKcfBytXstwUNOB-UE2EMNNwRug/s320/kiyowide.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Wide at 103°<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKHUUYJfIV2MlNO8v3WAlGyqcuJbZduDNo9Qhv06LwT-DErdr3QkovhpetBvCtaSe8p4__iKZbOcBCqzrtBdgXaqyRyL2QHeOrdraLIT67sI_dSrX3NQfxrB_wM5kxdgMH4yIX5XKfKIc947OEoJ8jC_qOcXlpPMtC74OPG7juNq_BETZMHeQHRk2QA/s1483/kiyomed.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="1483" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKHUUYJfIV2MlNO8v3WAlGyqcuJbZduDNo9Qhv06LwT-DErdr3QkovhpetBvCtaSe8p4__iKZbOcBCqzrtBdgXaqyRyL2QHeOrdraLIT67sI_dSrX3NQfxrB_wM5kxdgMH4yIX5XKfKIc947OEoJ8jC_qOcXlpPMtC74OPG7juNq_BETZMHeQHRk2QA/s320/kiyomed.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Medium at 90°<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAybu2I2kW4z-ZymAzCGtyaSMS3L0ZI37mUdeJmUUJFREP1ctMBjvQiIgcEaTPl-SCzKn0ieI394uJ8KJG41RwAoxGF2AHbqEKIjLEJ8HUvopQHreZBR9GUkUM81WKNDZ1yIfV9U4n0SLtXp3-u9hctMpDGV29qASjIaYMY8eyDb_C57vYrzF7x-eIA/s1478/kiyonarrow.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="1478" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAybu2I2kW4z-ZymAzCGtyaSMS3L0ZI37mUdeJmUUJFREP1ctMBjvQiIgcEaTPl-SCzKn0ieI394uJ8KJG41RwAoxGF2AHbqEKIjLEJ8HUvopQHreZBR9GUkUM81WKNDZ1yIfV9U4n0SLtXp3-u9hctMpDGV29qASjIaYMY8eyDb_C57vYrzF7x-eIA/s320/kiyonarrow.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Narrow at 80°<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">All images: UC Test Lab<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Bryan’s Take<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been using the Kiyo Pro for a couple of weeks in video
calls and video creation with OBS and have been impressed. Other than at its
widest FoV, which has substantial distortion, the image quality is excellent. When
the camera was tested in low light and typical home office lighting scenes, it
handled each capably. While I typically don’t advocate using the internal microphone
of any webcam, I found the audio capture to be impressive and better than that
of most webcams I’ve tested in video meetings. The capture is clear and
replicates voices well where often webcam and laptop mics make voices sound
tinny or hollow. However, if you’re intending to use the Kiyo Pro for content creation,
I would suggest investing in a high-quality microphone to make your audio as
good or better than the video quality available from the Kiyo Pro. Overall, the
Kiyo Pro makes for an excellent dual-use camera for content creation and video
meetings when the FoV is set to Narrow.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">About the
UC Test Lab<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The UC Test Lab’s primary focus is on the thorough testing
and evaluation of products and services that fall in the Unified Communications
or A/V genres. Our hands-on, objective testing methodology ensures consistency
and accuracy in results. <a href="file:///C:/Users/admin/Documents/UCTestLab/Prior%20Work%20Samples/www.uctestlab.com">www.uctestlab.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">About the
Author<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bryan Hellard<b> </b>is the Owner and Lead Researcher at UC
Test Lab. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry across several
roles, including product engineering and management, R&D, and end user
consulting. Prior to UC Test Lab, he managed the Wainhouse Research Evaluation
Lab providing testing of products and services. Bryan also has prior experience
as a developer of video conferencing related products and as a consultant to
both end users and industry vendors. He can be contacted at: <a href="mailto:Bryan@uctestlab.com">Bryan@uctestlab.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This document may contain affiliate links where I will earn a commission, at no
extra cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase.<o:p></o:p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br />Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-14668635417382990362022-11-02T16:43:00.001-04:002022-11-03T07:33:27.167-04:00Testing auto framing in a video conferencing camera<p>Often the subject of auto framing cameras come up and everyone has their own opinion. Over the years, the technology has become better by the established players out there, but there are now several new entrants - so how do we pick the one that is right for us? Read on for Bryan's take on the tech and how the UC Test Lab evaluates auto framing.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span>Years ago as a camera developer I would talk to potential customers about auto framing. Back then, users really had two choices, Polycom or Cisco cameras connected to a codec in a conference room. Many people I talked to said they turned it off, either leaving a full FoV capture of the room or using the remote control to manually PTZ their way to the speaker.</span><p></p><p>Luckily, the technology has improved to the point where users no longer feel like they have to disable the ability to auto frame participants. However, with all the vendors now providing auto framing cameras, there are that many different philosophies behind what gets captured, how fast it moves and what causes it to move in the first place. I am firm believer that users need to test as many cameras as possible to see what works in their specific room(s) and use case(s) knowing that this can possibly lead to choosing different cameras from different vendors for different rooms.</p><p>So how does one test auto framing cameras? Here are few ways I suggest testing them in your rooms. Tests were derived from actual experiences using auto framing cameras.</p><p><u><b>Accuracy</b></u> is a pretty easy metric. When someone speaks, does the camera capture them? Test this by having person speak and see if the camera captures them. If you are the only person in your room, does it capture you if you change seats? I have tested cameras that triangulate between itself, a voice and a face and sometimes the camera will struggle if there is a voice disassociated from a face. The test involved playing a voice file from a mobile phone in the corner of the lab, while I was sitting at the conference table. The camera we were testing would not capture me, even when speaking because it recognized another voice. Why does this matter? Open spaces. If there is the potential for extraneous voices in the room, be aware that the framing may struggle. In a group meeting, we test accuracy by having two people talk to each other. Meetings are dynamic. Some cameras try to capture each person when speaking and are usually behind. Other cameras may opt to stay on one speaker and others may frame them both until one dominates the conversation or the other stops speaking.</p><p>When the camera captures you, how large are you? <u><b>Participant size</b></u> to the remote viewer may be important and if the camera captures too much of the room and too little of you, it may lead to a poor experience. We typically take screen shots and measure the percentage of head size in relation to the captured scene. In addition, take note of the <u><b>person's relative location</b></u> to the center of the capture. Some meeting services offer their own framing scheme and it may result in a negative affect if the framing from the camera puts the participant off to the side.</p><p>Is the framing fast enough? Is it too fast? We test <u><b>speed of capture</b></u> by picking two points just far enough apart that the person walks out of the frame, forcing the camera to adjust. Putting tape on the floor helps if you are testing several cameras over the course of several sessions. A person walks back and forth between the marks in a recorded meeting, waiting for the camera to adjust. When viewing the recording, we measure how long it takes for the camera to recapture. This is also another test of <u><b>accuracy</b></u>. We do this test both while <u><b>speaking and while silent </b></u>as we have found some cameras can struggle with non-speaking participants.</p><p><u><b>Inadvertent capturing, also known as mistakes</b></u>, are common. So common that we need to be aware of what may cause a camera to misfire. We have a whiteboard in the lab and when testing, I'll draw a face on the board. Yes, sometimes the camera captures that. There is also a ring light that we have in the lab. There are times when cameras pick up the circular shape and frames it. So, this may not be an issue in your room, but what if you have a glass wall separating the conference room from a busy hallway? You do NOT want your camera capturing people walking down the hallway. In a group test, have a person <u><b>cough or fake a sneeze</b></u>. If that person gets captured in a real meeting, it can be embarrassing and it happens if a camera is too aggressive.</p><p><u><b>360 degree cameras</b></u> present another issue that a typical "above/below the display" camera doesn't have to deal with in a normal conference room - capturing a remote person on the display and presenting it as the framed participant in the room. This is a horrible experience. Even if you utilize an above/below display camera, be careful in conference rooms where there are many ancillary displays containing remote participants hanging on walls within the potential capture of the camera.</p><p>Hopefully this helps and shows why you need to test cameras not just in one room for proof of concept, but in multiple rooms as there may be differing factors that can lead to a poor experience - or a great one.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-1953503591373648062022-10-28T12:53:00.009-04:002022-10-28T12:54:30.017-04:00Logitech Brio 505 vs the Original Brio<p>Recently, I had the opportunity to test Logitech's new Brio 505 ahead of its release. I provided a review of the camera for another website elsewhere but threw a quick video together to show a quick difference between the 505 and the original Brio.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>The original Brio was released in 2017 and my specific camera is likely close to four years old as I am writing this. However, Logitech has been keeping up with the product updates and the camera is GA so it is still relevant. The below side by side has the 505 on the left and the original on the right in a typical home office, lower light scene. I switch the microphone between the two so you can judge the capture quality.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="339" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-A_5yUQ974" width="541" youtube-src-id="G-A_5yUQ974"></iframe></div><br /><p>Below is an Amazon link to the Brio 500 (same as the 505, just in retail friendly packaging)</p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/3Dq5zke">https://amzn.to/3Dq5zke</a></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-55949630810231001012022-10-27T07:47:00.001-04:002022-10-27T07:47:25.000-04:00Poly Studio X and Google Meet<p>On October 26th, 2022 Poly announced that their Studio X series of video bars will be the first Android based video appliances for Google Meet. Read on for Bryan's take of the story.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>From the press release:</p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><i>"<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The entire Poly Studio X family, including: Poly Studio X30, Studio X50, Studio X70, and the TC8 controller (an intuitive 8" high-resolution touch display that lets Google Meet customers access meetings with ease) will be the first Android-based appliances to offer a native </span><u style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3688827-1&h=1720461774&u=https%3A%2F%2Fworkspace.google.com%2Fresources%2Fvideo-conferencing%2F%23%3A%7E%3Atext%3DEnterprise%252Dgrade%2520video%2520conferencing%2520is%2Cto%252060%2520minutes%2520per%2520meeting.&a=Google+Meet" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;" target="_blank">Google Meet</a></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> experience and deliver a streamlined, purpose-built experience for any meeting room."</span></i></span></p><p><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p>"More is better" - Bryan</p><p>The X Series was announced in late 2019 with the X30 and X50 initially and now includes the X70 for large rooms. The UC Test Lab has significant experience with the X30 in Poly's native video mode, as a Zoom Room and as a Microsoft Teams Room. The lab also has experience with other Google branded Meet-based kits, as well as other Zoom Room and Microsoft Teams Rooms kits. What I like about this new ability with Google Meet is that it reduces complexity and parts. Compared against a prepackaged kit of a separate camera, microphone, speakers, compute device and controller, streamlining things down to two pieces (one if you have a touch-enabled display you can eliminate the controller) for those using Google Meet makes perfect sense, reduces points of failure and significantly reduces installation time. Plus, it leverages all the great tools that Poly brings to the table, specifically their framing technology with Director AI and their excellent audio features of NoiseBlock AI and Acoustic Fence.</p><p>What I am unsure of at this time is the allowance for fast switching between modes. Going from Poly Video mode to a service provider mode requires a device restart (or did when we tested it in early 2020), but if the user wanted to traverse between another service provider mode and Microsoft Teams Rooms, it required a device reset per Microsoft requirements/specifications. The faster the device can switch between operating modes, the better and I hope one will be able to traverse modes without too much wait time or re-authorization/login issues. Overall, the more native applications a device has, the greater its usefulness and Google Meet users should be excited over this announcement.</p><p><a href="https://newsroom.poly.com/English/press-releases/news-details/2022/Polys-Award-Winning-Studio-X-Video-Bars-Will-Be-The-First-Android-Based-Video-Appliances-for-Google-Meet/default.aspx">Read the full press release on Poly's site</a>.</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-46626567742139254982022-10-18T09:34:00.001-04:002022-10-18T09:34:34.675-04:00Is Google Project Starline the new Telepresence?<p> Project Starline, a "holographic" video chat apparatus is back in the news recently. Is this a new version of telepresence? In this blog Bryan, a former developer of telepresence systems, shares his take on Project Starline and telepresence in general.<span><br /><br /></span><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span>Commercially available telepresence dates back to the late 1990's. This was when bandwidth was expensive or simply unavailable to remote workers. Price tags on systems approached a million dollars, needed remotely managed and many rooms required extensive remediation. Big costs that only the Fortune 500 could support. Systems were designed to highlight "point to point" use and conveniently ignored remote workers (and multi-point calling for that matter). </span></p><p><span>Then bandwidth became more available, prices dropped and video conferencing could be used in typical meeting rooms. At that point, </span>remote workers on a video chat when meeting rooms were present became the "odd person out", relegated to a tiny window and overall had a poor audio and video experience. This is due in large part to vendors putting their effort into making the meeting room experience great at the detriment of remote user - they wanted to simulate telepresence - only cheaper and more available. Well, we know what happened in the spring of 2020.</p><p><span>People working from home since 2020 are now in the position where they are having a better experience in video meetings than those in conference rooms for a variety of reasons. The display is closer, each person has their own frame, eye contact is better (for the most part), and we don't have to go to the office. In addition, there are excellent audio and video products available from vendors like Poly and Logitech to further enhance the experience. Understanding that workers aren't going to be flocking black to the office any time soon has forced meeting service vendors to reverse course and make the conference room experience as good as the remote worker has it...</span></p><p>That was a long preamble.</p><p>Google's Project Starline is a curiosity to me. It's a quasi-combination of three seemingly obsolete technologies - telepresence, 3D capture/display and a large apparatus for a video call. I reviewed <a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/pub-tools-public-publication-data/pdf/424ee26722e5863f1ce17890d9499ba9a964d84f.pdf" target="_blank">this paper</a> to get a better understanding of the technology behind the system. The system contains three sets of stereo cameras, one above left, one above right and one in the middle below, encoded and sent to the remote location. The remote sides splits and displays from the viewer's left and right eye locations (this means that two people cannot be in the same system using it). A significant note states "To account for this large parallax [location of the cameras to the user's eye line], we reconstruct geometric approximations of the user..". Therefore, this a recreation of the person.</p><p>The question is not whether we need/want high quality video conferencing. We do. The question therefore becomes: Do we need a multi-camera, 3D system usable for point to point only meetings? While the former telepresence designer in me loves that Google is working on this, the realist in me says no. Project Starline may be the next telepresence, but we don't need it to effectively meet.</p><p>Telepresence excelled for a short period in the days before we could have a video chat from just about any commercially available smartphone or laptop for free. I don't think it's due for a comeback. We used to talk about the benefit of telepresence being that a person didn't have to travel to be in a meeting. We have that now. We can meet with anyone from the comfort of our home office, coffee shop or back porch. Any telepresence system will require travel to an office as they won't be installed in anyone's home. I'm all for a high quality, face to face meeting. But we have that. From home.</p><p>This blog was based on information attained via publicly available material. Neither Bryan, or the UC Test Lab has received a demo or any additional private information about Project Starline.</p><p><span><br /></span></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-16394138393999608912022-10-17T10:26:00.001-04:002022-10-17T10:26:21.894-04:00Yealink SmartVision 60 camera<p> At Microsoft Ignite in October 2022, a new 360 degree FoV camera was announced - the Yealink SmartVision 60. Read on for Bryan's take on this new camera and 360 imaging technology for conference rooms.</p><a name='more'></a><br />Microsoft announced IntelliFrame at Ignite. This feature, expected to be available in early 2023, intends to "enhance the focus and framing of in-room meeting attendees". A difficulty exists in trying to do this from a traditional front of room camera simply due to the location of participants as they are seated in a typical meeting room. This seemingly is what lead to the SmartVision 60 camera to aid in capturing individuals around a table.<br /><br /><b>From the press release</b>:<p></p><p><span>"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: SegoeUI, Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We are thrilled to announce one of these cameras this year at Ignite. The Yealink SmartVision 60 intelligent camera, available in early 2023, is the first center-of-room, 360 panoramic degree camera designed for Teams Rooms. Microsoft engineers, in partnership with Yealink, Intel, NVIDIA, and Ricoh, designed and built one of the most powerful AI cameras in the industry from the ground up, including the AI director, the form factor, the firmware, and the software, using the Microsoft Intelligent Camera Hardware and Software reference design kit. Yealink SmartVision 60 also includes all the great features of Microsoft Teams intelligent speakers, including people identification in live transcription and Cortana digital assistant."</span></p><p><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p>360 degree cameras for video conferencing are nothing new and products have been available for nearly a decade. More recent 360 degree cameras utilize their own cropping/framing method independent of the meeting service. The new Yealink camera is the first designed for Teams Rooms, however, and will use the IntelliFrame technology for framing within the service.</p><p>I am on the fence on table-based cameras. I like how Logitech is approaching it with two cameras, as long as the technology can keep up and frame people accurately. A single, table based camera will result in eye contact issues if there is a display on the wall (which is the display's typical location) depending on location of the user. The SmartVision, or any 360 degree camera, will have eye contact issues. Of that there is no doubt unless multiple displays are in the room. Will users prefer a better cropping experience at the sacrifice of eye contact?</p><p><span>It's unknown for us at this time if there will be compatibility with other meeting services / room systems or if Yealink will develop a Zoom Room flavor or a generic model.</span></p><p><span>Read the entire press release here:</span></p><p><span><a href="https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/what-s-new-for-microsoft-teams-rooms-teams-devices-and/ba-p/3631513">https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/what-s-new-for-microsoft-teams-rooms-teams-devices-and/ba-p/3631513</a></span></p><p>Yealink's webpage for the SmartVision 60:</p><p><a href="https://www.yealink.com/en/product-detail/smartvision60">https://www.yealink.com/en/product-detail/smartvision60</a></p><p>This blog is based on the announcement from Microsoft and details from Yealink's website. We did not receive a demo and no hands-on testing was performed at the time of this blog.</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-61101103002344600542022-10-16T13:58:00.000-04:002022-10-16T13:58:37.419-04:00Logitech Sight<p>On October 5th, 2022, Logitech announced their new AI-powered tabletop camera, named Sight. Read on to see Bryan's take on this new device.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>From the press release:</p><p><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">LAUSANNE, Switzerland & NEWARK, Calif.--(</span><span itemid="https://www.businesswire.com" itemprop="provider publisher copyrightHolder" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span itemprop="name"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/" itemprop="url" referrerpolicy="unsafe-url" rel="nofollow" style="color: #499ed6; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">BUSINESS WIRE</a></span></span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">)--Today, Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) announced </span><a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.logitech.com%2Fproducts%2Fvideo-conferencing%2Froom-solutions%2Fsight.html&esheet=52936755&newsitemid=20221005005204&lan=en-US&anchor=Logitech+Sight&index=1&md5=df7211b7740f9a3ae621cbdf989b4f8f" referrerpolicy="unsafe-url" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #499ed6; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Logitech Sight</a><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, an AI-powered tabletop camera that works with the front-of-room camera Rally Bar or Rally Bar Mini to intelligently capture the best perspective of meeting participants and track conversations as they move around the conference room. In today’s hybrid work landscape in which 43% of remote employees report not feeling included,* Logitech Sight helps solve the disparity between hybrid teams by giving remote workers an “at the table” experience when meeting with in-office colleagues.</span></p><p>Read the full press release here: <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221005005204/en/Logitech-Sight-AI-Camera-Makes-Hybrid-Work-Meetings-More-Equitable-for-Remote-Participants">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221005005204/en/Logitech-Sight-AI-Camera-Makes-Hybrid-Work-Meetings-More-Equitable-for-Remote-Participants</a></p><p><b>Bryan's Take</b></p><p>I like the direction Logitech is going here, requiring a Rally front of room camera to be deployed in addition to the Sight, versus creating a tabletop only camera. This accomplishes a few things. First and foremost, remote users will not (necessarily) be subject to viewing the sides of participant heads in the room with the Sight. The Rally "should" be able to capture those looking at the display, while the Sight "should" be able to capture people looking at others in the room, or be better equipped to capture those at the end of the room. Second, the addition of the Sight will eliminate the need for an ancillary table mics as it contains microphones to capture audio. Next, the Sight has a field of view (FoV) of 315 degrees. This is an important distinction over competing 360 degree cameras. I have found in testing various 360 degree cameras that they can capture remote participants on the room's main display and present them as in-room users. This isn't good. With a 315 degree FoV, it is designed to NOT capture the display and therefore it will not accidentally capture remote users. Well done.</p><p>The Sight will be available in mid-2023 with an MSRP of $1,999</p><p>Product page from Logitech: <a href="https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/video-conferencing/room-solutions/sight.960-001510.html">https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/video-conferencing/room-solutions/sight.960-001510.html</a></p><p><b>Note: </b>Opinions provided in this blog are based on press releases and briefings and are not based on demos or lab testing.</p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-66932346100575212222021-01-08T07:54:00.007-05:002022-10-16T14:52:26.293-04:00Sceptre C355W-3440UN review<p> This is just a quick overview of the Sceptre 35" Ultrawide curved display with some light testing performed. Read on for more<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Resolution 3440x1440</p><p>Input lag (tested via HDFury Diva 4k) 3.0ms average</p><p>MPRT (tested via testufo.com) 15.3ms at 60 Hz - first tested on DP, then confirmed via HDMI</p><p>Max luminance raw numbers in white (tested with DisplayHDR and luminance meter):</p><p>Top 330-374-338</p><p>Mid 345-406-339</p><p>Bot 355-394-355</p><p>Minimum luminance white raw numbers (tested with DisplayHDR and luminance meter)</p><p>Top 15.6-18.8-17.0</p><p>Mid 15.6-20.2-15.9</p><p>Bot 17.5-20.5-17.4</p><p><br /></p><p>Below is a link to the monitor on Amazon.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://amzn.to/397FEys">https://amzn.to/397FEys</a><o:p></o:p></p><p>Note that as an Amazon Associate I may earn a small commission on products sold through affiliate links at no additional cost to you. The information in this review does not contain paid promotion and is not endorsed or sponsored. Any opinions contained in this review are those of the author only.</p><p><br /></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-31636557746485660252020-08-31T07:42:00.011-04:002022-10-16T15:10:31.203-04:00Poly Studio vs Logitech MeetUp<p> Here is a quick video demo I did between the Poly Studio and the Logitech MeetUp</p><p>The MeetUp is much Flatter on the horizontal plane while the Studio is slightly flatter on the vertical plane.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/28Z-SBp9n8g" width="320" youtube-src-id="28Z-SBp9n8g"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: #999999;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: white; border: 1pt none; color: #030303; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: gray; mso-shading: #F9F9F9; padding: 0in;">Links to products used in this demo: </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; color: #030303; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: gray; mso-shading: #F9F9F9; padding: 0in;">Poly Studio: </span><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-highlight: gray;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=QUFFLUhqbHJXZ0E1dUhaaFl2b1o4UWlEMV9yM0JQSE9mZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuNy1OMTMtd0NoZVZ3b0lZUDIwSkZtU1hzTDhyVExlWnYzMC16RGNkQUFvX0dKQ3B6cHY5ZV9yUWxiaVpzQW5zazdzbnhrQkxEMVdORGpCeHlnQTBWR09nTFhsUnAyUkFWVkNoQllaYzdnUjNrZ0Qxcw%3D%3D&event=video_description&v=28Z-SBp9n8g&q=https%3A%2F%2Famzn.to%2F34BLW8I" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: var(--yt-endpoint-text-regular-decoration, none); white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-shading: #F9F9F9;">https://amzn.to/34BLW8I</span></a></span><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; color: #030303; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: gray; mso-shading: #F9F9F9; padding: 0in;"> </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; color: #030303; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: gray; mso-shading: #F9F9F9; padding: 0in;">Logitech MeetUp: </span><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-highlight: gray;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=QUFFLUhqa25kSmE2OFg2UjR2Q3lLbUhWS180eGNFV0Rkd3xBQ3Jtc0tuTmM0bFI0OWU0NnNOcnczczMyZHdyUDRzYWFLQ1d4QlN5RVRVQzZQUk9hUjRFck1fNEYwR0syUmxvQnBJeVhubGIyQkhYTW5iQnF1N1c5U2R1cThaLV9SQlRiVHliMzN3eThueWI0eVowNHBzYU8wQQ%3D%3D&event=video_description&v=28Z-SBp9n8g&q=https%3A%2F%2Famzn.to%2F32rSiFh" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-decoration: var(--yt-endpoint-text-regular-decoration, none); white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-shading: #F9F9F9;">https://amzn.to/32rSiFh</span></a></span><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; color: #030303; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: gray; mso-shading: #F9F9F9; padding: 0in;"> </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #999999; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none; color: #030303; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: gray; mso-shading: #F9F9F9; padding: 0in;">Note that as an Amazon
Associate I may earn a small commission on products sold through the affiliate
links above at no additional cost to you. This video does not contain paid
promotion and is not endorsed or sponsored. Any opinions contained in this video
are those of the author only.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-1125982858807564292020-04-04T16:44:00.001-04:002020-04-04T16:44:12.818-04:00Work from home quick tip 05Ok folks, for those venturing in their first bout of working from home, you may be trying to figure out how it's going to work. So here is my next tip: REMOTE WORK<br />
<br />
This may not be that relevant with the current situation we are all dealing with, but it's an important point for those who work at home under "normal conditions" - that is those who always work from home. Some times we need a break. My office setup is, at rare times, not conducive to being extremely focused. Dual large screen displays, new gear sitting around, YouTube, Spotify, email, chat and squirrels can all be distracting especially if you need to limit your ADD* and intently focus. My favorite tip for this is working remotely away your home office. I have a Surface Pro and sometimes I cart it off to one of many "remote" spots I have to work. I treat the small screen as if I can only have one program running, typically a Word document that I'm working on, and go at it. My remote space varies. Sometimes it's a coffee shop, sometimes it is my basement or back porch. It's nice to break up the scene every now and then. If co-workers need to reach me, my phone has our chat app of choice on it, I just don't launch it on the Surface Pro. I've found that I can devote about two hours to this hardcore focus. It may help you in those times when you need to buckle down and get the work out the door.<br />
<br />
<br />
*I have a relatively bad form of ADD. Squirrels distract the hell out of me.Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-90741841702288784882020-04-04T16:25:00.000-04:002020-04-04T16:25:09.381-04:00Work from home quick tip 04Ok folks, for those venturing in their first bout of working from home, you may be trying to figure out how it's going to work. So here is my next tip: <b>SCHEDULE</b><div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are differing opinions around adhering to a traditional work schedule when working from home. One thought is that if you're supposed to work 8 hours, start at 8, take an hour lunch and end at 5. That's all well and good if you can do that without distraction - something new home workers will have a ton of to deal with. I would wager to say that most of us can't.</div>
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<div>
Personally, I don't like schedules. If I need to be in a virtual meeting at a specific time, so be it, but I rarely if ever work "8 to 5". It doesn't fit my lifestyle. When I first started working from home, I would typically wake up around 5am and after throwing a pot of coffee into my system, I would start working. "Lunch" was usually about a three hours break to go play bikes then I would work until 8-9pm. Lately, I've been adopting a 7-7 "schedule". Of course, I don't work 12 hours straight through but I get my business done between those hours. You'll have to figure things out along the way if you're thrust into working at home for the first time, but I wouldn't suggest what most "experts" say to do by keeping a normal work schedule. Wake up, get some work done. Take a shower, get some work done. Eat, get some work done. Take a nap, get some work done. You may find that this method breaks the monotony and keeps you fresher, allowing you to be more productive. Just don't let that nap go too long.</div>
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Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-75951251559148985072020-04-03T17:28:00.001-04:002020-04-03T17:28:09.759-04:00Work from home quick tip 03Ok folks, for those venturing in their first bout of working from home, you may be trying to figure out how it's going to work. So here is my next tip: YOU'RE ON VIDEO - OMG<br />
<br />
So all of a sudden, you're doing video conferencing with your co-workers. What do you do?<br />
<br />
Let's assume for a second that you've been set up with the appropriate equipment (it can be as minimal as a tablet with a video chat app installed, all the way up to a pc with dedicated audio and video peripherals).<br />
<br />
Sub tip 1 - Use the video. It's much more engaging and personal than a audio only conference call. If you're missing your co-workers, you get to see them.<br />
<br />
Sub tip 2 - don't walk around holding the device/tablet/laptop while in a meeting. It's rude and the image will look horrible. If you have to move for whatever reason, turn off your camera (after telling everyone what you're doing), move, then turn the camera back on.<br />
<br />
Sub tip 3 - do not sit in front of a window. Most, if not all cameras, will end up washing out the image if it's pointed toward the window. You will appear too dark to be recognized. Point your camera at wall.<br />
<br />
Sub tip 4 - mind where else the camera is pointing. It should not point up your nose, down your forehead, or capture dirty laundry or empty beer cans.<br />
<br />
Final tip - if you have to use the bathroom, excuse yourself and DO NOT take the device into the bathroom with you.Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-73187662771576094182020-04-03T17:19:00.001-04:002020-04-03T17:19:06.383-04:00Work from home quick tip 02Ok folks, for those venturing in their first bout of working from home, you may be trying to figure out how it's going to work. So here is my next tip: <b>SPACE</b><br />
<br />
New to working from home? If possible, your first priority is to find a place to work.<br />
<br />
Not all of use have the luxury of devoting an entire spare room as a home office (or in my case, two spare rooms), but to maximize productivity, having some sort of dedicated space is ideal.<br />
<br />
What's not ideal is setting up in any spot where you're forced to put everything away at the end of the day, like the kitchen table. Repeated setup and tear down of your work space gets monotonous. It's like it becomes your commute to work. Things get misplaced easier when you're packing things away constantly.<br />
<br />
In front of the television in the living room isn't ideal either, it can be incredibly distracting - even more so if you're not the one in charge of what's on the TV.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it's best to use a dining room if, like at my house, it rarely gets used. That way, you can set up and not have to worry about clearing the table before dinner.<br />
<br />
The best place is always a dedicated space, like spare bedroom with a door. The next best space is somewhere where you can sit down first thing in the morning and get to it without going through the process of clearing the breakfast dishes before starting.Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-88052389127878627002020-04-03T17:06:00.000-04:002020-04-03T17:06:14.395-04:00Work from home quick tip 01Ok folks, for those venturing in their first bout of working from home, you may be trying to figure out how it's going to work. So here is my next tip: <b>UNDERSTANDING</b><br />
<br />
Everyone needs a little understanding. It could be the boss of your company, the workers or your family. Working from home isn't easy for most people, especially those forced into it.<br />
<br />
<b>Family</b><br />
The family of home workers need to understand that yes, you are home, but you also need to get your work done. Just because you are home, it doesn't necessarily mean that the laundry will get done or the house will get cleaned daily.<br />
<br />
<b>Your Boss</b><br />
Your boss needs to understand that this is a whole new world for a lot of us and there shouldn't be an expectation of 100% efficiency from day one. It will take some time, especially for those workers now trying to juggle work, the kids being home, the laundry, the dirty house, etc. Give your workers some space and time. You may actually find that that people become more productive and happy working from home.<br />
<br />
<b>Your Workers</b><br />
Those working for you should also understand that this is new for most people, including you. Workers should not get over-offended if all of a sudden their boss is reaching out more. They probably aren't trying to micromanage, they are trying to figure this all out too.<br />
<br />
With just a little understanding on everyone's part, we can all get through this so much easier. Most people are new at this. Allow some space and time to get it right.Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538263488950189879.post-28243289104071220092018-06-07T12:46:00.001-04:002019-11-04T07:19:57.752-05:00Cameras at Infocomm<br />
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Let’s look at the video conferencing camera announcements
from Infocomm 2018.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Huddly</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Huddly announced a partnership with Creston Mercury. I’m not
sure exactly what the partnership entails, but the Mercury has a USB camera
input so it’s my assumption any USB camera will work. It’s unknown if there are
some software/firmware features that makes the Huddly camera more compatible or
what. Maybe there is the ability to E-PTZ through the Mercury. Maybe the partnership is sales based.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.huddly.com/blog/huddly-partners-with-crestron-to-enhance-crestron-mercury">https://www.huddly.com/blog/huddly-partners-with-crestron-to-enhance-crestron-mercury</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Huddly camera now comes in four different colors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Altia Systems/Panacast </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Panacast camera has a resolution of 5120x1440. The Rave
video at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmhYGHRxPYY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmhYGHRxPYY</a>
shows the output on an ultrawide monitor and the camera seems incredibly suited
for this type of screen. The camera also includes facial detection and the
ability to autozoom and frame participants. The main issue I see with this
camera is that I can see the camera overlap quite easily. They use three camera
heads and software/firmware stitching. The stitched areas have this pinkish effect
to them and I can see inconsistencies in the stitch. A casual user may not have
this problem though. There is also a significant fish eye due to trying to
capture so much scene.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Logitech</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Logitech announced RightSense, a technology suite designed
for their cameras. This technology automatically frames the participants.
Currently, I don’t know if it automatically moves around based on movement (standing
up, etc). It also optimizes light balance and color as well as suppresses background
noise. It’s not apparent which cameras this tech can be married to other than
the new Rally detailed below. The ability to frame people is not currently
available per their blog.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blog.logitech.com/2018/06/05/rally-rightsense/">https://blog.logitech.com/2018/06/05/rally-rightsense/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Logitech also announced Rally, a modular system for
conference rooms. It contains a 4k PTZ camera, modular audio components and the
RightSense technology detailed above<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.logitech.com/en-us/video-collaboration/products/Rally.html">https://www.logitech.com/en-us/video-collaboration/products/Rally.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>HighFive/Dolby</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m not sure if Dolby designed this camera or if HighFive
did.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/products/dolby-voice-room.html">https://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/products/dolby-voice-room.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://highfive.com/hardware/premium-video-conferencing/">https://highfive.com/hardware/premium-video-conferencing/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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This camera is 4k that intelligently adjusts to the
participants using facial recognition. This camera also has a whiteboard skew
feature like Cisco’s IX5000, which in my opinion simply can’t work as the
marketing department would like you to believe. Intentionally skewing the
whiteboard will result in the participant in from the board appearing
incredibly warped.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another interesting item of note on this page: <a href="https://highfive.com/pricing/">https://highfive.com/pricing/</a> is that
the product has 360 degree audio capture. I find that odd considering it’s
mounted on a display and where do displays typically get mounted? On a wall,
thus negating any need for 360 degrees of audio capture. 180 is probably
overkill and coning it to variable degrees based on number of participants
defined by autoframing would be infinitely better. Harder for the marketing department
to describe that though and harder for the engineering department to create.<o:p></o:p></div>
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HighFive also announced Best Buy as being a reseller of
their product.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Scintilx</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Scintilx showed their intelligent camera that’s geared more
toward education than corporate video conferencing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33A0G2m64tQ<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>HuddleCamHD</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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HuddleCamHD’s cameras are USB/PTZ based with audio capabilities
built in.<o:p></o:p><br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WlliaPGqac&t=5s</div>
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<b>VDO360</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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VDO360 recently announced their AutoPilot camera tracking
system that constantly moves with the participant. While on the surface it
doesn’t appear appropriate for typical video conferencing purposes, it can be
useful for instructor led situations or video conferences where there is a
constant presenter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They also showed their Saber (4k), TeamCam and CompassX<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>1 Beyond</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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http://1beyond.com/ptz-cameras<o:p></o:p></div>
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They showed an autotracking PTZ camera that uses motion and
facial recognition. They also showed their Collaborate AVS switching system via
a recorded demo. It’s unsure if this works as good (which is not good at all),
better or worse than either Cisco’s Speakertrack or Polycom’s Eagle Eye
Director as it wasn’t a live demo.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGXitbrdYXc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGXitbrdYXc</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I found a video on their YouTube page that uses 4 cameras
for this switching. Ouch. I hope the cameras have red lights or some other identifier,
so you know which one is active. I won’t go into the inappropriate nature of
four cameras in odd locations in a room… <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=eVv_EdMSzgw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=eVv_EdMSzgw</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b>HELLO/Solaborate</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.solaborate.com/hello">https://www.solaborate.com/hello</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I saw via Twitter that they were displaying their camera but
haven’t heard about any product updates or releases yet. I did read on their
website that it’s integrated with Amazon’s Alexa. Not sure how I would feel
about that integration in a living room with an operational camera involved.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Vaddio</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Other than seeing that they were at Infocomm, I’ve not seen
any product announcements except for an in-wall box for one of their cameras.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b>OwlLabs</b><br />
They are presenting at Infocomm, but I've not yet heard of any new advancements to their product.<br />
https://twitter.com/OwlLabsInc</div>
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<b>Polycom</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Polycom did not announce any new camera technology at this
years’ show.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.polycom.com/company/news/press-releases/2018/20180606-01.html">http://www.polycom.com/company/news/press-releases/2018/20180606-01.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Cisco</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Cisco did not announce any new camera technology at this
year’s show.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What you’ll notice are the current trends of facial
recognition and participant framing. It’s becoming a standard feature in
cameras for video conferencing. Auto-framing technology has been around for a
while now and the technology still isn’t that good. Personally, I’m still of
the mindset that fixed cameras (or – once you frame it you leave it alone) are
much better for a video chat. The constant moving/framing is completely
distracting. Less distracting though than a switching camera, but still distracting.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-8643834621740379" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>Bryan Hellardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918317827119605478noreply@blogger.com0