Video conferencing is the kind of technology that is amazing when it works properly, but a source of great frustration and even embarrassing moments when it does not.  Fortunately, whether or not a video conference is a success of failure is up to the host, and with a little know how, and a lot of hardware knowledge, you can ensure that your video conference will not only awe the other participants, but also provide you or your business with the professional edge you need to make your niche in the business world a permanent fixture.  While software issues often also play a big role in the world of video conferencing, the system itself is only as good as the components you hook up to it. 

To this end, here is a list of some components that will spell success for your next videoconference:

• Make sure your system has a good soundcard.  This card should be able to at least have an analog microphone as well as line level input, while also offering analog output for front and rear speakers. 
• Since the input is usually done via the microphone, you will also want to purchase one that will enable speakers to be heard from greater room distances.  Since it converts sound waves into electrical signals, make sure that your microphone is compatible with your sound card. 
• Another peripheral that needs to work well with the sound card are the speakers. The speakers will permit you to hear the other members of the videoconference.  It is imperative that the speakers and soundcard are compatible; otherwise you will only have partial or no audio with your conference.  In addition to the foregoing, the quality of the speakers you purchase determine whether or not the boss across the country sounds a bit like Donald Duck or like he is talking at the end of a very long tunnel. 
• Moving on to the video components, you will need to ensure that you have a good video input system, such as a web camera, commonly referred to as a webcam.  This device is a real time camera, which is hooked up to the PC and makes images available via the Internet. These cameras may either work on an interval system, where new pictures are taken at regular intervals and then updated, or on a continuous basis where are movement are live.  Obviously, in order to avoid the jerking pictures of the past, it is best to have a continuous system.  If you find yourself staring helplessly at the camera display at your local big box computer warehouse, look for the cameras that promise 380,000 effective pixels and a horizontal resolution of about 450 lines. 
• The video output is usually achieved via a computer monitor, and the bigger the better.  If possible, a television set provides the best kind of output; since it offers a larger viewing area and more participants will be able to see what is going on.
• If you foresee the need for visual aids, perhaps some whiteboard technology is needed.  While this is a computer software application, the term also refers to a feature that attaches to the average office white board and pens and captures any drawings and notes that may be made during a meeting. The notes may be transmitted simultaneously to the meeting in progress.

As you can see there are many tools available for anyone who wishes to avail her or himself of the video conferencing technology.  As with anything that has to do with modern technology, you do get what you pay for, and a little bit of money spent at the onset will save not only a lot of embarrassment and red faces over dropped connections, missing files, and endless reconnections, but it also will be able to replace the costly business trips that seem to take up so much time and so many resources in an average business.  Of course, before you invest a lot of money in hardware options, it is important to understand what your software capabilities are.  It is useless to have the latest and the greatest hardware available, only to realize that your PC will not support it, or that it will take up so much of the computer’s available memory that other applications will suffer in the process.

 

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