Desktop Conferencing Resources

Summary: OIT convened a team to evaluate desktop conferencing solutions for the campus. In the first phase of our evaluation, we identified the most common and available desktop tools for general use. None of these tools meets all the goals of cross-platform availability, audio, video, desktop and document sharing, and a wide range of audience size, but each meets the needs a segment of the population.

About
Desktop Solutions

Software

Product	Platforms	# of participants	Other features
Skype	Windows, Mac OS X, Linux	2-10 (Voice), 2 (Video)	File transfer
Apple iChat	Mac OS X	2-4 (Video, voice)	Screen sharing, file transfer, document sharing, desktop sharing
Microsoft Live Messenger	Windows	2 (Video, voice)	Screen sharing, desktop sharing, virtual whiteboard
Adobe ConnectNow	Web-based (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)	2-5 (Video, voice)	Screen sharing, desktop sharing, virtual whiteboard, file transfer

Feature definitions

File transfer: Allows you to transfer files between participants
Screen sharing: Allows you to share your screen with participants
Desktop sharing: Allows you to grant control of your desktop to other participants
Virtual whiteboard: Provides a shared, freeform area to draw and write upon
Document sharing: Allows participants to view a document that you provide from within the software (such as a video file or a Apple Keynote presentation)

Hardware

Observations:

Quality of overall experience, including quality of audio and video, is a function of the links in the chain: microphone, camera, software, network, etc. The surrounding environment is also a contributing factor.

In all devices, a direct wired connection yields better quality than a wireless connection.

Microphone

USB microphones, either standalone or included with a headset, are likely to work well with modern computers.
As some computers' analog ports expect a microphone to be powered (or not), a given analog microphone may or may not work with a particular computer.
Audio isolation features (e.g. "noise cancellation") vary considerably with each device and manufacturer; to insure you can be heard by your correspondents, it is best to be in an isolated environment with a microphone close to the body. For example, a closed office with either a lavalier, headset or stand microphone.
Generally, a microphone placed close to the speaker's face yields better quality than one which is far away. (e.g. a headset vs a laptop's built-in microphone.)
Bluetooth headsets, such as those commonly used with cellular phones, may yield acceptable results. Our testing showed a wide performance variance with these devices; particularly good results were seen with models from Jawbone and Motorola.

Network

Wired Ethernet connections yield far better quality than wireless (Wi-Fi). For transmitting audio and video in network conferencing, even the best wireless network induces a noticeable degradation in quality, versus wired Ethernet.

Camera / Webcam

Many notebook computers include cameras as a built-in feature. The video quality in these cameras is usually acceptable.
External cameras usually connect via a USB cable; some may use FireWire. If a camera uses USB, we those which follow the USB Video Class specification, as they are usually supported by operating systems and applications, without additional driver software. External cameras often include advanced features such as color correction or automatic zoom, albeit when used with a vendor-provided driver.