Best videoconferencing software ?

[keithmac]

Funny this thread should pop up, we had a "Virtual Scouts" meeting with Microsoft Teams last night, went really well!.

 

[bruce1530]

We’ve been running around a thousand zoom conferences a day for the last week. Longest one was 6 hours, with 250 participants dropping in and out over the session.

Zoom’s great at what it does. Teams is great at what it does. But they are aiming at slightly different applications.

I’d be happy using either.

It’s no surprise that Zoom’s share price has doubled in the last 6 months.

 

[geocycle]

My worry with these platforms is demand is going to be unprecedented in the next few weeks. Universities have already gone online resulting in a massive drop in the academic networks traffic, while home broadband is taking a pound . Goodness knows how capacity in Microsoft servers will be maintained when all the school kids log on to Teams, or how domestic broadband speed will hold up when they all start using their xboxes and video streaming services while the whole country is working from home!

 

[gavgav]

Teams was rolled out to us today. Only used it for chat based stuff, this afternoon, but it will be used for meetings, training, 1 to 1’s with my staff, etc, from tomorrow onwards, all of us working from home and so will be interesting to see how it all works.

 

[Drago]

Lowland Rescue use Zoom for meetings. Seems to work pretty well, not that I'm on expert on such matters.

 

[DaveReading]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Looks like I'm going to be using all 3 of the top recommendation:
Teams and Skype for keeping in touch with respective sons and their families
Zoom for the wife's online choir practice.

 

[CharlesF]

I understand that the free Zoom has maximum of 40 minutes per call, doesn’t apply to the business/paid version.

Teams can be a hassle for beginners sharing the correct bit of their screen if they have a number of applications open.

I have read, but tried, that Houseparty is great for families and simple to use.

 

[Drago]

I have read, but tried, that Houseparty is great for families and simple to use.

Not Faceparty?

 

[PaulSB]

I understand that the free Zoom has maximum of 40 minutes per call, doesn’t apply to the business/paid version.

Teams can be a hassle for beginners sharing the correct bit of their screen if they have a number of applications open.

I have read, but tried, that Houseparty is great for families and simple to use.

I can confirm Houseparty is good for friends and family. It is very simple to use which is a major benefit for those who may struggle with technology.

We are using it in the family. I have friends who used it for a quiz on Friday night.

 

[Electric_Andy]

zoom is our go to now. Free for up to a limited time (I think 20 mins) but unlimited if you pay. GoToMeeting I would not recommend, very hit and miss and expensive. Google Hangouts is also good.

 

[marinyork]

Does anyone know why the video quality on zoom is so godawful? Apart from flicking to support HD setting.

Just tried same setup on a different PC and rock solid internet connection and still very poor.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Does anyone know why the video quality on zoom is so godawful? Apart from flicking to support HD setting.

Just tried same setup on a different PC and rock solid internet connection and still very poor.

I had a zoom conference call this morning, it works great every time. The only issue is where someone else has a poor connection their end (i.e. poor upload speed) so for that one person you get hazy picture and/or sound breaking up. But the other 20 or so people were coming through fine. Or do you mean that it was you who couldn't be seen/heard properly?

 

[marinyork]

I had a zoom conference call this morning, it works great every time. The only issue is where someone else has a poor connection their end (i.e. poor upload speed) so for that one person you get hazy picture and/or sound breaking up. But the other 20 or so people were coming through fine. Or do you mean that it was you who couldn't be seen/heard properly?

My video transmitted to others is very low res on Zoom. It's terrible. It's like the good old days of Skype all over again. I've done lots of zoom calls the last 3 weeks and it works all right on the whole, particularly from a lag point of view, but around 10% have problems with audio. Video is not the biggest priority, but it's getting annoying.

I've already said I have a rock solid web connection. I also had a zoom conference call this morning. Usual godawful quality. Had a google hangouts meeting later and one of the same people was present and commented how they were surprised that I had a very crisp 720p picture that was focused well, autofocused very quickly as soon as video was turned on and nice gorgeous colour balance. They were so surprised they asked if I'd changed my webcam (no).

I just wondered whether anyone had any suggestions as I'm getting a bit pissed off with it.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If anyone has any cool uses of zoom or any non-official tutorials/ideas then it'd be appreciated .

A fellow group of cyclists who used to cycle mid week evenings to meet up at various pubs did this.

They all headed out on their solo rides, returning home
They then all poured themselves a beer
Then they all joined a zoom meeting for their pub chat.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I just wondered whether anyone had any suggestions as I'm getting a bit pissed off with it.

Sorry then, I don't know what the issue could be. Unless it's just coincidence that your web speed drops when you happen to use Zoom. I'm guessing you've checked any settings available on zoom (if there are any), other than that is there a helpline or support chat? And are you using the free service or paid for?