Video

Psst. Hey, Buddy! Wanna Buy A Great Phone?

Polycom-VVX600-300pxMonday afternoon an email arrived announcing E4 Technology’s new promotion of the Polycom VVX Series desk phones. As I am a huge fan of the VVX Series I thought this worth sharing.

You may recall that I long ago reviewed the VVX-1500. It remains the single best sounding desk phone that I have ever used!

However, I recently replaced the VVX-1500 that had occupied the corner of my desk with a VVX-600 model. The VVX-600 is much smaller and sounds almost as good as it’s larger kin. It’s Bluetooth capable, which is certainly handy. With the optional camera module installed the touchscreen VVX-600 is capable of HD video (720p).

Read More

Video Calling 2: Commercial Lighting Solutions

Polycom HDX-4000 CompositeI have seen the light…and you can, too! As I described previously, I’ve been making use of a lot more video calling in my working life. Even beyond that fact, some have said that I’m occasionally in the dark.

After some attempts to use locally existing lighting, both natural and artificial, I determined that I need some lighting that’s specifically for my use of video. My first instinct was to ask a question of my followers on Twitter, since some of those are active in the realm of video conferencing and calling.

I also reached out to some people in the broadcast space, including photographers and lighting directors. I took the answers provided and added a little of my own online research.

There has a risen a question of why my workspace is as dark as it happens to be at times? Early in my career I was an online editor. At that point I spent most of my working life in dimly lit rooms working on the final assembly of commercials and longer video programs. The forest green color on my office walls is in fact borrowed from the design one of my favorite editing suites.

Read More

Sightdeck: High-End Compositing & Virtual Sets Meet Telepresence

SightDeck_AdMore and more it seems that things from long in my past are recurring in the present day. To give you some context, you should know that in the early ‘90s when I was working as an editor in video post-production I became very familiar with blue/green screen techniques.

At one point I was editing commercials for a large Canadian supermarket chain where the President was blue screen composited against close-up shots of the products. We made tremendous use of Ultimatte gear as well as Ampex’s Spectrakey.

Jump twenty years into the future when this I see that Telepresence Options is highlighting Sightdeck, a live presentation facility for telepresence applications. Sightdeck is from iMatte, a company created by the founders of Ultimatte. Warning, iMatte’s web site is a study in lame.

Read More

Oh, Yeah: DIY Room Systems!

DIY-Room-System-200pxPrognosticator extraordinaire Dave Michels recently post some observations of things he saw at InfoComm. In so doing I think that he may have coined a new buzz-phrase, “DIY Room Systems.” I must admit that I am smitten with the concept.

For those not versed in enterprise video conference jargon a “room system” is a video conference end-point of the sort that might be found in a meeting room. That covers a broad swath of territory, basically everything between desktop video conference clients and telepresence suites.

Read More

Video Calling 1: People Just Don’t See Me In The Right Light

polycom-hdx-4500-photo-01-300pxSince taking up my new gig with ZipDX and Polycom a splendid HDX-4500 has graced my home office. It’s without question the most sophisticated end-point device that I’ve encountered. It’s a real treat to use, especially since I do so many calls using video these days.

The HDX is large enough that it gets a desk of it’s own, located across the room from my primary desk, desktop PC et al. When I’m using the HDX I always have my laptop on that desk as well.

The trouble is that I’ve had some difficulty getting the lighting correct for video calls. I’ve muddled along trying different solutions with what I’ve had on-hand, and playing with moving things around the space. Recently I’ve come to think that I need to take more significant steps to provide consistently good lighting.

Read More
Back To Top