Hey everyone! I'm looking for some advice on setting up a video conferencing system for a medium-sized meeting room that I manage. The room can comfortably seat about 10–12 people around a rectangular table, with the farthest seat around 16 feet from the screen. We typically have video meetings 1–2 times a month where multiple people need to participate from the room.
Currently, we just use a laptop placed at the end of the table, which is a bit of a hassle as it requires rotating and repositioning during discussions. We project the meeting onto a wall-mounted TV and use an Anker PowerConf S3 as a speakerphone, which is decent, but it depends on who's using it. I'd like to find a more streamlined and permanent setup. Here's what I'm hoping for:
- Compatibility with Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet (not tied to a single platform).
- Simple enough for everyone to operate; some technical know-how is fine, but it should not be overly complicated.
- Improved camera placement and viewing angle compared to the current setup.
- Ideally, stay below the cost of a Meeting Owl, but I'm open to it if it's the best option.
I don't have much experience with this type of technology, and I couldn't find straightforward solutions online, so any insights would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
Your budget might be a bit limiting, but I recommend considering a Meeting Owl with an extra mic for people seated further away. Just plug it into your presenter's laptop, and you can stream to a mounted TV with a casting app. This way, everyone in the room can see the remote participants and any presentations. It could be done for several thousand, and it eliminates cable hazards since you can run cables through the walls! Just make sure you can explain the costs to your boss; I think they'll understand!
If the Meeting Owl is out of your budget, you might be looking at larger setups that can easily run $8-10k, especially for dual displays. It can be pricey, but that's the typical range for a complete solution.
Thanks for the insight! I hadn't fully considered the running cables through the wall as a solution. I appreciate the flexibility with the budget as well—it sounds feasible!