7 ms·

> He was probably using software, like Canon's Webcam Utility, to stream his camera's HDMI OUT to his computer instead of using a capture card. No, he was usin

> He was probably using software, like Canon's Webcam Utility, to stream his camera's HDMI OUT to his computer instead of using a capture card. No, he was using an HDMI capture card and trying to do things with OBS. > Startup takes me, like, 30 seconds: turn key and fill lights on, turn camera on, press hotkey to start OBS, Krisp and Zoom, turn on video. Which is all great and fine if you've got it perfected and you're the type of person to handle all of this before the meeting starts. But when someone shows up late to a meeting or forgets to prepare, it's far easier for everyone involve if they can just open their laptop and join the meeting with the built-in webcam instead of turning on their camera, turning on lights, starting OBS, confirming all the settings, etc.

modzu 4y ago
just upload pictures of your faces to zoom and there u go boss
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  Like profile pictures?
  - jtvjan 4y ago
    Take a picture of your face, set it as your background in OBS, and stream that. It's much more convenient, because you only have to make sure your camera works well once, instead of for every meeting.
    - Thorrez 4y ago
      How is streaming a picture to Zoom more convenient than uploading a profile picture to Zoom? If you stream the picture, you have to have special software running all the time. With a profile picture, you don't.
    - mkr-hn 4y ago
      You could even have it change at random intervals so it looks like you're on a choppy connection.
      - dvtrn 4y ago
        Let's just end the simulacra and embrace the absurd, take a video of yourself walking into the room, acting surprised that someone's on a call and awkwardly backing out of the room, if your platform supports animated backgrounds, use it. Take anyone who notices and asks if you have a previously undisclosed twin-sibling out to dinner for being observant. Bonus points if you wear the same clothes as your video self to really mess with someone's head
      - GekkePrutser 4y ago
        Yeah Apple's network link conditioner is great for this. If you don't want to send video but the organizer insists, just tune it down to the point your audio goes roboty. They'll be begging you to turn off video to improve the connection :D
randomdata 4y ago
If you don’t need a “pro” setup for the Zoom call, you don’t need video at all. Nobody cares to see your low resolution, grainy face.
- spicybright 4y ago
  Disagree. You still get a ton from a low res image of a person vs a static image. Same way how you get a lot from talking face to face vs talking on the phone. Why would my coworkers need to see the individual pores on my nose anyways?
  - tomxor 4y ago
    Agreed. However one thing I have noticed is mic quality matters... up to a point. I'm not even talking mic booms and super expensive setups, the difference between some omnidirectional mic on the bottom of a laptop or the side of one of those bluetooth headphones and pretty much any headset with a mic pointed at your actual face is night and day. It doesn't need to be expensive, but it does need to be within reasonable proximity to your mouth, and preferably not over a questionably compressed bluetooth stream.
    - dexterdog 4y ago
      I find the macbook pro onboard mic to be superior to every headphone mic and every group room mic I have tested and I have tested many. If you have one and you are using headpones made for music do everyone a favor and set your defaults so that it always uses the mac's mic. With many Bluetooth heaphones you also get vastly better sound quality in your ears if the mic is not in use.
      - looshch 4y ago
        I agree with your statement about quality, but everything is good only until you start typing. Everyone on a meeting will hear it as if their ears were inside your laptop. And when you’re talking while typing, oh god
tekknik 4y ago
> No, he was using an HDMI capture card and trying to do things with OBS. There’s definitely a lot of variables and points of failure here but this isn’t my experience using an elgato cam link and a Sony camera. Granted it was a desktop so it’s quite a bit more powerful than a laptop but once setup I had no such issues with overheating or random drop outs (tested for 3-4 hrs at times). Adjusting the mic should also not take much time, put it in front of your face. I’m far from an expert in such setups as well so it sounds like your coworker either had bad hardware or less than optimal config. I agree with you though, if you’re going to use this setup make sure it’s solid before you rely on it.
maxgashkov 4y ago
There are HDMI to USB cards that emulate a USB HID camera which is immediately available in zoom w/o need for OBS, the only thing I do is turn on the camera itself which takes maybe 2-3 seconds and is non-blocking for the call (until it's ready it's just a black screen in zoom if the meeting was already started).
nunez 4y ago
Oh, well that's totally on them then. Agreed; if you're gonna go pro with your setup, you've gotta be able to stage quickly.

modzu 4y ago

just upload pictures of your faces to zoom and there u go boss

ChuckNorris89 4y ago
Like profile pictures?
- jtvjan 4y ago
  Take a picture of your face, set it as your background in OBS, and stream that. It's much more convenient, because you only have to make sure your camera works well once, instead of for every meeting.
  - Thorrez 4y ago
    How is streaming a picture to Zoom more convenient than uploading a profile picture to Zoom? If you stream the picture, you have to have special software running all the time. With a profile picture, you don't.
  - mkr-hn 4y ago
    You could even have it change at random intervals so it looks like you're on a choppy connection.
    - dvtrn 4y ago
      Let's just end the simulacra and embrace the absurd, take a video of yourself walking into the room, acting surprised that someone's on a call and awkwardly backing out of the room, if your platform supports animated backgrounds, use it. Take anyone who notices and asks if you have a previously undisclosed twin-sibling out to dinner for being observant. Bonus points if you wear the same clothes as your video self to really mess with someone's head
    - GekkePrutser 4y ago
      Yeah Apple's network link conditioner is great for this. If you don't want to send video but the organizer insists, just tune it down to the point your audio goes roboty. They'll be begging you to turn off video to improve the connection :D

randomdata 4y ago

If you don’t need a “pro” setup for the Zoom call, you don’t need video at all. Nobody cares to see your low resolution, grainy face.

spicybright 4y ago
Disagree. You still get a ton from a low res image of a person vs a static image. Same way how you get a lot from talking face to face vs talking on the phone. Why would my coworkers need to see the individual pores on my nose anyways?
- tomxor 4y ago
  Agreed. However one thing I have noticed is mic quality matters... up to a point. I'm not even talking mic booms and super expensive setups, the difference between some omnidirectional mic on the bottom of a laptop or the side of one of those bluetooth headphones and pretty much any headset with a mic pointed at your actual face is night and day. It doesn't need to be expensive, but it does need to be within reasonable proximity to your mouth, and preferably not over a questionably compressed bluetooth stream.
  - dexterdog 4y ago
    I find the macbook pro onboard mic to be superior to every headphone mic and every group room mic I have tested and I have tested many. If you have one and you are using headpones made for music do everyone a favor and set your defaults so that it always uses the mac's mic. With many Bluetooth heaphones you also get vastly better sound quality in your ears if the mic is not in use.
    - looshch 4y ago
      I agree with your statement about quality, but everything is good only until you start typing. Everyone on a meeting will hear it as if their ears were inside your laptop. And when you’re talking while typing, oh god

tekknik 4y ago

> No, he was using an HDMI capture card and trying to do things with OBS. There’s definitely a lot of variables and points of failure here but this isn’t my experience using an elgato cam link and a Sony camera. Granted it was a desktop so it’s quite a bit more powerful than a laptop but once setup I had no such issues with overheating or random drop outs (tested for 3-4 hrs at times). Adjusting the mic should also not take much time, put it in front of your face. I’m far from an expert in such setups as well so it sounds like your coworker either had bad hardware or less than optimal config. I agree with you though, if you’re going to use this setup make sure it’s solid before you rely on it.

maxgashkov 4y ago

There are HDMI to USB cards that emulate a USB HID camera which is immediately available in zoom w/o need for OBS, the only thing I do is turn on the camera itself which takes maybe 2-3 seconds and is non-blocking for the call (until it's ready it's just a black screen in zoom if the meeting was already started).

nunez 4y ago

Oh, well that's totally on them then. Agreed; if you're gonna go pro with your setup, you've gotta be able to stage quickly.