Improving the Quality of Your Videoconferencing Experiences - Wainhouse Research

Introduction

As the price of videoconferencing systems continues to decline, more and more companies are finding it feasible to
deploy systems into small offices, remote branches, and even departmental conference rooms. Systems today are easier
to use than ever before, with simpler user interfaces, more reliable network connections, and higher performance
electronics than ever before. In earlier times, videoconferencing products were likely to be installed as dedicated
systems in meeting rooms carefully designed for such systems. The advantage of this approach is that the room
environment could be optimized to provide the highest quality audio and video experience. The disadvantage of these
systems is that their high costs prevented widescale deployment and their inherent complexity often meant that their
use required the assistance of conferencing system specialists.

In the past two years, a new class of conference room systems as well as new, high performance desktop systems have
become quite popular. The new small conference room systems are videoconferencing appliances - simple devices
which attach to an everyday TV and are controlled by easy-to-understand hand held remote controllers. Personal
conferencing systems are most commonly PC-based videoconferencing kits, peripherals which provide all the audio,
video, and communications subsystems necessary to turn a desktop PC into a full fledged videoconferencing system.
Within the past year, a new class of personal conferencing system has come to market in the form factor of a
"videophone." These devices look and act just like an ordinary telephone, but they provide video as well as audio.
Suitable as an executive telephone, these devices are also making inroads into selected consumer homes where the
ability to see friends and relatives or to communicate with hard-of-hearing colleagues can justify the incremental costs.

As videoconferencing spreads to more mainstream use and as it becomes a more casual tool for business meetings,
more and more people need to become familiar with some of the time-honored technical and non-technical tricks of the
trade to help improve the quality of any videoconference. This paper is intended as an overview of some simple and
easy techniques to help boost the quality of your audio and video, without breaking the bank.

Before getting into the specific recommendations, it is helpful to understand one important technology underpinning to
any videoconferencing system. Audio and video signals represent an enormous stream of digital data to any
communications system. In order to squeeze this data into an affordable pipeline for local and long distance
transmission, it is necessary for the videoconferencing system to compress the data before it is sent and then
decompress the data on the receiving end. These compresssion/decompression engines, known as codecs, use models
of the human audio and video systems to eliminate as much data as possible without impairing the quality of the images
and sound. However, the compression/decompression process does inject certain artifacts into the system. By
following some of the advice below, you will be able to minimize these effects.

Video

The simple rule of thumb is the better the camera, the better you will look to the receiving station. Many
videoconferencing systems come with a built-in camera, others allow you to plug in a camera of your choice.
Basically, cameras come in several price performance categories. The best quality units today are motorized pan-tilt-
zoom units that output a standard NTSC signal. One step down are fixed NTSC cameras, and one step down from that
are digital cameras designed to interface to a computer through a serial, parallel, or proprietary bus of some sort. Buy
the best camera you can afford. Consider using your home or business camcorder if it is available. These devices often
have electronics and optics superior to low cost stand-alone cameras.

When a codec senses motion, the algorithms become even more computationally demanding. This tends to slow down
the compression engine. In order to keep up, the videoconferencing system will drop frames and/or compromise the
spatial resolution, yielding blocky images until the motion passes. So, video quality can be improved by minimizing
motion content. This includes real motion content from moving subjects (or background items like crowds or even
clocks), as well as motion content from artifacts. For example, a camera that refocuses automatically or changes its
brightness setting automatically sends data to the codec that is interpreted as motion because there is a large change in
data content from frame to frame. The same effect (perceived motion) can happen if the camera is mounted on a non-
rigid or wavering platform.
Eye contact is an important part of the videoconferencing experience. Hence it is important to position the camera you
are looking into as close as possible to the image on the screen of the person with whom you are conferencing. This is
one area where group systems have an advantage over desktop systems. With group systems, you are typically 5-10
feet from the camera (which is typically on top of the monitor) so when you face the other person’s image, it is almost
the same as looking into the camera. With a desktop PC-based system, where you are typically 18 inches from the
monitor, you can typically look at the other person or look into the camera, but not both at the same time. When you
are talking, try to concentrate on looking into the camera, not at the other person’s image. This takes some practice.
And don’t sit too close. If you do, you create an unflattering fisheye effect. With PC systems and videophones, you
need to experiment with the equipment to see what works best for you.

Lighting

Poor lighting is the source of many videoconferencing problems. The right lighting can dramatically improve your
image at the other end. Here are some pointers.

Your videoconferencing system averages the varying tones of color in the scene, and then compensates for a certain
percentage of "gray." Thus, if a shot contains a high percentage of white or light tones from walls or clothing, the
system will attempt to darken the overall image, including faces. This is generally unflattering. Remove all white
background from the field of view. Try to make the faces of the conference participants the lightest color in the
camera’s field of view. If possible, paint the walls dark. Blue works best. Wear dark or neutral solid clothing.

If possible, use lighting with the proper color balance. This will give skin tones a healthy appearance and avoid making
participants look sickly. Fluorescent lighting of the wrong type can make skin look a bit greenish.

If there are windows in the room, have participants sit facing the window, not with the window behind them. Curtains
or blinds should be installed to control the amount of light.

Optimize the brightness and auto-iris controls of your camera to suit the needs of your specific location. In other
words, once you’ve eliminate the lighter colors in the videoconferencing setting, don’t be afraid to adjust the brightness
and contrast controls built in to the camera.

Audio

Microphone placement is crucial. Microphones should be away from speakers and equipment. As with video, use a
good microphone and speakers. The cheap microphone that came bundled with your computer system is probably not
that good. You will get the best results with a headset or handset (with the microphone an optimum distance from your
mouth) because this hardware configuration eliminates the possibility of echo between the speaker and the microphone.
High quality headsets are not that expensive, but many people object to their use because they feel they look silly.

For group conferences, headsets are not practical, and most group systems have considerable technology invested in
solving the echo cancellation problem. Without far-end echo cancellation, your voice would exit the speakers at the
remote end, enter the remote microphone, and come back to you as a disruptive echo. Echo cancellers are adaptive;
they are constantly adjusting to the changing sound conditions. So, if you have been in “listen” mode for a long time,
and then begin to speak, it takes the canceller a few seconds to relearn its job. Don’t be alarmed.

When you speak into a microphone (not a headset) some of the sound goes directly from your mouth to the mic, but
some of your speech will reach the microphone after bouncing off the walls and ceilings. This creates an unappealing
reverberation. Many systems include a near-end echo canceller to eliminate this problem. These algorithms too are
adaptive and typically take a few seconds to figure out the situation. If you are moving about and using a stationary
microphone, then the echo canceller is constantly adjusting. This minimizes audio quality. Try to maintain a constant,
non-changing distance between the speaker and the microphone.

Because of the compression/decompression requirement, all videoconferencing systems have built in delay. You can
compensate for this with a little etiquette. Try not to “trip on” or speak over the other party by allowing a little gap in
the audio from time to time.
Other practical solutions to minimize echo include using soft furnishings like curtains, carpets, and upholstered panels
to dampen the audio paths. Glass is particularly bad for audio reflections, so room curtains over windows can help.
Another obvious step to improve audio quality is to eliminate background noise as much as possible. During a
conference, avoid paper shuffling and other extraneous sounds.

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Special Considerations for Multipoint Videoconferencing

When the number of endpoints in a conference goes beyond two, things can get a little confusing. A few extra
precautions can keep multipoint calls effective and productive. Speakers need to be a bit more disciplined. Many
multipoint control systems use voice-activated image switching. This works effectively only if one person speaks at a
time and everyone allows for switching delays. Make sure that no microphone is placed alongside a telephone,
portable telephone, fax, computer, printer or any other device likely to cause interference or noise for those listening
from other sites. Such random noise can cause unwanted image switching. When not speaking, a site should “mute”
its microphones to prevent noise from entering the conference. It also prevents a door slam or sneeze from causing a
video switch.

Users should expect a few seconds' delay before their questions are answered. It is important to resist the temptation to
repeat a question, since this usually results in the question going out and the answer coming back at the same time, with
the result that no-one understands either.

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Ten Tricks of the Trade.

Ø At the beginning of a videoconference make sure that participants introduce themselves. It is often helpful to have
a sign in the background that gives your location.
Ø Look directly at the camera as often as possible when speaking.
Ø Wear neutral, solid colors. Avoid checks and stripes. Avoid white and shades of red. Red is not codec-friendly.
Bright fluorescent objects also cause halo effects and other distracting artifacts.
Ø Be natural, but try to minimize motion.
Ø Try to arrange a simple, uncluttered, static background in neutral or darker solid colors. Do not sit in front of
windows. Tilt pictures, framed degrees, awards or any other glass-covered wall hanging downward to eliminate
reflection and glare.
Ø Try to have direct light on the face of the person speaking. Too much light from behind causes silhouetting, too
much from above causes shadows under the eyes.
Ø Avoid placing videoconferencing equipment in rooms prone to echo effects or exposed to outside noise. Eliminate
in-room sources of extraneous noise. On multipoint video conferences mute your location when not speaking.
Ø Be aware of the transmission delay ... pause for others to comment.
Ø When asking questions in a group conference, direct the question to a specific individual if possible.
Ø Use a real or even a fake plant to humanize the setting.

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(C) Wainhouse Research LLC

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