[nalanraj]

I have to install a video conference system for our office (Small and Medium size company). I did some research and contacted some videoconferencing companies and came to know that it is will cost around 40000€. And we are planning to install the same kind of system in 4 other branches. The price is not convenient for us, so we are now moving to some webconference solutions. I know very well that webconference cannot bring the quality of videoconference, moreover webconference is “ONE TO MANY” and videoconference is “MANY TO MANY”.

Is there a way to improve webconference solution. That is, is it possible to install webconference in a conference room, like videoconference?? Is it possible to improve the quality by using HD webcams (or HD cameras), polycam mic (or ClearOne chat 150 USB), 102cm plasma LCD screen. Is it possible to use webconference as a “MANY TO MANY”, like Video conference???

Any suggestions please......

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Considered Webex?

[diabillic]

Considered Webex?

[nalanraj]

yes....i have chosen few webconference solutions and one of them is webex. But now i want to know about its infrastructure setup. is it possible to setup webconference like videoconference (to some extend)???

[dsenette]

as far as the physical setup, as long as you get hardware that's designed for the scale of a conference room there's no issues with using webconferencing type connections in a conference room settings.

you just can't use a desktop web cam to do it, you have to get stuff that's made for the size of the room. you also have to ensure that you have the right ammount of bandwidth dedicated to the connection otherwise you'll get choppy video no matter what quality hardware you use.

i believe with webex and the like, you CAN do many to many, but it can get awkward

polycom offers This contraption for use with microsoft live meeting, but again you're running into the $4,000 range again.

[diabillic]

Bandwidth is actually the most important, since even the best physical setup on a weak link will still be crappy.

For example, Cisco Telepresence requires 7mbps of dedicated bandwidth to function correctly.

[dsenette]

indeed. Video conferencing, especially high quality video conferencing, is never cheap on any end of the event.

you can either sacrifice price for quality, or quality for price. you'll be very hard pressed to find a low price, high quality sollution

[diabillic]

The 3 screen top of the line solution from Cisco is $125K

[dsenette]

i've seen that one in person, it's pretty impressive

[diabillic]

I wonder if Skype has video conferencing abilities. That could be something worth investigating.