Video has become one of the most important communication tools for the hybrid modern workforce in 2020. In order for your in-person and remote team members to have the best high quality video conferencing experience, you need to have the AV infrastructure and bandwidth in place to support high quality image resolution.
With remote workers needing to connect with their teams, many have embraced adding video to their audio calls. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, web conferencing purchases have increased 500%.
Determine What Video Content Your Team Shares
There are bandwidth differences between the cat video clips you watch at home and the live video calls used for work. Streaming video is designed to buffer, where video is downloaded ahead of time to account for network instability during video playback. Buffering does not ensure real-time viewing. Video conferencing relies on packets of data being sent and received in real-time. This ensures that your video and audio content is transmitted correctly in real-time.
It is important to determine what types of content your team plans to share during their video calls. For instance, will they prioritize audio over video? Or will your team prioritize audio and video for all of their meetings? Ask your team these questions to find out what they plan to screen share:
- Video on all or most calls
- Static images
- Presentations with images and/or video clips
- Moving video with or without audio
Once your team determines the type of content, you may need to reexamine your meeting rooms to make sure you have the technology in place to handle the audio and video content your team expects to share. Are the room displays large enough for group viewing? If your room TV does not have built-in speakers, are their speakers installed in the room to handle audio?
It is also important to remember that as more people use the network, the increased traffic will affect video quality and download speeds. If you don’t know what your video bandwidth needs are, AV Solutions can help.
Understanding Bandwidth Requirements
When the bandwidth isn’t sufficient for your video and audio quality to be optimal, audio is often prioritized over video.
Each cloud-based web conferencing provider may have different bandwidth requirements, so it is important to understand what the average bandwidth consumption will be. Here is a quick look at four popular video conferencing platforms and their bandwidth requirements:
- Zoom bandwidth requirements are 2.0 Mbps upload and download for a single screen and 2.0 – 4.0 Mbps for dual screen.
- Lifesize bandwidth requirements show that 2.0 Mbps will work with 720p (HD) resolution at 30 frames per second (fps).
- Microsoft Teams™ bandwidth requirements show that 1.0 – 2.0 Mbps can handle HD Group Video calling (540p videos on a 1080p screen).
- Cisco Webex® bandwidth requirements vary if you are using the Webex application with or without Telepresence participants. It also varies if you are using a mobile device. Check out the Cisco Webex bandwidth requirements for more info.
How To Get Help
Having the correct AV infrastructure in place to support your modern workforce is critical for employee productivity. We can help you solve your audiovisual and conferencing problems. Contact AV Solutions today to get better business outcomes.
