Skype for business equipment recommendations?
 

Does anyone have suggestions on equipment for a video conference using Skype for business? I've never set one of these up before.

We've been recommended to get either a Jabra 410 or a Jabra 810 for the speakerphone (http://www.jabra.com/business/speake...a-speak-series). Looking at the reviews on Amazon for the 410 they seems fairly promising except for the top negative review which states they had difficulties and had to pass the microphone around to be heard which is exactly what I want to avoid.

The Jabra 810 is much more expensive but the reviews seem promising. We just need the speaker to sit in the middle of the table (it'll never be moved out of this room) and work. The less effort the better.

For the camera they recommended a Logitech C920 which is located in their "For Me" section. See here: https://secure.logitech.com/en-us/pr...m-c920?crid=34

Looking at the Logitech site they apparently have a "For Business" section of webcams as well which are Skype for Business certified while the "For Me" section is not. For example there is a C930e camera that's about the same price:

https://secure.logitech.com/en-us/product/c930e-webcam

I'll probably try to have the camera mounted on the wall so it'll never have to be moved (and broken or lost).

So, what do people think? Also any of you that have done this before, are there other types of set-ups I should be considering?

Can't help with cameras as we don't do video.

For audio though, we use Polycom CX3000 in our conference rooms. Just checked the Amazon reviews, and seems people had problems setting them up, but we didn't have any issues.

A few notes:
1 - We have them set up as their own Skype for Business User. This makes it nice, because, you can just drag the phone's user into the meeting and it will ring, you don't have to dial any conference number or anything, or sign into it.

2 - It doesn't come with a power kit, our switches support PoE, so that makes it nice and tidy for us. Otherwise, you need a network drop and a power supply, which is very different than the Jabra setup you have.

3 - Call quality is excellent. In our larger conference room, we have a few of the "pod" mics that you can use to extend the range. Not needed in the smaller conference room.

I bought 4 Logitech C920 webcams and I can vouch for their quality. Each member of my family has one at their house across 4 continents(US, Greece, Japan, New Zealand) when we video chat via Skype, the picture is extremely clear. I bought 4 of them when Amazon had it on sale for $47 each. (sold and shipped directly from Amazon.com, not 3rd party)

Is this for yourself, or for a conference room? Big difference in equipment choices!

Thanks for the input so far. This is for a conference room, about 20 x 20 feet.

Ok, at that size you're looking for more than just a simple webcam and laptop. A few of several integrated solutions out there:

http://www.clearone.com/solutions_media_collaboration
http://www.polycom.com/hd-video-conf...ect-offer.html
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/product...ing/index.html
http://www.vaddio.com/category/ucc
https://www.qsc.com/systems/solutions/conference-rooms/

and I'm sure there are other hardware options as well at various budget levels.

Depending on the acoustics of your room and how many people, you might also consider an audio processor with acoustic echo cancellation and external mics, though some of the more basic solutions above have external mics that you can put on the table that would probably be more than adequate for your size of room.

My job specializes in designing and programming the audio part of these kinds of conference systems in really difficult and challenging rooms, some with really horrendous acoustics--what is it with architects and their fascination of using untreated window walls in conference rooms?

I just completed a system that uses these steerable mics
http://www.shure.com/americas/produc...ray-microphone
with the QSC solution listed above. The client simply brings their laptop into the room, plugs in the USB cable to the AV Bridge, and HDMI to a flat screen on the wall, and now they have a skype or webex solution complete with PTZ camera for a fraction of what it used to cost using a professional codec and camera system. Pretty slick! And yes, it has an untreated window wall, and I got the mic steered to minimize it's effect on the audio pickup within the room.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I'll figure out what's in our budget range of the things you suggested.

in case you're still looking, the Logitech C920 is on sale for $49 today from Aamzon. (ships and sold directly from Amazon.com... not 3rd party seller who are mostly crooks)
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wide.../dp/B006JH8T3S

$2 more than the $47 that I paid, but still a great deal.

(not sure if posting about a sale is permitted... if not, mods please feel free to edit/delete it)

We use a Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800 in a room that size. Works awesome. No idea on cost. (Though I am sure it isn't cheap!)