Yeah... somebody might be able to see where I live. Great. They should just ask, I'll gladly tell :D

Cameras ?

do you just use the webcam on your laptop or did you buy a HD camera or better ,

Is there a bandwidth problem if you get too good of a camera ?

Any other hints ?

Thanks

Depends on your needs. I use a MacBook and for video conferencing with Zoom for instance the built in camera works fine. For other cases you may need to upgrade.

Something like this item might be useful:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5e9f428876.jpg

Very nice. Do they have one with old National Geographics?

I use an external webcam. It’s higher quality and gives me more flexibility in positioning it. Most apps will detect an unstable connection and scale down or even pause video if it gets too bad (kind of like what Apple does with FaceTime).

My cat routinely crashes video calls. It’s like he knows when it’s time. People cheer when they see him now. A little bit of levity and a reminder that we’re all people in these times is not a bad thing.

Would you recommend that camera? And if yes, what type is it? I'm considering one for my work Windows 10 VM I run inside of my Mac (long story).

I use the Logitech C922 Pro Stream. I’d recommend it... it’s performed quite well even in low light situations.

any of the Logitech 9xx will be a big improvement over most built in camera and enough for most work from home meetings.

Since I produce training material as well with clips from my online sessions, I use a higher quality camera and lens. Lumix GH5 with 10-25/1.7.
BUT
Like my reply to background above it is another never ending money pit unless you have other uses for the camera and lenses.
The converter /connection from the camera's output to USB 3.0 input is over $100 as a start.

I like Jump.

Im 100% telecommute and we use blue jeans for large meetings and for smaller ones Google Meet works great for everyone outside of China.

I recently moved to a mesh using Orbi and it’s been great. Internally I get great WiFi speeds on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz using the Orbi gear inside and for a good distance outside my house.

I also like Unifi gear and my company’s IT team uses that for WiFi in our offices and event kit to set up mesh networks wherever we have events of any size.

additionally:

A good keyboard. Using a laptop is great, but if I have to use one for more than a week I prefer a full sized keyboard for more comfortable typing.

a large LCD monitor. My work laptop is a 13” MacBook Pro and it’s great for travel and working from events and meetings, but when I’m in my home office I use a 34” curved gaming monitor. It makes things so much easier on my eyes.

also, I work, as I said, telecommute full time and have for the last ten years. So outside of tech, I also suggest this:

do your work in a room away from the rest of your home if you can. It’s hard “turning off” if you’re not used to having work right there.

get up and walk away every so often. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in work, even at home. Step away every so often and just take five or ten minutes to take a break and recharge a bit.

Great advice. Totally agree on the getting up. I usually work early, work out a couple of hours, then jump back on

BTW, that username. Classic. Named after the Princess bride or Ulbricht?

Not found one but if vital to the image you're trying to "project" some companies will customise these things for you. Personally I quite fancy a beach scene.....

I have a few images similar to that but better quality taken at famous and beautiful libraries around the world.
To make this work well with zoom is to throw the background out of focus a bit and use that slightly out of focus image.

As I mentioned before, background needs to look and feel natural.