A Look At Free Video Conferencing Services Versus a Professional-level Solution

A Look At Free Video Conferencing Services Versus a Professional-level Solution

But what are the differences between a free consumer solution, like Skype, and a professional-level service? Let's compare and contrast the services below.

Quality and Resolution:

A professional-level service will usually offer high definition resolution on a television, and because professional-level services generally have their

compression and decoding handled by an external hardware element, the definition is consistent and reliable.

A consumer-level service like Skype does not offer this same reliability or quality. Though Skype does advertise high definition video calls, in reality

bandwidth is quite variable and the quality goes up and down. To do a high definition call, you need a camera that supports the higher resolutions (which

usually means an additional expense), a very good Internet connection, and a very powerful computer on both sides of the call.

In short, there are many variables at play on any given video call, and while having a call break down is not a terrible concern for a consumer, it could be

a deal breaker in the business world!

Multi-point communication:

Professional-level solutions offer multi-point communication. That means multiple people, using multiple cameras, can be represented in a video call at any

given time.

Professional-level solutions have a hardware component (called a "bridge") that handles the multiple video streams. It's responsible for encoding and

decoding the transmissions, and allowing everyone to speak at the same time. This hardware element ensures that multi-point calls are smooth, high quality,

uninterrupted and easy to set up.

Consumer-level solutions did not support multi-point communication until very recently. This is primarily due to technological concerns because your

computer alone is handling the video call, multiple videos require a workhorse of a computer. Add that to internet bandwidth demands, and multi-point

communication becomes extremely difficult at the consumer level.

Though Skype does support multi-point now, the same issues with heavily variable quality and reliability still apply.

With a professional-level solution, the multiple points are always set up and "ready to go", so speaking with someone else is just as easy as a regular

teleconferencing call!

Hardware:

We had discussed the professional-level versus consumer-level hardware differences earlier in this article, but we wanted to speak briefly about cameras.

Most people who use a Skype-like service are using their onboard computer cameras, or a consumer-level camera they purchased. These cameras are extremely

low quality; and while they're appropriate for a family video call, they are not appropriate in the professional world.

Business video calls require each side to fully see the detail of what the other team is saying and presenting. If the video quality drops so does the

quality of the meeting. That's why professional-level services use high quality cameras designed specifically for video conferencing.

In Conclusion:

To sum up, while a consumer-level video calling solution can be a good match for a simple family video call, in the professional world you require a level of

quality, ease and reliability that simply isn't provided at the consumer level.

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