Location of Camera for Video Conferencing

[Scott Tiner]

Hi All-

A debate here about where the camera should be in a video conference
room. Is there a standard for location?

Should it be above the screen/display, beside it, underneath it?

ST

--
Scott Tiner, CTS
Assistant Director for Digital Media, Classroom Technologies& Event Support
Bates College
207.786.6396 (office)
207.240.1154 (cell)

[Rexing, Justin]

To me, it all depends on the room design and the furniture being used.
Normally, a camera is installed in the center of the audience on the
bottom of the screen, or top depending on how big the display or
projection screen is. The idea is to create a way for each room connected
to look at the display and the camera in a manner that will replicate an
in person conversation. Is it a meeting room/conference room or a
classroom? Lot's of variables there to consider.

Thanks,

--

Justin Rexing, CTS, ISF-C
Western Kentucky University, IVS
270.745.4266

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[Donald E Newman]

Another question to ask for classroom applications is whether the instructor will generally be at the near or far end of the VC connection. Most rooms are dual use: sometimes originating a lecture and other times just an audience for the remote lecturer.

Ideally two cameras are used with one located at the rear of the room facing the lectern. A second camera in the front of the room allows audience members to be seen and participate.

Often a single camera VC system is installed in a compromise position, perhaps on a side wall or ceiling mounted. A cart mounted VC system and display can be repositioned depending on the current needs.

________________
Donald Newman
CTL - Classroom Support
University of Georgia
706-542-3456

[Elaine M Mello]

Whichever position the architect lets you do it would be my first thought. ;)

It does depend on the install. We usually try for right over the far end screen if it is a multiple display room. We've also put them in between the displays, under, and to the side (especially with projection VC rooms.) It's never standard, unfortunately.

Elaine Mello, CTS
Distance Education & Streaming Operations Manager
MIT Libraries -  Academic Media Production Services
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue - Rm 10-337
Cambridge, MA 02139

    Tel:  617-452-2172
Mobile:  617-719-5279

Call me on Movi: emell...@amps.ms.mit.edu

Hi All-

ST

--

[John H. Steitz]

Scott:

You should put it as close to the centerline of the display as possible,
either above or below it.

If it is off to the side, the difference in angle to/from the
participants means that, to the remote parties in the VTC, your folks
will always be looking off to the side, and never will be looking
straight at the remote participants.

A lack of even *apparent* eye contact will destroy the illusion of
person-to-person communication.

JHS

John H. Steitz, CTS
Assistant Director
Classroom Educational Technology Services
121 ICC
Georgetown University
37th & O Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20057
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(c) (202) 569-3119
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ste...@georgetown.edu
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[Thomas, Harry (CIV)]

I prefer cameras mounted above the far-end display because I think it does a better job of creating the illusion of eye-to-eye contact. In dual-display systems it's common for the camera to be in between the displays (we've done that too), but the participants always appear to be looking off to the side. Cameras below the display tend to create an "up the nostrils" shot because the camera is usually at lower than eye-level. It also often puts the camera in harms way.

Most of our rooms have screen size requirements that force the camera up pretty high, which isn't ideal because sometimes the camera tilt range isn't up to the task, and when you tilt the mount, the camera's field of view becomes an arc when you're panning. In narrow rooms that's not a problem, but in a wide room you end up with a tilted image at the extremes of the panning range.

When there are two flat-panel displays I prefer to mount them one above the other, with the camera between them, and to allow swapping the signal to the monitors so far-end/near-end can be on either display as best suits the nature of the meeting. Either way, the camera is still on axis. Not always possible due to ceiling heights, and many end-users are addicted to side-by-side display.

Some years ago a contractor installed a system in a new building for us as part of the construction contract (two words that I've learned to define as "you ain't gonna like the results..."). The integrator put the camera dead center on the wall between two 60" plasmas. But they mounted the plasmas about 5 feet from each other, so the camera is about 30" from either display with nothing but empty wall space between them, and no matter where people are sitting they're always in profile view during a VTC, and everybody is always pretty far off-axis of one display or the other.

Harry

______________________
Harry Thomas
Academic Media Systems
Naval Postgraduate School

[Daniel Gieckel]

Hello all,

 

  As Justin has pointed out it really depends on the room design and the location of the displays in relationship to the participants or instructor. That being said the important thing is to place the camera in a position near the display of the far sites that will foster eye contact.  You want the person looking at the monitor of the far site to be making eye contact with the far site participants.  In instructional situations you want the professor looking at a monitor in the back of the room as if they are looking at a student in the back row.  In this case a camera just above the monitor will line up the sight lines where the professor looks as if they are talking directly to you as a far end participant.  In a VC conference room setup where you have dual monitors with one  being the far sites and one being content you will usually be told that a camera directly in the middle of the two monitors is the best point of install.  I'm not that big of a fan of this view point because it separates the eye contact of the participants in the room to look left or right depending on what their focus is on(the presentation or the speaker).  I find that putting the the monitors right next to each other and putting the camera just above the monitors in the center creates the best eye contact as long as you place the monitors low.  If the distance of the monitors in relationship to the participants in the room is longer you may be able to get away with putting the camera below the monitors but I currently don't have any rooms to prove this.  In fact I've never heard of putting cameras below the monitors. Like Justin and I have said it really depends on the room design.  The best advice I can give is whatever your design make sure when your looking at the far sites and talking to the far sites your looking them in the eyes and not making them feel like their not in the room by talking to them but looking in a different direction.

 

Dan

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Daniel Gieckel
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[Keith Mills]

At Infocomm a few years ago, I saw a system w/ a horizontally mounted flat screen with a 45 degree one-way mirror above it. The camera was behind the mirror, shooting through it, so the viewers were looking directly at the camera when they were looking at the monitor image in the mirror. It gets rid of the "looking off-axis issue" but it's not terribly feasible in most situations.

Speaking of looking off axis, remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fRxO_Yx99I

K.

Keith D. Mills
Manager, Classroom Services
IT--Communications/Media
University of Calgary
MLB 26, 2500 University Drive, NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

Ph. (403)-220-6386 Fax. (403)-282-4497
E-mail kmi...@ucalgary.ca

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From: av...@googlegroups.com [mailto:av...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of John H. Steitz
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 3:30 PM
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Scott:

JHS

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[Thomas, Harry (CIV)]

They were there again this year. Of course the downside of all the trouble we go to getting things like this right is that it's the other site with the lousy setup that gets all the benefit.

Harry

Sent from my iPad

[David C. Althoff]

On Nov 17, 2011, at 11:02 AM, Keith Mills wrote:

> At Infocomm a few years ago, I saw a system w/ a horizontally mounted flat screen with a 45 degree one-way mirror above it. The camera was behind the mirror, shooting through it, so the viewers were looking directly at the camera when they were looking at the monitor image in the mirror. It gets rid of the "looking off-axis issue" but it's not terribly feasible in most situations.

I haven't seen that, but it sounds like an ideal solution. And why not...that's how we video types have been doing teleprompters for years! We don't do video conferencing on campus much anymore ("we're not that kind of University"). But with my own family spread all over the country I've been doing more and more with personal video conferencing and noticing how annoying it is that the camera is so far off-axis from the screen...and this is on my laptop and iPad with built-in cameras! It wouldn't be so bad in an auditorium, but distance is the key...sure, the camera is only 4" from the center of the image...but when you're only 2' from the camera, that little bit of offset is actually noticeable!

> Speaking of looking off axis, remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fRxO_Yx99I

Oh, yes, I remember that. If I remember correctly, an analysis given the next day pointed out that she was, in fact, looking directly at the live webcam, instead of at the television camera. The article suggested that she did it intentionally, knowing where her "real" audience was watching.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Capital University, Columbus, Ohio

[Thomas, Harry (CIV)]

Typically the display lies flat (parallel to the floor) and the mirror sits at an angle above it with the camera behind the mirror. It's a practical approach for personal conferencing but gets pretty cumbersome with large displays. In some rooms it would be great, but impractical in many.

Harry

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