First video lecture

[Phillip]

Quote:

I'd also appreciate some feedback on how DimDim worked for the

conference.

The live video screen was much too small. Very hard or impossible to see

what was written on the board. And you did not say what you wrote. I

had to guess. Not at all easy to follow. And I sort of knew what you

were saying.

The full duplex nature of the sound when used with room speakers created

a strong echo effect. To be used properly the places where audio mikes

are used, need to have earphones to prevent the echo effects. Probably

best to manage mikes so that only one is on at a time and there speakers

are off or rolled into their earphones. I suspect that is a problem

which is why the demo earlier enabled only his mike. A full duplex

conversation with a two second delay is hard to follow. You can not slip

a question in, because the primary mike has gone on to the next topic

before they hear your question.

When Gopi spoke, I heard him louder delayed from the speaker to mike in

SLC than direct from him over my speakers. And he was very hard to hear.

Not sure what caused that problem.

I would say for our purposes, half duplex is better. I would say their

white board is easier to use, but may not have as many features.

[bperet]

Phillip wrote:

The live video screen was much too small. Very hard or impossible to see what was written on the board. And you did not say what you wrote. I had to guess.

Several times it did occur to me that I need to say what I was writing; probably Gopi using telepathy on me again.

I'm digitizing the tapes now. One other thing that became apparent is that I need to stop about every 30 minutes and clean the white board, because you don't get good contrast with a black pen on a black smear.

Phillip wrote:

The full duplex nature of the sound when used with room speakers created a strong echo effect.

DimDim does not echo the speaker's speakers when broadcasting. Any echo was probably because we're in a small, basement room with nice, sound-reflective walls. The speakers were silent unless one of the audience spoke, which I found nice, since we didn't need anyone to sit and watch the computer for typed questions. The only problem is that there are only 3 microphones, and apparently they cannot be shared. Once 3 people have their mic turned on, that's it. Nobody else can get a mic unless one is released.

Also, trying to keep Doug from standing in front of the camera is also a challenge! Got some more great shots of his back again.

Phillip wrote:

A full duplex conversation with a two second delay is hard to follow. You can not slip a question in, because the primary mike has gone on to the next topic before they hear your question.

If we want to stick with DimDim as conference software, it will be a live and learn thing. Talking slower or pausing after points so questions could be fielded. I tried to do that later on in the presentation, since people were taking notes and needed time to catch up.

I did notice the delay, too. When Dave would comment, I was already talking and usually missed what he was saying (2 second delay out, 2 back... long time. People tend to time-out after 3 seconds and move on).

[bperet]

Hey Mike... how hard would it be to just do streaming video from the USB camera feed on my computer, so the viewers can get a user-settable picture size?

[MWells]

bperet wrote:

Hey Mike... how hard would it be to just do streaming video from the USB camera feed on my computer, so the viewers can get a user-settable picture size?

Quite easy: http://www.supershareware.com/get/webca ... ing_1.html

One tip: use extra lighting for your room as it tends to greatly improve picture quality.