Adobe Connect – what equipment do you need?

July 27, 2010 at 9:00 am | Posted in hands-on | Leave a comment
Tags: Adobe, audio, web conference

Adobe Connect is intended to be an online meeting room for *individuals* scattered around the globe, so normally you are siting in front of your PC wearing a headset (earphones + mic) like a Logitech ClearChat (£28)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Clear-Chat-Pro-USB/dp/B000UC322Q

I highly recommend paying a bit more for a USB headset – the cheaper older sort with 3.5mm jack plugs have worse audio quality, although that is often down to the mediochre quality of the audio input/output circuitry built into office PCs

If you wish, you an also add a webcam so the other participants can see you. A cheap one (£15) will do, but more expensive ones give a better image quality, especially in the lower light levels encountered in offices. I remember my colleague, who does a lot of video conferencing, used to have to point a desk lamp at his face while he was online so that the camera gave a good image!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-QuickCam-Pro-9000-Webcam/dp/B002CNKVES

If you do want to have more than one person around a PC taking part in the meeting then I recommend using a special combined speaker/microphone like the Plantronics MCD100M that eliminates echo:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plantronics-MCD100M-USB-Speaker-Phone/dp/B0028HE7K2/

Needless to say, these are only items that I have used – equivalents are available from other manufacturers.

The equipment you don’t need are speakers and a separate microphone, as these often cause distracting echo. Some laptop PCs do an OK job, however, as they use built-in echo-cancellation software. I also recommend a wired internet connection since wireless connections seem to introduce additional lag that defeats echo-cancellation.