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Hybrid Zoom Meetings
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Barry,

It's not clear to me how the folks in the meeting room hear the Zoom remote participant(s).  That audio must come from the same computer that the mic(s) for in-room sound going to the Zoom audience connect to.  Inside that one computer, the Zoom app subtracts the sound going into the room from the sound the mic hears to eliminate echo and prevent feedback.  If the sound people in the room hear is coming from a different computer, that doesn't happen and you get the echo chamber effect. The subtraction leaves only the desired sound from Zoom participants.

To sum up:

  • Sound to and from Zoom participants must be the same computer.
  • If more that one computer is in the room and on the Zoom call, the speakers and the microphones must be off on all but the computer handling the room audio..
  • The video for the zoom call can be a different computer than the audio. (Some lip-sync issues)



Richmond and forum members,


I'm attaching a schematic of a proposed solution for a hybrid zoom meeting. I created the schematic in the new Apple app called Freeform.


In this scenario, I contemplate, community residents gathering in any of our several Wind Crest senior community meeting rooms that are equipped with a digital projector, wall-sized screen, wireless hand-held mics, audio amp and ceiling speakers. And I'm assuming that other hypothetical participants are attending remotely by Zoom.


Those existing video and audio electronics in our various meeting rooms potentially provides significant cost savings when compared to many hybrid Zoom solutions. I propose to simply use two existing resident-owned Mac (or PC?) laptops (one for the presenter and the other for the Zoom host), and an existing iPhone (e.g. iPhone 16) with 1x to 5x telephoto capability mounted on a tripod. The only out of pocket costs are the CAMO Studio app for Mac ($50) and the pair of wireless mics and matching dual-channel wireless receiver that plugs into a mobile phone or computer (I highly recommend the $200 Ankerworks 650 kit from Amazon).


Before I actually test this configuration, I'm asking any of you to please troubleshoot this proposal. Will it work? In particular, will the audio from the presenter and in-room participants work? That audio is being fed via the wireless mics into the Zoom Host computer. Will the Zoom technology that normally prevents a zoom participant from hearing their own voice result in suppressing that audio input into the Zoom Host computer and prevent the in-room attendees from hearing the audio input into the Zoom Host computer?


Any suggestions from any of you would be appreciated.


-Barry Peters

Resident Volunteer Tech Help Coordinator at Wind Crest (an Erickson community)

earth.justice@gmail.com

A hybrid Zoom meeting is one where you have a large live audience and a remote virtual Zoom audience, all able to interact with each other, ideally as if they were all local. I've built several of these. Here's info on the design of a portable setup used by Quaker Meetings in Bucks County PA.


https://chiefwiz.com/2024/12/hybrid-zoom-for-the-road/



Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

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