Video calling – High-quality video for one-to-one or conference calls is the backbone of video conferencing software. Audio calling — Many video conferencing tools will offer the option for calls hosting only audio, akin to a phone call.
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McLaughlin The Best Video Conferencing Software for 2019 Video conferencing has matured into a reliable and indispensable business telecommunications tool. Choosing between different implementations, however, can be difficult, so we've tested and compared top players to help. What Is Video Conferencing? In recent years, web video conferencing has moved from a tech curiosity and gamer tool to a nearly ubiquitous component of most business telecommunications toolboxes.
A key reason is an increase in the average Internet bandwidth most businesses enjoy, which has the effect of smoothing video conferencing sessions to nearly the same reliability and quality as voice calls where once buffering and sudden disconnects were the norm. Another reason is rising business travel costs, where establishing a quick video call between multiple participants can have the same benefits of flying those people to a central location to meet face to face.
But another reason for its popularity is that the combination of video conferencing, software, and smart meeting room hardware, like the, can provide a data-optimized meeting environment you simply can't get any other way. Additionally, video conferencing services tend to offer more than just face-to-face interactions. Best-in-class video conferencing services let users share their screens, remotely access one another's desktops, chat via text, exchange files, communicate via digital whiteboards, and even broadcast conferences to large groups of passive viewers.
Some are part of business-geared (VoIP) packages, which allows for dynamically changing voice calls to video calls and shared meetings at the touch of a button without establishing new connections. Aside from shared meetings, video conferencing is also an efficient way of getting other business tasks done, whether that means addressing customers' support questions live, interacting with customers in real time webinars or other marketing events, and even reacing out to partners. Transparency Market Research forecasts the global video conferencing market to be worth and grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3 percent between 2017 and 2025. Cut Costs By Using Video Conferencing Businesses are moving further apart.
That is, many small to midsize businesses (SMBs) are becoming spread out across many geographic locations, which brings complex challenges for communication, even for employees that work in-house. Add customers and partners to the mix, and it's difficult to think about talking to all of these folks without extensive travel, which brings restrictive costs. This is where video conferencing can deliver a serious boost to your company's bottom line.
Instead of spending half your life in airport lines, bring life to your meetings by using a video conferencing service. This way, the presenter is not just a voice on the phone but an on-screen presence who is able to see and interact with other attendees, share presentations, and more. For collaborative meetings, the host can sketch out ideas on an online whiteboard and invite participants to join in. Some video conferencing services let presenters pass control to another participant who can continue the meeting without interruption. Others let hosts deny access to latecomers to further avoid disruption. Our Editors' Choice video conferencing service for enterprises is and our Editors' Choice video conferencing service for small businesses is —both robust products that make video meetings (almost) fun for your staff. While you'll spot Intermedia Unite marked as an Editors' Choice in the features table above, the product actually earned that award for its business VoIP capabilities, thought it also has video conferencing capabilities.
Video Conferencing Package Pricing As with all software services, pricing and packages are an important consideration when it comes to video conferencing. The prices quoted and the product descriptions below are typically for the lowest level of service per user per month.
(For more pricing information, click through to the individual reviews.) All but one of the video conferencing services I tested offers free trials (most for 30 days) and many don't require a credit card on file, which means you don't have to worry about being charged automatically when the trial ends. For example, join.me offers a free plan with limited features, which is good for small or even single-employee companies.
Many services are scalable depending on the number of hosts and attendees you need. I recommend trying a few of our top-rated video conferencing services before committing to a particular one; try out some of the features to figure out what you really need and what's overkill. Ease of Use and Meeting Features Once you have found packages in your price range, the most important consideration is ease of use. Obviously, if the user interface (UI) is difficult for you and your colleagues to navigate and use, then it's going to cause delays in meeting start times, which will frustrate everyone. For each review, I discuss the ease of signing up, creating a meeting, inviting participants, and setting up audio and video controls.
I also look at the user experience (UX) from the meeting invitees' point of view, which can make or break a meeting. I test each service's prominent features, but it's up to you to decide whether or not you need dial-in numbers, VoIP, or both options for your audio, and whether or not you need video calls in addition to screen sharing. Some services offer both teleconferencing with dial-in numbers (local or toll-free) and VoIP calling, while some offer just one or the other. A few offer international dial-in numbers. Doesn't offer teleconferencing at all but can be integrated with a number of other services.
Most offer video calls via webcam, although a few don't. In all of these reviews, I hosted and joined meetings to test the experience of both registered and non-registered users. I outline how easy is to join a meeting, including whether or not a participant needs to download software before joining an online meeting (which could cause a delay).
In this case, it's important to communicate with employees about hardware compatibility and preferred browser. Other services simply require that attendees enter a code to access the meeting.
Our reviews also cover the host's admin features. The best services let you set up different types of meetings, such as a lecture-style meeting in which all participants are muted, or a discussion or Q&A mode in which presenters can mute and unmute participants as needed or let all participants speak. If you have ever been distracted by the sound of someone typing or a barking dog in the background, then you'll appreciate these controls. Other options include enabling and disabling webcams, locking latecomers out of a meeting, creating a waiting room while preparing for the meeting, and allowing break-out sessions. For presentations, screen sharing is important as are granular options such as the ability to share just one application (, for example), document, or image or share your entire desktop. Most of the video conferencing services in this roundup also offer a whiteboard tool, which you can use to sketch out ideas or take notes during the meeting for everyone to see.
You also need to consider what the participants are able to do, such as share their screen, enable their webcam, sketch on a shared whiteboard, and even take over the presentation. Think about how much actual collaboration you'd like in your meetings.
Other features I look at include the number of participants allowed on a call and the number of video feeds allowed simultaneously. The most generous is Adobe Connect, which is unlimited, but some offer as few as four participants at a time. Consider how important this is to your company.
Most services let you record meetings, and a few let you edit the recording right within the software. These recorded meetings can then be used for your records or as webinars for anyone who missed the meeting or for new employees. Troubleshooting and Support One caveat to all this is for business users, and that's because working with any video streaming service can be tricky over a corporate network.
While basic setup is enough to get one session running, be sure to work with your IT staffers to test what happens when multiple streams are open. You're looking for artifacts or excessive buffering that disrupts the stream which can happen if the video stresses the bandwidth limits of your network or your Internet connection. Also, if you have remote users that connect to the Internet using a (VPN), be aware that these services often also cause bandwidth problems that can affect video streaming performance. To help, you'll need to investigate different VPN offerings for those remote connections, and potentially work with your IT professional to implement (QoS) on your network that'll protect the bandwidth used by video conferences while they're happening. If you're already using a cloud PBX-based (VoIP) system for your phone calls, your IT people will already have a good idea how to protect traffic this way as the requirements are very similiar. For the times when something goes wrong, you need solid support resources. The best video conferencing services offer phone, email, and chat support in addition to extensive online documentation.
Active user communities are also a good resource to have at your disposal. Finally, you'll want to check compatibility with browsers and system requirements. All of the services I looked at work on PCs, some work on Macs, and a few work with Linux. Most are broadly compatible with web browsers, but you'll need to upgrade to one of the newest versions. You have probably used a video conferencing program at some point in your career, and it's likely the experience wasn't the most enjoyable. However, you may be surprised at the extensive features that are available in these video conferencing services to make remote meetings just a little less painful. Pros: A network with infrastructure in Europe, the US, and Asia.
Very deep feature set of VoIP and business communication capabilities. New AI integrations.
Cons: Several integration issues happened during testing. Missing some features found in competing solutions. Hardware will cost you extra.
Glip tool can be overwhelming at times. Bottom Line: Easily our Editor's Choice pick, RingCentral Office (for Business) brings it all for a cloud PBX solution, including artificial intelligence integration and a plethora of additional capabilities like faxing and video conferencing as well as custom application development and integration. Pros: Promises 99.999 percent uptime with a financially backed service-level agreement (SLA). Management of Microsoft Office 365 and hosted mail possible from improved Admin console. Offers a deep and evolving feature set. Cons: Some features aren't yet available to some customers as the company is still upgrading all of its users to the new service. Heavy focus on Microsoft for ancillary services.
Bottom Line: Intermedia was already a PCMag Editors' Choice pick, but its Unite platform makes it an even stronger choice for businesses seeking a reliable cloud PBX with a generous amount of features. Pros: Extensive features including call queuing, IVR, conferencing, and functional Android and iOS client. Company offers its own phones designed for integration with the service. Outlook and Salesforce plug-ins and extensible API.
Cons: Limited number of phones. Limited number of preconfigured app integrations. Company doesn't reveal network backbone information. Basic conferencing feature set.
Bottom Line: Digium Switchvox offers a solid set of features and value for those looking for a provider that offers both hardware phones and VoIP PBX calling services. Pros: An affordable, attractive, and capable service. Users will love the ability to use it across all operating systems.
Video recording. Screen sharing. Remote desktop controls.
Chat room functionality can serve as a Slack substitute. Cons: No open API. No multi-language support. No operator-assisted meetings. No whiteboarding tool. Onboarding system is a bit clunky, and varies depending on which device you're using and how you first access the platform. Bottom Line: Amazon Chime is an app in progress.
It has the potential to someday compete with the top-ranking video conferencing services in the class. However, it's not ready for the major leagues just yet.
Pros: Allows contact of Skype users, phone numbers, and all employees within the organization. Video and audio recording in calls. Supports up to 250 attendees in a meeting. Cons: Not a full-fledged VoIP platform. No integrated dial-in audio conference features. Online plans don't work with hardware phones. Bottom Line: If you find yourself cobbling together web conferencing tools, chat clients, and Skype to handle all your communication needs, then consider Microsoft Skype for Business to simplify your setup.
Just don't expect a full-fledged VoIP service.
The advancement in technology breaks location barriers like what videoconferencing does. People from different parts of the world can communicate with each other without personally meeting in one location as this can be done using Internet connected computers and smartphones. This also saves the travel expense for individuals and companies.
What’s even better is that the video conference can be recorded in your absence and let you review it later. Furthermore, you may also record video conference if you wish to review what was discussed afterwards. Different Ways to Record Your Video Conference There are various ways to save a video conference. In this article, I will show you two methods on how to do this. One is by using Pamela and the other one is using Apowersoft Screen Recorder. Let’s get to know more about these applications so you can weigh your options better. Method 1: Pamela Skype is one of the most popular programs that are used for video conferencing.
As a workaround, a plugin of Skype, is specially designed to record a video conference holding on Skype. It’s compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Pamela comes with a free version that lets you record up to 5 minutes of video conference.
You may also upgrade to the paid version if you want unlimited recordings. Once you have Pamela installed, open the tool and change the settings to your preference by clicking on “Tools” then “Options”.
Some of the settings include automatically opening Pamela when Windows starts, opening Skype when Pamela is launched, automatically recording calls, etc. If you set Pamela to automatically record your calls, it will start recording each time you make calls or video conference. If not, you can manually record by clicking the “Record” button on Pamela. Recording will automatically stop when the call ends.
But you also have the option to pause or stop the recording anytime. The paid version also comes with a feature to schedule a conference call, which you might find helpful as you can even when not in front of your computer.
Method 2: Apowersoft Screen Recorder can record high quality video conference and everything that you see on your screen. It can also record audio from your system, from the microphone or both sources along with the video simultaneously. It has a straightforward user interface so it would be easy to use. Once you have it installed on your computer, you can follow these steps to record a video conferencing. Before recording, click “Audio input” and select your option. Click “Record” and click “Full screen” if you wish to record the whole screen or “Region” if you wish to select a specific area.
It is recommended that you maximize video conference window to full screen so you can record the whole window for better quality. Click the “Start” button to start recording once the video conference begins. Apowersoft Screen Recorder also comes with a scheduling feature that lets you set the start time and duration of recording. It also allows capturing screenshots, video editing, as well as converting recorded videos to other formats including MKV, 3GP, MPEG, FLV, MP4, AVI and SWF. After going through the two methods, we could conclude that both applications are great when it comes to recording video conference. However, if you are looking for a more powerful tool that offers more features, Apowersoft Screen Recorder is the winner. This is because it comes with a converter and video editing tools that the other program does not have.
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Furthermore, it has a version for Windows and Mac.