Some FAQs about Collab Spaces

Our host of helpful guides already cover a lot of areas in Collab Spaces, but sometimes there a few questions that are asked by our clients during the setup of their Collab Space. Below is a list of the most Frequently Asked Questions we have collected over time. We aim to keep this updated with the most recent questions that we get asked.

Q: I am getting some pixelation, video issues in a Collab Space, what can I do?

There are numerous of things that affect the video quality as we use a combination of perceptual codecs that allow us to achieve the highest possible video quality.

Pixelation is caused by the camera itself and your participants will see the same view. There is a 1.5Mbit reserved for camera feed and the codec used is adaptive, which means it has to fit that 1.5Mbit bandwidth. For example, if you move fast, that means most of the video area changes and codecs have to send a lot of data. That causes reducing the video quality of the camera itself. All participants will see the same.

Higher FPS will help for improving the quality of your videos, but please keep in mind that Collab Spaces are not designed for streaming movies. For example, if you want to play a YouTube movie in Full HD in a room and maximise it so it will fill the entire screen, there will be a degradation in video quality because the recorded movie will be lagging.

Q: What can I do to improve the quality of my video/recordings?

The quality of your recordings/videos mainly depends on your recording equipment (camera and microphone) as well as the environment where you conduct the recordings i.e. proper lighting.

Another important factor that affects your video quality is the internet connection, e.g. using WiFi network may have packet loss or unstable connection at times where it may also affect the quality of the recorded material.

Q: My audio quality is bad, what can I do to improve it?

Check your internet connection
Test your WiFi connection before the start of the call and make sure it’s not used by too many users and devices, so that the speed stays consistent. Ask your colleagues to disconnect their devices from WiFi connection or politely ask them to connect to another hotspot. Without a good connection, conducting a conference call may have disruptive consequences, as it will keep connecting and disconnecting multiple times and you won’t be able run a smooth meeting.

Eliminate noises
Position yourself in a noiseless and quiet environment as much as you can during the call. Avoid having a conference call in the cafeteria or in the public spaces where you’ll experience as little background noise as possible. Try to find a small place where you’ll be alone so nothing can distract you. Don’t choose big areas without much furniture or with blank walls – this will cause an echo in the room, which will also disturb your conversation.

Stop the audio echo
This usually happens when there are lots of people and your speaker system is situated too close to your microphone and the sound will get reflected in the speakers. All you have to do is move the microphone away. If you are on your phone, try to mute yourself when listening to others on speakerphone since this can generate an echo as well.

Don’t use a speakerphone
Speakerphones are a convenient option for hands-free conference calls, although they don’t usually have high quality, so your colleagues might have trouble hearing you or vice versa – will hear not only you, but all the keystrokes you make. Avoid using a speakerphone if your speech is going to be long. Instead, consider investing in a headset, that frees your hands as well as provides you with a much better call experience.

Keep the distance
Keep a moderate distance from the microphone – if you are too far, your colleagues won’t hear you, while if you are too close, they will hear a loud popping sound whenever you pronounce letters “p” or “b.” Make sure to find the right distance before the conference – pronounce popping sounds and pay attention to the way you hear them: if your “p”-s and “b”-s still sound too sharp, move your microphone away just a bit, also put your headset mic off to the side of your mouth and not directly in front of it.

Q: I have an echo in my video calls, how do I eliminate it?

If you are using external speakers, place the speakers away from the laptop microphone and turn down the volume to a comfortable level.

For those who have external microphones, move the microphone about a foot away from the speakers. Avoid typing on an unmuted microphone, and step back from the laptop when using hands-free mode. You can also reduce the microphone volume level by 50% or less and reduce or turn off the microphone boost option.

Some computers have an echo cancellation feature, but it could be compromised on high CPU load. Closing few processes will help enable that feature.

If none of these options are successful, use a headset or headphones instead of speakers. This is the easiest way to get rid of an echo.

Q: How many participants can be displayed on camera?

We do not limit the number of webcams broadcasting in the Audio-Video window.

However, please keep in mind that more cameras mean more bandwidth and CPU requirements. For example, Collab Spaces are used for hosting workshops with ~30 delegates all streaming video but each situation is different, so please make sure all your participants meet the requirements.

Q: I got a message that I have to wait for the recorder to start?

Recording infrastructure is based on the automatic scalability. That means, if in a particular moment 10 free slots are available and 15 webinars start recording, the first 10 rooms begin to record automatically, while the rest of them (5) have to wait around 3 minutes to be assigned to servers which are ready to record. This way we can hold up to 2000 ongoing recordings. However, it also means that particular “start” of the recorder have to be queued and they are waiting for the new servers. When a server is ready, the recorder automatically starts to record.

Please keep in mind, that the following example is very rare. In most cases we maintain number of free slots that we don’t have to worry about missing a place and or queueing.

Q: Can I use screen sharing from a mobile device?

Screen Sharing on mobiles is not allowed, as it’s limited by browsers.

Also please keep in mind that Screen Sharing feature is not adapted for sharing dynamic content like videos. For sharing video content, we recommend using videos uploaded from Storage or shared from YouTube.

Q: Is it possible to upload a PDF or PPT and then show it as presentation slides?

Upload your PDF or PPT file(s) to the storage. Give it few moments to convert to different formats (so it looks good on every device) and when ready click Present button (or double click on it). This will open that document in a tab. You can click on the "pen" icon in bottom left corner to enable the whiteboard on top of that document if you want to write something on it. We actually recommend this way of sharing documents instead of screen sharing, as this requires less bandwidth and CPU from participants and so it will work on wider range of devices.

Q: How can I take a look at different tabs without showing it to attendees?

Open

When on, your attendees will see exactly the same (active) tab you see, but when you turn it off, they will see the last active tab. That means that if you switch to different tabs, they will not see a change for them. You can quickly check the content on another tab without revealing it to the attendees. When ready, you turn synchronization back on.

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