Hello IT & AV Pros!
In this blog post we review how to iron out “video jitter” and “packet loss” with a simple check list for improving online meetings.
In an effort to increase the quality of online meetings for our customers we have created a easy to use checklist of “best practices” for connecting to an online video conferencing service such as GoToMeeting, Skype for Business, WebEX or Zoom. Understanding the quality of bandwidth access available and the common causes of packet loss will help increase the quality of your online video meetings.
We have two free tools available at the end of this article to help you avoid common pitfalls. First we have our best practices checklist which includes a detailed list of tips and suggestions for “video conferencing, recording, live streaming and mobile connections.” Second we have a free online tool for spot testing bandwidth access. This tool is available at http://speed.huddlecamhd.com and it allows users to ping our server in Scottsdale, AZ (more info available speed.huddlecamhd.com).
Common Levels of Bandwidth Access:
- Dialup
- DSL
- T1
- Cable
- 3G
- 4G
- Mobile Hotspot 4GLTE
- WiFi 10/100
- WiFi GigaBit
- Ethernet - Residential
- Ethernet - Business
- Google Fiber
- Internal gigabit network (inside network video calling)
These are some of the most common ways we connect our devices to the public internet for access to real-time communications. If you have an extremely important meeting it might be a good idea to talk to your attendees about access to high quality bandwidth and review our checklist of suggestion for the highest quality connections. With today’s technology almost any high speed internet connection can allow users to participate in video conference calls which is a great thing! But during hour long HD multi-video participant meetings we found that access to hard wired business class connections will greatly improve video call quality over wireless 3G/4G connections for example.
These are some of the most common ways we connect our devices to the public internet for access to real-time communications. If you have an extremely important meeting it might be a good idea to talk to your attendees about access to high quality bandwidth and review our checklist for the highest quality connections. With today’s technology almost any high speed internet connection can allow users to participate in a video conference call which is a great thing! But during an hour long HD video meeting you will find access to a hard wired business class connection will greatly improve video call quality over wireless 3G/4G connections.
We have created almost two days worth successful live streaming and video conferencing recordings this year using Zoom! Everything is publicly available on our YouTube channel where it is automatically available after a live stream (We live stream our webinars every Friday). A complete “how to guide” is available outlining how we live stream our video conferences. Armed with hours of recordings as our "evidence" we started to track down when and where "video jitter/packet loss" was coming from. We have now performed controlled test for optimization of video quality when it comes to bandwidth and processing power which helped us create this checklist.
We took each recording and divided the seconds of video jitter / by the length of the video conference recording. Episode 3, for example, Screen to Screen Sellinginterview with Doug Devitre and Jay Jackson had a total of 15 seconds of noticeable video-jitter in a hour long recording. That is roughly .4% of the hour long video call. We also noticed that the video jitter most notably came from Doug who was using a WiFi connection with a residential high speed internet connection.
Common Causes of “Video Jitter” and “Packet Loss”
- Lack of bandwidth upload speeds
- Wireless signal strength - 3G/4G or WiFi
- Processing Power
- Available hard drive space
- Internal network congestion
- External network congestion - Public Internet
The good news it the common causes of noticeable video jitter and packet loss can be avoided. There are even ways to segment your network to improve quality or service and dedicate bandwidth specifically for video conferencing. Our “Bandwidth Optimization Check List” contains best practices that improve the video connection for mobile users and dedicated PC/Mac users connecting from both inside and outside your network. Simple changes such as connecting a mobile device to a WiFi network over a 3G/4G connection can greatly improve the video conference call experience.
Reviewing the best practice checklist with your users is probably the best first step you can take for improving an organization's experience with video conferencing. The simple best practices we outline will not cost anything! If you notice a little video jitter or packet loss, simply run through our checklist and see if you can determine the source of the problem :)
