A video conference is a communication session between two users or a group of users, regardless of their location. The number of participants that are displayed depends directly on the conference mode and the user’s role in the current conference.
Four modes of video conferencing are distinguished:
- video call (point-to-point);
- symmetric conference (all participants on the screen);
- video-lesson (all participants can see and hear the lector, and the lector sees and hears all);
- conference call (all participants can see and hear the speaker only).
- Videoconferencing is not only a video communication, but also a collaboration tool, indispensable for corporate communications.
What do I need for video conferencing?
Various peripheral equipment is used to provide participants with sound and video: cameras, screens, microphones, speakerphones, headsets, congress systems and projectors. As a transmission medium can be used both enterprise network, built on different principles, and the global network of Internet. Modern video and audio codecs, specialized network protocols, and various algorithms of signal processing enable high quality communication practically on any communication channel.
Often there is a need to demonstrate various media data during a video conference, and to do this video conference systems allow capturing and transmitting to remote participants presentations, pictures of the desktop or separate windows, as well as various formats of documents. It is achieved by using special software, additional cameras (for example, document cameras), capturing signals from video outputs of notebooks, PCs and other systems, including medical complexes.
Types of video conferences
There are two basic types of videoconferencing – personal and group. A personal video conference implies a video communication session with just two participants. Group videoconferencing refers to all other types of videoconferencing. Different established rules for displaying of video conference participants for each party are called types of videoconferencing. We suggest to understand this question in details!
1-on-1 videoconferencing
Everything is simple here: two parties participate, both of them can see and hear each other at the same time. Let’s mention that during any video conference there can be used different collaboration tools such as text-messages, files exchange, presentations and other media.
Symmetric video conferencing.
They are also called Continuous Presence. This is the name of a videoconferencing session where more than 2 people are participating and all participants can see and hear each other at the same time. Naturally, video conference implies full-duplex communication. In other words, it is an analogue of a round table where everyone has equal rights. Group videoconferencing is suitable for meetings where maximum involvement of each participant is required.
Voice-activated videoconferencing
The name of this mode comes from the English designation Voice Activated Switching (VAS). This videoconference assumes the following format of communication: all participants of a session hear and see on their screens only the speaker while he sees himself or the previous speaker. Minor variations of this mechanism are possible, but the essence is the following: VCS server monitors voice activity of subscribers and switches an image, broadcasted to all participants, to speaker. This mode has significant disadvantages, such as false triggers for noise, cough or cell phone ringing.
Video conference calls
Mode in which participants are divided into two types: speakers and listeners, where each listener can become a speaker (with the permission of the conference organizer). The presenter of such conference appoints speakers himself and can remove them from the video platform at any moment.
This mode can also be called a role video conference. A selector video conference is most frequently used for web conferences (webinars).
Video conferences for distance learning
A special mode in which all participants (students) see and hear only one broadcasting user (the teacher) and he sees and hears all the students. Students are not distracted by each other, and the teacher controls them.
Video Broadcasting
A type of videoconferencing in which the speaker broadcasts to a large audience of listeners without seeing or hearing them. Other participants can only see and hear the speaker. Feedback is only possible via text chat. Often, in order to smooth out changes in network conditions, a significant delay of up to several seconds is introduced between the broadcaster and the listeners during the broadcast.
