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I'm going to need to set up video conferencing between Hawaii and Seattle for a small business.

They would like to use a mounted TV to do the video conferencing. It will be one TV to one TV communication.

One option would be to go with Polycom's HDX 6000 series telepresence solutions. I think this device needs a server like Microsoft Lync.

They don't seem to list their prices on Polycom but a google search says the hardware costs about $5000. Lync standard editon costs $699. Total cost for two Polycom's and one Lync server: $10,699

This would be secure, HD, and would offer more features than we need.

Another option would be to use Skype enabled TV's or blu-ray players, which would cost a total of $600 for two sets.

This would also be secure, and HD.

Is the obvious answer to use Skype? Am I missing anything?

James T
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  • You won't like this but 'should I buy'/shopping questions are discouraged here =| - To address your question, I think you need to get better clarification, a direct quote from a sales rep instead of searching the internet to find out what some company got gouged for some time. – thinice Dec 13 '11 at 01:45
  • @thinice Thanks for the response! Sorry to break the rules. Should I delete my question or wait for it to be closed? – James T Dec 13 '11 at 01:48
  • Reason being, there's a lot of different types Polycom devices. Skype may prove to work well too; If the cost of skype is low (I'd imagine) It'd be worth testing out at a minimal expense – thinice Dec 13 '11 at 01:50
  • You might get useful feedback, regardless ;) – thinice Dec 13 '11 at 01:50

2 Answers2

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I'm doing East-coast/West-coast teleconferences via Skype and it works well or our small business. Even multi-party video calls. We have an inexpensive dedicated machine in the conference room, got a decent webcam for it mounted on top of the TV screen, and invested in a USB conference mic. Total cost for us was under $1000 each end.

The West-coast side is on consumer broadband, and latencies have not been an issue for us. Seattle/Hawaii should be quite doable.

sysadmin1138
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  • That is good to hear. I think this is the route I'm gonna go if no one mentions any major security or latency issues with Skype from Hawaii. – James T Dec 13 '11 at 02:11
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    Looking at the submarine cable map (http://www.telegeography.com/assets/website/images/maps/submarine-cable-map-2011/submarine-cable-map-2011-x.jpg) it looks like one of the Hawaii cables debarks in the Portland area, so it could be relatively close. – sysadmin1138 Dec 13 '11 at 02:21
  • Wow that map is amazing! That inspired me to run a speedtest.net on hawaii. It gave me: ping 206ms, Download 10.21 mbps, Upload 1.8 mbps. Hopefully that will be fast enough for HD video. This is from my house, so it should be faster over their business internet connection. – James T Dec 13 '11 at 02:33
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    Looks like skype is the way to go in this case. It needs 1.5 mbps upload/download for HD. I got 1.8 upload on my home network to Hawaii using speedtest... so it should be fine. https://support.skype.com/en-us/faq/FA1417/How-much-bandwidth-does-Skype-need – James T Dec 13 '11 at 02:52
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Have you checked out LifeSize? In my opinion they tend to be cheaper / better than Polycom for several reasons. We've swapped all our Polycom's out with them over the last three years and you couldn't pay us to swap back.

The passport seems perfect for your requirements.

I do not work LifeSize / Logitech in any way.

orbitron
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