Checklist.video – Research backed tips for great video calls(checklist.video) |
Checklist.video – Research backed tips for great video calls(checklist.video) |
We were aiming for something whimsical and easy to read so the tips primarily focus around illustrations that were inspired by IKEA instructions. For people who are interested in delving into the details we put the meat of the advice behind a "Why?" button.
This was also our first foray into writing a responsive site that renders well on mobile and desktop, built using Next.js and Tailwinds CSS.
What are some of your favorite video call hacks or tips?
Because it's hard. Just going through the list in the article:
> Use a cable to connect to the Internet
Difficult if your house isn't wired for ethernet and the modem is in an inconvenient spot, or in a room which contradicts tip #4. Do you let a long cable drift along the floor?
Powerlines will work in some houses, but not others, and can occasionally introduce their own connectivity problems.
> Make sure your upload speed is >3 Mbps
And if your ISP doesn't offer that much upload bandwidth, well then I guess you're SOL.
Yeah, definitely agreed with you that it's difficult if your house isn't wired for ethernet. I actually do let a long cable drift along my floor :P Having a strong upload speed is crucial to letting others be able to hear you without any lag - and that's one of the most important factors to having a great video conference. This is why we wanted to emphasize a wired connection, but we also provided the specific upload/download speeds that could get you the high quality call as well.
Why not have the homepage be the checklist? Seems odd to have a page that says click here to see the checklist
Can you send this to the one guy on our Zoom calls who logs in 3 minutes after meeting starts, futzes around with camera/microphone/sound for 5 minutes and then 8 minutes into the call announces he’s online and wants to be filled in on what he missed?
From video production the one takeaway I have is key light vs backlight, webcams like key light and webcams struggle with back light
And yes, absolutely. Webcams - and actually cameras in general - REALLY struggle with back-lighting. Having a key light pointed at a wall so it's more diffuse and so it can cast a softer glow onto your face is ideal.
Videographers learn about 3-point lighting for ideal lighting situations in film school: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_lighting.
If the former, can you link to any relevant papers, etc? I was looking for specifics on this for a project myself.
I have no interest in buying a thousand-dollar mirrorless camera for this purpose, and even less interest in taking Michael Lopp's advice and buying a $4,000 BlackMagic camera for this. All the pieces are in place for a decent autofocus dedicated UVC camera with good color imaging, but for some reason the market hasn't landed there, and I'm curious why.
The closest is probably the Logitech Brio, but even that camera is horrible in lighting environments in which the Arducam's manual-focus larger lens excels.
* https://www.arducam.com/product/arducam-high-quality-complet...
I’d suggest removing the need to click through the “read now” button - seems like if I’m on the page, I want to read the tips.
> Eye contact is incredibly important for showing others you're engaged and paying attention. Taking a small step back from the camera will decrease the angle between your eyes and the camera, making it seem more like you're making eye contact.
this is actually a really great trick! and straightforward explanation.
thank you, nice project, wondering why you made it a standalone site. are you intending to build on this further?
It's a standalone site because we wanted people to be able to easily share it with their teammates right before important video calls.
A few people have given us really helpful feedback about more information to include (e.g. setups for different types of remote workers). But we haven't decided how we'd like to build on it further yet. If we did, what would you like to see from the site? / what would be most helpful to you?
I ended up using my bluetooth headphones just for incoming audio; and a dedicated mic on my desk for my speech. It improved both my voice and everyone elses' dramatically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Han...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Hea...
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40951060/how-to-make-a2d...
https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/44sxms/bluetoo...
However, it's only awful for music. It's fine for voice, really. I only noticed the two modes when they got stuck in headset mode after I finished a call and I was wondering why the music I put on suddenly sounded bad.
OTOH, this list has made me wonder how much of the delay I hear in video calls is due to bluetooth. Cutting 300ms of delay is much more important than improving already serviceable sound quality.
To do this, make sure you have your window in front of you, and certainly not behind you (backlighting is awful)
If you are on a call at night, or in a dark place, make sure your laptop screen is not your main source of light: if someone shows a red slide, you will look red.
Haha, this is such a great point - thanks for noting this!
For your specific situation, a used Panasonic G7 and a $20 Chinese capture card would probably work if you're interesting.
stonogo -- you've hit the nail on the head! we asked ourselves the exact same questions.
There was a really great HN thread about it a few months back, did you see it? link here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25504771&p=3
Fortunately, it only happens when I'm connected to a 2.4ghz network so I was able to fix it by switching to 5ghz - but even with the modem in the hall outside my office, I'm at the extreme limit of 5ghz reception. It really does not travel far.
Qc35 + Razer seiren mini work great together.
If it’s actual research, I think the naming is fine. If it’s reading a bunch of “top 10 tips for looking great on webcam” then it’s not.
When I clicked on “why” I was expecting some actual information. As is, it just reads like an opinion piece IMHO
For example, you state an arms length as the optimal distance - but this would be different based on FoV, etc. There’s no real data I can see that would lead to make that statement.
Most of the tips do reference research findings, and you can find the reference by clicking on the subscript numbers or scroll down to the references section.
Some tips are more common sense and/or geared towards addressing a research finding. In the "arm's length" tip for example, the referenced paper discusses the importance of eye contact in computer mediated communications but doesn't explicitly say you should keep an arm's length to achieve the best eye contact. Was your expectation that the tip should link to research determining the optimal distance from the camera to achieve good eye contact?
Yep, that would "back" the statement with research, otherwise it is conjecture. As mentioned, this particular statement is easy to dismiss given the wide variety of FoV on webcams - but other statements are equally unfounded.
To clarify - I like the site, and im sure it is useful to many, but its very misleading to state that it is backed by research when it isnt.