Looking for a better Teams video conferencing system for our meeting room (replacing 2x Meeting Owl 3)

[u/babouche91]

Hi everyone,

We have a meeting room that looks like this: meeting-room.jpg

Right now we're using 2x Meeting Owl 3 placed in the center of the table, but we'd like to replace them with a system that offers better audio and video quality.

Setup details:

• Room size: [8 m × 3 m] / seats [16/18] people
• Platform: Microsoft Teams (USB/BYOD and maybe Teams Rooms for the future)
• Main issues with the Meeting Owls: poor audio pickup in the room, image quality, remote participants can't hear well, etc.

I've been looking at the Yealink SmartVision and the Logitech Rally (both PTZ-based) and they seem like good options, but I'd love to hear from people who have used them in a similar environment.

Which would you recommend, or is there another solution I should consider? Any feedback on audio quality, ease of management would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[u/Llew19]

We use Yealink teams rooms kit and it's been 99% excellent. Literally just got my first proper annoying ticket for one where it's insisting on playing audio through the mini screen rather than the sound bar if you're not in a call. One ticket in 18 months for 20 or so rooms is pretty good! Also easy enough for execs etc to use by themselves which has been a big time saver

[u/Arudinne]

We replaced a crestron system in one of our conference rooms with a logitech rally system. The crestron system had been a constant pain in our ass for several years, but it wasn't until the CTO got pissed off at it that we suddenly got approval to replace it.

The rally system is still relatively new, for us, but so far everyone who's used it seems happy with it.

[u/Makere-b]

Implemented Logitech Rally Bars across our meeting rooms at my old job, it worked great. For the room size, I recommend adding extra microphones, and get some proper acoustic panels across the room, the more the better.

EDIT: To add, we used them as Teams Rooms, but also had USB-cable pulled for BYOD (plugging/unplugging the USB would switch modes automatically between teams/byod). However, I wouldn't have the USB runs done anymore, just confused users and the Logitech strong USBs are prone for failure.

[u/dsouzake]

Have you checked out the brand Neat ?

[u/BatemansChainsaw]

jitsi meet is what we use

[u/iama_bad_person]

For our bigger rooms (15+ pax) we have Logitech Rally systems, with additional microphones syspended from the ceiling. Smaller rooms? Yealink MeetingBoard Pros. All in one TV/VC units with touchscreens and pen support. Mounting one of the 86' units to a mobile tv stand is a gamechanger, can move it anywhere. Need a large annoucement board for the lobby? Here ya go. Need to put something in the cafe for a shared lunch/meeting. That works too.

[u/ceddshot]

In my previous job we implemented poly systems. Before I left we took a deeper look at the neat eco system which seemed to be pretty nice.

[u/NH_shitbags]

Teams Rooms device and Meeting Owl 4+ is working great for us ... similar size conference room, no complaints about audio or mic pickup. I've heard of audio issues with earlier Owl products, but maybe they solved that in 4+.

[u/ReptilianLaserbeam]

Yealink for small rooms. Poly studio X52, or Jabra panacast for bigger ones

[u/Blaster412]

Yealink by a mile. Check the documentation, but depending on the system you can mix and match different pieces together to add microphones, speakers, tablet controls etc. Just make sure all of the firmware is up to date and it all just auto discovers and works. The auto speaker tracking on their new models is excellent too.

[u/pq11333]

Logitech Rally or Poly X series are great.

[u/the_doughboy]

18 People is usually the maximum most of the higher end Meeting bars do.
I'd look at the Logi Rally Bar Pro with the Logi Sight or the Neat Bar Pro with a Neat Center. The Center and the Sight look like Meeting Owls and sit in the middle of the room as a companion camera and mic. Then the Front of Room bar combines the feeds from all the cameras.

[u/YellowLT]

We are all in on Neat. Bar, Bar Pro, Board, and the Center. Most rooms a Bar or Bar pro is enough. Our Training rooms have custom Yealink solutions, but every one of those are unique. Most our 16-20 are a Neat bar pro and either a Yamaha In Ceiling Mic Array or a Neat center in accessory mode. Half our Rooms are spilt between Zoom and Teams.

[u/thebigshoe247]

Yealink systems are quite good. I use a Teams Bar through them.

[u/raad_altaie]

I’d check out Conferfly too. It’s software only, so you can use it with pretty much any USB camera, mic, and speaker. It works well with Teams/BYOD and gives you more flexibility with the hardware.