Audio & Video Conferencing
33 results
Audio & Video Conferencing
33 results
Audio and video conferencing hardware for hybrid meeting rooms: USB and Bluetooth speakerphones for small rooms and personal desks, video bars with integrated camera and speaker for huddle rooms, and full room systems with separate camera, speaker and control panel for medium meeting rooms and boardrooms certified for Teams, Zoom and other platforms.
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Audio and video conferencing systems for hybrid meeting rooms
The quality of audio and video in a meeting room determines whether remote participants can follow the conversation or spend the call asking people to repeat themselves. This category covers the hardware layer: the microphones, speakers and cameras that pick up and display the people in the room, from a USB speakerphone on a desk to a full boardroom video system with automatic speaker tracking.
What this category covers
USB speakerphones for personal desk and small room use; Bluetooth conference speakers for flexible room setups; all-in-one video bars combining camera, microphone array and speaker in a single unit for huddle rooms; separate PTZ cameras for larger rooms requiring zoom and pan; conference room systems with dedicated touch controllers for managed room booking; and expansion microphone pods for large rooms where a central unit cannot reach all participants.
Matching hardware to room size
Huddle rooms and phone booths (1–4 people)
A USB or Bluetooth speakerphone placed on the table provides adequate audio for a small room. A compact video bar (Poly Studio P5, Jabra PanaCast 20, Logitech Rally Bar Mini) adds camera for video calls without complex installation. These rooms typically pair with a BYOD laptop or a small dedicated compute device.
Medium meeting rooms (4–10 people)
A video bar with a wider field of view (90–110 degrees) and a multi-microphone array that covers the full table is the standard. Units like the Poly Studio R30, Jabra PanaCast 50 and Logitech Rally Bar cover the range without requiring separate components. Expansion mics add coverage for larger tables.
Large rooms and boardrooms (10+ people)
Dedicated PTZ cameras with 12x or more optical zoom, ceiling microphone arrays or table mic pods, and separate soundbars or ceiling speakers deliver the coverage a large room needs. These setups require AV integration and a compute device (PC or dedicated room system) to manage routing. Certified room systems from Crestron, Logitech Tap and Poly G series provide a managed end-to-end solution.
Platform certification
Microsoft Teams-certified rooms systems and peripherals have gone through Microsoft's interoperability testing. Zoom Rooms certified hardware works with Zoom without configuration workarounds. Using uncertified hardware often works but may require manual driver or firmware configuration and may not support one-touch join or room status features. For corporate IT teams managing many rooms, certified hardware reduces support burden.
What to check before buying
- Room size and number of participants seated at the table?
- Platform certification required (Teams, Zoom, SIP)?
- Dedicated room compute device or BYOD laptop connection?
- USB, HDMI or network (NUC/appliance) connection method?
- Expansion microphones needed for table length over 4 metres?
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a speakerphone and a conference phone?
Speakerphone is the general term for a device with a microphone and speaker for hands-free calls. Conference phone usually refers to a table-top unit with a 360-degree microphone array, designed to pick up voices from around a meeting table rather than just in front of it. A USB speakerphone is usually designed for one or two people; a conference phone covers a full table of participants.
Do I need a dedicated camera or is the speakerphone camera enough?
For rooms up to about 4 people, an integrated camera on a video bar is sufficient. For larger rooms, a separate PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera with optical zoom is needed to show remote participants clearly who is speaking. In a 10-person boardroom with a fixed wide-angle camera, remote participants see a wide shot of the room but cannot clearly distinguish faces without zoom.
Can I use consumer Bluetooth speakers for a meeting room?
Consumer Bluetooth speakers are not designed for echo cancellation and microphone beam-forming. In a meeting room with hard surfaces, a consumer speaker creates echo and picks up room noise that makes the call hard to follow for remote participants. Business conferencing units include acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and noise suppression designed specifically for meeting room environments.
How many expansion mics do I need for a long table?
A conference phone or video bar typically covers a table radius of 2 to 2.5 metres. For tables longer than 5 metres total, one expansion mic pod at the far end doubles the coverage. Most systems support one or two expansion pods; check the base unit's specifications, as expansion pods are usually brand and model-specific.
What is a Teams Room and do I need one?
A Microsoft Teams Room is a dedicated compute device (NUC, mini-PC or integrated appliance) running the Teams Room application, connected to a screen, camera and speakerphone. It boots directly into the Teams Room interface, allowing one-touch join for calendar meetings without needing to connect a laptop. For permanent meeting rooms used daily, a dedicated Teams Room device removes the friction of plugging in and setting up a laptop for each meeting. For rooms used occasionally, a BYOD setup with a USB camera and speakerphone is simpler and cheaper.