Balanced Audio in Videoconferencing?

[I2Dude]

Hello all,

We’re working on a musical presentation via videoconferencing, so I’m looking into options for getting the best audio quality across. Our present video codec (Polycom ViaVideo II) doesn’t have any audio inputs. Has anyone done this kind of thing before and what did they use? I’m figuring we either need a new codec with audio inputs (preferable balanced audio, if that’s even possible), so it can do the audio compression. On the other hand, does anyone know of a good soundcard with the proper inputs and software that will do the compression?

Thank you.

[Wise82Guy]

This would not be difficult for a full-size endpoint, but the only way to get audio through a PVX or ViaVideo would be through the microphone being used for communication. I've had folks hold their headset microphone up next to their computer speakers, and it's passable for a casual videoconference but not something I'd want to present to a large group.

[Glen Sykes]

You'll need to either convert the audio feed you're presenting to the PVX PC to mic level, unbalanced (i.e. the same as a normal PC mic), or find a compatible sound card that PVX will recognise and provide you will different inputs. I've never come across a sound card providing a balanced, line level input in use with PVX before.

My recommendation would be to invest in a hardware codec with the appropriate inputs, if you have the budget. Where are you based?

[jcicc]

This may be a bit late and I haven't tried it personally, but some pro audio sound cards do have balanced inputs and outputs. You could then take the output of your music source balanced xlr into such a sound card. For compression, there should be some programs avialble online. Don't know what your budget is--but these cards won't be cheap. Depending on how many inputs you need prices could go $500 to couple of thousand $USD.