Zoom, Skype Technical Q&A here:

[Qapla]

Our Group Overseer asked some of us to assist those who had difficulty ... I got a list of 5 people - all 5 can now join our Zoom and/or KHConf

 

As far as I know, the other groups did the same

[Margaret]

I went to a sisters a few times to fix zoom on her tablet

[Jeff]

Does anyone know about virtual backrounds on zoom?   I don't know much about them just that it's possible.   Can you set one up without having to sign in?   The brothers locally say it's best if I do not sign up and just go to join a meeting directly without doing so.   Just curious if I can set up a backround without having to sign up/sign in to a personal account with zoom.   Hope I'm making sense.

[Myew]

So, I started streaming the video for the assembly.. quality wasn't great for my pitiful 350kbps upload, but it was smooth when checking it on my phone. Paused after the song for local prayer.. and then at the 18 minute mark my internet disconnected, exactly what I was afraid of. I think Jehovah is training me to accept mistakes and that I can't control everything. Another brother took over the screen sharing, he had some streaming issues as well, awful audio hitching/popping, which thankfully eventually went away. Then paused after the second song to restart KHConf, which worked. Had a local brother give the baptism talk, and the song after the baptism talk had the audio static/hitching again, which was a bit infuriating. >_< But a new brother baptized... in the hot tub behind another brother's house just a few blocks away, streamed on Zoom, everyone but him wearing masks and a lot of people crying. Jehovah makes it happen, one way or another.

A sister here made a simple guide using screenshots to help people connect to Zoom and that seems to be the most effective... once again, sisters thinking smarter, not harder. I suffer too much from the Einstellung Effect when it comes to technology solutions.

[WilliamChew]

15 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Does anyone know about virtual backrounds on zoom?   I don't know much about them just that it's possible.   Can you set one up without having to sign in?   The brothers locally say it's best if I do not sign up and just go to join a meeting directly without doing so.   Just curious if I can set up a backround without having to sign up/sign in to a personal account with zoom.   Hope I'm making sense.

You have to sign in to have a zoom virtual background.

 

It doesn't work well if your physical background is not a plain light colored background. The zoom software needs to be able to distinguish between your background and your image.

 

https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-change-your-zoom-background

[Hugh O'D]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Does anyone know about virtual backrounds on zoom?   I don't know much about them just that it's possible.   Can you set one up without having to sign in?   The brothers locally say it's best if I do not sign up and just go to join a meeting directly without doing so.   Just curious if I can set up a backround without having to sign up/sign in to a personal account with zoom.   Hope I'm making sense.

 

41 minutes ago, WilliamChew said:

You have to sign in to have a zoom virtual background.

 

It doesn't work well if your physical background is not a plain light colored background. The zoom software needs to be able to distinguish between your background and your image.

What do you mean sign in/sign up? You need an account to use Zoom, but it can be free. As for the virtual background it depends on your equipment, for instance it wasn't working on Android. 

[WilliamChew]

1 hour ago, Hugh O'D said:

 

What do you mean sign in/sign up? You need an account to use Zoom, but it can be free. As for the virtual background it depends on your equipment, for instance it wasn't working on Android. 

You are right.

 

Sign up for a free acount on Zoom, then Sign in to the free account

 

So far I've only seen the virtual background feature on Windows Zoom. Not on Android Zoom.

Zoom support says it works on IOS and MAC and Linux devices.
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/210707503-Virtual-Background

Edited April 19, 2020 by WilliamChew

[tekmantwo]

On 4/18/2020 at 5:38 PM, Myew said:

had some streaming issues as well, awful audio hitching/popping, which thankfully eventually went away

 

On 4/18/2020 at 5:38 PM, Myew said:

had the audio static/hitching again, which was a bit infuriating. >_<

I have the same issue: the audio and video is horrible. We zoomed in to the meeting for service yesterday and it was practically impossible to use, the audio hissed and popped, maybe every 3rd word was intelligible, the video look like it had rolling frame shutter rate disease, almost unwatchable...

 

From what I read here, that problem is all on my end, correct?

If I understand properly, its my d/l speed that's the issue?

Edited April 21, 2020 by tekmantwo

[Lance]

If you are the only one experiencing the poor quality then yes...

it is all about bandwidth...

you can separate the audio from the video channel..

by phoning in on your cell for the audio and just using the internet for the video...

You have that choice when you log in to use your phone or computer for audio.

[tekmantwo]

11 minutes ago, Lance said:

If you are the only one experiencing the poor quality then yes...

it is all about bandwidth

I am not sure if I am the only one. My next door neighbor doesnt have any problems and we both use Wave Broadband.

 

A couple of times during the last few meetings the conductor has asked for a repeat of a comment, I was assuming that everyone was having the same problem ..

 

We, (wife and I) are using a tablet to join the meeting. Is it possible that its my tablet that is the issue, because my neighbor uses a an Ipad without problems...

[Tortuga]

44 minutes ago, tekmantwo said:

 

I have the same issue: the audio and video is horrible. We zoomed in to the meeting for service yesterday and it was practically impossible to use, the audio hissed and popped, maybe every 3rd word was intelligible, the video look like it had rolling frame shutter rate disease, almost unwatchable...

 

From what I read here, that problem is all on my end, correct?

If I understand properly, its my d/l speed that's the issue?

I had that problem with my laptop and I assumed everyone was having the same problem. I contacted the host and he said no one was having a problem. I started using a different computer and everything is fine now. I think the hardware on my laptop was overloaded. 

[tekmantwo]

8 minutes ago, Bro Richard said:

I started using a different computer and everything is fine now

Hmmmm....

 

We have a fairly new Chromebook but the batt went bad. I guess I need to R&R....

[tekmantwo]

15 minutes ago, Bro Richard said:

different computer

I wonder if I could use my cellphone and slave it to the tv....?

 

Have unlimited data on the phone plan....

[Old]

Casting from an Iphone is possible.

Much information, do a Google search on 'cast from Iphone.' 

[Old]

I used my Iphone for casting in our KH until others became far more educated in the processes than me.

For the most part I am still in the 20th century with my little toe in the 21st.  

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

You can cast to Firestick on TV as well... (for Android users) 

[Myew]

3 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

From what I read here, that problem is all on my end, correct?

If I understand properly, its my d/l speed that's the issue?

No, not necessarily. With video streaming, upload is usually more of a problem than download. Most internet bandwidth plans are skewed so that upload is only 1/10 or 1/100 of the download speed. So if their upload is poor, then it will cause those kinds of issues. Maybe it's a weak or unstable WiFi connection or card or router that's dropping packets.
 

  

2 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

We, (wife and I) are using a tablet to join the meeting. Is it possible that its my tablet that is the issue, because my neighbor uses a an Ipad without problems...

The hardware on both ends is also important. It would help to know exactly what 'tablet' model and specs you are referring to. The streamer needs to encode the video, and the watcher needs to decode the video. Both require a CPU and/or GPU with hardware acceleration built in, not all older devices have it proper and their CPU is just too weak to handle it. Sometimes it's a bad camera or microphone or drivers.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Myew

[Myew]

An aside: The other day after my AT&T ISP disconnected, I reconnected to watch the assembly on Zoom for about 3h with most people's videos off during the majority of it. I used roughly 2GB of 4G LTE phone data tethered to my laptop. It would've definitely been higher if I was uploading, but it's not too bad when quality is low. Shouldn't be an issue for anyone with unlimited phone data or free extensions.

[tekmantwo]

2 hours ago, Old said:

Casting from an Iphone is possible.

Much information, do a Google search on 'cast from Iphone.' 

I have a Samsung S6 Active phone. Supposedly 'hardened' for us active couch surfers.....

 

I have slaved our tv to it before, especially when I am looking at pictures on my phone, I can see details a lot better that way....

[tekmantwo]

1 hour ago, Myew said:

The hardware on both ends is also important. It would help to know exactly what 'tablet' model and specs you are referring to.

Thanks for explaining that--

We have used 2 tablets when Zooming, my newer(ish) Samsung Tab 2, which is about 2yrs old, also my older Samsung Tab 4, which is 5 or 6 yrs old, I don't really recall.... 

 

Our very first Zoom meeting I used my Tab2 and my phone for Meeting materials. It was right after I got it connected that I realized that all my studying was on that same tabletoops...

 

That meeting we had the static and freeze frame goofiness so I figured to use my older Tab 4 to study but partway through the meeting I swapped them to see if the Tab2 streamed any better, it did not..

 

As stated earlier, I thought the problem lay elsewhere, not with me.

After the feedback from y'all, I still used my older Tab2 for tonight's meeting but I made sure that our 4 other devices(2phones, 2 tablets) were disconnected from our WiFi..... 

 

That worked.... We had about 98% perfect audio and video, it only stuttered or froze a few times, hardly even noticeable...

 

One funny thing happened: during the video with the Sister at the ASL meeting, our co-host didn't turn on the sound. The Chairman broke in and told him the sound was muted, the co-host said, "yeah, I wasn't sure, it being an ASL meeting---"  that got a few laughs..

[Lance]

So bandwidth is basically like having 4 taps on all at the same time and your wife is trying to take a shower .... 😱🙈🤯

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I find these 2 points of reference may help...
1. Download 'Ookla Speedtest.net'
It is an app that will test your up and down speeds. It keeps a lig, do you can try at different times. Ie 2am compared to 7pm will perhaps show the effect congestion has on your location. (It's busier at 7pm)
2. On zoom you can check your data flow. (Press on "^" next to your 'Video' on/off tab.) it should show about 8 pages or so (along the left).
Select 'Statistics' then 'video'. On this page it shows your up and down 'fps' frames-per-second video log.
Good internet bandwidth (flow) will be 25 - 30 fps. Bad 0-4 fps.
Knowing this is a little mute, as there is not a lot you can do about it. Although, as mentioned above, more devices activated will reduce your data speeds ... they will 'share' and pinch speed/flow from each other. So try 1 device. Test it. Then try more devices and test speeds as you go.

Old (Downunder) Tone

[Luigi62]

I got a email from Zoom saying that my free trial run out today. Can i still use Zoom without paying $20.99AUD per month for it?

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I got a email from Zoom saying that my free trial run out today. Can i still use Zoom without paying $20.99AUD per month for it?

Yes. Under 40 minutes is still free here. Then it will boot you off. Then you start another free 40 min session.

Old (Downunder) Tone

[Shawnster]

What Internet speeds work best with Zoom?  Does anyone have any problems with slow or choppy video?  My mother complains about the Zoom meetings being choppy and unwatchable.  She's calling in and listening on the phone.