Expand Your IP Teleconferencing To Full Room Audio

Teleconferencing over the internet has become increasingly attractive because:

• It enables remote participants to easily participate via many devices
• The programs used by many of the providers (i.e. WebEx, Lync, Go To Meeting) are intuitive
• Heavy investment in multiple video codecs is not required

Frequently users desire to use these IP capabilities in larger rooms requiring multiple microphones and speakers. The programs depend upon software echo cancellation, and many involve communicating with several remote locations. Each location adjusts their local send/receive volume levels without regard to the level adjustments used in the other locations. The result is that participants often wind up hearing their own voices echoing back along with the voices from the other locations.

This is because the software echo cancellation breaks down if its settings are too high or too low in some of the other participating locations. Rooms where the originating groups are located may often be effectively covered by one or two ceiling microphones and a few ceiling loudspeakers creating a comfortable and unobtrusive environment that does not distract users or clutter the conference area.

The echo cancellation issue can be solved with a robust hardware system. The CTG FS-200 Mixer (with built in amplifier) is a unit that powers (2) ceiling (or table) microphones and (4) 8 Ohm ceiling speakers. Along with the microphones and speakers this system will also include a computer card that replaces the IP software echo cancellation and provides effective full duplex hardware echo cancellation, along with local room noise reduction. The computer card plugs into an empty PCI, or PCI Express computer slot, depending on the card version your computer requires, and connects to the existing audio card with the provided color coded jumper cables; it has no affect on other normal audio functions.

The FS-200 allows recording of all the conference locations so that people unable to attend can play it back at a later date. A separate adjustable line level input allows adding program audio or an amplified presentation microphone.

FS-200 Control Console: