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Home : Support : FAQ : BuenaVista

What camera should I use?

We generally recommend use of US-connected cameras. Logitech products work very well, but there are plenty other options. Given the number of vendors and models on the market the simplest advice on how to select a camera is based on retail price. For good quality video you should consider spending $80 to $100 on a camera. Cheaper (as low as $30) models will work too, but they often produce blurry picture of scenes with fast movement due to inferior CCD elements. For professional, high quality applications you may consider buying a video capture card such as Videum 1000 from Winnov.

What microphone should I use?

We only recommend use of the all-digital, USB connected microphones. Analog microphones must be connected to an internal computer audio card. Use of internal cards SHOULD BE AVOIDED! None of the audio cards currently available on the market is suitable for professional audio conferencing. Audio cards have analog audio elements. These elements pick up electromagnetic interference created by other parts of your computer and convert it into annoying background noise. The only way to eliminate this noise is NOT TO USE an audio card for microphone input.

USB microphones, such as Telex H-831, convert analog audio to digital signal outside of the computer box, and feed clean digital audio to the audioconferencing applications. The only pitfall is price: you should be prepared to pay ~$75 to $120 for a good, noise-cancelling mic. In our opinion it is well worth it: the difference in audio quality between analog and digital microphones is dramatic.

Shall I use headphones or are my computer speakers OK for audioconferecing?

Unequivocally, you should always your headphones. Use of speakers cretes echo effect which is extremely annoying. You can only consider using speakers if you also use a highly directional noise cancelling microphone. The best choice are USB connected headphones with integrated mic, such as TELEX H-341 or H-841

Why don't I hear other conference members?

There may be two major reasons for that: incorrectly configured audio card, or a session status problem. You can distinguish between those two by observing the speaker level indicator on the main panel. If it displays changes in the incoming stream level, the problem is caused locally probably by the audio card configuration or speaker/headphones connection. Please, refer to the audio card configuration section for details. Another possibility is an incorrect setting in your audio mixer: for playback to work, the playback of the wave output must be enabled and the volume must be sufficiently high.

For general audio setup and troubleshooting procedures see our AV Setup Guide

Why other people don't hear me?

Make sure you are sending the audio. Watch the microphone level indicator in the main panel of BuenaVista. Does it move when you talk? If it doesn't, either there is something wrong with your audio card setup, or you have muted the microphone in your audio mixer (make sure to check the “recording” parameters!)

Why does audio sound choppy or clipped?

Today's Internet is not well equipped for distribution of real-time multimedia streams. Thus, such problems might be simply caused by network congestion or delays. The only thing that can be done is minimizing the bandwidth by choosing 'Modem 28.8' connection on the 'General Options' panel. You can inspect the system performance data in the 'Statistics' panel. If the number of late or lost packets exceeds 5%, you have a serious network performance problem.

Why is my mirror video window black?

Your camera is off or disconnected, or your video capture board driver failed. In the latter case it might be sufficient to reboot your system, or reinstall the video capture board driver.

Why is incoming video window frozen?

The user might have stopped sending video stream. Ask the participant to press the video button in his BuenaVista.

BuenaVista crashes when I press the Video button.

This is always a sign of a bad video capture board installation. Verify that the card is reported by the “Multimedia” (or “Sounds and Multimedia”) applet in the Control Panel.

To test the setup, find the video capture software provided by the card manufacturer. Start it to verify that the card is working properly. You should see a video of yourself on the screen. Next, make sure that the card supports RGB24, RGB16, or YUV9 video capture formats. The cards that doesn't support at least one of these formats cannot be used with BuenaVista. Set the video format to RGB (for some cards, this may be denoted as "Millions of colors"). If the card is working with the manufacturer's software and it is set to the correct format, BuenaVista should work.

If the problem persists, and the card/camera is on the list of our certified hardware, the card may require re-installation. If the card is not on the list, please, let us know the name of manufacturer and model so we can put appropriate warnings in the manual.

Why do I get “Capture Start Error” message?

This may happen if a user clicks the video button several times in a sequence. This is basically an operator error. You should realize that the video capture hardware needs time to reset. If the card receives video off/on sequence too fast, it will fail to re-initialize properly.

My computer becomes very sluggish after I start video capture.

BuenaVista internally limits CPU usage to 70% of the available CPU cycles. If you feel your machine is too slow when running BV, you can go to the 'Options' panel, Video tab, and lower the frame rate. If your computer is slow with the slider in the lowest position, consider upgrading your CPU.

I think I did everything you said and I'm still having problems!

Please send us a message with a description of the problem. Include details about your operating system, PC model (CPU speed, amount of memory), video capture card/digital camera model, driver designation, audio card model, driver designation, and symptoms. We'll be glad to help you solve the problem.

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