What equipment do you need for video conferencing?
A meeting room needs eight things for video conferencing: a camera, microphones, speakers, a display, a touch console for one-touch join, compute (an Android bar or a room PC), a wired network connection with QoS, and a room licence for Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms, Google Meet or Webex. In a huddle room the first six collapse into one video bar and a display; in a boardroom they are separate components. Use the checklist below to size the room before anyone quotes.
Video conferencing equipment checklist by room size
| Item | Huddle room (2 to 5) | Meeting room (6 to 12) | Boardroom (12 to 20+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camera | Built into an all-in-one bar (Logitech Rally Bar Mini, Poly Studio X30, Neat Bar) | Larger bar or PTZ camera (Rally Bar, Studio X70, Cisco Room Bar Pro) | Multi-camera speaker tracking (Rally Plus with Sight, Poly Studio E70, Cisco Quad Camera) |
| Microphones | Built into the bar | Table mic pods or one ceiling microphone (Shure MXA920, Sennheiser TCC2) | Ceiling microphone arrays with DSP (Q-SYS, Biamp, Shure) |
| Speakers | Built into the bar | Bar or soundbar | Distributed ceiling speakers driven by the DSP |
| Display | One 55" commercial display | One 65" to 75", or dual | Dual 75" to 86", or a 110" to 138" LED wall |
| Touch console | Logitech Tap, Neat Pad, Poly TC10, Yealink CTP18 | Same, plus a scheduling panel outside the door | Crestron or Q-SYS control panel plus scheduling panel |
| Compute | Inside the Android bar | Android bar, or Windows room PC | Windows room PC or codec |
| Network | One wired port on an AV VLAN with QoS | Two ports (bar and console), PoE for the panel | PoE+ for ceiling devices, DSP on the AV VLAN |
| Licence | Teams Rooms Basic (free, up to 25 rooms) or Pro (~£36/room/month); Zoom Rooms ~£45/room/month; Google Meet £200/device/year | Same | Same |
| Installed cost | £3,000 to £8,000 | £8,000 to £20,000 | £25,000 to £60,000+ |
The items people forget
- Content input. A USB-C or HDMI cable at the table, or a wireless presentation system (ClickShare, AirMedia), so a guest laptop can share without joining the call.
- Cabling and mounts. Containment from the display to the table, a mount rated for the display, and a cable cubby; this is most of the installation labour.
- Acoustic treatment. Any room over about 25 square metres with hard surfaces needs panels or ceiling rafts, or the microphones pick up the echo.
- Lighting. Faces lit from the front, not backlit by a window behind the table; blinds or a camera position change are cheaper than a better camera.
- Resource account and calendar. The room needs its own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace resource mailbox before the console can show bookings.
Buy it as a kit or as components?
Up to 12 people, buy a certified all-in-one bar and a console; it is cheaper, easier to manage and the same hardware is certified for Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms, so a platform change is a firmware switch. Above 12 people, or any table over about 6 metres, go to components with ceiling microphones and a DSP, because a single bar cannot hear or frame the far end of the table. The platform-specific certified lists are kept in what hardware is certified for Microsoft Teams Rooms and what hardware is certified for Zoom Rooms.
A video conferencing systems integrator should size the microphones and camera to your seating layout at a site survey, not sell you a stock bundle; the mounting, cabling and commissioning side is covered under AV installation services.
Quick reference: camera + microphones + speakers + display + touch console + compute + wired QoS network + room licence; one bar and a 55" display for huddle rooms (£3k-£8k), bar or PTZ with mics and dual displays for meeting rooms (£8k-£20k), room PC with tracking cameras, ceiling mic arrays and DSP for boardrooms (£25k-£60k+).
Related solution: Video conferencing systems.
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