Re: Kernel 2.5 Workshop RealVideo streams -- next time, please get better audio.

[Miles Lane <miles@megapathdsl.net>]

"David S. Miller" wrote:
> 
> Miles Lane writes:
>  > There is one major shortcoming of the recordings.
>  > Usually, only the comments of the presenter(s)
>  > can be heard.
> 
> The problem is that nobody wants to wait for one of the microphones to
> go across the entire room before they can begin speaking, this is what
> was happening.  Sometimes there was a dialogue going on between three
> people sitting at tables, there were 2 microphones to go around...
> 
> One solution I've seen sort of work is to have 2 standing fixed
> microphones in the isles, but this only really functions correctly
> for a Q&A type session after a presentation.
> 
> It does not work in a relaxed "people sit at tables and comment
> at arbitrary points in time during a talk" setting such as the
> kernel summit.  Besides putting a microphone at every table (which
> isn't all that practical honestly) I can't come up with a solution.

I agree that this is another important issue.  It's most 
important in these events that the flow and exchange of ideas 
proceed unhindered.  I do believe there is a way to record the
dialog without introducing significant impediments, though.

What usually is done these days, when a few groups of people
need to hold a conference call, for example, is that a few 
omni-directional microphones are used (these are the sort of 
spaceship-looking things that get placed in the center of a 
large table around which the groups sit).  There are drawbacks 
with this, in that, for a large group, there's signal loss if 
current speaker does not face the microphone.  However, these 
microphones do a pretty good job of picking up voice audio in 
a 360 degree radius.

There would need to be some post-event sound mixing.  For example,
if you have ten tables, each with its own omni-directional table
microphone, plus unidirectional microphones for the presenter(s),
you'd need to mix the signals from the microphones or perhaps
switch between the various microphone recordings and adjust for 
volume differences.  You'd likely get the best recording from
the table microphone a particular participant was sitting at.
You'd also likely get much stronger signals from the presenter's
microphone.

What say you all?

Cheers,
	Miles