Specifications

Room Design and Layout
Polycom, Inc. A–5
Interior Design and Finishes
Wall colors within the field of view of the camera have a significant impact on
the far-end perception of the room video quality. Certain colors are better
suited to video rooms than others. The electronics and software of the
videoconferencing system “builds” the images at the far-end from a gray/blue
reference image. When there is a minimal difference between the room
background and the reference image color, the codec has an easier time
turning the image into numbers, with the result that the far-end will see a
much higher quality video presentation. In general, light gray with just a touch
of blue seems to work best. For rooms that have marginal lighting, slightly
darker colors are quite useful.
In keeping with these color recommendations, the acoustic panels (discussed
elsewhere in this section) should be ordered in light colors such as silver-gray,
quartz or champagne for panels within the camera field of view. For aesthetics,
however, panels may be alternated in color along the wall.
Furniture
As we have noted, VC rooms should be slightly on the large side for the typical
number of attendees. The placement of furniture should present a natural
rapport with the videoconference system, but shouldn’t preclude the local
interaction of conference participants. Doorways used for access to the space
usually should be within the view of one of the camera presets to prevent the
perception from the far-end that people could come into their meeting unseen.
Doorways should not, however, be in constant, direct view of the camera
system, as this may cause unwanted distractions and movement of people in
the picture field.
Any tables within the conference environment should have a light top surface.
Glossy tops should be avoided, as should strong colors or any bold wood
grain. If glossy or saturated color surfaces are unavoidable, then proper
lighting can help reduce (but not necessarily eliminate) their ill effects. The
best table surface color is a flat satin finish, in neutral gray. In cases where the
worst possible surfaces are present, the proper surface color effect can be
achieved by using a table covering, put in place only when the room is being
used for videoconferencing. This will, however, create problems related to the
use of access ports in the tables or movement of end-user items across the
surface.
Acoustics
Additional general elements related to the interior finish details for the space
include acoustics. In terms of ambient noise level, the acoustic design goal for
any conference- enabled room is at least NC-30 (NoiseCriteria-30). This level
of specification dictates a very quiet space (somewhere around 40-dBCSPL