Zoom vs Skype

[GBP]

I am planning on continuing my trombone lessons online for the future and am trying to dial in the best setup. One of the big issues is that of sound quality. I have been using Zoom and it definitely has some drawbacks. Also video resolution. Zoom says to stream in high def. has anybody tried both Skype and Zoom for teaching and have an opinion on which is best?

[Doug Elliott]

I'm using both. I find them about equal in quality but I find Zoom very hard to figure out after using Skype for a long time. Skype has had issues occasionally but seems OK right now.

I could be wrong but I think sound and video quality is more related to internet speed.

[LeTromboniste]

Audio quality is definitely better with Zoom once both ends have set the right advanced parameters. For anyone who hasn't figured them out: under Audio settings, Advanced settings, remove all the background noise filters (the filters interpret any sustained sound as noise, so whenever a long note is played, the filter drops its volume after the attack) and activate the option to have the "Turn on original sound" button appear in your meeting windows. When you then press that button in meeting, it bypasses the app's algorithms that look for and favor speech and its EQ that favors frequencies that increase speech clarity, and instead uses the raw audio from your microphone.

[LeTromboniste]

Zoom also allows you to share your computer's audio when sharing screen (can't remember if Skype does that) which comes really handy when you have a midi keyboard plugged in and want to use it to demonstrate something, or want to play an audio file for the other(s) to hear.

[FOSSIL]

I have found zoom to be far better than skype and it's other incarnation microsoft teams. I also do the same as Ian Bousfield and ask students to send a recording ahead of the session that will form the basis of the session.
I would still rather teach in the flesh, but until that becomes possible, zoom works for me.

Chris

[GabrielRice]

Zoom, but you have to have very strong internet connections on both sides. Best to plug a laptop directly into the router with an ethernet cable.

[DougHulme]

Someone told me Skype is finsihing next year and will be no more... is that true?

Doug

[BurckhardtS]

I'm using both. I find them about equal in quality but I find Zoom very hard to figure out after using Skype for a long time. Skype has had issues occasionally but seems OK right now.

I could be wrong but I think sound and video quality is more related to internet speed.

Yes. In specific, use a wired connection when you can, and if you're going to use wireless be almost directly next to your router. Streaming video and audio requires a lot of upload speed, most internet connections lean heavily toward download. Upload over wireless isn't super reliable.

[FOSSIL]

It seems that you guys in the US have very variable internet quality, which has been my experience when over there. We seem to have a better basic level in the UK...even out in the sticks I get fast fibre service and don't have the basic issues that you seem to get ....we are a small island though.

Chris

[JLivi]

It seems that you guys in the US have very variable internet quality, which has been my experience when over there. We seem to have a better basic level in the UK...even out in the sticks I get fast fibre service and don't have the basic issues that you seem to get ....we are a small island though.

Chris

There's a lot of things that Europe offers that the US hasn't been able to figure out in it's short ~250 year existence (i.e. healthcare, maternity leave, etc).

[timothy42b]

Some of the conferencing systems that we use at work did fine until COVID - then when we all started using them they ground to a halt, had dropouts, etc. Even phone calls ran into the bandwidth issues.

I telework half time and am in the office half time, and with everybody doing this connecting from home is nowhere near as clean and fast as it used to be.

I've had some Skype lessons with Doug and thought it worked well, but that may not be as true now with everybody home either teleworking or having lots of time to do gaming and social media.