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Computer Requirements
Updating your computer and drivers
Computer Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements for people to access the software:
Windows
OS: Windows 8.1 or higher
CPU: 2.0 GHz Dual Core or higher
Memory: 4.0 GB RAM or higher
Storage: 3.0 GB available disk space or higher
Mac
OS: macOS 10.14 (Mojave) or higher
CPU: 2.0 GHz Dual Core or higher
Memory: 4.0 GB RAM or higher
Storage: 1.5 GB available disk space or higher
If you are planning on moderating groups, it is recommended that you upgrade to the newest operating systems as these newer operating systems will often allow you to more easily upgrade things like browsers more readily allowing for a better online video experience. Likewise, making sure you have a computer with newer components will assist with ensuring a smoother experience.
Display and Monitor Requirements
While the itracks Realtime product can be used on smaller sized monitors, we do recommend that the moderator use a larger monitor in order to see the entire application as well as all participants feeds. The minimum size recommendation to run the application is 1024 x 768 for all users. As a moderator you may want to go slightly higher.
If you are not sure of your screen dimensions you can check using this link: Check My Screen Size
Camera/microphone
Most laptops come with a built in camera which will work for video calls but the video quality of these internal cameras and microphones generally tends to be lower quality. Procuring an external camera and microphone will often result in a higher quality speed that uses less computer processing power.
Headsets
Headsets are usually a good idea in order to reduce background noise and echo from your speaker sounds playing back through your microphone. At this time we do not recommend using blue tooth headsets. A full list of device requirements can be found here: Device Requirements
Updating your computer and drivers
We recommend that regular updates are made to your computer as required. Updates often impact a number of programs on your computer. To check to see if you have updates click the links below.
Windows: Is my computer up to date?
Likewise, it is important that webcam and video processor drivers are also up to date. Here is how you check those items:
Updating Drivers on Windows
Updates on Mac
Finally, you will also want to make sure you have an up to date browser. Click here to ensure your browser is up to date.
Bandwidth and connectivity
Bandwidth and connectivity very much dependent upon your household situation. If you do plan on continuing to run video focus groups or interviews, a first step would be to assess how much bandwidth is being used in your house at any given time and what internet speed that you should have to ensure a better experience for you. Video groups and interviews will require a bit more internet speed than regular web browsing and will require good download AND upload speeds.
Below is a site that can quickly assess and estimate your required speeds based on household numbers and device usage:
How much internet speed do I need
Testing your internet
There are number of sites that allow you to test your internet speeds. When testing your speeds, you want to make sure that you have good download AND upload speeds. Upload speed is quite important when doing video work and many ISPs have good download speeds but limit upload speeds. ISPs will also throttle internet speeds after a certain amount of usage or due to late payment of services. As such it may be good to test frequently as needed.
We provide a quick test to all users that that checks internet speed, connection to our services and assesses your video quality based on a number of metrics.
- Click on https://itracks.testrtc.com/
- Enter in your Name and Company Name (as the Project ID)
- Any number that show as orange may cause issues like video lag or minor stability issues.
Any numbers that are showing as red indicate more serious concerns like the inability to join or remain in a session.
Connecting via an Ethernet cable
We always recommend using a hard-wired internet connection whenever possible. If your system has a built-in network jack, it can be used to supply a stable connection to your machine. If you are using a newer laptop that has limited I/O, a USB Ethernet Adapter may be required in order to provide a hard-wired connection to your device.
If you are on WiFi - know where your router is and find the strongest signal
Sitting closer to your router with no obstructions will assist in getting a better, more consistent signal to your device. Obstructions can include anything that may interfere or redirect the signal and can include things that you don't expect like your microwave, television, smart fridge or even mirrors in your house.
Many houses do have spots where the WiFi is just not as strong or not available.
If you need to use WiFi, you may want to test connection from a number of locations in your house. There are also a number of apps like the CloudCheck app that do sweeps to locate WiFi hotspots and identifies the best place to put your router.
Disable HD video
If you are using a really high quality camera, changing the settings of your camera from HD quality to a lower but still reasonable quality may assist in making sure you have a more seamless experience. Higher quality feeds do require more bandwidth usage.
Close applications not in use
We are all busy and often multi-tasking is a necessity even in the middle of a group or interview. However, it is best to close all applications that you are not currently using for your project in order to reduce stress on your computer and bandwidth. There are numerous applications that you may think are not using the internet that do in the background.
Most importantly here is to make sure that all applications that may be using your webcam and camera are completely shut down. Some web conferencing applications, for example, have a tendency to keep in touch with your webcam after you have closed the session until you have fully quit the application. In some cases, this may require you to do a restart to fully unattach from these other applications if you continue to have issues.
Pause file downloads and uploads
Similar to closing the applications not in use, check to make sure that any large uploads or downloads are paused. Uploads and downloads of large files do impact bandwidth quite a bite. If you have others in your household that may be doing these types of processes (e.g. downloading/updating a video game, a gaming console that does frequent updates, another person working from home that is downloading large files) you may also need to ask them to pause these actions until after work hours or during a pause in your schedule.
Request others to take some downtime
If you are on a shared internet with others that are doing things like video streaming, playing video games at a more professional level or watching HD streaming TV and your bandwidth is having trouble keeping up, you may need to ask others in your house to engage in less bandwidth intensive activities for the time you need to complete a session or study.
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