Lifesize Icon and Lifesize Cloud Rocks!
Updated September 13, 2019
Lifesize Icon and Lifesize Cloud Rocks!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Lifesize Video Conferencing
We purchased Lifesize primarily to connect with area high schools to offer dual credit courses to high school students. It has allowed us to send classes from our main college campus using a reliable, more intuitive video conferencing system than our previous systems.
Our campus faculty, business institute, and other departments are looking forward to using the system in addition to dual credit teaching.
Our campus faculty, business institute, and other departments are looking forward to using the system in addition to dual credit teaching.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Low cost
- Easy to manage accounts
- Knowledgeable and reliable sales and customer service at Lifesize
- Access to Lifesize Community, which connects other Lifesize users/clients, and gives users the ability to request features directly with the support and development teams.
- Technical support that is second to NONE!
Cons
- More screen layout options
- Ability to customize screen layouts
- ability to store ip based systems as favorites.
- Customizable recording interface--ability to change and arrange PIPs as desired
- Students have opportunities to learn without physically coming to our campus.
- We have saved money bringing in guest lecturers to classes without paying travel expenses.
- We used this recently for a mandatory orientation meeting with area high school instructors who teach dual credit for our institution.
- All of the participants, and sites of participants were able to connect eeasily and without issue.
With the infrequent and sporadic use of our system, we could not justify the extra cost of the Polycom. The ease of use for students calling into a virtual meeting room was easy, intuitive and connected flawlessly. In our institution, our needs vary from semester to semester, and we needed a flexible solution which could be used anywhere and not be hardware and room dependent like our old Polycom unit was.
Lifesize Video Conferencing Feature Ratings
Using Lifesize Video Conferencing
4 - Our college is using Lifesize as the primary delivery of dual credit distance education classes with area high schools. Even our most technophobic instructors are using the software client and the hardware with ease.
One of our faculty members is using the Lifesize PC desktop client to have virtual office hours for summer classes. This allows the faculty member, and students, to not have to come in to campus to talk together.
Our academic technology department is using the desktop client to do quick recordings for on-line courses. The ease of use and great flexibility makes using this product a joy!
One of our faculty members is using the Lifesize PC desktop client to have virtual office hours for summer classes. This allows the faculty member, and students, to not have to come in to campus to talk together.
Our academic technology department is using the desktop client to do quick recordings for on-line courses. The ease of use and great flexibility makes using this product a joy!
- Distance Learning - Dual Credit to area High School Students
- Virtual office hours
- Training and communicating with outside vendors
- Simple, fast Lecture Capture
- Letting area high schools to leverage our cloud account to be able to teach subjects to other high schools when enrollment at those schools doe snot have enough interest in certain classes.
- When this system grows, I can see us using it as a tool to communicate in person to off-campus employees.
- Lecture capturing was something we ran into by mistake, but the cloud client on the PC over at academic technology is being used to capture lectures that need to be done quickly and easily.
- We hadn't planned on using the system for virtual office hours, but this summer, it has been a smashing success.
5 - Academic Technology Resources
Audio/Visual and IT Services
Faculty
Administration
Anyone who needs to use it!
Audio/Visual and IT Services
Faculty
Administration
Anyone who needs to use it!
Evaluating Lifesize Video Conferencing and Competitors
Yes - Polycom - Unit was standard definition and outdated
I would not change a thing. We found the right solution to our need with Lifesize.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
Ease of use for the remote user was the single most important thing we considered. We needed to have multiple, non-technical, people at the remote site to log into the system and start it up for each class. We have never had an issue with remote users calling inot our service, never!
Lifesize Video Conferencing Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
Lifesize Video Conferencing Training
- Online training
- Self-taught
We implement this system with many faculty and staff members throughout each semester. It is very easy for us to train those folks. One of the best things about this product is the ease of use.
Configuring Lifesize Video Conferencing
We installed our Lifesize unit on a portable cart, so it is flexible to go anywhere on our campus. We also use the system with web-cameras attached to our integrated classroom PCs.
We did develop a sheet of requirements for area high schools with best practices on their end. Those were: Hard wired internet connection, PC specifications form the Lifesize website, and a hard wired connection of the computer to the display device.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - the product does not support adding custom code
We set up a Gmail calendar to work with the scheduling of the device. Calendar integration was flawless and easy to set up. We bought decent quality web cameras that had good video and great microphones to use in rooms where we needed a one-off meeting to another site. Better microphones enabled better audio quality. Don't skimp on the quality when using web-cameras--you get what you pay for!
Lifesize Video Conferencing Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - The standard support Lifesize offers to their users is tremendous. We have had very few issues, and most were our fault! Even when it was our issue, the support team was courteous, friendly and patient with us and went above and beyond to help us. Great job Lifesize, your support is stupendous!
We had an issue with a connection to a third party site. After my support call, they continued to try to connect with the third party system, and eventually found that the firewall at the third party was rejecting our IP address. Once we found that out, the IT folks at the location added our IP and we were able to connect..It was nice not having to stay on the phone for 30-60 minutes while the technicians determined the issue.
Using Lifesize Video Conferencing
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Making calls is very easy.
- Dialing other sites is as easy as typing in the code of the other unit
- Ability to keep a local address book as well as add favorite sites is great
- NONE!
Yes - We have had students, guest lecturers, higher learning executives, high school teachers and many more call into a virtual meeting room with zero technical support from our staff. That is the best thing. The system is fast to install, easy to navigate and makes the end user experience a breeze. This makes my day!
Lifesize Video Conferencing Reliability
Integrating Lifesize Video Conferencing
Relationship with Lifesize
Upgrading Lifesize Video Conferencing
Yes - Updates are frequent and included with the subscription. Our codec, mobile and desktop apps automatically update each release. Very easy to update and fast in doing so.
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