How Zoom Can Dominate Broadcast

Remote guests and hosts have been a staple of TV and online video during the COVID-19 era. Zoom has become the runaway success story for business and individuals, while former frontrunner Skype has nearly faded into oblivion. 

There is one exception to these video-calling rankings - broadcast. Skype continues to be the preferred platform for remote video guests, because Microsoft has enabled it to be treated as a broadcast-quality output. You can use equipment like NewTek TalkShow (combined with Microsoft’s SkypeTX control software) to output an SDI signal with the Skype call, rather than sharing a screen. This avoids things like seeing overlays and return video on screen. Skype also has an NDI output option, so anyone with a computer on a network can send broadcast signals into an NDI decoder for free. 

The problem is - less and less people are using Skype in their day-to-day lives anymore. It’s all Zoom. The problem for broadcast: Zoom offers nearly zero support for broadcast needs. With the exception of the TriCaster TC2 Elite, which just came out a few months ago, there is NO way to natively output a broadcast signal over SDI, HDMI, or even NDI. And even on the TriCaster, while you can break out individual Zoom callers into separate video signals, you still can not separate the audio (a feature that is available for recorded calls). 

So what does Zoom need to do? 

1. Expand the ability to convert individual call participants into broadcast video signals. It works for a single TriCaster model - open that up to everyone, including other hardware like NewTek TalkShow and similar output modules like QuickLink. 
2. Add NDI, so networked production systems and decoders can output full-screen high-quality video. 
3. Give us multi-channel audio on these outputs, dammit! 

Broadcasters are willing to pay for this kind of service. Zoom should prioritize these features if they want to remain relevant in the broadcast space. If not, services like Microsoft Teams, other first-party end-to-end video solutions, and bonded cellular services like LiveU will jump ahead of you. 

Tips for making Zoom calls look good on TV

1. For single-guest calls, pin the guest and then go full-screen. Don't touch your mouse until the call is over, and you won't see any overlays.
2. If you have a second monitor available, use it! Zoom has a dual-monitor mode that lets you pin one call to each screen. If there's just one guest, send them to the second screen, and split that screen and convert it to SDI, HDMI, or NDI. If there's two guests, pin one to each screen.
3. If you have more than one caller, you should consider one computer per person to avoid issues. If you know when and how people will be talking, you can consider my solution here.

It may not be easy to switch to Skype or Zoom - networks like CNN have agreements with Cisco so they are required to use that service for video calls. To be clear - even with better options available, some broadcast networks are letting some major mistakes get through their feeds. MSNBC and NBC are the biggest offenders. Here are some screenshots.

Above: you can see the broadcast return feed on the bottom left of the screen

Above: you can see the Zoom user interface elements

Above: in the most egregious Zoom offense, an under-featured version of the software covered up the face of Hillary Clinton just moments before the highly-viewed first 2020 presidential debate.

Above: A full zoom UI - including the other video participants, as seen on NBC's Today Show