A middle ground between simplicity and quality is going to be the right solution for the majority of businesses: striking the balance between equipment that provides a good level of audio visual quality while maintaining ease of use for your instructors is important. This set up is relatively easy to set up as the majority of equipment will be 'plug and play', and once it's going it will not likely need tinkering.
While the internal webcam on your laptop is likely not particularly good quality, modern external webcams can offer a vast amount of features that give other solutions a run for their money. Where a webcam excels is in its simplicity - often, the webcam will be set up automatically when you plug it in, and no extra software, cables, or adapters will be needed. Combining this with a high-quality wireless microphone to capture your voice no matter where you are in the studio, you'll have a great quality live stream class without the fuss of a Premium setup.
Relatively simple setup; great sound quality no matter where you are in the studio, good video quality in a well lit studio; can play music over live stream via Zoom; equipment is mostly 'plug and play', and will not require any extra software/adapters
Studio will need to be well-lit in order to get the most out of the camera; Not portable - more suited to permanent setup
Video set up could not be easier - if you purchase a recommended tripod, the webcam will easily mount on top of the tripod, and then you just plug it in to the USB port on your laptop.
Audio set up, while a little more complex, is still fairly straightforward. First off, you'll need to check if your laptop has a 3.5mm microphone input. You'll want to spend some time testing out sound levels to ensure that the sound is clear for both online and physical participants.
Music setup: You can play music directly over live stream via Zoom using a program such as Spotify, and use your speakers to play the music in the studio to in-person participants.
If you'll not be running an omni-channel class - in that you'll not have physical participants in the class with you, just live stream attendees - you may opt to swap out the microphone and speakers for wireless headphones. Just check for compatibility with your laptop.
Relatively simple setup; good sound quality no matter where you are in the studio, good video quality in a well lit studio; can play music over live stream via Zoom; equipment is mostly 'plug and play', and will not require any extra software/adapters
Studio will need to be well-lit in order to get the most out of the camera; Not portable - more suited to permanent setup; may not be able to play music in the room as audio from the laptop will be played via your bluetooth headphones
Video set up could not be easier - if you purchase a recommended tripod, the webcam will easily mount on top of the tripod, and then you just plug it in to the USB port on your laptop. Audio set up is straightforward too - you'll need to put your bluetooth headphones into pairing mode and then on your computer's bluetooth settings select your headphones. You'll need to set your headphones as both your computer's speaker and microphone, and double check this setting in Zoom also.
