Two ZOOM desktop app instances connecting to the same meeting

[Tsondru]

Hello,

It seems to be possible to start a second instance of the ZOOM application for meetings on the same windows machine using the /secondary argument when using Windows key -> run.

With that it would be possible to join the same meeting from the same PC at the same time.

Usually this can also be done using the browser, but the browser version of ZOOM doesn't allow for the participant using the browser to be an interpreter. 

Of course this would also be possible with workarounds like virtualisation etc.

We are hosting ZOOM events with different translations. The translators are usually in the same room. Currently we need to use different computers, cameras and microphones simultaneously. We have a fairly good sound system which is connected to one computer. And having to handle several different computer with two microphones per translator (one we use for our recording/streaming and one semi-professional microphone etc specifically for ZOOM) is a bit of a complicated workaround.

For us, being able to use two zoom instances at the same time to join the same meeting would solve a lot of these issues.

I want to emphasis that this question is not about joining two different ZOOM meetings at the same time, which can only be done with a second ZOOM account or with one business/enterprise/education account.

My main question in this regard:

Is this kind of usage allowed from the site of ZOOM?

It seems that ZOOM is usually not allowing to run a second instance of the desktop app on the same PC.

That might sound like a weird question for you, but we don't want to adopt the mentality "it's possible, so we do it".

Thank you very much.

[Ray_Harwood]

Welcome to the Zoom Community, @Tsondru.

First, i believe it is possible to have one machine connected to a single meeting using the approach you describe. It sounds to me like you’ve tested this and is indeed the case.

Second, if you have multiple interpreters ask in the same office/network, I would recommend turning off video on one of the instances to reduce bandwidth consumption. 

Third, my interpretation of Zoom Terms of Service is that – as long as both instances were being used by one individual – this would not violate the TOS. 

Lastly – I’d highly recommend reading this Zoom Support article:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360034919791
Note that Cloud recordings can be configured to record separate audio files of interpreters. Please review this article and conduct tests to see it the resulting recordings might meet your needs. If so, I think this will simplify your setup and reduce the bandwidth requirements for your sessions.

I’d appreciate hearing if you investigate the Cloud Recording separate audio file approach, and how it works out for you!

[Tsondru]

Thank you for your reply.

I have not tested it fully myself, esp. I didn't enter into one meeting with two instances. But the general opening of a second instance works well.

Bandwidth is not really an issue. In max resolution of 720p, ZOOM would use not more than 2MBit/s per participant when sending video and for the receiving part it is regulated well by the ZOOM client anyway. And even 720p is not send if there is nobody watching this participant in full screen.

But having these video streams running simultaneously is certainly an issue regarding GPU processing power, if one doesn't have a semi-decent GPU. Esp. as we are using OBS to deliver the videos as virtual camera to ZOOM.

We are sometimes using the recording of individual langauges in the ZOOM cloud. It is good that this feature was added. Before this feature was available, one would have to record the other translators manually on a different computer.

But for our main setup, we don't use ZOOM recording too much. Especially the audio recording quality is improvable. Although there are options for "Original sound form musicians" and "high fidelity", the sound is highly processed via ZOOM, even on the lowest settings, which is a good thing if one uses a standard phone mic or similar with maybe a lot of background noise etc and the bitrates etc. are also not ideal. Also the recording happens in the cloud, which makes it susceptible to interruptions and other problems.  This makes the sound less quality when if one records locally with some good equipment.

But as a backup of the backup, or if recording is required with a less suitable environment,  it works quite well and one can convert these recording files quite easily into one video file with different languages or different video files for each language, as all have the same format, length etc.

The ZOOM cloud recording player seems to have it's issues though with some browsers though. 🙂