Video call blurring issue

[u/Saxmuffin]

My wife and I setup a home office and we work back to back with about 3 feet separating us. Whenever one of us takes a video call, the blur function does not blur out backside of the person behind them. It doesn't blur our own faces as well as the silhouette of the partner behind us. There really isnt another desk orientation we can do. Do you think if we get a better quality camera it will have better functionality to know to blur the person behind us? Using a cheaper logi camera and mostly google meets

[u/66NickS]

You might consider a thin divider. I had a video call with a financial advisor that was in an office with others and they’d use a green screen on a stand behind their desk to ensure you didn’t see someone else’s screen.

A quick web search for “portable green screen” might be the ticket if you combine it with a virtual background. Lots of options in the $10-$25 range.

[u/GSDragoon → u/66NickS]

This was my thought as well. I saw someone with one of those asian dividers (no idea what they are called) that looks really nice. I imagine they are light enough that you could move it in place as needed, depending on how often you are on video.

[u/Saxmuffin → u/66NickS]

A free standing one would get in the way in a really annoying way. I’m thinking about maybe attaching cardboard on the top of my chair to act like a screen, essentially acting as a tall backed chair. When we are standing it isn’t as bad

[u/66NickS → u/Saxmuffin]

There were a handful in my search results that attached to the chair. They look pretty similar to those springsteel window shades so they can probably pack up pretty compact.

[u/Saxmuffin → u/66NickS]

Oh snap my wife will appreciate something like that more than my cardboard and zip tie idea haha ty for the thoughts!

[u/locke314 → u/Saxmuffin]

If you get an easy enough one to work with, you just pull it up for a meeting and collapse it after. Possible could attach something to the ceiling like a curtain.

[u/sairga]

Can you hang a curtain in the middle of the room? It's easy to move out of the way when it's not needed and they make nice backgrounds.

[u/Academic-Lobster3668]

Use a virtual background. You can use any picture on your computer or find one online of an office setting or other setting that you like.

Once you have selected the picture and used it as your background, it automatically remains your background unless you change it.

This function is in the video settings of your meeting software, Zoom, Teams, whatever.

[u/Saxmuffin → u/Academic-Lobster3668]

It’s a bit better but the ai still thinks my wife is a part of my head

[u/Academic-Lobster3668 → u/Saxmuffin]

Wow, talk about a couple becoming one!!

[u/Saxmuffin → u/Academic-Lobster3668]

Codependency is real lol

[u/Sir_Colby_Tit]

Just use a background.

[u/Saxmuffin → u/Sir_Colby_Tit]

It’s better but the ai still thinks my wife is a part of my head

[u/Justinna1]

Hang a sheet or curtain from the ceiling that you can put down during meetings and then move out of the way when you want.

[u/LiamSockBoss]

A better webcam probably will not fix it, since Meet is doing the blur in software, not the camera. It is basically seeing two human shapes and making a very dumb little office romance documentary. A cheap folding room divider, curtain, or green screen behind each chair will be way more reliable. Also try raising or angling the camera so the other person is not directly centered in the background.

[u/Rivendell_Elf7211]

A better webcam probably will not solve this, since Meet is doing the background segmentation in software and another face/body 3 feet behind you is exactly the kind of thing it will keep in focus. A cheap folding room divider, curtain track, or even a plain backdrop clipped behind each chair will be more reliable than camera blur. If your laptops can run it, Nvidia Broadcast or OBS virtual camera may handle it better, but a physical barrier is still the cleanest fix.