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Video Hearing General Instructions

Prohibition Against Recording

Persons participating in video proceedings are reminded of the general prohibition against photographing, recording, and rebroadcasting of court proceedings. Any recording of a court proceeding held by video or teleconference, including screenshots or other visual or audio copying of a hearing, is absolutely prohibited. Violation of these prohibitions may result in sanctions, restricted entry to future hearings, denial of entry to future hearings, or any other sanctions deemed necessary by the court. 

Connecting to a Zoom Hearing or Trial

Click here for Zoom connection links and information.

If you do not have the technology necessary to participate in a video hearing, and participating by telephone would be a hardship due to long distance charges, please call the calendar clerk to request an accommodation.

Before Every Video Conferencing Court Session Using Zoom

  1. Connect your device to a good power source. Avoid using only battery power.
  2. Make sure your internet connection is good: How to test your home Internet speed.
    • Connection via a hard-wire Ethernet cable is faster and more reliable than Wi-Fi. If you must use Wi-Fi, make sure you’re in close range.
    • Avoid running any unnecessary applications besides Zoom to conserve your computer's processing power.
    • For home networks, avoid sharing your internet service with others during the session if possible.
  3. Test your video.
    • Avoid distracting real or virtual backgrounds. To set a virtual background in a Zoom meeting, go to Start Video or Stop Video > Choose Virtual Background.
    • Position your camera so you take up most of the screen and are at eye level.
  4. Test your audio.
    • Find a quiet location free from background noise.
    • Using a good quality headset (headphones with mic) will improve audio quality.
  5. Turn off all audio disruptions (phones, text alerts, messaging alerts, email alerts, etc.).
  6. Run a quick test to connect with another Zoom user, or use the Zoom test:
    https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115002262083-Joining-a-test-meeting.

After You Connect

  1. Mute yourself when not speaking.
  2. If the name displayed with your video is incorrect or incomplete, open the participants list, hover over your name in the list, and click Rename.

Joining a Zoom Hearing

  1. Video. You can join a Zoom hearing on your computer with the Zoom desktop application or with your browser (Chrome is highly recommended). You can also attend a Zoom hearing on your iPhone/Android with the Zoom app. You may download the Zoom app or desktop client at no cost at https://www.zoomgov.com/download.
  2. Telephone. For hearings that do not involve testimony (for example, hearings to confirm a chapter 13 plan), you can participate via telephone without video. There are two ways to call in:
    • One tap mobile automates the process of entering the phone number, meeting ID, and (in most cases) the passcode. It will work only after the court starts the Zoom session. Be patient through the pauses. It may incorrectly enter a 0 before entering the passcode, but if you wait, it will correct itself and continue to dial into the meeting successfully. In some cases, you may need to enter the passcode shown on the Zoom page for that hearing.
    • Manual dial requires you to enter the phone number, meeting ID, and passcode.
  3. It is not necessary to register with Zoom to participate in court hearings. Visit the court's video hearings web page or consult the Order Establishing Procedures for Video Trial filed in the case for connection information and links.
  4. After you connect, you will be in a waiting room until the court admits you into the hearing.
  5. Always keep your app or browsers up to date for security purposes. 
  6. If you do not have the technology to use video, and participating by telephone would be a financial hardship due to long distance charges, please call the calendar clerk to request an accommodation.

Settings

Zoom has a lot of settings, and as Zoom updates their software, the settings may change.  Below are a few settings recommended by the court to improve your video conference.

  • General: Ask me to confirm when I leave a meeting: ON (Helps prevent unintended departures)
  • Video: Enable HD: OFF (Helps prevent poor video performance, and usually looks just as good as HD)
  • Video: Always display participant names on their video: ON
  • Video: Always show video preview dialog when joining a video meeting: ON (Final check for you to see how you will appear before your video displays to others.)

Learning

The court will only be using the audio and video functionality of Zoom. Other functions like text chat, screen sharing, etc., may not be used, and will likely be disabled for your session, so you only need to learn the basics of using Zoom for audio and video. Learn how to select the correct source for both, and how to mute/unmute your audio, and Start/Stop your video:

To verify specific system requirements for your device, refer to these articles:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-requirements-for-Windows-macOS-and-Linux

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201179966-System-requirements-for-iOS-iPadOS-and-Android