Desktop Proximity: How stringent are the frequency requirements?

[Dave Jani]

Hi All,

We have a couple of endpoints (SX10 & SX20) on which we are running CE8.0 with proximity enabled.

A few laptops (we are still awaiting confirmation of the exact specs) have successfully connected via the desktop proximity software. However, the majority of laptops in the business are actually a more generic model/spec to those that were tested by IT. None of these seem to work... “searching for video system"

The laptops that do no work are HP Probook 650

• It uses DTS SOUND+ (IDT 92HD91) http://bit.ly/1XK0nv7
• Frequency Response 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Signal to Noise Ratio >85 dB
• Play/Record Sampling Rate(s) 8 kHz – 48kHz

Where as the technical requirements stated in the troubleshooting guide:

App is "searching for video systems" when I am right in front of a system

This is indicating that the app cannot pick up ultrasound from the video system.

Please check the following:

- Is your finger blocking the microphone on the iPad/iPhone?

- Do you have a protective case on your device that is blocking the microphone?

- Is Proximity mode enabled on the video system?

- Does the video system have speakers and is ultrasound volume set to dynamic or static?

- Are the speakers rated for supporting up to 22kHz?

- Is the system in standby and the HDMI out disabled? (In that case we can´t pair).

Does anyone have experience with running a sound card that only supports up to  20 kHz and/or using a HP Probook 650 (or any other laptop for that matter) with/without 3rd part sound software (DTS+)?

Thanks.

Regards,

Jani.

[Patrick Sparkman]

Have you taken a look at the following Proximity documents, notably Proximity for Windows as it appears you might be seeing an issue noted in that document with the frequency range.

[Dan Peder Eriksen]

Hi Dave,

We have seen issues with some sound drivers on Windows. Please try the following:

Go to control panel->sound->recording

Right click the microphone that is used and select Properties->Enhancements. Select "Disable microphone effects" and press ok to save. Restart the proximity app.

If this does not work try the same, only with "Disable all audio enhancements", restart the proximity app.

If this does not work, try upgrading/downgrading the sound driver. This has proven to work well on some Lenovo models.

Let me know how it goes, and if I can be of further assistance.

[mreed]

We just installed an SX80 with Speakertrack and I was excited to try the desktop proximity.  But it don't work.  I tried disabling System Effects but it did not make any difference.

I also have an HP Probook 650.

[Dan Peder Eriksen]

Are you able to connect using an iPhone, Android og OSX device?

[carolmor]

hello Dan, 

I am having similar problems, 

my proximity on SX10 with external speakers works fine with iOS (I can control SX10, Make calls, and view content in a call), and it pairs with MAC but when I tried to share my screen from MAC I got an error messages saying " connection error: presentation stopped because of an unexpected connection error problem" on the SX10's screen I got the message disconnected.

any suggestion?

my mac is Mac book pro with OS Yosemite 10.10.5

thanks 

Carolina Morales

[Dan Peder Eriksen]

Hi Carolina,

What software version is the SX10 running? TC7.x software is not supported. If the SX10 is running CE8 software it should be fine.

In order for me to take a look at this i need some more information. Please go to "About" in the proximity app and find the "Support id". Send an email to me, daneriks at cisco com with the support id. Also please include the a specific time when you had this issue, including what timezone you are in.

Thanks.

Dan

[Dan Peder Eriksen]

Carolina being a Cisco employee had access to a preview of the next CE release. In order for proximity to work she had to upgrade to an internal version of proximity as well.

[Dave Jani]

iPhones and Androids connect to view the presentations without any problem. However, do these not connect slightly differently?

Also the other laptops (a few of IT departments super-spec machines) seem to connect consistently without a problem, it is just the HPs that have the problem - unfortunately these are the machines that account for ~99% of the estate! :(

[Dan Peder Eriksen]

They connect in the same way as the laptops. This does tell us that there is no issue with the video system or the network.

Most likely this is an issue with the laptops not being able to record audio in 20Khz-22KHz range that we use for sending the connection info. This is a known issue on windows, but can be solved on most machines by changing sound settings and/or drivers.

[Dave Jani]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the response.

According to the customer the driver is the latest version and microphone effects option does not exist in order to be disabled. However, I will ask them to confirm once again to be sure.

I have not considered downgrading the driver though, I will propose this as a test.

Thanks.