quad camera wall mount for spark room kit+

[matt mcfetridge]

Has anyone had any luck jury-rigging a monitor mount so that this camera can be mounted onto a monitor and NOT the wall? This mount in general is really bad and the camera easily pops out of the little brackets on the L mount. This is one of the worst cisco/tandberg mounts outside of the SX20 mounts that i've ever used. We don't mount anything to the walls as it makes it a nightmare to try to pull a monitor off a wall with all the cords connected. I've ended up using 3M dual-lock to make it more secure--but this isn't a good solution in the long run...I want to put the quad cam on a cart based unit, but not sure how i'm going to do this. Also the $200 MSRP on the spark room kit+ endpoint is a joke. It looks like $20 worth of cheap steel. Otherwise the systems themselves are fantastic--they are just designed by people that have never been in a conference room or supported a room system.

[Patrick Sparkman]

If you're looking to mount an endpoint on the back of TV, you should be looking a either the SX10 or Spark Room Kit (not Plus). Spark Room Kit Plus is meant to be mounted on a wall, not a TV.

[matt mcfetridge]

I'm sorry, but just because the mount isn't good--doesn't make sense to have to downgrade to one of the entry level endpoints. Even if the quad cam wall mount was actually mounted to a wall the safety tabs still don't work and pop out with slight tension. 

Cisco should be revisiting how customers are using their products. Another example is the poorly designed MX300 back cover for the wall mount. What logic would it make sense to have to pull the unit off the wall just to access the cables. That back cover should have been able to come off independently and not require 2 people to service the unit.

Mwm

[Justin Ferello]

Matt,

The tabs not securing the camera is a known issue.  If you have a service contract, you can contact TAC and RMA the mount for one that is not defective.

Personally I would not try to mount the Quad Cam on the top of the screen, it is way too heavy and will make the screen topple.

 If you must mount the Quad Cam above a freestanding display, I would suggest a plywood L that is secured to the cart under the display; painted black and mount the Quad Cam to the top of the plywood which would be slightly above the display.

[matt mcfetridge]

Hi Justin,

Thanks for the info! I've actually successfully mounted the quad cams on NEC e805's and e905's since their bezels are much bigger than a lot of the other manufacturers out there. I used 3M dual-lock (see attachment) which I actually mount endpoints to the back of my monitors to recreate an MX800 AIO style system, but with my choice of components. I'm planning on using the LG UH5C series monitors going forward on some of my projects, so I need a better mount that attaches to a cart or wall mount.

The only issue is the all of the cabling coming out of the back of the quad cam is in the center, so no "standard"vtc camera mounts will work--because they don't have cut outs in the back/central area that won't block the cabling. Anywho, I understand this isn't recommended, but this is how we're doing the quad cams since they're so much better than the P60 for most of our use cases. My Cisco SE recommended I goto a CNC shop to fabricate my own mounts since I'm so vocal about how my integration's work and disappointment with the current mounts. I'm a huge fan of the spark room kit/+ and we're pushing these out in our environment in new builds since they work so well.

thanks, mwm

[bapayne]

@matt mcfetridge - I am with you. I have a customer that does not mount anything to the wall - for various reasons and bought four room kit plus's to pilot. Lack of a screen mount option is hampering a 100+ unit sale. I did talk with AVTeq and they can fashion customer VESA to RK+ mounts but the price is still very high.

Cisco - need to solve this problem.

[matt mcfetridge]

Maybe if you foot the bill on the initial proof of concept the rest of us can benefit on mounts :) :). Joking aside, I've been talking with SMS solutions (a swedish company) about getting a mount of some sort that can work with their carts/stands. They're not really well known in the states, so not all my local AV vendors sell their stuff. I've used the AVTeq carts also--but have found the build quality isn't very good (missing spot welds, and poorly threaded parts). The AVTeq ELT-2100 is the only cart option i've seen outside of SMS that doesn't appear to be completely terrible. Middle Atlantic is stuck in the middle of the 20th century with their cart designs--they look like CRT carts or Daleks from Dr.Who...

I have a hard time selling my users on a cart that isn't aesthetically nice as the MX300/800 since those were designed super nicely, albeit too low to the ground at 29". Maybe Cisco can make a MX1000 cart based on the spark cameras and the LG UH5C monitors so its lighter...

https://smartmediasolutions.se/products/displays/presence-video-conference/

thanks,

mwm

[Tyler Ronsman]

I'm actually looking to do the same for a client ordering a few RK+ and not wanting to mount to the wall.  I'm looking at AVFI, but may just have them reach out to a local CNC shop to Fab something up.  Please update if you found something from a different vendor in the past few weeks.

On another note, your comment about the Spark Room Cameras "MX1000" - Cisco has released their MX line replacements.

Spark Room 55 and 70.  Similar options for the MX line and the install is a breeze.  Room 55 is shipping already and 70 was just announced with a shipping date of December sometime.

https://blogs.cisco.com/collaboration/cisco-spark-room-70

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/spark-room-series/datasheet-c78-739453.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/spark-room-kit-series/datasheet-c78-739893.html

[matt mcfetridge]

Hi all,

I've been working with SMS to get a mount for the camera and they finally have a design put together. please see attachment. The contact for them in the US is Elizabeth Karadizian.

This is the cart i'm planning on using with LG 86UH5C monitor and spark room kit+:

https://smartmediasolutions.se/products/displays/sms-presence-mobile-motorized-xl/

thx,

mwm

[mattharmonltd]

I am also looking for a screen mounted solution. We had a trial of the standard Spark Kit, and have a couple of Room55 systems, but the Spark Plus kit fits well with a bulk of our meeting rooms, which are 10-15 people. We occupy a listed building, so any mounting to the walls, or modification of the building is a no-go! Our current system involves screens on credenzas, and Polycom VSX or HDX systems living inside. We want to get rid of the bulky furniture and have trolley systems.

We have been exploring 2 routes, either having a metal plate made, then we can bolt the wall mount bracket to, or ditching the wall mount all together and having a whole new bracket made. We will be using 46"NEC screens with our systems.

We have contacted Unicol in the UK to see what costs they have for manufacturing a bracket, but i dont think it will be cheap!

[bapayne]

Check with AVTEQ in the states - they are making them for us for a customer already
Kate Heis | Sales Manager
o: 214.905.9001 Ext 3710
c: 940.594.0439
e: kheis@avteqinc.com
w: AVTEQ.net
1151 Empire Central Dr Dallas, TX 75247

[jordan.hill26]

Matt, did you end up having luck with the SMS mount? In looking at the CAD drawing, how exactly does it mount to the display?  Was it made specifically for the LG display you had spec'd?

Thanks,

Jordan Hill

[mattharmonltd]

We didn't use the SMS mount in the end. We looked at using a range of things, but we settled on having some flat metal arms fabricated, with a range of holes in them to suite various screens and sizes. These then mounted to the back of the screen, in-between the screen and the bracket for the stand. We used a standard Unicol floor stand in the end. The standard wall bracket then mounts to this Works reasonably well, but we did find that it wobbles a bit. Going forward we are looking to either have additional mount points (to mount in both top and bottom of the screen mount) or to use thicker metal. This is a similar idea to the old Polycom camera mounts Unicol used to do. Unfortunately we used a third party to design and make it for us, so I don't have the spec to hand, but it would be fairly simple to recreate.

The best off the shelf solution we found was a speaker bar mount on Amazon, but long-term ability put us off.

[Chet Cronin]

Is there a .pkg file for ce9.2.3 ??? 

If not can I download a cop.sgn file and just remote into my codec via firefox and run the install.  

Our systems are stand alone not on Call Manager. 

[Chet Cronin]

Is there a .pkg file for ce9.2.3 ??? 

If not can I download a cop.sgn file and just remote into my codec via firefox and run the install.  

Our systems are stand alone not on Call Manager.