SX80 - Need to set "layout" of cameras during Telepresence / WebEx calls

Glenn Merkel · ‎02-26-2018

Greetings! I'm Glenn and I'm brand new to these forums, but I've setup and installed Polycom Videoconferencing for about 10 years, and for the last year or so we've been trying to learn and better use Cisco Telepresence. For the sake of THIS issue, I'm dealing specifically with a Cisco SX80 and users signing into a meeting using the WebEx app on their laptops.

So the SX80 is installed in our Senior Team boardroom. They have a monthly meeting where our highest level employees communicate. Previously, we've used a Polycom or Cisco triangular speakerphone. That worked for a while, but now that we've had the Cisco Telepresence installed the management would like to use the self-tracking camera to show who's speaking in the boardroom, or have WebEx users shown when they are speaking remotely.

While we can dial into a meeting just fine (a task the helpdesk is going to do going forward, so the senior team doesn't have to show up early and login for any of them to share from WebEx, etc.), we only see whoever is active on the "Camera" display in the room. The other display is typing showing content, or whatever PC view someone is showing with the rest of the team.

But the managers would like to be able to see the active speaker in the top of the window, with the other attendees in smaller boxes below the active speaker. We recently upgraded from CE7.3.3, to CE9.2.2. And while the 7 series software had a LAYOUT mode for how the camera would be presented on our SX80, I see no way to change it in 9.2.2.

I bought a local company on-site to help us decide if we needed a different version of the software installed, if there was some sort of programming that needed to be done to make such a view possible, etc... but they couldn't help us while we are here, and I'm beginning to think I need the help of experts to get this sorted out. Perhaps some of those experts are members of this forum. :)

Any help is appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Glenn Merkel

Helpdesk Technician

Sandro Nardi · ‎02-28-2018

Webex video bridge have some known limitation, but they are upgrading to a video platform version 2
here a similar discussion about the way video participant are displayed.
https://supportforums.cisco.com/t5/conferencing/webex-meeting-with-spark-device/td-p/3338345
and the webex news
https://collaborationhelp.cisco.com/article/en-us/n77gsg1
My site is not upgraded yet so i have no idea about the feature delivered by the new video bridge.

Patrick Sparkman · ‎02-28-2018

Normally when dialed into WebEx Meeting Center, the active speaker should appear in the large window with the inactive speakers in smaller panes at the bottom. Is this not what you see, if so, can you be more specific? Note, if running WebEx video platform version 1, you'll only see a single video pan for WebEx participants and who is see is based on the active speaker.

Glenn Merkel · ‎03-05-2018

I'll try to be as clear as I can.

So we have our CEO, CIO, CFO, and several other users in our Boardroom, dialed into a WebEx meeting through a Cisco Telepresence SX80 system.

We then have several other users that are using WebEx on their laptops to attend the same meeting.

The laptop users are able to see the activate speaker and the other attendees via Webcams under the active speaker just fine.

The problem is the CEO, CIO, and others would like to be able to see the Active Speaker on top, and the rest of the attendees under that window, using the Cisco Telepresence SX80 system.

When our SX80's system software was upgraded to CE9.2.2, we lost any LAYOUT functionality via the touchscreen device on our conference room table. So all we see is the active speaker as you indicate. (I believe our CE7.x.x software had a layout option, but I didn't test it before the system was upgraded to better understand what that option did.)

Looking at the link provided, then logging into our webex.com page, and looking at About Support Center, I found the following information:

About Support Center

Service version: WBS32
Page version: 32.11.1.13
Application version: 32.11.0.388
API Version: 11.0.0

So if it's simply a matter of waiting for WBS 32.12, and that providing the Cisco Telepresence SX80 with the ability to see the active participants and active speaker through the Cisco hardware device, that would be excellent news. But I'd be anxious to hear when that upgrade might occur, so I can let our Senior Team know when the issue is likely to be resolved.

Sincerely,

Glenn Merkel

Patrick Sparkman · ‎03-05-2018

You can change the layouts using DTMF (keys 2 and 8), however until your WebEx site is upgraded to video platform version 2, you'll only see a single video pane coming from WebEx and the only person visible will be the current active speaker.