Framework | Participants | Management & Organization | Video Conferencing | Workshops

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions.... in no particular order.

First, a note. Some tolerance of qualitative variability is suggested. This is not public television and it is not a dedicated ISDN based room system that costs hundreds of dollars a month to operate and which requires an on-hand technician to cope with operational complexities. Overall the quality of meetings on this VCON equipment is very good, but your meeting is going over a public computer network. Meetings early in the day will always be better than meetings later in the day. We are in a shared adventure. The benefit is that we get to do something very cool, for free. The cost is that we have to be more involved in the process than we do when dialing a phone. There is a good discussion of the issues involved in Expectations.PDF.

Q. Why do I hear an echo when I am talking?

A. Asking the person on the other end to move his/her microphone may help a great deal. See the PPT VIGOsound.ppt. The person on the other end may have their speakers turned up too loud (the adjustment is on the bottom left of the "REMOTE" video screen), their microphone aimed at the speakers, or a room that is over-reflective (try drapes, carpet, acoustical wall treatment). Imperfect video can be tolerated, but bad sound ruins a meeting... spending a little time and money addressing this issue will make a huge difference. Also, think about ambient noise sources... such as laser printers, air handlers, fans, and the like. Relocate them away from the videoconferencing area as much as possible.

Q. I have one of the enhancement "Tabletop Microphones", but still am having uneven results. Some people are loud and some can't be heard.

A. Note in the diagram that the Tabletop Microphone has a zone of sensitivity. Turning the microphone is not good as it excludes people "behind" the new orientation and confuses the automatic noise reduction mechanisms which have been tuned to the original orientation. You are better off positioning the microphone at the start of the meeting and seating the participants within the zone of sensitivity

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Q. I am very dark in my "local" window, is this how I look on the other end?.

A. Yes it is. Add some low light in front of you. One or two desk lamps on either side of your monitor will act as "fill" lights and compensate for the bright light behind you. Of course, you don't want to be sitting with a bright window behind you (draw the drapes) or a white board if you can help it. You can also right-click on the Local panel where you see your face and select CAMERA CONTROL. You can then move the sliders to adjust brightness and contrast. Paradoxically, sometimes you can improve how you look by turning off the overhead light. This will make the camera adjust to the new ambient light condition, brightening your image. To the right of the sliders, there is a vertical bar with two arrows... clicking this will return you to the default settings.

Q. My computer came loaded with Windows XP. Is this OK?

A. The version (4.51) of the software you have does not support Windows XP. However there is a new upgrade to the MeetingPoint software which does support Windows XP. Contact Hal for information.

Q. My bandwidth is so limited sometimes that I cause meetings to crash. What can I do to participate?

A. There are several means of attacking this issue.

• First, make sure you have the best possible ethernet connection. This means a "Switched" ethernet port at your wall and no "hub" between the wall and your computer. Check with your IT people... sometimes there is a hub in the wiring closet which shares a 10MB connection among a number of computers. If it is a busy time, there may not be enought bandwidth left for your videoconferencing needs.
• Second, schedule your meetings as early in the day as possible. Network utilization increases dramatically in the afternoon. This is especially important if you are conferencing with someone who is not on Internet2, but is an issue at all universities where student utilization of network resources increases dramatically later in the day.
• Third, if all else fails, you can make an "audio only" call. This will allocate your full bandwidth to a high quality audio signal instead of dividing it between audio and video. You can call an individual this way, or call into a group meeting. As group meetings are limited to the bandwidth of the lowest participant, using audio only avoids crashing the meeting for everyone. The others in the meeting will have a higher quality videoconference with you as a high quality voice particpant. To do this: before making the call into the conference, open the Address Book, click on Manual, click on LAN. Put the meeting number in the entry field, then click on Options and select Audio Only. Then click dial.

Q. When I am in a video meeting we just see the sides of each others heads.

A. Simulating eye contact is an important part of videoconferencing. Move the camera to a spot directly above your monitor and discipline yourself to look away from the screen and toward the camera when you are talking.

Q. I want to have a videoconference with someone who is not part of our MXM network. How can I do this?

A. When you start the MeetingPoint software, select "Work Offline" at the MXM login dialog box. You will then be able to dial up people who are not on MXM by putting their IP number in the Manual, LAN, dialer address field. However, to dial someone who is part of the MXM, you will need to exit the MeetingPoint software and restart it, select "connect" and log in with your password.

Q. When I start the MeetingPoint software I get an error message telling me to contact my network administrator. What is happening?

A.(best case and most likely)You need to turn the VIGO base unit off before shutting down your computer. When you start up your computer, wait until the computer is fully booted before turning on the VIGO. If you forget this and get the error message, just turn off the VIGO, wait 30 seconds and turn it back on again. You will see the USB initialization crawl and when that is done you will be able to start up the Meeting Point software and make a call.

A.(You plugged the VIGO into the computer and started the computer before you installed the MeetingPoint Software -- call us before doing the following procedure)

VIGO BAD INSTALL RECOVER INSTRUCTIONS

1) Make sure the VIGO is off and not connected to the computer

2) Go to ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and remove the MeetingPoint software if it is there. If it is not there, go to C:/Program Files and see if the MeetingPoint4_51_2000 directory is there. If it is, delete it.

3) From Windows Explorer go to Tools ->Folder Options. View and uncheck everything that says Hide and check everything that says Show.

4) Go to C:\WINNT\INF and find the oemX.inf (the X standing for 1 - 10, depending on how many oem devices have been loaded on the computer) file associated with the VIGO. You can do this by double clicking on each file in turn... which will open it in notepad. Once the oemX.inf file for the VIGO has been found, delete it and the corresponding oemX.pnf file. Do not delete any oem files not clearly associated with the VIGO! If none of the oemX.inf files refer to the VIGO, look for VIGO.inf and VIGO.pnf and delete them.

5) Reboot the system

6) Again, without the VIGO attached in any way to the computer, install the MeetingPoint Software following the installation instructions.