Videoconference system

George Apostolopoulos, 5 Mar 2020, Updated 13 Nov 2024

This page lists some information and operating instructions for the videoconference system installed at the meeting room in the Research Reactor office building.

The system can be used for videoconferences

Further protocols/services (e.g., SIP, Microsoft Teams etc.) can be supported after proper configuration.

Presentations can be made on the TV screen using a laptop, mobile phone or tablet.

Detailed instructions can be found bellow.

Getting started

Our video conference system is the Poly Trio 8800 Visual+ (more info: Polycom Trio Family).

It consists of the following components:

Trio 8800 conference phone

This is the central component. It has a touchscreen that can be used to make calls, configure the system and other actions.

It is also the sound device. It has speakers and microphones and special software for noise reduction and voice direction recognition. A mute button with LED indicator is available on the front.

To operate the Trio just touch the screen it will immediately switch on the display.

Eagle Eye Cube camera

The camera is positioned on the TV and it has automatic speaker tracking enabled. This means, it will automatically focus on the current speaker. This function can be optionally disabled from the Trio touchscreen. One can also temporarily switch-off video transmission during a call.

TV

The TV is a LG 65" LCD display (model No. 65UM7300PUA).

Before using the system use the remote control to switch on the TV.

The layout of the screen during a teleconference is configured automatically by the Trio. Other layout options can be manually selected from the touchscreen.

Visual+ video system

This is a passive component that is positioned behind the TV screen. It handles the video and is connected to all components (TV, camera, Trio).

Making a teleconference with your laptop

The system can be used to conduct a typical Zoom or other teleconference (e.g. Skype, MS Teams).

In this case the Trio 8800 phone, the Eagle Eye camera and the TV screen are used as audio/video devices by your computer.

Requirements

A laptop computer running Windows 10 (natively, VMs do not work) with the program Trio USB PassThrough installed. For more info see the release notes.

Instructions

e-Pressence teleconference

[ This needs to be tested because INRASTES network setting may have changed - GA 13 Nov 2024 ]

The Trio can connect to an https://www.epresence.gr/ teleconference with the H.323 protocol. You have to tell that to the meeting organizer so that he sends you the correct invitation.

Note that we can also organize e-Pressence conferences. One has to send an email to the service and request the "Moderator" status.

Making a presentation

The system can be used to present content on the TV screen either from a laptop using USB or LAN connection, or from a mobile phone or tablet.

Note that the methods shown below refer only to presentations outside of a videoconference.

Presenting content from USB

Presenting content from LAN

Note: This method works also for Linux computers with a Windows VM

Present content from mobile phone or tablet

The Trio supports the Miracast standard which allows to connect a mobile device and display its screen on the TV via WiFi.

Your mobile or tablet device with recent Android or iOS may also support Miracast, however there is no standard app name. Most common relevant app names are:

On my Samsung Galaxy there is "Smart View" and I can connect to the Trio and display, e.g., a PowerPoint presentation from my phone to the TV screen.

Participating in a EUROfusion teleconference (Old style - Deprecated)

If using a H.323 video-conference device NOT registered to an E.164 compliant gatekeeper 
(called URI dial), the syntax depends on your vendor as shown below: 

ConferenceID = 97929389

LifeSize: 194.95.240.2##ConferenceID
Mirial:   ConferenceID@mcu.vc.dfn.de
Polycom:  mcu.vc.dfn.de##ConferenceID
Sony:     194.95.240.2#ConferenceID
Tandberg: ConferenceID@mcu.vc.dfn.de
Cisco:    ConferenceID@vc.dfn.de
VCON:     n.a.

Documentation

Detailed specifications and manuals for each component can be found in the followings documents

Technical details

Wiring

Wiring

The connections between the different components are shown in the above diagram.

The Trio devices are powered through the ethernet cables by Power over Ethernet (PoE). This is accomplished by the special power supply on the right which connects to the wall outlet transmits power on the ethernet network.

The camera and the TV set are connected to the Trio Visual+.

Network settings

The Trio is assigned a static LAN IP: 10.10.3.180 and is visible to the internet by the public IP: 143.233.230.11

Other network parameters:

Firewall settings

The following ports have been opened in the firewall for H.323 communication:

Furthermore, the setting "Enable H323 transformations" has been enabled in the firewall.

H.323 settings

The Trio is configured for H.323 connections without a "gatekeeper". The call is initiated through the network ports 1719, 1720 and audio/video is transmitted through the higher number ports.

Configuration settings

The Trio has many configuration settings which can be changed either from the touchscreen or, more easily, from the web interface.

The web interface is accessible through the LAN at the following URL: https://10.10.3.180/

The user password is 123 and the administrator password is my mobile phone number.

Below you can see an example screen of the web interface:

A helpfull feature is that you can export/import all setting to/from a file. This way you can bring back your old settings in case they got lost.

A "last-known-good" copy of the settings (stand: March 2020) can be found in this file: Trio_Settings_Mar2020.zip

It has been obtained by going to the Web interface > Utilities > Export & Import Configuration and saving 2 files: one with "All configuration (except device settings)" and another with "Device settings".