Supported Video Conference (VC) System Integrations
The cloud-version Vbrick Rev system supports live and recorded Webcast events utilizing Video Conferences (VC). When initiated, Vbrick Rev joins a VC call as a SIP participant.
Note: The VC MBR feature has been temporarily disabled for additional tuning with respect to the readability of lower bitrates. VC streaming and recording will continue to create streams using the native VC resolutions and bitrates. Once Vbrick development and testing have completed the tuning, it will be re-enabled. Thank you for your patience. |
Once connected, Vbrick Rev will receive the individual Speaker and Content Share streams from your VC system. Vbrick Rev then encodes several bitrates for each of the Speaker, Content Share, and (a generated) Switched streams. (Note: The Switched stream is a single stream that will initially display the Speaker and switch into and out of a Content view as content is shared.)
The three streams will then be automatically encoded into three bitrates – High, Medium, and Low. Each bitrate is actually a resolution specification that is encoded within a range of bitrates. These are:
●High: Resolution: 1280x720, with Bitrate ranging from 2.6M to 3.6M
●Medium: Resolution: 640x360, with Bitrate ranging from 960K to 1.3M
●Low: Resolution 384x216, with Bitrate ranging from 256K-384K
These three streams (Speaker, Content, Switched), with their three bitrates (High, Medium, Low) are then combined into multi-bitrate (MBR) HLS specification for an adaptive playback within our Vbrick Rev player. (Note: The Switched stream will be provided to native HLS players such as iPhone embedded players.) In this way, viewers that may be on congested or reduced bandwidth lines will automatically optimize for playback.
Please be reminded that as resolution and bitrate are reduced, for example in the Medium and more pointedly in the Low bitrate, the crispness, readability and quality of the video will be challenged. These characteristics are impacted by a number of issues, not the least of which includes the expanse of video (e.g., isolated to a talking-head all the way our to a full landscape view), the degree of motion within the video (e.g., still life to sports footage), and font size when readability is required from the stream. If your use case includes playback at the low setting, please test acceptability of both your Speaker and Content streams at that level.
Also, while Vbrick can capture up to 720p streams, this resolution is negotiated between your VC system and Rev. If you find that your High level streams do not have the 720 resolution, please check the settings within your VC systems.
As always, test for acceptance at all bitrates for each stream against your particular needs, and plan accordingly.
Please see the related help topics below for additional details on these features.
The following list identifies end points that are currently supported in Rev:
●WebEx CMR
●Cisco CMS, DX, SX
●WebEx Teams
●Zoom
For hardware endpoints, Vbrick requires the device to be on the latest firmware/software.
While other systems may work, these are the only systems that Vbrick has qualified and supports through Vbrick Customer Support.
Note: VCI utilizing MBR requires a minimum WAN/LAN bitrate of 700Kbps for dual playback of both Speaker and Content (and less for single stream playback) per viewer. At this available WAN/LAN bitrate, the lowest VCI Speaker and Content will be shown. Playback below this threshold is not guaranteed for VCI MBR streams. |
Working with WebEx Teams
WebEx Teams is a cloud based enterprise collaboration suite. Rev can stream/record an existing call that has originated within a WebEx Team space with the following caveats:
1. Vbrick Rev requires that a WebEx Team space must have at least one active video participant before the streaming/recording is initiated from Rev. Starting streaming/recording to an inactive space may produce poor to failed video.
○Best Practice: Have at least one participant in the space at least 30 seconds before initiating the streaming/recording on Rev.
2. Vbrick Rev does not support WebEx Team Point to Point calls – these are calls directly to a WebEx Team user. Vbrick Rev supports WebEx Team space calls and direct calls to H/W end points.
Lastly, the WebEx Team SIP address, required to initiate a call from Rev to a WebEx Team space, can be found on the Schedule a Meeting page on the WebEx Teams application, under Join by video system.