- How do I report a fault in the equipment?
-
- Suspected faults should reported to the person responsible for
local technical support. Local support staff should make a note of when the fault started
to occur, the nature of the fault, the equipment affected, and any
conditions that make the fault apparent. Then call the WVN Support
Desk on 01792 295700 as soon as possible. Do not try to liase directly
with the equipment supplier or manufacturer. Do not remove the covers
of any equipment in order to try to mend a suspected fault yourself.
- What happens when I report a fault?
-
- When you report the fault, the WVN Support team member will ask
you for the details, and may offer some advice to try to rectify the
fault. He may also try some tests to establish the nature of the
problem, and to see if it can be rectified. If these investigations
prove that the problem does not have another cause (network problem,
incorrect operation, etc...) then it may be necessary to replace the
item. In this case the WVN team will arrange for a replacement item to
be sent directly to your location, and for the faulty item to be
collected. Do not attempt to replace the faulty item yourself - a WVN
team member will visit the studio to carry out the replacement as soon
as possible.
- How long does it take to
replace faulty equipment?
-
- Once a fault has been confirmed, if an item needs
to be replaced, then this should be done within 48 hours.
-
- I have had a different projector
- is it supported?
-
- Hitachi projector models CP-X325,
CP-X327W and CP-X380 are all covered, even if these are replacements.
The CP-X325 is the original that was installed in the first and second
phase studios, and so will be in most studios. This model has now been
superceded, and the other two have been used in later WVN studios or
to replace projectors that have been stolen. Only equipment
approved by the WVN support centre will be covered under the project maintenance
contract.
-
- What equipment has been supplied?
-
- Large studios (for teaching and meetings, up to 30 people)
have been supplied with the following equipment:
-
-
| Qty |
Description |
| 1 |
Studio control unit - including a touch screen for control of all studio equipment |
| 1 |
CODEC
(including echo cancellation) |
| 1 |
Camera (with auto-tracking) |
| 1 |
Camera (without
auto-tracking) |
| 3 |
Large monitor
(29") and
cabinet |
| 2 |
Confidence monitor |
| 2 |
Video distribution
amplifier |
| 3 |
Microphone |
| 1 |
Tie-clip
microphone |
| 1 |
Audio
system including speaker |
| 1 |
Visualiser
/ document camera |
| 1 |
VHS Video
cassette recorder |
| 1 |
Projector -
ceiling mounted (mounting kit included) |
| 1 |
Interactive
electronic whiteboard (wall mounted) |
| 1 |
PC
including tablet input device, for data and application
sharing |
Small studios (for teaching and small group meetings, up to 10 people)
have been supplied with the following equipment:
| Qty |
Description |
| 1 |
Studio control unit - including a touch screen for control of all studio equipment |
| 1 |
CODEC
(including echo cancellation) |
| 1 |
Camera (with auto-tracking) |
| 3 |
Large monitor and
cabinet |
| 1 |
Video
distribution amplifier |
| 2 |
Microphone |
| 1 |
Audio
system including speaker |
| 1 |
Visualiser
/ document camera |
| 1 |
VHS Video
cassette recorder |
| 1 |
Projector -
ceiling mounted (mounting kit included) |
| 1 |
Interactive
electronic whiteboard (wall mounted) |
| 1 |
PC
including tablet input device, for data and application sharing |
All necessary equipment wiring and power cables will also be
supplied.
- What is the difference
between a large and a small studio?
-
- In summary a small studio contains the same
equipment as a large studio as listed above except for:
-
- One camera instead of two
- No confidence monitors
- One video distribution amplifier
instead of two.
- Two microphones instead of three
- No tie-clip microphone
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- All other equipment supplied is identical to that
in the large studio.
-
- Is the equipment all paid for?
-
- All of the equipment listed above has
been supplied as part of the Welsh Video
Network and has been centrally purchased by UKERNA on behalf of the Welsh
Funding Councils.
-
- Who owns
the equipment?
-
- All institutions should have received a letter
transferring title of the equipment to them.
-
- Can institutions purchase additional
studios or equipment?
-
- WVN Member institutions may purchase any
compatible H.323 and/or H.320 compliant equipment to further
extend their videoconferencing facilities. Further information
on many products is available at the JANET
Video Technologies Advisory Service.
Institutions should be aware that if they
wish their new equipment to be supported by the WVN Support
Centre, they should contact the Support Centre for help and
advice before purchase, to ensure compatibility of equipment.
-
- What do you advise regarding the security
of the studio equipment?
-
Welsh Video Network studios
have an extensive amount of expensive equipment. Therefore it is
important that both the studio entrance door and the cabinet doors are
locked when not in use. Each cabinet has an individual key for both
front and back doors.
The studio entrance door key
should be held centrally, according to your local policy.
The studio has been designed
so that the only cabinet that needs to be opened by a lecturer is the
one containing the video and data sharing PC (usually the left hand
cabinet). We would advise that the key to the front door of this
cabinet is kept with the studio entrance door key. Your technical
support team should hold the other 5 keys (either IT or media services
depending on your establishment), which should only be required in
exceptional circumstances.
It
also may be advisable to keep any peripherals such as the data sharing
PC wireless keyboard and mouse, and the WACOM pen and mouse stored in
the locked cabinet containing the data sharing PC and video.
-
- How is all of the equipment controlled?
-
- All of the studio equipment is controlled from a single touch screen. There
is a WVN
Studio Guide to using the touch-screen controller .
-
- How is the main camera operated?
-
- The main camera can identify and transmit video of the current
speaker (or other current focus) in any one of three ways:
- via the studio control using left/right/up/down, zoom in/out
etc.
- via the studio control by pre-configured positions, or "presets"
- via the voice-activated auto-tracking option, which allows the camera to
identify and automatically focus on the current speaker. This mode allows a
convenient 'hands-free' camera operation.
- Never try to move the camera
manually.
These are all fully explained in the WVN
Studio Guide to camera control.
-
Up to what distance is the camera's auto-tracking able to
function?
-
- Auto-tracking will work up to about 5 metres from the main camera.
-
- How far does the projector need to be from the
screen?
-
- The projector should be in a
position so that the projected image maps onto the active area of the
whiteboard. In practice this has been found to be between 105 and 115
inches for optimum use.
- What can the projector be used to project?
-
- The projector can be used to project:
-
- The 'Remote Picture' - this will display on the
whiteboard whatever is currently displayed on the remote monitor -
this could include the camera view of a remote studio, or a videotape
or document image being sent from a remote studio.
- The 'Local Picture' - this will display whatever is currently being 'sent'.
This could include the image from either camera, an image from the document camera, or
the image from a playing videotape in the studio VCR.
- The 'Data PC' -
whatever is currently displayed on the Data PC monitor.
- The projector cannot be used to project the
image on the preview monitor unless it is currently being sent.
Why is the projected 'Local
Picture' part of the 'PictureTel' window ?
- The image that is projected may appear within the
PictureTel window (rather than full screen). This is a software
feature and will disappear with the next distribution of the
PictureTel software. To project a full-screen image of the
contents of the local monitor use the 'Full Screen' button on the
touchscreen controller.
- Can the interactive electronic
whiteboard be mounted on a mobile stand?
-
- It is recommended that the interactive electronic whiteboard
is wall mounted. This is to ensure that the projector image is always
focused sharply on the whiteboard and the whiteboard calibration is
maintained. The projector focus adjustment is very sensitive and if
the whiteboard is moved, even slightly, the image will no longer be
sharp and the whiteboard will be out of calibration. Where a
whiteboard has been installed on a moveable stand, the stand should be
locked into place to prevent problems with focus and callibration.
-
- Can I replace the interactive
whiteboard with a different one?
-
- All the WVN studios were supplied with TeamBoard
interactive whiteboards. It is acceptable for an Institution to
replace the TeamBoard whiteboards, however, any Institution that
replaces its whiteboard/s must ensure that the WVN Support Centre is
kept fully informed of the changes. It is also important to
note that the Support Centre will not support replacement whiteboards,
nor will the replacement whiteboards come under the maintenance
agreement for studio equipment. The responsibility for support
and maintenance will lie entirely with the Institution. The
WVN also advises that careful records should be kept by the
Institution detailing the replacement and what has been done with the
original whiteboard.
-
-
How far from the CODEC will the tie-clip radio microphone
operate?
-
- The radio microphone should function
from anywhere within the studio.
- Should the equipment be switched
off when not in use?
-
- It is essential
that the equipment be left switched on in standby mode at all times. This
is partly to minimise failure as a result of frequent power cycling but
more importantly to enable remote management and configuration by the
Support Centre. The equipment is configured to auto-answer incoming
calls.
-
- The only items which should be switched off by
end-users after use are: the radio microphone; the three large monitors
and the data PC monitor. Using the 'Exit' button on the controller
will put all other equipment into 'standby' mode.
-
Does the data PC use the same network connections as the videoconference?
-
- No, the Data PC uses the local network and JANET access connection to connect to the the other studio, whereas the videoconference uses the ISDN network.
-
- Even if the videoconference is connecting over IP, the Data PC is not necessarily using the same network connections as the videoconference.
- Why do we have problems sharing high quality
images between studios using the Data PC?
-
- In order to get the best possible results when sharing images using the Data PC and NetMeeting, tick the
'Share in True Colour' box when sharing the application that is displaying the image.
-
- If you still have problems, make sure that all sites are using Netmeeting Version 3.x or later. Earlier versions of Netmeeting only supported 256 colours. All Welsh Video Network studios are using Netmeeting Version 3.01. If there are non-WVN sites involved in the data-sharing, ask them to upgrade their NetMeeting to version 3.01 if they haven't already done so.
-
- Make sure all participants have their display settings set to 'True Colour (24 bit)'. Netmeeting Version 3.01 supports 2 display settings, 256 Colours and True Colour. If any participating PC has it's display set to anything less (including High Colour (16 bit) then the PC that is sharing will reduce the quality of the image to 256 Colours for all participants.
-
- It is a good idea to make sure that all participants are using the same size screen, as well. WVN Data PC's should all be set at 1024x768 pixels. This can be checked, and altered if necessary, by right-clickingon the desk-top, selecting 'Properties' and then the 'Settings' tab. If you are not sure how to do this, your local technical support should be able to help.
-
- Where can I find out about using
a particular piece of equipment?
-
- Each piece of equipment in the WVN studio has an
associated 'Studio Guide'. These are all available at: http://www.wvn.ac.uk/vc.htm
. Also, see the FAQ's relating to Support and
Training.
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