Polycom HDX at the ISTE 2010 SIG IVC Playground

Background: The SIG IVC Playground at ISTE 2010 featured six videoconferencing islands. Participants tried out two HD units and four desktop videoconferencing solutions. We used a pirate theme to make the learning and exploration fun. At each island, attendees had to talk to people in mystery locations to figure out where they were and which content provider they were.

In this blog post, I share the experience from the Polycom HDX island.

Polycom HDX Setup

Polycom provided the HDX equipment that was used in the playground and in the SIG IVC room throughout the rest of the conference.

In this picture, Danny Maas from Edmonton, Alberta is the pirate guide.

We used the Promethean board display and projector (supplied with the playground) as a screen and method to show the video from the HD system. These systems are more often set up with carts in schools as shown in pictures here.

In the picture above, note the equipment. The microphone (designed for room systems) is sitting on the stool. The remote control for the system is in the participant’s hand. The camera is to the right of the Promethean board on a small table. The videoconference system itself (sometimes called the codec) is also on the table to the right of the Promethean board. These are typical basic components of all videoconference hardware solutions.

In this picture (by Lori Colwill), you can see the microphone on the stool if you look carefully. Note also how well this island handled groups of people.

In this picture you can see how good the quality is and also how the picture in picture (or self-view) shows up in the top corner (can be moved around).

At this island, participants dialed out to:

  1. National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
  2. CET Challenger Learning Center
  3. Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
  4. Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

I Learned

I have the same comments as on the Tandberg Edge:

  • Since my daily job is connecting my schools (with Polycom VSX 7000s and Viewstations) to lots of similar systems around the country, including all different kinds of Polycom systems, I didn’t really learn anything new. This island worked successfully and steadily just as I would have expected!
  • Also, as expected, this island handled groups of people much better than the desktop videoconferencing islands.
  • One thing I wanted to learn though, is how to use the far end camera control to change the layout of the conference when dialed into a Codian bridge. We did have a Codian from REMC 1 on the list of places to dial, but I never got a chance to play with it and figure it out. Too busy solving other problems and issues with the playground. Do you know? Please comment!

What about you?

Did you make it to the ISTE IVC Playground? Or have you played with Polycom HDX before? What would you add?

4 replies on “Polycom HDX at the ISTE 2010 SIG IVC Playground”

    • It was fun, Carol!! Next year maybe you want to stay up late or get up in the middle of the night for an hour and be one of the sites people dial too. Roxanne and I thought it was funny that people were surprised they got a dark room with one of the Polycom offices in Australia. It’s a great way to get people to think about time zones! We had an eval too of someone who wanted to connect to another country… Think about it anyway!

  1. I know we have a lot of sunshine – but not at night 🙂

    Yes – many people don’t have timezones in the front of their mind – so this was a good lesson in that alone.

    Maybe I’ll be there in person next year rather than staying up late – or getting up early!

    • Oh Sweet!!! It would be awesome to have you in person!! You should submit a session or maybe even SIG IVC would invite you to be part of the SIG IVC workshop. I’m not on the committee but could put in a word for you!

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