One in a possible series of pages exploring the workings of the Cisco Webex Room Kit equipment at Belmont Center. The assumption is that the system is working as designed, and that use of the system will improve with operator experience. The series will be shared with other community groups preparing to use the Room Kit.
May 31, 2022
In the notes below on the nine clips in the video, issues raised have mostly to do with the extreme sensitivity of the microphone array to non-voice clicks, coughs, chair movements and other room noise. The array controls movements of the Quad camera when the Quad is operating with “Speaker Track” turned on.
In most of the clips, the PTZ camera was initially engaged. The Quad was selected via tablet preset. Only after the Quad was selected was Speaker Track turned on manually. Thus, it is regularly 5-plus seconds after the Quad view appears that any Quad camera zooming toward the speaker occurs. The clips generally end after the video view returns manually to the PTZ.
The clips are taken from the May 31 Forum archived here. Comments and advice from trained technicians or experienced Room Kit users may be added to the comments below as relevant.
– Steve Johnston
Clip 1.
In this clip at 0:58, “can’t afford market rate” the speaker track zoomed in on speaker. There were a number of loud sounds after 0:58 and before 1:21, but it’s unclear why at 1:21 the speaker track had the Quad zoom out.
Clip 2.
This clip may best raise the issue of whether the two supplemental Kit mics now sitting on the presenters table should be moved, or at least set on foam to reduce interference. It is not clear to me where else they could go. A series of clicking sounds, possibly from the presenter table outside the Quad’s view, may have caused the Quad to zoom out at 2:22. When Quad returns to the speaker at 2:29, it zooms in even further than it was before 2:22. There is a clicking sound at 2:50; did that click cause the zoom out at 2:54? The return to the speaker at 3:00 is at a third zoom position. Another zoom out at 3:08 may have been caused by a sniffle or the movement of something on the presenters table at 3:05. Another zoom in-out occurs at 3:16 and 3:19.
Clip 3.
Despite a fair amount of whispering off-screen, the Speaker Track kept focus on the speaker. Was it because of the speaker’s fuller voice and mostly uninterrupted enunciation of words that Quad did not move?
Clip 4.
This clip shows three zoomed positions of the speaker, whose chair is at the edge of the 7.5 meter radius in which Speaker Track is designed to work. The reason is not clear for the zoom at 4:25 to show silient participants, then return to the speaker at 4:31.
Clip 5.
Some portion of the Quad delay in zooming in on the speaker is accounted for by manually turning on Speaker Track. Laughter to the left of the speaker may account for the Quad movement.
Clip 6.
A single sound at 5:39 off camera appears to account for the zoom out at 5:41.
Clip 7.
The zoom in at 5:55, after Speaker Track is engaged, lasts only 4 seconds. Was it responding to what sounds like a throat being cleared off camera?
Clip 8.
As one person speaks from the back at a fairly constant pace and uninterrupted by other voices, between 6:33 and 7:17, Quad shows six different views of the speaker. There may be technical explanations for each Quad move, but the result is a distracting video that could easily raise questions in viewers’ minds.
Clip 9.
In this long sequence of announcements from the floor, Quad stays put until a slight zoom in at 9:09. The reason for the change is not apparent.