EVO FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I get to use EVO?

Firstly, use of EVO by Australian researchers is FREE. All that is required is for you to register as an EVO user.

2. Is there any software I need to install?

Yes and no. Yes- you will need to ensure that you have Java running on your machine. No- the EVO client application is downloaded for you the first time you use EVO and also installed automatically, and any updated versions of the client will be downloaded and installed automatically as they are developed. The only installation you are required to ensure yourself is that Java is installed on your machine.

3. What support is available?

The ARCS Customer Service Desk is available to Australian researchers. Whilst Service Desk staff will endeavour to provide a solution to your problem, please be aware that there may be some issues- particularly with regards to networking- that will be the responsibility of your local/institutional IT support.

4 . What does EVO allow me to do?

In the simplest context, EVO is a video-conference tool. That is, you may have virtual meetings with colleagues at other locations, where each participant enjoys two-way audio and video from all the other participants.

EVO is also a video-collaboration tool. Extra functionality includes the ability to

• send part or all of your desktop as a video stream to the meeting
• use a shared whiteboard
• transfer files
• send multiple camera streams
• use text chat for information exchange, or as an aid to smooth running of the meeting
• H.323 connection capability
• record a meeting, if desired.

Thus, users can talk to and see eachother, as well as share information by other means.

5. Is EVO cross-platform?

Yes. EVO works on Linux, Mac and Windows. The production release of EVO 2 in April 2010 has given a revised interface to the Koala client, as well as an OpenGL-based GUI for EVO's video window (the "vievo" window) which is now common across the three major operating systems.

6. What hardware do I need?

This depends somewhat on your intended use. We'll consider three options...

• personal (single-user) : laptop or desktop computer (most current machines should have suitable specification), a camera (built-in or external webcam should suffice), headset with headphones/microphone
• 2-3 users : as above, but using some sort of small echo-cancelling microphone/speaker unit for audio send/receive
• 4 or more : computer as above, but now need a larger display- either a large monitor, or one or more projectors. A higher-quality camera, possibly a pan-tilt-zoom type, is a bonus, and may require a video capture card on the computer. Audio via a larger echo-cancelling microphone/speaker unit, or else a room audio system that incorporates echo-cancelling hardware.

In essence, you'll need a reasonably good computer (more RAM, and faster, the better), a camera that can give a good image of your local participants, a display suited to the number of people viewing it locally, and an audio system that avoids or eliminates feedback between local audio input and output.

7. Can I use EVO at home?

Yes. Of course, the speed of your connection will be an important factor. There is only so much data transfer rate that a particular broadband connection can achieve in both directions.

A nominal value of 384kbit/s should be allowed for each sent and received participant stream. That is, your upload speed should be at least 384kbit/s. For download, the data rate will depend on how many participants are sending video and audio in the meeting.

If your connection is struggling with the data rate, you will experience low frame rates in video, and possibly also break-ups in the audio. You can adjust your sent video quality to suit your upload speed if required, and other participants may be asked to lower their transmitted video quality to lower the meeting's total bandwidth.

8. Are there any security options?

There are a few things you can do to make your EVO video conference session more secure.

Firstly, be sure to enter a password when booking a meeting. This applies to both ad-hoc meetings and those scheduled for a specific date and time.

Ad-hoc Meeting

Scheduled Meeting

Regardless of the type of meeting, EVO will email you – as the meeting convenor - with the details once the meeting has been created. The password will appear in plain text in the body of the email.

You need to provide this password to all participants. When they try to join the password secured meeting, they will be required to enter the chosen password as shown below.

You can tell meetings are password protected because they have a padlock icon next to them when viewed in the Koala Meeting Browser. They will also show Password Protected if you hover your cursor over them.

9. How can I connect EVO to Tandberg, Polycom or other H.323-based video-conference systems?

Something that works in most cases is to use EVO's H.323 call. You will need to know the IP address of the remote v/c system. The remote system needs to be on in order for EVO to be able to make a successful call to it. As the connection is initiated by EVO, the people at the remote site should have their system operating and waiting for you to make the H.323 call via EVO.

If the remote v/c system is an MCU (Multipoint Control Unit), and the meeting you wish to join (via EVO) has a meeting ID number associated with the MCU, you will need to make the H.323 call from EVO with the remote system's IP address specified as "xyz@IPaddress", where "xyz" is that meeting's MCU ID number, and "IPaddress" is the IP address of the MCU itself.

10. What are the low-bandwidth options?

There are various things that can be done to accommodate a participant who is on a low-bandwidth network. Which ones can be implemented may depend somewhat on the nature of the meeting.
Possibilities include

• having only the presenter, or main speaker, sending video

• for those sending video, they can reduce their sending bandwidth value via the Video parameters menu in vievo (clicking on the double-arrow symbol next to the webcam icon in the vievo window will display the various vievo-related menus)

• for those sending video, reducing the camera resolution via the Camera settings menu may reduce their sent bandwidth somewhat- but this may have less effect than reducing the bandwidth setting

• the person who is on low-bandwidth may select the "Limited Bandwidth" option for incoming video by clicking on the "Show Settings Window" button in Koala, then selecting the Video tab, and then selecting "Limited Bandwidth" in the "Videos Received" section. This tells EVO to bundle the video streams from the four most-recent speakers into a single video stream to be sent to this person, thus reducing the incoming bandwidth to that person. It does mean, however, that in meetings with more than four other participants, only the four people who have spoken most recently will be seen by the "low-bandwidth" person.

The first three options attempt to reduce the total traffic for the entire meeting. The fourth option is EVO's way of trying to accommodate low-bandwidth users by modifying the video traffic that is sent to them.

11. What if I'm behind a web proxy?

As EVO uses Java webstart, you need to ensure that Java webstart is configured so as to use the correct web proxy server (the exact details will, of course, depend on your own local IT setup).

If Java webstart does not have the correct proxy settings, it is unlikely that EVO will be able to start. For example, you'll click "Start" on the EVO@AU portal, then nothing may happen for some time, then you'll get an error message saying that the application could not start (or some other message, perhaps). In any case, EVO will not start.

To see the proxy settings that Java webstart uses, start a command line on your system, and then enter the following command : javaws -viewer
and navigate as appropriate to get to the proxy settings. (There are alternative methods of getting to the same settings, depending on your machine's operating system).

12. How do I clear my Java cache?

On occasion, it may be necessary to clear the Java cache on one's machine. This may be necessary, for example, when EVO is signed with a new certificate. It may also help if there are problems with starting applications which use Java webstart. Instructions on how to clear the Java cache can be found here.

13. What other applications can EVO connect to?

EVO can connect to a number of other communication tools

• Access Grid, via the EVO-AG bridging venues which are accessible by both applications
• H.323 (e.g. Tandberg, Polycom) systems, via EVO's H.323 call (also to systems which use SIP); see here
• telephone (audio only) via the telephone bridge; see here for general information and here for Australian phone numbers
• Skype (audio only); see here for instructions

14. Can EVO serve as a bridge between otherwise non-compatible applications

Yes- for example, H.323 to Access Grid, as follows : In EVO, join one of the EVO-AG bridged meetings. Then use EVO's H.323 call to bring the remote H.323 system into that bridged venue. The Access Grid node then needs to join the same bridged venue in the Access Grid venue client. It should then be possible for the Access Grid node and the H.323 system to see and hear eachother.

This same idea can also be used to bridge the various applications as outlined in item 13; but note : not all sharing tools (EVO whiteboard, AG shared presentations, etc) will necessarily work across these bridging operations. By all means, try, but it is not guaranteed that all shared tools will work in such circumstances.