Interoperability issue for RealPresence Group 500

[Anonymous]

Hi,

      Recently my company purchased Polycom RealPresence Group 500 for video conferencing. Everything is fine except for connection to an old Tandberg machine (which seems of model 6000 MXP) from one of my partners. When a connection is setup via H.323, we can hear each other. However, as for the video, I cannot see my partner but he can see me. According to the call statistics shown in web GUI, H.264 was used both Video Tx and Rx. And the transmission rates are about 600~800 kbps for both Video Tx and Rx. Unfortunately, I just cannot see video transmitted from the Tandberg machine.

      In order to solve this problem, my partner tried to force the Tandberg machine to use H.263. Then, we can see each other. I guess Group 500 just cannot correcly decode the H.264 video from the Tandberg machine.

      The bad news is that my partner is reluctant to force the Tandberg machine to use H.263 for some reason. Is it possible for me to force Group 500 to use H.263 instead of H.264 as the default video codec? Or is there any configuration I can try to solve my weird problem?

      Thank you!

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello argay,

welcome to the Polycom Community.

It is always useful to include the currently used Software version as issues experienced may already be addressed in a newer release.

This also allows yourself and others to check against current software release notes if the device you trying to communicate with has even been tested by Polycom for compatibility.

The above is also stated in the "Welcome to the Polycom standalone video endpoints support Forums! Please Read this before posting"

In addition the Polycom Video FAQ contains this post here:

• Jun 21,2014 Question: Are there specific Ports in my firewall that I need to open in order to utilize video conferencing?
  
  Answer: Please check the relevant release notes or admin guide for your device under the section “Inbound and Outbound Ports” or "Port usage" => here <=.
  
  In addition check this FAQ post => here <= for more details and troubleshooting suggestions.

• Jun 21,2014 Question: What could be causing one way video or one way audio when utilizing video conferencing?
  
  Answer: Please check the relevant release notes or admin guide for your device under the section “Inbound and Outbound Ports” or "Port usage" => here <= in order to open the relevant firewall ports.
  
  In addition check this FAQ post => here <= for more details and troubleshooting suggestions.

Please ensure to provide some feedback if this reply has helped you so other users can profit from your experience.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier

Polycom Global Services

[Anonymous]

Hello Steffen,

      I'm very grateful to you for your help and also sorry for unintentional violation of the community guidelines.

      The software version of my RealPresence Group 500 is Release - 5.0.0-211246. In addition, there is no firewalls between my Group 500 and the Tandberg machine. And neithier of the two machines is behind NAT. Therefore, I think the improper configuration for firewall/NAT is not the cause of my problem. Also, according to the call statistics shown in web GUI, transmission rates of Video Tx and Rx are between 600~800 kbps. So, the video traffic into Group 500 seems not blocked by any intermidiate network devices.

      Since Tandberg 6000 MXP is an old product about 8 years ago. I guess the Tandberg machine encodes h.264 video in a way which cannot be decoded by Group 500? But h.263 works weel for both sides. That's why I am searching for a solution to force Group 500 to use h.263 instaed use h.264 as the default video codec.

      I will check the FAQ for more info. Thanks again for your kindly reply.