logo.gif MCU 4505
host: MCU

Viewing the conference participant list

The Participant list displays information about active and previous participants in the conference. To access this list, go to Conferences and click a Conference name. This page explains the information available in the participant list.

On this page:

Conference information

Above the list of participants, certain information about the conference is displayed:

Lock conference

A locked conference is one where new participants cannot dial in and you cannot start to stream the conference. Existing participants and streaming viewers will maintain their connection to the conference. If a conference is locked, an icon will indicate this on the auto attendant. The auto attendant will also display the text: 'This conference is locked'.

Note that participants that are pre-configured via the API will be able to dial in to the conference even if it is locked. This allows conferences to be restricted to specific participants (known as whitelisting).

Admin users and the conference owner can lock and unlock a conference.

When the final participant leaves, by default, the conference will be automatically unlocked by the MCU. However, you can configure the MCU to keep a conference locked even when the final participant leaves. To configure this feature, go to Settings > Conferences > Advanced settings.

When a conference is locked, admin users and the conference owner will still be able to connect new endpoints and disconnect participants.

To lock a conference:

  1. Go to Conferences and click on the name of the conference you want to lock. The Conference's Participant List displays.
  2. Click the Lock conference button in the top right-hand corner of the page.

ConferenceMe link

If you have the Web Conferencing feature key, participants will be able to join the conference using TANDBERG ConferenceMe (a software endpoint). To join the conference using ConferenceMe, click Join.

To invite participants to join the conference using ConferenceMe, click Invite. The MCU automatically generates an email. Alternatively, you can copy the link in the ConferenceMe link text box and paste it in to an email.

For more information on ConferenceMe, refer to Using ConferenceMe to join conferences.

Active participants

Refer to the table below for details about the active participant list, which you can modify in the following ways:

 

Field Field description Usage tips
Type

Indicates whether the participant's endpoint is an H.323, SIP, or VNC endpoint.

 

Participant

Displays the name of the endpoint.

The following may also be displayed:

 

User: <user id>
If the participant has been resolved to a particular configured user (for instance by matching the participant's E.164 phone number against a configured value), then the appropriate user id will be shown here.

User names only display if the participant list is being viewed by an administrator, because only administrators have access to the configured user database.

Configuration: <name>
This indicates that this participant corresponds to a pre-defined endpoint. The <name> shown is the endpoint's configured name.

Configured endpoint names only display if the participant list is being viewed by a user whose privilege level is administrator or conference creation and full control; only users with these privilege levels have access to the configured endpoint database.

Controls

make important Makes participant important

remove important status Makes participant unimportant

When you make a participant "important", it sets this participant as the focused participant. For example, this participant is considered the loudest participant even if they are not speaking.

Only one participant can be identified as "important", and no participant is set to "important" by default.

This option affects the layout views for the conference and individual participants. See Selecting a custom participant view and Customizing layout views.

If the content channel is made "important", one participant can still be important. On endpoints that support content, the content channel will be displayed in the content channel window and the important participant will be given the focus in the main video window. On endpoints that do not support content, the important participant will be ignored as the content channel will be given the focus.

mute audio Prevents other participants from hearing this participant (mute).

stop muting Allows other participants to hear this participant's audio (stop muting)

mute videoPrevents others from seeing this participant's video contribution (mute).

stop muting videoAllows others to see this participant's video contribution (stop muting).

 

The presence of these controls is controlled by the Participant list controls setting on the Settings > User interface page (refer to Customizing the user interface).

 disconnect participant from the conference Disconnects a participant from the conference

You can configure the MCU to require confirmation when someone attempts to disconnect an individual participant from a conference. This setting is on the Settings > User interface page.

Status

Displays the time at which a participant connected to the conference. If a participant is not yet fully connected (for example, if the MCU has called a participant but it has not yet answered), then that is indicated here. The resolution of the participant's video stream is also displayed.

The following additional indications may also be displayed:

If this column is selected as the sorting field, the listing is ordered according to when the participants connected to the conference.

When ClearVision is enabled on the Settings > Conferences page, the original and enhanced video resolutions are shown in the "Rx:" line; the original resolution is displayed in a highlighted form and the enhanced resolution is shown when the user's mouse pointer is moved to this highlighted resolution.

Recording
Indicates that the conference is being recorded.

 

Encrypted
Indicates that all media streams in both directions (to and from the endpoint and the MCU) are encrypted.

Rx encrypted
Indicates that all media streams received from this participant are encrypted.

Tx encrypted
Indicates that all media streams sent to this participant are encrypted.

Next to the encryption indication is the AES check code. This can be used in combination with information displayed by some endpoints to check that the encryption is secure.

Pre-configured
This indicates that this participant is in the conference because of a pre-configured endpoint.

See Adding pre-configured participants for additional information on adding endpoints to conferences in this way.

No audio capabilities
No video capabilities
These messages indicate that the MCU has not opened a media channel to a participant's endpoint because it has no capability to receive that type of channel. For example, if the endpoint is a simple telephone, you might expect to see "No video capabilities" shown here.

 

No common audio codecs
No common video codecs
These messages indicate that the remote endpoint had declared media capabilities, but the MCU was not permitted to open a channel that the endpoint was prepared to receive.

This is most likely to occur if you have disabled one or more codecs in the "Audio codecs from MCU" or "Video codecs from MCU" configuration on the Advanced conference settings web page.

No common audio formats
No common video formats
These messages indicate that the remote endpoint had declared media capabilities including codecs that the MCU was permitted to send, but that the MCU was unable to transmit the specific formats declared.

This could occur if, for instance, the far end's advertised receive video sizes were all 4CIF (704 x 576 pixels) or above, and the MCU was set to not transmit above CIF (352 x 288 pixels).

No common symmetric audio codecs
No common symmetric video codecs
Indicates that the MCU was unable to open a media channel to the endpoint because the only possible channels it would be able to open were invalid due to a symmetry clash. This clash occurs when the remote endpoint declared that it is only able to receive certain types of media if it is also sending the same format, and the format in question is one that the MCU is able to send but not receive.

 

Audio port limit exceeded
Video port limit exceeded
These messages occur if a channel was unable to be opened solely because doing so would have exceeded the port limit. This limit may be a per-conference restriction or, for those conferences which impose no such limit, it could be that all of the MCU's available ports were in use.

 

Endpoint audio and video channels rejected
Endpoint audio channel rejected
Endpoint video channel rejected
Indicates that the MCU is unable to receive the media format that the endpoint is trying to transmit.

 

Tx:
Rx:
These status rows show details of the audio and (main) video streams being sent to or received from the endpoint.
Tx refers to media streams sent by the MCU, and Rx means media streams being received by the MCU.

If the MCU has received information that the endpoint has been muted at the far end, this will be indicated in the Rx row as "muted remotely".

Content tx: <status>
This row (if present) shows one of two things: the characteristics of the content video channel being sent by the MCU to a participant, or the reason why no such stream is currently being transmitted. The status values that can be shown here are:

Content tx: pending
The MCU is able to send content video to the participant but is not currently doing so. This is normally because there is no active content channel video source for the conference. This status will also be shown for a participant which is the content channel video source and is also capable of receiving the currently active content video stream.

Content tx: disabled
Content is enabled for this conference, but this participant is not allowed to receive it. To enable content for this participant, configure the Content video receive setting for this participant's endpoint (refer to Configuring H.323 endpoints), or use the enable control for an active call.

Content tx: no common codecs
There is a unit-wide setting that determines which video codec is used by the MCU for outgoing content channels. The Outgoing content video codec is on the Settings > Content page.

This message means that the endpoint is able to receive content video, but not using the same codec as the MCU is configured to transmit.

Content tx: resolution mismatch
Content tx: bit rate mismatch
For each conference, the MCU uses a single video stream for all outgoing content connections to endpoints. This entails considering all endpoints' receive capabilities and deciding which resolution and bit rate to send in order to maximize the number of content channel viewers. These messages mean that the MCU has been unable to include this endpoint in the set of content viewers because of its limitations with regard to video resolution or bit rate. Note that it is possible to configure a lower limit on the bandwidth of the shared content video encoding which will cause a bit rate mismatch where an endpoint is only able to receive a low bit rate stream (refer to Configuring content settings).

Content tx: no common formats
This conference's configuration specifies that the content channel is transmitted in 16:9 resolutions only. However, this endpoint does not support 16:9 resolutions. To allow the MCU to select a content resolution that will accommodate the capabilities of all endpoints in the conference, change the Transmitted content resolutions setting in the conference's configuration to Allow all resolutions.


Content tx: mode mismatch
The MCU supports only presentation mode for its content channels; specifically, H.239 live mode is not supported. This status message indicates that the endpoint is content-capable but does not support presentation mode.

Content tx: encryption not possible
The MCU is unable to send encrypted content video to this participant.

FURs ignored
The MCU has detected that the content link to this endpoint is experiencing problems, and has stopped sending video keyframes in response to Fast Update Requests (FURs) to avoid degrading the content video sent to other conference participants. The MCU will only enter this state if the Video fast update request filtering setting is Enabled (see Configuring content settings).

No Content tx status will be shown if the conference does not have content channel video enabled, or if the endpoint has no content capabilities.

You may change whether the MCU is prepared to send the conference content channel stream to an endpoint using content using the enable or disable control here. If sending of content video to an endpoint is currently not allowed, you will see the enable option, otherwise you will see the disable option.

For more information about using content, refer to Content channel video support.

Content video source (main video)
Content video source
The associated participant is currently supplying the conference's content channel video.

 

Content: unable to use main video as source
Use of this participant's main video source as the content (content channel) source has failed. This is normally because there is already a source for the content channel; either another participant's main video channel which has been configured in the same way (VNC participants are set up this way by default) or a content video channel contributed by a connected endpoint.

 

Packet loss detected
This message appears if packet loss is detected between the MCU and the endpoint.

Click View to open the Participant statistics page and display details about the connection, for example the packet errors. See Displaying statistics for a participant.

Conference chair
This endpoint has requested and been granted the chair.

For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.

Active floor

The endpoint has requested and been granted the floor and its media is being broadcast to all endpoints in the conference.

For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.

Inactive floor

This endpoint believes it has been granted the floor, but its media is not being shown to all endpoints in the conference.

This situation can occur when an endpoint requested the floor, was granted the floor, and was then moved to another conference where there was already an active floor participant.

For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.

Assigned floor

This endpoint's media is being broadcast to all endpoints in the conference, although it did not request the floor itself.

This situation can occur if another endpoint, while chair, has issued H.243 commands to make that endpoint the floor.

For more information, refer to H.243 floor and chair control.

Cascade link to master
Cascade link from slave
Indicates that this connection is a cascade link to or from another conference.

 

Preview

Displays a sample still video capture of the participant.

Click the picture to update it.

Note that conferences that are configured to require encryption do not show previews. Also note that previews can be disabled on theSettings > User interface page (refer to Customizing the user interface).

Controls

These controls are only available if the conference is configured with content enabled, and if the participant is contributing a main video channel.

use main video channel as content source  This control causes the MCU to attempt to use the participant's main video channel as the conference's content channel source. This will not be possible if the conference already has an active content channel source (either an endpoint's content video channel or another participant's main video activated via this control).

stop using main video channel as content source  This control causes the MCU to stop attempting to use the participant's main video channel as the conference's content channel source. It is necessary to use this control to switch to using a different endpoint's primary video channel or to enable content video contribution from endpoints.

See Content channel video support for additional information on H.239 and BFCP.



All-participant controls

Although you may use the controls described above to manage one participant at a time, for example to mute that participant's audio, or to make them important, you may wish to manage all participants at once. The all-participant controls permit you to do this. Note that you may continue to use the per-participant controls in conjunction with the all-participant controls. Refer to the table below for details of the controls available:

 

Field Field description Usage tips
Importance

remove important status Makes all participants unimportant

If no participants are currently important, then this control will be unavailable.

Mute

mute all audio This stops all audio in the conference (mute).

stop muting all audio Allows all participants to hear the audio in the conference (stop muting).

mute all videoPrevents others from seeing all participants' video contribution (mute).

stop muting all videoAllows others to see all participants' video contribution (stop muting).

If no participants are currently muted, the stop muting controls will be unavailable. If all participants are currently muted, the mute controls will be unavailable.

The presence of these controls is controlled by the Participant list controls setting on the Settings > User interface page (refer to Customizing the user interface).

Disconnect

disconnect all participants Disconnects all participants from the conference.

If this conference was created ad hoc, then disconnecting all the participants will terminate the conference as well.

View

make all voice switched Selects voice-switched view for all participants (see Customizing a participant's layout view).

select full screen view Selects full screen view for all participants.

display layout selection panel Displays the layout selection panel from which you can select a layout view that all current participants will see. This panel offers the same choices as going to Conferences > Custom layout. (See Customizing layout views).

If all participants are watching the voice-switched view, then this control will be unavailable.

Control

disable layout control Prevents participants from changing their own view layout from their endpoint.

permit layout control Allows participants to change their own view layout from their endpoint.

If no participants may control their own view layout, the prevent control will be unavailable. If all participants may control their own layout, the allow control will be unavailable.

Previous participants

Refer to the table below to get details about the previous participant list. To delete this list, click Clear previous participants record.

 

Field Field description Usage tips
Type

Indicates whether the participant is an H.323, SIP, or VNC endpoint.

 

Participant

Displays the name of the participant (endpoint).

 

Controls

make important Re-connects a participant to the conference.

A previous participant can only be re-connected to a conference if their endpoint is a pre-configured endpoint.

Note that if the original call to the conference was from the endpoint rather than the endpoint being invited by the MCU, then for the MCU to recognize it, that endpoint must be configured with Call-in match parameters. If the MCU did not recognize that the call was from a pre-configured endpoint then the re-connect control will not be available.

For more information about configuring endpoints on the MCU refer to Configuring H.323 endpoints and Configuring SIP endpoints.

Status

Displays the time at which a participant disconnected from the conference and who initiated the disconnect.

 

Pre-configured participants

Refer to the table below to get details about pre-configured endpoints.

 

Field Field description Usage tips
Type

Indicates whether the participant is an H.323, SIP, or VNC endpoint.

 

Name

Displays the name of the endpoint.

 

Status

Displays the connection status of the pre-configured participant.

This field shows which participants have connected, which have disconnected, and reasons for failure if a participant has failed to connect to the conference.

Summary information show summary information for this conference

You may wish to inform participants about conference details such as start time, and so on. Click the Summary information icon to display further details about a conference. This information may be copied to the clipboard for convenience.

Streaming the conference watch this conference

Click this icon to stream the conference. This is exactly the same as clicking the Streaming link in the Conference list. Both take you to the conference streaming page.

This option is only available if you have streaming enabled on your MCU. To enable streaming, go to Settings > Streaming. See Using streaming to view conferences for more information.

Related topics