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Help contents > Managing conferences > Managing participants > Displaying statistics for a participant

Displaying statistics for a participant

You can view statistics about the video and audio streams between individual participants (endpoints) and the MCU by choosing this option:

  1. Go to Conferences.
  2. Click a Conference name and then click on a participant's name.
  3. Click the Statistics tab.

If the participant is participating in the conference using audio only, the values for the video settings are not populated.

Media statistics

Media statistics provide detailed information about the actual voice and video streams (Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP) packets).

When examining media statistics for a conference's streaming viewers, there are many fewer applicable values and so a different, more limited, set of information is displayed. In this case, the MCU shows how many streams of each outgoing audio and video format are being transmitted.

Refer to the table below for additional information.


Field Field description Usage tips
Audio
Receive stream

The audio codec in use, along with the current packet size (in milliseconds) if known.

If the MCU has received information that an endpoint has been muted at the far end, this will be indicated here.

Receive address

The IP address and port from which the media is originating.

 

Encryption

Whether or not encryption is being used on the audio receive stream by this endpoint.

This field will only appear if the encryption feature key is present on the MCU.

Received jitter

The apparent variation in arrival time from that expected for the media packets (in milliseconds). The current jitter buffer also displays in parentheses.

You should expect to see small values for this setting. Consistently large numbers typically imply potential network problems.

The jitter buffer shows the current playout delay added to the media to accommodate the packet arrival jitter. Large jitter values indicate a longer buffer.

Received energy

Represents the audio volume originating from the endpoint.

 

Packets received

The number of audio packets destined for the MCU from this endpoint.

 

Packet errors

The number of packet errors, including sequence errors, and packets of the wrong type.

You should expect to see small values for this setting. Consistently large numbers typically imply potential network problems.

Frame errors

Frame errors, as A/B where A is the number of frame errors, and B is the total number of frames received.

A frame is a unit of audio, the size of which is dependent on codec.

You should expect to see small values for this setting. Consistently large numbers typically imply potential network problems.

Media information

If the time stamps or marker bits (or both) are detected to be unreliable in the incoming video stream, information will be displayed here.

This field is not displayed when there is no problem with the time stamps and marker bits. Where there is a problem the following text is displayed: "Media timestamps unreliable", "Media marker bits unreliable", or both if both conditions detected.

Transmit stream

The audio codec being sent from the MCU to the endpoint, along with the chosen packet size in milliseconds.

 

Transmit address

The IP address and port to which the media is being sent.

 

Encryption

Whether or not encryption is being used on the audio transmit stream by this endpoint.

This field will only appear if the encryption key is present on the MCU.

Packets sent

A count of the number of packets that have been sent from the MCU to the endpoint.

 

RTCP receive address

The IP address and port to which RTCP (Real Time Control Protocol) packets are being sent for the audio and video streams.

 

Receiver reports

A count of the number of "receiver report" type RTCP packets seen by the MCU.

A single RTCP packet may contain more than one report of more than one type. These are generally sent by any device receiving RTP (Real Time Protocol) media from the network and are used for auditing bandwidth, errors, and so on by the MCU.

Packet loss reported

A count of the reported packet loss on the control channel.

 

Sender reports

A count of the number of "sender report" type RTCP packets sent by the MCU.

These are typically sent by any device that is sending RTP media.

RTCP transmit address

The IP address and port to which the MCU is sending RTCP packets about this stream.

 

Receiver reports

A count of the number of "receiver report" type RTCP packets seen by the MCU.

A single RTCP packet may contain more than one report of more than one type. These are generally sent by any device receiving RTP (Real Time Protocol) media from the network and are used for auditing bandwidth, errors, and so on by the MCU.

Sender reports

A count of the number of "sender report" type RTCP packets received by the MCU.

These are typically sent by any device that is sending RTP media.

Packets sent

A count of the number of packets that have been sent from the MCU to the endpoint.

 

Video (primary channel and content shown separately)
Receive stream

The codec in use and the size of the picture that the MCU is receiving from the specific participant. If the picture is a standard size (for example, CIF, QCIF, 4CIF, SIF) then this name is shown in parentheses afterwards.

If ClearVision is enabled on the Settings > Conferences page, and if it is in use on this video stream, then the original and enhanced resolutions are both displayed here.

 

Receive address

The IP address and port (<IP address>:<port>) of the device from which video is being sent

 
Encryption

Whether or not encryption is being used on the video receive stream from this endpoint.

This field will only appear if the encryption key is present on the MCU.

Channel bit rate

The negotiated bit rate available for the endpoint to send video in.

This value represents the maximum amount of video traffic that the remote endpoint will send to the MCU. It may send less data than this (if it does not need to use the full channel bit rate or the MCU has requested a lower rate), but it should not send more.

Receive bit rate

The bit rate (in bits per second) that the MCU has requested that the remote endpoint sends. The most-recently measured actual bit rate displays in parentheses.

This value might be less than the Channel bit rate if:

  • the MCU detects that the network path to the remote endpoint has insufficient capacity to maintain a higher traffic rate
  • that endpoint's video stream's position in the active conference compositions does not require it
  • it has been necessary to reduce the video bit rate because of the overall call bit rate; the audio bit rate plus the video bit rate should not exceed the call bit rate

For example, if all participants in the conference were watching a single participant at full screen, no other participants' video streams would be needed at all. So the MCU would request that those streams were sent at a low bit rate in order to avoid needless use of network bandwidth.

If the receive bit rate has been limited to below the maximum channel bit rate, the reason for this limitation can be seen by moving over the icon.

Received jitter

Represents the variation in video packet at arrival time at the MCU.

 
Offset after audio

The number of milliseconds by which the video follows the audio. Some endpoints send audio and video out-of-sync. The MCU ensures audio and video are played together.

 
Packets received

The number of video packets destined for the MCU from this endpoint

 

Packet errors

Video packet-level errors such as sequence discontinuities, incorrect RTP details, and so on. This is not the same as packets where the content (the actual video data) is somehow in error.

This value does not represent packets in which the actual video data in the packets is in error.

Frame rate

The frame rate of the video stream currently being received from the endpoint.

 

Frame errors

The number of frames with errors versus the total number of video frames received.

 

Transmit stream

The codec, size and type of video being sent from the MCU to the endpoint.

 
Transmit address

The IP address and port of the device to which the MCU is sending video.

 

Encryption

Whether or not encryption is being used on the video transmit stream to this endpoint.

This field will only appear if the encryption key is present on the MCU.

Channel bit rate

The negotiated available bandwidth for the MCU to send video to the endpoint in.

 

Transmit bit rate

The bit rate the MCU is attempting to send at this moment, which may be less than the channel bit rate which is an effective maximum. The actual bit rate, which is simply the measured rate of video data leaving the MCU, displays in parentheses.

The Transmit bit rate value might be less than the Channel bit rate if :

  • the remote endpoint receiving the video stream from the MCU has sent flow control commands to reduce the bit rate
  • it has been necessary to reduce the primary video bit rate to allow sufficient bandwidth for a content video stream

If the transmit bit rate has been limited to below the maximum channel bit rate, the reason for this limitation can be seen by moving over the icon.

Packets sent

The number of video packets sent from the MCU to this endpoint.

 

Frame rate

The frame rate of the video stream currently being sent to the endpoint.

 

Temporal/spatial

A number that represents the tradeoff between video quality and frame rate.

A smaller number implies that the MCU prioritizes sending quality video at the expense of a lower frame rate. A larger number implies that the MCU is prepared to send lower quality video at a higher frame rate.

Control statistics

Control statistics provide information about the control channels that are established in order that the endpoints can exchange information about the voice and video streams (Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP) packets). Refer to the table below for additional information.

 

Field Field description Usage tips
Audio
RTCP receive address

The IP address and port to which RTCP (Real Time Control Protocol) packets are being received for the audio and video streams

 

Receiver reports

A count of the number of "receiver report" type RTCP packets seen by the MCU.

A single RTCP packet may contain more than one report of more than one type. These are generally sent by any device receiving RTP (Real Time Protocol) media from the network and are used for auditing bandwidth, errors, and so on by the MCU.

Packet loss reported

Media packet loss reported by receiver reports sent to the MCU by the far end.

 

Sender reports

A count of the number of "sender report" type RTCP packets received by the MCU.

These are typically sent by any device that is sending RTP media.

Other

A count of the number of reports seen by the MCU that are neither sender nor receiver reports.

 

RTCP transmit address

The IP address and port to which the MCU is sending RTCP packets about this stream.

 

Packets sent

The number of packets sent.

 

Video (primary channel and content shown separately)
RTCP receive address

The IP address and port to which RTCP (Real Time Control Protocol) packets are being sent for the audio and video streams.

 

Receiver reports

A count of the number of "receiver report" type RTCP packets seen by the MCU.

A single RTCP packet may contain more than one report of more than one type. These are generally sent by any device receiving RTP (Real Time Protocol) media from the network and are used for auditing bandwidth, errors, and so on by the MCU.

Packet loss reported

A count of the reported packet loss on the control channel.

 

Sender reports

A count of the number of "sender report" type RTCP packets sent by the MCU.

These are typically sent by any device that is sending RTP media.

Other

A count of the number of reports seen by the MCU that are neither sender nor receiver reports.

 

RTCP transmit address

The IP address and port to which the MCU is sending RTCP packets about this stream.

 

Packets sent

The number of packets sent.

 

Fast update requests

The number of fast update requests sent and received.

 

Flow control messages

The number of flow control messages sent and received.

 

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