Video and audio conferencing information

This page contains information on how to configure video and audio conferencing equipment to connect either directly to another station or to the ECS ESnet service.

Protocols/Providers

There are several different solutions available depending on what is desired.

H323, ESnet

ESnet provides video, audio, and data conferencing service to all DOE facilities and universities. We care mostly about the ECS service that provides a H323 adhoc video conferences. The meeting instructions suggest that we always use a 88x number for our meetings in order to get optimum quality. You will need to register first in order to be able to connect to the gatekeeper. Note that you first need to register yourself as a person, and in a second step register your equipment.
In order to call someone up directly, simply type their IP address into the call to field in your program. There is no need to go through ESnet. For video conferences with more than 2 participants, use the ESnet service. For people who are registered with the gatekeeper you can also enter their ID number.
In order to use H323 from home or behind a firewall, you have to open ports in the firewall, see below.

SIP, sipphone, gizmo

I am using gizmo in order to make telephone calls from my computer. It is available under Windows, Mac, and Linux. This software uses the SIP protocol, which is a common standard for VOIP. It works amongst others with google talk. Note that gizmo is for audio-only connections.
The SIP protocol is more recent that H323 and is in principle also capable of video transmission. However, I haven't found client software yet that is cross-platform and supports SIP video.

EVO

EVO is the next generation of VRVS and is java-based. It is a popular meeting tool for CERN meetings. It has received a lot of attention recently, with many features that integrate video, audio, slides, and instant messaging. It also has phone bridges that make it possible to connect to a meeting by telephone. EVO now has a H323 bridge feature that allows it to connect to ESNet meetings and stand-alone H323 devices. EVO works very well even from behind firewalls and through NAT.

Not recommended:

Apple iChat

I don't know much about iChat other than that Apple users love it and that it's not available on any other platform and uses a proprietary protocol. It is able to make a point-to-point video connection to AIM users, but does not support H323 or SIP.

Skype

Skype is really popular with many people because it's so easy to set up and it is able to make connections even from behind firewalls and through network address translation. It's also available on Windows, Mac, and Linux. There are several disadvantages to skype. One is that it uses a proprietary protocol, which means you can only connect to skype users and nobody else. Another one is that it is illegal to use at Cern, and can only be used at Fermilab after configuring a personal firewall on your computer. That's because skype has a "supernode" feature where it routes other peoples conversation through your computer if you are sitting on a high-bandwidth network.

Equipment/Software/Setup

Below you will find software solutions for Mac, Windows, and Linux and how to configure them. With any of these, try to connect to the echo tests before trying a real connection. For ESnet, there is the copy bird at h323:00111092058@198.129.252.173 (not always available). Alternatively, you can test sound only at h323.voxgratia.org (66.135.35.44).
For SIP, contact the echo testing system at echo@sipphone.com.

Mac

The XMeeting product is free software that can do H323 and SIP. Here's how to set it up:
In the network menu:

Bandwidth limit: 768 kbit/s
"Use IP address translation" --> "automatically get external IP address". If you are behind a router and firewall (for example at home), then you can also use the STUN setting. That has been reported to work as well.
Firewall settings:
TCP Port Range: 30000-30010, UDP Port range: 5000-5099

H.323 menu:

"Enable H.323"

SIP menu:

"Don't use a Proxy"

Account menu:

User Alias: <alias or email registered at ESnet>
Account Name: <choose a name>
Gatekeeper Host: 198.129.252.168
Phone Number: < E.164 number>
Password: <empty>

An older version of it is called OhPhoneX and is the solution for Mac's running OsX 10.3 or older. It should be relatively straightforward to get set up.
There are several reports on the web that at least ohphonex works fine with ESnet, but I have not found any reports about using SIP.

Linux

Ekiga: The Ekiga software package does everything we need. I have it running under Kubuntu on my laptop and I'm very happy with it. Ekiga used to be called gnomemeeting. There are several instructions to set it up, but it's really quite simple to set up:
1. Add an H323 account, give it any name you want, enter the gatekeeper: 198.129.252.168, and the user number assigned to you when you registered with ESnet: 2X. Leave every other field empty.
2. Under Preferences, network, make sure that the H245 options are not enabled.
3. Under Audio Codecs, move the PCMU and PCMA ones to the top of the list.
4. If you experience choppy sound, then you need to select a different Audio device under the "preferences" menu. Choose "default" if you have a headset.
5. You can also get far-end camera controls to work through your keypad. To use them, make sure you are sending DTMF as "tone" or "RFC2833". Then, when you connect to one of the "88" numbers at ESnet, you can use the 2 key to scroll through the possible displays.
6. To actually make your first phonecall, enter the following in the address bar at the top of the main window: h323:851234@198.129.252.168. If you have Default Gateway set under the H.323 settings menu, then you can also leave out the ip address of the gatekeeper and just type h323:851234, or whatever number you want to connect to.
Skype: Skype is available on Linux as well, and quite popular. However, it's illegal to use at Cern, and can only be used at Fermilab after setting up a personal firewall on the computer running skype. This is a result of the supernode behavior of skype, which tries to route other people's phone calls through the computer with a fast network connection.
I use the twinkle program for audio connections. It can do SIP, and moreover it is able to work with my Bluetooth headset.

Windows

The PVX software from Polycom is a comercial product that does everything you want. I have used it for a while and I think the audio and video quality is superior to anything else I've tried. Yes, it costs money (about $150), but it can use H323 and SIP and integrates nicely with other Polycom products like the ViaVideoII camera system.
I have been able to connect to ESnet video conferences using a simple webcam and computer speakers. To do so, select "Specify" for the gatekeeper settings in the H.323 Setup menu and enter 198.129.252.168 (or whatever your gatekeeper is). For the name, just put in your name as ESNet knows it and the E.164 number where it says. Restrict the bandwidth to 1MB or 786kB or less. Also, there are two gotcha's to watch our for: In the "user" setting, enter one of the usernames assigned by ESNet. Also, under the "directory" setting, de-select the box that says to use H323 when using a gatekeeper, even though this seems like it should be enabled.
If you have audio problems (microphone too loud or not loud enough), then adjust it either under the "Audio" setup menu with "Calibrate microphone" or if that doesn't make a difference then using your normal Windows microphone control panel.
I have not been able to use PVX with the gizmo account settings and SIP.
Ekiga is also available for Windows, and as of version 2.0.11(Beta) actually works reasonably well. Download the program and install it. Then make the following adjustments to work with ESnet (same as under linux):
Add an H323 account, give it any name you want, enter the gatekeeper: 198.129.252.168, and the user number assigned to you when you registered with ESnet: 2X. Leave every other field empty.
Under Preferences, network, make sure that the H245 options are not enabled.
Under Audio Codecs, move the PCMU and PCMA ones to the top of the list.
If you experience choppy sound, then you need to select a different Audio device under the "preferences" menu. Choose "default" if you have a headset. Also, while the PVX software handles echo suppression very well, ekiga is still learning how to do it right under all circumstances. You will make people at the remote end much happier if you wear a headset.
You can also get far-end camera controls to work through your keypad. To use them, make sure you are sending DTMF as "tone" or "RFC2833". Then, when you connect to one of the "88" numbers at ESnet, you can use the 2 key to scroll through the possible displays.
Not recommended:
TalkEZ H323 is a free product that works with limited functionality/quality. I found that version 1.8 of this program doesn't display the remote video. You can get version 1.72 from download.com.
There is another free product that works with limited functionality/quality. It's called MyPhone. It allows you to connect to video conferences, but it's by far not as flexible as the comercial product. It also crashes after being connected for about 4 minutes.
I have found the following settings to work:
General: Disable H245 tunneling and disable fast-start.
Gatekeeper: Use and require a gatekeeper. Under "Discover by host", enter the ESnet IP address. Under User Alias, enter the H.164 number you received.
Audio: Move the uLaw and aLaw codecs to the top of the list.
Video: You may need to V-flip remote.
For direct connections from one PC to another you can also use Microsoft netmeeting. While it is not allowed to use netmeeting with the ESnet gatekeeper, you can call other people on other computers using h323.
I have also not been able to get the openH323 client to work.
I am using the Polycom Communicator device together with the PVX software. This is a nifty speaker/microphone combo useful for hands-free work. When using it, make sure to follow the instructions during install. Also, in the PVX Echo cancellation setting, select "external".

More information

Some of the information here is taken from my own experience, but most of it has been collected from various web pages:

The DØ video conferencing page and in particular the software help link.
The ECS pages have a help section for adhoc video conferencing.
Cern's ID department has a web page with video tutorials on how to set up systems you can find at Cern.

Firewall: You can use these tools from home or a hotel, behind a router/firewall. In principle you can connect to a conference without any firewall or router modifications. Simply don't register with the gatekeeper, but still use it as the default h323 gatekeeper and you should be able to connect. However, you might not be able to receive incomming audio or video unless the firewall is opened up to you. If you have control over your router, then configure it to forward the following ports (and open up any firewall for them) in order to get the full H323 functionality: Forward TCP ports 1720 (the main one used for communication) and 1503 and 1731 to the machine. You also need to forward ports 5000 to 5100. Without this, you won't be able to see or hear anything.

Linux Hardware Information

here

linux usb device list

For the Quickcam Messenger, you can download a driver from here.