Bookmark ...

Mister Wong del.icio.us Folkd Furl Google Linkarena
BlinkList oneview Yahoo MyWeb YiGG Webnews

FAQ

Frequently asked questions and answers about spreed. We are glad to answer your questions. Please write us if your question is not answered here.

Web-based meetings: Do I need to download and start a software program to use spreed? Background: due to security measurements, downloading and starting software is not possible

Yes, you can hold spreed web meetings without limitations. As spreed is entirely web-based, downloading and running a software program is not required.


Using screen and desktop sharing: How can I show an desktop application or the desktop to other participants?

With spreed you can easily share your desktop or certain application windows with other participants in the meeting. The maximum number of participants for screen sharing is limited only by the size of your conference room.


Using Remote Control: May I use spreed for maintenance- or training-tasks? Is it possible to remotely control the computer of an attendee?

spreed offers a remote access function which allows you to control the PC of a participant. Before remote control can be established, your participant is required to start the spreed remote control application to grant you to access to his/her computer.


Firewall problems: Do I require special firewall settings for spreed web meetings?

Using spreed Webmeetings does not require special firewall settings. In individual cases, restrictive firewall- or HTTP proxy settings can intercept spreed audio- and video-transmission. So- called "active" or "stateful" firewalls may interrupt the connection from your desktop to the spreed servers. Please contact your system administrator if you experiencing problems using spreed meetings.

Technical background:
spreed utilizes the encrypted Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTMP/E), for audio and video communication. spreed usually communicates through TCP port 1935 (outgoing-only). In case of firewall restrictions, spreed communicated through HTTP tunneling on TCP port 80 (the default HTTP-Port) and TCP port 443 (default HTTP/S port).


Internet bandwidth requirements: What are the Internet bandwidth requirements for spreed meetings (VoIP, video and presentation)?

The required Internet bandwidth depends on the number of participants within the meeting. For audio communication (VoIP) a minimum bandwidth of approx. 20kBit/s (0.02Mbit/s) times the number of speakers will be required. For video and audio an upstream bandwidth between of approx. 0.16MBit/s (depending on video quality) and 0.16MBit/s times the [number of conference participants – 1) downstream bandwidth is required. Example: for a spreed conference with 5 participants where each participant transmits both audio and video, each participant requires 0.16MBit/s connection speed to the server (upstream) and 0,6MBit/s downstream bandwidth.

Screensharing:
Screen or desktop sharing requires about 50 to 3MBit/s upstream bandwidth depending on the shared screen size and level of detail.


What are the Internet bandwidth requirement when testing and/or running multiple web meetings in-house?

It is important to have a proper Internet bandwidth for spreed meetings since the upstream (to the Internet) bandwidth requirements for video and screen sharing can be high when using video and screen sharing. If you are using an ADSL (Asymmetric Direct Subscriber Line) Internet connection, an asymmetric satellite link or a mobile Internet connection (e.g. 3G), we recommend using the Internet connection with one meeting participant only when using video and/or screen sharing. With an asymmetric Internet connection your upstream bandwidth, i.e. the spreed from your desktop to the Internet, restricts the maximum number of participants which can participate a meeting within your network when using video and/or screen sharing. With asymmetric links the downstream (download) bandwidth is typically much faster (5 to 16 times) than the upstream bandwidth (upload). The upload speed is limiting how fast you can upload your video data and send it to the other meeting participants. When using an ADSL connection testing spreed web meetings with multiple desktops at the same time with the same Internet access line will fail in most cases because of the insufficient upstream bandwidth.

The upstream bandwidth requirements PER PARTICIPANT for spreed are:
- 25kbps when using audio only
- 120kbps when using audio and video
- > 200kbps when using screen sharing.


How do I enter the spreed license code?

Please log-in on spreed.com, click on "My account" and enter your license key.


What operating systems are supported?

spreed web meetings are entirely browser-based. The only requirements are a web browser with Adobe Flash Player installed (Flash version 7 or later). spreed meetings can be held using most operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.


Internet Browsers: Which Internet browsers are supported?

spreed can be used by nearly all Internet browsers. You can use Internet Explorer (Version 5.5 and higher), Firefox (all versions), Mozilla (Version 1.0 and higher), Opera, Safari, Konqueror and other web browsers. Please note that cookies and JavaScript must be enabled to properly use spreed Web Meetings.


VoIP Audio Quality: What if the VoIP audio is distorted or delayed?

spreed Web meetings can be at any location held worldwide. When the geographical distance between participants is higher then approx. 8,000 Kilometers or 5,000 miles you may experience audio delays or latency. In case you experience a latency and the geographical distance of the meeting participants is significant less then 5,000 miles, the IT environment is likely the source of the audio latency. Latency problems are usually related to the following:

- limited or varying Internet bandwidth
- slow firewall
- slow HTTP proxy servers or a combination of firewall and proxy servers

To verify where potential problems are located, please check your Internet environment by using the online connection check when logged-in under “My spreed” or in the help menu on http://spreed.com/help/check/

In case the connection check reports problems with the Internet connection please contact your system administrator or send the report of the spreed Connection Check to our technical support for assistance. As spreed fully complies with corporate security rules it does not attempt to overcome IT security firewalls rules or proxy servers.


Invitation email customization: Is it possible to personalize the email invitation text?

Conference invitations sent by email can be easily personalized using the spreed conference administration interface. Just log-in, create a meeting room, go to the participant list and click on the invitation editor to customize invitation emails.


Accoustic echo: What to do when an accoustic echo appears when using spreed. Recommendations for Webcams, microphones and headsets.

An acoustic echo of you own voice may appear when your participant (the remote end) is not using a headset. The typical effect: the echo is loud and clear just like an audio message from the other speaker. When I'm alone in the conferencing room everything is fine but when the other speaker joins the meeting I get the echo. When this happens one can't do anything about it, it doesn't disappear. Usually the other speaker doesn't get the effect. Answer: an echo appears when the remote end (your participant) is using a loudspeaker and microphone without echo cancellation, e.g. the build in microphone and loudspeaker of a laptop. It is recommended to use a headset for audio or a webcam with an echo canceling audio driver such as a Logitech webcam. When using Windows with spreed, please make sure that the microphone input is not selected in the volume control (i.e. as output). This is often a default setting with Microsoft Windows. When running Windows, please check if the microphone input is mixed with the audio output (this a kind of "Karaoke" function). Enableing the microphone input as output may result in an acoustic feedback. For conference rooms a professional conference microphone such as the Yamaha PJP-25 is mandatory. Conference microphones for spreed are equipped with an USB interface for PC and/or Mac. We continuously test spreed web meetings with various webcams, headsets, and conference speakers. In particular we recommend webcams from Logitech, headsets from Plantronics and conference speakers from Yamaha. For more information please refer to the auto page on http://spreed.com/help/audio/


Invitation email problem: My participants have not received invitation emails!

Invitation emails are sent out by spreed using a registered email server. In rare cases, these automatic generated emails are rejected from the recipients email server or spam filters. In this case please send out the email invitations manually from your email account.


Screen sharing connection problem: The connection is dropped during screen sharing!

Most of the problems regarding connection drops and problems with audio are related to limited Internet bandwidth and/or slow firewalls or proxy servers. For instance if the spreed connection test measures 300kBit/s upstream bandwidth, the bandwidth may not be sufficient for screen sharing of large screens especially when video transmission is switched on. Sending audio and video consumes approx. 120Kbit/s per channel. When using one audio/video channel only 200KBit/s (approx 20 KB per second) is left for screen sharing. The amount of data transfer needed for sharing a whole desktop screen can be in the range of 1 to 3MByte depending on the resolution and color depth of your desktop. In this example the transmission of the initial desktop screen using the remaining 200KBit/s Internet bandwidth would take about 50 to 150 seconds. That is a pretty long time, right? Remember that running spreed web meetings with participants in-house will need much more Internet bandwidth because data is sent from all participants in your office to the spreed servers and from there back to the desktops (spreed data transfer is not peer-to-peer when using the spreed service in-house). In a situation like this, all you can do is to increase the Internet connection spreed or to reduce the network traffic by reducing the screen resolution and the window size of the shared application. In addition using screen sharing a flat color background image instead of a background photo can greatly improve the screen sharing performance. Switching off video while using screen sharing (just click on the enlargement button on the right side) will help to increase the speed of screen sharing in situations where the Internet bandwidth is limited.

Using the spreed Web meeting service with multiple participants through a shared Internet connection.

With a spreed Channel-10, for instance, 10 simultaneous video/audio connections per participant can be used, i.e. a maximum of 100 audio/video channels all together. Please note that when running a Many-to-Many web meeting with 10 participants using a shared Internet connection for all participants (a typical in-house scenario) will result in 90-times (9 x 10) the Internet bandwidth requirements of a single audio/video channel. The same 10-to-10 scenario would require just 9-times the Internet bandwidth (approx. 1MBit/s with audio/video switched on for all participants) when the participants do not share a single Internet connection.


Are spreed web meetings secure?

spreed is a very secure system. User information, passwords and communication are encrypted using HTTPS and 256-bit encryption.


Webinars, large meetings, e-learning: I frequently hold web meetings for educational purpose, i.e. e-learning. Web meetings are held with approx. 20, 50, 100 and 1000 attendees. Can I use spreed for large webinars?

With spreed web meetings you can host meetings with few participants or more than thousand participants. To hold presentations all you need is a spreed conference room or conference channel with a capacity equal or higher than your number of attendees.


Is it possible to record web meetings?

spreed Live-Recording enables you to record Web Meetings. Your participants can later on play-back the meeting with presentations, files, screen sharing, chat and all video/audio channels of your attendees. Access to recorded spreed meetings can be limited to the invited attendees or published for public access. spreed Live-Recording is ideal for webinars, trainings and corporate meetings. The Live-Recording feature for spreed is available free of cost with all spreed Channel-Pro accounts.


How can I use telephone conferencing with spreed?

spreed offers telephone conference dial-in and dial-out. With the spreed Phone telephone you can call participants on the telephone (call-out from spreed Meetings). By using the spreed telephone conferencing dial-in your attendees can dial-in to the conference by providing the meeting room number and their PIN number (PIN number is an option for meeting rooms). Spreed provides local dial-in telephone conference numbers in many countries worldwide. All available dial-in numbers are shown in the meeting menu under “Participate Telephone Conference”.