Vidyo is a high-level video conferencing hardware & software system that delivers high-definition audio and video between classrooms, allowing for real time face to face collaboration for meetings, teaching and training. 

Step 1: Turning on Vidyo

All Vidyo Rooms have touch screens similar to the following:

Touch the screen to begin using the room. You will then need to choose between “Classroom” mode or “Video Conference” mode:

Select “Classroom” for in-room-only presentation, or to use Google Hangouts for ad-hoc video conferencing.  Otherwise, please select “Video Conference” to use the high-level video conferencing system.

 This will bring you to the Vidyo main menu where most of your controls are:

Please take note of directional up/down/left/right/select buttons, as they are used to navigate the majority of Vidyo’s functions.

Step 2: Connecting to Another Vidyo Room

When you first enter Vidyo, you’ll see the contact list on the main projector/room display:

This lists all other Vidyo-enabled rooms. Rooms with a green head-and-shoulders icon are not currently in a call; rooms with a red head-and-shoulders icon are currently engaged in a call.

There are two ways of connecting to other rooms: Calling and Joining a Room. To see these options, use the directional buttons to navigate to a room and press the center Select button to bring up the following menu:

From here, you can select either Call or Join. Both have the same essential functions but have some differences:

 Call:

• A Call is one-to-one; you connect directly to another location.  No one else can join a Call.
• When you place a Call, the other location must have their system up and running already, and must press the Select button to receive the call. Otherwise the call will drop after ringing for an extended period of time.

 Join A Room:

• Every physical Vidyo Room has a virtual meeting room associated with it. Anyone can join any room at any time. This makes it ideal for hosting meetings with 3 or more campuses.
• When you press Select to join a room, you are automatically placed in the room, and are automatically connected to anyone else who joins the room. There is no “ringing,” and no one has to be present to “pick up” the same moment you join. This can make it easier to get connected.
• Each physical Vidyo room must join the same virtual room to be connected. For examples:
• If High Desert joins San Diego’s room and San Diego joins High Desert’s room, they will not be connected, as they are in different virtual rooms.
• If both High Desert and San Diego both join San Diego’s room, they will be connected.
• If both High Desert and San Diego both join Monrovia’s room, they will be connected, even if Monrovia does not join.
• While joining a room may seem more complicated on paper, it is not any more difficult in operation, and is usually the prefered method of communication. Just make sure to coordinate ahead of time what virtual room you will be joining.
• The room you are in does not affect any Vidyo functions.

 To join your own room, use your directional buttons to navigate to your own location and press Select:

Since you cannot Call yourself, the only option you will have is to Join My Room.

Step 3: Operating a Vidyo Call

Once you have joined a call, you have several ways to control what you see and what you share with others.

Main Menu:

• Call: In the contact screen, this will Call whatever location is selected
• End Call: Ends the Call or leaves the current Room
• Home Screen: Brings up various menus when not in a call.  Primarily used in diagnosis and troubleshooting by IMT staff.
• Settings: Brings up various settings menus.  Primarily used in diagnosis and troubleshooting by IMT staff.
• Mic Mute: Mutes/Unmutes your microphone.
  • If your microphone is muted, you will see a red microphone logo on the main projector/room display.
  • If your microphone is not muted, you will not see a red microphone logo on the main projector/room display.
• Camera Mute: Mutes/Unmutes your camera.
  • If your camera is muted, you will see a red camera logo on the main projector/room display.
  • If your camera is not muted, you will not see a red camera logo on the main projector/room display.
• Camera Preview Select: Hides your camera from your own view.
  • Note: This does NOT mute your camera; other campuses will still be able to see you.  This only removes your own personal camera preview from your local screens. You can do this to clear up room on the screen for other cameras or shared screens.
• Back: Used to navigate back or out of different menus.

Text Input:

This menu is used for text entry and adding contacts.  It is primarily used by IMT Staff for maintenance and upgrade.

Note: Some text entry screens may feature a full QWERTY keyboard.

Computers & Content:

• Share On/Off: This shares your local computer with the rest of the people in the Vidyo Call/Room.
  • Note: Whether or not you are sharing your content, you should still see your local computer in the “Local Content” window on the main projector/room display.
  • If you are sharing your computer, you will see a green graph logo on the main projector/room display.
  • If you are not sharing your computer, the graph logo on the main projector/room display will be grey instead of green
• Scroll: This cycles through all currently screen shared material. It will cycle through material screen shared by others, your own screen share, and hiding all shares.
  • Note: This does NOT affect other sites in any way; it only affects what you see at your location.
• Choose which computer to share: This picks what source you would like to share into the Call/Room. You can select the in-room computer, or a laptop connected via HDMI or VGA.
  • Note: Your location’s specific options may differ.

Camera Control:

• Front Camera/Rear Camera: Every campus will have different camera angles presets, complete with descriptions. However these cameras always share the same function:
  • Front Camera: The front camera gives the best view of the classroom seating, giving the other sites the best view of the students.  You can use this camera on a wide angle if the audience in that room is listening to a remote speaker, or on a zoomed setting if you're doing a smaller meeting with only 1-4 people in the room.
  • Rear Camera: The rear camera gives the best view of the presenter, whether standing at a podium, sitting at the desk, or elsewhere at the front of the room. You can use this camera if you are hosting the main presenter in a multi-site lecture.

Other Buttons (available on all/most pages):

• Rear TV Power: Turns on/off the TV in the back of the room.
• Vol +/Vol -/Mute: Changes the in-room volume of all sources.

Step 4: Finishing/Shutting Down the Room

When you are finished with your Vidyo Conference:

• In the Main Menu, press the End Call button to leave the current Call or Room.
• Press the Power button in the lower left corner off the touch screen.
• If asked for a confirmation, press the Confirm button

This will shut down the system.

If you have any further questions or experience any issues operating these Vidyo rooms, please contact the IMT Support Center at x5050 or by emailing support@apu.edu.