Microsoft Teams Rooms December update
Published Dec 17 2019 08:00 AM 75.8K Views

Earlier this year we released content camera support that enables you to share an analog whiteboard into your Teams Meetings to create a more inclusive experience for remote participants. We’re pleased to announce that the content camera is now also available for Surface Pro-based systems (i.e. Logitech Smartdock, Crestron SR & Polycom MSR).

 

In addition to this, a content camera mounting kit for mounting the Logitech Brio content camera is available for purchase. Go to Brio Content Camera Kit on the Office.com Teams Devices showcase which includes all the accessories you need to install the camera (i.e. camera, mount, cabling, USB extenders).

 

Figure 1 Content Camera mount for intelligent captureFigure 1 Content Camera mount for intelligent capture

 

To provide an easy license model for conference rooms, our Office 365 Meeting Room subscription is also now available to our government customers in Office 365 US Government Community (GCC). The Microsoft Teams Room app now supports the GCC cloud as well.

Microsoft Teams Rooms & Intune best practices

Teams meeting room devices can be enrolled and managed by Intune to provide many of the device management and security capabilities available to endpoints managed by Intune. Find out more here

 

Microsoft Teams Rooms store app 4.3.23.0 is now available

We started releasing Microsoft Teams Room app version 4.3.21.0 earlier this week and the Store app will roll out to every Microsoft Teams Room in the next couple of weeks.

 

This release contains the following features:

 

Settings user interface refresh

We’ve refreshed our Settings UI on devices to reflect the new admin controls we’ve added for meeting room experiences. The new UI gives you a better organized view of your configuration options and adds a new About tab with useful information about device configuration.

 

Figure 2 New Admin Settings UIFigure 2 New Admin Settings UI

 

These changes have no impact on device configuration with an XML file, which will continue to work as before.

 

Auto-accept Proximity-based calls

You can now configure Microsoft Teams Rooms to automatically accept proximity-based meeting joins. This simplifies the join experience and gets users into meetings even faster and, of course, we give admins the option to configure this feature based on their preferences.

 

Figure 3 Admin settings for proximity joinFigure 3 Admin settings for proximity join

 

Get to Room Controls / OEM extension with ease

We’re bringing the Room Controls button back to the main screen of the Microsoft Teams console so that partner extensions are just one click away.

Figure 4 Room Controls / OEM extensionFigure 4 Room Controls / OEM extension

 

 

Microsoft Teams Rooms and peripheral additions

We have some great new additions for Microsoft Teams Rooms from our partners to give our customers even more choice for their conference rooms.

 

Figure 5 New devices for Microsoft Teams RoomsFigure 5 New devices for Microsoft Teams Rooms

 

Yealink MVC300

The right fit for focus rooms and small rooms, with its auto framing camera and Yealink CP900 speakerphone, the MVC300 system delivers a broad and vivid view while making it easier for everyone to be heard.

Figure 6 Yealink MVC300Figure 6 Yealink MVC300

 

Poly Studio

Combining the audio and video quality you expect from Poly with the simplicity you need for everyday use, Poly Studio is the USB video bar ideal for smaller rooms and huddle spaces. Its plug-and-play functionality works with Microsoft Teams Room and fits any budget.

Figure 7 Poly StudioFigure 7 Poly Studio

 

Yealink CP900

A premium portable USB speakerphone for personal use, in huddle rooms, and on-the-go. Wideband audio, HD voice and six-microphone beam-forming offer a premium full-duplex experience. Yealink’s distraction-free HD audio technology ensures crystal-clear sound. The CP900 speakerphone offers simple plug-and-play USB connections to Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Figure 8 Yealink CP900Figure 8 Yealink CP900

 

Sennheiser SP30T

A portable wireless speakerphone for today’s mobile workforce supporting both personal and small to medium sized conferencing for up to 8 people. A choice of Bluetooth or USB-C connectivity gives freedom and flexible connection options. Two long-range, noise and echo cancelling microphones and an ultra-low distortion speaker with clear voice reproduction allow a natural, conversational flow even in challenging environments.

Figure 9 Sennheiser SP30TFigure 9 Sennheiser SP30T

 

Yealink UVC30 Room

A premium USB camera designed for focus and small meeting rooms. Offering a sharp image and accurate color reproduction, it rewards you with a vivid face-to-face video meeting experience in ultra HD 4K resolution and high frame rates. A wide field of view ensures every participant can be seen. Based on the facial detection, it supports auto framing feature to accomplish a much more intelligent meeting experience. An included flexible clip gives many options to mount the camera.

Figure 10 Yealink UVC30 RoomFigure 10 Yealink UVC30 Room

 

Let´s get started today and modernize your meeting rooms and check out our certified bundles at office.com/teamsdevices

- Christian Schacht, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft Teams Rooms

228 Comments
Copper Contributor
Great updates. When will I be able to deploy on Surface Pro 7 without the 3rd party requirement for docks like Logitech Smartdock, Crestron SR & Polycom MSR? Would love to roll out to more rooms.
Iron Contributor

Would appreciate releasing / unleashing content camera feature for normal users, without Teams Rooms Systems. 

I've done a side by side review of old vs. new admin screens here if anyone is interested.

@Travel1005 

Great updates. When will I be able to deploy on Surface Pro 7 without the 3rd party requirement for docks like Logitech Smartdock, Crestron SR & Polycom MSR? Would love to roll out to more rooms.

I don't think you will ever see that. One of the key things for MTR's is that "single tap meeting join experience" to give the users a great meeting experience. Having deployed heaps of meeting solutions I can say one thing you really don't want is things for users to unplug or mess with because they will.

 

What about the solutions coming these days centred around a NUC from Logi/Creston etc. They can be had pretty cheap and are simple to secure.

I did a review of one over here. https://youtu.be/qZbCZJE0HVU

 

I'm interested in where I can source those ceiling mounts though...

Copper Contributor

The deployment kit (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=851168) is still version 4.2.4.0, when will it be updated?

 

Steel Contributor

Anyone has some pictures of their "DIY" mounting of content cameras? :)

Copper Contributor

Hi @Christian Schacht - do you have any insight on when the ability to set a predetermined starting volume will be available for MTR?  Currently, volume starts at 50 and is incredibly loud, at least on the Logitech Tap system.

 

Per @Ilya Bukshteyn  in March (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/Microsoft-Teams-Rooms-update-4-0-76-0-go...), this was on the way in the coming months, but I see nothing in the changelogs or new menus about this.

Microsoft
This (default volume) is targeted to be done in Q1CY20.
Copper Contributor

Can I ask why the `Room Controls` button does not have a label?

Copper Contributor

Anyone has A free team i can join on microsoft teams?

Copper Contributor

Please let us just run the Teams Rooms App on a regular PC so we can integrate whatever mic or camera we want but with the simplified joining process.

 

Using dedicated devices that don't support ALL of the meeting platforms just increases our support costs vs using a normal PC that can join ANY meeting platform.

Microsoft
Running the MTR app on a PC would be a great way to create horrible experiences. Our goal is for every meeting to start in seconds instead of minutes, and that approach is a great way to not meet that goal. So no we will not do this. You can connect any USB audio and video device to MTR, we just can't guarantee the audio / video quality if these are not Certified devices. As we have already announced, MTR will be able to join Zoom and WebEx meetings in H1CY20, via the "direct guest join" feature based on web technologies, and we expect to add other online meeting services as well later in CY20.
Brass Contributor

@Christian Schacht I have had a request from some larger customers around better documents they can use for end user training.  Including maybe a 1 page 'Quick Reference' type of material they can put in the actual room.  While i do understand the system if pretty easy if you have used something similar they are looking for material for non-IT people who have never seen it before.

 

Also for more then the 1 page any type of material that can be used to do full training on it.  There is some at this site:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/microsoft-teams-rooms-help-e667f40e-5aab-40c1-bd68-611fe000...

 

but it is pretty basic i think they would like something a little more step by step using pictures for sections that do not have it and if it was in a full PDF or powerpoint format so they can use it for training the end users.

 

If there is something please let me know.  Thank you.

Copper Contributor
In this update we are also seeing a Join button for scheduled meetings that are using Zoom however it does not seem to work. When you click the Join button, the room touchscreen and monitor go blank and nothing appears forcing you to power cycle the PC.
Microsoft
@AK there should not have been any UX shipped yet for Zoom meetings on MTR. We announced at Ignite that this is coming in H1CY20 but what you're seeing right now is a UX bug. Please do not forward and/or try to join Zoom meetings from MTR at this time.
Copper Contributor
@Ilya Bukshteyn - When is this bug going to be fixed? Can't prevent our employees from forwarding Zoom meetings to our room system calendars which will show the Join button.
Microsoft

Since we just found the bug we address it and likely roll an update to the app out to the store next week or so.  Appreciate you pointing out the issue for us!

@ToddMethven I used to do this as an integrator typically because businesses want their branding and their logos on it. 

 

That's not saying something can't be added to Fast track.

@ToddMethven Did you see the interactive guide here: http://aka.ms/MicrosoftTeamsRoomsDemo

 

Brass Contributor

Thanks @Christian Schacht  @James Arber for the comments.  

 

James you are right the company (a large bank) has their own training team and is very specific about creating their own content but of course wish to use the Microsoft content as the base.  There should be more detailed training guides available in PDF or Powerpoint that organizations can use as their base and this would be a worthy add to the fasttrack program.

 

Christian thanks for the link.  This is pretty good unfortunately the customer is using Skype for Business primarily for now (realistically Teams is probably a year or more away for meetings) and almost all of the content is showing Teams meetings.  I recognize the push to Teams and i love it and this customer already agrees they will go to it but for now they and i still believe most customers who use meetings (at least today) still rely on Skype for Business so their should be more added to address how it work for them.  Maybe even just on the section of joining a meeting and what happens in the meeting create a button that lets them go through the Skype for Business experience as they do differ significantly.

 

SInce the experience is created by Microsoft i have not seen the Teams Rooms vendors making much in the way of material and are expecting Microsoft to do it.  Look forward to seeing more.

 

Thanks.

@Thasi1445 The Deployment kit has been updated now https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=851168 to 4.3.23.0

@ToddMethvenI know that Crestron does have some documentation around the systems use and screenshots that document the flow of things on the control screen itself, however I don't think its been updated to the latest screenshots.  Do you think something like this is helpful if it had the latest screenshots? 

 

Also if you have a Crestron system, you can use the Crestron Remote software or XiO cloud to run the MTR interface on your PC and capture whatever screenshots you wanted to from the control interface itself.  This is how I have suggested to many customers on how to create their own training guides as making one for all never really seems to satisfy the "all" part.  The thought here was to create something that customers could pull from and then make their own using screenshots they grab themselves. 

 

CRESTRON SUPPLEMENTAL GUIDE - go to page 23 on this guide

 

@Christian Schacht's user guide above has also come in handy for many customers in looking at how the MTR fits into the overall Teams workflow as a part of their training readiness for users.  A lot of it does still fit into the Skype side as well and maybe you could pick out links to those parts too? 

Brass Contributor

@James Vaughan thanks that is a really good idea.  In fact they are using a Crestron Flex system and i do happen to have one in my lab so definitely will do that and suggest it.

 

Also just reviewed the guide you mentioned and it has alot of good shots of Skype in use.

 

I think with this i will have enough.

 

Have a good day!

Copper Contributor

Hi,

I am having issue with presentation content - the image/presentation is not clear. Black text on red background is totally unreadable. It is better with other backgrounds, but still unacceptable. Same content is crystal clear when source is connected directly to display. Also Windows content is clear on all the displays. It does not matter, if I use HDMI or share content from Teams (other PC). We are testing Lenovo Thinksmart Hub 500, win 1903 and latest MTR. I read that there are some graphics drivers issues with Crestron. Could it be that there are issues with Lenovo as well?

Steel Contributor

@Christian Schacht  @Ilya Bukshteyn there was a mention of a few items coming in Q1, does a MTR roadmap exist that can be shared?  (Or an CCP group?)

Brass Contributor

Is anyone else experiencing video display flickering since the latest app update?

We have some systems that have been installed for quite sometime suddenly not working properly.

The display is flickering, picture disappearing and reapearing throughout meetings as if the HDMI output cable of the MTR is being unplugged and replugged rapidly over and over.

Reboot of MTR solves issue for only a brief period of time before it begins malfunctioning again.

Copper Contributor

@johnwaldron We are experiencing the same issue. I'm currently investigating how to roll this back to make this room usable again.

Microsoft
What specific MTR(s) HW is this on? Which Windows version? Is it only the front of room display(s) that are flickering or also the console? We're not aware of any changes in the last update which may be causing this.
Microsoft
Actually seems we do have a bug with our app window(s) resizing (basically the app entering a window resizing / positioning loop) on the front of room displays, after the display(s) / monitors go to sleep and then wake up again, which could look like flickering / disappearing images. We are working urgently on an app update with a fix for this, but the update will need to go through our validation rings so will likely not be generally available until next week. On behalf of the MTR team, I apologize for this and the other bugs in the Dec update. We understand the importance of meeting room systems and strive for a very high quality bar with our MTR app updates, and we will reviewing our validation processes to make sure we meet that bar in future updates.
Copper Contributor

@Ilya Bukshteyn I am using a logitech tap system. We are also now getting a "Couldn't sign into Microsoft Teams" error message on the top of multiple systems. Skype meetings still work, but the join button on Teams meetings are grayed out. 

Microsoft
@KatieZellner the login issue shouldn't be related to the other issue. Did that start just with the last app update? Can you please make sure that your Teams resource accounts for MTR have exception policies set to enable basic auth? We've seen this issue most often when the accounts require modern auth, which we don't support on MTR yet (although it is coming this quarter).
Copper Contributor

You may have some success as a temporary workaround by keeping the signal active inline between the display and the MTR NUC with a scaler/reclocker. We haven't really tested it but it may provide some relief while the fix is being implemented.

@KatieZellnerI have seen this a lot when conditional access rules are in place in the O365 tenant as @Ilya Bukshteyn indicated.  You can check to see if Conditional Access policy "Baseline policy: Block legacy authentication (Preview)" is enabled.  If so you will need to remove that as "Legacy Skype for Business" access is used. 

 

If that is not the problem, I have seen where on-prem Skype works just fine, but access to Teams is blocked and it is due to a proxy server that is enabled in the environment and blocking access to the tenant.  I wrote an article on how to enable the proxy on MTR's and the link to the official documentation is in the article as well. 

 

These are the most common issues that I have seen with the cannot sign into Teams message:

 

1.  Conditional access

2.  Proxy where everything else (exchange, Skype) is on-prem.

3.  Licensing

4.  DNS

5. Account conig

 

If you use the account on a browser from the admin mode on the MTR unit, it can expose some of the common issues that I have seen like account config, proxy, DNS and licensing.

Brass Contributor

Do I need to enable anything in order to see the "rate my call" feature once a call has completed? 

Copper Contributor

@Christian Schacht @Ilya Bukshteyn - Can you please add a description to the Content Camera Section? This is very confusing to the customer, especially since it is next to the Audio config section, the customer thinks that they need to configure their main conference camera in this field. They get the not certified message and think that there is a problem with the conference camera. This issue is reported at least once per day, sometimes more.

Microsoft
@SMoore270 Agreed, we will address this
Brass Contributor

any roadmap for the camera PTZ control?

Hello everyone,

4.3.33.0 is rolling out right now, to address issues mentioned above in the comments, this includes:


1. Window resizing loop (causes FoR displays to look like they are flickering)
2. Remove Cortana status in settings (since Cortana is is not released yet on Teams Rooms)
3. Disable 3rd party meeting join on calendar (since this is not available yet)

Microsoft
@Ricky_Deng PTZ control is still on our backlog; hope to get it into H1 of this year but could get pushed to H2
Copper Contributor

@Christian Schacht when will this update be available to the masses?

Microsoft
@ugly_turkey (interesting story behind that user name?) the update is in the store now but going through our typical gradual release process, so its available to 20% of devices now, and will increase over the next few business days.
Copper Contributor

Thanks for this information, it is quite helpful. You have explained the Microsoft Teams December update quite well. Looking forward to its release date.

Regards,

Zoe

@ugly_turkey Two out of my three systems got the update over the weekend.

Copper Contributor

Still waiting for that update...chomping at the bit, watching the world go by.

Copper Contributor

20 of our 23 Teams Rooms got the update - it's all good!

Steel Contributor

@ugly_turkey  All my machines have it....good update!  real good update!  lol   ;)

Copper Contributor

Yes sir! Got it as well. This is a keeper for sure!

Brass Contributor

@Ilya Bukshteyn - hoping you could provide some guidance. 

 

We have a MTR using a Crestron Flex. I have set up the room account and logged in without any issues. We can schedule and conduct SfB meetings.

 

Now, when we put the MTR into SfB(Default)/Teams mode I get an error stating that "Microsoft Teams cannot log in". We are able to log into the account via the Teams desktop app. 

 

We recently applied the new Teams Room SKU to the rooms account in the admin portal, to see if that would fix it, but we're still getting that error. 

 

Am I missing anything? 

 

Thanks for the help! 

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