Experiences with SRS/Logitech SmartDock

[Steven Collier]

@David Phillips asked me to share out experience with the Logitech SmartDock and SRSv2 in another thread, I thought I would start a new post to collect other people's experience.

We are refurbishing our head office buildings, the first floor of the first building went live 3 weeks ago, so our experience is limited at this point. This floor has about 250 desks, and now a new collection of collaboration booths, high tables, etc. For the meeting rooms we installed :-

3 x 5 person Rooms with 46" screen, SmartDock, Logitech C930E and Senheisser ML20 Speaker

1 x 9 person Room with 65" screen SmartDock and Logitech Group

2 x 14 person room with 75" screen SmartDock, Logitech Group with extension mic, extron amp and ceiling speakers

3 x 55" Surfacehubs in a variety of different settings

We bought the SmartDocks separate to the Surface Pros inside them, didn't find any issue in following the instructions to create the build, and to configure the accounts in Skype Online. We manage them in Intune, but not in OMS (too expensive!). We've configured them with E1, CloudPBX, PSTN Conferencing and a UK Domestic DialPlan. They have wired connections to our direct internet connection, not through the corporate lan, they arent domain joined.

Out staffs response has been great, it's a big step up from the ugly collection of speakerphones and TVs we had before. Sound clarity is great, Video and screen sharing are very good. At the moment I would say about 40% of our meetings are using skype, and perhaps an equal number dialing into a legacy audioconferencing provider, the balance is shifting as people discover how much clearer the audio is in Skype. Having a quality solution in every bookable space makes a huge difference, we no longer need to think much about which site a user is at when booking a meeting, just find a point where people and a room are available and let them figure out where they want to be.

The Logitech Dock seems pretty good, lots of screws but we don't want something that users will take to bits. Solid feeling, very good swivel function. It would perhaps have been easier with a line out option inside the cable section. There lots of cables going in/out of the dock but our installers have done a good job of making it neat and unmovable.

We understand that we've bought into a very new product but its been remarkably stable. We are aware of 3 devices that reached a point where they needed a reboot as they became unresponsive (we schedule a reboot each night), this typically seems to be related to connecting local devices to the hdmi in.

We've had quite a lot of difficulty getting hdmi switch boxes working reliably on the hdmi input, we wanted to provide autoswtching between hdmi and mini-dp inputs. Forcing the switch to set an appropriate Edid seems to be helping, but I'm not convinced we've totally figured it right yet.

Users have raised 2 areas in the software that could be improved. 1. when dialing out to an external conference provider they cant then connect a laptop into the screen locally. 2. They would like to be able to cancel meetings that don't show up from the device, ideally we would like them to timeout like on a meeting room system.

We're now just over 3 weeks away from our second floor going live, 15 SRS and 4 Shubs. I'll update back here with any new expereinces. Looking forward to seeing what happens as the SRSv2 app updates. DM me if you want any recomendations for installers in th UK.

 Medium Room

[#2]

Interesting, I wonder why though? Is the screen itself possibly doing some upscaling?

Since the SmartDock only outputs (officially) 1080p and the screens native resolution is 4K (4 times of 1080p), every single original pixel should be blown to 4 times the normal size, and the picture shouldn't look sharp.

[#3]

Screens do the upscaling from 1080p to 4K. It's not going to look any worse than a 2K monitor of that size, same number of pixels per inch, if the upscaling is smart it might even look a little better. Sure there are 4x the pixels, but there's no reason that would look fuzzier.

Everything is scalled pretty much all the time, Skype video is only 720p or less in the first instance, if you share a screen it's scalled down to fit in next to the incoming video feeds etc. etc. In practice users don't notice anything, and tell us they all look good.

[#4]

Does anyone have an answer about the Smartdock SRVS v2 system being able/not able to view Whiteboard or Poll's or Q/A content that is being presented by other participants?

I cannot seem to find any documentation regarding Smartdock/SRS v2's capabilities of viewing whiteboards or other content options (poll's, Q/A, etc.)

I understand why it couldn't interact with the whiteboard, but simply not being able to view the whiteboard is unfortunate.

[#5]

I've actually never tried it.  When I'm on the office next I can test it out for you.

[#6]

thanks, I tried it here in my office and it says "some people can't see what's being presented or shared" and then on the SRS v2 it says this message (see attached).

if you find any documentation or information I've created a main discussion here:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Skype-for-Business-IT-Pro/SRS-v2-Whiteboard-content-viewing/m...

[#7]

SRS will show video and screen sharing on the presentation monitor, and IMs on the tablet, nothing else.

We've never shown our users these features in Skype, so it's never come up as an issue.

[#8]

for your average enterprise environment you probably wouldn't use these features, but we are heavily involved with distance education options and teaching tools and use these features often.

I found it surprising that there was no documentation anywhere that mentions the availability (or lack thereof) for these features.

Perhaps it could be escalated to engineers as a potential inclusion for future updates?

Poll participation, for example, could be executed quite elegantly I imagine.

Any info you can find or if you've heard anything, please let me know on my main discussion mentioned above.

thanks,

[#9]

Hi Steven,

Did you find out more about the issue where the Smart Dock became unresponsive after a while?

We're at the brink of rolling out SRS V2 companywide but we're still dealing with that issue.

We also established a daily reboot but that doesn't seem to help.

I'm happy for every hint you could give me =)

Thanks a lot and have a great weekend,

Emanuel

[#10]

We don't get any particular problems anymore, there have loads of updates to the SRS app since this post and it's now pretty solid.

When I look at the 38 devices we now have active, monitored through OMS, I can see 36 have rebooted once, the scheduled reboot last night. Someone's kicked the power out of the Group series in one room, so they've been rebooting to see if that fixes it, and the other is our cursed room that has never worked right, despite us changing every component several times.

We find the SRS now very reliable, we know there's a bit of pain coming to help it upgrade to 1709 but my team really has little to do with the equipment now.

If you haven't already I would suggest having a good look at the new Lenovo Smarthub 500 SRS, works perfectly out of the box and for me seems to have a better way to secure cables in place and lock that away from users trying to rewire. The Logitech SmartDocks we have are great, but it takes a lot of screwdriver work to service them.

[#11]

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.

I'm monitoring our devices remotely, but without OMS, since we're still in a proof of concept phase.

Still confident, that the SRS V2 system will leverage the overall experience in our meeting rooms. I just have to get rid of this issue.

We too have one cursed room where nothing works properly, btw ;)

I'll take a close look to the Lenovo SmartHub SRS 500, thanks for the hint.

Best regards,

Emanuel

[#12]

Posting this here in hopes that someone has run across this before and maybe has a suggestion \ solution.  Or maybe I'm just missing something...

We have 3 Logitech SmartDocks running the Skype Room System for our main conference rooms across 3 offices.  The SmartDock\Skype Room System solution is working well and has made joining meetings very easy for users.  However, one huge issue we have come across is that there is no audio bridge option you can set for the room system itself.

In a perfect world, we would like a audio bridge line to be assigned to every meeting that is scheduled to use the SRS, regardless of who booked the room.  This will allow users on the road to dial into the meeting, rather than use the SfB app.  Because a Skype license is required for the SRS, it seems logical that a audio bridge license can be assigned to it as well, but that does not appear to be the case.  You can assign a PSTN license so you can dial out from the SRS, but that does not assign a conference bridge line to the room. 

[#13]

@Dennis Lewis the room is just a participant in a meeting booked by someone else, if the person creating the booking is licensed for PSTN Conferencing then there will be dial in details added to the meeting request. Then the room will join by Skype, other people can either dial or Skype into the meeting.

It's also typical to also assign a PSTN Conferencing license to the rooms account, then if anyone starts a meeting on the device they can dial out to attendees.

We licence all users and rooms with E1, Intune, PSTN Conferencing, Phone system and national dial plans.

[#14]

I appreciate the reply @Steven Collier.  The way the SRS solution is presented\marketed, the room should be the "host", not just a participant.  Most other video conferencing providers that offer "room" solutions provide audio bridge conference lines to the room resource, not the scheduler.   

This is definitely a wish list item for us.  Having to purchase PSTN Conferencing, Phone system and national dial plans for 200+ users who MIGHT book the room is quite expensive.

[#15]

Your users wouldn't need Phone system or Dial Plans (unless you wanted them), just PSTN Conferencing.

For the room to be the 'host' it would have to organise the meeting, send the meeting request etc. A participant can't update the meeting request in Exchange.

I see your point, but I can't really see that any other product would behave differently in an Exchange Environment, it's always the organiser who adds the details.

[#16]

It would be a nice solution if the SRS was connected to 2 x 55" touch screens (video on 1, content on the other), to be able to use the content screen with the new Whiteboard (preview) app, using pen and touch on the meeting room screen. Or InkBack  and Touchback to a Windows 10 PC connected via HDMI or Miracast.

Does anyone know if the SRS will support front-of room touch screens?

Thanks

[#17]

@Mark Licinio I've not seen anything mentioned, but in general the new whiteboard experience stuff hasn't really been revealed, they must have been working on something since the preview in December. It's on the Teams roadmap, and was announced in message centre some time ago so something is due.

[#18]

Hello Steven,

thanks for the great information that you provided !!! 

I got two questions regarding your setup for the 14 person room: 

1. How did you handled the cabling of HDMI output from the Smartdock to the 2 screens ? What is the cable length you used and was it necessary to use some HDMI booster/extender ?

2. And basically the same question regarding the connection of the Groups USB camera to the Smartdock: What is the cable length you used and how (if necessary) did you extended the cable ?

One topic that is bothering me is how to use a SRS in a large room where the USB specification of max. cable length 5m is not enough. I've seen that there are "active" USB cables available and then in a different price range also active extender boxes using USB to Cat6 converters. I'm aware of Logitech's "Smartdock Flex" solution using exactly such a USB to Cat approach but if I would prefer the SRS solution of a different vendor e.g. the Lenovo Hub 500 than there is not such a solution available by Lenovo (as of right now).

Many thanks in advance !

Markus

[#19]

Hi @Markus Krolinski

No, nothing active, just 10m HDMI cables and USB extensions. Our installers have plenty of experience and knew which ones to pic to ensure they worked reliably. We've not had issues due to cable length.

We have had some issues with the Logitech docks not retaining cables very well, no cable locking means the cables can just work themselves loose.

[#20]

We have just deployed 37 SRS/Logitech SmartDock with Flex - all working well. One of the design requirements was to do away with all cables in the meeting rooms and just have presenters join the meeting wirelessly then do a normal SfB present.

But the Doc is showing a "Present" button that when pushed display a screen message to connect via HDMI cable.

Does someone know how I can suppress or disable this Present button?

[#21]

@Steven Collier 

Hi Steven, I hope your still updating this, it's been awhile.
We are in the process of updating our conference room and was looking at the Logitech smartdock. But I need to know if the Surface pro that is being placed into the hub, if it retains it's ability to work as a normal computer if we needed to do a in house presentation without using Skype.

Also, what content formats does SfB with the smartdock, display natively within the conference call? 
As an example, if I have a powerpoint presentation to make with SfB and it's stored locally on the Surface, can I display it in a conference call? And what file types are supported natively this way. 

The end goal of this is to replace a desktop computer for presentation and Skype with one Smartdock/surface device that can both present in multiple formats and conference call with multiple formats. We like to avoid using another separate computer for this. Thanks in advance.