Selecting the layout seen by participants
A layout is the view that each participant has of all the other participants in the conference. Layouts are chosen in advance by the administrator, and some of the options available depend on whether the conference is being held in a Virtual Meeting Room (including scheduled conferences) or a Virtual Auditorium.
You cannot convert an existing Virtual Meeting Room into a Virtual Auditorium. Instead, you must create a new Virtual Auditorium and reassign the existing aliases to it. For more information, see Changing from a Virtual Meeting Room to a Virtual Auditorium and vice versa.
Features common to all layouts
For all layout types and all conference types (Virtual Meeting Rooms and Virtual Auditoriums):
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When there are between one and four audio-only participants, each is represented by an indicator on the left side of the video window. The indicator includes either the participant's image (if available via an policy profiles) or the audio-only icon:
. (This image can be changed; see Creating and applying themes to conferences.) When an audio-only participant is speaking, their indicator expands to show their name in addition to the image or icon.The name that is shown is decided as described in Showing the names of participants as a text overlay below.
An individual audio-only indicator minimized and expanded
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If there are five or more audio-only participants, they are represented by a single indicator which includes the audio-only icon followed by the total number of audio-only participants. When one of the audio-only participant speaks, the indicator expands to show their name, followed by their image or the audio-only icon, and the number of other audio-only participants.
An example of the minimized and expanded audio-only indicator when there are five audio-only participants
- Participants who are receiving video but not sending video (for example, if they have disabled their camera) are represented by an icon of a camera with a line through it
. - Video participants who are on hold, or who are experiencing connectivity issues, are represented by a frozen grayscale image.
- If there are more video participants than there are live thumbnail views available, the last thumbnail is replaced by an icon indicating the number of additional participants not currently visible.
- When a participant is the only device that is sending video, that participant sees a holding screen until other video participants join the conference. The holding screen indicates either that the participant is the only participant in the conference, or that all of the other participants are audio-only (and they are shown via their audio-only indicators as usual). The holding images are fully customizable via the theme associated with the service (Virtual Meeting Room, Call Routing Rule etc).
- A full list of participants is available using Infinity Connect clients.
- If the conference is being streamed or recorded, a streaming icon
is displayed to the right of the main video layout. Whenever a new participant joins the conference, and every two minutes otherwise, this icon will briefly slide out and show the text "Streaming enabled". The icon and text can be changed, and the streaming indicator can be disabled; see Creating and applying themes to conferences. - When the conference is locked, or has just been unlocked, a lock icon
is displayed to the right of the video window. (This image can be changed; see Creating and applying themes to conferences.) - If there are participants waiting to join a locked conference, the number of participants is shown beneath the lock icon.
- When sending presentation content to a single-stream endpoint or broadcasting via an RTMP stream (when not dialed out with dual streaming), Pexip Infinity sends the video stream of the active speaker in a small window in the upper right corner of the presentation.
Showing the names of participants as a text overlay
Each Virtual Meeting Room and Virtual Auditorium has the option to show the names of the participants (the current main speaker and thumbnails) in a text overlay along the bottom of their video image. To enable this option:
- Go to , or and select the service you wish to change.
- Next to the Show names of participants field select Yes.
When this option is enabled, the name that is shown depends upon if the participant was invited into the conference, or the type of endpoint device, as follows:
- Automatically dialed participants (regardless of the type of endpoint that was dialed): either the ADP's configured Participant display name or, if this field is blank, the Participant alias, is shown.
- Manually dialed participants (regardless of the type of endpoint that was dialed): either the participant's configured Participant display name or, if this field is blank, the Participant alias, is shown.
- Infinity connect desktop client and web app participants: the text that the user entered into the client's Your name field is shown.
- Infinity Connect mobile client for Android: the text that the user entered into the client's Profile field is shown
- Infinity Connect mobile client for iOS: the text that the user configured in the client's field is shown. (If they haven't configured this field, the device's name is shown instead.)
- SIP endpoints: the endpoint's display name is shown.
- H.323 endpoints: the endpoint's alias is shown.
- Skype for Business / Lync clients: the username portion of the user's sign-in address is used, for example if Alice signs in as alice@example.com the text alice is shown.
The size of the text overlay varies automatically according to the resolution being received by the endpoint and the type of layout. In low resolutions the text overlays are not shown.
The default font for the in-conference display of participant names is Roboto (which cannot be changed), or if that is not available for the character set, Noto Sans.
Virtual Meeting Room layouts
All video-enabled participants in a Virtual Meeting Room or scheduled conference see the same layout, regardless of whether they are Hosts or Guests. Administrators can select between the following options (go to or and select the Virtual Meeting Room you wish to change):
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Full-screen main speaker only (1 + 0 layout) |
Participants see a single speaker, with no thumbnails.
|
| Large main speaker and up to 7 other participants (1 + 7 layout) |
Participants see each other in the standard 1+7 layout.
|
| Small main speaker and up to 21 other participants (1 + 21 layout) | This is the same as the 1 + 7 layout option, except the main speaker is shown slightly smaller in order to accommodate up to 21 other participants in 3 rows of live thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. |
| 2 small main speakers and up to 21 other participants (2 + 21 layout) | This is the same as the 1 + 21 layout option, except the top row contains both the main speaker and most recent speaker side by side. |
Virtual Auditorium layouts
With Virtual Auditoriums, Guest participants only ever see the Host participants; however, Hosts will see Hosts and Guests. Administrators choose from separate options for the layout shown to Guests and the layout shown to Hosts. Additionally, administrators can configure the Virtual Auditorium so that when a presentation is being shown, the presenter is kept in the main view.
To select which layouts are shown to Hosts and Guests, go to and select the Virtual Auditorium you wish to change. The options available are described below.
Host view
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Full-screen main speaker only (1 + 0 layout) |
Hosts see a single speaker, with no thumbnails.
|
| Large main speaker and up to 7 other participants (1 + 7 layout) |
Hosts see other Host and Guest participants in the standard 1+7 layout.
|
| Small main speaker and up to 21 other participants (1 + 21 layout) | This is the same as the 1 + 7 layout option, except the main speaker is shown slightly smaller in order to accommodate up to 21 other participants in 3 rows of live thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. |
| 2 small main speakers and up to 21 other participants (2 + 21 layout) | This is the same as the 1 + 21 layout option, except the top row contains both the main speaker and most recent speaker side by side. This option is useful in combination with the Lock presenter as main speaker option, so that other participants can see the presenter and the person they are speaking to at the same time. |
Guest view
Guests in a Virtual Auditorium are able to:
- hear and see the Host participant(s)
- hear but not see any of the other Guests, even if a Guest is speaking.
However, if all Hosts have left the conference, Guests will be able to see and hear other Guests in the selected layout until the conference is automatically disconnected (after about a minute), or until a Host rejoins.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Full-screen Host speaker only (1 + 0 layout) |
Guests see a single Host speaker, with no thumbnails.
|
| Large Host speaker and up to 7 other Hosts (1 + 7 layout) |
Guests see Host participants in the standard 1+7 layout.
|
| Small Host speaker and up to 21 other Hosts (1 + 21 layout) | This is the same as the 1 + 7 layout option, except the main Host speaker is shown slightly smaller in order to accommodate up to 21 other Hosts in 3 rows of live thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. |
| 2 small Host speakers and up to 21 other Hosts (2 + 21 layout) | This is the same as the 1 + 21 layout option, except the top row contains both the main Host speaker and most recent Host speaker side by side. This option is useful in combination with the Lock presenter as main speaker option, so that other participants can see the presenter and the person they are speaking to at the same time. |
Lock presenter as main speaker
You can configure a Virtual Auditorium so that when a presentation is being shown, the main speaker position always shows the presenter instead of the current speaker.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Yes |
When a presentation is being shown, the selected layout rules are overridden so that:
|
| No | When a presentation is being shown, the main speaker position is voice-switched as usual. |
Changing aspect ratios
Endpoints send and display video images and presentations in various aspect ratios, most commonly 16:9 and 4:3. Pexip Infinity chooses aspect ratios that maximize interoperability and quality. If there is a difference between the aspect ratios of the sending and receiving endpoints, then the endpoint and/or Pexip Infinity may crop the image or add black vertical or horizontal borders (also known as "letterboxing" and "pillarboxing"). How and when aspect ratios are changed depends on a number of factors, but the general principles are described below.
Main video
- Pexip Infinity: If required, Pexip Infinity will change the aspect ratio of main video by cropping the image (to avoid black bars in the thumbnail images).
- Endpoints: If the aspect ratio of the main video image being sent from Pexip Infinity does not match the aspect ratio of the endpoint, the endpoint will typically add a border to make it fit. Generally endpoints will not crop the image.
Presentations
- Pexip Infinity: In general, Pexip Infinity chooses the resolution and aspect ratio that best matches the presentation content and that will not result in both vertical and horizontal borders (also known as "windowboxing") on a 16:9 endpoint display. It will never crop presentations, but may add pillar or letterboxing to send a resolution that maximizes interoperability, but will never add both.
- Endpoints: If the aspect ratio of the presentation image being sent from Pexip Infinity does not match the aspect ratio of the endpoint, the endpoint will typically add another border to make it fit. Generally endpoints will not crop the image.