Polycom VSX & Tandberg MXP

[George]

Has anyone actually gotten their hands on one of the Polycom VSX series or Tandberg MXP series systems?

I'd like to get some feedback on those is possible :)

[tom9933]

George,
I haven’t seen the new Tandberg units yet but I have most (500, 7000 and 8000) of the VSX line in house at the moment. Let me know if you have any specific questions or would like to do a video call.

[trapehzoid]

I've played with the VSX alot so far. What would you like to know?

Overall? I don't feel its much an improvement over the existing platform. Graphically its much 'nicer' looking, but I don't feel the true UI experience is much better. I still find myself hunting for items, or going 'how the hell do I do this'. The interface is VERY graphical, but not very intuitive I think. Its certainly not 'slick'.. just pretty.

I'm sure this has the 'setup' for the future, but today it pretty much is just like a FX with a new look and not so many limitations. Like, I like the fact there isn't so many stupid power supplies hanging all over now. The power cable isn't so flakey even moving towards it may cause a reboot (like a FX).

Really I see it as a 'refined' FX with an agressive pricepoint. What is the most interesting part of this is PLCM finally being able to work around a single 'family' of products. Scaling the VSX up and down across the product range. This should *finally* give them some universal feature sets (ala tandberg).

[George]

Well guys what I'm looking for actually is our next full product review. I know a lot of people out there are interested in the nuts and bolts details of these 2 products so I'm looking to our fine members.

The authors of the next 5 product reviews that get linked on our front page will receive free Premium Membership status for 3 months. Also working on new "Product Reviewer" status badges and permissions as well.

Would like to keep the format as close to this (http://vtctalk.com/showthread.php?p=511#post511) as possible. BUT, if you come up with a format that's better I'll consider changing ours up a bit.

George

[aileen]

Hey everybody :squareeye

I'm new to the vc world and just recently discovered these forums Two weeks ago I had no idea who Tandberg and Polycom were, that's how new I am. :D

In any case, my company is interested in purchasing two units for coast-to-coast IP-based videoconferencing. We are very interested in being able to send display data from a PC in a boardroom type environment. The PC display is crucial, while talking heads is less important therefore I'm pretty intrigued by this h.239 debate ..and concerned about interoperability.

Right now I think we've narrowed it down to the VSX7000 + trimmings and the 880 MXP,..and personally I'm leaning towards the 880 (for non-proprietary cabling) and I'd love to hear anybody else's opinions regarding either unit (or a completely different unit, even!)!

Cheers! I look forward to your comments :ogre: (lol love these emotes!)

[Entropy3XD]

I am installing one of the new Tandberg 3000MXP units next week. I took a brief look at it the other day. The picture was crisp and sharp. The menu has a different feel to it and one of our engineers actually likened it to the old Vtel menu structure. I like the buttons on the new remote, as you don't need to "mash" them like you had to on the old. I do miss the buttons for the PC however. I will post more info once I get to take it on a full test drive.

[Skylark]

[QUOTE=trapehzoid]Overall? I don't feel its much an improvement over the existing platform. Graphically its much 'nicer' looking, but I don't feel the true UI experience is much better. I still find myself hunting for items, or going 'how the hell do I do this'. The interface is VERY graphical, but not very intuitive I think. Its certainly not 'slick'.. just pretty.[QUOTE]

I feel that the new GUI is brilliant its easy to set up as you like, and it can resolve alot of issues that needed special programing before (like a lobby phone that should only be able to dial 3-4 diffrent departments)

I allway thougt that the Viewstation had a few issues that needed to be resolved and I think VSX fixes most of them.

I whent trough PLC Training online and found that there were alot of features I missed when was playing with it myself.

[Sean Lessman]

I am installing one of the new Tandberg 3000MXP units next week. I took a brief look at it the other day. The picture was crisp and sharp. The menu has a different feel to it and one of our engineers actually likened it to the old Vtel menu structure. I like the buttons on the new remote, as you don't need to "mash" them like you had to on the old. I do miss the buttons for the PC however. I will post more info once I get to take it on a full test drive.

Hi,

Not sure what you mean by 'miss the PC' but I will assume you mean the PC source button. The MXP interface was designed around how most people use video today. Most (not all) use 2 sources, main and another presentation source (PC, DVD, Doc Cam, 2nd camera). You can do 2 things:

1. Configure the Default Presentation Source to be the PC, so pressing the 'presentation' button will automatically transmit the PC (H.239 or DuoVideo if either is supported at the far end or main stream if neither is supported).

2. Press and hold the 'presentation' key and you will get a mini-menu for source selection. (requires F1.1)

Sean

[vtjoe]

We got a Tandberg 6000MXP three weeks ago. If I get time, I will write a review.

[kingderf]

On the Tandberg 6000MXP. What is very nice is the softmux capability and the added external imux Adtran function.

With the gui format is nice. Everything runs well since I updated to code f.2.3. The only thing I do not like and I think should be worked on is the remote. Put back the function to select video sources on the fly. I do not like to have to open menu again to select a source from presentation. I do have a alternate source setup for the presentation function button, but I often have to switch through multiple sources.

I love that the VGA 800x600 has been upgraded to XGA 1024x768 and the video in and out are DVI format. This helps on sending more information on slide show presentations and the added DuoVideo function to send 2 video sources at one time. I like the added SoftMux funtion to dial up one site and connect to another over lan without an MCU or bridge device.

[cr8zyh0rse]

i have installed a bunch of VSX-es and my humble opinion is that i would still prefer an iPower over these.

i have not installed/touched the Tandberg MXP, so cant comment.

the VSX 7000 has some bugs...

for instance enabling surround sound is supposed to disable the polycom mic, but it DOESN'T. so u have to physically unhook it from the Visual Concert if you happen to have a bunch of mics routed through a Vortex mixer as input.

echo cancellation can be an issue as well.

One of my clients got escalated to Atlanta for far-end echo/feedback isssues and it took a month or so to get it sorted out, but client swears he will NEVER ever buy a Polycom product again.

rgds,
cr8zyh0rse

PS: surprisingly (or maybe not) it worked fine/better when i used a crossover and downgraded the s/w from 7.5.2.
==============
"It's better to burn out than to fade away,
My, my, hey, hey..."

[Sean Lessman]

...I do not like to have to open menu again to select a source from presentation. I do have a alternate source setup for the presentation function button, but I often have to switch through multiple sources..
There has been work done on the user interface to make source control easier to use in the next major release. Stay tuned!

Sean

[Entropy3XD]

There has been work done on the user interface to make source control easier to use in the next major release. Stay tuned!

Sean
YES!!! WOOHOO!!!

[trapehzoid]

I hear you are going to get a strap on for the remote.. kinda like the thumb keyboards ;)

[TelehealthMan]

Yes, as a long time TANDBERG user I must say that the MXP remote is very very different. It totally changes the whole user interface. I could go on and on. Lets just say I have not purchased any MXP equipment and leave it at that.