TrueConf Group Guide

# Getting Started for Video Conferences

# General video settings

In the Settings → Video → Streams section, you can configure the following parameters:

  1. Default bitrate refers to the number of bits transmitted per unit of time, indicating the quality of the audio and video stream. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality of the audio and video stream.

  2. Video traffic shaping is the monitoring of transmitted data volume for analysis and optimization of the utilized network channel.

  3. Adaptive bitrate - adaptive video quality management based on bandwidth.

  4. Forward error correction is the automatic recovery of lost packets. It is beneficial for SIP protocol calls in situations where there are regular packet losses in the network that are not due to data channel congestion along the route. It allows the recovery of up to 10% of lost packets (using TrueConf FEC technology) and up to 5% without retransmissions and temporary video quality degradation.

  5. The quality of encoding for the primary (video) and secondary (presentation) streams: depending on the selected profile, a balance is chosen between frame rate and image resolution. Profile descriptions:

    • Primary channel profile:

      - <interface ru="По умолчанию" en="Default"/> – the profile is automatically selected by the system based on the current connection conditions and type of video data.

- <interface ru="Баланс" en="Balanced"/> – a balanced profile that aims to maintain a comfortable resolution and frame rate for as long as possible while ensuring high visual quality.

- <interface ru="Детализация" en="High quality"/> – optimized for maximum resolution by reducing the frame rate.

- <interface ru="Движение" en="Movement"/> is designed for high-action video and requires a high bitrate to maintain high resolution.

- <interface ru="Диктор" en="Speaker"/> is optimized for high-quality transmission with minimal movement in the frame and is used in specialized scenarios.

    • Secondary channel profile (H.239/BFCP) :

      - <interface ru="По умолчанию" en="Default"/> – the profile is automatically selected by the system.

- <interface ru="Баланс" en="Balanced"/> – maintains comfortable quality with moderate frame rate and resolution.

- <interface ru="Детализация" en="Content"/> – maximum resolution with reduced frame rate.

- <interface ru="Видеофильм" en="Video"/> – optimized for dynamic video streams with high bitrate and resolution.

- <interface ru="Документы" en="Documents"/> is optimized for long-term broadcasting of static images with the highest possible resolution at a minimal bitrate.
  • Secondary channel bandwidth - the percentage of channel bandwidth allocated for the additional stream (for content broadcasting), representing the bitrate separated from the main video stream for presentation broadcasting. In this case, the total bandwidth is divided between the main video stream and the presentation stream.

# Layout settings

To configure the video layout settings, go to the Settings → Video → Layout section, where you can:

  • In the Self-view section, configure whether you will see the image from your own camera during a call.

  • Enable the display of the microphone volume level indicator in participants' video windows;

  • Choose the video scaling mode on the screen:

    • Auto – automatic scaling of windows of different sizes;

    • Scale to fit video - scales the displayed layout while maintaining the aspect ratio so that the entire image fits on the screen;

    • Crop to fill window – displays the video layout so that the image fills the screen.

  • Enable the overlay layout mode, where one video window is expanded to fill the entire conference screen, with other participants' slots placed on top of it. Below, adjust the Overlay coefficient.

For video layout schemes generated on TrueConf Group, refer to the "Layout Management" user documentation.

# Call settings

In the Settings → Calls → Call settings section, you can set the general parameters for managing video calls.

  1. Allow the use of SIP and H.323 protocols.

  2. The sequence of protocols used during a call.

  3. Permission to remotely control the camera connected to TrueConf Group.

  4. Sharing slides with a button or upon connecting to the source.

In the Settings → Calls → Call settings menu, you can set specific parameters for receiving incoming calls:

  1. Settings for receiving the first incoming point-to-point call:
Parameter Description
Accept automatically Automatic call acceptance
Ask for user's confirmation The user decides whether to accept or reject the call
Do not disturb Automatic call rejection
  1. Merge incoming Call to Current Call – Accept automatically, Ask for user's confirmation, or Do not disturb.

The option Merge incoming Call to Current Call is available only when the built-in MCU is in use.

  1. Mute the microphone and disable the camera during incoming calls.

  2. Accept calls only from contacts in the address book.

  3. Spam protection – automatically rejects spam calls over SIP and H.323 protocols. This setting can be useful when operating in an open network with a public static IP address, as various scanner programs searching for vulnerabilities in IP telephony often target standard SIP and H.323 ports.

  4. Blocking incoming SIP calls (this is a stricter restriction than spam protection).

  5. Blocking all incoming calls when recording or streaming is active on the terminal.

# Enabling MCU Mode

By default, TrueConf Group operates in point-to-point mode. During the video call, both participants can see and hear each other. If another user calls the endpoint during the video call, this user will not be able to join the call; instead, a notification that the device is busy will be displayed.

In some configurations, the option for an integrated MCU is available (not available for the TrueConf Group Silent version). This allows TrueConf Group to switch a video call to a group conference mode. Callers to the terminal are then automatically added to the ongoing conference (within the connection limit permitted by the license).

Take the following steps to enable this feature:

  1. Go to the Settings → Calls → MCU section.

  2. Enable the Use MCU setting.

  3. If you do not want a new video window to be automatically created in the video layout for presentations or desktop sharing broadcast by participants in a separate window, enable the Disable incoming content option.

Disabling presentation reception prevents remote participants from initiating content sharing via BFCP and H.239 protocols.

  1. If necessary, enable the display of the volume indicator on each video window.

  2. Indicate Mixing mode for video streams:

    • Video lecture – connected participants can only see the moderator, who acts as the terminal, but can hear each other.

    • All on screen: All conference attendees can see and hear each other

    • Voice activity detection – all participants receive a layout similar to the "everyone on screen" mode, but the active speaker will be displayed in the priority video window.

# Codecs

Learn more about all codecs supported by the endpoint in the Supported protocols and codecs section.

Go to Settings → Video → Codecs and ensure that only the video codecs supported by all devices participating in the conference are enabled.

Do the same with the audio codecs in the Settings → Audio section.

# Stream Settings

To make sure that your conference can be viewed by larger audiences, you don’t need to add them as attendees. It is possible to configure streaming to third-party services via RTMP or SAP and to the local network via NDI:

  1. Go to the Settings → Recording and streaming section in TrueConf Group.

  2. To configure RTMP streaming, go to the RTMP streaming menu and set the necessary parameters: host server, RTMP application, stream name/key, username, and password. You can also set the delay and automate the start and end of RTMP streaming.

  3. To configure broadcasting via the SAP protocol, go to the SAP streaming menu. You can specify the broadcast address and port, and enable automatic start and stop of the broadcast.

  4. To broadcast an event via the NDI protocol, navigate to the NDI streaming menu and specify the stream name.

NDI protocol streaming operates in NDI High Bandwidth mode at Full HD resolution and 30 frames per second, requiring a network channel with a bandwidth of 1 Gbps.

For any of the streaming methods you can enable automatic start and ending of broadcasting (when the meeting starts and ends).

# Recording

In the Settings → Recording and streaming → Current state section, you can view information about the available storage for recordings, including the number of recording hours available.

To configure recording, go to Settings → Recording and streaming → Recording to disk. If you enable the Overwrite option, new recording files will replace the oldest ones once the disk space is exhausted. The recording process will be continuous, and you won't need to worry about the remaining disk space.

By enabling Auto start, you can automatically start video call recording when it launches. Accordingly, Auto stop automatically stops recording when the call ends.

When the Space saving feature is activated, the video bitrate in the saved recording is reduced by approximately 40%. As a result, the final file size is decreased at the cost of reduced video quality.

In the Settings → Recording and streaming → Layouts menu, you can specify:

  1. The video layout to be recorded includes: video windows of all participants according to the selected layout, only incoming video streams, only outgoing video, or a dynamic voice-activated layout.

  2. Recording presentation: disabled, alongside other video windows in a separate window, or full screen replacing all video windows.

  3. Video resolution in the recording.

More information on working with video recordings can be found in the relevant section.

# Uploading presentations

In the Media files section, you can upload presentations before the event starts. Click Upload files and select the necessary files (supported formats) from your device.

# Assigning PTZ Camera Presets

In the terminal, you can create views—a "container" structure for the camera and preset. It supports creating views for multiple cameras and switching between them with a single click. When selecting a view, the PTZ camera will adjust its position according to the configured preset. The preset number of the PTZ camera is automatically selected and typically does not match the view number.

To create a view:

  1. Go to the Conference tab and select the My camera screen.

  2. In the Presets section, click Select.

  3. Click Create new preset.

  4. Select the camera position and enter the Name.

If needed, specify a key in the Quick selection section for quick preset switching using the remote control.

5. Click Create.

Supported creation of up to 16 presets for a single PTZ camera.

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