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I had been hearing news (rumors) of the demise of the Polycom PVX H.323 desktop videoconferencing application. And I was disappointed (see my review of the PVX here).
I finally took the time to talk to someone from Polycom, Terri Gott, Senior Systems Engineer at Polycom and in the following email exchange learned some very good news....very good news indeed.
I asked: I hear rumors that PVX is no longer being supported. What is the real story?
Terri answered: PVX is still a fully supported application by Polycom. There are no current plans to “end-of-life” the product.
I asked: Can I download the latest version on my XP machine? Will it work as well on XP as it does on Vista? If you are moving forward with PVX....what about a Mac version?
Terri answered: The current version, PVX v8.02, will work with XP. There is also a controlled release, PVX v8.04, that will work with dual core processors and 32-bit Vista. Please read the Release Notes prior to installation. This release is available at the following url:
(I have not released this until given the OK)
Any v8.x license will work with this release. Unfortunately, there are no plans to support a version for the Mac.
YeOldeTechy Tried Version 8.04
Terri warned me to read the instructions before I downloaded and tried to install 8.0.4. I sort of listened. I read that 8.0.4 works on Windows Media Center 2005 as well as plain vanilla Windows XP.
Looking at the above picture, my Toshiba Laptop is running Windows Media Center 2002. Rats! I'll need to think of an alternative. Ahhhhhhh....but do you believe everything you read (other than in this Blog)? NO! Digging deeper, I looked at my list of Windows Updates
There it shows that my Windows Media Center has been updated to Media Center 5 via the updates. Yahoo! (that was a plug for my web site provider).
Anyway....I installed Polycom PVX 8.0.4 which has a new set of admin windows (not sure these are any better than the old, but, they look cleaner) and has a feature that allows optimum operation with a Dual-Core processer...which I have.
I need to compare this performance result (while I was in a call with the Codian) with the Mirial softphone. I'll grab that soon and post it here. I can't see where the dual processor capability saves me, but, this is only one simple test....
Result
No problems.....the installation went flawlessly, my old license was recognized automatically, and I called the Codian in the public domain easy as 3.14. I fired up H.239 and that worked fine.
The video quality may be a notch below the Mirial Softphone, but, it is H.323 compatible, works on your desktop computer (where it should be to be truly a useful tool), does H.239 (data) and it keeps on working. An old friend.
Conclusion
Do not listen to everything your hear or read (except on this Blog). Polycom is supporting the PVX and is moving forward. Great news Polycom! But....you need a Mac version now!
I only have one question: Why is it so hard to find the links to the latest software?
You (Polycom) should be marketing the living daylights out of this product (and, Mirial should be doing the same for the Softphone). You need to break away from the corporate C level executive and lure the average corporate (University, or Govt Organization) person (engineer, technicians, administrator, etc) to use DESKTOP videoconferencing which is, in my (not so) humble opinion, is infinitely more useful than "telepresence", and way cheaper.
Thank you Terri for all your help!
I had been hearing news (rumors) of the demise of the Polycom PVX H.323 desktop videoconferencing application. And I was disappointed (see my review of the PVX here).
I finally took the time to talk to someone from Polycom, Terri Gott, Senior Systems Engineer at Polycom and in the following email exchange learned some very good news....very good news indeed.
I asked: I hear rumors that PVX is no longer being supported. What is the real story?
Terri answered: PVX is still a fully supported application by Polycom. There are no current plans to “end-of-life” the product.
I asked: Can I download the latest version on my XP machine? Will it work as well on XP as it does on Vista? If you are moving forward with PVX....what about a Mac version?
Terri answered: The current version, PVX v8.02, will work with XP. There is also a controlled release, PVX v8.04, that will work with dual core processors and 32-bit Vista. Please read the Release Notes prior to installation. This release is available at the following url:
(I have not released this until given the OK)
Any v8.x license will work with this release. Unfortunately, there are no plans to support a version for the Mac.
YeOldeTechy Tried Version 8.04
Terri warned me to read the instructions before I downloaded and tried to install 8.0.4. I sort of listened. I read that 8.0.4 works on Windows Media Center 2005 as well as plain vanilla Windows XP.
Looking at the above picture, my Toshiba Laptop is running Windows Media Center 2002. Rats! I'll need to think of an alternative. Ahhhhhhh....but do you believe everything you read (other than in this Blog)? NO! Digging deeper, I looked at my list of Windows Updates
There it shows that my Windows Media Center has been updated to Media Center 5 via the updates. Yahoo! (that was a plug for my web site provider).
Anyway....I installed Polycom PVX 8.0.4 which has a new set of admin windows (not sure these are any better than the old, but, they look cleaner) and has a feature that allows optimum operation with a Dual-Core processer...which I have.
I need to compare this performance result (while I was in a call with the Codian) with the Mirial softphone. I'll grab that soon and post it here. I can't see where the dual processor capability saves me, but, this is only one simple test....
Result
No problems.....the installation went flawlessly, my old license was recognized automatically, and I called the Codian in the public domain easy as 3.14. I fired up H.239 and that worked fine.
The video quality may be a notch below the Mirial Softphone, but, it is H.323 compatible, works on your desktop computer (where it should be to be truly a useful tool), does H.239 (data) and it keeps on working. An old friend.
Conclusion
Do not listen to everything your hear or read (except on this Blog). Polycom is supporting the PVX and is moving forward. Great news Polycom! But....you need a Mac version now!
I only have one question: Why is it so hard to find the links to the latest software?
You (Polycom) should be marketing the living daylights out of this product (and, Mirial should be doing the same for the Softphone). You need to break away from the corporate C level executive and lure the average corporate (University, or Govt Organization) person (engineer, technicians, administrator, etc) to use DESKTOP videoconferencing which is, in my (not so) humble opinion, is infinitely more useful than "telepresence", and way cheaper.
Thank you Terri for all your help!
