MTDAMA Episode 36 – March 2023

Last Updated on October 10, 2023 by GrahamWalsh

Thanks all for joining MTDAMA Episode 36 session with our special guest, Ilya Bukshteyn from Microsoft. Below is the slide deck and then the Q&A captured.

Q&A from Episode 36

Q. Hi Graham – I saw something on LinkedIn about the new MTRoW theme and to delay using them if we are using direct guest join (or was it co-ordinated join)… can you say more about that?
A. Yes, this was referring to users of Exchange On-Premises only. If you are using Exchange Online, then all is good. This will be addressed soon for Exchange On-Premises users.

Q. When is 4.16 MTRW coming???
A. Rolling out March (previously late February) and expect to complete by late March – MC516349, You should have the update by now or you can manually instal via PowerShell.

Q. When will it be forced as the default layout?
A. It will have to cut over at some point so you can make use of the all the new features

Q. Is it just a new User Interface on Windows or a new App?
A. A whole new App, hence the need to move onto it for all users at some point.

Q. Any plans to improve the Zoom direct guest join experience on MTRs – multi-display support? We have big beautiful 4+ display rooms that can only show Zoom on a single screen. Also, improvements to video resolution? I know probably most related to WebRTC limitations, but I’m hopeful?
A. Dual display is tricky. Both Microsoft and Zoom are investigating it.

Q. Do you have information, or can you point me to the links with info about how the MTR/W Compute + Teams app handles the 21:9 output resolution in MTR Signature?
A. Full info here on Signature Rooms and a recent blog here from Microsoft. As for MTR’s outputting 21:9, the device will detect what monitor is connected via EDID and make the best choice. Obviously you can force the resolution in the Windows settings.

Q. For those with questions on IntelliFrame, check out EP4 of Mo’s Mondays.
A. Available here

Q. Will Places be a full product or a set of APIs?
A. Places will be a full product. No licensing information available as yet.

Q. Can you expand on the earlier slide new features coming “HDMI Manual Control” ? Maybe I didn’t see that correctly.
A. HDMI manual control for MTR-A devices means that you can keep a device connected such as in room PC or 3rd Party Wireless Sharing device and you have to press Share to start the sharing into the MTR device. This feature is already on Windows MTR today.

Q. Spatial Audio has been announced for the desktop client, so guessing MTR-W first. Will it come to MTR-A? And When?  
A. No clear timeframe on MTR-W and no plans for MTR-A to have this for now.

Q. Ilya Bukshteyn – What 1 feature are you most excited to launch by the end of the fiscal year? (End of June). Either MTR-W or MTR-A?
A. IntelliFrame Cloud, FrontRow “v2” (as I described), IntelliFrame Edge, SIP join, and a whole bunch of Pro Portal enhancements

Q. Will SIP join be for MTR-A as well?
A. Should be possible, but not confirmed.

Q. Is there a long-term vision for the MTRA Android OS conundrum? The OEM upgrades aren’t really keeping pace with Android OS versions going out of support. Plus, Device Administrator doesn’t work past Android 11 does it? Also, Cyber Essentials are pretty hard-line on Android OS versions.
A. See the annoucement at Enterprise Connect where Microsoft announced their version of Android OS for Teams Rooms devices.

Q. Can you share when the checkin Notification aka knock knock feature and checkin by meeting join will be available for MTR-W? Is it coming with 4.16 app update?
A. This is pencilled for H2 2023

Q. I just heard from a client that Windows11 is coming to MTR…   Maybe that’ll be discussed in the next session
A1. Yes, we’ll cover this in next month’s MTDAMA live from Comms vNext
A2. Ilya – We have been testing Windows 11 on MTR for quite a while.  Although never say never, we wouldn’t have moved forward with it (for MTR HW which supports it) unless we had high confidence in quality. We will continue to support Win10 for MTR for those devices with processors which do not support Win11.  This won’t be indefinite, but we understand customers will need time to transition their HW
A3. It sounds like the first “lifecycle” attrition convo coming up…if your CPU can’t support it, it’s time to upgrade your NUC

Q. Can custom wallpapers be deployed from TAC or MTRP for the new experience?
A. No, custom wallpapers still must be managed outside of TAC/MTRP. Best method is via login script with Intune.

Q. How are customers remote controlling MTRoA today?
A. There is no mainstream options for this today. Crestron have their XIO Cloud which can control Teams Panels. Neat have Neat Pulse coming out in Q2 2023 which will allow full control to MTR-A, Teams Displays and Teams Panels.

Q. Will the future Avatars be brought in as well?
A. They are supported today and shown on MTRs today.

Q. Is there a definitive date for when 4.16 will force the display layout changes 100%?
A. No definitive date. But I doubt it will be in 2023. The “force” will be in a later version, e.g. 4.17/4.18 or something like that

Also published on Medium.