| System Requirements & Installation |
| 1. System Requirements |
i) Operating System
- Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
ii) PC Hardware
- Processor:
- CIF (320 x 160 pixels) = Pentium IV 2.0 GHz or above
- VGA (640 x 480 pixels) = Core Duo
- HD Quality = Intel® Core™2 Duo above
- RAM: 1GB Minimal, 2GB and above for best quality
- Hard Disk: 40GB and above (excludes recording storage)
iii) Video device
- Web Camera, Digital Camera
- Conference camera: CCD Lens recommended with sufficient lighting; some camera need capture cards
iv) Sound Card
- Bi-directional full duplex sound card
v) Audio Device:
- Headset, wireless/Bluetooth microphone, speakerphone, audio system.
vi) Display:
- LCD or Plasma panel, TV screen, Projector, Monitor, Laptop screen.
vii) Bandwidth Requirement*
- QCIF Video: 80kbps
- CIF Video: 150kbps
- VGA Video: 300kbps
- HD: 1mbps
- Client Presence Status 2kB every 30 seconds
- IM Traffic 2kB every 30 seconds
- Call Setup Traffic 1kB every call
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| 2. Device Requirements: |
Notebook or Desktop PC with Internet connection (Broadband connection preferred), webcam and headset or USB speaker/microphone
*Note: VC Plus still works without a webcam; it can receive inbound video, audio and data conference |
| 3. I cannot install a new version of VC Plus |
| Please go to the Windows Task Manager and make sure there is only one VC Plus client running. If it does not work, please exit all VC Plus applications and install a new version of the client. It is necessary to uninstall old version of VC Plus for the new version to work. |
| 4. Will there be any problems if we use different versions of VC Plus client in a VC session? |
| Using different versions of VC Plus in a VC session will affect audio/video quality due to differences in the codecs used. We strongly suggest that users check for the latest version of VC Plus by going to the 'Help' menu of the client software in order to check and download the latest version of the VC Plus client. |
| 5. Why does my VC Plus client refuse to start? |
| Check first if you are connected to the Internet. Then check your Windows Task Manager and make sure there is only one instance of VC Plus running. If not, please close all VC Plus applications and start all over again. |
| 6. Is Pacnet VC Plus secure? |
| Pacnet VC Plus uses advanced AES256 encryption technology to guarantee secure collaboration, which includes registering conference data to guarantee security and reliability. It also supports monitoring and jurisdiction management functions. With the Close User Group option, users are able to control safety mechanisms and manage users jurisdiction. Double protection guarantees the security and integrity of data shared within a video conferencing session. |
| 7. What types/models of webcams or headsets are supported by VC Plus? |
Pacnet VC Plus supports most popular webcam models, but due to differences in manufacturer specifications, each webcam will have different PC CPU usage, which may affect the performance of the video conference session.
Below are some of our recommended webcam models:
| Recommend Webcams |
| Logitech |
QuickCam 3500 |
| Logitech |
QuickCam Pro 9000 |
| Logitech |
QuickCam Pro for Notebooks |
| Logitech |
QuickCam for Notebooks Pro |
| Logitech |
Quickcam S5500 |
| Logitech |
QuickCam Spere AF |
| Creative Technology |
Live! Cam Notebook Ultra |
| Creative Technology |
Live! Cam Video IM Pro |
| Creative Technology |
Live! Cam Notebook Pro |
| Creative Technology |
Live! Cam Chat |
| Microsoft |
LiveCam NX-6000 |
| Microsoft |
LiveCam VX-500 |
| Headsets |
| Logitech |
Clearchat Style Headset |
| Logitech |
USB Headset H330 |
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| 8. What should I do if my webcam cannot be detected? |
| Check to see if another application is using your webcam. Try to exit the application or switch off the webcam and make it available for Pacnet VC Plus. Alternatively, you may wish to check if there are any software updates required by your webcam by visiting the manufacturer's website. Run the VC Plus Tuning Wizard under the 'Tools' menu and follow the step-by-step instructions to optimize your speaker, microphone and video settings. |
| 9. When I install VC Plus, a message showing "Error opening file for writing …" pops up, what does this mean? |
| You get this error message when there are two versions of VC Plus running on your PC. Make sure there is no other VC Plus client running before you start installing VC Plus. |
| 10. I connect to the Internet through a HTTP proxy server. Can VC Plus work through a proxy server? |
| Yes. In the "Login"window, click on the button "Network"->"Proxy", and select HTTPS proxy. Input the server IP, port, username, and password. You can test the connection first by clicking on the "Test" button. |
| 11. I have set up VC Plus to call through a proxy server, but why can't I make a call? |
| Please check if you or the receiver's firewall has blocked the port used by V-Proxy Server (default is TCP Port 563). |
| 12. Which ports in my firewall should be configured to allow VC Plus to be used? |
Video Conferencing
- TCP: 4320-4323, 563
- UDP: 4321-4323, 5000-6000, 10240-20480
PC2Phone, VCPlus to PSTN/mobile call with H.323 *
- TCP: 1720
- UDP: 1719, 20000-22000
IPTV Viewer*
- TCP: 13, 3900-3930, 8000, 8443
- UDP: 13 3900-3930, 8000, 8443
User database management: TCP/443
For SIP phone call UDP/5060, 30000-31000 in the firewall*
*Note: Future optional feature, not applicable for VC Plus service at this moment |
| User Accounts |
| 1. I have forgotten my password |
When you start the VC Plus client, you will see the "Forgot password?" link on the login page, please click on this link and fill in the necessary information. You will then receive an email* with the password. We suggest that you re-set your password as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can consult your IT Manager.
Note*: Make sure your personal email address is entered correctly the first time you login:
Go to File > Personal Information > Personal Details > e-mail |
| 2. I cannot logon |
| Please check if you have the correct user ID and password. Note that the password is case sensitive. Check if you are connected to Internet. Check with your IT Manager if you are still unable to connect. |
| 3. Can I logon with different VC Plus ID on the same PC? |
| Yes, as long as the VC Plus IDs are registered. However, please note that you can only have 1 VC Plus session on each PC at any one time. |
| 4. Does everyone in my Contact List need to download the Pacnet VC Plus client in order to join online meeting? |
| Yes. Your contacts must download Pacnet VC Plus and must be subscribers of the service in order to conduct a meeting with you. |
| 5. Is the Pacnet VC Plus address book integrated with the corporate directory? |
| Since VC Plus has its own directory, Pacnet VC Plus does not integrate with your corporate directory by default. However, uou can schedule a video conferencing session using Pacnet VC Plus Meeting Scheduler (under the "Conference" tab) and the session will be reflected in your Outlook calendar. |
| 6. Can I change my display name? |
| Yes. In the pull down menu, choose File > Personal Information > User Details > Nick Name. It will automatically synchronize with the server database. |
| 7. How do I create, edit or delete a group in my Contact List? |
| Right click the group's name, then choose to create, rename or delete. Note that you cannot delete the general grouping. Move your friends to different groups either by dragging their names into the group you prefer or by right clicking on their names, selecting "Move to Group", and then choosing the name of the group you want them to belong. Type a name for your new group, and click "Create" |
| 8. What will happen if I don't check the option "Someone who is not in the list will be rejected?" |
| By default, VC Plus allows everyone on your contact list to call you. By checking this option, you will be able to block those who are not onyour contact list. |
| 9. How does VC Plus respond if I leave the password field blank in the auto-answering function? |
| This is a no-password setup that allows you to call home (or any place you are monitoring) from your office and you will get an immediate connection. However, not using a password is risky as anybody who is allowed to call your home account can monitor your home. We strongly suggest that you use a password for better control of the auto-answering function. |
| 10. What should I do if I don't want to receive alerts when someone goes online? |
| Select: Tools > Options > Notifications > Alerts > cancel "Display alerts when contacts come online". |
| 11. How should I configure VC Plus to not save text message history? |
| Select: Tools > Options > Message > History > and uncheck the option "Keep the message history automatically". There is also an additional check box if you want to "Show the last message in new text chat window". |
| 12. Can I send text messages or files to another user during the conference? |
| Yes. VC Plus data conference not only supports text messaging, but also files and applications sharing. Users can use the white board function for more interactive meetings. Right click the name on the contact list and select "Send message". Alternatively, you can click the "Instant Message and Collaboration" link on the remote party video pop-up window. |
| 13. Where can I find the real-time log messages? |
| In the "Help" menu, select "Show log". A pop-up window will show the event log messages. |
| 14. Can I choose to display only my friends who are online? |
| Yes, you can. Right click on the group name in the contact list and select "List Online Friends Only". |
| 15. After using VC Plus, I receive a prompt that my hard disk is full, what does this mean? |
| This means that your log files might be too big. To solve this issue, try deleting the log files under the directory "My Documents\Pacnet VC Plus\logs'. |
| 16. When I login to the server using a registered account, I get a prompt that my username and password do not match, why is this happening? |
| Pacnet only allows one account per computer, and this account may have already been assigned to someone else. We suggest that you check with your IT Manager to see if he can reset the password for you, upon verifying your ownership of the account. |
| 17. I keep receiving unwanted calls, how do I stop other people from finding my ID? |
| You can change your status to "Invisible" so you can appear "offline" to others. |
| 18. We are connected to the Internet through a proxy server, how do we set this up in VC Plus? |
| In the login window, click on "Network > Proxy", and select the type of proxy server (the default is setting should be "Automatic"). Input the account information you use to connect to your proxy server. VC Plus should work after that. |
| 19. Why does VC Plus crash when someone calls me? |
| Check if you have set "Allow only my friends to call me" under "Privacy Details" in "Personal Information" and change it to "Allow everyone's call". |
| 20. I renamed some friends on my buddy list, but when I use VC Plus on a different computer, the nicknames are back to default. Why? |
| This is because those nicknames are stored locally on your PC. Currently, we do not support storing nicknames on our servers. |
| Network |
| 1. I am unable to logon due to network issues. |
An "Offline" status will be displayed on the VC Plus screen if you have not login to the VC Plus server. This happens when the UDP protocol is not enabled by your firewall.
To solve the issue, try the following:
- Check the network connection to see if it works and then re-login.
- If the network connection is OK, please check your network firewall settings and make sure the UDP protocol is allowed. If not, enable UDP protocol and re-login.
- Check if the PC has a personal software firewall. If so, please uncheck the firewall settings. |
| 2. Why am I offline? |
If you do not login to the VC Plus server, your status will be "Offline" on the screen.
Try to do the following:
- Check if your computer is being connected to the Internet and the network connection is working properly.
- If the network runs properly, check your network firewall and make sure the "UDP" protocol is allowed. |
| 3. My connection to another user is slow. |
| Please use the "Trace and trouble finding" tools from the "Network Settings" in the main menu to check if the network traffic is congested. Otherwise, please check that your PC has no virus. |
| 4. I lose my connection to the VC Plus server during conversations. |
| - Please check if you are still being connected to the Internet. Some data might be lost because of the network traffic. |
| 5. I can't communicate with another VC Plus client. |
| Please make sure that you can access the Internet and see if VC Plus has logged into the VC Plus server. |
| 6. How do I check my current network traffic condition? |
- You can open a web browser and check the download speed to a public web page to have a rough idea on your current network traffic condition.
- You can try to download a big file to check your network condition.
- To ensure smoother video conferencing experience, please make sure that your connection is at least 512kpbs or above. To test the Internet access speed of your network, you can try the following 3rd party internet bandwidth tester at www.speedtest.net |
| Calling |
| 1. Display of incoming calls gets delayed |
| This happens when the network connection is slow. Ensure your network speeds are fast enough to prevent the recurrence of this problem.. |
| 2. I can call out, but others cannot call in. |
This problem is likely caused by your personal firewall settings. Please carefully check your personal firewall software and apply the appropriate settings.
(Help > Network > 7) |
| 3. Both the caller and receiver cannot receive incoming calls. |
| First, please make sure that both sides are displaying "Online" status. If so, it might be a firewall configuration problem on both sides. VC Plus can traverse firewalls automatically if at least one party has a less strict security policy. However, if both sides are using very strict firewall policies, VC Plus will not be able to make a connection except through VPN. Please check your firewall configuration. |
| Video and Audio |
| 1. Noise disturbance during my conversation. |
| During the video conferences, you may experience some echoes or noise. This is not caused by the program. In most cases, it is caused by improper sound device settings. Please exit the current conference session first and check the audio device. Avoid using camera with built-in microphone; choose the PC's sound card or to use a headset/microphone. |
| 2. I can hear my own echo. |
| The call recipient may be using the computer speaker to play the received audio. To reduce the echo, the call recipient should turn down the volume. It is better to use the microphone device of your sound card instead of the built-in one in your camera. VC Plus only supports the Echo Canceling feature in Windows XP |
| 3. I cannot hear anything after I get connected |
- Please check the earphone to see if it works properly.
- Ask the other party to check his/her microphone settings.
- If these do not work, please restart VC Plus and use the "Audio & Video" > "Tuning Wizard" to check the above devices.
- If all the devices work properly, please check if the other party has "Paused' the sending of audio in the VC Plus program. |
| 4. The other party cannot hear my voice |
- Please check the microphone to see if it works properly.
- Ask the other party to check his/her earphone.
- If it still does not work, please restart VC Plus and use the "Audio & Video" > "Tuning Wizard" to check the above devices.
- If all the devices work properly, please check if you have 'Paused' audio in the VC Plus program.
- Let the other party check if he has paused receiving audio in the VCPlus program |
| 5. I see a green screen instead of the participants' faces and I can barely hear them speak. |
| If you see a green screen or very poor quality video and cannot hear the other party clearly, it could be due to a server packet lost, please set video size to "QCIF" and try again. |
| 6. My video is not clear. |
- Some webcams have a manual focus. Try to adjust the focus of the camera.
- Adjust the video settings in "Audio & Video" > "Video Properties" |
| 7. Why is the video quality affected by the settings of display card? |
| When you use an older PC, your hardware may not be enough to support the VC session. We suggest that you use a screen resolution of 800x600 or 1024x768. Since higher resolutions uses more memory and CPU you may experience poor video picture quality and more video transmission delays. |
| 8. The remote video becomes slow and vague during the conference. |
There are many possible reasons behind this problem.Your bandwidth may not be enough, your CPU usage is too high, your camera driver uses up huge disk space or your PC contains a virus.
- Please check your CPU. Pentium 4 PC is required to support VGA .
- Otherwise, you can change the size to CIF or QCIF to ensure stable video conference quality.
- Please check your available network bandwidth. If there are too many people using the same network resources, chose a lower resolution video.
- If you are in a LAN environment, please check if there is any PC containing virus. They could affect network traffic and slow down transmission speeds. |
| 9. I am unable to select VGA resolution during conversation? |
- Please check the camera specifications and see if it supports VGA format.
- If other party using modems or very low bandwidth, VC PLUS does not allowing sending VGA with large bandwidth.
- If the bandwidth available is very low, VGA cannot be supported |
| 10. Not all members can see each other during multiple user video conferencing session, why is this happening? |
| When conducting multiple user conference (with 1 to 4 participants), please change the video size to "Auto" when VC Plus is setting up the conference. You can change the setting "QCIF" after the program has initialized. |
| 11. I can see other parties' video but others cannot see mine. |
| Please check if your local camera works properly. If there is another application using the camera, please close it, restart VC Plus and use the "Audio & Video" > "Tuning Wizard" to check the device status. If all the devices work properly, please check if you have paused sending video within the VC Plus program. |
| 12. I cannot see my own video. |
| Please check if the video option is not set to "Off". If not, check your local camera to see if it works properly. If there is another application using the camera, please close it, restart VC Plus and click the "Audio & Video" > "Tuning Wizard' to check the device status. |
| 13. Can I test my audio and video quality before contacting other users? |
| You can try the audio/video quality by dialing your own VC Plus ID to simulate a 3-way call, please make sure you mute one of the Video pop up screen to avoid loud feedback. |
| 14. Can I adjust my video size and frame rate? |
The size of the video is mainly adjusted by the Speaker/Chairman but the other party can request to the Speaker/Chairman the change of video sizes. Click on the video button from your local video window and select:
- Off = Only audio will be sent
- VGA = 640*480 Pixel
- CIF = 320*200 Pixel
- QCIF =160*120 Pixel
- All Sizes = manual size selection incl. HD
You can select frame rate both automatically or manually on the local video windows
You can also switch on or off the webcam, microphone and speakers by clicking the button on the local video windows. |
| 15. Can I close my local video during conference session? |
| You can change the video size to "off" or click the camera icon to turn off your local video during the conference. Other parties will not be able to see you but you can still continue your audio and data conference. |
| 16. What should I do if I don't want others to see my video at the start of a meeting? |
| Go to pull down menu Tools > Devices > under the Video section > uncheck "Automatically send video at the start of each call". |
| 17, After I enter a meeting, it takes a long time (a few minutes) before my webcam starts capturing video, what's wrong? |
| Your webcam driver might be incorrect, or installed improperly. Please use "Tuning Wizard" to confirm that your webcam works fine. If it shows the same problem, please re-install the webcam driver. |
| 18. How can I setup my Answering Machine? |
| Go to pull down menu, Tools > Option > Answering Setting > click the "Enable answering machine". Set the call pickup time and allow voicemail recording time accordingly. Click the "Record" button to record your own greeting message. You can also set "Auto Answer" option with or without password to access the auto answer call. |
| 19. How can I record and playback my Video Conference? |
| After a video call is established, press the "RED" button from your local video window and it will start to record all the video connected to you. Press the same button to stop recording. Go to pull down menu Tools > Messages > select either the "Record" or "Voicemail" to open the recorded files. Select the required file and press Play to see the video. |
| Others |
| 1. Can I change the nicknames on my friend list? |
| Yes, just right click the user's nickname on your friend list, then choose "Rename". |
| 2. Can I hide while I am online? |
| You can change your status to invisible. When you are in that status, you will not be listed as online. |
| 3. What if I can't find my problem solution here? |
| If you cannot find your solution from this FAQ, you can consult with your IT Manager. |
| 4. I cannot turn on MCU (Multipoint Conferencing Unit), what shall I do? |
| To enable a MCU, you would need to configure the bandwidth settings to at least 512kbps or above. |
| 5. How do I specify the chairman when scheduling a meeting? |
| On the right hand side of participant list, there are two buttons: "U" and "D". Select the participant you want him to be the chairman, and click on the "U" button. |
| 6. How many days from today can I schedule a meeting using the MCU meeting scheduler? |
| With default settings, you can reserve a meeting within one month from today. |
| 7. How can I join in the meeting again if I exited from the meeting accidentally? |
If you exit the meeting in mid way, you can re-enter the meeting again via the following way:
Exit VC Plus and re login. Conference invite message will pop-up automatically. Click "OK" to re-enter the current meeting.
Conference control > view Scheduled Conferences, select the meeting displayed in the list, click "OK" to re-enter |
| 8. How do I specify the bandwidth for the MCU call? |
| It's up to the number of users and data to be transferred in the MCU conference. Normally, for a 3~4 parties video + audio MCU conference, at least a 512kbps (per user) broadband connection is required. |
| 9. How do I check and control the scheduled MCU conference? |
| Log on the VC Plus client, then click "conference control" > select "View scheduled conference" button to go to the web page to see the meeting. |
| 10. What is the meaning of "Observer Mode" in "MCU Configurator"? |
| By selecting this option, people who are not meeting invitees and enter the meeting through inputting password are treated as observers. Observers can only view and hear the contents of a meeting, but their actions/voice/video will not be shown to the others. |
| 11. Why isn't there any available MCU meeting rooms, when I have never used any? |
It could be one of the following reasons:
In the same time zone, other group members have booked meetings using all available meeting rooms.
Your group has not been granted any meeting room, please check with your IT Manager regarding this problem. |
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