Solstice Conference Overview

Solstice Conference is the software-based capability to wirelessly connect the Solstice content sharing and collaboration space, as well as audio and video devices connected to the Solstice Pod, to a video conferencing service running on a meeting host's laptop. Adding rich, multi-participant Solstice content sharing to video conferencing delivers a better collaboration experience between onsite and remote users. Solstice Conference paired with room audio/video devices delivers the convenience of a traditional video room system with the flexibility to use the meeting host's preferred video conferencing service.

Watch Solstice with conferencing overview videoClosed

You can use Solstice with most laptop-based conferencing apps to add meeting support for remote attendees in Solstice-enabled rooms. Solstice's ability to wirelessly connect shared content and room cameras and mics to video conferences offers meeting hosts the flexibility to use their conferencing service of choice, enhanced by Solstice functionality. Solstice Conference can be enabled on Gen3 Solstice Pods running Solstice version 5.0 and higher. A current Solstice Subscription is required to use Solstice Conference with Pods running Solstice 5.4 or earlier.

Key Capabilities

  • Leverages video conferencing applications running on local users’ laptops.
  • Enables meeting hosts to wirelessly connect to plug-and-play USB devices attached to the Pod to share room audio/video in the web conference.
  • Uses integrated room and personal calendars to support quick starts for scheduled video conferences.
  • Allows the meeting host to share the full in-room display to the video conference so remote users can see everything happening on the display, including multi-source content sharing, markup, and more.

System Requirements

  • Gen3 Solstice Pod running Solstice version 5.0 or higher (latest Solstice version recommended)
  • Current Solstice Subscription for Solstice Pods running Solstice versions 5.4 and earlier
  • Meeting host laptop (Windows or macOS; recommended specs below)
  • Latest version of the Mersive Solstice app with the corresponding version of the Solstice Conference drivers installed (required for meeting host)
  • Third-party video conferencing application for meeting host and remote users (not required for other on-site meeting participants)
  • Solstice Discovery Service (SDS) is strongly recommended and required for location-based connection services
  • USB room camera and/or audio devices (optional) - (see Solstice Peripherals List)
  • Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365, or Google Workspace room calendars integrated with Solstice Pod (optional)

Meeting Host Laptop Specs

Solstice video conference connection capabilities are supported on laptop devices that meet the following recommendations. Meeting host laptops that do not meet the required minimum specs are not supported. Other on-site meeting participants can wirelessly share content to the Solstice display using the Mersive Solstice app installed on their laptops or mobile devices. The ability to connect Solstice to a video conference is not supported on mobile devices.

Using the Mersive Solstice app only for wireless content sharing, control, and markup does not require the device to meet the minimum specs listed below. See the Mersive Solstice App topic for more information.

Minimum Hardware Recommendations for Meeting Host Laptops

Video conferences with Solstice on Windows

Spec

Recommended

Required

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Windows 10 version 1903 or later

Hardware

Intel i7 quad core processor (8th generation or later) @ 2.4 GHz

16GB memory

Intel i5 quad core processor (6th generation or later) @ 1.6GHz

8GB memory

Support Note

CPU priority management in version 5.5.2 and higher of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows may support Solstice Conference on some devices with less than a quad-core processor and 8 GB of memory. See more details.

To check your Windows laptop specs, open Command Prompt and enter the dxdiag command.

Video conferences with Solstice on macOS

Spec

Recommended

Required

Operating System

macOS Monterey 12.X

macOS Big Sur 11.0 or later

Hardware

Quad-Core i7 (8th generation or later) @ 2.4 GHz

Intel i5 quad core processor (8th generation or later) @ 1.2 GHz

8GB memory

Support Notes

- Due to a compatibility issue with virtual cameras on Mac laptops with Intel processors, macOS Ventura 13.X is not currently supported for video conferences with Solstice.

- Macbook Air 2021 laptops and newer can be used for video conferences with Solstice; older Macbook Air laptops are not supported.

Supported Conferencing Services

The table below lists the video conferencing (VTC) services Mersive recommends, which are regularly tested on Windows and macOS devices. Full support indicates Mersive has validated the VTC experience with Solstice functionality in the dedicated video conferencing service app. In some cases, the browser-based version of a video conferencing service may offer better functionality. For best results:

  • Check that your video conferencing app is updated to the latest version.
  • Avoid running video conferences with Solstice in power savings or low power mode. If possible, the meeting host laptop should be plugged in to external power and running in a high performance mode.
  • Don't run video conferences as virtual applications and/or in a VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure). This can cause unpredictable results and is not supported by Mersive.
  • If using a 4K laptop, scale screen resolution down to 1080p when connecting to a video conference with Solstice.

Recommended VTC Services

Windows

macOS 

Zoom

Full support

Full support

Microsoft Teams

Full support

Browser-based version

Google Meet

Full support

Full support

If your preferred video conference service is not listed:

  1. Try your preferred video conferencing app.

    Many other video conferencing app versions have been found to work with various versions of Solstice.

  2. Try the browser-based version of your preferred video conferencing service.

    Browser-based versions sometimes get around conflicts Windows or macOS apps might encounter with sharing the Solstice display or using room devices connected to the Solstice Pod in the video conference. Past testing has found this for versions of WebEx, Blue Jeans, Chime, RingCentral, and Slack, particularly on macOS.

    Supported web browsers for browser-based video conferencing services are Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari.

    In some browser-based video conferencing services, the Solstice display may be labeled as the Solstice Pod name.

Next Topic

Solstice Conference Setup