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- Solstice Release Notes
Solstice Release Notes
Release notes for the most recent versions of the Solstice host (Pod) software and related apps can be found below, with the most recent release first. Use the links below to find release notes for older Solstice releases.
Solstice 5.X || Solstice 4.X || Solstice 3.X || Solstice 2.X |
Tip
Looking for other release notes? View our release notes for Solstice Cloud and Solstice Active Learning.
Solstice Versions 6.X Release Notes
Important
Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 6.2 to benefit from the latest security updates and important performance enhancements. Read this Mersive Support article if you are upgrading Solstice version 4.4 or earlier to Solstice version 5.5 or higher.
Security Enhancement
This release includes an update to the V2 API which enhances security and performance, ensuring the system remains robust and reliable. Users benefit from a more secure application without any noticeable changes in their experience.
Solstice Client for Windows Performance Enhancement
The Mersive Solstice client for Windows will now only have an associated system tray component when the client is running. Closing the client will quit the application, so it will no longer remain running in the background. This change will help prevent system resource consumption by the client when not being used for sharing, which will help conserve laptop battery power.
Resolved Issues
Solstice Client (for Windows or Mac) will now successfully retrieve and show the stored Recently Used Display list after the Client is restarted.
When an RSS feed is configured within the Pod’s Message Center, the feed will now display the item title below the scrolling item description.
HDMI-In port improvements implemented to help harden port stability impacted by rapid plug/unplug events.
The HDMI-In connection status message now displays in the middle of the screen with a larger font size for easier viewing.
In an effort to prevent desktop and app sharing fails, the Solstice Client has improved messaging for detection and recommendations for Windows PCs with dual graphics cards.
For new Solstice Client installations on Windows, write permissions have been added to the folder %ProgramData%\Mersive\ALLUSERS\Solstice\Client to help ensure that client setting changes are permitted in more restricted user environments.
Pods that have been assigned multiple subscription bundles which have future start dates visible in Solstice Cloud will now correctly show the final end date in the Pod’s local, web, and Dashboard views.
To provide the proper response to automated security checks, the HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) flag has been added to web server response headers.
Solstice Open Control API v2 functionality and documentation have been updated to ensure parity with API v1 functionality.
Known Issue
This release implements significant HDMI-In port improvements to help harden port stability, which can help when HDMI-In Management Devices (such as Extenders, Switchers, etc.) are in use. Nevertheless, Pods configured to use HDMI-In Management Devices may on occasion still encounter HDMI-In port stability issues when users quickly unplug and plug back in. Additional hardening is planned to help handle plug/unplug events while using devices other than standard direct attached HDMI-In cables.
Caution
Mersive does NOT recommend the use of HDMI-In Management Devices (such as Extenders, Switchers, etc.) with the Solstice Pod.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 6.2 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen3)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod.
Important
Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 6.1.2 to benefit from the latest security updates and important performance enhancements. Read this Mersive Support article if you are upgrading Solstice version 4.4 or earlier to Solstice version 5.5 or higher.
Resolved Issue
Mersive found that an upgrade to the software used by Gen3 Solstice Pods to display the user interface, which was included in Solstice 6.1.1 and improved digital signage stability, also caused the Solstice welcome screen to freeze randomly. This update has been rolled back for Solstice 6.1.2, but Mersive plans to resolve the welcome screen issue and include the update in a following release.
See the Solstice 6.1.1 release notes for remaining known issues.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 6.1.2 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod.
Updates and Enhancements
The first time a Solstice Pod is plugged in out of the box (or after a factory reset), a new series of screens will launch on the connected HDMI monitor. This tool walks through checking connections to a network, the internet, and the Solstice Cloud management portal that are needed to fully deploy a Solstice Pod, as well as provides tips for resolving common issues and links to further resources.
The redesigned Solstice Web App, which allows a web browser to share a window, browser tab, or entire laptop screen to a Solstice Pod, is now fully released, including Solstice Cloud–based display discovery. Default instructions on the Solstice welcome screen now refer users to share.mersive.com for browser-based content sharing.
Caution
After February 24, 2024, Solstice Pods must be running Solstice 6.1.2 to use share.mersive.com.
Solstice fully supports current versions of macOS 14.X Sonoma for in-room content sharing starting in version 6.1. Solstice video conferencing is fully supported on macOS 14.0. See Known Issues regarding Solstice video conferencing support on macOS 14.1.
Supported USB Peripherals Updates
Top AV peripherals support in Solstice 6.1.
Mersive tested the most popular AV peripherals devices for use with Solstice 6.1 to identify those providing the best room audio and video resources when connected to a Solstice Pod. Organizations using the Room Camera + Mic functionality in the Mersive Solstice app for video conferences should view the updated list and details.
Solstice 6.1.1 (6.1.36718) also adds support for the following devices:
Huddly L1 with USB Adapter
Resolved Issues
An upgrade to the software used by Gen3 Solstice Pods to display the user interface improved security and digital signage stability.
An issue on newer Gen3 Solstice Pods that made sharing appear in Dual - Mirror mode rather than Dual - Extend or Dual - Seamless Extend mode (Display Options in Welcome Screen configuration) has been fixed in Solstice 6.1.1 (6.1.36718). Extend mode settings may need to be reapplied after upgrading a Pod to take effect.
Solstice Pods can now be factory reset using a USB-attached keyboard, as well as using an API command.
An incompatibility between virtual cameras on macOS 13.X Ventura running on Intel processors and Room Camera + Mic functions in the Mersive Solstice app, which caused other applications to close when they requested access to any installed video cameras, has been resolved in macOS Sonoma.
Factory resetting a Solstice Pod previously re-enabled room calendar integration features, which in some cases caused random crashes. Room calendar integration settings are now disabled by default after a factory reset of a Pod.
Emergency messages longer than the width of the Solstice display once again scroll to show longer messages in full.
Users can successfully connect using Miracast to a Solstice Pod with a screen key and Miracast over existing network infrastructure enabled ('Enable Miracast Infrastructure' in Features configuration).
Solstice processes to look up Pods' domain names have been improved, resolving repeated system crashes in some network cases when using a DHCP server and the ‘Show hostname instead of IP address’ option (Welcome Screen configuration).
Known Issues
A number of issues with the HDMI-In port on Solstice Pods have been reported, including HDMI-In shared content failing to display after reboots, the port becoming disabled, and occasional crashes.
A change to video output handling in macOS Sonoma 14.1 prevents a meeting host’s laptop from recognizing cameras connected to a Solstice Pod for use in video conferences. A workaround can be found in this Mersive Support article.
Mersive is investigating issues that occur when devices connected to a Solstice Pod with the Mersive Solstice app for Windows are in use in video conferences. High Windows CPU load can cause camera and mic devices to not be detected in the Mersive Solstice app and audio issues such as crackling and cut-outs. Plugging in a power cord or turning on a high-performance power mode can help work around these issues in some cases.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 6.1.1 (6.1.36718) software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Mersive Solstice app for Windows
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod.
Important
Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 6.1 to benefit from the latest security updates and important performance enhancements. Read this Mersive Support article if you are upgrading Solstice version 4.4 or earlier to Solstice version 5.5 or higher.
Enhancements for Easier Deployments
Improvements have been made to the guided setup tool that walks through steps needed to fully deploy a Solstice Pod, including setup of the Pod’s license.
Resolved Issues
A rapid HDMI-In port disconnect/reconnect signal could incorrectly result in the disabling of the HDMI-In port, resolved previously by sending an API command to re-enable the port or with a Pod restart.
See Solstice 6.0 release notes for remaining known issues and other important notes.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 6.1 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Mersive Solstice app for Windows
Mersive Solstice app for macOS
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud.
Important
Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 6.0 to benefit from the latest security updates and important performance enhancements. Read this Mersive Support article if you are upgrading Solstice version 4.4 or earlier to Solstice version 5.5 or higher.
New Features and Enhancements for Easier Deployments
- Users on a laptop can access a completely redesigned Solstice web app by going to share.mersive.com in a web browser to share content (browser tab, window, or entire screen) to Solstice. This makes sharing content to a Solstice Pod easier for users and helps administrators support Solstice content sharing without the installation, maintenance, and load of additional apps on laptop devices.
-
Notes: The Enable Web Sharing setting (Solstice Cloud > Features template settings) must be turned on for the Solstice Pod. Android and iOS devices are not supported. Audio sharing may be limited by laptop OS and browser. The Mersive Solstice app for Windows or macOS is currently required for full layout controls and Room Camera + Mic connections. Learn more.
Updated digital signage capabilities in Solstice 6.0 can be used to display webpages with interactive and responsive elements whenever a Solstice Pod is not in use for content sharing or video conferencing. Custom HTML and JavaScript programming can interact with and dynamically respond to the Pod and attached devices, such as occupancy sensors. Learn more.
The first time a Solstice Pod running Solstice 6.0 is plugged in out of the box (or after a factory reset), a new series of screens will launch on the connected HDMI monitor. This tool walks through checking connections to a network, the internet, and the Solstice Cloud management portal that are needed to fully deploy a Solstice Pod. It provides tips for resolving common issues, QR codes linking to further resources, and information about other available services.
Windows installers for the Mersive Solstice app now automatically add exceptions to Windows Defender Firewall for program files required for the application to communicate over the connected network. Exceptions may need to be added manually for other firewalls. Learn more.
Starting in Solstice 6.0, daily reboots scheduled for Solstice Pods will be performed within 10 minutes of the configured Daily Reboot Time (Solstice Cloud > Advanced template configuration). This allows restarts of large numbers of Pods configured for the same reboot time to be better managed.
Starting in Solstice 6.0, Solstice Pods will validate their licenses against a new licensing service hosted in Solstice Cloud. This increases Pod reliability by preventing third-party license issues from disabling devices with active licenses. Note: Connections must be allowed to kepler-backend.mersive.com to validate Solstice Pod licenses, including for Pod deployments not managed in Solstice Cloud.
Changes to Streamline Solstice
- To streamline deployment, Mersive will no longer provide Quick Connect versions of the Mersive Solstice app, either downloaded directly from the Solstice Pod or from mersive.com/download/. Related options have been removed from Solstice Cloud and Pod local configuration settings.
- Windows MSI/SCCM and macOS DMG versions of the Mersive Solstice app will still be available at mersive.com/download/. Users will be referred to the downloads page when a newer version of the app is available, but the app will no longer auto-update upon connecting to a Solstice Pod.
Notes: Previous Quick Connect versions will need to be removed before installing 6 non–Quick Connect versions of the app. Remaining Windows versions must be installed with administrator privileges, and users must have write access to the directory C:\ProgramData\Mersive\ALLUSERS\Solstice\Client\
.
- Learn more about Mersive Solstice app and central deployment with MSI or SCCM.
The Solstice Location Service and associated features have been disabled. Settings related to this service were removed from Solstice Cloud and the Mersive Solstice app and will be automatically turned off in Solstice Dashboard.
Supported USB Peripherals Updates
Solstice supports USB peripherals from certified partners.
Mersive now offers support for a range of devices from certified peripheral partners. These devices provide the best room audio and video resources for video conferences connected to a Solstice Pod. Organizations utilizing the Room Camera + Mic functionality in the Mersive Solstice app are encouraged to view the full list and details. Solstice 6.0 adds support for the following devices:
Biamp Parlé VBC 2500
Resolved Issues
Solstice 6.0 resolves an incompatibility between recent versions of Logitech Rally Bar firmware and/or CollabOS software and Solstice 5.5.2, which caused the virtual camera to repeatedly enumerate without starting the video. Mersive recommends upgrading Solstice Pods paired with Rally Bars experiencing this issue (possible in 1.4.228/10.7.228 and later) to Solstice 6.0.
The Mersive Solstice app version 6.0 for macOS was updated to resolve an issue where selecting the Solstice virtual monitor as the primary display caused a hall of mirrors effect.
Known Issues
A configured Custom Message (Message Center settings in Solstice Cloud) may fail to display in Solstice 5.5.2 and 6.0 when the default Solstice Wireless Display RSS feed is disabled. Mersive is working on a resolution for this issue. The following workaround should be used: Add an RSS feed after the disabled default feed, enter the Source address http://mersive.com/blank.xml
, and enable the blank feed. The enabled Custom Message following the blank feed should display.
Mersive is investigating the following issues:
- A known incompatibility between virtual cameras on macOS 13 (Ventura) running on Intel processors and Room Camera + Mic functions in the Mersive Solstice app can cause other applications to close when they request access to any installed video cameras. Mersive will address this issue in an upcoming release.
- When a user has shared more than one piece of content to Solstice, the virtual Solstice display window in macOS sometimes shows a blank desktop rather than the shared content.
- In a browser-based video conferencing service (e.g., Google Meet or Microsoft Teams web app), the camera feed occasionally shows only a black screen. Toggling video off and back on usually restores the camera feed.
Camera and mic devices connected to a Solstice Pod for use in a video conference may not be detected in the Mersive Solstice app if the Windows’ CPU workload is higher than 50%. Plugging in a power cord or turning on a high-performance power mode can help work around this issue in some cases. Mersive plans to address this issue in an upcoming release.
On macOS Monterey (12.6) in PowerPoint presentations displayed using Desktop sharing from the Mersive Solstice app, slides intermittently get out of sync with the laptop screen. Moving the mouse around the screen should refresh the Solstice display to show the current slide. Mersive will address this issue in an upcoming release, and also recommends macOS Ventura for sharing PowerPoint presentations to Solstice.
The keyboard command to factory reset a Gen2i or Gen3 Solstice Pod stopped working in Solstice 5.5.1. Customers may still factory reset a Solstice Pod using a web browser. Mersive plans to resolve this issue in an upcoming release.
When a 24-hour time format is selected for the Pod (Time/Locale template settings in Solstice Cloud) and the user’s laptop, the time listed for an upcoming meeting in the Room Camera + Mic tab in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows does not display in 24-hour time format. The correct time is listed but appears in 12-hour format, sometimes with AM/PM labels missing.
The screen key displays very small when the Solstice Pod is set to certain languages and a user is connected and sharing content to the Solstice display. This makes the screen key difficult to read, particularly in larger rooms, when another user connects to Solstice.
Important Notes for Solstice 6.0
Mersive has found M2 Macs experience similar performance and compatibility with Solstice to M1 Macs, and are therefore supported to the same degree. Support may vary for different versions of macOS. Learn more about Solstice support for content sharing and connecting to video conferences.
For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 6.0 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Mersive Solstice app for Windows
Mersive Solstice app for macOS
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud.
Solstice Version 5.X Release Notes
Release notes for Solstice versions 5.0 to 5.5.3 are shown below, listed from most to least recent. Release notes for the most current version of Solstice can be found here.
Important
Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 5.5.3 to benefit from the latest updates. If you are running Solstice version 4.4 or earlier, please see this Mersive Support article before upgrading to Solstice version 5.5 and later.
Updates
Solstice Pods validate licenses with new Mersive Cloud Licensing service. Solstice Pods running version 5.5.3 will now validate their licenses against a new licensing service hosted in Solstice Cloud. This increases Pod reliability by preventing third-party license issues from disabling devices with active licenses.
Note
Connections must be allowed to kepler-backend.mersive.com to validate Solstice Pod licenses, including for Pod deployments not managed in Solstice Cloud.
Availability of Software Updates
Solstice 5.5.3 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Important
Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 5.5.2 to benefit from the latest security updates and important performance enhancements. If you are running Solstice version 4.4 or earlier, please contact the Mersive Support team for assistance upgrading to Solstice version 5.5 and later.
Fixes and Enhancements
Comprehensive improvements to digital signage integration with Solstice. Solstice digital signage has been improved and professionalized to respond to requests and issues reported by the field, manage long-term stability, and improve the user experience.
Cache space for digital signage on the Solstice Pod’s internal flash drive was doubled from 1 GB to 2 GB. This helps avoid excessive network usage while the Pod is displaying digital signage feeds. If the total size of a signage feed exceeds 2 GB, some content will still need to be downloaded when the feed is replayed.
Cache handling and cleanup was improved to prevent the internal disk from filling up after multiple digital signage URLs have been applied in succession. Previously, the data stored for previously applied signage feeds was not deleted. When the Pod’s flash space for caching was full, digital signage would operate in streaming mode (no caching), using more network bandwidth. The resulting storage space limitation could also cause Solstice software updates to fail.
Digital signage on Solstice has been redesigned to run in a dedicated resource stack outside of the content sharing pipeline of the Solstice Pod. This has significantly improved digital signage stability and overall Solstice stability. Solstice will no longer reboot when it encounters memory leaks in third-party signage feeds—only the signage process will be restarted.
The redesign of the signage process in the latest release also avoids the need for a legacy safeguard to prevent boot loops that could cause signage to be disabled indefinitely.
When intermittent network issues prevent signage content from being loaded, Solstice will now retry every 30 seconds to attempt to recover. A Solstice error page will now show when this occurs to inform administrators. Previously upon intermittent network loss, signage could show a blank screen and remain in that state until a user connected/disconnected from the Pod or signage was toggled off/on.
A branded loading screen will now show when signage content is being downloaded from the web.
The digital signage Start After value is now always respected when set using Solstice Cloud (Digital Signage template/configuration) or Solstice Dashboard (Digital Signage tab).
Additional digital signage logging has been added to help diagnose and debug issues.
Windows CPU priority management for Solstice video conferences on lower-end laptops. A new CPU priority management approach will improve performance across a broader range of Windows laptops and operating conditions.
This CPU priority management will be disabled when battery levels drop below 25% while the laptop is unplugged to preserve battery power.
If battery levels drop below 25% while the laptop is unplugged, the app will change the priority of the Mersive Solstice Conference process back to Normal to preserve battery power.
A new Performance Optimization option (Settings > Conference) appears in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows only on laptops that are detected to be lower-end for Solstice-enabled video conference performance. A corresponding MSI configuration was also added. Learn more about installing with MSI.
Definitions of lower-end Windows machines for the purposes of Solstice-enabled video conferences will be refined over time.
Quick Share Desktop setting applied to Solstice video conference connections. In the Mersive Solstice desktop app (Windows and macOS), Quick Share Desktop (Settings > Control) will now control whether the user’s desktop is automatically shared to the Solstice display in two cases: 1) when the user connects to a Solstice Pod to share content and 2) when the user connects to a Solstice Pod and its connected room camera and mic for use in a video conference. Previously, a user’s desktop was always shared to Solstice automatically when connecting to a room camera and mic. Users can now apply their preferred behavior to both cases.
In-app help for PowerPoint presentation mode on Mac. A new ‘Using presentation mode’ help topic has been added to the Help panel of the Mersive Solstice app for macOS. This topic contains steps for sharing the slideshow view of a PowerPoint presentation to a Solstice display while viewing presenter notes on the presenter’s Mac laptop. An animated example provides a simple visual demonstration of the text how-to steps.
Mersive Solstice app HotKey setting and functionality removed. Solstice 5.5.1 simplified the workflow to wirelessly bridge to a room camera and mic when connecting to a Solstice Pod. This new functionality flow replaces the HotKey shortcut that took the user to the Room Camera + Mic (formerly Conference) panel. The previous HotKey functionality has been disabled and no longer appears in Settings > Conference.
Solstice browser connect page improvements. The initial browser connect page that appears when a user goes to
http://[Solstice IP address]
has been improved:The option for a user to share their screen from the web browser without needing to download the Mersive Solstice app is now a more prominent Share My Screen button. Browser-based sharing must be enabled for a Solstice display (Solstice Cloud > Features > Enable clientless sharing via browser or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage > Client Sharing Options > Browser Sharing).
The Get the App button will now direct laptop users to download the version of the Mersive Solstice desktop app from mersive.com/download/. This downloaded version installs in the main C:\Program Files directory (requires admin privileges), similar to centrally installed MSI and SCCM versions, rather than the user’s directory.
If the user does not have administrator privileges, a QuickConnect version of the app can still be installed by clicking the ‘Download the app directly’ link at the bottom of the page.
The page layout and updates are now more readable and accessible on various devices.
New URL for Solstice browser-based sharing. The direct link to share content to a Solstice display using a browser previously required users to type in the port number (
http://[Solstice URL]:6443
), but can now be more easily accessed with the new shortcut addresshttp://[Solstice URL]/share
.Improved room calendar availability messages on Solstice welcome screen. Various indicator bars appear on the Solstice welcome screen to show the availability of a space when a room calendar has been integrated with a Solstice Pod to show upcoming video meeting information. These indicators have been improved to be more comprehensive and easily understandable at a glance:
If there are no meetings scheduled on the integrated room calendar starting within the next 15 minutes, a green Available status bar appears next to the date.
If a meeting starting within 15 minutes is scheduled on the integrated room calendar, a new yellow Meeting Starting Soon status bar displays.
During a meeting scheduled on the integrated room calendar, a red In Use status bar displays, and the current meeting will be marked with a vertical red bar.
New default background images on Solstice Pods. Six (6) new modern plant-life default background images are included in Solstice software in Solstice 5.5.2, replacing the previous default backgrounds. How to apply new default background images works differently depending on how a display’s settings are managed:
Admins who manage Solstice settings directly using a web browser (web config) or the configuration menu on the Solstice welcome screen (local config) will automatically see the updated images after upgrading to Solstice 5.5.2.
The new default background images should also appear automatically for Pods managed using Solstice Dashboard after being upgraded to Solstice 5.5.2.
If a Solstice Pod is managed in Solstice Cloud using a Welcome Screen template (Manage > Templates) with the old default images applied, the old default backgrounds from the template could continue to be applied to the Pod. Mersive strongly recommends creating new Welcome Screen template(s) to apply the new background images to all Solstice Pods in your deployment.
Message to manage enterprise 802.1x network configurations in Solstice Cloud or Solstice Dashboard. Advanced 802.1x network settings on Solstice Pods, particularly on networks using custom certificates, should be managed using the advanced options available in the Solstice Cloud and Solstice Dashboard tools for best results. Admins changing 802.1x network settings for a Pod from a web browser (web config) or the configuration menu on the Pod welcome screen (local config) may now see a message referring them to Solstice Cloud or Solstice Dashboard management when configuration cannot be completed through web config or local config.
Device ID and QR email code added to Solstice Pod Forgot Password box. If the password for a Solstice Pod is entered incorrectly three times, the user sees a Forgot Password button. Upon clicking the button, the user is given a reset code to send to Mersive Support. A couple changes were made to this information to make it easier for customers to get assistance:
The Solstice Pod device ID is now included in the Forgot Password reset code.
A QR code is now included in the Forgot Password box. When scanned, the QR code generates a
mailto
link, which creates a new email to Mersive Support in the user’s default email application with a subject line that contains the password reset code.
Cipher suite updates. As part of Mersive’s ongoing security assessment with each release, the cipher suites used by Solstice have been updated to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge about what ciphers contain potential vulnerabilities. These changes ensure that any known weak ciphers are not used as part of Solstice encryption architecture.
Active Learning improvements. Solstice Active Learning audio routing and API functionality updates were made to improve the customer experience, and a couple of structural updates were implemented in Solstice 5.5.2 as part of an upcoming major update (Solstice Active Learning is becoming Solstice Routing):
Audio routing should now work as expected when content with audio is shared to one Solstice Pod using a wired HDMI-in connection and routed to another Pod. (Audio routing content with audio first shared using AirPlay mirroring also works as described.) This includes:
Audio muting when the source content is docked
Audio routing working in all HDMI-In post modes, including Persistent post (Solstice Cloud > Features config > HDMI Input Behavior or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage > HDMI Input Mode)
Disconnecting audio when removing the post, whether by removing the HDMI-In user or removing the post
The OpenControl API has been updated to allow configuration using HTTP POST commands in addition to PATCH commands.
Limits on the number of shares to/from a Solstice Pod have been removed. Previously, Pods were limited to 50 outgoing shares and 8 incoming shares.
Routing of Active Learning/Routing content from one Solstice Pod to many has been optimized to allow multiple connections to be initiated in parallel instead of sequentially. The upcoming release of a new Solstice Routing app will use this functionality to eliminate lengthy session-start wait times for session moderators.
Supported Devices
The following changes have been made to the list of Mersive Certified devices that are supported for use with Solstice content sharing and Solstice-enhanced video conferences. View the full list and details.
Magewell HDMI Gen 2 Adapter is supported as of Solstice 5.5.2
QSC Core 110f devices running firmware versions up to 9.6.X are supported on Windows in Solstice 5.5.2
Resolved Issues
An issue that caused the Solstice display to crash and restart with a black screen has been resolved. This issue occurred when Solstice was accessed repeatedly over short intervals (for example, refreshing the configuration view every 5 seconds), in combination with random network issues. Customers using Solstice 5.5.2 should no longer experience this issue.
Fixes to the Solstice welcome screen have been implemented in Solstice 5.5.2 to resolve the following issues:
A Solstice Pod with an integrated room calendar may have experienced an issue that caused the Solstice display to flash white if the ‘Show meeting titles’ setting (Solstice Cloud > Calendar template/config or Solstice Dashboard > Calendar > Privacy Settings) was unchecked when an upcoming meeting was starting within 15 minutes on the Pod’s integrated calendar. Hiding titles for meetings on a Pod’s integrated calendar should now work as expected.
RSS feeds (Solstice Cloud > Message Center template/config or Solstice Dashboard > Message Center) that did not end with 'rss.xml' returned the error ‘Unable to retrieve content.’ RSS feed URLs such as
http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml?edition=uk
should now successfully play on Gen3 Solstice Pods.When a Solstice Pod was configured with Screen Key on Main Screen disabled but the Presence Bar/Footer Screen Key enabled (Solstice Cloud > Welcome Screen template/config or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage), the screen key was disabled in both locations. The screen key will now correctly display only in the presence bar in this case.
If Desktop Screen Sharing in Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage > Client Sharing Options) was disabled for a Solstice Pod when a user connected to the Pod’s connected devices with the Mersive Solstice app’s Room Camera + Mic functionality and then disconnected without sharing any content, the Pod showed a black screen with the message ‘Share content to [SolsticePod] using the Solstice app.’ Pods will now switch back to the Solstice welcome screen in this case.
The issue that prevented the Device Not Activated box from appearing when a Solstice Pod did not have a license has been resolved in Solstice 5.5.2. Users will again see a message with activation directions when a Solstice Pod is not yet licensed.
When the Mersive Solstice app for Windows is connected to a Solstice Pod and attached room cameras/mics but no content is being shared to the display, the message ‘In conference’ will again appear at the top of the Solstice display.
The frame for Mirror Screen shares from the Mersive Solstice app on Android 13 devices now correctly updates to a landscape display format when content on the user’s Android device screen is rotated to display horizontally.
An issue sharing files with non-English characters in the filenames, which existed in recent versions of the Mersive Solstice desktop app for Windows, has been resolved. Users can share files named with non-English characters to a Solstice display.
An issue found in Solstice 5.5.1 where the audio fluctuated and/or cut out shortly after sharing Desktop or App Window content with audio from the Mersive Solstice app (Windows and macOS) has been resolved in Solstice 5.5.2.
Instances of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows that were 1) installed in the user’s directory rather than by an administrator in C:\Program Files and 2) where the Windows user profile contained non-English characters were unable to save settings. Users should no longer have to repeatedly update the same settings. Note: This issue did not affect centrally installed MSI and SCCM deployments of the Mersive Solstice app.
A couple of reported issues related to calendar API calls with a polling interval set to 0 seconds, including the loss of calendar settings on Gen2i Pods and a rare unrecoverable error in a Gen3 Pod, have been fixed.
An issue that caused a Solstice Pod to restart when the display device connected to the 4K port (HDMI-Out 1) was powered off/on has been resolved.
A resolution has been implemented for HDMI posts sometimes not returning after rebooting a Gen3 Solstice Pod, even after unplugging and plugging from the HDMI-In port, particularly when the Pod was configured to use dual (Ethernet and Wireless) networks and/or occupancy counting functionality.
The web handler for the Solstice OpenControl v1 API now correctly formats returned JSON content to be displayed in a web browser instead of being interpreted as a file to be downloaded.
A timing issue previously resulted in the Solstice Pod being unable to correctly detect devices connected in a Solstice video room Integration (VRI) configuration when a user connected to the Pod and started a Room Camera + Mic connection in the Mersive Solstice app (Windows and macOS), as well as the Pod ultimately crashing. Devices should now bridge successfully to Solstice and appear correctly in the Room Camera + Mic tab.
An issue that prevented the Solstice overlay that appears when a Gen3 Solstice Pod had been configured for VRI from being turned off appropriately when an HTTP proxy was enabled has been fixed.
The known issue in Solstice 5.5 and 5.5.1 where loading a custom PFX (.p12) certificate to encrypt Solstice client/server communications (Solstice Dashboard > Security > Encryption or Solstice Cloud > Template > Security) caused a fatal boot loop has been resolved. Customers can again install a custom .p12 certificate on Solstice Pods running version 5.5.2.
The incompatibility between recent firmware versions of the QSC Core 110f and Solstice 5.5.1 has been resolved. Firmware versions up to 9.6.X are now supported in Solstice 5.5.2. The QSC Core 110f is supported on Solstice 5.5 using a USB3 cable with firmware version 9.3.X. See Solstice Supported Peripherals for more information.
Known Issues
A configured Custom Message (Message Center settings in Solstice Cloud) may fail to display when the default Solstice Wireless Display RSS feed is disabled. Mersive is working on a fix for this issue, and has found a workaround: Add an RSS feed after the disabled default feed, enter the Source address
http://mersive.com/blank.xml
, and enable the blank feed. The enabled Custom Message following the blank feed should display.A reported issue causes an RSS feed configured in Solstice to fail. The message banner placeholder appears on the Solstice welcome screen, but the error 'Unable to retrieve content' appears upon booting up the Solstice Pod. In this case, waiting 10 minutes for an automatic refresh should restore the RSS feed.
A known incompatibility exists between the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers used for Solstice-enabled video conferencing and macOS 13 (Ventura) running on Intel processors that crashes other applications when they request access to any installed video cameras, including virtual cameras. Mersive is working to implement a solution as soon as possible. Sharing content with the Mersive Solstice app is supported on macOS Ventura in Solstice 5.5.2, and Ventura is recommended for sharing PowerPoint presentations.
A known incompatibility between recent versions of Logitech Rally Bar CollabOS and/or firmware and Solstice 5.5.2 causes the virtual camera to repeatedly enumerate without starting the video. Mersive recommends pairing Rally Bars experiencing this issue (possible in 1.4.228/10.7.228 and later) with Solstice 5.5.1 and is working on a fix in an upcoming version.
Mersive is investigating a number of issues that occur on M1 and Intel Macs in the Mersive Solstice app during Solstice-enabled video conferencing for macOS on Solstice 5.5.1 and 5.5.2.
If Share Pod Display (Settings > Conference) is enabled, the virtual Solstice display (usually Desktop 2) that can be shared in a video conference appears blank rather than showing the shared content.
When a user has shared more than one piece of content to the Solstice display, the virtual Solstice display shows a blank macOS desktop rather than the content shared to the Solstice display.
In a browser-based video conferencing service (such as Google Meet or Microsoft Teams web app), the video feed intermittently is just a black screen. Toggling the video feed off and back on usually gets around this issue.
With the Quick Share Desktop (Settings > Control) enabled, if a user shares their desktop to the Solstice display, then plays content such as a PowerPoint presentation or a YouTube video in a web browser full-screen, the Solstice display will “freeze.” Moving the cursor forces the screen to refresh.
The Mersive Solstice app for windows often does not detect camera and mic devices connected to a Solstice Pod for use in a video conference if Windows’ CPU workload is higher than 50%.
Solstice Location Services has a known issue learning the location of Solstice displays on a network to list nearest displays first in the Mersive Solstice app for macOS.
When a 24-hour time format is selected for the Pod (Solstice Cloud > Time/Locale template or Solstice Dashboard > System) and the user’s laptop, the time listed for an upcoming meeting does not display in the correct 24-hour time format in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows. Meetings scheduled on an O365 calendar integrated with the Mersive Solstice app appear in the Room Conference + Mic panel. The correct time is listed but appears in 12-hour format, sometimes with AM/PM labels missing.
An issue has been reported with the Mersive Solstice app for macOS that Zoom occasionally loses the connection to devices on the Solstice Pod for use in video conferences. When this happens, video and audio for the Solstice-connected device drop out of the video conference and cannot be reselected. This issue generally happens only after many video conferences and can be resolved by restarting Zoom.
When the AirPlay Discovery Proxy setting is enabled for a Solstice display (Solstice Cloud > Features template/configuration or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage), YouTube videos will not play using AirPlay to mirror an iOS mobile device screen to a Solstice display. Then returning to the Mersive Solstice app can cause it to crash. Mersive plans to investigate these issues for a future release.
A known issue where events on a room calendar integrated with the Solstice Pod do not appear on the Solstice display; however, the Test Calendar button (Solstice Dashboard > Calendar) returns a success message. This issue occurs on Pods with dual Ethernet and wireless networks configured. When the Ethernet network is having trouble, the Pod fails to send upcoming meeting calendar information over the wireless network. This issue will be addressed in a future release.
Reports that the audio for some camera and mic devices isn’t available to Solstice-enabled video conferences on some Mac M1 devices may be an issue in the Solstice software. This issue has been reported with Logitech Meetup and Crestron USB-SB1-CAM devices. Mersive is investigating a resolution for a future release.
On macOS Monterey (12.6) laptops in PowerPoint presentations displayed using Desktop sharing from the Mersive Solstice app, slides intermittently get out of sync with the laptop screen. Moving the mouse around the screen should prompt the Solstice display to refresh and display the current slide.
Mersive plans to investigate a fix for the issue of display monitors connected to the Solstice Pod not receiving off/on commands sent from Sabrent USB 2.0 cables (SBT-USC6M) in a future release.
A known issue causes the screen key to display too small when the Solstice Pod is set to certain languages and a user is connected and sharing content to the Solstice display. This makes the screen key box that appears on the Solstice display when another user connects difficult to read, particularly in larger rooms. This issue is slated to be fixed in a future release.
The factory reset keyboard command stopped working in Solstice 5.5.1 on Gen2i and Gen3 Solstice Pods. Customers may still factory reset a Pod with a URL command, and Mersive plans to resolve this issue in a following release.
Mersive is investigating a reported issue on Gen2i Solstice Pods when wireless networking is disabled where a Solstice Cloud > Ethernet template with a 802.1x certificate persistently fails to apply.
A known issue exists starting in Solstice 5.5 where HDMI input routed to the Solstice Pod through an HDMI switcher persists even after the HDMI source has been removed. When this issue occurs, the Solstice display remains “frozen” on the last HDMI image rather than returning to the Solstice welcome screen. Mersive continues to investigate this issue.
Mersive is investigating a couple of issues that may occur when network issues prevent the Pod from reliably reaching the configured network time server. In this case, a Solstice Pod’s display name may stop being available to the Mersive Solstice app as a nearby display, or the Solstice welcome screen may lag and randomly display the screen key.
In Solstice 5.5.1 and 5.5.2, when a Solstice Pod is set up in a dual network (Ethernet and wireless) configuration, the two networks cannot communicate with each other, and a macOS user connects to the room camera and mic in the Mersive Solstice app, audio from Solstice-connected devices does not work in a video conference.
Running a proxy test on a Solstice Pod for a configured HTTP or HTTPS proxy (Solstice Dashboard > Network tab) fails in Solstice 5.5.1 and 5.5.2. The Pod screen goes blank for a couple seconds and test data does not go through to the proxy server. Mersive is investigating this issue.
Important Notes for 5.5.2
As of Solstice 5.5, the Windows MSI installer for the Mersive Solstice app no longer provides the option to also install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers. Instead, the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference Drivers are handled by two separate MSI installers. Both can be downloaded from mersive.com/download-admin/. Users can install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers after an MSI installation of the Mersive Solstice app from the Room Camera + Mic panel if they have Windows administrator permissions on their laptop.
For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod. Note: Admin-installed MSI and SCCM versions of the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers will not be auto-updated upon connecting to a Pod running a newer version of Solstice since users may not have admin privileges.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.5.2 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Solstice Display Software for Windows
Mersive Solstice desktop apps (Windows, macOS)
Mersive Solstice mobile apps (Android, iOS)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Note
Important Notes: Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 5.5.1 to benefit from the latest security fixes and performance enhancements.
Note
If you are running Solstice version 4.4 or earlier, please contact the Mersive Support team for assistance upgrading to Solstice version 5.5 and later.
Note
Downgrading from Solstice versions 5.4 or higher to Solstice version 5.3.4 or below should be avoided. Contact Mersive Support for assistance.
Fixes and Enhancements
Solstice Pod energy savings and stability improvements. Intelligent CPU power control updates and other improvements have significantly improved the power management for Gen3 Solstice Pods, resulting in dramatic power savings as well as increased performance and stability. Updates include changes to CPU management profiles, splash screen rendering optimization, and task balancing, as well as ongoing source code refactoring work.
Testing has shown these revisions to reduce power consumption on Gen3 Solstice Pods by 20% to 40% depending on usage. The best power savings have been shown during idle mode with use of the modern welcome screen (default in Solstice Cloud management or select Appearance and Usage > Welcome Screen > Modern Splash Screen in Solstice Dashboard).
As a result of these changes, users should see fewer instances of audio/video choppiness, speed ups, and slowdowns; fewer Pod crashes, reboots, and lockups; and other performance and stability improvements.
Mersive performed extensive testing to ensure Pod functionality in earlier versions of Solstice has been preserved through these revisions, with the exception of two minor issues (see Known Issues below for details).
Solstice Conference and VRI perpetual licensing. The Solstice Conference driver package, which makes the Solstice content sharing space and audio/video peripheral devices connected to the Solstice Pod available to video conferencing apps, is now perpetually licensed. This allows meeting hosts to use Solstice-enabled video conferencing, including in Video Room Integration (VRI) configurations, after the Solstice subscription lapses on Solstice Pods running Solstice 5.5 and later.
Simplified hybrid meeting experience in Mersive Solstice app. Meeting hosts using the Mersive Solstice app for Windows or macOS will now see an option to simultaneously connect to the room camera and mic plugged into the Solstice Pod at the same time they enter the screen key to connect to a Solstice Pod. This eliminates the need for hosts to separately go to the Conference tab to connect Solstice to a video conference, making it faster and easier to start hybrid meetings where some participants are in the room and others are joining via video conference.
New ‘Connect to room camera and mic’ toggle on screen key dialogue. The screen key entry box that appears when a user initially connects to a Solstice Pod now also shows a ‘Connect to room camera and mic’ toggle switch. When a user toggles on this switch and clicks ‘Connect’, the user’s laptop will connect to the Solstice Pod for content sharing and any peripheral devices plugged into the Solstice Pod (cameras, speakerphones, etc.) will be wirelessly connected to the user’s laptop for use in a video conference. A virtual monitor of the Solstice content sharing space, which can be shared to the video conference, is also generated, and the user’s desktop will be automatically shared to the Solstice display.
Notes: If Share Pod Display (Settings > Conference) is disabled, toggling on ‘Connect to room camera and mic’ will only connect to room peripherals—the virtual monitor of the Solstice display will not be created.
The ‘Connect to room camera and mic’ toggle will be disabled in the following cases: 1) Solstice Conference is disabled for the connected Solstice Pod, 2) Solstice Conference drivers on the user’s laptop are not installed or are outdated, or 3) an administrator disabled Solstice Conference when installing the Mersive Solstice app.
Conference panel is now Room Camera + Mic. The panel previously named Conference in the left navigation sidebar of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS has been changed to Room Camera + Mic. This sidebar panel will now be accessible only after the app is connected to a Solstice Pod with Solstice Conference functionality enabled, or in the case that Solstice Conference drivers need to be installed or updated.
Room Camera and Mic toggle in Room Camera + Mic panel. Users who skipped activating the ‘Connect to room camera and mic’ toggle when they connected to the Solstice Pod may alternately connect to Solstice room resources by toggling on Room Camera and Mic in the Room Camera + Mic panel.
Note
Note: Toggling off Room Camera and Mic will disconnect the user’s laptop from room devices plugged into the Solstice Pod and stop generating the virtual monitor of the Solstice content sharing space. However, the app will remain connected to the Solstice Pod and continue sharing content to the Solstice display.
View and auto-launch integrated Microsoft 365 calendar meetings. Users who have integrated their Microsoft 365 calendars with the Mersive Solstice app (Windows or macOS) will see upcoming scheduled meetings containing a video conference link on the left side of the Room Camera + Mic panel after toggling on Room Camera and Mic. Similar to previous versions, a Launch Meeting button appears that connects to Solstice room resources and auto-shares the user’s desktop. New in this version, the Launch Meeting button text will change to reflect recognized video conferencing service (e.g., Launch Zoom Meeting for Zoom video conferences).
New state-dependent video conference connection hints. If a user has not yet toggled on the Room Camera and Mic connection, the left side of the Room Camera + Mic panel shows state-dependent hints about next steps for connecting Solstice to a video conference (e.g., Wirelessly connect to the in-room camera and mic for use with major video conferencing apps).
State-dependent navigation and hover text. In the left navbar, the Room Camera + Mic text and camera icon now appears green to highlight when the Mersive Solstice app is wirelessly connected to Solstice room resources for use with video conferencing (formerly indicated with a green icon next to Conference). This shows users at a glance when video conferencing connection functionality is active. Hovering over the Room Camera + Mic navigation text or camera icon also displays text describing the current connection status.
Note
Note: The icon that appeared in version 5.5 of the Mersive Solstice desktop app when a meeting was scheduled within the next 15 minutes on the integrated MS365 calendar has been replaced with the functionality described above.
Conference HotKeys inactive if not connected to Solstice. The Conference HotKey combination that can be configured in Settings > Conference will open the Room Camera + Mic panel only when the panel is active (when the Mersive Solstice app is connected to a Solstice Pod with Solstice Conference enabled). If the Room Camera + Mic option cannot be selected in the left navbar, the HotKey will also be inactive.
Help pages updated for unified video conference meeting experience. The in-app quick help topics for connecting to a display, connecting to a conference, and sharing content with the app have been updated to reflect the changes to meeting connection flow and the application user interface described above. Find these help topics in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS by going to the Help panel, now accessible from the bottom of the left navigation bar.
Mersive Solstice app sidebar navigation reconfiguration. The options in the left navigation sidebar of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS have been updated:
The six navigation options are now grouped into two sections. The three most common content sharing functions (Share, Layout, Room Camera + Mic) now appear grouped together at the top of the left navigation sidebar. All other options (Moderate, Settings, Help) now show grouped together near the bottom of the navbar.
Note
Note: Navbar options related to content sharing (Share, Layout, Room Camera + Mic, Moderate) can only be selected after connecting to a Solstice display.
The icon associated with the Share option in the left navbar has been updated to one that is more widely associated with screen sharing. The same icon now also appears on the Share button in the Layout panel (desktop and mobile apps).
Camera icon tooltip in Solstice connection panel. In the initial ‘Connect to a display’ list in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS, a hover tooltip has been added for the camera icon that appears next to a Solstice display. When the user hovers over the camera icon, a tip appears saying the labeled Solstice display can be used for video conferencing.
Solstice Conference drivers compatibility message. When meeting hosts are using a version of the Mersive Solstice app with Solstice Conference drivers (Windows or macOS) that doesn’t match the software version of the Solstice Pod, they will receive a warning message about the version mismatch. In this case in some previous versions, the video conferencing connection was not allowed. Now, meeting hosts will still be able to use room cameras and mics connected to the Pod and share the Solstice display in their video conferences.
Share Pod Display off by default in new installations. In new installations of the Mersive Solstice desktop app (Windows and macOS) versions 5.5.1 and later, the Share Pod Display (Settings > Conference) will be disabled by default. This setting controls the ability of a user to share the connected Solstice collaboration space to a video conference. This feature being disabled can improve performance on some devices.
Mersive Solstice app transition to natively support Mac M1s. The Mersive Solstice app for macOS has experienced performance and stability issues as a result of Apple’s move from Intel to Apple Silicon chips with Rosetta 2 translation for Mac M1s. Mersive has begun in Solstice 5.5.1 to transition the Mersive Solstice app for macOS to natively support M1 devices for best performance. Incremental performance gains should be observed over the duration of the 5.5 release.
Miracast reliability improvements. Solstice’s management of Miracast connections has been improved to compensate for packet loss occurring in customer environments. As a result, users sharing to a Solstice Pod via Miracast over an existing network should experience significantly less latency, audio and video corruption, and sharing freezes.
Solstice overlay banner for video room integration (VRI). In a Solstice video room system (e.g., Zoom, Teams) integration, an overlay can be configured to display Solstice connection instructions over the video room system screen. Configured overlay text will now appear in a low-profile green banner, either at the top or the bottom of the screen. When enabled, the Solstice overlay will now appear at all times, including during Zoom or Teams calls. Setup options on the Video Room Integration configuration page have been updated to reflect the revised overlay options. Learn more about Solstice VRI.
Note
Note: Mersive recommends using the messaging options provided in the video room system to show Solstice connection instructions; however, the overlay banner described above is provided as an alternate option.
Supported Devices
New Mersive Certified peripheral devices list. As of Solstice 5.5.1, the Solstice Peripherals List of devices for use with Solstice-enabled video conferencing now has two levels of validation:
The new Mersive Certified Devices list contains devices that have been extensively tested by Mersive to provide stable content sharing and video conference experiences across platforms and chipsets on Solstice Pods running the last two versions of Solstice.
The Verified Devices list will provide more limited information about devices verified to work with specific firmware and/or versions of Solstice in less rigorous testing environments. Mersive does not certify the performance of these devices in all configurations.
The following room devices have been Mersive Certified for Solstice-enhanced video conferences. View the full list and details.
Crestron SB-1 Soundbar
Dante AVIO USB Adapter
Resolved Issues
The Solstice Dashboard installer will now check for the presence of a required library (MFPlat.DLL). If the library is not found, a message will be displayed to the user detailing the issue and offering possible solutions, and the installation of Solstice Dashboard will be aborted.
An issue reported related to desktop sharing of a PowerPoint presentation in Solstice 5.4 with the French-language version of the Mersive Solstice app has been verified to be resolved in Solstice 5.5.1.
A theme library has been restored to the Solstice Display Software for Windows installer so that configuration screens in the Solstice Display Software display with the same look as parallel configuration screens in Solstice Dashboard.
An issue that occasionally caused a video share to a Solstice display to fail after many other shared videos were played for long periods of time should be resolved.
An issue in which selecting a non-Unicode language for the Mersive Solstice app caused occasional crashes associated with sharing content or ending a share to a Solstice display has been resolved.
In the Swedish-language version of the Mersive Solstice app, a misspelled word in the action button to start a Solstice video conferencing connection has been corrected.
Known Issues
A few known issues affecting the Pod welcome screen resulted from parts of the Solstice Pod energy savings updates in Solstice 5.5.1. Mersive is investigating options for restoring prior functionality for the following cases in a following release:
The meeple icons that show users connected to the Pod no longer appear in the footer of the Solstice Pod welcome screen. Icons for connected users still appear when content is being shared to the Pod.
RSS feeds that do not end with
rss.xml
return the error "Unable to retrieve content."Changing the RSS feed URL from a format like
http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml?edition=uk
to a URL ending inrss.xml
, such ashttp://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml
, should enable the RSS feed.On Solstice Pods connected to dual display monitors set to Extend or Seamless Extend (Welcome Screen settings), the welcome screen will be mirrored on both monitors rather than the background spanning both screens and the instructions appearing on only one screen. Custom background images may also fail to load for Pods set to these extended display modes.
A Solstice Pod running Solstice 5.5.1 with an integrated room calendar may encounter a known issue that causes the Solstice display to flash white if the ‘Show meeting titles’ setting (Solstice Cloud > Manage > Templates > Calendar or Solstice Dashboard > Calendar > Privacy Settings) is unchecked when an upcoming meeting is scheduled to start within 15 minutes on the Pod’s integrated calendar. To resolve this issue, recheck ‘Show meeting titles’ and apply the change to the affected Pod.
If the Desktop Screen Sharing option is unchecked (Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage > Usage and Feature Management) for a Solstice Pod running Solstice 5.5.1, using the Mersive Solstice app (Windows or macOS) to connect to the room camera and mic for a video conference will cause a black screen on the Solstice display. Mersive is working to resolve this issue in the next release.
A known issue exists in Solstice 5.5 and 5.5.1 where loading a custom PFX (.p12) certificate to encrypt Solstice client/server communications (Solstice Dashboard > Security > Encryption or Solstice Cloud > Template > Security) causes a fatal boot loop. Installing a custom .p12 certificate should be avoided for Solstice Pods running version 5.5; however, custom PEM certificates can still be used. Mersive is working to fix this issue in a future release.
Solstice 5.5.1 contains resolutions for some issues reported on Apple M1 devices, but some performance issues may remain. Mersive recommends upgrading to macOS Monterey (up to v12.4) for M1 devices, especially for users who regularly host video conferences with Solstice, since testing shows it to be more stable than macOS Big Sur. Mersive continues to work on stability improvements on Mac M1 devices for future releases. Mac M2s are being tested but are not supported in Solstice 5.5.1.
When Solstice Conference and digital signage are both enabled on a Solstice Pod, it may experience issues such as unexpected reboots. Some stability issues related to digital signage have been identified and resolved, and Mersive continues to investigate other reported issues. As of Solstice 5.5.1, Mersive still recommends that Solstice Pods with both digital signage and Solstice Conference enabled also have nightly reboots enabled to avoid any potential for user disruption.
Important Notes for 5.5.1
As of Solstice 5.5, the Windows MSI installer for the Mersive Solstice app no longer provides the option to also install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers. Instead, the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference Drivers are handled by two different MSI installers. Both can be downloaded from mersive.com/download-admin/. Note: Mersive Solstice Conference driver versions 1.0.7 (released in 5.4 and previous apps), 1.3.0 (released in 5.5 app), and 1.3.1 (released in 5.5.1) are functionally identical. Instances of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows running with one of these versions should not need to upgrade drivers.
Mersive recommends admins test a single installation first by installing and running the Mersive Solstice app, then connecting to a Solstice Pod with the Room Camera + Mic option. An alert appears if any driver updates are necessary. Those findings will then pinpoint any need to mass install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers to complete Solstice upgrades. Learn more about installing with MSI.
Users can install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers from the Room Camera + Mic panel of the Mersive Solstice app if they have administrator permissions on their laptop.
Customers using a QSC Core 110f device with Solstice should not upgrade the QSC Core 110f to the latest firmware version (9.4.X). Changes made by QSC in this version of the firmware are not compatible with Solstice. The QSC Core 110f is supported on Solstice 5.5 using a USB3 cable with firmware version 9.3.X. The QSC Core 110f is supported on Solstice 5.4 by downgrading to firmware version 9.0.1. Contact the Mersive Support team for help.
For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod. Note: Admin-installed MSI and SCCM versions of the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers will not be auto-updated upon connecting to a Pod running a newer version of Solstice since users may not have admin privileges.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.5.1 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Solstice Display Software for Windows
Mersive Solstice desktop apps (Windows, macOS)
Mersive Solstice mobile apps (Android, iOS)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Note
Important Notes: Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 5.5 to benefit from the latest security fixes and performance enhancements.
Note
If you are running Solstice version 4.4 or earlier, please contact the Mersive Support team for assistance upgrading to Solstice version 5.5.
Note
The ability to downgrade is active in Solstice 5.5 and will support downgrades for future versions. However, downgrading from Solstice versions 5.4 or 5.5 to Solstice version 5.3.4 or earlier requires Mersive Support assistance and should be avoided.
New Features
Video Room Integration (VRI). Solstice can now be integrated with a Zoom Room or Microsoft Teams Room system to support wireless conferencing from a host laptop on demand. This feature is currently configured through a Solstice Pod’s local configuration panel (Display > Video Room Integration) and is also accessible by browser at
https://[podIP]:5443/videoroomintegration
. Solstice Cloud configuration will be added in a future release. Learn more.Automatic peripheral switching between the Solstice Pod and video room system. To integrate with a video room system, an administrator will configure the Solstice Pod to signal an external USB switch via RS-232 or HTTP-based API calls, enabling it to use attached display monitors and peripherals while Solstice is in use. This feature also supports direct switching between Solstice and all-in-one video conferencing devices that accept HTTP-based API calls, such as the Poly Studio X30 and X50. Note: Mersive recommends turning off sleep mode settings for video room systems and all-in-one devices in a Solstice VRI configuration.
Display switching between Solstice and video room system. When users are connected to the Solstice Pod, the display monitor and audio/video peripherals will be switched to be used by Solstice, and Solstice will remove the video room system input post. When all users have disconnected, the Solstice interface will be automatically hidden, peripherals will be switched back to the room system, and the video room display will be restored.
Custom messaging overlay to connect users to Solstice wireless laptop-based conferencing. Admins may configure a custom message explaining how to connect to Solstice to appear in an unobtrusive location on the video room system display. This enables users to quickly switch to Solstice to share content or connect for wireless video conferencing.
Video room system monitoring service (optional). If the custom overlay message is displayed, the Solstice Video Room Service should be installed side-by-side on the video room system device. This service ensures that the overlay message will not be displayed during active video room calls. If using a custom video room system image on a host device, this service should be packaged with that image when it is created. The Solstice Video Room Service will be available for download shortly following the Solstice 5.5 release at mersive.com/download-admin/.
List of audio/video devices available in Solstice Conference. After connecting to Solstice Conference, users will now see a list of available speaker, microphone, speakerphone, and/or video devices available to video conferencing apps (Mersive Solstice app on Windows or macOS > Conference tab). Information about the connected Solstice content-sharing space is also shown. Each item in the list is a resource that is available to the video conference while Solstice Conference is active.
Contextual help icon and Help section in user app. In the Mersive Solstice app on Windows and macOS, a new help (question mark) icon appears in the upper-right corner of the app window. Clicking this icon opens a pop-out box with brief hints about things users may do from their current location in the app. A link to more information appears at the bottom of each contextual help box, usually linking to additional information in the new Help section that appears in the left toolbar. In the new Help section, six topics offer further help with common tasks in Solstice. Animated examples play simple demonstrations that can be paused as needed. Links at the end of each in-app Help topic direct users to related Mersive Documentation pages for more information.
New First Run Setup options in user app. The input screens that appear the first time a user runs the Mersive Solstice app on Windows and macOS have new options to streamline the setup process for the user.
First Run Setup will now automatically populate the user’s display name, which appears during Solstice content sharing, with the user’s machine login name. The user may accept or update the initial value. (The display name may be changed at any time in Settings > General.)
Users now have the option to connect to their personal Microsoft 365 calendars with the Mersive Solstice app during the First Run Setup process. Connecting the app to a personal calendar (Settings > Conference or Conference tab) enables one-step starts for scheduled video conferences on the connected Microsoft 365 calendar. (Solstice Discovery Service must also be enabled for one-step starts.)
Solstice Conference audio/video QoS tagging. Audio and video traffic between the Pod and the Solstice App has been tagged for real-time delivery using QoS headers. This ensures smoother delivery under congested network conditions. This upgrade is limited to Windows and MacOS. Set DSCP values for audio and video traffic in Solstice Dashboard (Network tab > Quality of Service Packet Headers) or Solstice Cloud (Advanced > Implement QoS for Solstice Traffic). Affected port numbers are based off the Solstice Base Port number set in Solstice Dashboard (Network > Communication Ports). QoS tagging for Solstice Conference was added for the following ports:
macOS audio microphone port (base port + 100 + 7)
Windows video port (base port + 100 + 10)
Windows audio microphone port (base port + 100 + 12)
Windows audio microphone RTCP port (base port + 100 + 13)
Camera and speaker data streams for Solstice Conference on macOS and the speaker data stream for Solstice Conference on Windows do not currently have QoS tagging applied.
Windows 11 and macOS Monterey validated. Windows 11 and macOS Monterey (up to 12.4) operating systems have been validated for use with the Mersive Solstice desktop app for wireless sharing and Solstice-enabled video conferencing.
Other Fixes and Enhancements
The Conference section of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS has been redesigned to make the process of connecting a Solstice display with a video conference simpler and more intuitive for users.
Button actions and tooltips for connecting Solstice to a video conference change dynamically based on whether there is an upcoming meeting in the user’s calendar and whether the user is connected to a Solstice display. A new button (Start a new conference) offers a clearer action option when no meetings are scheduled.
New context-based connection actions now appear in the Conference section for improved one-step start options. If a Solstice Discovery Service Address is defined in Settings, users will be prompted to enter the screen key to connect to the Solstice display and start their meeting; without SDS, users are prompted to enter the display’s IP address.
A new status indicator icon appears to the right of the Conference option in the left navbar. An active indicator (green check) appears when the user is connected to a Pod and Solstice Conference is active. A yellow exclamation mark indicates an upcoming meeting on the user’s integrated calendar.
Clicking the Solstice icon in the system tray no longer opens the Start Conference pop-up box. Instead, this action now opens the Mersive Solstice desktop app, or if Solstice Conference is installed with the app and is visible to the user (not hidden on install), it opens the Conference tab of the app to access the updated one-step meeting start process.
The option to share the source computer’s audio to the Solstice display is now available for App Window shares (Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS > Share) as well as for Desktop shares. The speaker icon to toggle audio sharing on and off now appears at the top of the app window after a user has shared an application window.
Windows installers for the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers have been separated. System admins centrally deploying both these applications on Windows user devices should now download and install two files:
Mersive Solstice app MSI installer (SolsticeClient-5.5.msi) or SCCM installer (SolsticeClientSetup-5.5_SCCM.exe)
Solstice Conference drivers MSI installer (SolsticeConferenceDrivers-1.3.msi).
This allows the Solstice Conference installer to signal if Windows needs to restart and/or if the installer should be rerun to successfully complete the installation. Learn more about Solstice MSI and SCCM installations.
The name of the setting to automatically share audio in the Mersive Solstice app on Windows and macOS (Settings > Control) has been changed to Auto Share Audio. This reflects that audio is now available for App Window shares as well as Desktop shares and, when this setting is enabled, audio will be shared by default. Likewise, the option in the MSI GUI-based installer has changed to Enable Auto Share Audio. Note: Windows MSI installer and macOS defaults command-line configuration options have been similarly renamed.
The Solstice Location Service (Settings > Control) will now be disabled by default upon installation of the Mersive Solstice app on Android mobile devices. Disabling Solstice Location Service also disables the location based auto-disconnect functionality. Note: Auto-disconnect sensitivity cannot currently be set on Android devices. See Solstice 5.4 Release Notes for auto-disconnect functionality prerequisites.
A Windows MSI installer setting for the Mersive Solstice app has been added allowing administrators to enable or disable the Solstice Location Service Auto-Disconnect (Mersive Solstice app > Settings > Control) feature by default across deployments.
An alert now appears if a user starts Solstice Conference when the installed versions of the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference (Windows and macOS) don’t match the Solstice version on the connected Solstice Pod. Note: In this case, the Solstice Conference connection will be denied.
The checks for high CPU usage warnings during a Solstice Conference session have been reworked to display when load times are high enough to truly impact performance and should appear less frequently.
Solstice Conference performance on Windows has been improved by reducing unnecessary copies of data and reutilization of USB request buffers.
The Quick Connect bar in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS now also appears when users select the Help tab or Settings tab to enable quick searches for and connections to available Solstice displays.
For macOS installs using a .dmg or Quick Connect installer, the Mersive Solstice app should relaunch after users install or upgrade without the need to relocate the application and manually restart.
In the option to connect a user’s Microsoft 365 calendar with the Mersive Solstice app for Windows and macOS, the Microsoft product name changed from Office 365 Online to Microsoft 365 Online for branding consistency.
New Supported A/V Devices
The following USB room devices are now supported for Solstice Conference. View the full list and details.
Logitech Rally Bar
Logitech Rally Bar Mini
AMX Acendo Vibe
Resolved Issues
An error no longer occurs when updating Solstice Conference drivers from a version before Solstice 5.4 to current that required users to manually uninstall the previous set of drivers before updating. Installers for the Mersive Solstice app version 5.4 and later should look for all older drivers and run a cleaning tool behind the scenes to remove them before installing and updating new versions.
The master password recovery process has been modified to fix a vulnerability discovered during a security audit that could have potentially allowed administrative access to a Solstice Pod in a rare case.
Crashes in Mersive Solstice apps caused by typing non–ASCII 128 characters (non-English lettering) in the Quick Connect box have been fixed.
Solstice Pod performance has been improved by fixing a number of memory leaks. This will create more stability for Pods in continuous use-cases without requiring frequent reboots/restarts.
An issue that potentially caused Solstice Pods to unexpectedly reboot after resetting the Ethernet interface has been fixed.
Multiple customer-reported and internal issues with Solstice Pod HDMI-in connectivity and reliability problems have been fixed, including the following:
HDMI posts should now connect and disconnect correctly without bouncing back and forth between two states multiple times before finalizing.
A reported HDMI-in issue related to network conditions present on some internal networks should no longer cause HDMI-in connections to drop or experience black screen issues.
Connections to a Solstice Pod via the HDMI-in port from a Mac computer running macOS Big Sur should now appear correctly on the Solstice display.
An issue has been fixed where an HDMI-in connection prevented other users from appropriately sharing audio. If content was first shared via HDMI-in, the second and subsequent connections did not have audio until the HDMI-in post was disconnected. Any connected user should now be able to share audio.
Note
Note: To maintain audio quality during Solstice-enabled video conferences, HDMI-in posts to the Solstice Pod will be hidden while Solstice Conference is running on a meeting host's laptop connected to the Pod.
Digital signage, if active, will no longer start during the middle of a Solstice software update on the Solstice Pod.
An issue during Solstice Pod startup related to slow WiFi connections causing digital signage failure was corrected. Pods will now wait for an active network connection to start digital signage.
VLAN configurations with prefixes other than /24 should no longer experience issues connecting with Solstice Pods over guest networks or showing incorrect active/inactive statuses in Solstice Dashboard.
A reported issue where 802.1x .pem files were not recognized on Gen3 Solstice Pods as a valid certificate has been corrected.
Windows MSI installers now uncheck installation options correctly when the associated property is set to 0.
An error where direct thumb drive installs of new Solstice versions on Solstice Pods may not have adequately checked licensing before installing has been fixed.
Having occupancy counting enabled during Solstice Conference use with a Meeting Owl camera should no longer crash the Solstice Pod.
Solstice Conference on macOS should no longer experience crashes and work as expected with Vaddio Conference Shot 10 cameras.
Reported issues with the Crestron SB-1 Soundbar volume controls failing to pass through Solstice Conference have been resolved. This fix may also resolve other issues related to volume handling in Solstice Conference.
Important Notes for 5.5
Starting in Solstice 5.5, the architecture first included in Solstice 5.4 that allows a Solstice Pod to be downgraded via the Solstice Cloud management portal (Manage > Pods > click Pod name > Pod Actions) can now be used. Since both the Pod’s current version of Solstice and the desired downgrade version must both contain this architecture to perform a downgrade, this functionality may currently be used to downgrade only from Solstice version 5.5 to version 5.4. Note that downgrading a Pod may necessitate the manual downgrade of any Mersive Solstice client apps used to connect to it, since the app version should match the Pod software version, particularly for use with video conferences.
Apple M1 devices are partially supported. Some M1 devices may experience various performance issues, including low video share frame rates and issues hosting Solstice Conference sessions. Mersive recommends upgrading to macOS Monterey (up to 12.4) for M1 devices, especially ones that regularly host meetings using Solstice Conference, since testing shows it to be more stable than macOS Big Sur. Mersive will continue to work on stability improvements for Mac M1 devices in future releases.
Mersive always recommends that users have the same Mersive Solstice app version as the Solstice Pod software they are connecting to for optimal compatibility and performance. However, note that Solstice 5.5 requires the matching version of the Solstice Conference drivers to be installed with the Mersive Solstice app to use Solstice to connect to a video conference.
When Solstice Conference and digital signage are both enabled, Pods may experience issues such as unexpected reboots. Some stability issues related to digital signage have been identified and resolved, and Mersive continues to investigate other reported issues. As of Solstice 5.5, Mersive still recommends that Solstice Pods with both digital signage and Solstice Conference enabled also have nightly reboots enabled to avoid any potential for user disruption.
A known issue exists in Solstice 5.5 where loading a custom PFX (.p12) certificate to encrypt Solstice client/server communications (Solstice Dashboard > Security > Encryption or Solstice Cloud > Template > Security) causes a fatal boot loop. Installing a custom .p12 certificate should be avoided for Solstice Pods running version 5.5; however, custom PEM certificates can still be used. Mersive is working to fix this issue in following versions.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.5 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Solstice Display Software for Windows
Solstice Dashboard
Mersive Solstice apps
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Note
Important Note: Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 5.4 to benefit from the latest security fixes and performance enhancements.
Note
If you are running Solstice version 4.4 or earlier, please contact the Mersive support team for assistance upgrading to Solstice version 5.4.
New Features
Upcoming Meeting Notifications. Solstice administrators can now enable upcoming meeting notifications to appear on the Solstice display if users are still sharing content when a scheduled meeting is about to begin. Admins can enable Solstice to display up to two upcoming meeting reminders, with the option to configure how long before the next meeting the notifications appears, as well as the duration they appears on the screen (Solstice Cloud > Room Intelligence template). To use this feature, Solstice Pods must be managed in Solstice Cloud, have a room calendar integrated, and have an active Solstice Subscription.
Automatic Disconnect Based on Proximity. Designed as one of Solstice’s intelligent room features, this new capability automatically disconnects users when Solstice location services detect they are no longer in the room. This increases the efficiency of meeting transitions and ensures shared content isn’t unintentionally viewed by others after the meeting ends. When it is detected that a connected user has left the room, the Solstice app will prompt the user with an option to disconnect or continue sharing to the Solstice display. To use this feature, Solstice Pods must be managed in Solstice Cloud and have location services enabled (Room Intelligence template), and users must enable the Solstice Location Service and select an auto-disconnect sensitivity level (Solstice app > Settings > Control). This feature is currently supported for Solstice apps on Windows, macOS, and Android mobile devices.
Important Note: For this feature to work, organizations must have Location Services enabled for their Pods (Solstice Cloud > Room Intelligence template, or Solstice Dashboard > System tab), have Location Services running long enough to determine a location for each Pod (~10–15+ Solstice app connections to the Pod), and have end users enable ’Solstice Location Service’ and select a disconnect sensitivity level in their Solstice apps (Settings > Control tab; auto-disconnect defaults to off).
LLDP for PoE+ Power Negotiation. This setting allows a PoE network switch to assign the power priority value of a Solstice Gen3 Pod using LLDP so a Pod can signal and negotiate its power value with the switch. This option can be enabled in Solstice Dashboard (Network tab) and Solstice Cloud (Advanced template). This option should only be enabled if the Pod uses Power over Ethernet as its sole power supply and the switch supplying power supports LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) and LLDP-MED (Media Endpoint Discovery). Note: Enabling LLDP support without turning on “Use LLDP for PoE” for a Pod simply reports the Pod’s information (such as hostname, software and firmware versions, and serial number) on the network.
Echo Cancellation for Separate Mic and Speaker Device Sources. Echo cancellation has been added for Solstice’s conferencing support to mitigate an in-room audio echo heard by remote participants when there are separate microphone and speaker components plugged into the Pod. This feature improves handling for more USB mics without on-board AEC processing, specifically when using a Windows device for Solstice Conference. This feature is supported for Gen3 Pods only.
Audio Support for Android Screen Mirroring. Solstice now supports audio streaming for Android screen mirroring, in addition to existing audio support for Android video file sharing. This functionality is supported on Android devices running the Android 10 operating system or higher. When mirroring their device screen, users can tap the speaker icon at the top of the Solstice app to stream their device’s audio to the display. Note: Other apps on the user’s device may block audio capture, preventing the Solstice’s app from streaming their audio.
New Option to Always Direct Audio to HDMI Out. Administrators can now enable the Solstice Pod to always stream audio through the Pod’s HDMI outputs even when USB audio devices are plugged into the Pod, allowing for more control over where audio is directed within the room setup. This configuration option can be set in Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage tab) or Solstice Cloud (Features template). This feature is supported for Gen3 Pods only and is disabled by default. Note: If this option is disabled, the Pod will (by default) stream audio through any connected USB audio devices plugged into the Pod, or if there are no detected USB audio devices, will stream audio through HDMI out.
Option for Scheduled Reboots to Ignore HDMI Devices. Admins can now enable a new option to ignore HDMI input devices during a scheduled reboot. This prevents a device connected to the Pod via HDMI input, such as a digital signage player, from preventing the daily reboot. This setting can be enabled in the Solstice Dashboard (System tab).
New Solstice App Setting to Enable/Disable Extended Presentation Mode. A new setting has been added in the Solstice app for Windows to turn on and off support for PowerPoint’s Presenter View. When enabled, the PowerPoint presentation appears on the display, while the presenter’s notes appears on the user’s desktop. This option allows users to choose their preferred method for presenting a PowerPoint with Solstice. This feature is supported for Windows devices only. Note: A corresponding configuration option has also been included in the MSI and SCCM installers.
Other Fixes and Enhancements
When launching a web conference using Solstice’s one-step start, Solstice will automatically redirect macOS devices to open the browser-based version of the video conferencing app for a better user experience.
Added ability to override Solstice’s default USB audio device prioritization using the API. Learn More
A new option was added to the Solstice app installer for Windows, as well as the MSI and SCCM installers, to set the Solstice app’s “Share Pod Display” setting to be on or off.
Solstice will now perform a check to ensure that a Pod does not reboot when users are connected and sharing content.
MacOS users should no longer need to restart their computers after installing the lightweight drivers required to use Solstice Conference.
The appearance of notifications that appear on the Solstice display have been updated to use colors and icons to differentiate between informational messages and warnings.
The voice for the spoken screen key option has been updated to be easier to understand.
All Solstice apps have now been built as 64-bit applications, with the exception of the Solstice Windows Display Software, which will still run as a 32-bit application.
New event logging has been implemented to better outline an end-user’s actions. These new logs are time-coordinated with general Solstice Pod logs to improve troubleshooting.
Conference driver installs for the Solstice app for Windows have been improved to ensure that any previously installed drivers are removed during the uninstall process and before new installs or upgrades.
Screen key size in digital signage mode is now more consistent with the Welcome Screen.
During MSI/SCCM installation, a process has been put in place that detects if an emulator is in use and will inform any users attempting to install our 64-bit applications on 32-bit operating systems that the process is blocked.
The Solstice app for Windows desktop is now available for download in the Microsoft Store.
New Supported A/V Devices
The following USB room devices are now supported for Solstice Conference. View the full list and details here.
Biamp Tesira EX-UBT
Biamp TesiraFORTÉ AVB VT4
Bose Videobar VB1
HuddleCamHD 10X
HuddleCamHD 3XA
HuddleCamHD Pro EPTZ
Jabra PanaCast 50
Lumens VC-B11U
Poly EagleEye Cube
Stem Audio Hub
Stem Audio Table
Vaddio AV Bridge Mini
Resolved Issues
Users connecting via a Solstice app downloaded directly from a Solstice Pod will now correctly inherit any applied SDS settings from the Pod.
General stability improvements have been made to digital signage support as well as stability improvements when a user connects to Solstice while digital signage is running.
Application window shares from the Solstice app should no longer prompt users with “Window Obstructed” notices when there are no obstructions.
Digital signage configurations made in Solstice Cloud are now properly applied and reflected on the Solstice Pod being managed.
Moderator alerts will correctly identify the number of items waiting to be reviewed by the moderator.
The stability of the datastore has been improved, resolving some issues that cause a "database locked" message to appear in the event logs.
Solstice Pods should no longer experience issues due to Bluetooth discovery being enabled.
If desktop sharing has been disabled via the Solstice Dashboard and a Solstice app attempts to start a conference session, the Solstice app will no longer hang and will instead start a conference session without sharing the desktop to the display.
When sharing a PowerPoint presentation to Solstice using PowerPoint’s Presenter View, Solstice now has improved syncing to more accurately reflect the current slide.
The Solstice app now better handles the SDS address being removed from the app settings if the app was previously connected to a large SDS instance (e.g. 1,000 or more Pods).
If a user attempts to start a conference session and the bundled drivers required for conferencing are unable to be located by Windows, a message will now display to the user informing them that Windows is unable to locate the proper drivers.
In the Solstice Dashboard, when clicking to “View” the encryption certificate on the Security tab, a pop-up will now properly display showing the certificate information.
Important Notes for 5.4
Due to the timing of the new operating system releases, Mersive does not currently claim full Solstice compatibility for the new Windows 11 and macOS Monterey operating systems. Mersive will certify compatibility for those operating systems immediately after the 5.4 release.
Apple M1 devices are supported; however, some M1 devices may experience performance issues, primarily when hosting a Solstice Conference session. Mersive is currently working to resolve this. (Note that M1 users must install Apple’s Rosetta 2.)
Solstice 5.4 requires Solstice app version 5.4 or later to operate optimally with Solstice Conference. Mersive always recommends that users have the same Solstice app version as the Solstice Pod software they are connecting to for optimal compatibility and performance.
The ability to upload certificates via the Network tab in the Solstice Dashboard has been deprecated as of 5.4. Administrators will now need to use Security tab > Certificate Tools in the Solstice Dashboard to upload their enterprise certificates.
When Solstice Conference and digital signage are both enabled, Pods may experience issues such as unexpected reboots. Until this is resolved in a future release, Mersive strongly recommends that Pods with both digital signage and Solstice Conference enabled also have nightly reboots enabled to avoid the potential for user disruption.
Starting in Solstice 5.4, the architecture has been put in place to allow Solstice administrators to downgrade future Solstice Pod versions. However, because both the Pod’s current version and the desired downgrade version must both contain this architecture to perform a downgrade, this functionality will not be usable until the next Solstice software release (e.g. 5.5).
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.4 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3)
Solstice Display Software for Windows
Solstice Dashboard
Solstice Apps
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. A current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Note
Note: Mersive strongly recommends upgrading Pods to software version 5.3.4 to benefit from the latest security fixes and performance enhancements.
Fixes and Enhancements
New security patches have been added for the Solstice Pod.
Significant Miracast performance upgrades have been added to improve the stability and user experience of using Miracast to wirelessly mirror a Windows device screen to Solstice, including:
More reliable connection initiation when using Miracast sharing over WiFi Direct mode.
Faster cycle times after a user disconnects so they can reconnect to the Solstice Pod faster.
Prevention of users from accidentally launching multiple Miracast sessions to the same Pod on the same laptop.
Improved handling of multiple Miracast connections simultaneously from multiple user laptops.
Resolved Issues
Stability improvements have been made for the Solstice Pod, including fixes for Pods encountering issues when rebooted.
Improved playback of certain HTML digital signage feeds.
Occupancy counting now consistently turns off and allows the Solstice Conference session to start.
MSI and SCCM installers now successfully hide conference options from the Solstice app if the ‘Hide Solstice Conference’ option is selected.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.3.4 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Apps (Windows and macOS only)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Resolved Issues
Improved Solstice support for AirPlay connections. Reduced amount of time to establish AirPlay connections to the Solstice Pod for Apple devices on iOS 14.0 or later and macOS Big Sur in response to recent AirPlay protocol changes introduced by Apple.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.3.4 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods and Windows Display Software to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
New Supported Devices for Solstice Conference
New USB room devices are now supported for Solstice Conference. View the full list here.
Resolved Issues for Solstice
Streaming video camera feeds with Solstice Conference on a low latency or low jitter network should result in smoother and less pixelated video streams.
Browser-based sharing will now stop when the laptop device that is sharing goes into sleep mode.
Google Workspace calendar settings can now successfully be applied to Pods.
Browser-based sharing is now compatible with the latest versions of Chrome and Edge browsers (versions 90.x).
When the Pod is plugged into a persistent HDMI-in content source, the HDMI-in stream no longer experiences intermittent freezing.
Resolved Issues for Solstice Windows Display Software
Browser-based sharing is now compatible with the latest versions of Chrome and Edge browsers (versions 90.x).
Windows Display Software now successfully uninstalls without displaying error messages.
Important Notes for 5.3.2
The Gateway Check functionality has been deprecated as of 5.3.2 as it is no longer needed by Solstice Pods and to resolve issues that were being caused by this feature. As a note, this setting is still visible but the underlying functionality has been disabled; however, this setting will be fully removed in an upcoming release.
If a Windows user has the 5.3 or 5.3.1 version of the Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers installed, they must reboot their laptop machine and re-run the installer before upgrading their Solstice app to the current 5.3.2 version.
Similarly, admins centrally updating Solstice apps and Solstice Conference drivers from version 5.3 or 5.3.1 to version 5.3.2 via MSI will first need to remotely reboot the user machine, uninstall the current client, then install the 5.3.2 client via MSI. If the current client version is 5.2.1 or earlier, admins can simply update to 5.3.2 without needing to reboot or uninstall. Learn More
If users experience issues with Solstice Conference after upgrading their app to 5.3.2, rebooting their laptop machine may solve common problems.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.3.2 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3 only)
Solstice Windows Display Software
Solstice Apps (Windows and macOS only)
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods and Windows Display Software to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances to the latest available version before updating Solstice Pods.
Solstice Conference Refactor
The newest version of Solstice Conference has been refactored to use significantly less network bandwidth and meeting host laptop processing power. Solstice Conference also now has full support for more laptops, including many laptops with i5 processors, supporting a much wider range of users (view supported laptop specs). Note: The open network ports needed for Solstice Conference have been updated. For more information on what network ports are needed, see Open Network Ports. Solstice Conference is available for Gen3 Pods with current Solstice Subscription.
Warning
Important Note: When a Solstice Pod is upgraded to version 5.3, users will need to upgrade their Solstice app to version 5.3 to use Solstice Conference. Similarly, users will not be able to use the 5.3 Solstice app with previous versions of Solstice Conference (version 5.2.1 or earlier). However, content sharing, control, and markup will still work across old and new versions of Solstice and the Solstice app.
New Supported Devices for Solstice Conference
The following USB room devices are now supported for Solstice Conference. View the full list here.
AVer VB342+ Soundbar
Blackmagic Web Presenter
Crestron UC-SB1-CAM
Logitech C920
Logitech C930e
Nureva HDL200
Poly Studio (available in 5.3.1)
Poly Studio X50
Sennheiser SP30T Audio Puck
Shure IntelliMix P300
Yamaha Adecia
Other Key Features in 5.3
New Solstice App Designed for an Improved User Experience. Along with enhanced performance, the newly redesigned Solstice app makes it easier to share and control content on the Solstice display. The new Solstice app also makes it easier to identify which applications windows are currently being shared to the display. And an improved workflow for Solstice Ink allows mobile device users to easily use their smartphones to wirelessly point or draw on the Solstice display, resulting in an even better collaboration experience.
New Solstice App Setting to Turn Ability to Share the Room Display in a Solstice Conference Session On/Off. When toggled ‘Off’, Solstice Conference meetings hosts will not be able to share the room display to remote participants in a Solstice Conference session via their web conferencing application. This setting is turned ‘On’ by default; turning this option ‘Off’ may improve performance on some meeting host laptops. Note: When disabled, Solstice users will still be able to share their desktop to remote users in the web conference. However, for the full Solstice Conference experience, Mersive recommends keeping this option enabled.
Conference Priority for Connected Audio Devices. If multiple devices are connected to the Conference-enabled Solstice Pod with overlapping features (e.g. two sets of speakers), Solstice will prioritize audio from the device plugged closest to the power supply. For devices connected to Solstice via a USB device hub, the port with the lowest hub number will be prioritized.
Other Fixes and Enhancements
Solstice’s option to schedule a daily Pod restart has been changed to a daily reboot. This setting allows administrators to schedule a daily reboot for the Pod that restarts both the Pod’s hardware and software to refresh the Pod’s memory usage and maximize system performance. This setting is available in the Solstice Dashboard (System tab > Tools) and the Pod's local configuration panel (Tools tab).
Security-conscious Solstice administrators can now disable captive portal checks used by the Pod periodically to check for a captive portal on the network (Solstice Dashboard > Security tab).
Resolved Issues
Solstice and Solstice Conference now fully support Apple M1 machines. As a note, users must install Apple’s Rosetta 2. Performance issues on some M1 devices, primarily when hosting a Solstice Conference session, have been discovered as of December 2021. Mersive is currently working to resolve this.
Private keys that were generated via a Pod-generated CSR are now applied correctly. Solstice now performs additional validation and checking of key pairs applied to the Pod.
HTTPS redirects using reverse DNS lookup with Ethernet and wireless connected to separate networks now work as intended.
Other Important Notes for 5.3
If a user has a previous version of the Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers installed, they will be prompted and will need to reboot their laptop machine before uninstalling or upgrading their Solstice app to the current 5.3 version.
Similarly, if a user machine has a previous version of the Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers installed, admins centrally upgrading Solstice apps to version 5.3 via MSI, or uninstalling a previous version of the Solstice app via MSI, will first need to remotely reboot the user machine. Learn More
Mersive is no longer releasing 32-bit Windows versions of the Solstice app starting with version 5.3. Only 64-bit Windows versions of the Solstice app will be available for Solstice 5.3 or later.
Solstice’s Multi-Room feature is being discontinued and has been removed from the mobile version of the Solstice app in 5.3. This feature will be removed from the desktop version in an upcoming release.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.3 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod (Gen2i and Gen3 only)
Solstice Dashboard
Solstice Apps
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. You can schedule the latest software update for your Solstice Pods using Solstice Cloud. If using Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.
New Features for Solstice Display Software for Windows
App-free Wireless Sharing via Web Browser. Users can now share to Solstice Display Software for Windows from a web browser on their laptop devices, extending wireless sharing support to Chromebook, Linux, guest, and unmanaged users who cannot install the Solstice App. The new capability also provides an additional sharing option for Windows and macOS devices. To use the new feature, enter the URL visible on the Solstice display in the browser of a laptop device to visit the Solstice Quick Connect page, then click the new option to launch Solstice in a web browser. This capability is supported by Firefox 52+, Chrome 72+, and Edge 88+ browsers. This setting can be disabled in the Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage tab > Client Sharing Options). NOTE: The ability to share with a web browser is not available on mobile devices. For the full Solstice experience, including mobile and audio support, please use the Solstice app.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.2.3 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Display Software for Windows
To access this update for Solstice Display Software for Windows, visit mersive.com/download/.
New Features
Solstice Conference Support for Google Workspace Calendar. The Google Workspace room calendar integration now works with Solstice Conference to allow meeting hosts to quickly launch web conferences scheduled on the Google room calendar once they connect to the Solstice display with the Solstice app.
New Supported Devices for Solstice Conference
The following USB room devices are now supported for Solstice Conference. View the full list here.
Aver VC520
Jabra Link 370
Resolved Issues
The capability that allows Solstice Conference users to share the Solstice display in a conference session is now working properly for Windows machines. Note: Windows users should upgrade their Solstice app to version 5.2.1 or later.
Additional resiliency added for the Pod update process.
Pods now successfully communicate through proxy after upgrading to the latest version of Solstice.
When a Pod is connected to two displays and has the HDMI Input Persistent Post option and the Extend display option enabled, the Pod will no longer reverse the video outputs to the wrong display.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.2.1 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Apps (MacOS and Windows only)
Note
Note: As of 5.2, the Solstice client app has been renamed the “Mersive Solstice” app. Due to this name change, installing the 5.2.1 version of the .dmg Mac client may not automatically overwrite the previous version of the app. End-users will need to manually uninstall the previous version of the app, and may need to update their macOS security settings for the new version of the app.
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. You can also use Solstice Cloud to schedule the 5.2.1 software update for your Solstice Pods. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. If using the Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.
New Features
Google Workspace Room Calendar Support. For organizations that use Google Workspace productivity tools, Solstice adds support for the integration of Google Workplace room calendars alongside existing support for Microsoft Exchange and Office365 calendars, allowing organizations to use their room calendaring platform of their choice in their Solstice-enabled spaces. After integrated, Solstice displays the room schedule so that users can quickly view upcoming availability for the meeting space. The Google Workspace Calendar integration is available for Solstice Gen2i and Gen3 Pods (Solstice Cloud > Calendar settings, or Solstice Dashboard > Calendar tab). Google Workspace administrators may need to configure additional settings in Google Workspace before integrating the room calendar with Solstice.
Welcome Screen Background Animation. Solstice admins can now enable a slow-moving animation of Solstice display’s Welcome Screen background to mitigate any potential display burn-in. This setting is particularly useful when utilizing only one background image for the Solstice display. This setting can be configured in Solstice Cloud (Welcome Screen settings), or Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage tab).
Usability Notifications for Solstice Conference Users. Solstice will now display notifications to end-users to alert them of any conditions that may impact Solstice Conference, such as low network bandwidth or the use of an unsupported USB room camera or microphone. This informs admins and end-users if conditions are not ideal for using Solstice Conference, and helps to identify the root of any environmental issue so that it can be resolved to allow for an optimal Solstice Conference experience.
HDCP Support for Gen3 Pod’s HDMI Input. The Solstice Gen3 Pod’s HDMI-in port can now optionally support HDCP content. This capability allows Gen3 Pods to support HDCP 1.4 standard edition, allowing the Pod to pass through HDCP content from connected media devices. This feature is only supported on Solstice Gen3 Pods with serial number MPOD8000A2xxxxxx or higher. To locate a Pod’s serial number, reference the manufacturer’s label on the bottom of the Pod. This setting is disabled by default; Solstice admins can enable this setting using Solstice Cloud (Advanced settings), or Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage tab).
Updated EDID Settings for HDMI Input. Solstice admins are now able to force the accepted resolution for a Gen3 Pod’s HDMI Input port. This allows Solstice to support equipment plugged into Pod’s HDMI input that has an output resolution of 720p, 1080p, or VGA. By default, Solstice is configured to automatically select the accepted resolution. This setting can be configured in the Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage tab > Preferred HDMI Input Resolution).
OpenControl API Updates:
Toggle HDMI Input Post. Solstice integrators can now enable or disable a Solstice display’s HDMI-input content post. This allows integrators to connect a device to the Gen3 Pod’s HDMI input and control when the post appears on the Solstice display. Learn More
New Support Audio/Video Devices for Solstice Conference
The following USB room devices are now supported for Solstice Conference. View the full list here.
Huddly IQ
Lumens VC-B10U
Jabra Speak 750
Jabra Speak 810
Aver Cam 340+
Aver Cam520
Aver Cam520Pro
Aver Cam540
Other Fixes and Enhancements
Solstice Conference now supports Big Sur for MacOS, and maintains support for Catalina. As of 5.2, Mojave support will no longer be maintained for Solstice Conference.
Solstice admins who centrally deploy the Solstice app using MSI or SCCM are now able to hide the app’s Settings tab as well as any Solstice Conference functionality from end-users if they are not utilizing Solstice Conference.
HTTPS Redirect for the QuickConnect page now supports reverse DNS lookups to reduce the configuration burden of the administrator.
QuickConnect URL parameters now use standard syntax so that certain security scanners no longer have false positives because the QuickConnect URLs previously did not use a standard query syntax.
Resolved Issues
Android screen mirroring now correctly resizes a video share when the device is flipped into a landscape or portrait orientation.
When connected to two displays, Solstice no longer changes the Display Option back to ‘Mirror’ when it wakes from being suspended by display power management.
The Solstice Dashboard now consistently persists the Primary SDS Host configuration.
Solstice Conference audio for MacOS no longer experiences an audio ringing effect.
The Solstice Dashboard now correctly displays .pfx certificate info when an admin selects to view the encryption certificate.
Solstice Pods no longer temporarily lose their previously configured SSID.
MSI and SCCM installers for the Solstice app will now detect if an emulator is running the installer and will redirect admins to download the supported 32-bit client. As a note, emulators do not support running 64-bit versions of the Solstice app.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.2 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Dashboard
Solstice Apps
Note
Note: The Solstice client app has been renamed the “Mersive Solstice” app. Due to this name change, installing the 5.2 version of the .dmg Mac client will not automatically overwrite the previous version of the app. End-users will need to manually uninstall the previous version of the app, and may need to update their macOS security settings for the new version of the app.
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. You can also use Solstice Cloud to schedule the 5.2 software update for your Solstice Pods. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. If using the Solstice Dashboard, remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.
New Features
Full Solstice Conference Support for Mac. Solstice Conference now has full support for macOS and can be used with most video conferencing apps to add meeting support for remote attendees in Solstice-enabled rooms. Solstice Conference add-on components are required to host a video conferencing meeting. These components require elevated privileges and can be installed on-demand when needed from the new Solstice Conference tab in the 5.1 Solstice App. Learn more about getting started with Solstice Conference
Expanded Support for Room A/V Devices. Solstice Conference now has expanded compatibility and support for several USB room A/V devices, including the Huddly Go and several key Logitech cameras. These supported devices can be used with Solstice Conference, or Solstice’s Room Occupancy feature. View the list of supported devices
Updated Solstice Conference Support for Windows Laptops. For Windows laptops that have an i5 processor, a lighter version of Solstice Conference will be installed by default. This will limit sharing the display remotely, and may also limit the number of additional posts that can be shared by that user while hosting a conference. This setting can be overridden by an administrator when centrally deploying the Solstice app via MSI or SCCM; however, it is not recommended. As a note, although the override option may also be present when deploying on i7 machines, this setting does not affect them. Learn more about deploying the Solstice app with MSI
Automatic Display Power Management Based on Room Occupancy. Solstice can now leverage a USB camera attached to the Pod as a room occupancy sensor for Solstice display power management, providing an automated, touchless sleep/wake functionality. The feature requires a supported USB camera attached to the Pod and can be enabled in Solstice Dashboard or Solstice Cloud. When Solstice detects that a person is in the room, Solstice will immediately resume the HDMI out signal, resulting in a touchless power on for the display. When this feature is enabled and Solstice detects that the room has been vacant for the configured period of time (Immediate, 5, 10, 15 minutes), then the HDMI out signal to the display will be turned off, allowing the display monitors to use their own sleep settings. Learn more about this feature
Security Enhancements for SDS. Several security enhancements have been implemented for Solstice Discovery Service (SDS) that further harden Solstice against potential threats. As a note, Pods on Solstice version 5.1 are compatible with older versions of SDS. However, Mersive recommends updating your SDS version to 5.1 to benefit from the latest enhancements and retain screen key support for Solstice Pods and Solstice apps on version 5.1 or later. Get SDS 5.1
HTTPS DNS Hostname Redirect. Solstice admins now have the option to enable Solstice to redirect a user who enters the HTTP version of the Solstice host’s IP address or DNS hostname (e.g. http://111.22.3.44) to the secure HTTPS DNS hostname (e.g. https://hostname.domain) when the Pod’s certificate is validated by the web browser. This ensures that internal users have a secure connection to the Solstice QuickConnect page. This feature requires that Solstice admins enter a valid DNS hostname in the Pod’s network settings, have a valid client-to-server certificate on the Pod, and enable the ‘Redirect to HTTPS hostname’ option in Solstice (Solstice Cloud > Security template; OR Solstice Dashboard > Security tab). This feature is available for both Solstice Pods and Solstice Windows Display software. Learn More
Enterprise Certificate Management Tools. The latest certificate management enhancements give Solstice admins a centralized place for managing certificates in the Solstice Dashboard (Security tab > Certificate Tools). These enhancements mean that Solstice admins can manage more of the certificate lifecycle on the Pod. In addition to generating a certificate signing request, admins can now install and manage client-server certificates and/or 802.1x EAP-TLS certificates from the same location.
Support for Microsoft Office 365’s New Modern Authentication Method. Solstice's room calendar integration now supports Microsoft's modern authentication method for Office 365. Solstice admins that want to update the O365 room or personal calendar settings for their Solstice Pods to the new authentication type can do so in Solstice Cloud or the Solstice Dashboard (Calendar settings). Learn more about updating these settings.
Active Routing API Updates. New capabilities of the of the Active Routing API (requires a current Active Learning Subscription to use):
Route audio along with video
Fixes and Enhancements
The Solstice app’s O365 personal calendar integration uses the Credential Manager service on Windows to securely store and authenticate a user's O365 credentials. However, if due to security reasons an IT administrator has disabled the Credential Manager for their Windows deployment, Solstice will not use it to store and authorize user credentials, and users will be prompted to re-enter their O365 credentials each time their Solstice app launches if they choose to integrate their personal calendar.
Users exiting the Solstice application window are presented with options to simultaneously disconnect and delete all their shared media on the room display.
Solstice app users can now remove a meeting host desktop share when hosting a Solstice Conference.
Resolved Issues
Solstice no longer stops sharing an application window after resizing the window multiple times.
The Pod no longer repeatedly attempts to verify internet connectivity if blocked from sending or receiving external network traffic.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.1 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Dashboard
Solstice Apps
Solstice Discovery Service (SDS)
Note
Note: Solstice Pod updates will be for version 5.1.1.
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. Remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.
Fixes and Enhancements
Improved Solstice Conference Support for i5 Windows Laptops. For Windows laptops that have an i5 processor, a lighter version of Solstice Conference will be installed by default. This will limit sharing the display remotely, and may also limit the number of additional posts that can be shared by that user while hosting a conference to improve performance. This setting can be overridden by an administrator when centrally deploying the Solstice app via MSI or SCCM; however, it is not recommended. As a note, although the override option may also be present when deploying on i7 machines, this setting does not affect them. Learn more about deploying the Solstice app with MSI
Resolved Issues
Thunderbolt docks are now compatible with Solstice Conference.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.0.2 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Apps
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. Remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.
Solstice Conference Enhancements
Resolved Issues for Windows
Increased stability for room cameras and audio devices.
Special characters on calendar invites no longer cause the HTML formatting to be shown in the Solstice app system tray pop-up.
Switching room camera or audio devices while using Solstice Conference no longer causes devices to become unusable.
Logging of issues is now more accurate.
Improvements to Logitech C930 and C920s support.
Resolved Issues for MacOS
There are no longer issues with audio if used after a Windows user.
Improvements to Logitech Rally and MeetUp support.
Other Resolved Issues
When overlays are enabled, third-party cookies can now be used to authenticate a digital signage feed.
Bluetooth driver updated to fix reported crashes.
Solstice app instructions for iOS 13 switched to reflect proper workflow.
Reduced connection issues when using Miracast in Wi-Fi Direct mode.
Miracast Over Infrastructure or Wi-Fi Direct mode now successfully completes the security handshake.
The Windows Connect menu (Windows + K) no longer becomes unresponsive after an unsuccessful Miracast connection.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.0.1 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Apps
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. Remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.
Solstice Conference Now Available
Use Solstice with most laptop-based conferencing apps to add meeting support for remote attendees in Solstice-enabled rooms. Solstice Conference offers the flexibility to use the conferencing service of choice and provides wireless connectivity to room audio/video devices attached to the Solstice Pod via USB.
Leverages web conferencing services running on local users’ laptops to connect remote participants to the room.
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.
Supports a one-step auto-launch for scheduled web conferences via support for integration of room and personal calendars.
Allows the meeting host to share the full in-room display to the web conference so remote users can see everything happening on the display, including multi-source content sharing, mark up, and more.
Important Specs and Requirements
Solstice Conference is supported on Gen3 Pods only.
The meeting host is required to have the Solstice app version 5.0 or later installed on a Windows (full support) or macOS (beta) laptop. Admin permissions are needed to install the Solstice Conference drivers. If drivers are not initially installed, they can be installed at a later time (Solstice app > Solstice Conference tab).
Solstice Conference must be enabled on each Pod (Solstice Cloud > Features template OR Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage tab).
To use a one-step start for Solstice meetings, Solstice Discovery Service (SDS) is required.
For Solstice to auto-launch web conferences, either the room calendar must be configured for the Pod, or end-users must integrate their Microsoft calendar in their Solstice app.
For more information on how to deploy Solstice Conference, and requirements for a successful deployment, see Solstice Conference.
Known Issues with Solstice Conference
Meeting hosts switching audio/video sources within the video conferencing application while using Solstice Conference may cause application freezes.
Meeting hosts should avoid using laptop docks, virtual machines, and second monitors when using Solstice Conference.
Users may occasionally experience a “hall of mirrors” effect when sharing the Solstice screen to the web conference. Mersive recommends stopping then screen share, then resharing.
Sharing content during a conference session from a laptop that has its resolution set to 4K may result in reduced performance. Mersive recommends reducing the laptop resolution for 4K laptops to 1080p.
PowerPoint shares will work with Solstice Conference using the extended desktop; however, PowerPoint should be started before the Solstice Conference session starts.
Other Key Enhancements in 5.0
Location Services. Solstice will use environmental scans (such as WiFi SSIDs and Bluetooth) to estimate the location of Pods using AI models that learn over time. Using this information, the Solstice app will reorder the list of discovered Pods to list displays that are closest first, allowing users to quickly connect to the Pod that they are physically nearby, streamlining the connection process. Location services also allow Solstice Cloud admins to visualize Pod locations on an interactive map. Additionally, location services help to facilitate the automatic categorization of Pods by country, city, and building to be used with Solstice Cloud monitoring, management, and data analysis. Solstice Cloud users can use these location-based categories to quickly sort and filter Pods, allowing them to analyze meeting trends by location, or setup location-specific email alerts. Gen3 Pods only.
Solstice Location Services will not collect any personally identifiable information. Use of this feature is subject to the terms and conditions.
Solstice Location Services ships disabled by default; can be enabled/disabled in Solstice Cloud > Features template OR Solstice Dashboard > System tab.
Occupancy Data. When a USB camera is attached to the back of a Pod, Solstice gives you the option to use the camera as an occupancy counter sensor - one that’s capable of detecting the number of occupants. When enabled, Solstice can detect the number of occupants in the room and collect that data. This occupancy data will be available in your Solstice Cloud analytics and can be visualized alongside other utilization data.This feature can be used when any USB camera is plugged into the Pod. Gen2i and Gen3 Pods only.
Please note that no camera data (video or audio captures) ever leave the Pod. All processing occurs locally on the Pod and only the resulting occupancy count is sent to your Solstice Cloud account.
If the Pod is also enabled for Solstice Conference, occupancy data will not be collected while a video conference is taking place.
Occupancy ships disabled by default; can be enabled/disabled in Solstice Cloud > Features template OR Solstice Dashboard > System tab.
Support for Presentation Mode in PowerPoint. Solstice users can now use Microsoft PowerPoint’s presentation mode when sharing a PowerPoint presentation to Solstice. This mode makes the user’s personal laptop device a confidence monitor while presenting to the Solstice-enabled display. This Solstice app feature works when sharing PowerPoint with either the Desktop or App Share options using PowerPoint's slideshow capabilities. In PowerPoint's Slide Show option, ensure that the option to 'Use Presenter View' is enabled. This feature is supported on Windows laptops only.
Personal Calendar Integration. Users can now integrate their O365 calendar with their Solstice app, allowing Solstice to auto-launch their scheduled web conference when they connect to a Solstice display. Requires the Solstice App version 5.0 or later; supported for Windows or MacOS laptops only.
This capability can be configured in your Solstice app settings.
Auto-share Desktop. Users can now configure their Solstice app to automatically share their desktop once they connect to a Solstice display. This streamlines the sharing workflow and reduces the number of steps needed to start sharing content.
Disabled by default; can be enabled in your Solstice app settings.
Conferencing Hotkey. Users can configure the shortcut command that opens the Solstice Conference dialog box. This allows users to quickly open the dialog box without having to click into their system tray.
Configured in Solstice app > Settings.
Ctrl + Alt + C by default; can be customized.
Certificate Signing Request. Administrators can now generate a CSR on the Pod and download it prior to a certificate expiring (Dashboard > Security tab). This avoids the need for the private key to be exported out of the Pod. After generated, the CSR needs to be provided to the customer’s Certificate Authority (CA) to create an updated certificate. After the CA creates the updated certificate, the admin will then upload it using the Dashboard. Note: The CSR does not contain Subject Alternate Name data due to omission in libssl.
Blocking ICMP Pings. Disables the ability to ping the Pod on WAP, Wireless Client, and Network to prevent ICMP/Ping flooding that could lock up the Pod.
Disabled by default; can be enabled in Dashboard (Security tab).
WiFi Regulatory Domains. Pods are now able to ship with the proper WiFi frequencies and channels set to comply with regulations in the region the Pod is shipping to. Typically, Pods ship with WiFi channel support that complies with FCC guidelines. The implementation of this feature now supports WiFi channel restrictions for compliance in Egypt and Israel. Note: This setting is configured by Mersive before a Pod ships. To update this setting after you have received the Pod, contact the Mersive Support team for assistance.
Branding Updates. Solstice has been updated to incorporate Mersive’s new branding.
Resolved Issues
Sharing application windows for Windows devices has been enhanced, with more robust screen scraping for Windows applications such Microsoft Office.
Solstice now properly displays shared application windows that are obstructed by other open application windows.
Availability and Requirements of Software Updates
Solstice 5.0 software upgrades are available for the following components of the Solstice product suite:
Solstice Pod
Solstice Windows Display Software License
Solstice Dashboard
Solstice Apps
Note
When updating Solstice Pods to version 5.0, Pods may experiences slightly longer update times than normal. Please give Pods at least 8 minutes to fully update, and do not unplug or reboot your Pod during the update process.
Visit mersive.com/download/ to access all updates. Current Solstice Subscription is required to upgrade Solstice Pods to the latest version. Remember to update Solstice Dashboard instances before updating Solstice Pods.