Friday, August 9, 2013

Setting Frame Rates and Resolution for Real-Time Audio-Video on Horizon View Clients (2053644)

The following information was taken from VMware KB2053644

 

Details

Real-Time Audio-Video (RTAV), introduced in VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack 2, allows 
webcam and audio-in devices to be redirected from a local client system to a remote desktop. 
With RTAV, Horizon View users can run Skype, Webex, Google Hangouts, and other conferencing 
applications on their virtual desktops.

After you install RTAV, the feature works on your desktops without any further configuration. On client 
systems, the default webcam frame rate is 15 frames per second. The default webcam image resolution 
is 320x240 pixels. The default settings are recommended for most webcam and audio applications. 

You can modify these settings to change the user experience in the conferencing application.

You can configure group policy settings that control the maximum frame rate and image resolution on 
your Horizon View desktops. For details, see the VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack Installation and

Administration document at 
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/horizon-view/horizon-view-52-feature-pack-document.pdf.

 

In addition, you can configure the frame rate and resolution on your client systems. This article describes how to 
configure these settings on client systems and offers guidelines to help you determine how best to set these values 
in your environment.

NOTE: Audio configuration settings are not available for RTAV.

Solution

On View Client systems, you can configure the webcam frame rate and image resolution up to the maximum values 
specified in the group policy settings on the desktops. If you specify a value on a client that exceeds the maximum 
value set on the desktop, the value is capped at the maximum desktop value. 

You can adjust frame rates from 1 fps up to a maximum of 25 fps and resolution up to a maximum of 1920x1080. 
However, RTAV cannot guarantee that a high resolution at a fast frame rate can be supported on all devices 
or in all environments. 

Configure RTAV Settings on View Client Systems   

1. Start the Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2. Navigate to the following registry key: 

Windows Operating System

Registry key

64-bit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\RTAV

32-bit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\RTAV 


3. Set registry values. 

Registry Value

Default Value

Description

IsDisabled  

0

Determines whether RTAV is enabled or disabled.
RTAV is enabled by default. (This value is not in effect.)  To disable RTAV on this client, set this value to 1.

srcWCamFrameWidth

Not set

Determines the image width. The value defaults to a hardcoded value of 320 pixels.
You can change the image width to any pixel value.

srcWCamFrameHeight

Not set

Determines the image height. The value defaults a hardcoded value of 240 pixels.
You can change the image height to any pixel value.

srcWCamFrameRate

Not set

Determines the frame rate. The value defaults to 15 fps.
You can change the frame rate to any value.

srcAudioInId** 

Not set

Determines the preferred microphone (audio-in device). When this value is not set, RTAV uses the default recording device set in the Windows operating system Sound control. 
You can specify any microphone connected to (or built into) the client system.

srcWCamId**

Not set

Determines the preferred webcam. When this value is not set, the webcam is selected automatically by system enumeration. 
You can specify any webcam connected to (or built into) the client system.


4. Save your changes and exit the registry.

5. Start a new call in your 3rd-party application.

**The 
srcAudioInId and srcWCamId values let you set a preferred audio device and a preferred webcam,

if more than one device is connected to the client system.  RTAV uses the preferred device in conferencing

or other 3rd-party application sessions. If a preferred device is not available, RTAV uses the next

available webcam, as determined by system enumeration, or the default audio recording device set in the

Windows Sound control.  

In most environments, there is no need to set a preferred audio device. You can simply select a default

audio recording device in the Windows Sound control. For information about selecting a preferred webcam

and a default microphone, see the VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack Installation and

Administration document at 
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/horizon-view/horizon-view-52-feature-pack-document.pdf.

Guidelines for Setting Frame Rate and Resolution  

If your users are on a high-latency network with limited bandwidth, you might want to reduce the default values

to maintain a working video image or to manage the available bandwidth for each user.  

Raising the resolution and frame rate increases the demand on network bandwidth. Depending on your

environment, you might want to run scaling tests to determine the performance impact of raising these limits.  

If you find that after changing these values, video does not display well with your 3rd-party application,

you might revert to the default values.

For example, Skype displays video well at 320x240 resolution at 15 fps. With sufficient bandwidth, Skype

also works at 640x480 resolution, but certain Skype versions do not perform as well with this resolution. 

If you change the resolution on a client, you must stop and restart the Skype application before making

another call.  If you change the resolution while Skype is running and make another call, the video

image might be distorted or incorrect. 

In general, devices support a specific set of resolutions. Not all devices support all resolutions. If you

configure a resolution that a webcam does not support, RTAV samples the resolutions that are closest to

the one that was requested until a supported resolution is found.  RTAV implements client-side scaling up

to the resolution supported by the device. 

Depending on client-side scaling, the CPU cycles needed to encode and decode the video data, and

network bandwidth limitations, you might not be able to achieve a required frame rate for the requested

resolution. RTAV cannot guarantee a desired frame rate for any specified resolution on any device.

At the end of a call, you can determine frame rates by examining the debug logs on View Agent, which

show the resultant frame rate achieved. The View Client logs show the transmitted frame rate. 

For some 3rd-party applications, not all resolutions will be supported.

Although RTAV has been tested with--and supports--several 3rd-party applications, and will work with

many other standard applications, it is possible that some 3rd-party applications are not supported by

RTAV. 

 

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