Installing, Activating, and Configuring

your Polycom PVX Please be sure your PC system meets these minimal hardware and software
videoconferencing codec requirements before you begin:
1. Polycom PVX version 8.0
2. Windows XP with Service Pack 2
3. Pentium 4, 2.2GHz processor
4. 512MB RAM system memory
5. 64MB video memory
6. 100MB available hard disk space
7. Broadband network connection (384Kbps up and down speed, note:
the quality of your experience depends heavily on the quality of your
Internet Service Provider)
8. Microsoft DirectX 9.0b (free download from Microsoft)
9. Microsoft Media Player 9.0 (free download from Microsoft)
10. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (free download from Microsoft)
11. USB web camera and an available USB port on your PC
12. Headphones, headset, or speakers
13. Microphone (preferably built into web camera or headset)
Old Dominion University
14. Access to the configuration of your router to pass specific IP ports
Office of Distance Learning
www.dl.odu.edu (757) 683-5169
Version 1.0 11/29/2006

Getting Started:
This 45 to 60 minute guide will take you through the entire
installation process, which includes activating your
software, installing the PVX, installing your camera,
configuring the software, configuring your DSL or cable
modem for videoconferencing, and finally testing your
system with ODU.
Introduction:
Videoconferencing is audio and video communication using
computer and network technologies. Cameras and microphones
are used along with coding and decoding devices (codecs) to
convert camera video and microphone audio into digital signals.
These digital signals are received at their destination and
converted back into audio and video that can be
displayed on computer or television monitors.

note:
The Polycom PVX Kit (which includes the PVX 1010
software, USB camera, and headset) is 11000111
10101000
available for your convenience through: 101010
001100
011110
1) ODU’s Monarch Tech Store at 10
http://www.odu.edu/af/techstore/ New York
or call 757.683.5611 or,
2) Distance Learning’s Online Bookstore at
Distance education is among the
(tbd)
many applications of 2-way videoconferencing,
Los Angeles and one of the delivery methodologies ODU uses to
Another note: This guide is based on installing the Polycom PVX on a PC with connect students to each other and to our faculty and
Windows XP. The software will also run on Windows 2000 and likely Windows instructors. Today’s technology makes this easier than
Vista, however those specific installation environments will be different from ever, as a modern PC or laptop with a camera, microphone,
what is pictured here. and high speed Internet can participate in conferences.

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 On the far left, the website will welcome
you and ask for your user ID
and Password...

Section 1:
After ensuring your system meets the minimum
requirements, the next first step is to register your
software with Polycom and obtain an activation
code, you must activate your Polycom PVX
Software license with this code before you use your
Codec (if not activated the software will remain in a ‘demo’
mode and only allow you to stay in a conference for 5
minutes)

First, using your PC’s web browser visit the Polycom

Resource Center’s website at: http://extranet.polycom.com

note:
please disable your pop-up … the website will also give three basic options if you do
blocker to get activation alerts and not have or have forgotten your user name or password…
further instructions. or select ‘New User Account’ if you are a new Polycom customer…

To create a new account, the website

will ask for basic contact
information,

Polycom will thank you for

When you have entered your registering and give you a number of
information, scroll down to the options, select ‘Activate Product’,
bottom of the page, review the Terms
and Privacy statements, select the ‘I
Agree’ box, and click on ‘Register’,

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 In the center of the screen the website will now
ask for your ‘License Number’ and ‘Serial Number’,
for the Polycom PVX these are both the same,

Once you have logged in, the center of the The 12-digit ‘License Number’ requested by the
the website will have the option to activate website is the ‘License Key’ located on the
two product types, select ‘Video’, back of your CD case (the PN or part number is
not used) this number in both blank spaces
then click on ‘Generate’,

Section 2:
Put the Polycom PVX software CD in your PC’s CD/DVD
drive, the welcome screen below should appear shortly…
when it appears select your preferred language…

Polycom will now give you your PVX’s 20-digit software

activation ‘Key Code’, please write this number down or
print this page for your reference, we will need this key
code soon…

If the above screen does not appear after a few seconds,

manually start the installation by first selecting
‘My Computer’ from your PC’s desktop…

3

… (if the PVX installation window did not
autostart) from ‘My Computer’ double
click on the ‘PVX’ icon from your CD/DVD
drive, the Polycom welcome screen
should appear and allow you to select the
language of your choice…
The Polycom software’s
installation wizard will begin to
install the PVX software, click
‘Next’ to proceed…
After selecting your language, this
screen will pop-up reminding you
to install the minimum DirectX and
Media Player software versions.
If you do not have them already
double-click on each of the three
components to Install them,
starting with DirectX 9.0b, then
Media Player 9, install ‘Polycom
PVX 8.0.2’ last...
The Polycom License
Agreement window will pop-up
next, review the agreement
and click ‘Yes’…
The Polycom PVX
software will install in
a default folder on
your hard drive (select
‘Browse’ if you want to
change this
destination), select
‘Next’ to continue…
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 note:
depending on the settings of
Windows XP on your PC, your
XP Firewall may recognize that
the Polycom PVX requires you
to ‘Unblock’ this software from
accessing the Internet.

After a few minutes the above window will
appear indicating that the installation is
complete, click on ‘Finish’ and close the
Polycom Installation page by clicking on the
orange ‘X’ on the top right of the window,
now we have to configure your software…
another note: In Windows XP Microsoft has included an aggressive firewall,
software and/or hardware that prevents unauthorized users from accessing your
network and computers, more information on your firewall can be located at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/security/winfirewall.mspx

Place the K2r installation disk in

Section 3:
If you purchased the
Polycom PVX kit that
includes a headset and the
GlobalMedia K2r USB
camera, now is a good time
to install the camera. If you
already have a camera
installed, please skip ahead
to Section 4,
your CD/DVD drive, an installation
note:
The Polycom PVX is designed window should pop-up with
installation instructions, if this
to work with most USB
cameras and microphones, window does not appear select ‘My
Computer from you desktop, and…
…select the installation icon from
your CD/DVD drive, the USB
camera software will begin to
install…

When you first plug the

camera into the USB port
on your PC, Windows will
detect that a new device
has been introduced and
attempt to find software
and drivers for it, select
‘No, not at this time’ and
‘Cancel’

5

When the installation wizard appears,
select ‘Next’,
The installation will give you a progress
window,
When the installation is complete the
software will ask you to reboot your PC
to complete the processes…
The software will next ask you
for your name and email
address, leave the ‘H.323
Extension box’ alone (use the
default) and select ‘Next’
The PVX software will now ask you to
enter your directory information, for now
skip this step by simply clicking on ‘Next’,
note:
you can enter your directory information
later, this is helpful and acts as an
address book for your software by
managing and organizing multiple IP
addresses.
Section 4:
Now that we have the software
and camera installed, it is time
to configure your Polycom
PVX. Start by clicking on the
PVX icon from your desktop,
You will be greeted by the PVX
welcome screen as the software
loads,
This window will appear as
this is the first time your
Polycom PVX has been
opened since being installed,
select the language of your
choice from the pull-down
menu then select ‘Next’,
note:
Your PVX software can
record video messages to
forward to others, we won’t
be describing that here but
feel free to play with all of
the PVX’s features.
The PVX software will now test your
video settings, you should see a
spinning Polycom logo when this
window pops-up (you will see the logo
spin again if you select ‘Play’), if you
see a spinning logo select ‘Next’,
Now the software will now test your
audio settings, you should hear a ‘light
beeping’ sound effect on your PC’s
speakers, the loudness of this sound
can be adjusted by the volume control
on the screen, if you can hear the
Polycom sound effect select ‘Next’,
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The primary PVX interface will now appear, while the PVX
software communicates with your USB camera you will
again see the spinning Polycom logo, however you should
soon see the video image being created by your camera,

Your software should very

soon realize that it has not
been activated and will give
you this message,

Way back in Section 1 we

asked extranet.polycom.com
for a 20-digita alpha-numeric
code key, we will need that
now, select ‘Activate’ to
continue…

The software will now give you a confirmation that

This screen will ask you to enter your that you have entered the correct activation code
software’s ‘License Number’ (as you key, now click ‘OK’
recall this is the ‘License Key’ found
on the back of the CD case) and your
software ‘Activation Key Code’ (as you
recall this is the 20-digit ‘Key code’
given to you after we signed into
extranet.polycom.com), after you enter
in these numbers select ‘Activate’,

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Section 5:
After activation your software is essentially operational, however there are
several adjustments to make to get your PC to communicate with ODU’s
videoconferencing system. In this installation example this PVX is illustrating
the IP address of a host PC – this is a private IP address, we have to change it
to the general IP address given to your home network by your Internet Service
Provider,

Select the ‘wrench’ icon in the

upper left of the window to
access the PVX setup options

note:
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are unique identification numbers given to a computer on a network. IP
addresses are made up of a series of numbers divided by periods or ‘dots’. IP addresses that start with
192.168.###.### are private addresses designed to protect and isolate the PC and network from the
Internet, to reach the Internet a Network Address Translation (NAT) must be used. The residential
DSL/Cable modem or router handles this translation by converting the private address to the public
address given to the router by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as Cox, Verizon , ect.

Select ‘Auto-Answer’ (this is

helpful for diagnostics) also select
‘Mute-Auto…’ this will mute your
audio automatically when you first
connect to a conference

Select the maximum time the system

will keep a call or conference active,
enter at least ‘240’ minutes to
accommodate most ODU classes, or
‘0’ for not limit, select ‘Apply’ then
‘Audio’ setup,

This is the General Setup page,

you’ll see your contact information
as well as a host of options, we
will first select ‘General’ option in
the upper left then select the ‘Call
Settings’ option,

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 This screen will automatically
adjust the volume of your
microphone as you speak into it,
once the volume settings are
complete select ‘OK’,

On the Audio Setup window, first note:

select the ‘Internal’ Echo If you’re having trouble please double
Cancellation option, then select check that your headset/microphone is
‘Calibrate Microphone’, plugged in, or that your USB camera is
plugged in if it has a built-in microphone.

Also on the Network Connection Setup To switch to and from wired a LAN
screen is the option to select a network connection to wireless LAN connection,
Now with the audio setting complete, if
adapter, this is useful if you use both deselect “Use Windows default adapter’…
you are using a residential high-speed
Internet connection such as a cable your PC’s physical LAN connection and
modem or DSL, select ‘Network your PC’s wireless connection.
Connection’ setup…
Now clicking on the pull down menu will
provide the names of all network adapters
installed on your PC, this example shows a
wireless WLAN option and wired 10/100
Mbps option…
then select the ‘Behind a NAT/firewall’
option. The PVX software will not
automatically detect the public IP
address given to your cable or DSL
modem from your Internet Service
Provider, this will become the IP
address that the PVX will use when Select the adapter you will use during class
making calls or connecting to and select ‘Apply’,
conferences,

note: a network adapter is used to connect a PC to a network either through a network cable or via
wireless radio frequencies. Also, if you install the PVX on a laptop, and switch between a wired
connection and a wireless connection in your home or office, your laptop can switch between networks.
However, when you use your laptop for class, in the PVX Network Connection Setup, you must be sure
that if you are using the laptop’s wired connection you’ve selected the wired network adapter and if you
are using the laptop’s wireless connection you’ve selected the wireless network adapter.

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 note:
Please be sure
you mute your
microphone
when you are not
You’ll notice now that the IP address talking,
recognized by the system has changed
from a generic 192.168.###.### private
address to a public IP address that can
now access the Internet.
Section 6a:
Configuring your home router…
Example 1: the Belkin cable/DSL router/modem
To access the ‘home page’ of this router open
your web-browser and in the ‘Address’ type:
http://192.168.2.1 and hit ‘Enter’,
note:
For more information about
your specific Belkin router,
and to download your user
guide please visit,
www.belkin.com
A note on Internet Protocols:
In computer networks data is sent between computers in a series of packets. Each
packet is made up of header data and content data, the header of the packet
tells the computer network where to send the packet. The content data is the actual
information being send (audio, video, email, websites, etc.). The header data
contains information about what software communication ‘port’ will listen for what
packets. For instance, the Polycom PVX requires TCP & UDP Ports 3230 to 3237 for
multimedia traffic. TCP stands for Transmission Control Protocol and UDP stands for
User Datagram Protocol, both protocols describe how Internet Protocol (IP) networks
transport data packets to each other. A software or hardware firewall is designed to
block Internet Protocol ports to keep unauthorized users from accessing your network
and computers. However, most firewalls will also by default block the ports the
Polycom PVX will use to send and receive video and audio data packets. To get your
PVX to work you must be sure your home firewall will allow Polycom video and audio
packets to pass through specific Internet Protocol ports on your network. Section 6
will give a few examples of how to configure some popular consumer routers to open
these Internet Protocol ports. These examples serve to describe the general concept,
please consult your router or modem’s manual for specific configuration information.
The Polycom PVX requires the following Internet Protocol ports:
UDP & TCP ports 3230 to 3237 for Media traffic
TCP port 1720 for H.323 traffic
UDP & TCP port 5060 for SIP traffic
TCP port 1503 for T.120 traffic
TCP port 389 for ILS traffic
UDP port 1718 for Gatekeeper traffic
UDP port 1719 for Gatekeeper traffic
TCP port 1731 for Audio control traffic
TCP port 3606 for web interface traffic
This is the ‘home page’
of your Belkin router, to
configure your Internet Protocol
ports select ‘Virtual Servers’
from the menu on the left (you
will have to login using the user
name and password you created
when you first setup your home
network),
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Click ‘Enable’, enter in an optional Section 6b:
description, enter the ports for the Configuring your home router…
Enter the last digit of the computer
router/firewall to pass (for single ports
on your network that you would like
enter the port number twice, e.g. ‘1720’ –
to send Polycom PVX traffic to (the
‘1720’), and enter the type of port (TCP or
PC with PVX installed on it), and Example 2: the Linksys cable/DSL router/modem
UDP)
enter in again the specific port To access the ‘home page’ of this router open
numbers to pass, your web-browser and in the Address type,
http://192.168.1.1 ...

When you are done, scroll down and note:

select ‘Apply Changes’, you are now For more information about
ready to test your software, your specific Linksys router,
and to download your user
guide please visit,
www.lynksys.com

You will find this screen under

‘Applications and Gaming’ , enter
the last digit of the computer on
your network that you would like to
send Polycom PVX traffic to (the PC
with PVX installed on it), and click
on the ‘Enable’ box,

Enter in an optional
application Section 7:
description, enter the Finally your software is installed, activated and configured! It is now
ports for the Firewall time to test your system:
to pass (for single 1. Please call ODU’s Videoconferencing support staff at 757-683-5169
port enter the port to schedule a test conference and to get your contact information,
number twice, e.g. 2. Our technicians will ask for your IP address and connect to your
‘389’ to ‘389’), and system, alternatively our staff will give you an IP address to ‘dial’
When you are done select ‘Save a. Borrowing the term from the telephone world, to ‘dial’ into a
enter the type of port
Settings’, you are now ready to test conference type into the space labeled ‘Enter address and
(TCP, UDP, or both),
your software, click Call to dial’,
b. Click on the dial button (the button with the telephone icon),
you should hear a telephone ‘ringing’ sound as your PVX
system calls the main ODU video bridge to establish a
conference,

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 Testing your Polycom PVX…

3. When a test conference is established, the technician will test your audio and
video to be sure you can be seen and heard, and can see and hear our staff,
4. If you experience any technical difficulties our staff will help you through the
troubleshooting process,

Final thoughts:
1. Please note: the quality of your experience depends heavily on the quality of your
Internet Service Provider, unfortunately ODU cannot control the quality of the
conference once the audio and video packets are out in the Internet,
2. Please be available to connect to your class 30 minutes before the start of class to
to test your audio and video connection before each class, and to give us time to
resolve any technical difficulties.
3. Please be sure to position your USB camera so your instructor and the other
students can see you,
4. Please be sure you mute your microphone when you are not talking,
5. To help ensure you have the best experience possible, please contact our technical
staff anytime you experience a problem, 757-683-5169, Monday to Friday, 7:45am to
10pm EST and Saturday 7:45am to 5pm EST.

Thank you!

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