Hello Readers, I hope you’re well.

Microsoft is slowly releasing new updates for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android (aka Collab Bar) that add a host of new features and edges them ever closer to MTR on Windows. One of the biggest of the lot, in my opinion, is content ingest. Next only to the touch console support which got added in April or May.

Content ingest was previously only available on Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows. All vendors provided the facility to do this using a wired connection using HDMI or USB-C and even wireless using a first or third party adapter or standards based streaming using the likes of Miracast, Apple AirPlay and Google Cast.

Microsoft themselves added the ability to cast to Microsoft Teams Rooms thanks to an app that appeared in the app tray in the Teams mobile client on iOS and Android. This allows you to wirelessly share your mobile screen or a PowerPoint presentation to a non-busy room using Proximity Join. I did a video on casting a few months ago (see below). Casting works on both Windows and Android based MTRs.

But wired content ingest over HDMI is new and most of the vendors have a solution for it out on their latest firmware. If your Microsoft Teams Room on Android device (Collab Bar) has a touch console, you’ll notice a new Share button.

At the time of writing, Yealink A20 and A30, Logi Rally Bar and AudioCodes RXV80 have wired content ingest over HDMI. Yealink also has wireless content ingest using their WPP20 wireless presenter pod solution which uses a Wi-Fi connection to a built in hotspot in Yealink devices such as their Collab Bars and the MTouch touch console for the Yealink MVC series Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows.

Poly X30 and X50 soesn’t yet have HDMI ingest support. I’ll update this post when I’ve heard that it has been added.

Yealink A20 and A30 requires an add-on device called the VCH51 Yealink Sharing Box. This connects to the VCH port on the back of the A20/A30. The VCH port in Yealink is their proprietary technoilogy to use CAT5/6 cabling to connect what are normally USB peripherals to Yealink devices. The VCH51 adds HDMI content ingest. And a special feature for BYOD mode which I’ll cover in another post and video. Check out my YouTube Channel at Youtube.com/UCStatus for my reviews of A20 and A30.

Logi Rally Bar has direct content ingest by connecting HDMI to the back of the bar. I know Logi is working on certification of the Tap touch console for the Rally Bar in Microsoft Teams “appliance mode”. And I also know there are HDMI and USB ports under the the bottom panel of the Tap. These can’t yet be used for HDMI ingest, but I think they are working on it for a later release. I’ll update the post when I know more.

Same with the AudioCodes RXV80. I’ll do a video review on this device soon.

Microsoft Principal Product Manager Lead in Microsoft Teams, Sandhya Rao covers it in the recent blog post on Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android | August 2021 Updates. In addition to HDMI ingest, she talks about Room Remote and 1080p video support on outgoing video. All great additions and even more proof that Teams Rooms on Android could definitely be a candidate for your next meeting space project.

For the full list of features in Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android chck out the release notes page.

That’s all folks and Thank you for reading