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.

Updated 16th November 2022

As of 16th November, all vendors have wire HDMI content ingest. Most have dedicated HDMI-IN ports on the back. I’ve updated this post to include information for Logitech, Yealink, Poly and AudioCodes.

Logitech

Logi Rally Bar, Rally Bar Mini and the Roommate have direct content ingest by connecting HDMI to the back of the bar. This now works for Microsoft Teams on Android in “appliance mode”. There are HDMI and USB ports under the the bottom panel of the Tap CAT5. HDMI ingest via the Tap CAT5 isn’t yet certified. However it can work, albeit intermittently, but Logitech is working on getting this working and supported. I’ll update the post when I know more.

Content ingest on MTR on Android via the Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini also works using the Logitech Swytch. I’ll do a review of the Swytch soon. But basically it is a solution which when connected to a Rally Bar/Mini enables single cable BYOD switching of the bar. This means that when the bar is not in a meeting the bar switches to BYOD mode when the cable is connected. When in a meeting, the Swytch cable is used for content ingest.

Yealink

Yealink A20 and A30 have wired content ingest over HDMI.

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.

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

The Poly X30, X50 and X70 all have dedicated HDMI in ports near the single or dual HDMI out ports

AudioCodes

The AudioCodes RXV80 also has an HDMI in port. 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