Unsupported Early Video Preview in Ring Group

[PBXHosted]

I have a system using a Fanvil i10v video door station as well as some Fanvil i53w video screens that are connected through 3cx. The system works perfectly when video preview is turned off on the i53ws. When you press the doorbell button on the i10v, both i53ws ring through the ring group and when you answer either one, the video comes on and all works fine. As soon as you turn on enable preview on the i53ws, it will only ring one i53w and show the video preview properly on that device. The second i53w does ring for half a second but then stops and only rings on the other i53w. All works perfectly when only using one i53w. Any suggestions?

 

[cobaltit]

Not a supported device so I don't know that you will get much help here. Might be better off trying the Fanvil forums/support. Or just configuring the door call settings on a separate account outside of 3CX.

 

[PBXHosted]

Tried both of those and not getting anywhere. Someone mentioned in another thread they were able to get video preview working in Ring Groups but that thread is closed. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

 

[PBXHosted]

Not much help here guys. It doesn't matter the endpoint. Does 3CX support early video preview in ring groups? Does anyone know?

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Not much help here guys. It doesn't matter the endpoint. Does 3CX support early video preview in ring groups? Does anyone know?

Hi @PBXHosted

That is a very good question, but unfortunately the answer is not as simple as yes or no.

I used a Fanvil i31S and X6U to test this feature, and sure enough it worked perfectly, but I suspected there was some trickery at play

I never answered the call, I cancelled it from the doorphone, but the logs claim that the call was answered! How can this be?


The way Fanvil does this trick is to secretly answer the call coming from the doorphone (I saw it in the packet capture), but it is fooling the human users into thinking the call has not yet been answered.

1. The X6U answers the call in the background and starts sending a fake progress tone that your guest at the door is hearing, making them think that the phone is still ringing.

2. Since the call is technically answered, it is receiving video from the doorphone and shows it to you as "a preview", while the X6U is pretending that it's ringing and giving you the choice to answer or reject.

3. If you press "answer" then it stops sending the fake progress tone to the guest and opens up the mic so you can talk to them.


- What will happen if I add a preview-enabled phone in a RG? If you were to add this X6U in a ring-all group, the other phones in the RG would ring 1 time and stop immediately because the X6U would secretly auto-answer the call.

- If you added multiple phones with preview enabled? It would appear that only one phone would be ringing each time (randomly whoever managed to secretly auto-answer first)


TL;DR It's not whether 3CX supports it or not - it's a trick that defeats the purpose of a ring group

 

[PBXHosted]

Thank you for you response. So forgetting Fanvil, is there any way to do early video preview on a 3CX ring group so that all endpoints receive the video before answering or is this always an endpoint based issue and would depend on the manufacturer of the phone or screens. Is there any setting in 3CX that I can enable this feature for Ring Groups. Otherwise a SIP based video doorbell system is mostly useless if you have to answer the door bell call first to see who is there.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Sorry, this is simply not doable with Ring Groups and I was hoping the explanation above would have made it clear as to why.

The Fanvil doorphone does offer a live RTSP stream though that you can maybe think of a smart way to make use of

 

[Guido Smeyers]

Hi, PBXHosted,

Did you find any solution to fix this? I have an office, want to install a Fanvil i31s-doorphone, and would like that when somebody calls on the doorphone, every collaborater could see who is on the door, can speak with him (on a Fanvil w53s indoor station), and can open the door…

 

[Guido Smeyers]

Hi, PBXHosted!,

I could have found the solution!…

In the firmware release-note 2.8.13 (2021.6.3) of the i53w, Fanvil explains what follows:

2.4 New Features Description
1. Support preview video when the group is ringing
Function Descriptionoor phone calls indoor phone, all indoor phone can ring and display the video of door phone
Select i53W as the hotspot server, other indoor phone and door phone as the client, add indoor phone and access control to a group, set the door machine extension number caller ID video on i53W.

Seems worth a try?

I can’t do a try now, because my i31s is only still on the way…

Kind regards

 

[jcsfish]

Hi, PBXHosted!,

I could have found the solution!…

In the firmware release-note 2.8.13 (2021.6.3) of the i53w, Fanvil explains what follows:

2.4 New Features Description
1. Support preview video when the group is ringing
Function Descriptionoor phone calls indoor phone, all indoor phone can ring and display the video of door phone
Select i53W as the hotspot server, other indoor phone and door phone as the client, add indoor phone and access control to a group, set the door machine extension number caller ID video on i53W.

Seems worth a try?

I can’t do a try now, because my i31s is only still on the way…

Kind regards

did you get anywhere with this?

We've just had a i31s installed which calls a queue of 3x X7A's

However it only comes through as an audio call, once they've answered they can turn on the video

This is a bit clunky, would prefer it if video came through straight away

 

[Guido Smeyers]

Hello jcsfish,

Yes, indeed: I (still) have the same problem as you have: the doorbell rings on all i31s's, but the video only tuns on when the call is anwered...

I wrote to Fanvil, but didn't become an answer at this moment...

Kind regards