Meeting Owl Quick Start & Troubleshooting

This KB provides a quick start guide and basic troubleshooting information for the Meeting Owl unit currently deployed in a Libraries space.

Table of Contents

Overview

The Library Technology Group (LTG) has a single Meeting Owl unit deployed at College Library in Room 1191B.  The Owl serves as a 360° camera, speaker, and microphone system that can be used for in-person, remote, and hybrid meetings.


Quick Start Guide

Connect to the Owl

  1. Verify the Meeting Owl is connected to power.
    • It will "hoot" shortly after being connected to power.
  2. Connect the USB-C cable from the Meeting Owl to your laptop.
    • If your laptop doesn’t have a USB-C port, please reach out to the Equipment Check Out Desk (College Library Room 2250) to borrow an adapter.
  3. Launch your meeting software.
    • For software-specific instructions, please click here to visit the Meeting Owl support page.
  4. Verify "Meeting Owl" is selected as the device for your video, microphone, and speaker.

If you’re still having trouble, please reach out to the LTG Help Desk.

    Download the App

    Following the steps in this section is recommended to unlock the full potential of the Meeting Owl, but doing so is not required to use the Meeting Owl's base functionality as a 360° camera, speaker, and microphone system.

    1. Navigate to the Owl Labs downloads page to download the Meeting Owl app.
    2. Scroll down to the "Meet the Meeting Owl App" section.
    3. Click the direct download link appropriate to the laptop you’re using—either "Mac Direct Download" or "Windows Direct Download."
    4. Navigate to the directory you saved the Meeting Owl app installation file to.
    5. Unzip the Meeting Owl app installation ZIP file.
      • macOS: double-click the file.
      • Windows: right-click the file, click "Extract All…," then click "Extract."
    6. Launch the Meeting Owl app installation file.
    7. Check "Launch when ready."

    Configure the App

    With a meeting in progress and the Meeting Owl app installed on your computer, follow these steps to configure specific aspects of the Meeting Owl.  As before, following the steps in this section is recommended to unlock the full potential of the Meeting Owl, but doing so is not required to use the Meeting Owl's base functionality as a 360° camera, speaker, and microphone system.

    Lock & Zoom

    Use these settings to manually adjust and set the Meeting Owl's camera zoom level and / or focus area.

    1. Launch the Meeting Owl app.
    2. Click "Camera Lock and Zoom."
    3. Toggle the "Move the frame and slider..." switch on "On."
      • To disable zoom locking and reset the focus area, toggle this switch to "Off."
    4. Click and drag the rectangle until the camera is in the desired position.
    5. Click and drag the slider until the camera's zoom level is in the desired position.
    6. Close the Meeting Owl app.

    Note: if the Lock & Zoom toggle is set to "On," the Presenter Enhance toggle will be automatically set to "Off," and vice versa.

    Presenter Enhance

    Use this setting to have the Meeting Owl's camera follow one or more presenters as they move around the space.

    1. Launch the Meeting Owl app.
    2. Toggle the "Presenter Enhance" switch to "On."
    3. Close the Meeting Owl app.

    Note: if the Presenter Enhance toggle is set to "On," the Lock & Zoom toggle will be automatically set to "Off," and vice versa.

    360° Pano

    Use this setting to enable use of the Meeting Owl's built-in 360° panoramic camera.

    1. Launch the Meeting Owl app.
    2. Toggle the "360° Pano" switch to "On."
    3. Close the Meeting Owl app.

    Ignore Zone

    Use these settings to specify an area that the Meeting Owl's camera will not record / broadcast.

    1. Launch the Meeting Owl app.
    2. Click "Ignore Zone."
    3. Toggle the "Slide the frame..." switch on "On."
      • To disable the ignore zone and reset the field of view, toggle this switch to "Off."
    4. Click and drag the rectangle until the camera blocks off the desired position.
    5. Click and drag the slider until the blocked portion of the video is at the desired size.
    6. Close the Meeting Owl app.

    Note: the Ignore Zone feature cannot be used at the same time as the Presenter Enhance feature.  To use the Ignore Zone feature, you must first toggle the Presenter Enhance switch to "Off."


    Troubleshooting

    If you encounter any issues not addressed by one of the links below, please reach out to the LTG Help Desk so that we can update this KB with useful troubleshooting information.

    Troubleshoot the Owl

    Troubleshoot the App




    Keywords360°, 360, camera, speaker, microphone, in-person, remote, hybrid, meeting, college, 1191B, hoot, owl labs, hootie   Doc ID124240
    OwnerDylan R.GroupLibraries
    Created2023-02-21 16:36:10Updated2023-03-23 18:49:13
    SitesUW-Madison Libraries
    Feedback  0   0