Meeting Owl Quick Start & Troubleshooting
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
- Verify the Meeting Owl is connected to power.
- It will "hoot" shortly after being connected to power.
- 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.
- Launch your meeting software.
- For software-specific instructions, please click here to visit the Meeting Owl support page.
- 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.
- Navigate to the Owl Labs downloads page to download the Meeting Owl app.
- Scroll down to the "Meet the Meeting Owl App" section.
- Click the direct download link appropriate to the laptop you’re using—either "Mac Direct Download" or "Windows Direct Download (.exe)."
- Navigate to the directory you saved the Meeting Owl app installation file to.
- Launch the Meeting Owl app installation file.
- 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.
- Launch the Meeting Owl app.
- Click "Camera Lock and Zoom."
- Toggle the "Move the frame and slider..." switch on "On."
- To disable zoom locking and reset the focus area, toggle this switch to "Off."
- Click and drag the rectangle until the camera is in the desired position.
- Click and drag the slider until the camera's zoom level is in the desired position.
- 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.
- Launch the Meeting Owl app.
- Toggle the "Presenter Enhance" switch to "On."
- 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.
- Launch the Meeting Owl app.
- Toggle the "360° Pano" switch to "On."
- Close the Meeting Owl app.
Ignore Zone
Use these settings to specify an area that the Meeting Owl's camera will not record / broadcast.
- Launch the Meeting Owl app.
- Click "Ignore Zone."
- Toggle the "Slide the frame..." switch on "On."
- To disable the ignore zone and reset the field of view, toggle this switch to "Off."
- Click and drag the rectangle until the camera blocks off the desired position.
- Click and drag the slider until the blocked portion of the video is at the desired size.
- 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
Clicking a link below will open a new tab / window and take you to the vendor's support page for the relevant Meeting Owl topic.
- I can't select the Owl in my video conferencing platform.
- Meeting Owl does not boot up.
- My Meeting Owl reboots, or disconnects and hoots mid-meeting.
- My Meeting Owl's video is blurry.
- My Owl’s video is cropped.
- My Owl's eyes are continuously flashing without a hoot.
- My Owl's video is focusing on background noise.
- Owl's buttons are not working.
- Owl's video is focusing on my TV monitor.
- Video does not start up, goes blank, or freezes during my meeting.
Troubleshoot the App
Clicking a link below will open a new tab / window and take you to the vendor's support page for the relevant Meeting Owl App topic.
- I don't see my Owl in the Nearby Owls screen of the app on my Android device.
- I don't see my Owl in the Nearby Owls screen of the app on my iOS device.
- Meeting Owl App for desktop says "Plug in your Meeting Owl via USB."
- Meeting Owl app says "Connection timed out."
- Meeting Owl App says "Join a meeting to control your Meeting Owl."