Comprehensive improvements and Windows CPU priority management

Fixes and Enhancements

• Comprehensive improvements to digital signage integration with Solstice. Solstice digital signage has been improved and professionalized to respond to requests and issues reported by the field, manage long-term stability, and improve the user experience.

• - Cache space for digital signage on the Solstice Pod’s internal flash drive was doubled from 1 GB to 2 GB. This helps avoid excessive network usage while the Pod is displaying digital signage feeds. If the total size of a signage feed exceeds 2 GB, some content will still need to be downloaded when the feed is replayed.

• - Cache handling and cleanup was improved to prevent the internal disk from filling up after multiple digital signage URLs have been applied in succession. Previously, the data stored for previously applied signage feeds was not deleted. When the Pod’s flash space for caching was full, digital signage would operate in streaming mode (no caching), using more network bandwidth. The resulting storage space limitation could also cause Solstice software updates to fail.

• - Digital signage on Solstice has been redesigned to run in a dedicated resource stack outside of the content sharing pipeline of the Solstice Pod. This has significantly improved digital signage stability and overall Solstice stability. Solstice will no longer reboot when it encounters memory leaks in third-party signage feeds—only the signage process will be restarted.

• - The redesign of the signage process in the latest release also avoids the need for a legacy safeguard to prevent boot loops that could cause signage to be disabled indefinitely.

• - When intermittent network issues prevent signage content from being loaded, Solstice will now retry every 30 seconds to attempt to recover. A Solstice error page will now show when this occurs to inform administrators. Previously upon intermittent network loss, signage could show a blank screen and remain in that state until a user connected/disconnected from the Pod or signage was toggled off/on.

• - A branded loading screen will now show when signage content is being downloaded from the web.

• - The digital signage Start After value is now always respected when set using Solstice Cloud (Digital Signage template/configuration) or Solstice Dashboard (Digital Signage tab).

• - Additional digital signage logging has been added to help diagnose and debug issues.

• Windows CPU priority management for Solstice video conferences on lower-end laptops. A new CPU priority management approach will improve performance across a broader range of Windows laptops and operating conditions.

• - This CPU priority management will be disabled when battery levels drop below 25% while the laptop is unplugged to preserve battery power.

• - If battery levels drop below 25% while the laptop is unplugged, the app will change the priority of the Mersive Solstice Conference process back to Normal to preserve battery power.

• - A new Performance Optimization option (Settings > Conference) will appear in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows only on laptops that are detected to be lower-end for Solstice-enabled video conference performance. A corresponding MSI configuration was also added. Learn more about installing with MSI.

• - Definitions of lower-end Windows machines for the purposes of Solstice-enabled video conferences will be refined over time.

• Quick Share Desktop setting applied to Solstice video conference connections. In the Mersive Solstice desktop app (Windows and macOS), Quick Share Desktop (Settings > Control) will now control whether the user’s desktop is automatically shared to the Solstice display in two cases: 1) when the user connects to a Solstice Pod to share content and 2) when the user connects to a Solstice Pod and its connected room camera and mic for use in a video conference. Previously, a user’s desktop was always shared to Solstice automatically when connecting to a room camera and mic. Users can now apply their preferred behavior to both cases.

• In-app help for PowerPoint presentation mode on Mac. A new ‘Using presentation mode’ help topic has been added to the Help panel of the Mersive Solstice app for macOS. This topic contains steps for sharing the slideshow view of a PowerPoint presentation to a Solstice display while viewing presenter notes on the presenter’s Mac laptop. An animated example provides a simple visual demonstration of the text how-to steps.

• Mersive Solstice app HotKey setting and functionality removed. Solstice 5.5.1 simplified the workflow to wirelessly bridge to a room camera and mic when connecting to a Solstice Pod. This new functionality flow replaces the HotKey shortcut that took the user to the Room Camera + Mic (formerly Conference) panel. The previous HotKey functionality has been disabled and no longer appears in Settings > Conference.

• Solstice browser connect page improvements. The initial browser connect page that appears when a user goes to http://\[Solstice IP address\] has been improved:

• - The option for a user to share their screen from the web browser without needing to download the Mersive Solstice app is now a more prominent Share My Screen button. Browser-based sharing must be enabled for a Solstice display (Solstice Cloud > Features > Enable clientless sharing via browser or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage > Client Sharing Options > Browser Sharing).

• - The Get the App button will now direct laptop users to download the version of the Mersive Solstice desktop app from mersive.com/download/. This downloaded version installs in the main C:\\Program Files directory (requires admin privileges), similar to centrally installed MSI and SCCM versions, rather than the user’s directory.

• - If the user does not have administrator privileges, a QuickConnect version of the app can still be installed by clicking the ‘Download the app directly’ link at the bottom of the page.
• - The page layout and updates are now more readable and accessible on various devices.

• New URL for Solstice browser-based sharing. The direct link to share content to a Solstice display using a browser previously required users to type in the port number (http://\[Solstice URL\]:6443), but can now be more easily accessed with the new shortcut address http://\[Solstice URL\]/share.

• Improved room calendar availability messages on Solstice welcome screen. Various indicator bars appear on the Solstice welcome screen to show the availability of a space when a room calendar has been integrated with a Solstice Pod to show upcoming video meeting information. These indicators have been improved to be more comprehensive and easily understandable at a glance:

• - If there are no meetings scheduled on the integrated room calendar starting within the next 15 minutes, a green Available status bar will appear next to the date.

• - If a meeting starting within 15 minutes is scheduled on the integrated room calendar, a new yellow Meeting Starting Soon status bar displays.

• - During a meeting scheduled on the integrated room calendar, a red In Use status bar displays, and the current meeting will be marked with a vertical red bar.

• New default background images on Solstice Pods. Six (6) new modern plant-life default background images are included in Solstice software in Solstice 5.5.2, replacing the previous default backgrounds. How to apply new default background images works differently depending on how a display’s settings are managed:

• - Admins who manage Solstice settings directly using a web browser (web config) or the configuration menu on the Solstice welcome screen (local config) will automatically see the updated images after upgrading to Solstice 5.5.2.

• - The new default background images should also appear automatically for Pods managed using Solstice Dashboard after being upgraded to Solstice 5.5.2.

• - If a Solstice Pod is managed in Solstice Cloud using a Welcome Screen template (Manage > Templates) with the old default images applied, the old default backgrounds from the template could continue to be applied to the Pod. Mersive strongly recommends creating new Welcome Screen template(s) to apply the new background images to all Solstice Pods in your deployment.

• Message to manage enterprise 802.1x network configurations in Solstice Cloud or Solstice Dashboard. Advanced 802.1x network settings on Solstice Pods, particularly on networks using custom certificates, should be managed using the advanced options available in the Solstice Cloud and Solstice Dashboard tools for best results. Admins changing 802.1x network settings for a Pod from a web browser (web config) or the configuration menu on the Pod welcome screen (local config) may now see a message referring them to Solstice Cloud or Solstice Dashboard management when configuration cannot be completed through web config or local config.

• Device ID and QR email code added to Solstice Pod Forgot Password box. If the password for a Solstice Pod is entered incorrectly three times, the user sees a Forgot Password button. Upon clicking the button, the user is given a reset code to send to Mersive Support. A couple changes were made to this information to make it easier for customers to get assistance:

• - The Solstice Pod device ID is now included in the Forgot Password reset code.

• - A QR code is now included in the Forgot Password box. When scanned, the QR code generates a mailto link, which creates a new email to Mersive Support in the user’s default email application with a subject line that contains the password reset code.

• Cipher suite updates. As part of Mersive’s ongoing security assessment with each release, the cipher suites used by Solstice have been updated to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge about what ciphers contain potential vulnerabilities. These changes ensure that any known weak ciphers are not utilized as part of Solstice encryption architecture.

• Active Learning improvements. Solstice Active Learning audio routing and API functionality updates were made to improve the customer experience, and a couple of structural updates were implemented in Solstice 5.5.2 as part of an upcoming major update (Solstice Active Learning is becoming Solstice Routing):

• - Audio routing should now work as expected when content with audio is shared to one Solstice Pod using a wired HDMI-in connection and routed to another Pod. (Audio routing content with audio first shared using AirPlay mirroring also works as described.) This includes:

• - - Audio muting when the source content is docked

• - - Audio routing working in all HDMI-In post modes, including Persistent post (Solstice Cloud > Features config > HDMI Input Behavior or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage > HDMI Input Mode)

• - - Disconnecting audio when removing the post, whether by removing the HDMI-In user or removing the post

• - The OpenControl API has been updated to allow configuration using HTTP POST commands in addition to PATCH commands.

• - Limits on the number of shares to/from a Solstice Pod have been removed. Previously, Pods were limited to 50 outgoing shares and 8 incoming shares.

• - Routing of Active Learning/Routing content from one Solstice Pod to many has been optimized to allow multiple connections to be initiated in parallel instead of sequentially. The upcoming release of a new Solstice Routing app will utilize this functionality to eliminate lengthy session-start wait times for session moderators.

Supported Devices

The following changes have been made to the list of Mersive Certified devices that are supported for use with Solstice content sharing and Solstice-enhanced video conferences. View the full list and details.

• Magewell HDMI Gen 2 Adapter is supported as of Solstice 5.5.2
• QSC Core 110f devices running firmware versions up to 9.6.X are supported on Windows in Solstice 5.5.2

Bug fixes

• An issue that caused the Solstice display to crash and restart with a black screen has been resolved. This issue occurred when Solstice was accessed repeatedly over short intervals (for example, refreshing the configuration view every 5 seconds), in combination with random network issues. Customers using Solstice 5.5.2 should no longer experience this issue.

• Fixes to the Solstice welcome screen have been implemented in Solstice 5.5.2 to resolve the following issues:

• - A Solstice Pod with an integrated room calendar may have experienced an issue that caused the Solstice display to flash white if the ‘Show meeting titles’ setting (Solstice Cloud > Calendar template/config or Solstice Dashboard > Calendar > Privacy Settings) was unchecked when an upcoming meeting was starting within 15 minutes on the Pod’s integrated calendar. Hiding titles for meetings on a Pod’s integrated calendar should now work as expected.

• - RSS feeds (Solstice Cloud > Message Center template/config or Solstice Dashboard > Message Center) that did not end with 'rss.xml' returned the error ‘Unable to retrieve content.’ RSS feed URLs such as http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml?edition=uk should now successfully play on Gen3 Solstice Pods.

• - When a Solstice Pod was configured with Screen Key on Main Screen disabled but the Presence Bar/Footer Screen Key enabled (Solstice Cloud > Welcome Screen template/config or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage), the screen key was disabled in both locations. The screen key will now correctly display only in the presence bar in this case.

• - If Desktop Screen Sharing in Solstice Dashboard (Appearance and Usage > Client Sharing Options) was disabled for a Solstice Pod when a user connected to the Pod’s connected devices with the Mersive Solstice app’s Room Camera + Mic functionality and then disconnected without sharing any content, the Pod showed a black screen with the message ‘Share content to \[SolsticePod\] using the Solstice app.’ Pods will now switch back to the Solstice welcome screen in this case.

• - The issue that prevented the Device Not Activated box from appearing when a Solstice Pod did not have a license has been resolved in Solstice 5.5.2. Users will again see a message with activation directions when a Solstice Pod is not yet licensed.

• - When the Mersive Solstice app for Windows is connected to a Solstice Pod and attached room cameras/mics but no content is being shared to the display, the message ‘In conference’ will again appear at the top of the Solstice display.

• The frame for Mirror Screen shares from the Mersive Solstice app on Android 13 devices now correctly updates to a landscape display format when content on the user’s Android device screen is rotated to display horizontally.

• An issue sharing files with non-English characters in the filenames, which existed in recent versions of the Mersive Solstice desktop app for Windows, has been resolved. Users can share files named with non-English characters to a Solstice display.

• An issue found in Solstice 5.5.1 where the audio fluctuated and/or cut out shortly after sharing Desktop or App Window content with audio from the Mersive Solstice app (Windows and macOS) has been resolved in Solstice 5.5.2.

• Instances of the Mersive Solstice app for Windows that were 1) installed in the user’s directory rather than by an administrator in C:\\Program Files and 2) where the Windows user profile contained non-English characters were unable to save settings. Users should no longer have to repeatedly update the same settings. Note: This issue did not affect centrally installed MSI and SCCM deployments of the Mersive Solstice app.

• A couple of reported issues related to calendar API calls with a polling interval set to 0 seconds, including the loss of calendar settings on Gen2i Pods and a rare unrecoverable error in a Gen3 Pod, have been fixed.

• An issue that caused a Solstice Pod to restart when the display device connected to the 4K port (HDMI-Out 1) was powered off/on has been resolved.

• A resolution has been implemented for HDMI posts sometimes not returning after rebooting a Gen3 Solstice Pod, even after unplugging and plugging from the HDMI-In port, particularly when the Pod was configured to use dual (Ethernet and Wireless) networks and/or occupancy counting functionality.

• The web handler for the Solstice OpenControl v1 API now correctly formats returned JSON content to be displayed in a web browser instead of being interpreted as a file to be downloaded.

• A timing issue previously resulted in the Solstice Pod being unable to correctly detect devices connected in a Solstice video room Integration (VRI) configuration when a user connected to the Pod and started a Room Camera + Mic connection in the Mersive Solstice app (Windows and macOS), as well as the Pod ultimately crashing. Devices should now bridge successfully to Solstice and appear correctly in the Room Camera + Mic tab.

• An issue that prevented the Solstice overlay that appears when a Gen3 Solstice Pod had been configured for VRI from being turned off appropriately when an HTTP proxy was enabled has been fixed.

• The known issue in Solstice 5.5 and 5.5.1 where loading a custom PFX (.p12) certificate to encrypt Solstice client/server communications (Solstice Dashboard > Security > Encryption or Solstice Cloud > Template > Security) caused a fatal boot loop has been resolved. Customers can again install a custom .p12 certificate on Solstice Pods running version 5.5.2.

• The incompatibility between recent firmware versions of the QSC Core 110f and Solstice 5.5.1 has been resolved. Firmware versions up to 9.6.X are now supported in Solstice 5.5.2. The QSC Core 110f is supported on Solstice 5.5 using a USB3 cable with firmware version 9.3.X. See Solstice Supported Peripherals for more information.

Open issues

• A known incompatibility exists between the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers used for Solstice-enabled video conferencing and macOS 13 (Ventura) that crashes other applications when they request access to any installed video cameras, including virtual cameras implemented in DAL plugins. Sharing content with the Mersive Solstice app for macOS may still work if Mersive Solstice Conference drivers are not installed, but Solstice does not officially support macOS Ventura at this time. Mersive is working to implement a solution as soon as possible.

• Mersive is investigating a number of issues that occur on M1 and Intel Macs in the Mersive Solstice app during Solstice-enabled video conferencing for macOS on Solstice 5.5.1 and 5.5.2.

• - If Share Pod Display (Settings > Conference) is enabled, the virtual Solstice display (usually Desktop 2) that can be shared in a video conference appears blank rather than showing the shared content.

• - When a user has shared more than one piece of content to the Solstice display, the virtual Solstice display shows a blank macOS desktop rather than the content shared to the Solstice display.

• - In a browser-based video conferencing service (such as Google Meet or Microsoft Teams web app), the video feed intermittently is just a black screen. Toggling the video feed off and back on usually gets around this issue.

• - With the Quick Share Desktop (Settings > Control) enabled, if a user shares their desktop to the Solstice display, then plays content such as a PowerPoint presentation or a YouTube video in a web browser full-screen, the Solstice display will “freeze.” Moving the cursor forces the screen to refresh.

• The Mersive Solstice app for windows often does not detect camera and mic devices connected to a Solstice Pod for use in a video conference if Windows’ CPU workload is higher than 50%.

• Solstice Location Services has a known issue learning the location of Solstice displays on a network to list nearest displays first in the Mersive Solstice app for macOS.

• When a 24-hour time format is selected for the Pod (Solstice Cloud > Time/Locale template or Solstice Dashboard > System) and the user’s laptop, the time listed for an upcoming meeting does not display in the correct 24-hour time format in the Mersive Solstice app for Windows. Meetings scheduled on an O365 calendar integrated with the Mersive Solstice app appear in the Room Conference + Mic panel. The correct time is listed but appears in 12-hour format, sometimes with AM/PM labels missing.

• An issue has been reported with the Mersive Solstice app for macOS that Zoom occasionally loses the connection to devices on the Solstice Pod for use in video conferences. When this happens, video and audio for the Solstice-connected device drop out of the video conference and cannot be reselected. This issue generally happens only after many video conferences and can be resolved by restarting Zoom.

• When the AirPlay Discovery Proxy setting is enabled for a Solstice display (Solstice Cloud > Features template/configuration or Solstice Dashboard > Appearance and Usage), YouTube videos will not play using AirPlay to mirror an iOS mobile device screen to a Solstice display. Then returning to the Mersive Solstice app can cause it to crash. Mersive plans to investigate these issues for a future release.

• A known issue where events on a room calendar integrated with the Solstice Pod do not appear on the Solstice display; however, the Test Calendar button (Solstice Dashboard > Calendar) returns a success message. This issue occurs on Pods with dual Ethernet and wireless networks configured. When the Ethernet network is having trouble, the Pod fails to send upcoming meeting calendar information over the wireless network. This issue will be addressed in a future release.

• Reports that the audio for some camera and mic devices isn’t available to Solstice-enabled video conferences on some Mac M1 devices may be an issue in the Solstice software. This issue has been reported with Logitech Meetup and Crestron USB-SB1-CAM devices. Mersive is investigating a resolution for a future release.

• On macOS Monterey (12.6) laptops in PowerPoint presentations displayed using Desktop sharing from the Mersive Solstice app, slides intermittently get out of sync with the laptop screen. Moving the mouse around the screen should prompt the Solstice display to refresh and display the current slide.

• Mersive plans to investigate a fix for the issue of display monitors connected to the Solstice Pod not receiving off/on commands sent from Sabrent USB 2.0 cables (SBT-USC6M) in a future release.

• A known issue causes the screen key to display too small when the Solstice Pod is set to certain languages and a user is connected and sharing content to the Solstice display. This makes the screen key box that appears on the Solstice display when another user connects difficult to read, particularly in larger rooms. This issue is slated to be fixed in a future release.

• The factory reset keyboard command stopped working in Solstice 5.5.1 on Gen2i and Gen3 Solstice Pods. Customers may still factory reset a Pod with a URL command, and Mersive plans to resolve this issue in a following release.

• Mersive is investigating a reported issue on Gen2i Solstice Pods when wireless networking is disabled where a Solstice Cloud > Ethernet template with a 802.1x certificate persistently fails to apply.

• A known issue exists starting in Solstice 5.5 where HDMI input routed to the Solstice Pod through an HDMI switcher persists even after the HDMI source has been removed. When this issue occurs, the Solstice display remains “frozen” on the last HDMI image rather than returning to the Solstice welcome screen. Mersive continues to investigate this issue.

• Mersive is investigating a couple of issues that may occur when network issues prevent the Pod from reliably reaching the configured network time server. In this case, a Solstice Pod’s display name may stop being available to the Mersive Solstice app as a nearby display, or the Solstice welcome screen may lag and randomly display the screen key.

• In Solstice 5.5.1 and 5.5.2, when a Solstice Pod is set up in a dual network (Ethernet and wireless) configuration, the two networks cannot communicate with each other, and a macOS user connects to the room camera and mic in the Mersive Solstice app, audio from Solstice-connected devices does not work in a video conference.

• Running a proxy test on a Solstice Pod for a configured HTTP or HTTPS proxy (Solstice Dashboard > Network tab) fails in Solstice 5.5.1 and 5.5.2. The Pod screen goes blank for a couple seconds and test data does not go through to the proxy server. Mersive is investigating this issue.

Important notes

• As of Solstice 5.5, the Windows MSI installer for the Mersive Solstice app no longer provides the option to also install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers. Instead, the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference Drivers are handled by two separate MSI installers. Both can be downloaded from mersive.com/download-admin/. Users can install the Mersive Solstice Conference drivers after an MSI installation of the Mersive Solstice app from the Room Camera + Mic panel if they have Windows administrator permissions on their laptop.

• For optimal compatibility and performance, Mersive recommends using the same version of the Mersive Solstice app to connect to a Solstice Pod as the version of Solstice running on that Pod. Note: Admin-installed MSI and SCCM versions of the Mersive Solstice app and Solstice Conference drivers will not be auto-updated upon connecting to a Pod running a newer version of Solstice since users may not have admin privileges.