Ringcentral Video vs Ringcentral Meetings

Hello Alexander,

May I know how did you reach out your account manager? is it through email?

Yes, via email. I originally had an unrelated question but then also asked about Ringcentral Video. I know it's probably a very busy time with many new customers, but I hope there is still the same amount of support for existing customers.

So I followed the link https://v.ringcentral.com/  thanks for posting. I was able to log in under my username and password. I was able to do a quick video call. Seems very nice with no download needed. That said, is this just an added benefit to my existing account that runs in tandem with the existing capabilities? Or does it change my account in some way? Is it ready to be used by my clients who have RIngCentral? On a new install does something need to be designated to choose which technology is used?

I have an update from speaking with an Engineer. The Link above for RingCentral Video RCV allows a RingCentral user to log in and use it. It supposedly is limited to 4 on a call but I have not tested that limit. I have been able to use it alongside my existing RingCentral Meetings. From the SE this can be used in this manner for now. Not sure if there is a change coming at some point. If the RingCentral client wants to convert their RCM to RCV they can do a try be for you buy through the REP. Once permanent, it is a one way conversion. You can't convert back. There might be more luck calling Support as it seems sales has not been versed on the process. Additional RCV capacity is opened up once it is converted to.

My account rep has also totally ignored me and customer support required two calls to get this straight. The new RC Video is being rolled out in stages through Q2. The current zoom based product is still in play. Thats about all I could get out of it. Pretty typical RingCentral, the sales and marketing side of the house is very eager to let everybody know something is available, but then when the rubber hits the road, we have speed bumps. Good luck.

I should have started off here in the community page! Thanks all. 

For anyone else who is using, are you finding issues with the user experience compared to other video platforms?
I've been testing it out with people to see how it goes and people with poor internet connection (myself, sometimes...) have a very poor experience and will often freeze, time out, not being able to share, etc, but then we switch to another platform (hangouts, webex, etc) and their experience is much improved. 

I'm curious about this "no download" thing.  Because if I send someone the Ringcentral video link to join, it prompts a download.  Yes, I am talking VIDEO, not meetings.  Any insight on this? I'm only interested in using it if it is, in fact, a no-download solution for outside users.

For those who have tested the RingCentral Video compared to the RingCentral Meeting, how have you found the video quality?

I tried using RingCentral Video (not Meetings) and was disappointed to find NO VIRTUAL BACKGROUND ??  Is this feature not available on this NEW application?  The virtual background is a REQUIREMENT for us due to privacy concerns.  Please advise.

If I had to guess, I'd say that RC needs a native solution rather than relying on Zoom. I'm sure it made sense back in the day to license Zoom for RC Meetings, but now that Zoom is competing with RC for telephony services, I can't image that they are excited to continue paying license fees to a competitor. Having their own service also allows them to innovate rather than relying on what a third party provides.

The new RC video service has the same look, feel and behavior of the open-source Jitsi platform, which is based on WebRTC and XMPP. https://jitsi.org/projects/. I would wager that the Jitsi technology is powering this new service. 

There's a lot to like about RC video, however it does appear to lack some features that you might be used to with RC Meetings (e.g., virtual backgrounds, remote support). Incidentally, Jitsi is starting to experiment with blurred backgrounds. They have the feature labeled as "beta" on their public server, but currently it's a bit rough and doesn't support virtual backgrounds. The writing is on the wall, and it's probably just a matter of time before it becomes a regular feature.

RC does appear to be taking a responsible approach to this transition. They could have replaced RC Meetings with the new service, but they have provided the ability to use either service for the time being:



It looks like I can switch back and forth based on my needs. If I want a simple meeting that anyone can join without requiring a client installation, I can choose RC Video. If I want a full-featured meeting experience, I can still use RC Meetings. 

Now that the Video service has been released, I would imagine that RC will be hard at work implementing the most popular feature requests, and eventually the new service will have feature parity with RC Meetings, which I expect to be completely discontinued before too long. 

I'm really excited about the future of RC Video. It looks good so far!

Dave