Marratech is a total cross-platform web conferencing solution with free client software for Windows XP / 2000, Mac OS X, and Linux users. This user guide is for all users. Marratech works basically the same on all platforms.

See how to set up for Windows Vista here. More information on using Windows Vista on the Marratech Forum. Marratech runs fine on Mac OS X Leopard.

*Note- You must have the latest Marratech 6.1 client to use ANJ / NJEDge.Net E-Meeting Rooms. Look at our system requirements to make sure your computer can run Marratech and to get recommendations on video and audio hardware.

Marratech requires a broadband connection with at least 128 kbps in upload speed.

Use of H.264 video requires Pentium IV 3.0 GHz, Dual Power PC or equivalent. Marratech does not  yet support Windows Vista (a downgrade of Java is required to get it working unofficially). Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) is working fine in our internal tests.

Install and Setup
Download and install the Marratech client software that matches your computer platform. Use the manufacturer's recommendations and drivers to install and set up your chosen USB or Firewire webcam and audio headset or speakerphone. Marratech usually defaults to a "push-to-talk" mode called "Walkie-Talkie" mode. This is to prevent excess echo. Headset or USB speakerphone is STRONGLY recommended to have usable audio!  Walkie-Talkie" mode should not be changed unless headsets are used. Note: ANJ portal does not support computer problems or audio problems for users NOT using headsets.

ANJ and NJEDge members - please contact us for a username and password to use the ANJ web conferencing portal's private rooms and advanced features. We will need the name of your institution, phone number, email address, and full name. Until you receive your login information please feel free to use our "public" demo rooms.

Public versus Private Rooms
The main difference between Public and Private (password - protected) Rooms is quite simple. Public Rooms are viewable and usable to anyone on the Internet when going to http://www.anjvideoportal.net:8000. Private Rooms are merely password protected. Once a K-20 user logs in with their Marratech account they will be presented with choices of the Public Rooms and the password protected Private Rooms. Users with Moderator accounts have the ability to "lock" rooms (Public or Private), "kick" participants, mute audio and video for any participant.

Should You Use Public or Private Rooms?
The functionality of the Public and Private Rooms and basically the same. If you need to conference with outside users or people that do not yet have a Marratech account, use the Public Rooms. Use the Public Rooms to demo Marratech. Private Rooms are limited to only members of the ANJ and NJEDGE K-20 community that have Marratech accounts.

Quick Steps to Joining an ANJ / NJEDge.Net E-Meeting
1.  Double-click the Marratech icon from your Applications folder or launch from your Start Menu -> Programs. (also see Automatic Method below for joining an e-meeting)

2.  From the Viewer (the Viewer works like your web browser), click on the appropriate portal's web site (this will appear if you add the ANJ Portal info below to Marratech preferences or options) or enter the web address manually for example http://www.anjvideoportal.net:8000.

See below for setting up an e-meeting portal as a preset.

The Viewer is a built-in web browser, used for choosing which e-meeting to join. A list of defined servers running Marratech Manager is presented to you when launching the Marratech client depending if you have set Bookmarks. See Slides -> Edit Bookmarks

At any time, to display the Viewer, simply select the Viewer "globe" button in the lower left corner of the application.

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3. Enter your username and password. We will provide this, just ask us. Once logged in in you should now see the Private rooms as well as the Public Demo rooms.

4. Choose the appropriate e-meeting room. (Match your Internet connection speed to room). Click on the join link to enter the e-meeting room. Note: you will need a password to access private rooms with advanced features. When you use the username and password you were given you will than have access to the "private" rooms. If you are associated with a K-20 school and need a username and password, contact us. We will need the name of your institution, phone number, email address, and full name.

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Please Note: You can join an E-Meeting directly by going to the E-Meeting URL with your regular browser (IE, Firefox, or Safari), logging in and simply clicking on the room you want to join. The Marratech Client should automatically launch and put you into the E-Meeting room. If Marratech Client is not loaded on the computer, Java Web Start technology included on the E-Meeting Server will prompt you to install the latest Marratech Client software (admin rights to your computer is required).

Once you have joined the desired room, the main Marratech client window will open to the Welcome Screen. See image below:

Looking above at the Room Welcome screen (above) from top to bottom:
Top shows what "Room" you have entered.
Next, the picture shows you how to get to the "whiteboard."

Moderation - This tells you if the room supports moderation and tells you what moderator privileges you have.

Lock status - Shows the room's "lock" status and if you have moderator privileges allows you to "lock" the room so to make it so others can not just "drop-into" your session.

Invitation - This is a URL that is a "link" to join this meeting. You can simply email this link to others and by clinking this link they will be launched directly to the E-Meeting Room. If they do not have the Marratech client installed, they will be promte to install the client via Java WebStart. Login and passwords will be needed to access "private" rooms.

E164 - This is the E164 assigned number for this room if it has one.

Dial out - Here you can "dial -out" to H.323 endpoints. Put in the number, choose H.323 and click call to add a video endpoint to session.

Participants - This will show you a list of the active participants inside this E-Meeting room. If you have moderator privileges you can select a participant or multiple participants and "kick" them from this E-Meeting room by clicking the "kick" button. This "kick" process does take a minute or so to happen.

Below is a basic overview of the Marratech Client.

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Important: Audio, Audio, Audio
I can not impress enough how important audio is to web conferencing. Marratech has very high quality audio. But that can easily go away for all participants if you do not control your audio. You must use a PC headset, a USB speakerphone, or a echo-canceling microphone to use the e-meeting portal. Echo created by one participant can make all the participants in a conference have a hard time communicating. Mute mics when not speaking.

You can choose which audio device to use and set the audio "options" in the Marratech preferences or options -- audio tab.

Marratech Echo Cancellation
Echo is a problem whenever you have an open microphone working with loudspeakers in any conference. Generally, if you can hear what's coming out of your speakers, then so can your microphone and this causes the echo back to the far end.

These settings are located in the Marratech menu -> Preferences -> Audio tab for Mac OS and Tools -> Options -> Audio tab for Windows. This what the different settings mean:

• Automatic (default) - tries to detect "echo situations", so it will not be on all the time. This saves CPU.

• On - will use echo cancellation all the time, using more CPU, but not missing a potential echo situation.

• Off - no CPU will be used for detection. So it is the best setting for saving CPU.

Software echo cancellation is not perfect. Some laptops have their mic placed within the speaker. You will find that echo cancellation on these will not work in "cancel" mode.

There may be some situations where Marratech's built-in echo cancellation, Windows XP's echo cancellation, and the echo cancellation that comes with some web cams with built-in mics clash. We STRONGLY recommend that you stick with the Marratech default of Automatic and use a headset.

Marratech usually defaults to a "push-to-talk" mode called "Walkie-Talkie" mode. This is to prevent excess echo. Walkie-Talkie" mode should not be changed unless headsets are used. Echo and excess noise can disrupt an online web conference.

See Marratech's setup recommendations.

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Once clicked you will be taken to the Whiteboard.



The Whiteboard is ideal for sharing and commenting documents and drawings, taking meeting minutes, scribbling and sketching, etc. It supports multiple pages which in turn can be used simultaneously by several users. The Whiteboard can import images, text and MS Word and PowerPoint documents (it can also share/present all other windows on your computer for others to view!).

Note: While Mac users can not directly import MS Office documents into the Marratech Whiteboard they can easily be saved as PDF format which is supported on the Mac OS X version of Marratech. Copy - Paste is also supported extensively and works from MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.

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The Whiteboard also supports PDF (Mac OS X only), GIF, Animated GIF, JPG and PNG image (Mac and Windows) file formats.

Windows Users
Marratech's Whiteboard supports directly importing of MS PowerPoint and MS Word documents. Just go to File menu -> Open -> MS Word or MS PowerPoint while in Marratech Whiteboard and navigate to the file you want to import on your hard drive. These documents can then be used in the Marratech Whiteboard. Please note that PowerPoint slides will be displayed as "stills" with no animations or sound.

Open Word document below:

Open PowerPoint document below:

Mac OS X Users
Mac OS X users must first convert MS Word, MS PowerPoint, or Keynote documents to PDF before they can be opened in the Marratech Whiteboard. This is quite easy as Mac OS X supports PDF right within the operating system with no need to use any third-party software. Most any document on a Mac running OS X can be converted to PDF by choosing -> Print -> PDF -> Save as PDF.

PowerPoint to PDF - Mac OS X below:

Keynote (OS X only) has a nice Export function to convert your slides to PDF. Just go to the File menu -> Export -> PDF and choose the way you prefer the slides to export. See below:

Opening PDFs in the Marratech Whiteboard on Mac OS X shown below:

The Marratech Whiteboard also supports opening image files for Windows and Mac OS X in GIF, Animated GIF, JPG and PNG image file formats. In the Marratech Whiteboard go to File menu -> Open -> Images and located the image(s) you want on your hard drive.

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8. Use the tele-pointer and marker to bring attention in the Whiteboard. The on on right that looks like arrow.

Each user will have a "tele-pointer"  with their logged in name allowing other participants to see who is pointing.

9. To lead others to your whiteboard pages, press the Lead Page Changes button. See E-Meeting Tutorial for more information.

Use Whiteboard tools.

Whiteboard Drawing Tools allows annotation over documents. More on the Whiteboard's Drawing Tools here.

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To get out of Full Screen Mode, simply hit the ESC key.

The Whiteboard Screen Capture
The Whiteboard can do screen captures of other applications. This is useful for presenting or discussing text, images, drawings, spread sheets, etc. directly from any other application on your computer.

First, start the application you wish to capture and bring into the whiteboard.



Then, from the Whiteboard, use the Window Capture Tool. Press the Window Selection button (pictured above) and hold the mouse button down while dragging to the desired window and then release. On a Mac OS X, simply click on the Window Selection button. A camera shaped cursor will appear with which you can click on the application you wish to capture.

Whiteboard Additional Functions
There are a number of additional functions on the Document menu:

• Create New Page: Adds a new page.

• Rename Page: Allows you to change the name of a Whiteboard page.

• Clear Page: Erases all text, images, etc. but leaves an empty page, keeping its name.

• Delete Current Page: Deletes the current Whiteboard page.

• Delete Pages: Using this command opens a dialog where you can quickly delete multiple pages. Hold down <shift> or <ctrl> to mark and delete multiple pages
  
  

Delete and Clear Page
To delete an object on a Whiteboard page, simply select it with the Selection Tool and press the <delete> key (backspace on Mac OS X) . To delete all objects from a page, use the Clear Page command on the Document menu.

See more features here and here.

Correctly Setting Your Network Connection Type
Set the Network connection type in the Marratech preferences or options menu under the General tab at the bottom. Just select the choice that best matches your network you are using.

*if you do not set this setting correctly, it could affect the quality of your video and speed of the whiteboard and application sharing.

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Setting up for ANJ E-Meeting Portal as preset
(in Marratech Viewer go to Slides -> Edit Bookmarks)



Add the ANJ E-Meeting portal URL

Type in:
Name: Access New Jersey (or whatever you want to call it)
URL: http://www.anjvideoportal.net:8000
Click Add, click OK and close Edit Bookmark window.
Go to Slides -> E-meeting Bookmarks and you should see Access New Jersey bookmark. Or you may just re-fresh Viewer.

You can make the Access New Jersey E-Meeting portal your Viewer home page by adding http://www.anjvideoportal.net:8000 URL to the Home Page in the Marratech Preferences or Options -> Viewer and select Home Page at startup check box and click OK.

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Dialing H.323 Endpoints
IP (H.323) video endpoints can also be connected by entering their "public IP address", selecting "H.323" line, and click call. Always remember to hang up H.323 calls. See below:

Note: Although Marratech can "dial" H.323 endpoints, there is no guarantee that it will work with ALL endpoints. We have successfully tested with Tandberg and some Polycom endpoints. You must use H.261 software codec in Marratech video preferences to connect to H.323 endpoints. See below "H.264 Support - Better Video" section for more information.

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Moderator control
Marratech 6.0 client enables moderator functionality in the ANJ e-meeting rooms. You must be set as a Moderator by the portal admin to use this.

Here is a quick description of the roles:

• Moderator: Unrestricted plus possibility to kick and lock. Ability to upgrade and downgrade other users' roles during a meeting.

• Presenter: Unrestricted without ability to downgrade / upgrade users.

• Student: Only send public audio, video and chat and use Tele-pointer to point.

• Listener: Receive only client.

You can determine the moderation level of a user just by pointing at them in the Participants module:

[M]: Moderator
[P]: Presenter
[S]: Student
[L]: Listener



Moderator Controls
To use the Moderator Controls Alt + click (Mac users Option + click) on participants windows and select from contextual menu.

Muting and Un-muting audio and video can be done in this menu as determined by a Moderator.

Moderators (only) also have the ability to kick out participants and lock e-meeting rooms.

Locking a meeting room / Kicking a participant
Locking a meeting room requires moderator privileges. Once all participants have joined your meeting, simply lock the "door" behind you. You can even "kick" an unwanted user from an meeting room.

1. Select the viewer from the Whiteboard / Viewer selector button at bottom.



2. Press the Star icon to open the welcome page.

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If you are a moderator, lock and kick functionality is available from the E-Meeting room's welcome page.



3. To "kick" a participant, just go to the bottom of the Welcome page under the Participants heading, click on the participant you wish to eject and click the mouse on the Kick button. Note that only Moderators can use this feature and it can take up to one minute for the kick command to take place.

For more information on Moderator controls see here.

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Chat or IM
The Chat is a handy tool used for text based conversations. Located on the lower right-side bottom. Write what you would like to say to the whole group and press <enter> or press the Send button.

You will find the Chat tool in the lower left corner in the Flexible interface.

Your own messages are displayed with your member name in red while messages you receive are in blue. A time stamp is displayed before the name.



Tip: Use the Chat to moderate large meetings.

Private Chat and Audio
There is a powerful one-to-one function that can be used to send audio and text messages (Chat) to a single recipient. This allows for private "side bar" conversations when being in a larger meeting. The private window can be opened by right-clicking a user or using the Private 'P' button.

Your private text or audio chat will be done at bottom right.

Tip: Clicking your mouse on the "i" icon next the name (see above picture) will allow you to see the participants login contact information.

More on Private Window Options here.

Participants Module
Use can set "away messages" for your self in the Participants module. This useful to let your colleagues know that you are out for lunch, busy, etc.

Just point at the small sign/note to read it.

Tip: You can use the away messages in a moderated meeting to "raise your hand."

More on Participants Module here.

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Recording Conferences
E-Meetings can be recorded by any participant to their local computer. These records will capture all the e-meetings assets and only requires the free Marratech client for playback. The recordings can later be played back in another e-meeting if desired. Go to File -> Instant Recording

You must pick a username and password (DO NOT FORGET THESE) and the VCR controls will show up on the bottom right of your Marratech client. If you forget your password there is no way to retrieve it.

Use the VCR controls like you would an old VHS recorder. Playback is easy just Go to File -> Start Playback

Put in your password. and use the VCR controls.

Recordings may be indexed, allowing you and others to quickly reach the desired section of the recording.



To index your recording, from the Viewer's file menu, choose the Start Playback menu item and open your desired recording. See more on indexing recordings here.

Recordings can be emailed to others. All that is needed to playback a recording is the free Marratech client and the password. Users can watch a recorded conference while in a new meeting and even record the new meeting!

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Whiteboard Screen Shots
Start the application you wish to capture. Then, from the Whiteboard, use the Window Capture Tool. Press the Window Selection button (looks like a bulls-eye, see below) and hold the mouse button down while dragging to the desired window and then release.

Whiteboard Selection Button

Application Sharing
The ANJ E-meeting portal allows for application sharing between users. Start the application you wish to show and place it on your desktop. In the Whiteboard turn on the Lead Page Changes function.

Then click on the Application Sharing button.

Move the Shared Desktop rectangle over the application you want to share. Press Play to start sharing the area under the Shared Desktop rectangle.

To give control of your Shared Desktop are to another participant, select him or her from the Allow Control list. ONLY GIVE CONTROL TO SOMEONE YOU TRUST! Allowing someone to control your computer has serious implications. Never leave your computer unattended when allowing control.

The participant you have given control to will now be able to click the steering wheel icon in the Whiteboard's button bar and take control of the Shared Desktop area.



Marratech uses VNC to make application sharing possible. This has interesting benefits, such as the ability to use an external VNC server instead of your local computer.

It makes it possible to hold software training on a another computer than your own. This is possible by opening the Options menu item under Tools and selecting the VNC tab. Simply specify an external VNC server and port.



Application Sharing Requires Bandwidth
If you are using it frequently, be sure to use an e-meeting room in which the Whiteboard media is configured for higher bandwidth limits. All participants need to to be on a fast connection to get good results. Using Application Sharing on an Internet connection with low upload speed will of course lead to worsened quality in the audio and video.

Application Sharing Requires More Resources
You may notice that it uses more processor power than the traditional screen capture in Marratech.

Tips:
If you feel your system is too slow when sharing an application, try not sending video at the same time. This will reduce your processor load. Quit any applications that you don't actually need open.  Ideally, only run Marratech and the application you want to share.

Sharing a large area will be slower than a small area. Try to limit and optimize what you want to show so that the updates will be faster. However, if you do need to share a large area, you can consider running in Expert mode where each element of the interface has it's own window which can be manipulated separately. (The Viewer tab in the preferences panel is where this setting is found.)

Use the fastest machine to which you have access and you have sufficient memory in the computer doing the sharing.  We suggest at least 1 GB of RAM.

Run in 8-bit rather than 16-bit mode. The 8-bit setting is the default and sends less data through the network. This setting is defines under the VNC tab in preferences. Make sure to run the latest version of the client software.

For more information see Application Sharing.

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Invite by URL:
You can invite participants to join you in an online e-meeting by simply copying and pasting the invitation URL into an email or sent by instant messenger. If the invite URL is not displaying just click "invite" next to the e-meeting room.



All the receiver has to do is double-click on this URL and they will be brought right into the e-meeting room. Note that these URLs can be used in any application such as Blackboard, WebCT, SCT Luminis, Sakai , Moodle, websites, etc.

Note: You just need to use the actual URL starting with the "http" with NO <> brackets.

Leaving an E-Meeting
Just go to -> File -> Leave from the Viewer or the Whiteboard. You will be prompted to save the Whiteboard documents from your e-meeting, Save them if you want, to your local computer.

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Automatic Method For Joining E-Meetings
You can also join E-Meetings directly from this website (enter E-Meeting Rooms) click on E-Meeting room and the Java Web Start will install Marratech client (if you do not have it already installed) and put directly into meeting room. For info, consult our user forums.

H.264 Support - Better Video
Marratech client 6.0 and up has added H.264 MPEG4 support allowing better video quality with lower bit rates. To turn on H.264 on Windows platform go to Tools -> Options -> Video tab -> select "H.264 software encoding" from the drop down under Compression section, click OK. On OS X 10.4 go to Marratech menu -> Preferences -> Video tab -> select "H.264 software encoding" from the drop down under Compression section, click OK.



H.264 does require more CPU (faster computer) than H.261. For more detailed information on Video Options.

Please note: while using H.264 software encoding and dialing H.323 IP endpoints - Polycom, Tandberg, Sony, etc, you may experience some codec capability problems. If this happens just use "H.261 software encoding" for those connections involving these endpoints.

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Expert Mode - Break up the Marratech Windows
The Marratech client defaults in the "flexible" mode. You can use Expert mode if you desire to "break up" the different components of the Marratech client into separate windows. Just go to -> preferences or options -> the General tab under Appearance click the Expert box and click OK.

Reverse the process to go back to Flexible mode. The Marratech client will now display as separate windows. I recommend this mode to experienced users only.

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Firewall and Proxy
The E-Meeting ANJ Video Portal server (http://anjvideoportal.net:8000) uses the following ports and IP addresses:
• IP Address: 151.198.208.101
• TCP ports: 80 (for http), 8000, and 443 (for https)
• UDP ports: 52000 to 52999 - These ports should be opened to "allow return" mode.

The client can use a web proxy server, which is defined in the client preferences window.

Video Follows Audio
Video Follows Audio is a useful meeting feature that enables the Video window to automatically change to the current speaker. This can be temporarily overridden by holding down the mouse button while pointing it at a user in the Participants module.
Here's what to do in order to get it working properly:

First of all, the function must be turned on - check under Tools, Options, Video. (Marratech menu, Preferences on Mac OS X)



Marratech decides whom to display listening to who is talking at the moment.

To then ensure that Video Follows Audio works you should ask your other participants to un-press the microphone button when not talking.

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Troubleshooting Network Performance and Improving Audio and Video
After making sure your computer meets the system requirements and you have Marratech installed correctly, if you still hear "clipped" audio, suffer from long delays and receive poor image quality, you or another participant may be connected through an inadequate network connection. Proper bandwidth is important when using web conferencing.

Here are some helpful tips to avoid network problems:

1. Set your Network Connection
Marratech can limit the amount of data to your network connection. To do this, simply open your Options (Windows), General (under Preferences.on the Mac) and set the Network Connection to the one that best matches your network.

The speed of your connection is entered as download / upload speed in kilobits per second. This will help remove any delays caused by DSL / cable TV modem buffering. It will hinder your Marratech client from sending more than your uplink can handle.

2. Activate network status meters
Enable the "Show Network Status" function under the preferences for Participants. This will add two small network loss meters to each user, which will make it easier to see which user that causes packet loss.



The left of the two meters show how you receive information from the user, the right is how your information appears at the user. If any data is lost, these will indicate (in approximate terms) how much.

3. Turn off the video
A quick way to determine if the current e-meeting room is not properly configured (i.e. it uses too much network resources) is to have all the participants stop sending video by un-pressing the camera button. Please note that your video image may take up to 30 seconds to disappear. If this solves the audio quality problem, read the next tip to lower your video bandwidth speed.

If not, one of the participants may have an inadequate computer or a very slow network connections. Have different participants use the microphone buttons at different times to help identify where the issue is.

4. Lower your video bandwidth
Try lowering the maximum amount of bandwidth assigned Options, Video on the Tools menu (under Preferences, Video on a Mac). Have the others do this as well.



5. Decrease your video image quality
You can also decrease the image quality (not while sending H.264 video) to gain a slightly better refresh rate even though you just lowered the maximum video bandwidth.

6. Look at the networks statistics
There are also a number of functions to more precisely determine packet loss, etc. in the Information window that is accessible by pressing the "I" button in the private window. This is a handy tools for determining network statistics and packet loss.

Marratech Video Settings
If your video is choppy, here are some things to look for:

For fluid video, H.261 needs about 250 kbps per participant. Adjust the limit in consequence to this. (H.264, which requires better CPUs, needs about 150 kbps for good results)

You could have a bandwidth issue. Check the network for Packet Loss.

Tools
To check for sufficient bandwidth and the ability to connect to E-Meeting rooms you may find these "tools" useful:

• Marratech Connection Tool

• Speakeasy - Speed Test

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User Documentation (important and detailed)

• E-Meeting Reference Manual 6.0

• Getting Started Windows

• Getting Started Mac OS X

• PDF imports of Keynote files on 1024 X 768 screen - OS X only

• Moderator Controls

• Audio Setup Guide

• Advanced Audio Options

• Audio Setup Guide Troubleshooting

• Video Options

• The Whiteboard Tools

• The Whiteboard File Handling

• The Whiteboard Screen Capture

• The Whiteboard Application Sharing

• The Viewer Sending Slides

• The Participants Module

• Recording Conferences

• Playback Recordings

• Indexing Recordings

• Firewalls

• Network Performance and Packet Loss

• FAQ / E-Meetings

• MeetNow! (aka Java Web Start Technology)

• Using Marratech Client to make Direct Calls

• Marratech Manuals in French, Italian, Spanish, Svenska,  and Finnish

• Marratech User Forums (moderated by Marratech)

• See how to set up for Windows Vista here.

• More information on using Windows Vista on the Marratech Forum.

Be sure to visit our user forums and additional resources on the ANJ Community web site. Get your user password today to access the "private" E-Meeting Rooms.

Contact the Video Portal staff if you need assistance.
Video Portal Hours are M-F, 8:30 AM to 5 PM EST
(except major holidays).
• Email: videoportal@accessnewjersey.net
(Note: This email does not accept attachments)

  *Note: If you run into problems using this software, feel free to browse our support pages for a solution or contact us.

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