Polycom RealPresence Group Series

Score7.7 out of 10

55 Reviews and Ratings

What is Polycom RealPresence Group Series?

The Polycom RealPresence Group Series is a video conferencing codec that connects to a standards-based video conferencing infrastructure to allow users to make video conference calls. There are three products in the series – RealPresence Group 300, RealPresence Group 500, and RealPresence Group 700. It is certified to use with Office 365 and Skype for Business.

Categories & Use Cases

Product Demos

Verified User

Director in Information Technology (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Polycom RealPresence Group Series as our AV solution for a medium\large meeting space. The system provides connectivity through one touch join for Teams and Zoom hosted meetings. Prior to this system we were using a Cisco branded solution on a mobile cart. The mobile cart was not sufficient for the size of the meeting space.

Pros

System has in ceiling microphones and speakers.
We use two cameras that can capture speakers at any location
We use two large screens that has multiple options for what\how to display

Cons

Backend programming could be more intuitive.
Camera tracking could be better.

Return on Investment

Reduced expense by supporting some meetings in house vs outsourcing
Reasonable pricing, not over inflated
Easy to use by IT and user community

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Room Series

Other Software Used

Tanium, Jamf Connect, Cloudflare Zero Trust Services

Curt Sminkey View profile

Network Engineer in Information Technology at Southco (201-500 employees employees)

Pros

The audio and video quality can not be matched.
For the most part, they are rather simplistic in their use and just work. People don't usually have a hard time operating them
They are rather versatile in that we have been able to integrate them with other applications

Cons

They are certainly not cheap.
I've struggled to come across any unified solution to manage all of our Polycom RealPresence devices instead of using the web interface of each one. It makes company-wide changes rather cumbersome
This might be an old issue but we had a really hard time pairing the RealPresence device with a Polycom conference phone and have them work together

Return on Investment

I don't have any firm stats but I can promise there was a decrease in travel costs
It gives such a better experience connecting with people at a different site that it's easier to form a relationship. It's not some person on the other end of a phone call - you can see them and hear them.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams and Lifesize Video Conferencing

Usability

Brian Coyne View profile

Unified Collaboration Engineer in Information Technology at Signet (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

Ease of Use
High quality video

Cons

Remote control of the Polycom RealPresence Group series panel is very buggy.
Additional license cost for integration with Teams.

Return on Investment

Less travel costs
More productivity during meetings

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), Zoom

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

Solid codecs, well built and robust
Video and audio quality is very good including the microphones
Codecs are reliable, as long as users don't interfere with the cabling.

Cons

The UI is fairly dated compared to what's available on the market
Codecs require a fair bit of config before they are able to be used
Remote control is fiddly

Return on Investment

The codecs whilst refreshed from older HDX ones have not really evolved in a significant fashion over the years. Everything feels like an add-on which requires multiple devices to be purchased for a fuller experience.
Reliablity has been good so long term the HW pays for itself however the maintenance and support costs continue to be a less attractive ongoing ROI.
Increasing server capacity is expensive and eventually you are forced to upgrade to a newer model. Turns into a balance of the here and now versus future proofing to a specific point.

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Webex Board Series, DTEN ON Series and Polycom Trio

Other Software Used

Jabra Evolve2 Series, Jabra PanaCast, Sennheiser EXPAND series, Sennheiser ADAPT series

Usability

John-James Worrall View profile

Cloud Communications Specialist in Customer Service at ScanSource Imago UK (201-500 employees employees)

Pros

Polycom are still a high-end videoconferencing manufacturer and it shows. The build quality is very high, with quality components provided. In the current environment where 'huddle-room' systems are taking over and are a mix of solutions from multiple manufacturers, you can tell the difference when you open the box and get dedicated hardware that is designed to work as a single package.
The audio quality is very good. May sound like an odd thing to consider audio quality before video quality, but if the sound is poor, it doesn't matter how good the video is - you wont stay in the meeting.
Great video from the dedicated cameras. The image quality is high and the camera is silent when it moves to presets.

Cons

Interface is good, but not always intuitive. For regular users, everything they need is instantly available.
Not 1080 out of the box, though the hardware supports it. Need a license to activate.

Return on Investment

Placing more systems will always increase the use. Make system freely available, simple to use and provide training and support.

Other Software Used

BlueJeans, Lifesize Video Conferencing, Skype for Business

Polycom RealPresence Group Series

What is Polycom RealPresence Group Series?

Categories & Use Cases

Product Demos