[url]http://gigaom.com/2013/08/28/hangouts-hd-vp8-webrtc/[/url]
[quote]Noticed any differences when using Google’s Hangouts video chat lately? If you did, then you may be one of the lucky users who has already received an upgrade to 720p HD video. The company quietly started to roll out HD for Hangouts to a subset of its users in the last few weeks and hopes to complete the rollout soon. But the change isn’t just a quality upgrade – it’s part of a bigger move towards open standards that will eventually bring us video chat in the browser without the need for any plugins.
To enable HD, and prepare for this plugin-free future, Google quietly started to transition Hangouts from the H.264 video codec to VP8, an open and royalty-free video codec the company released back in 2010. Google’s Vice President of Engineering Chee Chew told me during a recent interview that the switchover from H.264 to VP8 should be more or less invisible to consumers, with some possibly noticing a little less choppiness. “It will be cleaner, better video,” Chew said.
One of the key advantages of VP8 is that it will enable Hangouts in HD, something that Chew said simply wasn’t possible with H.264, because handling HD streams from 10 participants would have required too much processing power. The new video format also makes it possible for Google to serve up better-looking streams at low bit rates, which is especially important when it comes to mobile video chats.
But the move to VP8 isn’t just about looks. It’s also a first step towards letting users video chat in the browser without the need for any plugins, thanks to an emerging standard for real-time audio and video communication called WebRTC. Google has been a big proponent of WebRTC, and integrated it into the desktop and Android versions of its Chrome browser.[/quote]
About time too.
is the fps better as well
because last time I used it it was like 10fps tops for all parties involved
[QUOTE=koeniginator;41998390]is the fps better as well
because last time I used it it was like 10fps tops for all parties involved[/QUOTE]
I think it scales depending on available bandwidth.
i desperately need a webcam
We use to host Hangouts all the time on our Nintendo Facepunch Community. It was awesome, never lagged, no problems. Lots of good times and fun conversations.
Join if you like: [url]https://plus.google.com/communities/100002924932719543581[/url]
It was probably hard for NSA to spy out all your terrorist plots at the crappy resolution.
shame my internet speed is not fast enough to use 720p video
i don't like that they killed google talk, there's nothing in my tray showing me when i get e-mails
Thank god, I was getting tired of Tiny Chat. Thing's a pile of shite. Only good thing about that service is being able to play YouTube videos to the entire chat(and even that isn't that good).
Too bad no one on my end uses Google Hangouts
[QUOTE=garychencool;42000632]Too bad no one on my end uses Google Hangouts[/QUOTE]
That's the same story for everyone unless you are a Google employee
I'd like to use Hangouts, I tried pushing it when the rebranding happened, everyone stayed on sms, whats app and skype.
Skype app for Android sucks.
I do not know a single person that uses Google+ instead of Facebook or Twitter so the camera designed for hangouts on my Nexus 7 is almost useless save for stressful and awkward attempts to use it to capture pictures in shit detail.
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