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Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

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Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#201

Post by Daniel_sk »

Orphis wrote: post #169
tester34 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only software that gets vide-co right is probably Discord I used MS Teams and zoom and both are decent (ms teams works fine for school) but it's insanely unbelievable that this kind of software lacks of features that gaming communities had probably 20 years ago PUSH TO TALK is probably one of the most important features of any voice software. The lack of it is big WTF. It gives you 100% control over when you're t…

For push to talk to work, you need to have access to keys even when you're not in focus. That's not something doable today on the web for obvious security reasons, but it's possible for Discord that has a separate app, would be doable for Zoom too I guess.

Zoom has PTT but only if the window is in focus, which kind of kills the actual use case. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360000510003-Push-...

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#202

Post by michaelbuckbee »

Daniel_sk wrote: post #201
Orphis wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For push to talk to work, you need to have access to keys even when you're not in focus. That's not something doable today on the web for obvious security reasons, but it's possible for Discord that has a separate app, would be doable for Zoom too I guess.

Zoom has PTT but only if the window is in focus, which kind of kills the actual use case. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360000510003-Push-...

Interesting sidenote: PTT works fairly well on mobile. I'm in a lot of meetings where folks are using their computers for video and "dial in" for audio on mobile so that they can continue working and then PTT on the phone which is now functionally a giant dedicated button for speaking.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#203

Post by Wowfunhappy »

lima wrote: post #170
tjpnz wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of mute/unmute I've not yet found a way to get Google Hangouts (same thing as Meet?) to play nice in situations where simultaneous interpretation is involved. Our company works in Japanese and English and we typically have a second meeting running in parallel for interpretation. This setup almost works, I say almost because I've yet to find a way of muting the audio in one meeting so I can properly listen to…

> Google Hangouts (same thing as Meet?) No, vastly different products. Hangouts is the legacy thing and never worked quite right for me. Meet is much better.

The line between the two is not so obvious. Google was calling their new product "Hangouts Meet" until quite recently.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#204

Post by wazoox »

odiroot wrote: post #167
askvictor wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More important than the button is the status indicator - I need to know if the call is muted or not. Even better, promote it to an OS-level icon/badge/overlay. If my mic is actively in use, please make it blindingly obvious.

I already have it on my Thinkpad with KDE Plasma. Physical button to block the microphone, LED on the button itself and a tray icon with the microphone status displayed.

I have it on my IdeaPad with Pop_OS, too. The buttons work as intended and you can easily mute/unmute at any time whatever application has the focus.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#205

Post by julianlam »

coding_unit_1 wrote: post #142
mcv wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Everybody does this. In anything using video, UI elements apparently need to be hidden as much as possible. In virtual meetings, Youtube, and it's often an option in games. And sometimes it's great, because you get to focus on the content, and sometimes it's not, because you lose control. It's something that should be optional or configurable. It's great to have shortcuts for the most common commands (like s…

I don't disagree, but all the video conferencing tools have a shortcut for mute/unmute. Google Meet included (Cmd+D on a Mac).

Yes, but they're also all different, so you need to play mind games to remember what the shortcut is for which solution.

Global hotkey would be nicer, I think.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#207

Post by spurgu »

mike_kamau wrote: post #99

Why are people replacing their backgrounds? I thought the whole point of having a video call is to see who you are talking to, and their environment to further enhance the effectiveness of the conversation. If you are in your kitchen, or under a tree, I definitely would like to see that because that environment will have an effect on how we communicate.

If the apartment is a mess in general. Table full of empty cans of beer. A dildo on a chair. Your wife randomly walking by in her underwear (not sure whether this would be unblurred?).

In the above scenarios, if I'm not certain there aren't going to be ackward things in behind me, I'd want to blur or set a custom background. Back against a wall also works which is what a lot of people seem to be doing.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#208

Post by roel_v »

blep-arsh wrote: post #177
roel_v wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These exist, e.g. the Elgato Stream Deck. It's basically a keypad with x buttons (there are various versions) that each are small lcd displays that you can program to show and do anything you want (so you can make it do the 'on air' display thing you mention). Its main use case is for streamers to switch between scenes in their streaming software, but I use it for video conferencing (with OBS's virtual camera) to swi…

Is it possible to use it to control a Zoom session without virtualizing the audio/video input devices? Discord has a local API for that but I haven't found a way to control Zoom calls from another app.

Not sure what you mean by 'control a zoom session', but yes I use it with Zoom. I use OBS to composite video and some audio, I use the OBS virtual camera as the camera device in Zoom, for audio I usually use the straigh microphone stream because it's fiddly to set up (you have to do the mixing outside OBS because OBS doesn't have a virtual audio device).

If you mean that you just want to mute/unmute a zoom session, then also yes - you configure the stream deck to output key press events so you'd program it to output the keyboard shortcuts that you want. Not sure if Zoom has separate mute/unmute shortcuts and if you change settings with the regular keyboard/mouse you might get the display state of the stream deck out of sync with the actual state of the software, that would probably be finicky and/or a lot of work to solve.

I'm still tweaking my setup but using this piece of kit with a good quality webcam, a Blue Yeti mic on an arm, and OBS, being able to control Zoom/MS Teams/Skype in a uniform way, having ultimate control over what part the desktop I share, how I pre-process audio, being able to show my desktop with myself in the corner, ... is already so much better than the clunky default experiences of each of these video conferencing tools. It's like programming with vim - yes I spend an inordinate amount of time 20+ years ago getting proficient with it, but using it just feels like an extension of my brain, like using a Hilti drill hammer vs using a bargain bin Chinese piece of junk.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#209

Post by tortasaur »

lima wrote: post #173
kerng wrote: post #61

Interesting that this post made it to #1. It seems like Google marketing trick. Anyone who uses the blue realizes that it's far lacking in quality from other offerings and Google Meet UI is very bad also. Zoom, Teams, even WebEx are superior quality and usability wise.

Curious to hear why? Google Meet is the only web-based videoconferencing product that works well for us without audio dropouts or random issues. Zoom's web client is particularly terrible, and we can't install the desktop client for security reasons. And the new background noise cancellation feature is magic.

We haven't run into issues with a self-hosted instance of Jitsi Meet. Might be worth a look.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#210

Post by throwaways885 »

andeee23 wrote: post #34
ilikeerp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't count web dev as programming. HN is full of JS people that think a text editor and a browser with fuck all data, load, or volume issues is 'programming'. Fucking casuals.

Do you consider an app like Microsoft Teams not a "real" program then?

Arguably there is a distinction between "web dev" and "desktop dev with web platform technologies".
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