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Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

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Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#34
post #32

i wish i could but they restrict certain features on browser and is exclusively available only on app. same for slack

Which features would a privacy-conscious person be missing in the webapp?

The features required by the people they’re meeting online.

Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#35
post #11
post #2

Same goes for Teams.

I just wish that the browser-based Teams video conference version would let me blur the video background. I don’t always have a nice, presentable space for these calls.

No need for a video camera to have conference call. It's for work.

Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch screens were a mistake

Agreed. I actually bring a full-size mechanical keyboard with me everywhere I go so I can fire up vim and respond to SMS messages in the most ergonomic way possible, as God intended.

You are laughing and I'm crying. I don't know what is the vim thing but if I needed a phone for a lot of typing 10 years ago, I used to have a rich choice of Qwerty communicators. If I need a phone for a lot of typing today, I use to have a choice of:

a 10+ y.o. Qwerty communicator whose software is able at least to reach my email,

a laptop,

and a touchscreen as an only way to have all the bleeding edge technologies but with stupid restrictions on an OS level.

Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#37

I do this anyway, as it simply works better for me on GNU/Linux. Weirdly, I've found audio configuration and performance to be more reliable through my _web browser_ than the Zoom desktop client. Additionally, and this may just be my rather old laptop, I've had my whole system freeze when trying to load the Zoom client. Even if that's a fixed problem now, using the web version makes me worry less. The #1 thing I need…

If it wasn't already heavy, desktop client launches many background processes electrolysis style. I suppose web client has to fit in one process.

Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#38
post #32

i wish i could but they restrict certain features on browser and is exclusively available only on app. same for slack

Which features would a privacy-conscious person be missing in the webapp?

not privacy conscious. but in slack, during the huddle call, when someone shares their screen, slack app gives an option to separate the huddle and the screenshare in 2 different windows. it is very helpful since the screenshare window is a floating window so i can also multi task. Whereas on browser, the whole huddle is a single window and i feel restricted. I used to stick with slack on browser slack but often times its very buggy and i had to force switch to slack app.

Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#39
post #11
post #2

Same goes for Teams.

I just wish that the browser-based Teams video conference version would let me blur the video background. I don’t always have a nice, presentable space for these calls.

Xsplit Vcam https://www.xsplit.com/vcam

The only other easy tools I know with bokeh as good are a DSLR w/ UVC, Lumina webcam's software (maybe licenses Vcam, it shares features?), Reincubate Camo, and now Apple's Continuity Camera in portrait mode.

All of those give bokeh that feels extremely natural. Camo lets old phones and Android phones be used as webcams, so you can use the bokeh mode in the phone. But Xsplit Vcam and Lumina's driver work with any webcam and have both a fully adjustable blur, and a "cameraman" mode that keeps you centered in the frame when you move around or sit differently.

The blur in Zoom and Teams are embarrassingly terrible. Given these tools exist, one wonders why.

Re: Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

#40
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wish that the browser-based Teams video conference version would let me blur the video background. I don’t always have a nice, presentable space for these calls.

Xsplit Vcam https://www.xsplit.com/vcam The only other easy tools I know with bokeh as good are a DSLR w/ UVC, Lumina webcam's software (maybe licenses Vcam, it shares features?), Reincubate Camo, and now Apple's Continuity Camera in portrait mode. All of those give bokeh that feels extremely natural. Camo lets old phones and Android phones be used as webcams, so you can use the bokeh mode in the phone. But Xsplit Vc…

FWIW Camo also works with any webcam now, also.
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