Plugin-Free Video Chat via WebRTC Arrives in Chrome and Firefox

Millions of consumers will soon have access to the open real-time communications framework WebRTC, enabling them to do video calls in their browsers without the need for any additional plugin. Google added WebRTC to Chrome this week, and Mozilla included it in Firefox pre-beta builds.

WebRTC, the real-time communication framework that enables voice and video chat in the browser without the need for any plug-ins, is becoming more widely available to consumers. This week’s release of Chrome 23 comes with WebRTC on board, according to a post published Tuesday on the WebRTC blog. It reads, in part:

“It’s the biggest milestone yet… web developers can now offer Chrome users the ability to have live, high quality audio and video communication as part of their web experience.”

Google has been a big champion of WebRTC, open sourcing key components of the technology and more recently adding it to the beta version of its Chrome web browser. By adding WebRTC to the stable version of Chrome, which will be downloaded by millions of consumers, Google signaled that the technology is getting ready for prime time.

WebRTC also got another boost this week when Mozilla announced that it started to include the framework in the nightly and Aurora (pre-beta) builds of its Firefox web browser. And the technology got some real-world validation when the freshly-acquired video chat platform provider Tokbox released OpenTok on WebRTC, enabling developers to build WebRTC-based video chat applications that connect users on supported browsers with consumers using iOS devices. And web video chat provider Bistri added to the momentum by rolling out WebRTC-based video calling.

However, WebRTC still has some challenges to overcome before it becomes a universally adopted real-time standard. Among the challenges is the selection of codecs. Google and Firefox would love to see WebM become the default codec of browser-based video communication, but Microsoft is favoring a different approach that would leave it up to the individual developer to choose a codec, and Apple has been completely absent from the table.

By Janko Roettgers, GigaOM

Google Talk and Hangouts Close to Go Native in Chrome

Chrome users will soon be able to access Google Talk and Google+ Hangouts video chats through a native, open-source implementation based on the WebRTC protocol, as opposed to the proprietary plugin that’s currently bundled with the browser.

This change also means Hangouts and Google Talk will be replacing the H.264 video codec with Google’s open-source WebM video format.

Google has been using proprietary technology licensed from Vidyo to facilitate voice and video chat within Google Talk as well as Google+ Hangouts until now. However, work has been underway for a while to replace the plugin with an open-source implementation based on WebRTC, a framework for real-time voice and video communications that Google open-sourced in May.

Now it looks like this work will soon pay off: WebRTC Group Product Manager Serge Lachapelle wrote Tuesday morning that his team is “heads down” working on Webkit patches to bring a WebRTC enabled version of Chrome to the public. He added: “You’ll notice the brilliant work by Ericsson, whom have [sic] been helping out a ton in driving this.”

The WebRTC group also recently announced its work to the wider Webkit developer community. The exact timing of the Chrome release with WebRTC is unclear, but Lachapelle hinted at more upcoming news in his post: “Hopefully our next post will be soon, and will include a more useful URL :)”

By Janko Roettgers, GigaOM

Skype Goes VP8, Embraces Open Video Codec

Skype has adopted Google’s open source video codec VP8 as its default solution for video conferencing, according to a blog post from Google Product Manager John Luther. The new Skype for Windows client 5.5 will automatically use VP8 both for one-on-one and group video calls as long as other participants are using the same version.

Skype has been using VP8 for group video calls since late last year, but the adoption of the codec for one-on-one calls as well is definitely a boost for Google’s open video ambitions. Google open sourced VP8 in May of 2010 as part of its WebM video format, but many end users likely haven’t seen VP8 in action just yet. WebM is supported by Chrome, Opera and Firefox, and YouTube has been converting its entire catalog to the format. However, the site still serves up H.264-encoded videos in Flash by default, and users have to opt in to a special trial to get to see the WebM versions of YouTube videos.

The codec has also been targeted by patent pool entity MPEG LA, which is threatening to form a patent pool for VP8. Google has maintained that companies adopting WebM or VP8 have nothing to fear, and the fact that a company that’s being acquired by Microsoft is willing to put its eggs in the open codec basket definitely should quell some fears and possibly encourage other video sites as well as video conferencing providers to switch to embrace the format. One should note, however, that Microsoft has so far shied away from adopting WebM for its Internet Explorer browser.

WebM developers have long been saying that it is well-suited for real-time applications, and Google itself is working on making VP8 the default video codec for both Google Talk and its new group video chat platform Google+ Hangouts.

By Janko Roettgers, GigaOM

The Technology Behind Google+ Hangouts

Ever since Google started to roll out its Google+ project on Tuesday, many of its users have been particularly excited about its group video chat service Hangouts. I agree, but not just because it’s fun and easy to use. The real kicker is the technology that powers the service. Even in its infancy, Hangouts is an interesting cloud service. But in the not-so-distant future, it could evolve into a standards-based video conferencing solution that runs natively in many browsers and on a whole range of devices.

Google has been quiet about its plans for Hangouts, and hasn’t revealed all that much about some of the components powering the service either. However, there have been some key developments in recent months that indicate what makes Hangouts work and where things are going:

The Cloud
Making video chat work at scale can require a lot of resources, which is why there has been a movement towards peer-to-peer (P2P) solutions to offload video and signaling traffic between the clients involved. Skype makes use of P2P for that very reason, as does Chatroulette. However, P2P can introduce latency, which can be especially bothersome if you chat with 10 people at a time. That’s why Google went down a different route for Hangout.

“To support Hangouts, we built an all-new standards-based cloud video conferencing platform,” explained Google Real-time Communications Tech Lead Justin Uberti in a blog post on Tuesday. He added that Hangouts uses a client-server model which “leverages the power of Google’s infrastructure.”

Click to watch the video

Browser Integration
Hangouts currently requires you to download the same plugin that also powers video chat within Google Talk. However, Google is working on making both Hangouts and Google Talk itself work in the browser, without the need for any plugins. This will be done in part through a new framework for realtime communications (read: text, voice and video chat) dubbed WebRTC that the company open-sourced in May. WebRTC is supported by Mozilla and Opera, and Google started to integrate the framework into its Chrome browser earlier this month. “Work has started to move Google Talk completely to WebRTC,” it says on the project’s web site.

At that point, users won’t need a plugin anymore to use Google Talk, and the same should eventually be true for Hangouts. Here’s what a Google spokesperson told me via email about the connection bewteen the Google+ video chat service and the framework: “A lot of the technology in Hangouts feeds into the WebRTC, and we contribute a lot of feedback to help shape the WebRTC interface. At this point though, our plug-in and the protocol are different efforts.” He refused to reveal any future plans, but trust me, the writing is on the wall…

Open Codecs
Google Talk and Hangouts currently use technology Google is licensing from Vidyo to facilitate video chats. Video is transmitted in H.264/SVC, with H.264/AVC and H.263 being used as fallback solutions. However, there are strong signs Google will eventually switch to open codecs.

Google open-sourced its VP8 video codec last year as part of the new WebM video format, and real-time communications were one of the big issues that VP8’s programmers wanted to improve with the codec from the onset. In fact, VP8 is already being used by Skype for its group video calling feature, and Google’s WebM project manager John Luther wrote in February that VP8 is an “exceptionally good codec for real-time applications like videoconferencing.”

So when will Hangouts be switching from H.264 to WebM? Google+ Project Lead Bradley Horowitz indicated on This Week in Google on Wednesday that his team is already testing alternatives to the current codec. A Google spokesperson didn’t want to discuss any future plans for Hangouts when I asked about the codec issue, but here’s a clue: WebRTC is based on the VP8 codec, which means that H.264 could get displaced as the default codec for Hangouts as soon as the video chat service rolls out its native browser integration.

Device Integration
This is where things get really interesting: Hangout’s cloud-based architecture and its upcoming browser integration will eventually make it possible to deliver an optimized group video chat experience to a whole range of devices. Desktop users will get to view full HD video, users on mobile devices will receive optimized streams to deal with bandwidth issues. And Google TV users could see Hangouts appear on their TV sets sooner than they think, because Google TV comes with a full-blown Chrome browser.

A few companies have started to bring multi-person video chat to mobile devices, but cross-device video conferencing is still in its infancy, and Google could have a good chance here to capture the market early on. Of course, the company didn’t want to comment on the specifics of bringing Hangouts to mobile devices, but what Google’s spokesperson told me wasn’t exactly a denial either:

“Again, we can’t comment on future product plans. However, Google Plus heavily invests in mobile products as we believe you should be able to share and communicate, whether you are on the web, tablet, or phone.”

By Janko Roettgers, GigaOM

Video Device Convergence Forces Skype to Embrace H.264

Skype will support the H.264 format to be a player on converged devices ranging from connected TV sets to smart phones and tablet PCs. Peter Parkes, Skype’s “blogger-in-chief,” wrote online that the change will enable Skype’s Apple iPhone users to chat with friends on TVs and other connected devices. The company is rapidly extending its reach beyond the PC and expanding the number of devices consumers can use its video chat service on.

Since early last year, Skype has been working to enable users to connect Web cams to Internet-connected TVs from manufacturers like Panasonic and Samsung, making the service available to users in their living rooms. At the same time, Skype has been aggressively positioning itself to dominate the mobile market, releasing an updated app that enables iPhone owners to use those devices’ forward-facing cameras to video chat with each other. The company is also aggressively hiring personnel to support other mobile platforms.

Skype’s decision to adopt H.264 was made because it has become the de facto codec for video delivery across a wide range of devices. Due to hardware acceleration built into low-powered devices such as TVs, Blu-ray players and mobile handsets, video publishers have increasingly turned to H.264 for video playback.

H.264 is arguably the best, or only, way to deliver video onto connected TVs and mobile devices. However, a battle is breaking out over the video format used by Web browsers for standards-based HTML5 video playback. While all modern browsers are working to support HTML5 and its video tag, which enables video playback without the need for a proprietary plug-in like Adobe’s Flash Player, browser makers are divided on which video format to support. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 and Apple’s Safari browser have pledged support for H.264, but Google’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera are backing Google’s open-source WebM format.

Because it’s a desktop application today, Skype doesn’t necessarily have to worry about the format war developing. However, if it plans to create embedded, standards-based video chat applications that run in the browser, it might eventually have to align itself with one format or choose to support both.

By Michael Grotticelli, Broadcast Engineering

Latest 3-D Videoconferencing Achievements Unveiled

The 3-D videoconferencing prototype developed at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, allows one to attend a meeting as a talking head floating in space. Unlike CNN’s hologram on election night, or the famous hologram effects in the Star Wars films, this three-dimensional image can be seen in person and does not require special glasses. The remote attendee can converse freely with live participants.

For those who would use technology for good, the inventors hope the low-cost system will save time, money and carbon footprints while promising a better interaction between live and remote participants than currently available through speakerphone or a television feed. The inventors also see applications for video gaming, amusement parks and other sectors of the entertainment industry.

Click to watch the video
Researchers demonstrated the 3-D videoconferencing system December 1 at the Army Science Conference in Orlando, Florida. Prior to the conference, John Parmentola, the Army’s director for research and laboratory management, predicted: “For the first time that I know of in the world, we'll be able to actually project a three-dimensional image from one part of the Army Science Conference through a high bandwidth line to another part of the Army Science Conference, where you'll be able to walk around that image.”

His claim proved accurate. Visitors to the institute's exhibit chatted freely with a virtual 3-D image while the real person sat out of sight and earshot. The remote participant followed the meeting on television. Cameras mounted under the television screen captured the participant’s face, which was recreated as a 3-D image on a barely visible surface spinning in front of visitors.

The demo capped two years of work led by Paul Debevec, a research associate professor at the institute well known for his advances in face scanning and photorealistic visual effects. Already familiar with Debevec’s work, Parmentola suggested applying face scanning technology to 3-D videoconferencing.

“It was a great suggestion because it challenged us to advance two of our lab's research vectors and bring them together,” Debevec said.

Searching for a way to rebuild a face in thin air, Debevec had his key insight: High-speed projection onto a rapidly turning mirror could create the illusion of a solid object floating in space, for any observer standing anywhere in the room.

“You not only see the object correctly from your point of view, but you can see other people all around the display reacting to it exactly the same way that you would expect them to if it were actually there, if it were just as real to them as it is to you,” Debevec said. “And we really hadn’t seen that happen with existing 3-D display technologies.”

Debevec and his team plan to go further, believing they can create a full-size image capable of eye contact and sensitive to the direction of sound.

“This is a crowded field, but nobody can do what we can do right now. We’ve built a genuinely new 3-D display experience, and that’s given us a base to continue to make contributions in this area,” Debevec said.


Click to watch the video
Parmentola, who oversees all Army research, says the effort is worth it. “If we spent the amount of money we have on travel on this, we would be so far advanced in this area that it might not eliminate travel, but it would enable people to participate in meetings with their actual images - realistic in real time - interacting with live humans in that context,” Parmentola said. “On the battlefield there would be plenty of applications for this type of thing, between command centers, for example,” he added.

The other members of Debevec’s team are Andrew Jones, Magnus Lang, Xueming Yu, Ian McDowall of Fakespace Labs and Mark Bolas, who also is on the faculty at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The U.S. Army sponsored the research.

By Carl Marziali, Imperial Valley News