AVChat Software Product Blog

We are launching today a new application, the HD Flash Video Recorder:

HDFVR allows you to record up to 720p HD video directly on your website from your users.

Some of the features:

• Record video up to 1280×720px @ 30fps (720p HD).
• Java Script and PHP/ASP API for seamless integration with your recording procedure.
• Design flexibility: you can change the colors and size to better fit your website.
• Works with all media servers: FMIS , Red5 and Wowza (our first Wowza compatible product).
• Takes jpeg snapshots automatically.

You can read all about the cool features here: http://hdfvr.com/features .

Demo

You can start the demo from the HDFVR home page:  http://hdfvr.com .

Pricing:

• $195 for the SD version (records video of up to 640×480 resolution)
• $245 for the HD version (records video of up to 1280×720 resolution)

You can purchase the HDFVR right now from http://hdfvr.com/buy-now .

Upgrades for previous customers

All our previous customers who have bought the video recorder will get a free upgrade to the SD version of our  HD Flash Video Recorder, just drop us an email at contact@avchat.net .

30 day trial

To get the trial email support@avchat.net with the domain on which you want to test the new recorder.

Future Plans

We hope you like the new video recorder. Some of the features (like the snapashot taking functionality) have been requested by our customers for a long time and we are happy to finally deliver them.

We’ve also tried to take the video recorder to the next step by allowing HD video to be recorded trough it. We’ve successfully recorded 720p video @ 30 fps using the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD, but more on that in a future post!

As of today this new app will replace our existing video recorder app.

The plans are now to extend the JS API even further, support for the new Speex audio codec introduced in Flash Player recently and improve the overall design/usability/experience of the app.

This is also our first product to be hosted on a new website/domain. In the following months we will move all our apps to their own websites. This will mean the existing and potential customer will get better, more customized information (requirements, FAQ’s , support info, purchase and refunds info, pricing,  source code availability) about the specific app.

Hardware accelerated playback of h.264 content in Flash Player 10.1 beta actually works!

Usually when watching any HD video on the Vimeo HD Channel my CPU would  spike to about 40-50% usage. But now, after installing Flash Player 10.1 beta on my laptop, the playback process is handled by my GPU thus leaving the CPU to attend to other tasks.

CPU usage with Flash Player 10.1 beta has dropped to about 10-20% (from 40-50%)!

For now hardware accelerated playback is only available on the Windows version of Flash Player 10.1 beta and only for h.264 video content, but it’s a great step in the right direction.

Changes:

• added build number visible on right click
• the recording now starts when the user clicks [Accept] in the dialog box asking for permission to access the mic. Previously the recording would start when the user pressed the [Record] button but because of the need to accept access to the mic recording ended up  having empty space at the beginning
• added a new variable recorderId (that can be passed via flash vars ) which is passed back with every JS call. This allows you to use 2 or more audio recorders on the same HTML page. When you get a JS call now you know which of the 2 or more audio players issued the call!
• added specific server side files for Red5 0.7 and 0.8

How to get it:

• just download the software again using the link you got in the email from contact@avchat.net when purchasing it!

More info about the Flash Audio Recorder is available on the flash audio recorder area on our website.

About bandwidth usage

The bandwidth usage/month depends on many factors and can never be guessed without several days of actual running the video chat software on your website:

• number of people online watching cams and how much time they spend watching
• number of people online broadcasting cams and how much time they spend broadcasting
• how many cams a user can see at once
• audio/video quality (128,256,512kbits/s etc…)

For example a user broadcasting its webcam for 30 minutes at 256kbits/s will use  57Mbytes of bandwdith (256kbits/s * 60 seconds * 30 minutes=57Mbytes).

Another user viewing the first one for 30 minutes will use the same amount: 57Mbytes. Total: 114Mbytes for a 30 minute 1 to 1 video chat session.

Reducing bandwidth usage

AVChat 3 offers several ways to reduce the monthly bandwidth used on the media server:

• the automatic bandwidth reduction feature which is on by default
• you can lower the audio/video quality for the streams so that they use less bandwidth
• you can limit the amount of time/day users can view web cams
• you can limit the amount of web cams users can view at once (4 by default)

Who is typing box in AVChat 3

In avc_settings.php you will find the following config option:

$config['showWhoIsTyping']=1;

Set it to 0 and the who-is-typing box will not be shown anymore in the chat.

If you are using avc_settings.asp look for the showWhoIsTyping variable and set it to 0!

Error 1: If, when trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message: Connection failed, media server might be down or firewall might be blocking the connection! like this:

You need to check:

• your rtmp connection string inserted in avc_settings.xxx
• the media server might not be running (you can check if Red5 is running by going to http://yourred5server.com:5080/)
• the media server might have not started properly (thus is not running, you can check the logs in Red5/log for any ERROR messages during startup)
• there is a firewall on the media server blocking TCP traffic over port 1935 (and 5080)
• the user trying to connect is behind a firewall that blocks the connection (either a personal one installed on his computer or a corporate one installed on his network, to test his connection capabilities he should run these connection tests: http://www.flashcomguru.com/apps/port_test/index.cfm )

Error 2: If, when trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message:  Connection Rejected:No scope ”avchat30/_definst_” on this server OR The connection with the video chat server could not be made like this:

It means you are using Red5 and your Red5  is running but:

• make sure you use Red5 0.8 final (AVChat 3 is not compatible with any other versions)
• make sure you installed the AVChat 3 Red5 server files properly (Red5/webapps/avchat30)
• make sure you restart Red5 after you installed the Red5 server side files (Red5/webapps/avchat30)

Error 3: If, when trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message: Application (avchat30) is not defined , like this:

you are using FMIS and you have not created the FMIS server side avchat30 app (FMIS/applications/avchat30), follow the installation instructions and you should be just fine!

We are pleased  to announce that we have finished work on 2 new integration kits for AVChat 3:

AVChat 3 Product  for vBulletin:

• automatic username and avatar picture detection
• administrators can edit access to video chat features and limitations for each usergroup
• administrators can enable/disable features from the AVChat 3 Admin Area for moderators and super moderators (kick, ban, etc…)
• fully allow/disallow access to the video chat for any usergroup
• profile links integration
• installs as any other vBulletin product/plugin

You can find more info about the AVChat 3 Product for vBulletin here. Currently only vBulletin 3.8 is supported but we are working on making it compatible with 4.0 . If you’re using older versions like 3.6 let us know.

AVChat 3 Module for Jamroom:

• automatic username and avatar picture detection
• different features and permissions for different quota (Guests, Members, Artists, etc…)
• profile links integration
• Jamroom administrators have access to the AVChat 3 admin area from where they can kick, ban, etc… .
• installs as any other Jamroom module

You can find more info about the AVChat 3 Module for Jamroom here.