Add video and audio to an existing call

[Rick Vanderleest]

I'm new to easyrtc and I'm trying to accomplish the following. I have an existing call where A calls B. A is sharing audio and video. B accepts the call but with enableAudio and enableVideo set to false. Some time later B would like to share audio and video with A. Is it possible to enable these and add to the existing call?

[Eric Davies]

If you only want to support chrome, then check out the multistream demos. Doesn't work with Firefox (they implemented a different API for multiple streams much later).

My personal suggestion would be:

  always send your local media stream but mute your camera and microphone using easyrtc.enableCamera and easyrtc.enableMicrophone. It's much easier.

[Rick Vanderleest]

I figured that enabling/disabling might be the best way to do it. I've done a very small amount of testing doing that with video and so far I've found that after re-enabling the camera the video seems to lag more than if it had never been disabled. Not quite sure why that is happening.

I assume that muting the devices simply sends a blank frame for video. Is there any way to detect on the other end when B enables video? I'm guess not and would need to send a message to A in the case that it matters.

[Eric Davies]

Lags would be something to ask about on the webrtc-discuss group.

I'm not aware of any way to directly detect when another party has muted their video, other than you could use statistics to see what the incoming bandwidth was. Messaging would be my first choice. 

[Rick Vanderleest]

Thanks, Eric, that helps a lot!

[Mickael Bailly]

If you manage to do what you explained in your first email, please let US know hère... Sending the vidéo takes lots of bandwidth, and frequently people disable it, when the conférence has begun, to ensure à nice audio quality.

Thanks