Video Quality Problem with WebRTC using Chrome on Android.

[Fred Clark]

I am having a quality problem using Video with a WebRTC application on my Android phone.  The phone is a Samsung S5 (SM-G900V) running Android Vs 6.0.1.  The Chrome browser is vs 51.  I am using the ConnectUs webrtc application.  The video is very dark and seems of a rather poor quality. The problem is the video created on the Android; the far end video being diplayed on the phone is fine.  Other Android phones seem to be able to run the same app with no problems.  I can run it on my desktop Chrome and on IOS phones with no problem.  I thought it must be a phone hardware problem, but I can run the Vidyo application with no problem.  Vidyo doesn't use WebRTC, but it does rule out a hardware issue.  I also tried with the WebRTC app from appear.in using Chrome on Android.  It also has the same problem.  It is pointing to a Chrome on Android issue, but only on certain phones??  Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Christoffer Jansson]

Hi,

Could you attach a screenshot of what you see?

From what I can gather it looks like it's a Chrome issue.

/Chris

On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 5:43 PM Fred Clark <fredl...@comcast.net> wrote:

I am having a quality problem using Video with a WebRTC application on my Android phone.  The phone is a Samsung S5 (SM-G900V) running Android Vs 6.0.1.  The Chrome browser is vs 51.  I am using the ConnectUs webrtc application.  The video is very dark and seems of a rather poor quality. The problem is the video created on the Android; the far end video being diplayed on the phone is fine.  Other Android phones seem to be able to run the same app with no problems.  I can run it on my desktop Chrome and on IOS phones with no problem.  I thought it must be a phone hardware problem, but I can run the Vidyo application with no problem.  Vidyo doesn't use WebRTC, but it does rule out a hardware issue.  I also tried with the WebRTC app from appear.in using Chrome on Android.  It also has the same problem.  It is pointing to a Chrome on Android issue, but only on certain phones??  Can anyone shed some light on this?

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/Chris

[Fred Clark]

Yes, it does look like a Chrome problem.  I have added three screen shots.  Two of them are just me, but using the Chrome on Android app.  The third one is a partner.  He is very dark complected while I am light complected.  My picture is the smaller (and darker) selfview.  We are both using Samsung phones.  Mine is 6.0.1 and his is 5.x.x.  His is OK, but mine is not OK.

I also tried using the appear.in SDK application.  It uses WebRTC, but I am not sure of the underlying technology.  It works just fine while appear.in using Chrome on Android is a problem mentioned in my first post.

I am hoping that someone on the Chrome on Android can look into this.

[Christoffer Jansson]

Looking at those screenshots it just looks like the camera is exposing for the light behind you, could you try to face the camera towards a more evenly lit scene?

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/Chris

[Fred Clark]

If I go to a very brightly lit room, and I mean very bright, the picture looks OK, but in a normally lit room, it is just too dark. I have a large picture window in my living room.  If I face the bright sun outside looking into the picture window, it is OK, but in most rooms, it is very dark.  Very strange because on most hardware it seems to work fine.  It seems to be a bad combination of my hardware and Chrome on Android.  Maybe someone has some ideas on this??  Would like to be able to fix it.

[Christoffer Jansson]

Are you saying that if you use a different android app like the camera app or Skype, it's brighter in the same situation? Keep in mind that it is a very hard scene for a camera (bright light source in the background and a dark foreground) in general.

The only thing I can think of is that Chrome requests a pixel format and frame rate that results in an under exposed image (higher frame rate = requires more light as it uses a faster shutter speed). You can however ask for a different frame rate and see if it helps, if you try to set a lower frame rate like 15 on this demo page https://webrtc.github.io/samples/src/content/peerconnection/constraints/ what do you see?

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/Chris

[Fred Clark]

Yes, it only seems like Chrome on Android and only on my phone.  Skype, Vidyo, the Appear.in SDK work just fine in the same setting.  Appear.in using Chrome on Android is bad.  ConnectUs on Chrome on Android is bad.  I tried the github demo mentioned below.  It is also bad even at 15 FPS.  I appreciate your suggestions.  My conclusion is a Chrome on Android problem, but why only on my phone when the hardware seems to be fine.

[Chris Ward]

I just noticed yesterday the same behavior on my Galaxy S5.  Very dark video with getUserMedia in Chrome.  So you are not alone.  My phone recently upgraded to Android 6.0.1.  Chrome video with same settings was not dark before that SW upgrade.  But I didn't do a direct before/after comparison, so the OS version may just be a coincidence.  Video using the built in camera app is NOT dark.

-Chris

[Christoffer Jansson]

Fred, could you file a bug at crbug.com including as much information and screenshots as you and then add the bug number here?

Chris, could you add your findings as well to the bug Fred files?

Then we will continue the investigation in the bug.

Thanks a lot!

/Chris

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/Chris

[Fred Clark]

Chris,  I posted as suggested.  https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=630266

Thanks,

Fred

[Chris Ward]

Added my info.

[Christoffer Jansson]

Thanks to both of you!

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/Chris

[Christoffer Jansson]

Just an FYI, it's vacation time so it might take some time before it gets some attention.

/Chris

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/Chris