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J
JJones
Inspiring
July 21, 2015
Question

Higher Quality Video?

  • July 21, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 525 views

I'm trying to improve the quality of my video and the problem seems to be Connect itself. In the room's Preferences/Video, it says that "Maximum supported resolution for [the highest quality setting] is 480p and maximum supported frame rate for this setting is 20." Is this 480p the width?!? I've never seen a video resolution with only a single number like that. They usually travel in pairs, i.e. 640 x 480. Is it safe to assume that this "480" is in fact 640 x 480? That's what my camera (an old SD Vaddio that's passing thru a Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle) is sending, and I can get really good quality for awhile, but inevitably the quality takes a nose dive and starts stuttering. The problem doesn't seem to be local– the host device is a Macbook Pro with plenty of processing juice and the local bandwidth is consistently spectacular. Why does the video look so good for awhile but tank after an hour or so?

Also, has anyone had success using the Nextage video app located on the Connect Apps page here? It looks to be a solution to my video problems so I downloaded it but I can't seem to figure out how to work it.

Any advice on either of these issues would be most appreciated.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Jorma_at_Knox
Jorma_at_Knox
Legend
July 21, 2015

480P does equal 640 X 480. Video resolution terminology has changed with the advent of HD TV where now you hear about 720 (1280 X 720) and 1080 (1920 X 1080) instead of the actual height and width of the image. 480 is just a standard definition resolution.

As to the quality loss, usually this is a result of bandwidth issues/restrictions. I know you stated you have good bandwidth, but are you in an environment that would have limitation or restriction on the amount of streaming traffic over RTMP? Is it common to have more people getting online at the top of the hour? Are you using the Add-in? Have you tried stopping and restarting the video? There are many vairables that can cause quality loss, so you may need to explore further what may be causing the issues and what resolves it.

For the external video tools (Nextage, Talking Stick, Podium HD) you would need a media server as well as their pod. These tools pull video in from an external source (can be HD) and place it in the Share pod. This can be a great addtion to your room, but be sure you know the costs up front and be aware that the video displayed in the Share pod is not recorded in the meeting recordings.

    J
    JJonesAuthor
    Inspiring
    July 21, 2015

    Thanks for the thorough response, as always. The reason I asked about the 480 is that there are a whole family of ratios associated with that number, with 640 x 480 and 720 x 480 being the most common.

    The video stutter problem is much more troubling. I can locate no issues either local or on my network that is hindering transmission of the video from the host device to the Adobe server. My IT guys tell me that I have a full and open route with more than 100MB throughput dedicated to this and this alone. That's waaaaaaaay more than even the highest quality video signal should need, particularly when Connect show that I'm using only 5MB to upload. My most recent test was this morning and it was from within the add-in. Puzzling.

    The Nexage app doesn't mention the need for a video server. In fact, it seems to advertise itself as using your local video camera. Check out the specs here. Am I the only person to have ever tried it?!?

    Here's a follow-up question that I may have asked in another thread, so my apologies if this is a duplicate: on the host device, is the video seen in the Video Pod local, i.e. from the camera to Flash to the local pod, or is it from the Adobe server? On the host device. I know that all other devices get the signal from the server, but is that also the case for the host device?

    Jorma_at_Knox
    Jorma_at_Knox
    Legend
    July 21, 2015

    Oh, I was confusing the Nextage pod with the TecRacer pod... To many custom video solutions to keep track of for me I guess! Nextage's solution allows you to customize the video feeds within the Video Pod of Connect. Ed-apps used to have a tool like this but have dropped it with the release of Connect 9.

    The Nextage pod kind of became obsolete with one of the dot releases of Connect 9 (if not 9.0 itself). You can now choose to have the video in 4:3 (640 X 480) or 16:9 (720 X 480) in the Options menu for the Video in Connect. If it can increase the resolution and frame rate then that is another thing all together, but can bring up performance issues on the Connect server side.

    Your video is sent to the server and then re-broadcast to everyone else. I believe you see your local video though. This is partly to save on bandwidth and partly so you know what is being broadcast. If you broadcast your video on another computer, do you experience the same issue? That would help determine if the issue is related to your computer or not. How is your RAM after the video has been broadcasting for 15, 30, 60 min? RAM is the most used resource for live video.

    I think we can rule out bandwidth issues for now.

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