In recent years, video accounts for more than 80% of the total Internet traffic, and the use of video conferencing has shown a high growth trend. It can not only save time, but also ensure the participation rate, which can be said to serve multiple purposes.
Today, Mr. Tuya will tell you about video conferencing.
A brief introduction to video conferencing
A video conference system, also known as a video conference, refers to a meeting in which individuals or groups in two or more different places conduct face-to-face conversations through communication devices and networks.
From the perspective of video conference usage scenarios, there are mainly two types: broadcast and multi-person interactive.
Broadcasting: The most representative is to invite a certain big V to share or the boss wants to hold a meeting for everyone. Technically, it is similar to a two-person call, except that screen sharing and whiteboard functions need to be added.
Multiplayer interaction: This scenario is often encountered. A typical group video conference is where team members express their opinions and opinions on some issues, and the functions involved are similar to video calls.
From the perspective of the technical implementation of video conference, it is very similar to video communication, mainly involving the following steps:
The technologies involved include:
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Acquisition side: filtering, echo cancellation, automatic gain settings and filters, etc.
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Encoding and transmission side: codec adjustment, resolution adjustment, sampling rate adjustment, error correction strength adjustment, etc.
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Decoding and playback side: post-processing of audio and video
In fact, there is not much difference between the video conference system and the video call in the underlying technology, mainly in terms of higher stability. Imagine that when the leader is speaking, if the frame suddenly drops or freezes, the scene will be too embarrassing.
The above briefly introduces the usage scenarios and technologies of video conferencing. Next, I will tell you how to build your own video conferencing system?
How to set up a video conference
The main three options
If a company wants to build its own video conferencing system, there are three main options: SaaS, private deployment and self-research.
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SaaS (Software as a Service) can eliminate the cost of team development and is the best choice for teams who are initially testing the waters. However, data and security are "controlled by others". Using public cloud, the security of data cannot be guaranteed.
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Self-research is the other extreme. Mr. Tu Ya does not agree with the company's own research and development of all technologies. If the company wants to develop its own video communication system
Need to find relevant professionals
Requires a relatively long development cycle
Requires later maintenance and other functional development
This research and development process requires millions of dollars, not including the traffic consumption of the video conferencing system later. For businesses, this is not a good choice.
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Compared with the above two methods, the advantages of privatization deployment are obvious: its own server can ensure the security of data information; based on the open source server code, client network module code and free SDK provided by Tuya, The company can complete the development quickly, which can save a lot of energy and time.
No matter which solution an enterprise adopts to build its own video conferencing system, it has to face many technical problems, such as delay, freeze, and packet loss in real-time communication. So how to choose a suitable conference system to solve these problems?
Select the dimension of the conference system
Generally considered from these two dimensions: price, quality
(1) Price
Tuya has open sourced its own audio and video communication software some time ago. If the enterprise has relevant R&D personnel, it can completely access the system independently. According to Tu Yajun's experience, the access can be completed in one day.
Of course, if there are no relevant R&D personnel, Tuya also provides a privatized deployment plan. Moreover, the subsequent traffic payment is also paid directly with the cloud vendor, which can be said to save a lot of intermediate costs.
(2) Quality
The factors that affect the quality are basically two points: stability and security.
1. Stability
The stability of the video conference mainly depends on the network packet loss rate. Why does network packet loss occur? In fact, this is related to the reason why video conferencing exists.
Video conferences are held mostly because the participants at the current time are not in the same place.
Headquarters and branches: the headquarter is in Beijing, the branch is in Guangzhou, one is in the north and the other is in the south. Trans-North-South Transmission
Employee on business trip: The employee goes on a business trip abroad, one in China and the other abroad, which involves cross-border transmission
Different operators: the headquarters uses China Unicom, the branch uses Telecom, etc., which involves cross-operator transmission
Poor router quality and weak signal cause network packet loss
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These will affect the network transmission
Tuya uses UDP protocol to transmit audio and video data, and TCP protocol to transmit control signaling, so as to ensure reliable control signaling and low audio and video data transmission delay.
As we all know, the UDP protocol is compared with the TCP protocol: using the UDP protocol to transmit data may lead to data loss, but the client receives information with a low delay; while the TCP protocol has a packet loss retransmission policy, but the speed is not fast.
When our product is in use, the two are combined to ensure that the video is still intact and smooth in the case of 30% packet loss. And its unique encoding method can adjust the encoder type, adjust the frame rate and bit rate according to the user's network performance, and reduce the resolution of the video to adapt to the bandwidth when the network is unstable.
Tuya's private audio and video transmission solution, the transmission delay is as low as 50~100ms, allowing you to enjoy the indistinguishable video conference effect with the naked eye.
2. Security
When it comes to video conferencing, the topic of security is bound to come up. So how to ensure information security?
Private server, private cloud
Tuya supports privatization deployment. Enterprises can purchase servers and clouds by themselves, upload all data to the private cloud, and design their own ports to ensure data security.
In addition, if the company has relevant R&D personnel, it can also directly use the open source audio and video system of Tuya. We have open sourced our server code and client network module code, and the VOIP SDK is also freely available for everyone to use. When using our SDK, enterprises can compile the server code by themselves to complete the access.
With the development of video conferencing today, it has become a main method of meeting. If you want a better video conferencing experience, it is not only the communication of the meeting content, but also the technical support.
After all, whether it is the compilation of the video transmission protocol for stability or the privatization deployment for security, it is not something that can be solved overnight. Professional matters should be left to professional people to solve.