Re: Constructors for MediaStreamTrack subtypes - remove?

On 2013-08-05 10:46, Harald Alvestrand wrote:
> Hi,
> at the moment, the spec contains constructors for VideoMediaStreamTrack
> and AudioMediaStreamTrack - each taking a TrackConstraints set as parameter.
>
> These were part of an idea to revisit the way one acquires media
> (different from getUserMedia, which returns tracks) - but the chairs are
> unable to tell whether any of the brief proposals floated in Lyon and
> Boston have gathered consensus as "THE proposal", or indeed whether we
> have consensus to go ahead with this API addition.
>
> In the absence of such consensus, I suggest that we remove the
> constructors from the spec at this time, so that it's clear that
> implementations don't have to support these constructors that don't
> produce useful objects at the moment.
>
> If we converge on a specific proposal that makes these constructors
> useful, I think it is easy to add them back at that time.
>
> People who have a different opinion should reply to this message....

Personally I think the possibility to create AudioMediaStreamTrack's and 
VideoMediaStreamTrack's (and out of them MediaStream's) is quite 
valuable in situations where the destination is a remote peer.

It allows the application to set up the connection and media codecs etc. 
before (or in parallel to) asking for consent to use microphone and 
camera. This can enhance the user experience since it reduces the risk 
of audio clipping (as everything is already set up when the user accepts 
the use of camera and microphone). It also allows the app to not bother 
the user by asking for consent if for some reason the connection can't 
be established (or if the codecs supported do not match - we still don't 
have an MTI video codec).

I also think it would be quite a minor addition to spec up how a 
MediaStream that contains only constructed audio and video tracks can be 
an argument to getUserMedia (but I don't know how big the implementation 
effort would be though).


>
>         Harald
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 8 August 2013 13:35:41 UTC