Re: Web Audio WG feedback LC-3023 (Re: Media Capture and Streams Last Call review)

SGTM.

On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 10:52 AM, Joe Berkovitz <joe@noteflight.com> wrote:

> Thanks Bill and Chris for the additional thoughts.  I also think we need a
> little more clarity about how enumerating devices with enumerateDevices()
> is supposed to work, too.
>
> Look at the fine print (step #4) here:
>
> http://w3c.github.io/mediacapture-main/#dom-mediadevices-enumeratedevices
>
> It appears that if the user doesn't grant permission to *at least one
> device* in the result returned by enumerateDevices() (which doesn't take a
> query constraint argument) , then the returned list doesn't include any
> names for the devices -- they get censored by a filtering step. This is
> presumably an anti-fingerprinting measure: there needs to be some UA/user
> interaction before a site's scripts can get access to that list of devices.
>
> If this behavior is taken as given -- and I think it may be hard to argue
> otherwise -- then it appears the only workable approach is this:
>
> 1. Call getUserMedia() with some constraints, to try to get permission to
> at least one default output device. (Presumably the app supplies a set of
> constraints that were tuned to choose a reasonable default.)
>
> 2. If permission is granted by the user, call enumerateDevices() to obtain
> a full, user-readable list of device names for output devices.
>
> 3. In whatever device-choice UI is offered by the app, display the full
> list of device names from step #2 to the user, defaulted to the device
> chosen by step #1.
>
> I guess the good news here is that the constraints to getUserMedia() are
> relatively powerful. Sample rate is already a constraint attribute and
> latency is under consideration. If MCTF will include channel count (which
> seems pretty uncontroversial, and fingerprinting is not really a
> consideration here), perhaps that suffices to get us off the ground.
>
> I don't think it's too awful for the enumerated device list to be
> relatively unconstrained in nature. As long as the default one is a
> reasonable choice the user can do an OK job of picking an alternative given
> the set of valid choices.
>
> So my proposal is to get back to the group and suggest the inclusion of
> channel count as a constraint, if I don't hear objections.
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
> ...Joe
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 12:14 PM, Chris Wilson <cwilso@google.com> wrote:
>
>> I think number of channels and sample rate are the most critical.  Next
>> up would be latency and "binaural delivery" - aka "headphones" - as that
>> can indicate that HRTF, etc are appropriate (although I'd point out that
>> attribute can change without affecting the rest of the device, so maybe
>> it's a separate mechanism?).  I think HDMI is a red herring.
>>
>> On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 12:07 PM, Hofmann, Bill <bill.hofmann@dolby.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>  Joe:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for your notes on this.  When I think about use cases:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 1.       A user wants to connect their device (e.g., a digital media
>>> adapter) to an AV Receiver so they can play a game and take advantage of
>>> their surround system. DMAs are starting to also be game consoles now, many
>>> in China and most recently NVIDIA’s new device.  No reason why they
>>> shouldn’t support HTML games, and HTML is often the UI for these devices
>>>
>>> 2.       A user wants to play a game with a headset – knowing that the
>>> device is connected to a headset jack at least would allow a game to do a
>>> headphone render
>>>
>>> 3.       A user wants to watch a movie, and the HTML player wants to
>>> adapt the audio properly based on the rendering device
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It’s most likely, to me at least, that the user would chose the device
>>> to render to, **though**, you’d really want the default choice to be
>>> the “best one”.  So that does suggest that at the very least, you should be
>>> able to:
>>>
>>> ·         Determine the number of outputs (if == 1, the choice is easy J
>>> )
>>>
>>> ·         Identify the type of output (speaker, headphone, HDMI)
>>>
>>> ·         The number of channels
>>>
>>> without permission.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Then, the first time (or if the configuration changes), the user would
>>> be asked for permission to use the output device, and potentially be given
>>> a list of choices beforehand based on the info above, which ought to be
>>> enough.  It’s probably fine to get the rest of the characteristics later.
>>> I don’t recall where getUserMedia ended up with respect to permissions –
>>> it’d be deadly to have to configure each time you turn on your DMA or
>>> launch a different app, but that doesn’t relate to this problem.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I think the constraints approach is fine, but realize that people will
>>> use that as a way of enumerating – if you ask for stereo-capable outputs,
>>> for instance.  I don’t think you can count on always only getting one
>>> output.  And agree on Chris’ concern.  The way you’d probably end up having
>>> to code this if you wanted headphones but could deal with speakers (for
>>> instance) would end up being a set of getUserMedia calls with constraints,
>>> and taking the first.  Unless the constraint could be an OR.  I foresee a
>>> need for guidance about the right way to code this sort of thing.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -Bill
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* Joe Berkovitz [mailto:joe@noteflight.com <joe@noteflight.com>]
>>> *Sent:* Friday, May 15, 2015 8:25 AM
>>> *To:* Audio Working Group
>>> *Subject:* Re: Web Audio WG feedback LC-3023 (Re: Media Capture and
>>> Streams Last Call review)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Before responding to Harald, I'd like to solicit some discussion within
>>> the Audio WG. I think the most important questions here are:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. If we want to be able to find out properties of devices in an
>>> enumerated list without requesting device access from the user, then what
>>> is the absolute "must have" set of properties for Web Audio to include in
>>> enumerateDevices() results? The more we ask for, the less likely we will
>>> get them -- and some may be more likely to generate long debates than
>>> others, like HDMI.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 2. Do we need to enumerate devices, or is it OK for us to use
>>> getUserMedia() with constraints on these properties, and then pass the
>>> deviceID of the returned mediaStream -- obtained with
>>> mediastream.getCapabilities() --  that matches those constraints to an
>>> AudioContext constructor? (As opposed to using
>>> createMediaStreamDestination(mediaStream) which would have the various
>>> sample rate issues raised by Chris).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: *Harald Alvestrand* <harald@alvestrand.no>
>>> Date: Fri, May 15, 2015 at 7:12 AM
>>> Subject: Web Audio WG feedback LC-3023 (Re: Media Capture and Streams
>>> Last Call review)
>>> To: Joe Berkovitz <joe@noteflight.com>, Stefan Håkansson LK <
>>> stefan.lk.hakansson@ericsson.com>, public-media-capture@w3.org, Audio
>>> Working Group <public-audio@w3.org>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hello, and thanks for your input!
>>>
>>> I'm seriously in two minds about this - on one hand, it seems like
>>> functionality that is well worth having.
>>>
>>> On the other hand, it seems like a long list of things that could be of
>>> interest here, and I can easily envision considerable time passing while
>>> we discuss the details of each (for instance, if we expose the fact that
>>> an output is HDMI, we also expose the fact that it's either crypto
>>> capable or not crypto capable....)
>>>
>>> I think a lot of things can be addressed within the
>>> capabilities/constraints/settings model we've adopted for getUserMedia -
>>> one can define new constraints that get you the selectivity you want,
>>> one can call getCapabilities() to figure out what kind of device one
>>> has, one can use getSettings() to figure out what the current state of
>>> play is. If so (and if the TF keeps the "registry" approach for
>>> constraints), solving these problems can be as easy as authoring an
>>> add-on document called "additional audio capabilities and constraints".
>>>
>>> But I'm not sure if that will cover all your needs, or if this is the
>>> most elegant way of doing it - certainly some will make immediate note
>>> that the constraints mechanism isn't what they consider elegant.
>>>
>>> What do you see as the best way forward here - aim to address this
>>> later, or do we have parts of this problem that we *have* to address now?
>>>
>>>             Harald
>>>
>>>
>>> Den 21. april 2015 20:59, skrev Joe Berkovitz:
>>> > Hello Stefan,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Thank you for your recent solicitation of feedback to on the Media
>>> > Capture and Streams API, which I passed to the Web Audio Working Group.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > The Web Audio WG so far has identified one key item that we would like
>>> > to see addressed. The MediaDeviceInfo result from enumerateDevices()
>>> > (
>>> http://www.w3.org/TR/2015/WD-mediacapture-streams-20150414/#idl-def-MediaDeviceInfo
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.w3.org_TR_2015_WD-2Dmediacapture-2Dstreams-2D20150414_-23idl-2Ddef-2DMediaDeviceInfo&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=TljDhqSLOq4OTqBOCkRFi2iTNGDcdg0vbZ9A-vrOnlw&e=>
>>> )
>>> > lacks information that is typically available in the underlying OS
>>> > implementations that we think would be very helpful for
>>> implementations:
>>> >
>>> > __ __
>>> >
>>> > __·         __Channel count and configuration (Mono, Stereo, 5.1, 7.1,
>>> > etc…)____
>>> >
>>> > __·         __Physical Output (Headphone, Speaker, HDMI, …)____
>>> >
>>> > __·         __Latency (this matters a lot for gaming -- it will be very
>>> > low for on-board hardware, perhaps quite high for wireless audio
>>> > bridging like Apple TV)____
>>> >
>>> > __·         __Output capabilities (bitstream passthrough vs PCM –
>>> > relevant in digital media adapter cases (Chromecast, etc))____
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > It is perhaps sufficient from a user interface point of view to have a
>>> > string to display, but for a program to be able to either adapt to the
>>> > user selection or to guide and default the user selection, the above
>>> are
>>> > pretty important characteristics, at least in some use cases. Many if
>>> > not most of the host OSes that user agents run on expose these sorts of
>>> > output device characteristics. ____
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Aside from the difficulty with enumerating devices, there is also
>>> > perhaps a need to make it possible for applications to query the set of
>>> > available devices with respect to the above
>>> > charateristics. MediaTrackConstraints and MediaTrackSettings do not
>>> > currently  include constraint attributes that map to items in the above
>>> > list. And even if they do, arriving at a practical goodness-of-fit
>>> > metric that can be generalized across a spectrum of audio apps may be
>>> > difficult.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > The same concerns apply to the set of input devices.__
>>> >
>>> > __ __
>>> >
>>> > Please let us know if this issue makes sense to the group and can be
>>> > addressed within the timeframe of the coming run-up to a Last Call WD.
>>> > We'd be happy to arrange some sort of inter-WG call to try to make
>>> > progress on this together.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Thank you!
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Best regards,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Joe Berkovitz
>>> >
>>> > co-chair Web Audio WG
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > *Noteflight LLC*
>>> > Boston, Mass.
>>> > phone: +1 978 314 6271
>>> > www.noteflight.com
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.noteflight.com&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=jXjlONf3ezJhUogvhWPTTov9Nkgv6NEMH3VU7EtbI5w&e=>
>>> <http://www.noteflight.com/
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.noteflight.com_&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=TX3MVside5EU5bm_UNZyg2r1SdoBFsm-f8nP7K1k4Y8&e=>
>>> >
>>> > "Your music, everywhere"
>>> >
>>> > On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 1:31 AM, Stefan Håkansson LK
>>> > <stefan.lk.hakansson@ericsson.com
>>> > <mailto:stefan.lk.hakansson@ericsson.com>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >     The WebRTC and Device APIs Working Groups request feedback on the
>>> Last
>>> >     Call Working Draft of Media Capture and Streams, a JavaScript API
>>> that
>>> >     enables access to cameras and microphones from Web browsers as
>>> well as
>>> >     control of the use of the data generated (e.g. rendering what a
>>> camera
>>> >     captures in a html video element):
>>> >     http://www.w3.org/TR/2015/WD-mediacapture-streams-20150414/
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.w3.org_TR_2015_WD-2Dmediacapture-2Dstreams-2D20150414_&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=iqvKvUbbXBvyilFPRoiU-moSntiBDqoGqKdbqREA2EY&e=>
>>> >
>>> >     The groups have identified the following other W3C Working Groups
>>> as
>>> >     likely sources of feedback:
>>> >
>>> >     - HTML Working Group, especially the HTML Media Task Force, as our
>>> API
>>> >     extends the HTMLMediaElement interface and defines a new type of
>>> media
>>> >     input via MediaStream
>>> >
>>> >     - WebApps Working Group, especially on the overall usage of Web
>>> IDL and
>>> >     the definition of error handling
>>> >     Audio Working Group, as the Web Audio API builds upon the
>>> MediaStream
>>> >     interface
>>> >
>>> >     - WAI Protocol and Formats Working Group, especially on the impact
>>> of
>>> >     the user consent dialog and the applicability of the indicators of
>>> >     device usage in assistive tools
>>> >
>>> >     - Web and TV Interest Group, as the manipulation of media input
>>> can be
>>> >     relevant to some of their use cases (e.g. glass to glass)
>>> >
>>> >     - Web App Security Working Group, especially on our links between
>>> >     secured origins and persistent permissions, and our current policy
>>> with
>>> >     regard to handling access to this "powerful feature"
>>> >
>>> >     - Web Security Interest Group, especially on our security
>>> considerations
>>> >     Privacy Interest Group, as access to camera and microphone has
>>> strong
>>> >     privacy implications
>>> >
>>> >     - Technical Architecture Group, for an overall review of the API,
>>> >     especially the introduction of the concept of a IANA registry-based
>>> >     constraints system, the use of promises, and our handling of
>>> persistent
>>> >     permissions
>>> >
>>> >     We naturally also welcome feedback from any other reviewers.
>>> >
>>> >     The end of last call review for this specification is set to May 15
>>> >     2015; should that deadline prove difficult to meet, please get in
>>> touch
>>> >     so that we can determine a new deadline for your group.
>>> >
>>> >     As indicated in the document, comments should be sent to the
>>> >     public-media-capture@w3.org <mailto:public-media-capture@w3.org>
>>> >     mailing list.
>>> >
>>> >     Thanks,
>>> >
>>> >     Frederick Hirsch, Device APIs Working Group Chair,
>>> >     Harald Alvestrand and Stefan Hakansson, WebRTC Working Group
>>> Chairs and
>>> >     Media Capture Task Force Chairs
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > .            .       .    .  . ...Joe
>>> >
>>> > *Joe Berkovitz*
>>> > President
>>> >
>>> > *Noteflight LLC*
>>> > Boston, Mass.
>>> > phone: +1 978 314 6271
>>> > www.noteflight.com
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.noteflight.com&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=jXjlONf3ezJhUogvhWPTTov9Nkgv6NEMH3VU7EtbI5w&e=>
>>> <http://www.noteflight.com
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.noteflight.com&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=jXjlONf3ezJhUogvhWPTTov9Nkgv6NEMH3VU7EtbI5w&e=>
>>> >
>>> > "Your music, everywhere"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> .            .       .    .  . ...Joe
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Joe Berkovitz*
>>>
>>> President
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Noteflight LLC*
>>>
>>> 49R Day Street / Somerville, MA 02144 / USA
>>>
>>> phone: +1 978 314 6271
>>>
>>> www.noteflight.com
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.noteflight.com&d=AwMFaQ&c=lI8Zb6TzM3d1tX4iEu7bpg&r=qzKCNHFKJMzZBJ52at1DkA-_8TPxvcij-zS_VXs8c5A&m=Ajygd3cU_M15NMeR6tSVYxwZiRtNw9yzWnTx0nK85QM&s=jXjlONf3ezJhUogvhWPTTov9Nkgv6NEMH3VU7EtbI5w&e=>
>>>
>>> "Your music, everywhere"
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> .            .       .    .  . ...Joe
>
> *Joe Berkovitz*
> President
>
> *Noteflight LLC*
> 49R Day Street / Somerville, MA 02144 / USA
> phone: +1 978 314 6271
> www.noteflight.com
> "Your music, everywhere"
>

Received on Monday, 18 May 2015 19:47:54 UTC