&meshcast
Triggers the service, causing the outbound audio/video stream to be transferred to a hosted server
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Triggers the service, causing the outbound audio/video stream to be transferred to a hosted server
Last updated
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Sender-Side Option! ()
Example: &meshcast=video
audio
Only audio via Meshcast
video
Only video via Meshcast
(no value given)
Audio and video via Meshcast
is a free-to-use server-based service for broadcasting low-latency video streams. It can be used with VDO.Ninja in a couple different ways, either as an iFrame or as a peer-2-peer replacement for guest and director streams. It can be used to help lower system requirements of VDO.Ninja for some users or use cases.
Adding &meshcast to a guest or director link will trigger the service, causing the outbound audio/video stream to be transferred to a hosted server, which then distributes the stream to all the viewers. This adds a bit of latency to the stream and reduces the theoretical privacy, but it implies the guest/director does not need to encode and upload multiple videos, lowering CPU load and bandwidth usage.
Viewers will automatically attempt to use the server-based feed over the peer-to-peer feed. Peer to peer is still used to send data though, and it can be optionally be used for sending audio p2p (lower latency).
Unlike the flag, which uses IFrames, this new server-side mode does not; it's more deeply integrated. Echo cancellation should work as a result.
If publishing using &meshcast, I don't bother to show the viewer count, as it won't be accurate currently anyways; instead I just say you're broadcasting. I'll try to improve this in the future.
There is a toggle in the director's room which adds &meshcast to the guest's invite link.
Steve made a YouTube video explaining all the Meshcast stuff:
Normally during peak-hours, around 7pm, the Internet in general can get slow, and Meshcast servers can occasionally become slow also as a result. Using a Meshcast server that's located in a different timezone, even if on the other side of the world, can sometimes avoid the bottlenecks in your local region, offering better results.
You can select the Meshcast server (region) via URL Parameter, if you want low-level control there:
As a director you can also select the Meshcast server on the bottom left of the director's control center. This method will show you the current load on a server, so you can avoid servers that are over-capacity.
You can also specify the Meshcast server based on geographic timezone values using the parameter, where the value passed is the UTC timezone value in negative minutes. Eastern Europe I suppose would be a negative value, while North America would be a positive value. The will also use the closest TURN server to that timezone, if needed; just keep in mind that timezones are east/west accurate; not north/south accurate.
Lastly, if a Meshcast server fails to respond, please contact steve@seguin.email or Steve on discord () so it can be fixed.
