HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Deliverable
Being worked on?
In this appendix?
API functions to capture media from
local devices (camera and micro-
phone)
In scope for the Device APIs &
Policy Working Group, experimental
implementations available
2.
Covered in
section I.1.1
API functions for encoding and oth-
er processing of those media streams
3.
Not covered
API functions for establishing direct
peer-to-peer connections, including
firewall/NAT traversal
Being worked on at the IETF, exper-
imental implementations available
4.
Discussed in
section I.1.2
API functions for decoding and pro-
cessing (including echo canceling,
stream synchronization, and a num-
ber of other functions) of those
streams at the incoming end
5.
Not covered
Delivery to the user of those media
streams via local screens and audio
output devices
Part of the HTML5 specification
work, experimental implementations
available
6.
Covered in
chapter 8
In this section you're going to learn about the experimental implementation for point
getUserMedia()
, will allow the creation of web applications for telephony and video
conferencing.
I.1.1. Grab input with getUserMedia()
The
getUserMedia()
function allows you to grab a media stream from the user's
device and use it within the browser. The current focus is on audio and video streams,
since the elements to output those already exist in HTML5, but there's no reason why
other sources of data couldn't be accessed in the future and handled with the File API (see
Opera, Google, and Mozilla have already implemented a significant chunk of the function-
ality targeted by the working group thanks to
getUserMedia()
. You will, of course,
need a PC or laptop with a webcam. You could also use your mobile phone or tablet device,
but then you'd need some way of making the files you create on your computer available
over the network your device is on. This might involve setting up a local web server and
possibly fiddling around with your firewall and router settings to allow access to it, or if
you already have a web server online, you could upload your files to that.
