TWiT went back to Skype for guests/panelists already?

A couple of weeks ago, Leo mentioned that they had switched from using Skype for the guests/panelists to a different platform (I forget which product specifically) utilizing WebRTC. Personally, I noticed both the video and audio quality were far superior to Skype.

But since then, I notice that the latest shows have seemingly gone back to using Skype? This includes the latest TWiT.

@Leo, I’m just curious whether you could elaborate as to why, and the problems/limitations you and/or your engineering team encounter when trying to switch away from Skype? Is it the guests/panelists who encountered trouble with the new platform thus Skype is used as the fall-back, or are there other things at play?

Thanks!

1 Like

They haven’t fully rolled out the OBS Ninja yet. Some shows still use Skype.

3 Likes

Okay, but for example in the latest Windows Weekly episode, Paul’s video feed showed the Skype logo whereas he was clearly using OBS Ninja the week prior (MUCH clearer video/audio; no Skype logo).

I’m just curious as to the discrepancies and back & forth; whether it’s due to technical limitations or troubles encountered, etc.

1 Like

Best gusss: using Skype was a courtesy to Chris Caposella to avoid having to deal with Microsoft firewalls and internal constraints. But that’s just a guess.

2 Likes

I would love a Hands-On Tech episode dealing with using OBS Ninja (cough @ant_pruitt cough @mikahsargent). I like it, but it seems less intuitive for the non-tech user.

1 Like

It’s actually very simple. If you’ve checked the site an instance needs to be started by someone for the session to start. Also, it’s way better from the production end because they’d be able to run the shows of a single call on a single computer because it outputs each person to a link that can be dropped into the switcher and everyone would be able to see each other like in a conventional video call unlike how each host used to be in an independent call.

here’s a vid that explains how it works by the dev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLpRzMjUDaE

2 Likes

I’m looking at it in my personal space. At the moment, I’m not quite getting it. Mr JammerB has been tweaking what’s in place at the studio as we slowly transition all shows to it. Slowly.

4 Likes

The good thing is that JammerB probably has the assistance of the great OBS Ninja instructor, Chris Marquart.

2 Likes

I thought the OBS Ninja feeds were definitely better. Aside from video quality, no audio gating!

I can imagine it’ll be a while until this is the standard though if we ever make it. It’s going to be challenging for some guests to change over. If not for any technical reason, then just because change is hard for some people.

2 Likes