Interactive Broadcasting
TAConf is not a difficult program to use if you are familiar with video conferencing and the various settings involved. However, some tips are given here to assist you.
Most settings are obtained through the settings menu entry. You can also configure TAConf quickly through the main panel that comes up when you start the program.
There are certain settings that are important to configure.
* TAConf needs that you create a directory service entry. This entry creates a user name and password for you that identifies you as a unique entity to be contacted by others using TAConf. This directory is stored on Tom’s server and whenever you start up the program it will log you current IP address and hopefully the pathway to your TAConf computer through your firewall. This does not always work and more information will be given about this lower on this page. But you must first create a user name and password and make sure you are registered in the directory by clicking on OK.
* You must have an audio input device, a microphone, that is either included in your web cam or is a separate mic plugged into your computer’saudio card. If the mic is on your webcam then tell the audio set up (found on the main page at the lower left quadrant under Settings) to use the camera as the audio input, otherwise tell it to use the sound card in your computer if you have an external mix.
- The detailed settings are found on this audio set up page. The best is to not use VAD (voice activated which means the audio will only send when you speak, otherwise not) and have it always on. The noise filter is fine around one quarter of the slider from the left. It is good to filter noise, and the gain should be low unless you have a very low input on your mic. You can see how high it should be by speaking and seeing if the main bar on the connection goes into the red. It is usually enough to have the gain under 2.0.
* You do not need to have a video input device, but it is much better to use a webcam. Connect a properly configured webcam to your computer and make sure the drivers are loaded. Go to the lower right quadrant of the main screen to configure the camera. Make sure it is set to the camera in the first box of the configuration screen (and not set to “Tom’s Screen Capture.”) Make sure you are using windows media codec. If you do not have it the program usually asks for it at your first start up (and the program will also automatically update itself at this time as well.)
* You need to know how fast your internet connection is. Regardless of your speed, you can do fine by setting the video size at 320x240, the fps (frames per second) to 15, and the kbps (kilobits per second which are kilobytes divided by 8) to around 60. As you can have multiple people connected at the same time, a really nice feature only found in iChat at present (unless you are paying a ton of money for a Cisco service or something similar, you need to know your maximum upload speed as you cannot have more people connected than you have bandwidth. For example, if your internet connection upload speed is around 256 kbps (not unusual in Russia or South America) and you have four people connected at 60 kbps you should know that you will have a lousy experience. As there is something called TCIP overhead (don’t worry about understanding it in full) you will only get perhaps 80% of your stated speed at any one time and that will also be reduced due to the manner in which your IP provider links to other areas of the world (intercontinental connections are always much slower and sometimes erratic) you might be able to count on having 70% of you upload in total or around 180 kbps which when divided four ways allows you to only allot 40 kbps to your video. Do not forget that the audio also takes up around 16 kbps or so. Therefore it is wise to only allot 50% of your upload capacity to the video. Remember, the higher the fps the more data will be sent out so reducing the fps lowers the impact on your bandwidth, i.e. the lower the fps and kbps the lower your total outgoing bandwidth -- they are related.
* Experiment first with your own setup by going to the Connect window and choose Myself (loopback) to see how your connection will look to others. There you can test the video and audio and make adjustments. Disconnect from yourself when you want to connect to others.
* To connect to others just type in their username and click connect. If all goes well the connection occurs instantly. If it takes more than a few seconds it did not go well and other steps have to be taken. It is always good to have the “allow others connect to me automatically,” checked on the main screen. If this is not checked then TAConf will ring a signal at the receiving parties end demanding that they answer the ring and accept the call. If TAConf is ringing you, you must accept the call otherwise no connection will be made and the caller will simply see “ringing” in his connection field.
* Firewalls screw up TAConf royally. TAConf uses by default UDP port 8882 in both directions. If you are using a Windows firewall, go to the security settings and make sure you allow UDP 8882 both incoming and outgoing. If you are using any other custom software firewall you must allow TAConf to act as a server and also allow or open UDP 8882. If you are using a hardware firewall on a router, you must enter the router’s settings and open this port. If you are using a NAT network in a home networked environment, you must open your router, allow the port UDP 8882 to be open and redirect it (using a Virtual Server Setting under LAN) to the IP address of the computer that runs TAConf. You can find out the computer’s IP address by going to Control Panel, Network Connections and clicking on the connection you are using. But if you created a NAT home network you should know already the IP address of this computer.
* Sometimes the firewall (software or hardware) will block the port anyway when it thinks the incoming port request is unsolicited. When this happens the only solution is to open the firewall and manually accept the IP of the caller and add it to the trusted zone temporarily. To see if this is happening, you have to open the firewall logs to see which IP address requesting port 8882 is blocked.
Most settings are obtained through the settings menu entry. You can also configure TAConf quickly through the main panel that comes up when you start the program.
There are certain settings that are important to configure.
* TAConf needs that you create a directory service entry. This entry creates a user name and password for you that identifies you as a unique entity to be contacted by others using TAConf. This directory is stored on Tom’s server and whenever you start up the program it will log you current IP address and hopefully the pathway to your TAConf computer through your firewall. This does not always work and more information will be given about this lower on this page. But you must first create a user name and password and make sure you are registered in the directory by clicking on OK.
* You must have an audio input device, a microphone, that is either included in your web cam or is a separate mic plugged into your computer’saudio card. If the mic is on your webcam then tell the audio set up (found on the main page at the lower left quadrant under Settings) to use the camera as the audio input, otherwise tell it to use the sound card in your computer if you have an external mix.
- The detailed settings are found on this audio set up page. The best is to not use VAD (voice activated which means the audio will only send when you speak, otherwise not) and have it always on. The noise filter is fine around one quarter of the slider from the left. It is good to filter noise, and the gain should be low unless you have a very low input on your mic. You can see how high it should be by speaking and seeing if the main bar on the connection goes into the red. It is usually enough to have the gain under 2.0.
* You do not need to have a video input device, but it is much better to use a webcam. Connect a properly configured webcam to your computer and make sure the drivers are loaded. Go to the lower right quadrant of the main screen to configure the camera. Make sure it is set to the camera in the first box of the configuration screen (and not set to “Tom’s Screen Capture.”) Make sure you are using windows media codec. If you do not have it the program usually asks for it at your first start up (and the program will also automatically update itself at this time as well.)
* You need to know how fast your internet connection is. Regardless of your speed, you can do fine by setting the video size at 320x240, the fps (frames per second) to 15, and the kbps (kilobits per second which are kilobytes divided by 8) to around 60. As you can have multiple people connected at the same time, a really nice feature only found in iChat at present (unless you are paying a ton of money for a Cisco service or something similar, you need to know your maximum upload speed as you cannot have more people connected than you have bandwidth. For example, if your internet connection upload speed is around 256 kbps (not unusual in Russia or South America) and you have four people connected at 60 kbps you should know that you will have a lousy experience. As there is something called TCIP overhead (don’t worry about understanding it in full) you will only get perhaps 80% of your stated speed at any one time and that will also be reduced due to the manner in which your IP provider links to other areas of the world (intercontinental connections are always much slower and sometimes erratic) you might be able to count on having 70% of you upload in total or around 180 kbps which when divided four ways allows you to only allot 40 kbps to your video. Do not forget that the audio also takes up around 16 kbps or so. Therefore it is wise to only allot 50% of your upload capacity to the video. Remember, the higher the fps the more data will be sent out so reducing the fps lowers the impact on your bandwidth, i.e. the lower the fps and kbps the lower your total outgoing bandwidth -- they are related.
* Experiment first with your own setup by going to the Connect window and choose Myself (loopback) to see how your connection will look to others. There you can test the video and audio and make adjustments. Disconnect from yourself when you want to connect to others.
* To connect to others just type in their username and click connect. If all goes well the connection occurs instantly. If it takes more than a few seconds it did not go well and other steps have to be taken. It is always good to have the “allow others connect to me automatically,” checked on the main screen. If this is not checked then TAConf will ring a signal at the receiving parties end demanding that they answer the ring and accept the call. If TAConf is ringing you, you must accept the call otherwise no connection will be made and the caller will simply see “ringing” in his connection field.
* Firewalls screw up TAConf royally. TAConf uses by default UDP port 8882 in both directions. If you are using a Windows firewall, go to the security settings and make sure you allow UDP 8882 both incoming and outgoing. If you are using any other custom software firewall you must allow TAConf to act as a server and also allow or open UDP 8882. If you are using a hardware firewall on a router, you must enter the router’s settings and open this port. If you are using a NAT network in a home networked environment, you must open your router, allow the port UDP 8882 to be open and redirect it (using a Virtual Server Setting under LAN) to the IP address of the computer that runs TAConf. You can find out the computer’s IP address by going to Control Panel, Network Connections and clicking on the connection you are using. But if you created a NAT home network you should know already the IP address of this computer.
* Sometimes the firewall (software or hardware) will block the port anyway when it thinks the incoming port request is unsolicited. When this happens the only solution is to open the firewall and manually accept the IP of the caller and add it to the trusted zone temporarily. To see if this is happening, you have to open the firewall logs to see which IP address requesting port 8882 is blocked.