[whatwg] PeerConnection, MediaStream, getUserMedia(), and other feedback

[Shwetank Dixit]

On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:53:00 +0530, timeless <timeless at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd expect a web app to have no idea about device camera
> specifications and thus to not be able to properly specify a flash
> duration. I don't see how such a thing is valuable.
>
> If a user is in a movie theater, or a museum, it's quite likely they
> won't notice a web app is forcing a flash. Let the user control flash
> through a useragent only or host application only mode. I believe the
> hazards of exposing flash duration outweigh any benefits. The only
> application class I know of built using control of camera flash is
> "flash-light", and that's both a hack and not guaranteed to be
> workable for all possible flash technologies.

Just like, just allowing the web app to use the camera as it is will not  
make sense, and presumably, user agents will implement a authorization by  
the user before the app gains access to the camera (something like 'This  
application requests access to the camera. Allow for now/Always  
Allow/Never Allow/Close' just like you do in geolocation right now) ...  
just like that, you could do it for flash, where the app only gains access  
to it if the user allows it. If that is the implementation, i do not think  
there would be much hazards in allowing flash access.

Apart from helping capture images/video in low light conditions, there are  
a few other use cases for flash such as the flash light thing you  
mentioned, as well as a possible S.O.S type app.

I'm fine if the consensus is that the device/user agent will handle the  
issue of flash by showing some sort of control where the user can click  
between 'flash on/off/auto'. That will cover *most* of the use cases,  
which is recording images/video in low light conditions. If so, then it  
might be good to specify that somewhere in the spec just to make things a  
bit clearer?

>
> On 7/14/11, Shwetank Dixit <shwetankd at opera.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:09:40 +0530, Ian Hickson <ian at hixie.ch> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>> Another question is flash. As far as I have seen, there seems to be no
>>>> option to specify whether the camera needs to use flash or not. Is  
>>>> this
>>>> decision left up to the device? (If someone is making an app which is
>>>> just clicking a picture of the person, then it would be nice to have  
>>>> the
>>>> camera use flash in low light conditions).
>>> getUserMedia() returns a video stream, so it wouldn't use a flash.
>>
>> Wouldn't it make sense to have a provision for flash separately then? I
>> think a lot of apps would like just a picture instead of video, and in
>> those cases, flash would be required. Maybe a seperate provision in the
>> spec which defines whether to use flash, and if so, for how many
>> miliseconds. Is that doable?
>> --
>> Shwetank Dixit
>> Web Evangelist,
>> Site Compatibility / Developer Relations / Core Engineering Group
>> Member - W3C Mobile Web for Social Development (MW4D) Group
>> Member - Web Standards Project (WaSP) - International Liaison Group
>> Opera Software - www.opera.com
>>
>> Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
>>
>


-- 
Shwetank Dixit
Web Evangelist,
Site Compatibility / Developer Relations / Core Engineering Group
Member - W3C Mobile Web for Social Development (MW4D) Group
Member - Web Standards Project (WaSP) - International Liaison Group
Opera Software - www.opera.com

Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/