AVChat Software Product Blog

The login screen in AVChat 3 shows up to ask the user for its username and gender. However if you provide these info’s via avc_settings.php or avc_settings.asp the login is not needed anymore so it will be skipped!

So this is what you need to do in order to auto login users:

• set the value of $config['username'] to something (like the username of the person logged in the website)
• change the value of $config['gender'] to male, female or couple
• set $config['changegender']=0; so the user will not be given the chance to change its gender
• set $config['changeuser']=0; so the user will not be given the chance to change its username

You can also use $config['disableGenderSelection'] to disable the gender selection altogether and $config['coupleGenderEnabled'] to disable the couple gender.

About bandwidth usage

The bandwidth usage/month depends on many factors and can never be guessed without several days of actual running the video chat software on your website:

• number of people online watching cams and how much time they spend watching
• number of people online broadcasting cams and how much time they spend broadcasting
• how many cams a user can see at once
• audio/video quality (128,256,512kbits/s etc…)

For example a user broadcasting its webcam for 30 minutes at 256kbits/s will use  57Mbytes of bandwdith (256kbits/s * 60 seconds * 30 minutes=57Mbytes).

Another user viewing the first one for 30 minutes will use the same amount: 57Mbytes. Total: 114Mbytes for a 30 minute 1 to 1 video chat session.

Reducing bandwidth usage

AVChat 3 offers several ways to reduce the monthly bandwidth used on the media server:

• the automatic bandwidth reduction feature which is on by default
• you can lower the audio/video quality for the streams so that they use less bandwidth
• you can limit the amount of time/day users can view web cams
• you can limit the amount of web cams users can view at once (4 by default)

Who is typing box in AVChat 3

In avc_settings.php you will find the following config option:

$config['showWhoIsTyping']=1;

Set it to 0 and the who-is-typing box will not be shown anymore in the chat.

If you are using avc_settings.asp look for the showWhoIsTyping variable and set it to 0!

Error 1: If, when trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message: Connection failed, media server might be down or firewall might be blocking the connection! like this:

You need to check:

• your rtmp connection string inserted in avc_settings.xxx
• the media server might not be running (you can check if Red5 is running by going to http://yourred5server.com:5080/)
• the media server might have not started properly (thus is not running, you can check the logs in Red5/log for any ERROR messages during startup)
• there is a firewall on the media server blocking TCP traffic over port 1935 (and 5080)
• the user trying to connect is behind a firewall that blocks the connection (either a personal one installed on his computer or a corporate one installed on his network, to test his connection capabilities he should run these connection tests: http://www.flashcomguru.com/apps/port_test/index.cfm )

Error 2: If, when trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message:  Connection Rejected:No scope ”avchat30/_definst_” on this server OR The connection with the video chat server could not be made like this:

It means you are using Red5 and your Red5  is running but:

• make sure you use Red5 0.8 final (AVChat 3 is not compatible with any other versions)
• make sure you installed the AVChat 3 Red5 server files properly (Red5/webapps/avchat30)
• make sure you restart Red5 after you installed the Red5 server side files (Red5/webapps/avchat30)

Error 3: When trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message: Application (avchat30) is not defined , like this:

There are 2 causes/solutions for this error:

• you are using FMIS and you have not created the FMIS server side avchat30 app (FMIS/applications/avchat30), follow the installation instructions and try again.
• If the avchat30 app folder is installed properly restart the FMIS server (or just the vHost trough the FMS Management Console)

Error 4: When trying to connect using AVChat 3, you are getting this error message: Connection success, waiting for server… .

There is 1 possibe cause/solution for this issue:

• the avchat30 application folder was not installed properly on the media server (it does not contain the proper files). make sure you follow the installation instructions for the avchat30 app folder exactly.

Changing the license key:

Why would I change the license key?

• Insert a new trial key
• Switch from trial to non-trial key
• Switch the domain on which the software will be used
• Upgrade from Lite to 40 users (for example)

What do I have to do?

1. Log in the video chat using the admin interface (admin.swf)
2. Click the Settings button at the top
3. In the window that shows up, delete the old key from the text field and insert the new key
4. Press the [Change Key] button
5. If successful, you should now see the new  limits/expiration date/domain above the license key text field!

Resetting the license key:

If something goes awfully wrong and you find yourself locked out of the video chat (you’ve inserted a key for a domain to which you do not have yet access or has not yet been registered ) you can reset the license key.

What do I have to do?

1. Delete this file
   • on Red5:   red5/webapps/avchat30/persistence/SharedObject/_definst_/licensekey.red5
   • on FMIS:   fms/applications/avchat30/sharedobjects/_definst_/licensekey.fso
   • on Wowza: wowza/applications/avchat30/sharedobjects/_definst_/licensekey.rso
     
2. Restart Red5, FMIS or Wowza
3. Enter the video chat and you will be asked for the key again!

We have rearranged the documentation area on our website and we’ve added some new documentation for AVChat 3:

• Changing the background color and background image
• Changing the size of the video chat area
• Changing the join/leave/buzz/new text message sounds
• Overview of design options in AVChat 3
• Dropping users into rooms automatically

Last week we’ve also had some posts on some interesting features in AVChat 3, if you missed them here they are again:

• Display of streams delay
• Recording video streams
• Dynamic bandwidth usage reduction

We are also preparing a big paper on security features implemented in AVChat 3 and I tell you, it doesn’t get any more secure than this!

Both AVChat and AVConference load the words and phrases used in the admin and user interfaces from external .xml files. These .xml files are plain text files that can be edited with any text editor.

In order to change a word in the interfaces, to translate the entire interface in another language or to change the initial welcome message you just need to edit these files and change whatever you need!

You will find these .xml files in the /en/ folder:

• en/index_en.xml for the user interface texts
• en/admin_en.xml for the admin interface texts

If you are using the chat software as a Joomla component, the files are most probably in components/com_avchat/en/ .

IMPORTANT: After editing the .xml files and uploading them back to your web server, make sure you refresh a few times the chat software so that the Flash Player picks up the new versions.

Future versions of our chat software will support having several such .xml files for each interface. This way you will be able to add one .xml file for each language you want to offer to your visitors.