October 2020 Summaries

Working during COVID has led to a surge in teleconferencing and virtual meetings. This article discusses the pros and cons of working remotely, with a focus on audio quality for video calls. It delves into the history of microphones and their various types, including condensers, dynamics, and ribbons. The author recommends dynamic microphones for teleconferences due to their noise rejection capabilities and ease of use. Three recommended microphones are listed: Samson Q2U, Audio Technica AT2005USB, and Audio Technica ATR2100x-USB. Additionally, the article suggests avoiding USB condensers and cheap microphones under $60. The author also briefly touches upon microphone arms and floor stands for holding the new microphone in place.

Mux has introduced a new alerting product that pairs real-time data with flexible alerting conditions, making it easier than ever to operate and monitor video platforms. Users can define alerts for various metrics such as Playback Failure Percentage, median Video Startup Time, Rebuffering Percentage, and Concurrent Viewers (CCV). Alert thresholds can be set according to specific needs, and filters can be applied to track data based on specific criteria. The sensitivity of alerts can also be adjusted by setting the time interval and minimum audience size required for an alert to fire. Mux Data provides alert incident notifications via email, Slack, PagerDuty, and other services.

Strapi is an open-source headless CMS that focuses on a "developer first" approach and is written in JavaScript. It integrates with the Mux Video encoding and delivery API, allowing users to reference uploaded assets with Strapi content-types. To set up this integration, users need to obtain Access Tokens, Secret Keys, and Webhook Signing Secrets from the Mux Dashboard. They also need to install the Mux Video Uploader Strapi plugin and add a permission for open access to the muxwebhookhandler method. The plugin provides settings views, a video uploader view, and a MuxAssets collection type for managing content metadata. A demo of an application using this integration is available.

stream.new, developed by Mux, is an open-source project for sharing videos easily and quickly. Users can upload existing videos or record directly from their device's camera or screen. The platform generates a unique shareable link with each video uploaded. Built using NextJS React framework and deployed on Vercel, stream.new uses Mux technology for direct uploads, thumbnails, playback, and performance monitoring. It is currently free to use as an example project.