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Comment by brownbat | Hacker News Reader

As a reminder: https://github.com/mumble-voip/mumble

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumble_(software)

I'm surprised the gaming chat programs don't get more crossover use. Well, I'm not surprised that a commercial project has a larger userbase than something that requires you to find a server.

But I am surprised when, say, podcast hosts make jokes about lag or call quality on their Skype connections with guests. There are other applications that solve some of these problems, and I'd think if your main creative product relies on call quality for guests, you might look a few steps beneath the most ubiquitous option. (ie, If you're at the level where you're buying an uncommon specialist's mic, you could probably benefit from comparison shopping for voip implementations.)

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Another reminder: Jitsi Meet

https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet

Try it here: https://meet.jit.si/

It's a modern, WebRTC-based replacement for Skype, Google Hangouts and other video/audio conferencing solutions.

And it's great. The company I work for is now using it exclusively for meetings and telepresence. The echo cancellation is outstanding and you can even connect it to a SIP server. No client is required besides Google Chrome or Firefox. There's nothing that comes close to it in terms of sophistication and quality.

It works well for one-on-one and audio calls.

I try to push Mumble over Skype, the main issue with Mumble is that it's not as easy to get into. You spend too much time configuring your client, finding a server, etc. Things that should be fairly trivial. Then you may spend more time figuring out why you're not being heard, or why nobody's hearing you. Mumble is great but there's too much friction involved. I prefer Discord[0] because it's so easy to use by comparison, to test it you don't even need an account, you just run it from your browser. I just wish Discord had a Linux Client.

[0]: https://discordapp.com/

Discord is just another centralized, closed platform.

Right. And furthermore, Discord is free and totally propped up by investor money. Which means the day will come when the experience is totally ruined in an attempt to make money, as fast as possible.

Of course, I still willingly use Discord despite this - because it generally just works (even in browser) and has an extensive feature set, and is relatively easy to use. (this is among friends who aren't technical, so ease-of-use is a large factor). Previously I used Mumble, but indeed, it's a bit of a fickle beast for things that should be fairly automated (like configuring your voice inputs, etc).

Discord do have an experimental canary release for Linux.

deb: https://discordapp.com/api/download/canary?platform=linux

.tar.gz: https://discordapp.com/api/download/canary?platform=linux&fo...

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/4bu7lm/discord_...

Can you run your own server to save having try find one; should reduce the lag on one side too.

Most of the issues were mostly in the setup of the hardware. I did run my own server on DO though.

skype still has the best echo cancellation (that i've tried). you don't even need to wear headphones. according to a Tox developer: there aren't any comparable open source libraries.

Can confirm that Jitsi Meet works fine without headphones in Google Chrome. Google spent a lot of time optimizing WebRTC.

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