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Posts: 145 | Thanked: 18 times | Joined on Aug 2008 @ Vancouver, BC
#1
Hello folks,

for the last few days I've been struggling with the asterisk (1.4.20.1) support for video calls between two n810 and even after the changes to the sip.conf video calls do not work (we can hear each other just fine tho).

Here's the top of sip.conf:
Code:
[general]
context=default                   ; Default context for incoming calls
videosupport=yes
disallow=all
; allow=all
allow=g729
allow=gsm
allow=ulaw
allow=alaw
allow=g711u
allow=h263p
allow=h263
allow=h261
I have tried moving the video-codecs up and down, whatever I do, the Nokia built-in client doesn't send/get video, only audio.

Any help please?

PS. Is it possible to add people to a voice call on n810?
 
Posts: 631 | Thanked: 837 times | Joined on May 2007 @ Milton, Ontario, Canada
#2
Okay, first important step that you've got there is to make sure that in the global context "videosupport=yes" is set. You need to make sure that you have the right codecs enabled for each user though, as the users over-ride the global settings context.

So for example, in your users.conf file if you were extension 6000, you'd have an entry like this:
Code:
[6000]
username = 6000
transfer = yes
mailbox = 6000
call-limit = 100
fullname = Tablet
registersip = no
host = dynamic
callgroup = 1
context = DLPN_DialPlan1
cid_number = 6000
hasvoicemail = yes
vmsecret = 1234
email =
threewaycalling = no
hasdirectory = no
callwaiting = no
hasmanager = no
hasagent = no
hassip = yes
hasiax = yes
secret = 1234
nat = yes
canreinvite = no
dtmfmode = rfc2833
insecure = no
pickupgroup = 1
autoprov = no
label =
macaddress =
linenumber = 1
disallow = all
allow = g729,gsm,ulaw,alaw,h263
Notice the last two lines: disallow = all, which is there by default. Then allow, which overrides it, specifying which codecs this user can support; the key for video is h263.
You also need to make sure that your asterisk was compiled with H263 support. To do this, connect to your asterisk box:

asterisk -r

then enter the command:
core show codecs

And you should get a list of all the codecs your build supports:
Code:
Disclaimer: this command is for informational purposes only.
        It does not indicate anything about your configuration.
        INT    BINARY        HEX   TYPE       NAME   DESC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          1 (1 <<  0)      (0x1)  audio       g723   (G.723.1)
          2 (1 <<  1)      (0x2)  audio        gsm   (GSM)
          4 (1 <<  2)      (0x4)  audio       ulaw   (G.711 u-law)
          8 (1 <<  3)      (0x8)  audio       alaw   (G.711 A-law)
         16 (1 <<  4)     (0x10)  audio   g726aal2   (G.726 AAL2)
         32 (1 <<  5)     (0x20)  audio      adpcm   (ADPCM)
         64 (1 <<  6)     (0x40)  audio       slin   (16 bit Signed Linear PCM)
        128 (1 <<  7)     (0x80)  audio      lpc10   (LPC10)
        256 (1 <<  8)    (0x100)  audio       g729   (G.729A)
        512 (1 <<  9)    (0x200)  audio      speex   (SpeeX)
       1024 (1 << 10)    (0x400)  audio       ilbc   (iLBC)
       2048 (1 << 11)    (0x800)  audio       g726   (G.726 RFC3551)
       4096 (1 << 12)   (0x1000)  audio       g722   (G722)
      65536 (1 << 16)  (0x10000)  image       jpeg   (JPEG image)
     131072 (1 << 17)  (0x20000)  image        png   (PNG image)
     262144 (1 << 18)  (0x40000)  video       h261   (H.261 Video)
     524288 (1 << 19)  (0x80000)  video       h263   (H.263 Video)
    1048576 (1 << 20) (0x100000)  video      h263p   (H.263+ Video)
    2097152 (1 << 21) (0x200000)  video       h264   (H.264 Video)
H263 is the important one for video on the tablets.

Hope that helps!

Thanks,
-Rob
 

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stangri's Avatar
Posts: 145 | Thanked: 18 times | Joined on Aug 2008 @ Vancouver, BC
#3
Rob,
thanks so much for replying. Yeah, I forgot to add that I did check if codecs were in the system and the output of core show codecs is exactly like yours.

A few questions tho:
1. I have videosupport=yes in the general context of sip.conf is it where it's supposed to be? You are not talking about contextes of exntesions.conf, are you?
2. Are you certain I have to explicitly indicate codecs rules/priorities in each extension? I thought if they were in [general] that was enough.

thanks!
 
Posts: 2,802 | Thanked: 4,491 times | Joined on Nov 2007
#4
See also this thread.
 
Posts: 1,096 | Thanked: 760 times | Joined on Dec 2008
#5
I would make sure you have only one allowed codec (any for audio and h263 for video) in each extension on the video call as the codec negotiation in asterisk when video is involved does not really work

Check these bug reports

http://bugs.digium.com/view.php?id=9815

http://bugs.digium.com/view.php?id=9066
 

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Posts: 631 | Thanked: 837 times | Joined on May 2007 @ Milton, Ontario, Canada
#6
Yea one other thing that was mentioned in the thread lma pointed to... you have to make sure the camera is active before initiating the call, or Asterisk will not request video support from the remote party. On the N800 this is trivial as video automatically comes on when you pop the camera out, but on the N810 you have to make sure you have it enabled before dialing.

Also as mentioned multiple video codecs can cause strange negotiation issues with Asterisk (for the tablets make sure you're only using h263... h263+, etc does not work), so make sure you've only got the one enabled (audio codec negotiation works fine in my experience). You can technically define codecs in the global scope, but by default each extension has disallow=all, so you need to make sure you remove that for each user. Personally I think defining codecs to use on a per-extension basis makes a LOT more sense as it gives you a lot more flexibility given the negotiation problems...

Thanks,
-Rob
 
stangri's Avatar
Posts: 145 | Thanked: 18 times | Joined on Aug 2008 @ Vancouver, BC
#7
Thank you guys for all the help. Picking just one video-codec helped alot! I've read before about asterisk inability to negotiate/transcode the video-codecs, but it never occurred to me to remove all but one from configs.

How do I enable the video camera before making a SIP call in N810? The only thing which seems to work (at least most of the time) is just clicking the camera button real quick after clicking the Dial button. There's no button to enable the camera until you're making the call or are in the call that I can see.

Oh, didn't want to spawn an additional O/T thread, but any of you have used the standalone video-enabled SIP phones? There was one made by an Israeli (I think) company, it was around $200 for the ethernet version and $250 for the WiFi version and it looked real slick. Can't remember the name of the phone/company but if you've used one, you'll know what I'm talking about and I'd welcome some feedback.

thanks!

Last edited by stangri; 2009-02-05 at 11:52.
 
Posts: 631 | Thanked: 837 times | Joined on May 2007 @ Milton, Ontario, Canada
#8
Never used any of the standalone video SIP phones, but I've used plenty of standalone voice only SIP phones and in my experience for the money an N800/N810, even if you ignored all the other features from the tablet and used it just as a phone, is one of the best values out there in terms of features and pure quality/compatibility. If you've got a good codec setup/appropriate bandwidth, the echo cancellation on the tablets even for speakerphone is absolutely astounding. Now, maybe hardware voip phones have evolved a bit since the two wifi ones (a linksys and, oh forget now, another big named VOIP wifi phone company) that I had last year... but I'm not so sure. Look for another dedicated VOIP phone that offers speaker phone, video chat, bluetooth headset support, and the full range of codecs (including g729, etc) for the same sort of price points... then get one and compare the audio performance/quality with things like speaker phone. In a lot of the "resi/end user" devices you don't even come close; it's only when you start getting into the Cisco IP sets, or some of the other business/commercial units that the features start to match up... and often times they're much more difficult to find, setup, and update/upgrade in the future. Just my oppinion though based on my experiences...
 
stangri's Avatar
Posts: 145 | Thanked: 18 times | Joined on Aug 2008 @ Vancouver, BC
#9
I'm with you on the standalone WiFi SIP phones, I've tried a few of the UTStarcom ones, and both Linksys. They were horrible in codecs, battery life, WiFi drops, etc.

The ones I'm talking about and can't recall the vendor were large desktop solutions. While having similar price they are more telephone-like than the NIT making them better suited for "mom".
 
Posts: 1,096 | Thanked: 760 times | Joined on Dec 2008
#10
I don't think they have a video phone, but I have had good experience with the aastra sip phones, specifically th 51-57i
 
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