FAQ
How much does it cost?
The use of the Video Call Room API is free. You'll only need to create your own
ooVoo account, and then register
as a developer.
What is a video chat room?
A video chat room is where the video call takes place. You "create" the room in
your
web site by placing the room
embedded code into your HTML page. You can
manage the room's settings from the My
Account area on the ooVoo web site.
Every video chat room can be used in one or more room instances that share
the same configuration properties.
What is a room instance?
In order to make it possible to have hundreds of concurrent video calls in your
web site, without the hassle of managing hundreds of video chat rooms, we
introduced the concept of a room instance. All room instances shares the same
settings (like password protection) as defined in the room settings on the ooVoo
web site. You, as a developer, can set the instanceKey property in the room
creation code to control the instance that is being used.
How do I get more instances?
We limit the number of instances to 3 after registering as a developer. In order
to receive more instances, you'll need to contact
our buz-dev team. They can assign
more instances to your room and also remove the advertisements from your room.
Is there a fee to get more instances?
No, it's free of charge but our business development team will assign the
additional instances.
Can I see a report with all the video calls in my room?
We are looking to have it in the near future, but currently we don't provide this
report.
Can I have a video room without ads?
We have ads inside the video calls in order to keep our service free. However,
you can contact our buz-dev team and they
can remove the advertisements from
your room.
What is the difference between the room link and the embedded code?
If you don't have your own web site, and you want to have video calls by just sending
the
link to the room - then you should use the room link. Because the room is hosted
on the
ooVoo web site, you will not be able to use any of the video call control functions.
To
use the room in your own website, use the embed code. Just copy and paste the
embedded code into your HTML page.
Can I have more than 3 people in the room?
In order to have video calls with 3-6 people, you'll need to purchase
the the ooVoo plan.
Can I bypass the display name screen?
Yes. You can change the displayName property and the default screen will not be
displayed.
Can I get money from the room hosted on my web site?
Yes, we have options for revenue sharing from the advertisements that are displayed
in
the video call. Please contact our buz-dev team
for more information.
With oovoo hosted room the user has to enter a user name when entering a video room.
On a partner site, if the user is already signed on with the site-specific ID, is
there a way for the partner to use the ID to automatically fill the username field
when the user enters a room?
Yes, this is easy. Just set displayName=[siteSpecificID] when you create the room.
What is the current widget window size and the smaller size that we are planning
to implement?
With advertising turned on, the video room height and width cannot be set beneath
795 X 640 (with a caption) or 735 X 580 (without a caption). To make the ooVoo widget
smaller, you must contact developer@oovoo.com
and pay to have ads turned off. In April, we will have a smaller size available
to all developers with advertising turned on. This smaller size will be 400x500.
Is the video resolution and video windows size fixed in the room or partner and/or
user configurable? Can we make it configurable and when?
The resolution and window size are fixed. We will have more flexibility when we
implement API Mini Mode which will hopefully happen in Q2.
If the partner has a per usage prepay system for the room, is it possible to automatically
kick users out when the prepay minutes is over? Any suggestion for partner to implement
such work flow?
Yes, there is a Javascript function to eject a user called endCall(). A sample implementation
of this is available here: http://www2.oovoo.com/samples/devtools/
If a partner buys say 1000 rooms (or 1 room with 1000 instances) from us, is the
room/instance URL provided by us and fixed, or can the partner generate it dynamically
on their site? Or a mixture of fix+dynamic in the URL string?
Instances can be named anything you wish. The instance of a room is defined in the
room embed code and it can be a user's ID or the topic of content in a web page
or a partner's name or any other randomly generated string. So, yes, the partner
can generate it dynamically on their site.
In the use case where the partner buys n rooms, embeds m room widgets throughout
their site (m>n), and would like to dynamically assign the next available room
to any user who clicks on a new embedded widget. Any suggestion for implementation
logic for the partner?
This happens automatically. If a partner has 1000 instances, that's the number of
concurrent instances. Every time a room is created for use w/ an instance key, the
number of available instances is reduced by 1. When that room is closed and all
chat participants leave, the instance is returned to the pool of available rooms.
This "garbage collection" process is all handled automatically by ooVoo and the
developer doesn't need to do anything to manage it.
If the partner wants to enable a room owner to accept/reject room participants when
they try to enter the room, any suggestion for implementation logic?
This functionality has been built into the moderator panel and is relatively easy
to implement. We are currently working on a much simpler version of this logic,
but it could be a few weeks before it is available.
How will the users of my web site access oovoo? We want them to logon to our Site
and do video conferencing with their associations/members using ooVoo seamlessly.
Do they need to be registered with oovoo or just registration to our site is enough?
This depends a bit on business terms. If users have an ooVoo account they can chat
seamlessly. 3 way calls are free, 6 way are paid. It is easy to set up seamless
use of ooVoo video chat for your members w/out any need for them to have an ooVoo
account. To do that you need an ooVoo Developer Account which allows for up to X
simultaneous conversations.
How many video conference rooms can my website host have simultaneously?
ooVoo doen't have any specific technical limit on the number of simultaneous conversations.
Can users from my site invite other users to Video conference by passing conference
Links? We would like to do this via external eMail addresses and IM. How do you
suggest this integration? DO we have an API which gives us the conference invite
links which we can pass to members?
Yes, it is easy to set up URLs and links which can be sent back and forth via IM
or email. It will take a bit of JS/AJAX work to make it happen exactly to your specifications,
but it is easy to do.
Can we push targeted ads to Conference room through oovoo APIS?
Yes, we can do this either by running the ads for you or by taking a feed from your
ad server. We allow you to add context/targeting tags to the ooVoo chat rooms when
you instantiate them as well.
Can I embed and record video messages with the ooVoo API?
ooVoo does not offer a web API for video messages yet, so this feature will not
be available as something you can embed in your web site. Today, video messages
work only in the ooVoo Client.
Can I record calls in the ooVoo Web API?
Call Recording can only be done from the ooVoo Client, so it is not a feature that
can be embedded in your web site.
Can I embed text chat in the ooVoo Web API?
Text Chat can only be done from the ooVoo Client, so it is not a feature that can
be embedded in your web site... yet.
Getting Started
Using the ooVoo video chat rooms API is easy. To embed the room in your HTML page,
follow these instructions:
- Download ooVoo and create your own ooVoo
account (if you don't have one already).
-
Register as a developer. It's FREE, no license fees are required.
- Open the Video Chat Rooms
page in the ooVoo web site.
- Activate your room by clicking on the 'Activate' link next to your room.
- Click on the 'Embed Code' link for your room.
- Scroll down to the 'Video chat room' code, and copy the code by clicking on the
'Copy' button.
- Paste the code into your HTML page.
To create a more sophisticated application, take a look at the
Video Chat Room API documentation.
