Request: Google Meet Alternative
from Sparkega@sh.itjust.works to degoogle@lemmy.ml on 11 Mar 08:16
https://sh.itjust.works/post/34204992

I’m looking for an alternative option to video chat and stream Jackbox games with my family.

Currently when we play, I set up a video chat on meet that family members join via laptops and then I connect a separate computer that shares its screen and audio from the running game.

Features I’m interested in:

Does something like this exist?

#degoogle

threaded - newest

southsamurai@sh.itjust.works on 11 Mar 08:23 next collapse

Have you checked out revolt?

It’s essentially a discord clone, but open source.

Thing is, other than a few days back when it came out, I haven’t used it. So I can’t really be certain it’ll meet your needs, only that it does have web based interface as an option, it’s free and didn’t have time limits when I tried it. No idea how voice and video are with it.

Sparkega@sh.itjust.works on 11 Mar 08:37 collapse

Thanks. I looked into it. Doesn’t appear that video or screen sharing are available yet, though is a work in progress. I’ll check back on this later when these features are added.

BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com on 11 Mar 08:28 next collapse

Jitsi Meet?

bloubz@lemmygrad.ml on 11 Mar 08:31 next collapse

This is the answer, to me

Sparkega@sh.itjust.works on 11 Mar 08:52 next collapse

I think this is the answer. Thanks for your recommendation. I’ll test this out soon. It seems to check all the boxes and I found this website providing good reasons to use it.

The reasons I prefer Jitsi Meet to Zoom include the following:

  1. no subscriptions are required to use all the features of Jitsi Meet;
  2. unlike Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not require you to sign up;
  3. unlike Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not require the installation of an application — it runs in Google Chrome or Firefox;
  4. unlike the free version of Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not impose a time limit on the length of the meeting;
  5. unlike the free version of Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not have a limit on the number of meeting attendees;
  6. Jitsi Meet provides end-to-end encryption for one-to-one video calls*;
  7. I find the performance of Jitsi Meet better than Zoom, which seems to be corroborated in basic benchmarking by Jitsi Meet’s developers (‘WebRTC vs. Zoom – A Simple Congestion Test‘);
  8. I find image quality better in Jitsi Meet;
  9. I find Jitsi Meet on a desktop/laptop more intuitive and easier to use than Zoom;
  10. if I share audio in Zoom for Linux, the audio is very distorted**;
  11. I find the UI of the Jitsi Meet app for Android easy to use (the app can be installed via Google Play);
  12. Jitsi Meet is open-source, so anyone can inspect the source code;
  13. if I wanted to, I could download the Jitsi software to my own server and set up a Jitsi Meet server to handle meetings instead of using the Cloud server provided by 8×8, Inc. (the company that develops the Jitsi Meetings software).
sonalder@lemmy.ml on 11 Mar 09:11 collapse

I second this, there is several associations or comapnies that are running Jitsi Meet instances so you could have more proximity with the servers or more trust if it’s a non-profit association you’re part of for exemple.

bloubz@lemmygrad.ml on 11 Mar 08:35 next collapse

In addition to Jitsi, there’s also Element Call (from Element company, huge contributor of the Matrix ecosystem). I’m not sure there is screen sharing yet though, you’ll have to try it out I’ve not used it for a long time

sylphio@lemmy.ml on 11 Mar 12:07 collapse

It can share screen.

ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net on 11 Mar 08:54 next collapse

Bananas Screen Sharing may one day be able to fulfill the screen sharing part, though currently it does not share application audio.

Signal can group screen share with audio (I think), though it was a little buggy when I tried it a couple years ago.

shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip on 11 Mar 11:19 next collapse

Jitsi meet

solrize@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 11:27 next collapse

I keep wanting to try Jami and opened a thread about it a while back. It seems more geeky than Jitsi. That might be good or bad depending on your perspective. I’m not sure but I think it may be purely peer to peer, instead of needing a server. I tried to self-host Jitsi once and gave up after hitting some snags, but I might try harder sometime.

kixik@lemmy.ml on 12 Mar 00:04 collapse

I would jami except you want it web based. And next comes jitsi meet, but I then would suggest self-hosting to avoid people to be subscribed to a sever somewhere, though I don’t know if that limits the easy part of it. Jami is easy on PCs, and everyone needs to have it installed, and all be included into a single swarm group, and I believe that’s as easy as with google meet. The mobile solution is something I don’t recommend at this point, neither syncing devices, but PCs wise, absolutely