Jitsi

[aessen]

@potemkin_ai in case you didn’t get a chance to find it (regarding the homeserver caveats):

By default, the app expects you to have a Matrix homeserver (such as Synapse) installed locally and running on port 8008…

Element Call requires a homeserver with registration enabled without any 3pid or token requirements, if you want it to be used by unregistered users…

Therefore, to use a self-hosted homeserver, this is recommended to be a new server where any user account created has not joined any normal rooms anywhere in the Matrix federated network.

It is for this reason that Element Call, while a robust and impressive solution the Matrix ecosystem, isn’t really a replacement (yet) for similar services. That being said, when deployed as part of an integrated Element Matrix solution such as Element Server Suite alongside Element X, it is incredible.

Jitsi Meet VideoBridge is crashing anytime more than two people join on any service that used it. It’s good that Element was working on Element Call before that. @girish and @nebulon, how was Cloudron able to run Jitsi so smoothly before when no other service could? Is that why the Cloudron version remained an older version?

[potemkin_ai]

Thanks, @aessen. I've been distracted, but now get back on that and have this up and running on a dedicated server - will see how it goes.

Jitsi is a working horse, can't say there are any troubles. Not running it inside Docker - got it running on a dedicated VM without problems; guess I'm now in a position to make it work well from inside the Docker, but can't find any motivation to do so.

My key insides from my short experience with Element Call:

• it's definitely not production ready - integration features wise, first of all
• guys basically probably took a look at Jitsi, which is an enhanced version of COTURN to mix things + XMPP server - for auth and signalling; then they probably looked at livekit and Synapse, scratched her heads and asked themselves: why bother with an external behemoth, when our product is a competitor with XMPP (given OMEMO could work as smoothly...)
• indeed existing Synapse server is a no go, unless you are ready for a mess

But the key problem turned out to be in other place: you can't just add element call URL to a well-known location / DNS and expect it to be catched by Element - it just won't.

Considering recent Element / Matrix reorganization and that the release cycle for Call is on a slow side and the tickets I've raised didn't get much attention, I wouldn't expect Element Call to be a production replacement soon.

[aessen]

@potemkin_ai Indeed, Jitsi itself, running alone, in its own comfy space, installed per the Jitsi guide does run smooth as silk (albeit with some occasional drops). It is when you get into other implementations that are not Debian/Ubuntu that it seems to have issues. I've tried the OpenSUSE and Docker deployments and eventually always encounter an issue with colibri/websockets.

As for Element Call, they seem really focused on their new Element Starter Suite and Element Server Suite which is a lot like Element Matrix Services (EMS) but self hosted. Element Call is part of some deployments and really sparkles there. What is really exciting is that the Integrations options have really revved up.

I am testing both suites now and can say this is the most complete Element has felt when self hosting and I am not just saying that because you can default your deployment to use Hydrogen instead if you want to cut some bloat. Ha-ha!

Element Server Suite can integrate with everything and the kitchen sink and is apparently the only one who Element Call wants to be friends with.