[time-nuts] an interesting timing problem

[Anton Strydom]

Good day

Easy way of testing such is to make a skype or team viewer call and then
get the other side to synchronize the computer that side as simultaneously
as possible with you by click on change date and time settings and then
Internet time. It for a few seconds are absolutely perfect but deteriorates
very quickly

Cellular WhatsApp calls are better as Cellular networks are better
synchronized than computer networks.



On Wed, May 6, 2020 at 4:01 PM jimlux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Given that there's a lot more people spending time zooming, webexing,
> teaming, skype, facetime, etc. these days, I'm curious if anyone has
> figured out to *quantify* the issues of lag, desynchronization, etc.
>
> How would one go about instrumenting it (without access to the source
> code or servers involved)?
>
> There's two areas of some interest to me:
> 1) there's several studies that say that when voice and image aren't
> perfectly synchronized, particularly if it's not a consistent delay, or
> if there are gaps and jumps, that it is more stressful and creates a
> cognitive workload that does not exist with actual in-person meetings
> (the "why am I more tired after a day of telework than the real thing")
>
> 2) If you wanted to do group music playing or singing, relative timing
> among the streams is critical.  Is there a threshold where it all breaks
> down?  For instance, in an orchestra or choir, one has visual cues from
> the conductor, but most people do not sing or play using the conductor
> as a metronome triggering the next measure's notes. They also listen to
> the players around them (or perhaps on the other side of the stage, some
> 30-40 milliseconds late)
>
>
> I can think of ways to "test" a given teleconferencing system (blinking
> LEDs in a pattern, tone bursts on audio), but I think there's some
> challenges in things like compression algorithms (do they have constant
> latency?) and highly structured test signals might not measure the same
> as actual video and audio.
>
> I will note that there are subjective difference among the various
> tools, and there's differing effects from compression artifacts and
> bandwidth/packet transport.
>
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