Directors in rooms can't mute nor lower guest microphones

[azyrr]

Unfortunately room microphone controls don't seem to have an affect on guest microphones. No matter what option you select the guest microphones remain unmuted (unless they themselves mute it of course). Tried in multiple browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera) and the result seems to be the same.

[999999333]

It works as intended. With control panel you just control volume in scenes (eg. in OBS, check use obs to control volume in browser source settings). It doesnt control volume in "chat room " mode and thats right behaivior

[steveseguin]

I'll eventually be adding the ability for a director to mute guests in the group rooms (and not just scenes), though I have to work out the UX for this. Force unmuting a guest is a privacy concern, so the muting logic/UI needs to be more sophisticated -- users need to know the director has muted them and be aware when they become unmuted again.

A muted problematic user can of course just refresh the page to unmute themselves again, so it's not going to block those who are abusive either.

As mentioned, the current mute/volume controls apply to the scenes only. As I add more buttons to the director's room, it all becomes more complex and convoluted, so I also need to re-organize those controls to keep them simple. Muting remote guests is quite easy from a technical point of view, and I originally had a way to do it, but I had a lot of user feedback about the UX not being good enough, so I removed it.

[eazuka]

hello @steveseguin, the ability for director mute guest is actually needed back.

[reldnahcire]

I work at a small college and we're starting to use OBS and other things to help fundraise with games like Among Us. If I as the technical director could mute/unmute the group chat it would be game changing for us given the game play. I don't know if it truly solves the privacy concerns but if the mute all/unmute all was really a silence all/restore each individuals state before the silence all button was pushed it might be great? I.E. the button mutes the sending of everyone to everyone else but undoing it doesn't change an individual's mic setting. I will admit right away that I have no idea how that looks as a UX element.

[steveseguin]

I see a way to add a mute button, but you wouldn't be able to UNMUTE a guest really; not if they are "double" muted.

Instead, I'll probably put up a notification say the director has you muted. The user will still have control over their own mute button.

Currently the directly mute button controls the audio in a SCENE only. This is so you can mute someone in a live stream who might be swearing, etc. you can also have a second director in a group room, chatting with the group, but not being heard by the OBS scene.

I'll need to add a second mute button to the director's room for this feature request. Thank you

[steveseguin]

Or maybe I'll add a checkmark that is for "MUTE EVERYONE' vs "MUTE SCENE"

[azyrr]

I think a clear distinction between muting in a scene vs muting everything is needed here. Scene controls, imo, are just that - so to separate them (visually etc.) is important.

Having said that, microphone control of guests is important in the room during a broadcast. Mostly because you can't have physical access to the guest and they sometimes use microphone / speaker setups that need nannying by the director (i.e. active mute / unmute).

One way you could overcome privacy issues would be a request by the director to the guest that has a very clear information that relays the directors intent to take over.

I.e. this could read "the director wants to control your camera, your microphone and speaker setup. If you accept your microphone and webcam can be controlled without your input and they can be turned on and off at the directors will. Do you accept?"

If the guest accepts they know that the device they're using isn't going to accommodate them to the WC or they might be on display at all times during the show.

This will also open up the option for the director to quickly troubleshoot the guests microphone, webcam and speaker setup remotely.

But if you have layers of muting, unmuting and scene muting I feel it might complicate the matter for the guests even more (well guests who aren't technically adept at least).

So a midway solution like this where you consent to giving up control (because this is a broadcast tool not a group chat tool and this request would be expected) vs doing it yourself is a better idea?

UX wise, the main mute button might be right on top of the speaker cam (on the directors control room), and a red color overlay for muted guests could diversify muted vs active speakers at a glance too.

The guests own preview could also mirror these visual ques to quickly understand that they're muted.