Hangouts On Air has been updated with a smattering of changes that have been promised to improve the video quality and will enhance the viewer experience.There are 3 notable changes to On Air which we think frequent users will enjoy:
Updated Cameraman App
Cameraman is an app which is enabled by default when doing a Hangout On Air, and two of the recent changes are related to this app.Hide/unhide the film strip
The first of which is that you can now hide the film strip at any time, allowing you to broadcast and record only the main video feed, rather than that as well as the participants of the HOA below also. The film strip can be brought back with a click of a button, however.Automatically mute new participants
If someone joins a HOA in the middle of the broadcast, it may be disruptive as the participant may have his microphone on. This will never happen again with the new Cameraman app, as it lets you mute new participants whenever they join. Hallelujah!Better Screencasts and 1-2 Person Broadcasts
By default, the film strip will be hidden by default when there are only 1 or 2 participants. This change also affects screencasts. Probably my favourite update of the bunch, as it never did make any sense that the film strip was always visible in these specific scenarios.
Source: Tim Mulligan