Is Flash the only option for browser-based video-conferencing?

To display a P2P video chat / screen-share session in the browser are we limited only to Flash?

I think there are HTML5 solutions 'in the pipeline' but I've no idea of timescales. Do you know of开发者_如何学运维 any flash alternatives?

There is Silverlight solution: http://silverlightvideochat.codeplex.com/

its some custom plugins based on ActiveX or COM or etc, like this http://www.google.com/chat/video and also you could

or you could base it on Java Applet or try to find some pure JS implementation like this http://blog.nihilogic.dk/2008/04/making-javascript-video-player.html

If you want it to work close to 100% of the time (without the user installing stuff) then yes, Flash is the only option.

Another plugin (ActiveX for IE and NPAPI for chrome/Firefox/Safari) type solution - http://www.avspeed.com currently in closed beta so you might need to request an invite.