Talkative Video Chat allows you to speak face-to-face with customers directly from your website. To ensure the best experience, it’s important to configure video controls, permissions, and optional enhancements like background effects or transcription.
All Video Chat settings can be managed in the Talkative Console by account holders.
⚙️ Managing Video Chat Settings
To configure core video settings:
Settings → Channel Management → Video Controls
Here you’ll find the main toggles that control what agents can access:
Microphone Enabled
Allows agents to use their microphone.
Camera Enabled
Allows agents to use their camera.
Screenshare Enabled
Allows screen sharing during calls.
Effects Enabled
Required for background blur or virtual backgrounds.
If this is disabled, agents cannot use visual effects.
WASM Enabled
Controls advanced processing for background segmentation.
If WASM is disabled, extra blur and segmentation options become active, but performance may vary.
Advanced Effects Settings
If Effects are enabled, you can fine-tune the visual experience:
- Mask Blur Radius
Smooths the edges between the agent and background.
- Blur Filter Radius
Adjusts how strong the background blur appears.
- Person Probability Threshold
Defines how confidently the system must detect a person before applying effects.
- Segmentation Threshold
Controls how strictly foreground vs. background is separated.
These settings are optional and suitable for organisations who want to customise video clarity.
▶️ Video Auto-Start Options
To configure how video features are automatically enabled when an agent joins a call:
Settings → Channel Management → Video Feature Auto Start
Auto-Start Settings
You can enable or disable:
- Audio Auto-Start
- Video Auto-Start
- Effects Auto-Start
Setting a Virtual Background Image
You can apply a default background for all agents:
- Upload a JPEG or PNG (transparency supported)
- Recommended size: 1920 × 1080
- Recommended file size: ~50KB
- Alternatively, use a hosted image URL (CORS must be permitted)
Once saved, agents will see the background the next time they join a call.
💬 Non-Website Customer Video Settings
These settings apply only when initiating video calls with customers who are not on your website, for example via:
- SMS
- Facebook Messenger
- Other non-web channels
Website video behaviour is configured in Chat Widgets, but non-website video relies on the defaults set here.
Go to:
Settings → Channel Management → Non-website Customer Video
Here you can configure:
These settings define how the video call behaves when launched outside of your website environment.
Microphone Control Enabled
Allows customers on non-website channels to use their microphone when joining the video call.
Camera Control Enabled
Allows customers to enable or disable their camera.
Screenshare Control Enabled
Allows screen sharing for supported non-web channels.
Audio Auto-Start
When enabled, the customer’s audio will start automatically (when permitted by their device/browser).
Video Auto-Start
Controls whether customer video starts automatically.
Often kept disabled because many external channels block auto-play for privacy reasons.
🌆 Virtual Backgrounds & Blurring (Including Queue-Specific Backgrounds)
Talkative supports two types of visual effects to help protect agent privacy or create branded environments:
Background Blur: Softly blurs the agent’s real background.
Virtual Backgrounds: Replaces the agent’s background with an image you upload or host.
To use either feature, ensure Effects Enabled is turned on in Video Controls and that agents are using a supported browser (Chrome, Edge, or other Chromium-based browsers).
Setting a Default Virtual Background (Company-Wide)
Default backgrounds can be configured here:
Settings → Channel Management → Video Feature Auto Start
You can:
- Upload a JPEG/PNG (transparency supported)
- Use recommended dimensions: 1920 × 1080
- Use a lightweight file (~50KB recommended)
- Enable Effects Auto-Start if you want backgrounds to apply automatically
Using Different Backgrounds per Queue (Queue-Specific Backgrounds)
If you want each queue to have its own unique virtual background (for example, Sales vs. Support), you can upload separate images per queue.
How to assign a background to a specific queue:
- Navigate to Queues in your sidebar.
- Select the queue you want to customise.
- Open Queue Configs.
- In the General section, enable Video Feature Auto Start.
- You will now see the option to upload an image specifically for this queue.
- Upload your chosen JPEG/PNG background and save.
This allows different teams or business units to appear with different branded backdrops during video calls.
Agent controls during calls
During a live video call, agents can control their background using the Disable Video Effects button. This lets them temporarily remove the virtual background or blur if needed.
📝 Video Transcription
Talkative can transcribe video calls in real time.
Where transcriptions appear:
- Interaction logs
- Real-time monitoring
- Within closed captions (if enabled)
- Interaction summaries
How to enable transcription
- Search for “Transcript” in Settings
- Open Video Transcripts
- Set to Enabled
- Ensure your chat widget is version 0.45 or higher
Setting transcription language
By default, transcription is set to English. To change this:
- Go to Queues
- Open Queue Configs
- Choose your preferred Video Transcription Language
- Save changes and have agents reload the console
🔎 Closed Captions / Subtitles
Both agents and customers can enable closed captions during a video call.
Requirements
- Chat widget v0.45+
- Transcription enabled (search settings: video transcripts)
Customer & Agent View
Customers can toggle captions at any time using the CC button.
This is off by default, but the device will remember the setting for future calls.
Captions in Interaction Logs
Captions appear in the recorded video preview, making it easier to review calls.
➡️ “Resume Video” Prompt
Customers may see a “Resume Video” button if they:
- Refresh the page
- Navigate away mid-call
- Are blocked by browser autoplay policies
Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers prevent auto-playing video unless the user has interacted with the page first.
This behaviour is normal and expected.
⚠️ Basic Troubleshooting
If video isn’t working:
- Ensure a stable internet connection
- Check browser permissions for camera/microphone
- Confirm the correct device is selected
- Use a modern browser (Chrome/Edge recommended)
- If issues persist, contact Talkative Support
❓FAQ’s: Video Chat
Which browsers support Video Chat?
Video Chat is supported on all modern Chromium-based browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and most Chromium derivatives.
Some features (such as virtual backgrounds and blurring) may not work on older browsers or Safari.
Why can’t the customer’s camera or microphone start automatically?
Most browsers, especially Chrome and Firefox, block auto-starting video and audio unless the customer interacts with the page. This also applies to non-website video calls (e.g., SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp).
This is why customers sometimes see a “Resume Video” button.
What’s the difference between “Effects Enabled” and “Effects Auto Start”?
- Effects Enabled (in Video Controls): Allows the use of backgrounds and blur.
- Effects Auto Start (in Video Feature Auto Start): Automatically turns effects on at the start of each video call.
Both must be enabled if you want effects to start automatically.
What file types and sizes work best for virtual backgrounds?
- JPEG or PNG
- Transparency supported for PNGs
- 1920 × 1080 recommended
- ~50 KB recommended for best performance
Higher-resolution or large images may reduce video performance.