Chromebooks have successfully carved out a niche for themselves particularly in the education sector due to their ultraportable design and cheap price tag. However as much as Google's cloud-based Chrome OS has proven to be up to the task in many ways, there is one area that it has always lagged behind: Native video recording.
Recently an entry in the Chromium Code Review has revealed that native video recording is finally going to be coming to Chrome OS - so long as the Chromebooks utilize MediaRecorder APIs and can use hardware-based VEA. The feature is expected to be in the next stable version of Chrome OS.
This move is undoubtedly going to be one that is welcomed by most Chrome OS users, as it is a feature that has been frequently requested for some time. In the past Chrome OS users have been forced to rely on third-party apps to help fulfill the role and record videos via their webcam, but the functionality and features of such apps tend to be sparse.
The fact that the entry in the Chromium Code Review uses the same API as Android cameras suggests that similar features would be available in the Chrome OS native video recorder. In theory that should include stickers, filters, and other functionality that can be found on Android smartphones. Additionally if Google decides to open up the MediaRecorder API for Chrome OS it would allow app developers to integrate it into new or existing apps.
Prior to this it had been announced that the new Chromebook from Samsung will have native video recording when it is released as well. At the time people speculated whether that was part of a larger change to Chrome OS, or whether Samsung's Nautilus Chromebook was a special case due to its very different camera implementation.
With the confirmation that native video recording is indeed going to be rolled out to all Chromebooks that can support it, it is possible that it will actually end up arriving before Samsung's Nautilus is released. For now there is no formal release date for a stable new version of Chrome OS, nor is there one for Samsung's Nautilus - so there is no telling which will be available first.
When the new version of Chrome OS is released however, users can expect to be able to capture video at up to 30 frames per second on their cameras. The figure may vary a bit however, depending on the technical specifications of the Chromebook in question. Future Chromebooks are more likely to be designed with the feature in mind, and are more likely to be able to attain the full 30 frames per second.
In any case Chrome OS users shouldn't have to wait too long before they are able to start recording videos via the native video recording feature. In the process it is likely to rob Nautilus of the distinction of being the first Chromebook to have native video recording available.