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Kaltura, Using Personal Capture

Kaltura Personal Capture is a program that makes it easy for users to create and upload videos to Kaltura through mediaspace.illinois.edu, Canvas or Moodle, available for Windows or Mac. Recorded videos can be a combination of webcams and/or screen recordings.
To launch Personal Capture (or to install it), choose "Kaltura Personal Capture" from the "Add New" menu in mediaspace.illinois.edu, or where you can see your media in Canvas or Moodle.  Personal Capture is available to all current faculty, staff, and students. You must log in to access the tool.

If you haven't installed the application you will be asked to choose your operating system, Windows or Mac and download the client. Selecting Add New, then Kaltura Personal Capture will ALWAYS take you to a page to download the client. You only need to download and install it once, but you will see this window each time. We recommend that you access the tool in this way, as opposed to using a desktop shortcut to the application.

Using Kaltura Personal Capture
The application will automatically open, presenting you recording options.

Kaltura Capture menu
You can mute any of the sources by clicking on the icon. The icon will turn gray and have a slash through it when it is muted.
Kaltura Capture menu
To choose from multiple source options, select the chevron/carrot/arrow to the right of the icon. When it is pointed UP, you will be able to select from multiple cameras and monitors. If you select a camera in the first/left window, the icon will change to a camera. You can record multiple cameras or screens. If you select a source in source 1, it will not be an option in source 2. You must also select an audio source, particularly if you have multiple microphone devices. Highlight the source you want to use.
Kaltura Capture menu

Kaltura Capture menu
At this time there is no local playback option, but it is coming soon. You will need to upload media to Kaltura in order to preview it. PLEASE do a test recording first to make sure the audio and video sources are correct. 
A local copy is saved by default, and you can go to that folder to test the sources as well. You can find this folder in the Manage link, then select the Logs directory. At the same level as the Logs is a folder called Recordings, the source files reside there (provided you have not set the application to delete them).
If you are using screen recording, and open a PowerPoint presentation, Personal Capture will capture thumbnail images and add them as time based markers to your presentation. It will also parse the slide show for keywords and make them searchable.
If a PowerPoint file is used with screen recording, you will see 3 horizontal white lines in the upper left corner of the player once it is uploaded.
Kaltura search option
Selecting it will display a search box and thumbnails. The search box will display text taken from PowerPoint slides. The images and any search results will create links to a time point in the recording. To incorporate PowerPoint slides into your video, simply display a slideshow on a screen you capture, we recommend the using the first/left screen. PowerPoint slides in window two may not be utilize thumbnails or text search. 
Kaltura search option
Notes on Devices
  • It is possible to use a USB document camera such as the IPEVO Ziggi HD Plus. You must select it as a camera source and we recommend setting the camera to 720p.  Example of a USB document camera used with Personal Capture.
  • We have received reports of some desktops not being recognized by Personal Capture. We believe it is some combination of VGA display and/or PCI video card. We are working with the vendor on this.
  • Personal Capture is only available for Windows and Mac full operating systems. This application will not work in iOS.
    • iOS 11 has a new screen recording feature, but it cannot be used at the same time as screen mirroring (either through the internal tool or a lightning to HDMI adapter), so it will not work in a classroom or presentation. But you can record and upload to Kaltura. Details on iOS screen recording.  

Accessing recordings

Once you select Stop on a recording, you are presented with a window to preview the recording and add meta data. If you Save the recording, it saves locally. If you Save & Upload, it will upload to Kaltura and appear in your MyMedia list. We recommend Save & Upload to Kaltura, but you can save it for later upload.

Unless you set the application to delete after uploading to Kaltura, your recordings are saved locally and can be viewed or reused from the local folder. This is useful when someone wants to edit their recordings for use later. Currently only one source can be downloaded from Kaltura online, so local access is used when the second (or both) video files are needed. 

Directions to access your recordings locally are found at: https://knowledge.kaltura.com/kaltura-personal-capture-folder-directory

The files will be in the Recordings folder within personal capture

  • Windows:  C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Kaltura\Capture
  • Mac:  /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Kaltura/Capture

If you edit recordings from Personal Capture using Adobe Premiere Pro, please be aware that some users receive the error "Error Message The importer reported a generic error.”  This is a known issue with Adobe.

Known limitations:

  • System audio can be recorded on Windows, but not on a Mac.
  • Editing must be done online using Kaltura's editor.

Observed Issues

We have observed a handful of singularly occurring errors related to Personal Capture, issues that cannot be reproduced. Please contact the Kaltura team (consult@illinois.edu) if you experience any of these, or other issues. We escalate concerns to Kaltura and need your assistance and feedback to fix bugs.
  • Icons disappearing: In one case one of our Kaltura admins no longer can see the red record button, the Kaltura logo, or some of the other icons in the application on Windows 10. The recorder still functions, but the images are missing. 
  • Monitors not detected: We have a report of Personal Capture not detecting monitors as a source to record. Our working theory is looking at the video card being a PCI card, or the fact that the signal is analog VGA.
Kaltura documentation (most up to date)
You can record from a combination of one or two cameras and one or two screens (or partial screens).  For details, see Kaltura's documentation: https://knowledge.kaltura.com/kaltura-personal-capture-recording-options      
You can then save the video locally or publish it automatically to your media in Kaltura.  For details, see Kaltura's documentation: https://knowledge.kaltura.com/personal-capture-completing-and-uploading-your-recording      




Keywords:
Kaltura, media, mediaspace, video, record, create, capture, personal, camera, webcam, desktop, recording, Canvas 
Doc ID:
84891
Owned by:
Alan B. in University of Illinois Technology Services
Created:
2018-08-14
Updated:
2024-03-19
Sites:
University of Illinois Technology Services