I don’t know much about it this camera but it is nice to see more USB PTZ options. It claims to work with built-in OS drivers so nothing to install. It also claims to work with all major web conferencing apps including Skype and Cisco Jabber (Movi).
Posts in category Lecture Capture
New USB PTZ Camera
Panopto Automated Tagging Pilot
One of the reasons Duke chose Panopto in 2010 after a project comparing leading enterprise capture tools was Panopto’s extensive search capabilities. These include the ability to search for any text used as part of a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, personal notes that viewers type in and store with their lectures for later review, metadata for recordings, such as title and description, and full text transcriptions imported into recordings as caption tracks.
Viewers can search for a word in any of these categories either within a particular recording, or across all the recordings in their node (i.e., trinity.capture.duke.edu or law.capture.duke.edu). The results returned will be indexed so that when you click on any instance of the word, it will take you right to that spot in the recording and begin playing from there.
Beginning this semester and continuing into 2013, senior developers on OIT’s Systems team and the Interactive Technology Services group that manages DukeCapture are partnering to explore a unique automated tagging pilot. Normally caption tracks are generated by humans (an expensive proposition, and one that Panopto does support if needed for Section 508/504 compliance). This project allows us to export recordings captured in Panopto to a Cisco device that will convert the audio to text and automatically import that text back into Panopto as caption tracks. As with all computer-based speech-to-text technologies, the accuracy of the transcriptions is by no means perfect, and as a result our short-term goal is not verbatim transcripts, but rather text tags that can help you locate parts of the video to watch. Currently the system handles complex words better than simple ones, which makes it useful for this type of tagging and search. Longer term, we plan to continue working on accuracy as well as on expanding the number of recordings using this technology. Imagine having access to the entire body of lectures captured at Duke, and being able to find every instance of where a particular term you were interested in occurred.
An example of an automatic text track for a Panopto recording
Several fall 2012 courses are signed up for this pilot, and we are looking for additional faculty volunteers for 2013 who would be interested in helping us explore this technology. If you are a faculty member and would be interested in having your lectures captured or in participating in our caption pilot, please feel free to contact your DukeCapture Site Administrator to get set up.
If you’re a DukeCapture Site Adminstrator, please spread the word to the faculty members and other speakers you support!
Leverage That Investment!
While iPhone photographers and videographers can add lights, lenses, and other accessories to their devices with special cases like the Phocus, those planning to use the iPad for video journalism, livestreaming, and filmmaking have been left out. That’s about to change, with the imminent arrival of the Padcaster (US$149.00) and Padcaster/Lenscaster combo($189.00) from The Padcaster, LLC.
Check this demo on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/44031241#
Might be worth a look. Anybody take the plunge?
Two Promising Accessories for Mobile and Class Capture
We recently came across two interesting and (fairly) inexpensive accessories that may be of interest to those of you involved in or supporting classroom and mobile capture.
The first is the Swivl (http://www.swivl.com/), a mount for iPhones, iPod Touches, Go Pros and other portable cameras by way of the included standard tripod mount. We haven’t had the opportunity to test this device yet, but are excited by the possibilities it could offer for bringing class capture to rooms that lack expensive A/V infrastructure, or to support enhanced video quality for those using DukeCapture Mobile in non-classroom locations.
The Swivl
The Swivl lets you remotely operate your camera, has a built in microphone, and includes the ability to automatically track yourself (or whomever you’re recording). It rotates 360 degrees horizontally, +10 / -20 degrees vertically and runs on standard AA and AAA batteries (or optional AC adapter), and has a range of 10 meters. The Swivl costs $179.00. If any of you get a chance to take a closer look at this device or to test it, please keep us posted how things go.
A second device that can substantially increase video quality for your DukeCapture Mobile recordings is the MicroPro by Litepanels (http://www.litepanels.com/language/pages/micropro.php). OIT ITS recently acquired one of these, and it’s performed well in our testing.
The MicroPro by Litepanels
This small form factor LED light is essentially a tiny professional diffuser light. It operates on 4 AA batteries (seem to last a good while) includes a 3-piece gel kit, a hotshoe mount, a case, and a dimmer dial that takes you all the way from zero to way too bright at the highest setting if the light is placed within a couple feet of your subject. With the dial somewhere in the middle, though, you can finally leave that murky webcam video we’ve all come to expect far behind and create much more professional looking images that will set your captures apart.
The main downsides of the MicroPro are its cost (at $275.00 it’s not exactly cheap), and the fact that it doesn’t come with a built-in mount for attaching it to your computer monitor. Certainly the creative folks among you will find some way to do this, however, and even if you can’t, you can get good results simply by setting it at an angle against something on a desk and pointing it toward your subject. It does have a slightly cheap plastic feel to it (especially for the price), but don’t let that deter you–it’s a very powerful light for its size. If any of you want to give this a look, please give us a shout.
Panopto Practices What They Preach
With the addition of several new staff members, Panopto’s engineering team has seen a lot of growth in recent months. Unfortunately, though, as part of these changes they are losing John Ketchpaw, one of the architects of Panopto and a leader on the dev team. John was great to work with, and Duke will miss him. The good news, however, is that Panopto has made several new engineering hires and have found some talented folks to replace him, each of whom will have more focused areas of responsibility. For example, Bertrand Lee, who previously worked at Microsoft, where he designed the Windows XP and Vista drivers for USB cams, will have the Panopto Remote Recorder as his sole area of responsibility. That means we have some exciting improvements on the horizon in this area.
Panopto also turned John’s exit into a great opportunity to put their own tools to use. Over the course of three weeks, John met with the engineering team to transfer his knowledge, and all of those meetings were recorded using Panopto software. This way, team members can review the information John covered to make sure they understand everything, and can take notes to help pinpoint areas where there are questions.
Panopto put together an amazing video to showcase this project, which you can watch here:
http://demo.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=f045e0d9-cea5-4fa1-89a0-7658d7b8ae64
And you can read more about it on Panopto’s blog here:
http://www.panopto.com/blog/social-learning-panopto-%E2%80%93-how-we-used-panopto-share-knowledge-among-our-team
Dell computer monitor shootout
We recently received two computer monitors from Dell to demo for potential use in the new MPS lab: the UltraSharp LED U2412M and the UltraSharp U2410. We were looking for something somewhat comparable to the NEC PA241W-BK but a little less expensive. The Dell U2410 is rated as a higher quality monitor than the U2412M and offers a few more bells and whistles like wide color gamut, more video inputs and an SD card reader. We found both monitors offered very good image quality, and after doing a side by side comparison the Dell U2412M looked a bit better with its default settings. However, after calibrating the monitors using Xrite’s eye-one display2 colorimeter, we the U2410 had better image. We currently have these monitors set up in the OIT media lab. If you would like to come by and check them out please let me know.
For more information about monitor calibration please check out Todd Stabley’s post Calibrate Your Monitor–You’ll Be Glad You Did.
Go For GoPro HERO2?
The price might be just right. Very intriguing article delivered in an engaging online digital format. Lots of suggested add-ons and modifications to power up your GoPro camera. Found this one in the latest digital edition of “Digital Video.” Got me thinking…
Check here for a comparative look at the GoPro Camera “family.”
Spark Digital – USB and iPad Condenser Microphone
I just read about this on Macworld. This mic was an iWorld 2012 Best of Show winner.
“This $200 USB condenser microphone can be used with a Mac or an iPad, and has a built-in shock mount and adjustable stand. It uses the same studio-grade condenser capsule as the original analog version of the Spark microphone.”
Looks Useful To Me…
Could make for a fine holiday gift. Check it out: http://tascam.com/product/im2/
- Stereo condenser microphones for iPhone 4, iPod Touch or iPad dock connection
- High-quality stereo condenser microphones – same as our best-selling DR-series recorders
- Microphones adjustable 180 degrees front to back
- Built-in analog to digital converter and microphone preamp for low noise recording
- 125dB SPL maximum level for recording loud shows without distortion
- Switchable limiter attenuates high-level signals to prevent recording overload
- Adjustable input level control
- Powered through iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch dock connector
- USB input allows the iPhone or iPad to be charged from a USB connection or optional TASCAM PS-P515U
- CD-quality digital recording (44.1kHz/16-bit linear PCM)
- Compact size ideal for mobile use
- Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 4G, iPad, iPad 2
Pro Audio To Go
Here’s an option for one click recording in the field with professional microphones. Might be an alternative to a stand alone recorder.
EQ settings available with presets. Works with either an iPhone or iPad. Will accept mic or line in with the appropriate cable, also available from their website: http://tinyurl.com/d8eqbdr
