There’s a new niche emerging for a user friendly way to record and broadcast classes and presentations, as evidenced by the emergence of the Epiphan Pearl.
The Pearl is similar to hardware capture appliances such as the Extron SMP-351, the Crestron Capture-HD or the Winnov Cbox series, which also do hardware-based compositing of multiple video streams, but these units are designed for integration into a classroom whereas the Pearl is taking this same functionality and making it portable.
Core distinguishing features of the Pearl include:
- Easy to set up for someone with limited technical skills
- High quality files
- Compositing of presenter video and content (actually up to 4 HD sources)
- Creates local copies of files in addition to remote storage
- Portability (consumer-type inputs, confidence monitor, small form factor).
Streaming industry guru Jan Ozer recently wrote a detailed review of the Pearl, which you can find here: http://www.streamingmedia.com/Producer/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=106337&PageNum=2
The Pearl lists for $4,875.00, with, unfortunately, no option for educational pricing at this time.
