Lecture capture system upgrade
Indiana University is a top public institution with eight campuses statewide, students exceeding 114,000, with more than 20,000 faculty and staff members. For the last five years, the university has used hardware and PC-based software lecture capture systems in 600 classrooms. The university was looking to replace the lecture capture systems by building a low-cost, end-to-end solution that had a holistic view of the needs of the different users.
The administrators wanted easy-to-use, interoperable systems that required least maintenance efforts; the professors wanted to focus on teaching with minimal interaction with the systems; and the students wanted to access lectures to learn anytime, anywhere. The university’s main goal was to have lecture capture in every classroom, while having a centralized video management system that was both flexible and scalable to keep up with future needs.
Surpassing evaluation
First evaluating video management systems, they decided on Kaltura with its open capture standard support and wide destination options. Next, needing to find a compatible encoder to replace the previous hardware-based lecture capture systems in large and complex classes, the university tested nine different solutions before choosing the Matrox® Monarch LCS H.264 encoder.
Easy to set up and maintain, the dual-channel Monarch LCS with frame synchronization is ideal for multi-stream needs and delivers pristine quality videos. With a low one-time investment and no annual fees, Monarch LCS allows the university to expand the number of classrooms that have lecture capture appliances. The University also leverages the seamless integration between the Monarch LCS and Kaltura.
Course of action
By integrating Monarch LCS’s scheduling feature into the Kaltura video platform, interaction from the professor or operator is eliminated. At the scheduled event start/stop time, the Monarch LCS units automatically start or stop the operation.
The lectures’ in-room camera and the lecture content are captured with the Monarch LCS in dual-isolated mode. This enables, through the Kaltura multi-stream player, several dynamic viewing options such as picture-in-picture and side-by-side during the playback of the material while maintaining perfectly synced audio and video.
After the lectures are recorded, the Monarch LCS transfers the files over the network to Kaltura, at a later suitable time, eliminating the risk of network congestion. Kaltura transcodes the videos to different formats and resolutions, and automatically publishes them onto the university’s Canvas learning management system (LMS) to be viewed by different devices (Apple®, Android™, PC, Mac® etc.).
Beginning of a long term association
Replacing the old lecture capture solution with the powerful Monarch LCS-Kaltura combination has comprehensively addressed the users’ pain points. The administrators now have a simple, easy-to-use, schedulable, and fully-integrated solution. The professors are able to put the system out of their minds and concentrate on teaching. Finally, the students have gained the most as there is a clear improvement in the video quality and they are able to dynamically switch to the lecture content that interests them.
James Scott McGookey, manager, collaboration technologies at Indiana University says, “Matrox Monarch LCS gives us the dual-input lecture capture we need in many of our classrooms. The affordable Monarch LCS is small enough to fit in our lecterns with little fuss and records automatically so our faculty don’t have to worry about starting and stopping the process. Matrox’s Kaltura integration has been a key differentiator for Indiana University. Having lecture capture integrated with our institutional video management solution has driven adoption significantly.”