Hey Nils,

Of course I was not taking that into account, but I took for granted it
wouldn't be an issue, since so far we have been using arguments regarding
money, and not other regulatory concerns.

So I guess I stand with an "if" there are not restrictions as to install
some wiring to allow plugging recording equipment more easily, then that
would be definitely my first choice. "If" a pre-installation is not
possible, then those alternatives are something to consider, of course.

Best regards

2012/4/2 Nils Birnbaum <[email protected]>

> Hey Rubén,
> in my experience in the eight years of bringing recording equipment into
> class- and other rooms of a university, there are things that are more
> important than money. For example restrictions for structural alteration,
> fire regulations or somtimes that the room isn't owned by th University.
> Monument conservation, always a nice arguments against all kinds of new
> wires, especialy in combination with fire regulations. These are only some
> examples. So there are many more reasons to spend money for special
> solutions.
>
> I like the idea of mobile solutions, build one for virtPresenter which
> runs very good under the given conditions. So I'm very instrested to see
> what's comming next in this area.
>
> Nils
>
> > Hello Steve,
> >
> > I'm sorry about my English, it's normal you don't understand that
> > sentences
> > because it doesn't say what I meant (I thought it did, at the time). To
> > put
> > it short, my point was that I didn't see why spending so much in a single
> > component when a whole classroom could be equipped with not much more
> > money.
> >
> > However, now that you explained your case a little more (thanks about
> > that,
> > btw!), I'd definitely go for semi-permanent installation in the
> > classrooms.
> > I mean, having the necessary wiring conveniently installed in the
> > classrooms, so that recording a classroom would only be plugging the
> > recorder on one side, a camera on the other side, and start recording.
> > This
> > was what I meant here:
> >
> > As an alternative, you could think of having a pre-installation for audio
> >> and video, so that all the cables are installed and conveniently
> >> "hidden"
> >> from the public, and you'd only have to plug the VGA, audio, etc. from
> >> some
> >> panel next to the teacher's desk. But, again, it depends largely on what
> >> is
> >> your intended setup, if there are fixed cameras in each classroom, etc.
> >
> >
> > For instance, in most classrooms in UVigo there is a multimedia
> projector.
> > The cable to the projector is passed through the ceiling and walls to the
> > teachers desk, so they only have to plug an VGA cable lying next to their
> > desk to their computer, and they can start their slideshow or whatever.
> > You
> > could have the same with a camera but, instead of having a permanent
> > camera
> > in every classroom, you could have simply the cable and a connector panel
> > in both ends. If you use HD webcams, as we do, then the price of them is
> > low enough to consider having one for every classroom. Still, I believe
> > that this kind of wired installation would be cheaper than the wireless
> > alternatives, and at the same time more robust and with a better
> > performance.
> >
> > Finally, I do think that having a working CA in a laptop is possible,
> > though its main problem is the "confidence monitoring", which is getting
> > fixed in this and upcoming versions. As regards to Galicaster, it may
> > certainly run in a laptop, though it's more difficult to add periferals
> > (such as capture cards) to them (this problem affecting also the official
> > CA and any laptop-based solution, of course).
> >
> > Best regards
> > Rubén
> >
> > 2012/4/2 Stephen Spencer <[email protected]>
> >
> >> Thank you for your synopsis Mike.
> >>
> >> Steve
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: [email protected] [mailto:
> >> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael D. Walker
> >> Sent: 30 March 2012 17:13
> >> To: Opencast Community
> >> Subject: Re: [Opencast] Teradek Cube
> >>
> >> The Teradek Cube is a good portable encoder.  $1500 is inexpensive when
> >> compared with Vbrick and Haivision appliances.  That also compares well
> >> against a high end capture card loaded in a PC or Mac Pro.  You may want
> >> wireless, but they also have wired.
> >> You can spend a lot more on the camcorder, mics, and mixer.
> >>
> >> It's a portable solution for a camera/webcast team, not to install in
> >> every classroom, but it's not really a DL solution.
> >>
> >> Mike
> >>
> >> On 3/30/2012 2:25 AM, Stephen Spencer wrote:
> >> > Hi Ruben,
> >> >
> >> > Thanks for your reply, I appreciate that your willing to hear my
> >> thoughts on our ideal setup. Basically what we hope to end up with is a
> >> portable ca that is as light weight and unobtrusive as possible, which
> >> we
> >> can setup before a lecture starts.
> >> >
> >> > It's worth noting that we are a relatively small institution and don't
> >> intend to be turning around 100's or 1000's of hours of video every
> >> year.
> >> As a result when I said we have a low budget what I mean is that we
> >> can't
> >> afford to kit out all of our teaching areas with static installations
> >> for
> >> something that probably won't be in constant use. It's likely that
> >> certain
> >> lecturers will want to be involved and want all of their modules to be
> >> recorded. This causes us a problem because the way our timetabling
> >> system
> >> works means we can't guarantee that they will be in the same teaching
> >> space
> >> from day to day (hence the portable requirement).
> >> >
> >> > Something that we would like to avoid happening is having trailing
> >> cables running through the classroom which is one of the reasons for
> >> thinking about using these cubes. The other reason is that they will
> >> take
> >> care of any transcoding of the video feeds, reducing the spec required
> >> for
> >> pc element of the capture agent. We plan to capture audio via
> >> Seennheiser
> >> ew 100-NEG radio mics which we already possess and the teaching pc
> >> through
> >> vga/dvi to hdmi converters connected to a cube broadcasting an rtp or
> >> udp
> >> stream back to the ca. I am also leaning towards using Gallicaster over
> >> the
> >> standard MCD spec.
> >> >
> >> > I do realise the these devices are fairly expensive at $1490 a go but
> >> I
> >> have to admit I'm having difficulty understanding your cost break down.
> >> You
> >> said in your message that Vigo are spending around €3000 per capture
> >> agent
> >> and later on "And still, all this stuff is roughly half as much the cost
> >> of
> >> a single Cube". A lot of this equipment we already possess so we don't
> >> need
> >> to start purchasing everything from scratch.
> >> >
> >> > Another thing to keep an eye on is whether or not using a cube will
> >> become redundant in about a year. I say this because in the 3rd quarter
> >> of
> >> last year the first wireless hd cameras were released but only to the
> >> south
> >> korean market, so I would expect to be seeing them in European/American
> >> market quite soon.
> >> >
> >> > If you have any better ideas that might fit our requirements I would
> >> be
> >> very grateful to hear them because we are new to Matterhorn and do
> >> appreciate comments/advice from seasoned users.
> >> >
> >> > Best Regards
> >> > Steve
> >> >
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: [email protected]
> >> > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rubén
> >> > Pérez
> >> > Sent: 29 March 2012 21:47
> >> > To: Opencast Community
> >> > Subject: Re: [Opencast] Teradek Cube
> >> >
> >> > Hello,
> >> >
> >> > Steve, I would really like to know what you have in mind, because I
> >> > confess I don't understand all the details. You're saying that you
> >> > have a low budget for equipment and thus you don't want to set up a
> >> > fixed installation in the classrooms, but at the same time you are
> >> > willing to spend almost
> >> > $2000 in a single transceiver.
> >> >
> >> > I'm guessing that you'll still need a camera and a computer to send
> >> the
> >> video stream to. You still need to connect the teacher's pc to get the
> >> VGA
> >> feed, which I don't know how you want to accomplish, and also how you're
> >> going to get the audio feed. Are you installing cameras in every
> >> classroom,
> >> or are you using a mobile camera, too? What about the audio set up?
> >> >
> >> > I can tell you that we are spending ca. €3000 in Vigo to equip one
> >> classroom, and even though this is a high figure, it includes:
> >> >
> >> >    - An i7-based computer, with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of HD in a
> >> RAID-1,
> >> for
> >> >    redundancy
> >> >       - Please note that this computer is highly over-sized for a
> >> simple
> >> >       capture unit, but we are using this computers at night as
> >> Matterhorn
> >> >       workers. We could easily use much cheaper i3 computers if we
> >> were
> >> to use
> >> >       them as capturers only.
> >> >    - The Epiphan VGA2PCI framegrabber
> >> >    - An HD Logitech c910 webcam
> >> >    - A Behringer sound board
> >> >    - A wearable Revolabs Solo microphone
> >> >    - A set of two fixed stereo microphones, to work as backup
> >> >    - An audio gate to control the microphone gain
> >> >    - A tactile screen
> >> >    - A VGA splitter
> >> >    - All the cables and adapters needed for the installation
> >> >
> >> > All that installed in the classroom in a non-obstructive way and ready
> >> to use.
> >> >
> >> > You can see that we are not installing the cheapest equipment and that
> >> we could do with less (less powerful computers, no microphone array at
> >> all,
> >> cheaper frame grabber and/or microphones...), so the price could be much
> >> lower than that. The screen is required because we use Galicaster as our
> >> reference capture agent, but you could spare the screen if you are using
> >> the official Matterhorn Capture Agents. And still, all this stuff is
> >> roughly half as much the cost of a single Cube.
> >> >
> >> > As an alternative, you could think of having a pre-installation for
> >> audio and video, so that all the cables are installed and conveniently
> >> "hidden"
> >> > from the public, and you'd only have to plug the VGA, audio, etc. from
> >> some panel next to the teacher's desk. But, again, it depends largely on
> >> what is your intended setup, if there are fixed cameras in each
> >> classroom,
> >> etc.
> >> >
> >> > Re. the Galicaster, I'd like to say:
> >> >
> >> >    1. Olav, thanks for testing and using it. Making something useful
> >> for
> >> >    ourselves, but also for others, was our final goal, and seeing
> >> people
> >> is
> >> >    happy with it makes us proud.
> >> >    2. You *can* manage Galicaster remotely via VNC. We currently
> >> manage
> >> all
> >> >    our Galicaster equipments in such a way. Configuring Ubuntu for
> >> providing a
> >> >    VNC signal without a physical screen attached may be a bit tricky,
> >> though,
> >> >    but it can be done and it works perfectly.
> >> >    3. That RTP feature seems very interesting. If you want to share
> >> your
> >> >    developments or concerns regarding that, we are more than happy to
> >> hear
> >> >    them and even contribute to get those functionality on board! There
> >> is a
> >> >    mail list for Galicaster users [1] and you are welcome to subscribe
> >> and
> >> >    share your experiences.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > I'm willing to hear Stephen's comments on their "ideal" setup, because
> >> this kind of discussions are good for adopters to make better decisions
> >> re.
> >> > their classroom equipment.
> >> >
> >> > Best regards
> >> > Rubén
> >> >
> >> > 2012/3/27 Olav Bringedal <[email protected]>
> >> >
> >> >> On 2012-03-22 16:47, Dr Leslaw Zieleznik wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> Steve,
> >> >>>
> >> >>> This is an interesting concept, but:
> >> >>>
> >> >>> 1. in my opinion the cost just for the transmitter is quite high
> >> >>> ($1690-$1990)
> >> >>> 2. you still need to run some wire between the camera/microphone and
> >> >>> the device 3. the question is where you will keep your recordings?
> >> >>> on the decoder/receiver which will add another $1600-$1900 to the
> >> >>> cost 4. will you have access to recordings on the receiver, such
> >> >>> that in a case of lost connection with the core (or missed
> >> >>> transmission) this can be recovered.
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >> I think this might be an interesting product for capturing a screen
> >> >> together with an IP-camera. We UiB have looked into solutions where
> >> >> we can depend less on a stationary PC in the class room, and rather
> >> >> have a virtualised agent.
> >> >>
> >> >> We have seen that the Galicaster agent is much easier to configure
> >> >> for rtp streams than the native MH agent. We are currently working
> >> >> with two
> >> >> scenarios:
> >> >>
> >> >> 1: have a device (either epiphan vgabroadcaster or the epiphan MCD)
> >> >> capture the screen and stream it to rtp. It is here the Tcube can be
> >> >> a replacement. An ip-camera does the same. Then a galicaster agent
> >> >> takes these streams as an agent. The drawback here is that the output
> >> >> for the galicaster is native, and without a pc in the room, no
> >> >> feedback is provided for the lecturer. If galicaster had a web
> >> >> interface we would probably go for that right away.
> >> >>
> >> >> 2. Get the MCD to work and accept the (less than optimal) quality of
> >> >> the s-video input. We see that the firmware on the MCD is also quite
> >> >> buggy, and are very unsure if it is production worthy.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>  In my only few months experience with the MH system, the best
> >> >> solution is
> >> >>> to have an autonomous capture device, permanently placed in the
> >> >>> lecture room.
> >> >>> And so in the case of any problem, recordings can always be uploaded
> >> >>> at any time 'by hand' to the core.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> You would probably be better of if you design a laptop based capture
> >> >>> device, but then there is unavoidable hazard when moving laptop
> >> >>> around and making every single time connections to the network and
> >> >>> to video/audio devices.
> >> >>> We did use such idea in the past with MiniMac based Podcast Capture
> >> >>> portable device, which we found very unpractical.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Anyway, an interesting concept and I wonder what other peoples will
> >> say?
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Best,
> >> >>> Leslaw
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >> --
> >> >>
> >> >> Olav Bringedal
> >> >>
> >> >> Seksjon for integrasjon og applikasjonsutvikling IT-Avdelingen UIB
> >> >>
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