Hi all, We've been slightly surprised at the response to http://opencast.jira.com/browse/MH-7404 (capture agent issues with USB webcams), potentially pushing a resolution to 1.3 or later.
I have 2 independent comments: 1. Does Matterhorn support USB webcams? This is not completely clear. There are at least 3 JIRAs which are resolved and closed suggesting that it does, viz.: http://opencast.jira.com/browse/MH-5405 USB webcams in Matterhorn http://opencast.jira.com/browse/MH-3530 Can gstreamer capture from a webcam http://opencast.jira.com/browse/MH-776 Low tech capture device One interpretation of the above is that this capability was added to Matterhorn, and now forms part of the product. That would make any failure in that code a regression, which in most projects would be considered a blocker for the next release. However, USB webcams are not listed at all on the reference hardware page, https://opencast.jira.com/wiki/display/MH/Reference+Hardware+(Trunk) It's not clear to me what "reference hardware" means. I would prefer to see Matterhorn define a "supported hardware" list, which would mean that if Matterhorn starts failing to work with a device or class of device listed, then effort will be applied to fix the support for that device (prioritized above, for example, adding new features). Right now USB webcams appear to have got into the category of "working, but unsupported" which is that they were usable in 1.0 or at some point after 1.0, but are no longer usable in 1.1.x and there's no specific commitment to fix that in the short term. It's really important to communicate the extent of support for hardware clearly to adopting institutions. 2. Should Matterhorn support USB webcams? I would like to suggest that it is in fact important for Matterhorn to do so sooner rather than later, as a question of product strategy. Webcam support makes it much easier for new sites to get going in an inexpensive way to evaluate the solution. HD webcams are also likely to be the solution of choice for some types of (smaller) venues. Regards Stephen -- Stephen Marquard, Learning Technologies Co-ordinator Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town http://www.cet.uct.ac.za Email / IM (Jabber/XMPP): [email protected] Phone: +27-21-650-5037 Cell: +27-83-500-5290 ### UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN This e-mail is subject to the UCT ICT policies and e-mail disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/about/policies/emaildisclaimer/ or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. This e-mail is intended only for the person(s) to whom it is addressed. If the e-mail has reached you in error, please notify the author. If you are not the intended recipient of the e-mail you may not use, disclose, copy, redirect or print the content. If this e-mail is not related to the business of UCT it is sent by the sender in the sender's individual capacity. ### _______________________________________________ Matterhorn mailing list [email protected] http://lists.opencastproject.org/mailman/listinfo/matterhorn To unsubscribe please email [email protected] _______________________________________________
