Av & it guidance for lecture venues

The Panopto recorder software comes in two flavours: manual and remote.

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  Minimum specifications are:
  
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    Intel Core i5 quad-core (Core i7 quad-core recommended)
    
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    8GB RAM (16GB recommended)
    
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    500GB hard drive (1TB recommended)
    
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    Video capture card(s) – see below
    
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  Many teaching spaces are already equipped with a Windows desktop or laptop and this may be sufficient for basic recording, particularly if only audio and screen capture are required. However, as this PC would also be simultaneously used for presenting, there are limitations as to where it can be positioned in the room. Thus it may be difficult to get audio and video feeds into this PC, and does not account for situations where a presenter would wish to present from their own laptop.
  
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  An alternative and preferred solution would be a dedicated Replay PC running Windows 7+ and the Panopto remote recorder software. This could be positioned in a discrete location (e.g. an existing AV rack or projection booth) and receive an audio feed from the room. It would require a network connection (ideally wired) to receive the schedule information and to upload recordings. It
  
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  The remote recorder is scheduled and configured via a web interface, and the presenter does not need to remember to start the recording. Videos are recorded locally and uploaded automatically at the end of each session, before being automatically deleted from the local hard drive to conserve space.
  
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  Another advantage of using the remote recorder over the manual recorder is the ability to synchronise two capture PCs running the remote recorder software to record to the same session. An example of this would be a primary instance of the recorder installed on the dedicated Replay capture PC) with audio and (optional) video inputs, and a secondary instance installed on the presentation PC or laptop to capture the screen and/or slides.
  
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  For situations where the recorder software cannot be installed on the presentation PC (e.g. it is not running Windows, or the presenter has brought their own laptop), a VGA or HDMI capture card can be installed in the dedicated Replay capture PC to take a feed directly from the projector. The advantage of using a secondary recording instance rather than simply capturing the projector feed is that if PowerPoint is used, the slide transitions and text are captured and automatically used as chapter markers in the recording.
  

Plenty of network sockets need to be provided at the front of the room and in the AV booth at the back (if there is one)

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  Recording sessions can be in the region of 1-2GB/hour depending on the video quality and number of video streams used, so a fast, reliable connection from the capture PC is critical, and a wired connection is mandatory.
  
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  Replay always records locally to the capture PC before uploading to the cloud server at the end of the session, so if the network is unavailable for a short period, the recording will not be lost and it will be uploaded once the network connection is restored.
  
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  If there is a sustained network outage:
  

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  The Windows remote recorder will function offline provided it has already received instructions from the server whilst the network was active. The remote recorder stores a copy of all schedule information locally so is able to function quite well in an offline environment. The recording will upload to the server automatically once the network connection is restored.
  
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  The OS X manual recorder can always record offline and and the session can be uploaded once the network connection is restored.
  
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  The Windows manual recorder can record offline only if the user is already logged in (which can only be done if there is a network connection).
  

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  If using IP cameras, additional network points are required at suitable locations around the teaching space.
  

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  Cabling often needs to be changed as display technology moves from one digital format to another; it’s important to provide access conduits that allow cables to be easily changed or moved.
  

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  Panel sessions often take place in large lecture rooms and it’s important to provide additional table and audience microphones for such situations.
  
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  Make sure that extra XLR balanced audio outputs from PA mixing boards can be provided for other recording equipment.
  

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  Front control systems simplify the job of switching on projectors, lights, and room PA by having commonly used settings as default touch-pad buttons. However they tend be quite complex and expensive to program after initial set-up, so care needs to be taken on training support staff in how to use them.
  
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  Guest presenters usually bring their own laptops and it needs to be easy for them to switch the projector to this input via a control pad. The projector feed from the laptop would need to captured by the PC at the back of the lecture room.