About Kaltura recording and webcasting

Pearl-2 supports scheduled events, recurring events, and unscheduled multiple source ad hoc recordings and webcasts. After Pearl-2 is registered, Kaltura users can simply assign Pearl-2 as a resource when setting up an event using MediaSpace.

Scheduled events start and end automatically. No manual intervention is required. After the event ends, the recording automatically uploads. Back up recordings for each channel are also saved locally on Pearl-2.

If the network connection or the CMS goes down during an event, Pearl-2 continues to record locally and uploads the recording when network connectivity resumes. Depending on how busy the Kaltura CMS system is when the files upload, it may take some time for the files to appear in Kaltura's media lists.

You can start and stop events earlier than the scheduled time using the Admin panel or the touch screen on Pearl-2, as well as create ad hoc events.

Starting or stopping a scheduled VOD event before the scheduled start or stop time does not change the event in to an ad hoc event.

Using multiple Pearl-2 channels is how you get multiple views for a Kaltura event. Each channel is treated as a separate video source. Using the Admin panel, Pearl-2 administrators can choose up to five channels on Pearl-2 for multiple source recordings. For webcasting, you can select only one channel at a time.

For example, if you have a main camera and a presentation laptop that you want to capture as a multiple source recording, you'd create two channels on Pearl-2: one for the main camera and another one for the presentation laptop. To learn how to create a channel or to use the Auto channels, see Channel configuration.

For events with multiple sources, the recording for each source is uploaded to Kaltura and appears as a single, multi-view entry in the Kaltura media list with each source (i.e. view) listed as a separate "child" sub-entry. The name of each file includes the name of the channel plus the date and time the file was recorded. For example: Channel 1_May23_10-12-05

Pearl-2 administrators can:

  • Set the video source that is used as the default main entry. The channel selected as the main entry becomes the default view that people see when watching the VOD, as well as the main view (i.e. the large screen) for PiP.
  • Set which Pearl-2 channels are used for scheduled and ad hoc recordings and webcasts.
  • Set the channel used for scheduled and ad hoc webcasts.
  • Set ad hoc event parameters.
  • Change the extend event button time allotment in 5, 10, and 15 minute intervals, see Set the extend Kaltura CMS event interval.
  • Change how often Pearl-2 polls Kaltura for an updated list of Events.

Pearl-2 administrators and operators can use the Admin panel to:

To use the touch screen on Pearl-2 to start, stop, and create events, see CMS event controls using the touch screen.

Default Kaltura encoding settings are applied automatically to the channel when Kaltura is enabled, which override the existing encoding settings. If you manually change the encoding settings using the Admin panel after Kaltura is enabled, the settings revert back to the default Kaltura settings when a scheduled or ad hoc event starts.

Important considerations:

  • Pearl-2 must be registered with Kaltura to record and stream Kaltura events, see Enable CMS and register with Kaltura.
  • Do not schedule recordings that are longer than the capacity of Pearl-2 to store the recording on the local drive.
  • Scheduled events have priority over ad hoc events. If an ad hoc event is still in progress when it's time to start a scheduled event, the ad hoc event is stopped and the scheduled event starts.
  • Scheduled events automatically start recording locally on Pearl-2 even If the network is down or Kaltura is unavailable. After the session ends, the locally recorded files upload automatically to your Kaltura media list when the network link to Kaltura is re-established.
  • After the event ends, it may take a while for content to show up in Kaltura's media lists, depending on how busy the Kaltura CMS system is at that time.
  • The recorded event must be a minimum of 2 minutes long for Kaltura to process the video.
  • The Kaltura Editor does not open recorded events that are less than a minute long.
  • If the network connection is lost during a file upload to Kaltura, the transfer automatically restarts when the network connection re-establishes.
  • If Pearl-2 loses power while a scheduled event is being recorded, the recording stops. If Pearl-2 is powered back on before the scheduled end time for the event, recording of the scheduled event restarts automatically and a second set of files are created. When the event ends, both files automatically upload to Kaltura.
  • If Pearl-2 was unavailable on the network or powered down and misses a scheduled event, the status of that event appears as Skipped on the Events page in the Admin panel.
  • If the time and zone settings of Pearl-2 are out of synchronization with Kaltura's scheduling server, an error appears on the Events page and you're prompted to reconfigure the time settings on Pearl-2, see Configure date and time.
  • We recommend that you configure the channel that is selected as the main entry as well as the other channels in a multi-view scheduled VOD event to include all audio sources. Audio is taken from the channel configured as the main entry in the Kaltura CMS.
  • Do not use Single Touch recording control, AFU, or configure recording file size, type and other channel recording settings when CMS is enabled on Pearl-2.
  • To monitor a channel during an event, you can display the Channel view on Pearl-2's touch screen, see Channel monitoring using the touch screen or monitor channels using the Admin panel. You can also monitor channels directly on the Events screen using the touch screen, see View scheduled CMS events and history.
  • If you modify a particular recurring lecture capture plus live webcasting event (e.g. a VOD + Live Stream event in a recurring series), Kaltura excludes that event from the recurring series and the webcast doesn't stream. That's because the RMTP URLs for the modified event looses it's mandatory tokens. However, the recurring Kaltura event does record as scheduled and other events in the series are not affected.
    Workarounds: To regenerate the RTMP tokens for a live event, go to MediaSpace, find the modified live event entry and uncheck the Live event checkbox - and save. Then re-check it and save the event again. Alternatively, you can go to the Kaltura Management Console (KMC), find the modified live event entry and then, in the Live stream tab, click Re-generate Stream Token.