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General Resources

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Capturing Media

Your methods for capturing media may vary, but the three most common methods are via webcam, smartphone, and dedicated camera (a handheld camcorder or digital camera). Most of these devices will either have a single interface (like the camera) or a preloaded (native) application for capturing video.

Webcam

Webcam video is often most easily captured in the same programs you will use for editing (iMovie, Windows Video Editor), while the others will require you to import the captured video files into another program for editing.

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Smartphone

A Smartphone will be the most easily-accessible capture device for most people.

  • In iOS, the native video recording app is the Camera app. This has the virtue of a simple, easy-to-understand interface, but offers limited options for changing settings like resolution quality. These videos can be easily imported into iMovie. NOTE: It’s good to remember that Apple-captured video files (iPhone, iPad) will be most easily edited on a Mac. PC-based editing programs like Windows Video Editor may not accept Apple formats like MOV, although some third-party video editing programs may be able to import Apple files.
  • Android devices will always come with some kind of pre-loaded video recording app (usually called Camera, as in iOS), but the interface will vary by device and the version of your operating system.
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Dedicated Camera

If you’re using a dedicated camcorder or digital camera to record your videos, you will need to first record the video and then import it into a desktop editing program.

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Screen Capture

If you want to capture activity on your computer screen (e.g. Powerpoint slides with narration read into your microphone), there are several software options available:

  • Kaltura Capture
    The recommended application for most screen capture purposes and freely available to all Langara College students and employees, Kaltura Capture is a downloadable desktop application (Windows/Mac only) that offers screen capture, voice recording, and webcam recording, and uploads your videos directly into your My Media library. Click here for more information on using Kaltura Capture.
  • Free/open-source
  • Paid/Available Through Langara (Most of these applications are available through your department or are installed in specific labs. Contact IT Helpdesk about availability.)
    Note: many of the links below may lead to later versions than the ones installed on-campus. If these links don’t answer your questions, try searching Google or Lynda.com for the version you are using.

Editing functions are usually built into the screen-capture application; refer to the guides for each piece of software for instructions. For screen capture software that runs in your browser, you will need to save/export the finished video to your computer before uploading it to Kaltura.

Note: Some screen-capture programs will default to Flash Video file formats that Kaltura cannot use, like SWF. Make sure to save in a MediaSpace-friendly file format like MP4 or AVI.

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Editing Video

You can perform some basic video editing functions in MediaSpace after uploading your files, like trimming your video, cutting out sections, and creating clips (new copies of sections of your media entry), as well as functions like creating Hotspots. See the Managing Media page for help using the Trim, Clip, and Hotspot tools.

For more advanced editing tasks, MacOS and Windows both have native (free) video capturing/editing applications, and there are numerous free and paid basic editing apps available for iOS and Android (though most have fairly limited features).  There are also a number of free third-party and retail desktop applications available, such as Avidemux and AVS Video Editor.

NOTE: There is a 2GB size limit on media files. Anything larger than 2GB may not upload correctly.

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Windows

In Windows, the native application is now called Video Editor. In older versions of Windows, it was known as Windows Movie Maker (pre-Windows 7) or Windows Live Movie Maker (Windows 7).

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MacOS

MacOS machines will come free with iMovie, a good basic video editor.

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Free Third-Party Video Editing Applications

There are numerous free third-party editing applications available. A few of the most popular are listed below, but there are many to choose from.

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Retail Video Editing Applications

If you want to go the more advanced route, there are a number of more professional-level video editing suites available for purchase. These are a few of the industry standards:

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Advanced

By default, MediaSpace converts and compresses any uploaded video into a variety of formats playable on a wide range of devices, so it’s not necessary to fully understand all the details of video resolutions, codecs and formats. If, however, you are having trouble uploading files, it’s a good idea to check and see whether your files conform to Kaltura’s preferred formats and codecs. Most video editors will offer you options when saving/exporting/publishing a video file including resolution, codecs, and file size. If you want to know more, see the section below.

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File Size and Resolution

File size

Try to keep your file uploads below 2GB. A number of factors may affect file size; generally, a higher-quality file will take up more storage space. When saving your videos, try to keep them well under 1GB in size. The larger a file the longer it will take to upload and process. If a file is too big for Kaltura, you will get an error and be unable to upload it. (Here is a good basic explanation of file compression.)

Resolution

  • Resolution refers to the visible dimensions of a picture or video, usually quoted in width x height in pixels. For example, a resolution of 1024 x 768 means a video is 1024 pixels wide by 768 high; this is a pretty standard sized setting for a computer monitor.
  • Choose the highest quality possible, unless you are having difficulty with file size. Kaltura will convert your video into multiple different formats and resolutions, and this is easier to do with higher-quality input.
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File Formats

The following file formats are supported by Kaltura:

  • Supported Video File Formats:
    flv, asf, qt, mov, mpg, mpeg, avi, wmv, mp4, m4v, 3gp, vob
  • Supported Image File Formats:
    jpg, jpeg, bmp, png, gif, tif, tiff
  • Supported Audio File Formats:
    flv, asf, wmv, qt, mov, mpg, avi, mp3, wav, mp4, wma, 3gp, vob
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Codecs

A video file contains a vast amount of information, so most video files are compressed so that your computer can read and play them. Codec stands for “code/decode” or “compressor/decompressor,” and codecs are contained in most video files. There are a number of different video and audio codecs, and the common ones vary by file format. It’s best to refer to the guides for specific programs to figure out which codec you should be using (or if you need to worry about the codecs at all), but for reference, the following codecs are supported by Kaltura.

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Click here to download the MediaSpace Guide as a PDF.