Panopto combines lecture-capture software and a video-streaming platform to facilitate recording in-person classes or talks and sharing those recordings with others. Panopto can capture audio and video of the person lecturing, plus a screencast of what they project on screen to the in-person audience. Recordings are automatically uploaded to Panopto’s video streaming library and can be shared students via a Moodle integration or with anyone using sharing links.
Warning: We STRONGLY recommend creating test recordings in the classroom and/or on the computer you will using BEFORE the day of your (first) lecture to familiarize yourself with the room setup and uncover any technical issues. Contact Multimedia if you’d like an orientation to a particular classroom computer.
Record on a classroom computer
Bryn Mawr students, faculty and staff can record presentations in College classrooms equipped with a lecture capture camera using the classroom (podium) computer and the Panopto desktop app.
If the speaker wants to project from a laptop or iPad instead of the classroom computer, use Zoom to capture the lecture instead.
Before you start, you need:
- To be in a classroom listed as having a “lecture capture camera” in the technology-enabled classrooms list
- An account on Bryn Mawr's Panopto license, which is automatically created the first time you log in:
- Bryn Mawr faculty, students and staff: choose SAML or Moodle as the log-in method when prompted and log in with your BMC email address and password
- Haverford instructors and students enrolled in Bryn Mawr Moodle courses: choose Moodle as the log-in method when prompted log in with your Haverford email address and password.
Note: Haverford or Swarthmore affiliates who want to record to their own college's Panopto site should use the Panopto Capture browser-based recorder instead.
Start a recording
- Log in to the classroom computer.
- Open applications and files needed for the lecture (such as PowerPoint slides, web browser and pages, PDF documents, etc.). Recording uses considerable computing resources; opening everything else before you start ensures sufficient resources are set aside for them first.
- If you are projecting overhead, use the room's control panel to select the classroom computer as the video source for the projector.
- Double-click the Panopto button (shown below) on the taskbar, Dock or desktop to open the Panopto app and log in.
- On the Create New Recording tab, under Session Settings, choose the Folder in your Panopto video library where you want to store the recording (can be moved later if needed):
- Choose the course short name (e.g., bmc.BIOL.B101.001.SP20) for an academic course.
- Choose My Folder to record to your personal Panopto folder.
- Give the recording a meaningful Name or use the default (can be changed later if needed).
- In the Primary Sources box, check your Audio levels by speaking and watching the microphone bar.
- Move the slider underneath that bar to increase or decrease microphone volume if needed.
- If the volume is at max and the sound is too low, check for a podium microphone that needs to be turned on. Some of these microphones are directional (designed to pick up sound from a certain direction); you may need to move a bit to find and the sweet spot.
- If audio isn't registering at all, choose a different option from the Audio drop-down menu. In some rooms, the video camera provides the only microphone and you must record video in order to record audio.
- Contact the Help Desk (610-526-7440) for help troubleshooting audio.
If you wish to record video of your speaker, select a camera from the Video drop-down; otherwise choose None.- Check the video preview window to ensure the camera is positioned correctly.
- Note: Some rooms have two cameras. Be sure to select the one facing the podium (lecture capture camera), not the one facing the audience (video-conferencing camera).
- Some rooms have repositionable room cameras that can be panned and zoomed using controls on the room control panel. There is often a preset that re-centers the camera on the podium.
- Contact the Help Desk (610-526-7440) for help troubleshooting video.
- Check Capture Computer Audio box if you will play media with sound on the podium computer during the talk and you wish to include that sound in the recording.
- Select and configure any Secondary Sources you want to capture:
- Check Capture Main Screen to record (screencast) everything the speaker presents onscreen and projects overhead to the in-person audience.
- Check Capture PowerPoint if you also want to add the PowerPoint slides to the recording. (Warning: For best results, do not use this instead of Capture Main Screen to record a PowerPoint presentation. Recording the screen works much more reliably).
- If additional cameras (such as an audience or document camera) or monitors are connected to the podium computer, you will be able to select or add them. Please do not try to connect new video sources to a classroom computer yourself, as you could disturb other connections and settings — contact Multimedia (multimedia@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7449) for help.
- Click Record to begin recording. If you are capturing or projecting the screen, you can minimize the recorder window so that it is out of the way.
If you wish to record video of your speaker, select a camera from the Video drop-down; otherwise choose None.Tip: If there is a chance you'll forget to start the recording, start it long before the speaker starts and then cut out the beginning of the recording in the Panopto editor later.
Stop and upload the recording
You can click Pause in the recorder window at any time to temporarily stop recording — for example, while speakers are switching places. (Panopto keeps recording to ensure no data is lost, and then automatically deletes the paused portion during post-processing.)
When you are ready to end the recording:
- Maximize the recorder window if needed and click Stop.
- Click Done in the Recording Complete dialog window.
- Sign out of/lock the podium computer or put it to sleep.
Panopto will upload a copy of the recording stored on the computer's hard drive to the folder you specified in step 5.
- These uploads typically take about 15-30 minutes for a one-hour video, but can be longer at peak traffic times.
- You do not have to be logged during the upload. It runs in background as long as the computer remains on and connected to the Internet, even if other users log in and start new Panopto recordings.
- We have disabled shut down on podium computers to ensure recordings fully upload. However, if an upload is disrupted due to a power or Internet outage, it should automatically resume once the computer is back online. If not, it can be recovered from the local copy; see Panopto: Where are my recordings? for more details.
Record on another computer
Bryn Mawr students, faculty and staff can also record lectures from any computer that has a microphone and the Panopto desktop app. See Panopto: Record in your browser (Panopto Capture) if you want to record on a tablet or smartphone or can't download software.
Before you start, you need:
- An account on Bryn Mawr's Panopto license, which is automatically created the first time you log in. (Haverford or Swarthmore affiliates should record to their college's Panopto site instead.)
- A computer with a microphone (a laptop's built-in microphone and headphones may be fine, a headset microphones helps in noisy environments)
- A webcam, if you want to record video.
You can borrow microphones and webcams from Canaday Library’s equipment loan pool.
Download the Panopto Recorder
If this is your first time recording on this computer or you don't the Panopto on the desktop or in the taskbar/dock, you can download the recorder software from Panopto.
Start the recording
- Open applications and files needed for your lecture (such as PowerPoint slides, web browser and pages, PDF documents, etc.). Recording uses considerable computing resources; opening everything else before you start ensures sufficient resources are set aside for them first.
- Double-click the Panopto button (shown below) on the taskbar, Dock or desktop to open the Panopto app and log in.
- On the Create New Recording tab, under Session Settings, choose the Folder in your Panopto video library where you want to store the recording (can be moved later if needed):
- Choose the course short name (e.g., bmc.BIOL.B101.001.SP20) for an academic course.
- Choose My Folder to record to your personal Panopto folder.
- Give the recording a meaningful Name or use the default (can be changed later if needed).
- In the Primary Sources box, check your Audio levels by speaking and watching the microphone bar.
- Move the slider underneath that bar to increase or decrease microphone volume if needed.
- If audio isn't registering at all, choose a different Audio source from the drop-down menu. This menu should list all audio sources on your computer; if something is missing or not working use your computer's troubleshooting options to fix it.
- If you wish to record video, select the camera source from the Video drop-down; otherwise choose None.
- Check Capture Computer Audio box if you will play media with sound on the podium computer during the talk and you wish to include that sound in the recording.
- Select and configure any Secondary Sources you want to capture:
- Check Capture Main Screen to record (screencast) your screen.
- Check Capture PowerPoint if you also want to add the PowerPoint slides to the recording. (Warning: For best results, do not use this instead of Capture Main Screen to record a PowerPoint presentation. Recording the screen works much more reliably).
- If you have additional cameras (such as a document camera) or monitors, you will be able to select or add them.
- Click Record to begin recording. If you are capturing the screen, you can minimize the recorder window so that it is out of the way.
See also Panopto's guides on How to Record a Video and Best Practices for Recording.
Stop and upload a recording
You can click Pause in the recorder window at any time to temporarily stop recording — for example, while speakers are switching places. (Panopto keeps recording to ensure no data is lost, and then automatically deletes the paused portion during post-processing.)
When you are ready to end the recording:
- Maximize the recorder window if needed and click Stop.
- Click Done in the Recording Complete dialog window.
Panopto will immediately begin uploading a copy of the recording stored on the computer's hard drive to the folder you specified in your Panopto video library. These uploads happen in the background, so you can do other things on your computer, and typically take about 15-30 minutes for a one-hour video, although it can be longer at peak traffic times.
- Do not turn off your computer until the upload is complete; however, you can sign out, lock the computer and/or put it to sleep.
- If you do shut off the computer or lose power or Internet access before a recording finishes uploading, it will automatically resume the next time your computer is back online. If not, it can be recovered from the local copy; see Panopto: Where are my recordings? for more details.
Questions?
If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!
Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor
