Frequently Asked Questions: Moving from CaptureSpace to Kaltura Personal Capture

In June 2018, we released Kaltura Personal Capture, our native rich video creation tool. To allow our customers ample time to adopt the new tool and make the transition from CaptureSpace to Kaltura Personal Capture at their own pace, we ensured that these two applications continue to live side by side until it was time to end our support for CaptureSpace.

CaptureSpace will reach end-of-support on June 1st, 2019. At that point, Kaltura Personal Capture will replace CaptureSpace and CaptureSpace will no longer be supported by Kaltura.

To guide you through this transition, we’ve created this FAQ. It is based to a large extent on questions that customers have asked us over the past 10 months as they transitioned their organizations to Kaltura Personal Capture.

We hope that along with other resources we have available for you, come June 1st, you’ll be able to easily say: “Good-bye CaptureSpace, Hello Kaltura Personal Capture!”

Let's Backtrack for a Moment....

Remind me again, why is there a new personal capture tool?

Given the increased strategic value of video creation within organizations, we decided to make the investment to create a native personal capture application. The result is Kaltura Personal Capture, which launched in June 2018. With Personal Capture, Kaltura will be able to innovate, so we can pursue our own product vision and grow this product in the direction that best meets the needs of our customers now and in the future.

What’s the difference between Kaltura’s new Personal Capture and CaptureSpace?

Kaltura Personal Capture is a native Kaltura application. What’s more:

We’ve created a far simpler and more intuitive user interface. With our favorite red button, it takes one click to record, with no extra setup or learning curve required.
We’re helping you create smarter, professional-looking videos with a tool that is better and more tightly integrated into the Kaltura platform. You can better benefit from all that our platform has to offer.
It is part of Kaltura’s Capture Suite, which means one platform for all your video needs: lecture capture, personal capture, VOD, and live broadcast.

What about CaptureSpace Lite?

Similar to CaptureSpace, CaptureSpace Lite will be retired and replaced by Personal Capture. Kaltura Personal Capture with its full set of capabilities is included and available with your Kaltura MediaSpace or KAF(Kaltura Application Framework)-based integrations.

How does Kaltura Personal Capture fit in with the Kaltura Platform?

Personal Capture is available in both Kaltura MediaSpace (KMS) and our Kaltura Application Framework (KAF) integrations via the “Add New” menu. It is another creation tool (like Kaltura Classroom or Kaltura Webcasting). Once content is created, it benefits from all of our platform features: editing, interactive (Interactive Video Quizzing, Rapt/Interactive Video), messaging (Pitch), and REACH. We also offer a standalone version to meet the needs of our VPaaS customers.

What’s the difference between Kaltura Personal Capture and Kaltura Classroom (Lecture Capture)?

Those are separate products that serve different use cases, but complement each other as part of the Kaltura Capture Suite.

Especially in education, Personal Capture and Classroom serve different use cases and customers need both: Classroom is a lecture capture tool used within classroom halls. It is designed to integrate with expensive high-end cameras and capture cards and to support many automatic workflows including scheduling and monitoring dashboards. Kaltura Personal Capture, by contrast, is a tool for quick and easy video creation. It’s supported on both Windows and Mac with no special set-up or fancy cameras and equipment required.

You’ve recently released Kaltura Express Capture. Is this another Capture option?

Yes! Kaltura Express Capture is our browser-based capture option, which allows you to add content from your Webcam Recorder to MediaSpace or to your KAF applications. With this HTML recorder use your webcam or audio devices to record video and audio entries directly from your browser (browser must support webRTC). No need to install any additional software. Kaltura Express Capture is now available for all KMS and KAF instances and requires the Recorder module to be enabled.

Tell me more about Kaltura Personal Capture

How is Kaltura Personal Capture better for me?

See our response above, but in a nutshell, we’re talking: simpler, smarter, and more integrated to better serve your needs.

Does Kaltura Personal Capture require a separate licensing?

No. Kaltura Personal Capture with its full set of capabilities is included and available in your Kaltura MediaSpace and across all KAF-based applications.

Can CaptureSpace users expect full feature parity between Kaltura Personal Capture and CaptureSpace?

Kaltura Personal Capture is the result of a thoughtful process about what matters most to our customers and their end-users, and how to best meet those needs. Though there are many similar features, Personal Capture is not meant to be a replica of CaptureSpace. Customers can expect to find a slicker interface, better performance, and a more cohesive product experience alongside new and exciting features, like automated slide identification, currently not available via CaptureSpace.

What are the technical requirements for Kaltura Personal Capture?

Please refer to our documentation available in the Resource section of this FAQ.

Will I be able to edit within Kaltura Personal Capture as I did with CaptureSpace?

One feedback we heard over and over again from customers is that having editing options in both CaptureSpace and MediaSpace was confusing. With Kaltura Personal Capture we’ve consolidated this workflow so that everything is centrally managed from within the Kaltura platform and users can benefit from all the work we’ve done on our editing tools. Users can trim, chop, splice or add interactivity with quizzes or hotspots to any video content, all in one place. Note that once the content is part of the Kaltura platform, owners can assign co-editors for collaborative editing.

Can I record offline?

Yes, recordings are stored locally before they get uploaded

Can I record presentations with Kaltura Personal Capture as with CaptureSpace?

Yes. Moreover, what we offer is far better and more sophisticated. Similar to Kaltura Classroom, Personal Capture includes automatic slide detection so that there is no need to upload a presentation. Once in presentation mode, your slides are captured automatically, and the text is indexed and available for search once the video is uploaded. Moreover, since the screen is captured as well, the viewer will be able to see any animation included in the presentation. In addition, images of the slides will be set as chapter markers.

Are automatic updates available?

Yes. Automatic updates are available for user level install

What should we expect for support of this solution?

As a native Kaltura applications, support for Kaltura Personal Capture is exclusively in-house.

Can I capture system audio using Kaltura Personal Capture?

Yes, system audio recording is supported on Windows only. Note that system audio support for Mac OS is currently not planned as it requires a complex enablement process both on the admins and on the end users’ level. It requires installing virtual sound cards and admin permissions.

This is not planned to be added as this requires installing a virtual sound card. That requires admin permissions. It is not the most user-friendly process and might not work for some organizations that will not allow users to install it.

Does Kaltura Personal Capture support IP cameras?

No, Personal Capture does not support network cameras at the moment.

Can I install Kaltura Personal Capture for my entire organization?

Yes, We have an admin level install, we provide an MSI which you can use with your SCCM here.

Are there any changes to MediaSpace related to the new Personal Capture?

No. Nothing has changed.

My account didn’t come with KMS, does that mean I can’t use Capture?

Personal Capture is also available with all of our KAF-based integrations.

Where is the physical location where the videos are saved and the metadata collected with the new Kaltura Personal Capture?

All the folder locations of installation are detailed here.

Can Kaltura Personal Capture Desktop Recorder be used on a shared computer?

Yes, Personal Capture can be used on a shared station. There are two different scenarios:

Users login to the shared computer using their own credentials – in this case, each user would need to install Personal Capture separately. The first-time launch will have to be from the website or KAF integration (as always) and Personal Capture will remember their user from here onward.
Users login to the shared computer using shared credentials – in this case, Personal Capture will only be installed once. However, since they are using a shared system account, Personal Capture cannot know who is using the computer at the moment. Therefore, users should always launch Personal Capture from the website or KAF integration so that the recording is uploaded to their ‘My Media’.

Are there keyboard shortcuts for Kaltura Personal Capture?

Yes, keyboard shortcuts are available, see our documentation here.

Can I identify what content was created using Kaltura Personal Capture?

Yes! Our new advanced Kaltura Analytics dashboards in the KMC allow Admins to filter by entry source. This includes Kaltura Personal Capture (Note that this is not available for CaptureSpace content – another benefit to switching!).

Can I track usage of Kaltura Personal Capture?

Yes! This too is possible via the new advanced Kaltura analytics dashboards in the KMC.

I like it! How will this transition actually work?

Will Personal Capture require an application download?

Yes, a one-time, single, and simple installation is needed that does not even require admin permissions. After that, the Personal Capture Desktop Recorder uses the same upgrade flow as users have seen in Chrome – it silently downloads and upgrades in the background. A significant part of the design for Kaltura Personal Capture was to make sure the user doesn’t need to install and constantly update software for Personal Capture to work. Kaltura Personal Capture Desktop Recorder does not utilize Java or Flash. The client will only restart when it is idle and not in use. This is a seamless experience for both the user and the admin.

Is there an exact date when CaptureSpace will be sunset?

You should ensure all your users transition to Kaltura Personal Capture by June 1, 2019.

Come June, will CaptureSpace no longer be available or will it be available but not supported?

Come June we will only service Kaltura Personal Capture. This is why we urge customers to turn off the CaptureSpace module and ensure their users transition to Kaltura Personal Capture as their rich media creation tool. An unsupported product is an unpredictable product and we’d like to ensure a great user experience and a seamless transition.

What does “not supported” mean?

Once we reach the end-of-support date on June 1st, CaptureSpace support tickets will no longer be handled by our Customer Care team, documentation and training videos will be removed from our Knowledge and Learning Centers.

My students have the CaptureSpace downloaded on their computers. What will happen when they go to use it after June 1st?

Make sure to disable the CaptureSpace module in KMS/KAF admin and ensure your users download Kaltura Personal Capture. Once the module is disabled, users will no longer be able to launch the application from the website. For Windows users launching from the desktop, once their token expires they will no longer be able to upload recordings to Kaltura MediaSpace using their CaptureSpace client. For Mac users launching from the desktop, the app will not open and will show an error and direct them to launch from the website (launching from the website will no longer be available).

So many of my instructors downloaded CaptureSpace. Will they have to delete that to upload and run Personal Capture?

No, both apps can be installed at the same time and there is no need to delete CaptureSpace. However, it is recommended that they delete it after June 1st to avoid confusion.

We grant permission to users on Capture Space. Will we have to re-permission people?

Yes, these are two different tools and therefore permissions will not transfer from one to the other.

Will our end-users get a message on CaptureSpace directing them to Kaltura Personal Capture?

CaptureSpace is a desktop installation, so unfortunately this not possible. We encourage you to be proactive and address the end-of-support for CaptureSpace as early as possible. A few options of how to manage this change process our outlined below under “How can I communicate the change to my end-users?”

Got it! What should I do on my end?

How can I communicate the change to my end-users?

Every organization is different, and we encourage you to approach this as you would any other change management process using communication tools and methods that best work for you. Here are some recommendations based on what we’ve seen work with customers adjusted to the June 1st End-of-Support timeline:

Before June 1st:

Prepare your users by announcing the upcoming change and timeline using multiple channels: send an email blast or video, post on bulletin boards, announce on Office Hours, internal webinars, etc.
For prospective users, you can leave the CaptureSpace module enabled but have the AllowDownloadingClient option disabled
Use either custom CSS or modify the language files to change the text that is displayed on the download screen that is automatically displayed when you click Add New > CaptureSpace.
For current users, you can leave both the CaptureSpace and Personal Captures modules enabled, but modify the label on the KMS and/or KAF to include text like “CaptureSpace (being deprecated)” and “Kaltura Capture (CaptureSpace replacement)”

After June 1st:

Disable CaptureSpace and enable Kaltura Personal Capture. In the Kaltura Personal Capture module modify the label on the KMS and/or KAF Add New menu to include text like “Kaltura Capture (CaptureSpace replacement)” so users are aware that they should launch Kaltura Personal Capture instead of CaptureSpace.

How do I introduce Kaltura Personal Capture into my organization?

Nothing is more helpful than first-hand experience. Customers who participated in our beta program 18 months ago pointed out over and over again the simplicity, ease of use, and intuitive design. If you’d like to do it gradually, encourage your users to first try it by enabling Kaltura Personal Capture on a test environment or only enabling it for select users (this is possible in the admin module) and recruit your early adopters to be effective ambassadors. It is also possible to have both CaptureSpace and Kaltura Personal Capture working side by side. However, the sooner users adopt it, the easier the process of sunsetting CaptureSpace will be.

What resources do I have available for Admins and End-Users?

Please check out the many Kaltura Personal Capture resources available to you:

Or join one of our upcoming webinars “Goodbye CaptureSpace: Switching to Kaltura Personal Capture Live Demo and Training Webinar”: May 14^th, 2019 2PM EST and May 21^st, 2019 1PM UTC

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to your dedicated Customer Success Manager.