Hardware FAQ
Assets are materials you wish to include with your lecture Quizzes, Slides, or other review materials. On our player you can use a wide range of file types. From video to text. Check with your publishing platform to see if assets integration is possible. For example Kaltura allows for assets while Medicore does not.
2.When I try to Schedule a capture for the future I receive a Scheduling conflict. What's going on?
Do you have a capture scheduled to record <1 minute before or after? If so remember that the unit needs 1 min between each capture to successfully wind down and set up for the next capture. Also be sure to check the time and date to make sure it is in the future and it does not collide with another scheduled capture. If none of these seem to be a problem, then something has gone wrong and please report the problem via Zendesk.
3.How many video and/or audio sources can you support?
Video: We currently support up to six video sources being captured simultaneously per capture session. Audio: one audio source
4. What Internet browsers are supported?
Google Chrome, latest version
Mozilla Firefox, latest version
5. I can’t find certain features after I re-size my browser window?
To better fit any screen size we made our application dynamic. For example If the tabs at the top have gone missing look for a button in the top right that has all the tabs hidden within. If feature have gone “missing” try looking at the entire page before becoming concerned. If you still cannot find the feature sent us a quick email via Zendesk and we will be glad to help.
6. Where can I find out what version of the Cattura Hardware I am running?
At the bottom right hand side there is a subject line saying ‘Version’. It is important to know for our support engineers to help troubleshoot any problems that you may have.
7. How many lectures can the hardware store on its local hard drive?
The CaptureCast Pro is given 2 terabytes of storage to use. There is no given set of captures how much it can store, that all depends on how long captures are, the FPS, the Qulaity of video and how many sources you are using.
8. What is the Media Canvas and A stitched video?
The media canvas is where you can add or remove video sources to the canvas that is going to be used for the capture. You can also choose the quality and the FPS that you want the capture to be in.
A stitched video is just the final video created using the Media Canvas. If you wish to customize your video go to templates → New Template → Video. Once in video select at least one video source and the Media Canvas button will become available. If you select a source copy during template creation then only the video with all sources is known as the stitched video.
Source copies allow the user to switch between the stitched copy and each single source. While switching between each source the video will pick up directly from where you left off.
To use this feature create a template with more than one video source and select any source copy you want from the video you chose to use. Once you have finished recording playback the video. While the video is playing go to the bottom right hand corner and you will see a small camera like button. Press this button to switch between the different perspectives.
10. What publishers does Cattura integrate with?
We currently integrate with Kaltura, YouTube, Vimeo, and Google Drive. We can also Live Stream to Kaltura, YouTube, and other livestreaming endpoints that support RTMP.
11. On the scheduler What's the difference between the yellow, green, red, and magenta color scheduled captures?
Yellow represents captures that have succeeded, Green is currently capturing, and Red is failed captures, and magenta is upcoming captures.
12. How do I actually view the Cattura Hardware Interface?
With a Screen Attached to actual unit: As a part of the initial setup. When you open up chrome at the top near the address bar you will. Find two bookmarks. One will take you to the Interface and the other will take you the Zendesk login screen. If for some reason you don't have these use the callback address 127.0.0.1. This will take you to your Cattura Interface.
On another internet accessible computer: Type in the Units Assigned IP address into the internet address bar and hit enter.
13. How do I find out my units IP address?
Once the unit has left our facility the unit will have its default IP wiped. So to determine your IP address you can do one of the following.
1. Talk to the Person in charge of setup/running the unit.
2. If on the actual unit. Press ctrl+alt+T to bring up a terminal window. Then type in the command ifconfig and press enter. Then look for a number labeled inet addr. The number will be in the format XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX. If this does not work you are not connected to the Internet.
14. Where is my warranty number?
You will find the warranty number on the front of the CaptureCast.
15. Where can I extend or obtain a warranty?
Contact your Cattura sales rep. or email [email protected]
16. What is purging and why would I use it?
Under settings → storage you can set an option to enable purging. Purging will allow you to delete videos automatically without having to go through the process yourself. After you set a time for purge any video made that exist longer than that time will be deleted automatically. Be careful this is a very powerful and dangerous option. If you have not been instructed to use it don’t. Any video can be deleted and there is no way to protect videos from the purge. You may end up deleting other users lectures inadvertently.
If used in conjunction with a publishing platform the Purging option can be a great way to get rid of unnecessary videos at the end of custom interval.
17. What are the minimum items I need to create a capture from start to finish?
To create a capture you will need to create a template. Creating template is easy: 1. Go to template tab, and select New Template. You will need to name the template. 2. Input tab: You will need to make sure you have at least 1 valid video source and 1 audio source. Select the check box on the second tab 3. Output Tab: This is the media canvas on the left you will be able to add the video source by clicking the “+”. The video will appear on the left side where the canvas is. Going back to the left you can change the dimensions of the video and you will see the changes on the canvas. When finished click save at the bottom. 4. Go to the Publishing tab and select storage as the destination for now. Which will save the capture onto the unit. 5. The template is now done, from there go to the dashboard. “Quick capture” will be on the top right, since only one template has been created it will be automatically selected, so all you have to do is name the capture and click the “Start capture” and the capture will start. You will notice on the dashboard the status of the unit will change from “idle” to capturing and you will be able to Preview, pause or stop the video.
18. The video I just captured is highlighted in red and won’t allow me to view it. What happened?
That means the capture has failed for a certain reason. You can create a ticket on zendesk and our support team will look into the capture, you will need to make sure the unit is available for ssh. If not you can call the support team and we can help over the phone
19. The Manage, Template, and Calendar don’t update when I delete or create something. What’s wrong?
The Cattura Web Streamer (CWS) may not have refreshed. To fix this hold down shift and press F5. This should cause the page to clear the cache and refresh.
If this problem persists please contact Cattura Support at [email protected] to report the problem.
20. I rebooted my unit, and I can't connect to it. Why is that?
We highly recommend that whenever there is a power outage, or the unit has been turned off. When you reboot the unit, you should always connect a computer monitor to the unit. In some cases the unit has been known to get stuck on what we call the grub menu. All you need to do is click enter on the top of the screen that reads: Ubuntu, with Linux x.x.x-xx-generic and that will complete the boot sequence.
21. How do I plug in my new Cattura box?
A power cable comes with every Cattura box, plug that in to the back left of the unit, along with an Ethernet cable, computer monitor, keyboard and mouse. Flip the switch on the back left of the unit so that “|” is pushed down. Then on the front of the unit you will see a power button that will turn on the unit.
22. I plugged in my audio/video sources in and I can’t redetect them. Why not?
There can be a couple of reasons why the unit wont detect the sources. A couple of the simple one will be the video or audio sources plugged into the wrong part of the card.