Panopto Lecture Capture User Guide
The Panopto Lecture Capture system is a flexible and easy-to-use presentation capture
platform that lets users capture, edit, stream, archive, and share recordings (video, audio,
PowerPoint, and screen capture) that preserve critical knowledge. This rich media video
capture software cannot only be installed and used on campus classroom but also locally on
your computer at home and in the office.
Log into Panopto Server Account
To log into Panopto account:
 Using any supported browser, go to http://vwcc.hosted.panopto.com
 Under the User Login section, be sure that MyVWCC is selected next to Login using in
the drop down list
 Enter Username and Password. Use your MyVWCC (Blackboard) user name and
password (e.g. yc253). It is the one you are using to login to your SIS
account/Blackboard.
Note: Faculty and course instructor can use the Panopto Building Block to deploy their
recordings directly into their course in Blackboard. In order to do so, they need to provision
their course in Blackboard and then access the provisioned course folder in their Panopto
account (details about how to provision Blackboard course are listed later in this document).
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You will see the course folder which you provisioned under My Folders.
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By default, the recorded sessions within the course folder will be accessible for the
students in that particular course. Instructors do not need to manually make the
recorded session Public any more.
Once you have logged into your Panopto account, you will be able to:
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Click the All Sessions button to view all recorded sessions which have been made public
or created by you.
Click the My Folders button and select your folder from the list.
Change a folder’s properties, such as click on Share button to make a folder public (all
recordings under that folder will be made public to users).
Click on your account name (e.g. Carrie Halpin) and select User Settings to change your
personal information. To receive a notification email from the Panopto server that the
recorded session uploading is completed and the link to access the uploaded recording,
you must complete the following steps:
 Go to User Settings under you user account (e.g. Carrie Halpin)
 Check “Send me notifications when sessions finish encoding”
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Download Panopto Recorder
The Panopto Recorder is very small and very easy to install. It can only be installed on
computers using Windows 7 and up operating systems and OSX 10.8 or higher. Your office or
personal computer should also have a large amount of free drive space to capture your
video/recording.
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To record a lecture, you need to download the Panopto Recorder which is located at the
top-right corner of the page.
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Based on the type of operating system you are using on the computer, select the
appropriate recorder download button. Do not download the remote recorder.
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If you are using Firefox, click on Save button to save the Recorder in your computer downloads
and double click on PanoptoRecorder.exe from your computer to install the Recorder. If you
are using other browsers, then follow the usual process steps for downloading a file and
opening the file to install it as a program file.
Record a Lecture
Record a Panopto session using MyVWCC account
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Open Panopto Recorder from Start > Programs > Panopto > Panopto Recorder. If you
are in a campus classroom, you will find a short-cut icon Panopto that you may use to
open the Panopto Recorder.
Open the Panopto Recorder on your computer and click Log in with MyVWCC
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Use your MyVWCC username and password to log into MyVWCC account.
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Once the Recorder opens, you will be taken to the Create New Recording tab. Before
starting to record a lecture, you need to configure the Panopto Recorder settings by
clicking the Settings Tab.
Under System Settings:
 Recording Directory: This is the directory on the recording computer where all of the
raw data will be stored.
 Upload when recorder is closed: This allows recordings to be uploaded even while the
Recorder is closed.
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Under Application Settings:
 Automatically Upload Recordings: This setting allows you to tell the recorder to upload
video data as soon as the recording has ended. You may wish to uncheck this box if you
want to wait until you have a faster connection before uploading. Recommendation:
Leave every setting at default.
 Show Help Messages: This setting will enable or disable the Help messages in the
highlighted area at the top of the Panopto Recorder.
 Minimize When Recording: This setting will automatically minimize the Panopto
Recorder when you start your recording.
 Notify me when a viewer asks a question: This setting will enable a pop-up window on
the recording computer notifying you when a viewer asks a question during a live
broadcast even if the recorder is minimized.
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Click Save if you make any changes to System Settings.
Under Create New Recording, click the down arrow to select which folder you want the
completed recording session to upload to within your Panopto account.
Click Add New Session to record a new session within that particular folder.
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The default setting will assign the new session’s title in the format “Wednesday, November 13,
2014 at 3:00pm”. We recommend that you change the title to make it more specific.
After you have created a new session to record, you may select the devices which you wish to
use for the recording. These devices may include cameras, audio inputs, screen capture, and
PowerPoint. To select the device you wish to use in your recording, simply select it from the
drop down list. Note: Keep the Quality as “Standard”. During recording, you can add or remove
addition devices (Screen capture, PowerPoint, secondary cameras) at any time.
From the drop down list next to Audio, select the audio device that you wish to use for
recording. After you have selected the device you would like to use, you can test it by using the
Audio Level Meter. The meter should rise and fall as you speak to indicate the volume of your
recording or if it is recording any sound.
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To adjust screen capture resolution, click the drop down menu to the right of "Max Resolution"
and select the resolution you desire. You can also adjust the bit and frame rate per second by
dragging the sliders shown below. Click Apply to save changes. Note: We recommend that you
leave the setting as default.
You can include PowerPoint presentations in your recording. To do this, select the Capture
PowerPoint source in the left-hand column and it will add a tab to the right-hand window
for your PowerPoint file. This box will allow you to open a PowerPoint (.ppt or .pptx) file or,
if PowerPoint is already running, it will allow you to include the presentation that is open.
You can open a presentation at any time during your recording or open several
presentations before starting the recording. If you wish to capture what is being displayed
on your computer screen, you will need to select Capture Screen in the left-hand
panel. This will allow you to capture everything being displayed on your screen so it will be
included in the final video.
To record a PowerPoint presentation, click on Open a Presentation to browse for the
PowerPoint file that you wish to present. PowerPoint will automatically open and a thumbnail
of the first slide will be presented in the right-hand window. You will see a pop-up window that
asks if you want to start recording after the PowerPoint file opens; if you are not ready to start
the recording, click No.
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Once you are satisfied with the devices and settings you will be using, click on Record to begin
the lecture capture recording process.
Click on Pause button to stop recording during a presentation so that you can skip time periods
that you don't want to be included in the final version of the recording. For example if you take
a break during a recording, simply press Pause when the break begins to temporarily stop
recording.
Click Resume after the break is over to continue recording.
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Click on the Stop button once you have completed the session.
A Recording Complete pop-up window will display to inform you that you will be taken to the
Recording Status tab. Click OK.
The Recording Status tab will show you several things:
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Currently Uploading Recordings: This is where you can monitor your recordings as they
are sent to the Panopto server to be processed. Depending on the progress of your
recording, you may choose to Upload, Pause, or Delete your recording here.
If your Recorder settings are configured to Automatically Upload Recordings and you
have a recently completed recording, you will be able to monitor your recording as it
uploads. The green bar on top will show the progress of your upload and the orange bar
at the bottom will show that your file has been verified after uploading.
If you do not have the recorder set to Automatically Upload Recordings, every finished
recording will be in a paused state by default. To begin the upload, click on the Upload
button. You may also choose to delete your recording by clicking on the Delete button.
Note: Do not shut down your computer until the upload progress meters have completed.
Note: Clicking Delete, ONLY deletes the recording from the local hard drive and not from the
Panopto server. To delete the recording from the Panopto server, you need to go to your
Panopto server account at http://panopto.virginiawestern.edu
Uploaded Recordings: Once a recording has been uploaded, it will move to the Uploaded
Recordings section at the bottom of the page. You will be able to find information on the
recording's folder and session name, the date and time it was recorded, the length of the
recording, and the current status.
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Under Action: By clicking on the Delete Local button, you remove the recording files
from your recording directory. This can help you free up drive space or clear old
information from your Recordings Status tab. Once a recording is deleted, it will be
removed from the Recording Status menu. It will not be removed from the Panopto
server and will remain viewable.
Under Status/Link: There are 3 buttons. Clicking the View item causes the recording to
play. Edit will launch the recording editor. Share takes you to the share interface to
select who can access the link. You can copy the recording link address to share it with
your users through email, Twitter, or Facebook.
Deploy a Panopto Recording in a Blackboard Course Using Panopto Building
Block
The Panopto Building Block is installed on the current version of Blackboard. Instructors are
able to record a session using their My VWCC/Blackboard account and deploy the recorded
sessions to their courses in Blackboard. Students will be able to click on the recording link
within a Blackboard course and launch the video directly from Blackboard. Only students in the
Blackboard course are able to access the recorded session.
Users who have a MyVWCC account automatically have a Panopto MyVWCC account, which
will allow them to record Panopto videos, manage folders, and access the Panopto Building
Block to insert Panopto videos (recorded under the MyVWCC account) in a Blackboard course.
To use the Panopto Building Block in Blackboard courses, you will need to provision the course
first to add the course to Panopto. Note: You only need to provision the course once.
 Within your course, go to a content areas (e.g. Course Documents) and hover your
cursor over on the Tools and select Panopto Video Link
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Click on Add Course to Panopto to provision the course.
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On the Configure Panopto Focus Course page, select Panopto Server
(panopto.virginiawestern.edu) from the list.
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Click Add Course to Panopto. This action creates a Panopto folder for the course (the
folder name will be the course ID, e.g. VW286.EDU.282.V1.SP14) and sets up access so
that the course instructor is able to create content in the folder and students are able to
view it. Once the course has been added to Panopto, you may associate additional
Panopto folders to the course.
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On the Configure Panopto Focus Connector page, you will see the provisioning results.
Click Ok.
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After you click Ok, you will be brought to the page Configure Panopto Focus Course. On
the Selected Folder section, you will see the course folder with the course id and course
title (e.g. VW286.PANOPTO.01.WRKS: Panopto Training). You may update the list of
Panopto folders associated with this course. Instructors of this course will be able to
create content in any folder associated with it and students will be able to view the
content which means that you can add recorded session links into this course even
though these recorded sessions were recorded in other folders under your MyVWCC
account.
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Click Submit after associating folders to the course. You are only required to go through
the provision procedure once. Next time when you try to insert a Panopto video link,
you don’t need to provision the course again.
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If you have no recorded sessions under your MyVWCC account, you can stop at the
Insert Panopto Video page. If you already have a recorded session in one of the
associated folders of the course, you can insert the Panopto Video link into the course
on the Insert Panopto Video page.
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On the Insert Panopto Video page, select your folder from the Folder drop down list.
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Select the recorded session from the Lecture drop down list.
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Change the title of the recorded session and add description or instruction (Optional).
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Click Submit when it is ready. The confirmation page shows up and indicates that the
item has been created within the Blackboard course. Click Ok.
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In the content area, students are able to click on the link of the recorded session to
launch the video.
Configure a Panopto folder within a Bb Course
To provision/configure other Panopto course folder within a course (so that you can view
videos from other courses), go to Tools on the main menu (not in the Control Panel) and
choose Panopto Focus Content. Click the “Configure” button and you’ll see folders from your
other courses that you’ve Panoptoed; you can add them as shown above.
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If you don’t have the Tools button available on course main menu bar, you can add the
Tools button by clicking on the “+” sign and select Create Tool Link
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Select Tools Area from the drop down list and name it Tools.
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Go to the Tools button on the main menu bar and click Panopto Focus Content.
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Click on Configure button. Now you can add different folders to associate with this
course.
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You can insert the links of Panopto sessions which were recorded in the associated
folders (instead of this course folder) into this course. In other words, as long as the
course folders are associated, an instructor can share Panopto recordings between
courses.
Edit the Recorded Session Settings
You can modify a recording’s settings and delete the uploaded recordings from your Panopto
server account. Login to your Panopto account (http://vwcc.hosted.panopto.com).
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To change a recording’s settings, hover over the title of the recording, a set of options
is showing up beneath the title. Select the Settings icon.
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Click on Edit next to the item Name to modify the name of the session.
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To move the recorded session to a different folder: Click on Edit next to the title of the
folder; select the destination folder from the folder drop down list and click on the Save
button.
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To delete a recording from the Panopto server, hover over the title of the recording, a
set of options is showing up beneath the title. Select the Delete icon.
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Useful Resources:
1. Media Geeks: http://sites.google.com/site/vwmediageeks/panopto
2. Panopto Focus 4.6 documentation: http://support.panopto.com/documentation/focus4
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