Simulcast lectures fa10

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Simulcast LecturesProject Presentation

Fall 2010


The Team


The Project1. The Simulcast Computer accepts video

output from a presenter’s laptop and then displays the output on a touch screen.

2. The presenter is allowed to make pen annotations onto the screen, which are then sent to the projector.

3. The slides from the presenter, the annotations and the audio are recorded as a video and can be uploaded to our web system.

4. Students can access the recorded lectures on our web system and add their own notes to that lecture.


User Interface Software & Technology Conference, Oct. 2 – 7, New York


Streaming Architecture

• Use x264 to encode video from GStreamer• Send output of x264 to RTP packetizer, which is sent locally to

Darwin Streaming Server (DSS)• DSS restreams RTP to RTSP, which is then sent over the

network• Clients connect to the RTSP stream using Quicktime, which is

installed on most PCs• Alternatively, use Wowza or Erlyvideo to restream RTSP to

RTMP (flash)• Third alternative, use librtmp to stream directly to RTMP

(probably needs GStreamer plugin)


OS Choice

• We originally chose Linux because of cost– Windows licences cost ~$150 per machine

• We are now moving to Windows because of better driver support for new and innovative hardware

• Linux support remains a secondary priority for future deployment options

• Software architecture should be flexible enough to support both OSes


PCI based VGA capture card

• This is currently used in the main Simulcast Computer• Excellent quality• Good resolution and framerate: ~30 FPS at 1024x768• Kind of expensive at ~$400 for cheaper cards• Is limited by bandwidth of PCI bus

Pcamway HDVCC-01


PCIe based HDMI capture card

• The best capture card to get would likely be the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro ($200), which has drivers that support DirectShow– Captures max 1080p24 or 720p59.94– Connects via a PCIe x1 slot

Lenkeng LKV351Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro


Fitting capture card to existing limitations and competitors

• Most projectors in use have a maximum resolution of 1024x768, so we should aim for a capture resolution of about that

• The existing podcast system captures video at 640x480 and less than 2 FPS– This does not allow for fluid video or pen annotations– We are aiming for resolution of 1024x768 at 30 FPS, which allows

video to be used


Comparison of Capture TechSolution Cost Resolution Frame

RateVideo Quality

VGA -> S-Video

$70 --- 60 ---

Above on PCB

$120 --- 60 -

PCIe HDMI Capture

$250 +/- 60 ++

PCI VGA Capture

$400 +/- 30 +++

PCIe VGA Capture

$800 +++ 60 +++


Looking at the tools of today..


Concept Design


GTK+

• easy to make something• standardized• restrictive• difficult to apply custom

styles


• emphasis on visuals• able to animate UI

elements• able to customize how

the UI appears using CSS style-sheets

• excellent performance


Program Structure

1. Master class2. Side class3. Main class4. Format class 1


Program Structure



Program Structure



Program Structure



Current Professor UI


Future Professor UI


New website for TIES Smart Classroom project.

http://www.simulcastlectures.com/


Home page


Videos


Video LightBox


Pictures


Pictures FancyBox


Student U.I. Design


Tag Cloud


Tag Cloud


Search Functi on


Search Functi on


Search Functi on


Daily Syllabus


Daily Syllabus


Time Marking


Time Marking


Live Questi on Feed


Comprehension Rate / Poll



Moodle

Course Management System / Virtual Learning Environment

Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment


Existing Functionality

• Student/Instructor Accounts• Course pages

Growing popularity at UCSD.

• CSE Moodle

Open-Source (Free)

• Lots of open-source modules.

Why Moodle?

Creating a Moodle Activity


Student UI - Moodle


Current Work

• Features planning• Development of demo for note capture• In-class demo on 25 students, to collect data• Implementation of the demo as a Moodle

activity plugin


Note-Capture Demo

• Client-side JavaScript to capture students’ notes on a per-line basis

• Ajax transmission of timestamped notes to MySQL database


Demo - Screenshot


In-Class Demo

• Note-capture demo was tested during a TIES lecture

• 25 students participated• The demo showed multiple flaws with the

current note-capture system


In-Class Demo - Example Data


Moodle Plugin

• The video and note-capture system was recreated as a Moodle activity plugin

• Additional improvements on the note-capture system


Moodle Plugin

Pre-uploading files using Moodle

Additional feature to allow presenters to upload files or links before presenting.

Works through Moodle's authentication Organized by class Files made available on touchscreen for

presentation Frees up presenter's laptop to quickly resume

presentation


Uploading files using file manager Using the File Manager block makes uploading and

organizing files on Moodle easy. Download from

http://docs.moodle.org/en/File_manager_block


Uploading files using file manager

Organize your files in folders and categories Upload any file type Share files with others


Uploading files using file manager

Add descriptions and personal notes to files Create links to online resources


Future upload features

Automatically create folders for each week Integrate with new UI to make files available

on touchscreen Compress files for quicker upload/downloads


Feedback Module

• Already available• similar functionalities

– Open/close activity– Customize questions– Collect results

• Display statistics


Polling System

• Customized feedback module– Simplicity

• Unnecessary options

– Dynamic• Professor/lecturer decides start/stop time


Polling System

• Quick Demo…