Galicaster Class Installation Guide

A. Room installation

B. Cards and connectors

The Galicaster Class Units can come equipped with different inputs to fulfil your needs on recording multistream material. Depending on the devices you are about to use you should combine those inputs properly.

Please, take a closer look to the image to identify the ports of each capture card before connecting anything.

d.On-board sound card

d.Power buttons

C. Operative System setup

Autostart

By default, Galicaster is started automatically as the operative system is loaded. To change this do the following:

• Press Win and write Startup Applications,
• Check out Galicaster to disable the autostart
• Repeat the operation to re-stablish the autostart

You may want to do it using the terminal:

• Delete ~/.config/autostart/galicaster.desktop

To re-stablish the autostart:

• cp /usr/share/applications/galicaster.desktop ~/.config/autostart/

Shortcuts

To configure the operative system supporting Galicaster you may exit Galicaster or change the current desktop. To do so:

a. If the admin mode is activated you can quit on the welcome page, on the quit button on the bottom right corner.

• To access the welcome page you can't be recording
  b. If the admin mode isn't active then you can use a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Q, to do so the Num Block has to be activated.
  c. You may not want to exit Galicaster and still change configuration on the OS, use the combination Ctrl+Alt+Left/RightArrow to switch between desktops (usually four).

To run Galicaster once closed use the Shortcut in the Desktop or press Win and write Galicaster to look for the application launcher.

Network Configuration

To change your IP settings, pleas read this official Ubuntu guideline.

The Network Manager is on the top right corner, Right-button click on the double arrow icon.

D. Capture Devices configuration

Galicaster configuration are specified by two types files: configuration and input profiles.
Depending on your needs you may set different parameters. Consult the Profile Section to know the meaning and possible values of each parameters.

Galicaster records multiple devices synchronously. Each device and its configuration is called a track. A Input Profile is a group of tracks to be recorded together. The most common profiles are:

• Webcam + Slides + Microphone: class.ini
• Webcam + Slides + Microphone + Backup Audio: class_audio_backup.ini
• Video Camera (audio included) + Slides: camera_slides.ini
• HD input (audio included) + Slides: hd_slides.ini
• HD camera + HDMI slides: hd_unit.ini

In these examples, we suppose two streams of video. If you don't want to record the slides, create a new profile without the slides track and remember to change the name of the profile, to avoid confusion.

Now, it's time to configure the cards you've selected and the audio. More information about this matter is available here.

D.1 Epiphan configuration

EXPLAIN the behaviour of the Switcher, input and output resolution, blask strips ...

D.2 Webcam configuration

Logitech c920 is an HD webcam with optic lens and automatic behaviour - white balance, autofocus, auto-aperture.
It records 24 fps at 720p. The default configuration is:

• power-line-frequency:50Hz
• cappabilities: image/jpeg,framerate=24/1,width=1280,height=720
  Back to 4:3
  If you want you can cut part of the video to record a non-panoramic video including in the configuration:
• videocrop-left=160
• videocrop-right=160
  The value is in pixels

To set manual values on the parameters of the webcam use a tool called guvcview:

• Open a terminal and run:

  guvcview -o
  

D.3 Blackmagic configuration

To list the input standards and formats supported by Blackmagic cards run the following line in a shell:

gst-inspect-0.10 decklinksrc | grep Enum -A 20

Once you identified the format you want to capture, edit the conf.ini file you've just downloaded. Search for the track Blackmagic and change the parameters input and input_type for their right values. Some try-and-error may be neccessary since maybe you can't gather all the information from your video source.
The p in 1080p stands for progressive
The i in 1080i stands for interlaced

D.4 Hauppauge configuration

Before running Galicaster you may have to configure your Hauppauge card. Connect your camera and do the following:

Standard selection
You have to choose between a list of standards. To list and select the standard, run in a shell:

v4l2-ctl -d /dev/haucamera --list-standards | grep Index -A 2
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/haucamera -s 0

Input selection
Depending on the input you are using you have to choose between S-Video (4-pin) and Composite (RCA). To list and select the input, run in shell:

v4l2-ctl -d /dev/haucamera -n | grep Input -A 1
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/haucamera -i 2

Inputs 1 and 3 are for 4-pin.
Inputs 2, 4 and 5 are for RCA.

D.5 Sound configuration

To have the best audio feedback on your interface you should configure your audio inputs properly. First of all, go to the Sound Manager (speaker icon on the top right corner of the desktop)

Headphones output
Regulate this slide bar to a comfortable sound level.

Pulse input ( Line in):
If you are using the Hauppauge card please skip this section
Select the input you are using and set the values to 100% volume, no amplification.
Later, if you have distortion on your audio input, edit the conf.ini and set amplification = 1.0 in the AudioSource device.

Recommendation

On the pulse track of your conf.ini, don't leave the value location as _default. List the inputs and set it. This way you won't need to check it every time you switch on your unit. To do that, run in a shell:

pactl list | grep Source -A 2

Identify the input you want to use, for example

alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo

Use the name as location on the conf.ini pulse track

[track3]
name = AudioSource
device = pulse
flavor = presenter
active = True
*location = alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo*
file = sound.mp3
amplification = 2.0
vumeter = True
player = True

Galicaster Vumeter
Add this section in the conf.ini file.

[audio]
min = -60
max = 0

If the NO SOUND dialog is coming in and out constantly, set a higher value on min, for example -40.

Alsa Advanced configuration
If you still experience problems after configuring the Sound Manager and your Mixer or Sound input device, you should take a look to ALSA.
Run alsamixer on a shell and ensure that your device is not being amplified.

• Press F6 to select the input and F4 to go to the Capture section.
• You can chec|| # || Port || Description ||

  A1	VGA output	To connect the monitor of the computer.
  A2	HDMI output	To connect the monitor of the computer.
  A3	DVI output	To connect the monitor of the computer.	k the real Gain on Item on the top left corner of the screen.

E. Revolabs wireless microphone instructions

The LED will be solid RED until pairing is complete, as indicated by double flashing RED on both the Microphone and the Base (paired and muted audio). If pairing fails at the end of one minute on either unit, the LED will flash alternately GREEN and RED for a few seconds and turn OFF. If this happens, repeat these steps.

Mute

The button on the front of the Microphone mutes it as well as the one on the Base. Press it just for a moment to mute/unmute the Microphone.

Attachment

The Microphone should be attached on the clothing about 15 to 30 cm from the mouth, with the top of the microphone facing up. It must never be use on the hand or on the furniture, since vibrations will mess up whit the noise cancelling mechanism.

Battery

A fully charged Revolabs xTag last 8 hours working. The battery charges from fully depleted to fully charged in approximately two hours, however, it is “quick-charged” to 80% capacity in 45 minutes. Then, it's recommended to place the microphone back to the base during long breaks.

To charge the batteries place the microphone into the bay properly. During charging, the Microphone status LED indicator changes from solid RED to solid GREEN as charging completes. The Charger Base status indicator remains off during charging.The Microphone is always muted while in the Charger Base.

Before using the Microphone for the first time, charge for 8 hours or overnight in the base (until microphone LED turns solid GREEN).

When the Microphone LED begins flashing alternating YELLOW and RED or YELLOW and GREEN, the battery needs recharging.

Range

Revolabs xTag works in a range of 20m. If the microphone is moved out of range of the Base Station (~65 feet or 20m) the connection will be
dropped (LED flashes all colors) and the microphone will mute.

After 15 seconds the microphone will beep 5 times, and will continue beeping every 30 seconds to remind the user to return the microphone to the room. If the microphone is moved back into range within 15 minutes the connection will automatically be re-
established to its original state, and the beeping will cease. If not, the microphone will turn off.

LED status indications

F. Opencast Matterhorn related configuration

If you have a OC-Matterhorn running you have to ask your Matterhorn system administrator for some information.

First of all, You need the admin host address, including the port. For example:

host = http://fakeadmin.matterhorn.com:80

You also need a digest user - a regular one won't work. There is a default digest account that should be replaced with your own values.

username=  matterhorn_system_account
password= CHANGE_ME

You also need to set up a default workflow and its parameters. Scheduled recordings will have his own workflow and parameters, defined in the scheduling operation, but the recordings started manually won't. The usual parameters you have to set up are captions and trimHold, which default to False. The normal configuration is:

workflow = full
workflow-parameters = trimHold:true

If you set up more than one parameter:

workflow-parameters = trimHold:true;captions=True

Finally, you have to decide if your recordings will be recorded automatically or not. If you want to do so, set default to True. All the configuration together will look like:

[ingest]
active = True
default = False
host = http://fakeadmin.matterhorn.com:80
username = matterhorn_system_account
password = CHANGE_ME
workflow = full
workflow-parameters = trimHold:true

This piece of code must be written on one of the configurations file. Be aware that values in conf.ini will overrule its equivalent in conf-dist.ini.