Galicaster project Home

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h5. Introduction

The Galicaster Project is an open-source initiative to provide *flexible, state-of-the-art solutions for recording educational multimedia contents* like lectures and conferences.

h5. Main Goals

Our main goal is the creation of *multiple open-source applications adapted to different scenarios and equipment*. So far, two Galicaster applications have reached a mature state of development: [Galicaster Class|Galicaster Class] and [Galicaster Mobile|Galicaster Mobile].
* [Galicaster Class|Galicaster:Galicaster Class] (GClass) is designed to be in a classroom environment with a basic control set and a tactile interface. It works automatically but some manual actions are available to the lecturers: muting the audio, pausing the recording and manual starting and stopping if desired.
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* [Galicaster Mobile|Galicaster Mobile] (GMobile) is a complete portable recording station, providing full control on the recorded media. Operators can get real-time feedback from cameras and microphones - so that they can react immediately against any unexpected situation, manage a repository with all the recording media, delete many recordings in a single operation, send and resend media to distribution channels, label tracks, etc.
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Another goal pursued by the Galicaster Project is the creation of *end-to-end, complete working solutions for managing educational multimedia contents*, focusing not only on recording affairs, but also on providing connectivity with the publishing systems and the distribution channels.

h5. Versatility

All branches of Galicaster are *virtually adaptable to any publishing platform* since they keep all the recording metadata and video and audio tracks are recorded separately. Proof of this is the combined [Galicaster and Opencast Matterhorn|Galicaster:Galicaster and Matterhorn, the best match] installation which will soon go into production at the University of Vigo.

Galicaster can be seamlessly integrated with a *wide variety of environments*: low-cost, flexible equipments; best-performance, customized installations; existing campus-wide infrastructures; media distribution platforms, etc.


h5. Technologies

Both applications are *based on Python and GStreamer*, both long term projects supported by large communities, ensuring adaptability to most of the operating systems in the UNIX family. They can also be adapted to multiple kinds of hardware, expanding the recording possibilities to many types of devices such as laptops, HD Webcams, TV Cameras, video players, microphones ...
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{color:#000000}{*}Designed to be Compatible with Opencast - Matterhorn{*}{color}
[(More)|Galicaster:Galicaster and Matterhorn, the best match]

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h2. Latest News

*{_}September 12th 2011{_}*
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h5. *Galicaster Class almost ready*

After a long hard-working summer we are almost ready to install our first [Galicaster Class (old)|Galicaster Class (old)] prototype.Two classrooms on either facuties of the University of Vigo will host a GClass capture agent connected to an Opencast Matterhorn server.
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As soon as posible some demos would be published for you to have a better idea of what GClass is.


*{_}June 13th 2011{_}*

h5. *Currently on development - working on the beta version*

After the success first trials we are working hard on publishing our first beta version. Currently we are improving our video and audio control and solving some issues with the user interface.

If you want any other information or you are interested on being a beta tester contact us. Keep posted\!


*{_}May 22nd 2011{_}*

h5. *First trials - alpha version succeeded*

Recently we have tested our 0.65 version on a weeklong congress on fisheries and biology. We are more than satisfied with the results, having already a working, almost fully operational version.
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Some raw demos are available on the following links:
[http://opencastdemo.media.uvigo.es/engage/ui/watch.html?id=20d5b35f-0ad7-4515-a8d1-b833f153c69c|http://opencastdemo.media.uvigo.es/engage/ui/watch.html?id=20d5b35f-0ad7-4515-a8d1-b833f153c69c]
[http://opencastdemo.media.uvigo.es/engage/ui/watch.html?id=9f53672e-cccd-4e11-9e42-0b55f522ac9b|http://opencastdemo.media.uvigo.es/engage/ui/watch.html?id=9f53672e-cccd-4e11-9e42-0b55f522ac9b]
[http://opencastdemo.media.uvigo.es/engage/ui/watch.html?id=1a96b054-6d05-46de-8066-6072e6cae5cb|http://opencastdemo.uvigo.es/engage/ui/watch.html?id=1a96b054-6d05-46de-8066-6072e6cae5cb]\\


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