FAQ

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h4. Contents

# [Computer Requirements|#computer]
# [#Installation]
# [#Devices]
# [#Audio]
# [Media Manager and ingesting|#ingest]
# [#Profiles]
# [Blackmagic Cards|#blackmagic]
# [Launch problems|#launch]

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h5. Documentation
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# [User's Guide|User Guide]

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h5. Computer Requirements

# Which screen resolution should I use to run Galicaster?
#* Galicaster is designed to run on a panoramic resolution, preferently 1920x1080. It also prepared to run on 1280x960 and 1024x768. Other resolutions may work but some visual defects may appear.
# Should I use a tactile screen or can I use it with mouse and keyboard?
#* Tactile screens provide an easier, faster experience with Galicaster, but you can use it with a regular screen. Remember to activate the mouse pointer in the configuration file.
# Which computer should I use?
#* Depending on the [Hardware recommendations], an Intel (R) i5 or equivalent should cover most of the capturing devices. An linux-supported graphic card is mandatory.


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h5. Installation

# Where should I install Galicaster?
#* You can install Galicaster anywhere, you won't need any extra space later since the recordings can be saved in other directory. Be aware that the installation folder, the repository folder and the devices will be accessed by the application so you have to set the permissions right.
# What distributions should I use?
#* Galicaster is developed and tested for Ubuntu. Ubuntu 12.04 is the official distribution for Galicaster 1.2 and superior. Other distributions may work - Debian, XUbuntu etc. - since they admit gstreamer 0.10, python 2.7, gtk 2.0 and pulseaudio.
# May I use Galicaster as root user?
#* You must not use galicaster as root user, this may block tha access to media files and cause future errors.

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h5. Devices

# I get an error on one the devices I'm using, what can be wrong?
#* First of all, check if the driver is installed and active. Second, make sure the device is correctly plugged. Then check the location of the device exists and the configuration is valid. If all of the previous is okay, try to run the device one by one.
# The webcam freezes after a few seconds running.
#* Your computer is probably not powerful enough to handle the webcam video stream. Try stopping programs that could be affecting the webcam and lower its output resolution. Use _guvcview_ to identify which resolutions and frame rates are available for your webcam.
# Galicaster is not getting any A/V signal from my laptop.
#* Make sure your laptop is sending the signal properly, then check your configuration, the capture device is probably misconfigured.
If you have further problems, make sure the laptop's screen resolution is compatible with you VGA frame grabber.
# My camera is working fine but I only get noise or a black screen.
#* Your camera and your capture card should have a compatible configuration (e.g., both sending and getting a Video Composite signal in PAL). Also, check your camera configuration to ensure that it is actually sending data through the wire.
# Galicaster was working fine until I restart the computer.
#* Two things could happen: The modules of one of your devices are not being loaded automatically or you are using a randomly created device.\nIn the first case, reload the modules manually or follow the driver instructions to load it permanently.
On the second case, please use UDEV rules to fix the devices source location on the computer.\nYour camera and your capture card should have a compatible configuration (e.g., both sending and getting a Video Composite signal in PAL). Also, check your camera configuration to ensure that it is actually sending data through the wire.
# How I establish a backup audio track?
#* Using the flavour 'other' you can record a second audio track that won't take part on the Matterhorn workflow neither on the Galicaster player. If the main audio track fails you should swap tracks and set the secondary track with 'presenter' as flavour.

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h5. Audio
# I can not hear anything in the preview.
#* Probably Galicaster is muted in the sound control of your operating system, or maybe the audio device you are using is muted or with a volume too low. Make sure your set the right device to record the audio from.
# When a play a recording the audio is too low?
#* Try amplifying the audio. If it is still too low, try amplifying it on the device configuration.
# Using Hauppauge, I get a very low audio.
#* Hauppaugge audio input should be line level, otherwise the signal won't be strong enough. Using a mixer or a pre-amplifier could be a fast solution to get a common pc microphone to work.


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h5. Media Manager and Ingest

# When I delete a recording, are they erased from my computer?
#* Yes, they are erased permanently from your hard disk.
# I want to ingest a recording but it will not work.
#* Review your ingest configuration carefully, make sure that your Matterhorn account is valid for digest authentication and check if your computer belongs to a network with access to the Opencast Matterhorn server you are trying to connect to.
# The Matterhorn configuration seems fine but Galicaster doesn't connect to the server.
#* Remember to include the port in the host address and use a valid REST account, a user account won't work.
# I've set immediate ingesting but recording hasn't show up on the server?
#* Operations are handled sequentially, check for pending operations by ordering the recording via status. Make sure you write _immediately_ correctly, in case of mistake, default value _none_ is set.
# After making a recording with presenter and presentation tracks, both are shown on the same screen when I play it in Galicaster.
#* Make sure that {{conf.ini}} does not have two video tracks with the same flavor (video tracks are Hauppage, VGA2USB and v4l2). The same
# After making a dual-stream recording the player crashed, is something wrong?
#* Check out if you set the same filename for both streams, this may cause the player to crash since it expect two video streams.
# A recording I've made is missing, what happened to it?
#* Check the log to see if there is an error on it and it wasn't included on the Media Manager list?
# A have a very long recording and it's not zipping or ingesting.
#* Mediapackages with files bigger than 4 GB can be zipped by Python. It's a known bug that should be resolver on the short term.

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h5. Profiles

# I've created a profile and it doesn't show up.
#* Copy the profile to the folder _profiles_. Make sure it have a _ini_ as extension.
# I've modified a profile but changes doesn't show.
#* You may have copied the profile and didn't modified, thus it's only loading one of them.
# I get a _No tracks_ message when I start Galicaster?
#* You are loading an empty profile or you don't have any tracks on your default profile - the one in the configuration files.

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h5. Blackmagic Cards

# I want to use a blackmagic card, what do I need?
#* To run a blackmagic card you have to install both the driver released by Blackmagic and the gstreamer plugin, only available on the most recent releases of gstreamer 0.10.
# Can I run two Blackmagic cards at the same time?
#* With newer gstreamer plugins it is possible to run more than 1 blackmagic card at the same time, independently of the the cards being of the same time.
# I've set the resolution and the framerate but I only get a black screen.
#* Make sure both format and mode - resolution+framerate - match the camera output. Try different configurations till you get video if you can't know what you are getting from your camera.

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h5. Usual launching program errors

# *Repository:* If the repository can't be loaded try to erase any of the last recordings you made, specially if the computer crashed or the power grid went off.
# *Configuration files*: If you didn't create or download a conf.ini default values will be loaded.
# *Profiles*: If you start Galicaster with a erroneous profile it won't start. Check out the last modifications you made. In case you can get it works, start Galicaster with the default profile - set profile = default on conf.ini>basic- and load the errouneous profile-, error messages can point out what it's happening.
# *Graphic card* - Graphic card additional drivers have to be activated, otherwise Galicaster won't display preview properly.