The look and feel of the Player is changing! Upcoming changes are identified in this article by providing screenshots labeled "Old UI" and "New UI".

EchoVideo now provides web or "browser-based" capture, a simplified method of creating a recording using any computer, using any of our supported browsers. While our Universal Capture software is a lot more feature-rich, our In-Browser recording feature can be run on any computer that supports browser use, including netbooks.

The requirements for using in-browser capture are:

• EchoVideo browser-based capture must be enabled on your EchoVideo tenant.
• You must be online and be in EchoVideo.
• You must allow access to your computer's camera and microphone when requested.
• You must NOT be using an Incognito window. While in-browser capture may work in incognito mode, if other tabs or browsers are also using it, there may be conflicts that EchoVideo cannot provide warnings for through an incognito browser window.
• Mobile Devices and Tablets are not supported. You must use a desktop or laptop computer.

To launch Browser Capture recording

1. Enter EchoVideo the way you normally do.
2. Click the Create button in the main navigation bar at the top of the screen.
3. Select New Browser Capture.
   
   

   In-browser capture opens in a new tab.

4. Your browser will pop up a message asking for permission to access the computer's camera and microphone. Click Allow.
   

   See Allowing Access to Camera and Microphone below if you accidentally click Block or do not see this popup.

   
   
5. Select the inputs you want to record. These are discussed in more detail below, but your options include any available camera, any available virtual background, any available microphone, and the computer screen, with specific options for WHAT item in the screen you want to capture.
6. Click the Record button, identified in the figure below.
   
7. When you are finished recording, click the Stop button (the square), from the control options identified in the below figure.
   

   Your other control options include a pause button to pause recording, and an X or cancel button, which cancels recording entirely and discards (permanently) anything recorded to that point. You will see a warning message if you select to cancel.

   

8. The recording immediately stops and begins uploading to your EchoVideo library.

   Old UI
   New UI

9. When the recording is done uploading, you can click Start Another Recording to start another Browser Capture.
10. Optionally, after uploading, click the Download icon and then the Screen Capture icon or the Audio Capture icon at the bottom of the browser capture window to download either / both parts of your recording to your local machine. Both icons are shown below.
    

    Depending on your browser, each visual input is downloaded as a separate MP4 or WebM file. The EchoVideo processor combines them into single capture playback within the platform, but locally they are separate recordings.

11. When you are finished using the browser capture application, close the tab to exit.

When your uploaded recording is processed, you can view, edit, and share your new media. One thing you will want to do is rename your new media. By default, the media name will look something like Browser Capture @ 2022-04-14T12:47:30.203Z and include the date and time of the recording. Use the Edit Details option to rename the media to something more descriptive.

Naming your capture

Every time that you open Browser Capture, a default name for your capture will be set to Browser Capture@, where the start time will be set when you press the recording button, and it will look like this: 2022-06-01T15:57:09.032Z. Alternatively, you can rename it to any text of your convenience by typing it into the Title textbox and overriding the default name.

Allowing Access to Camera and Microphone

If your browser does not present you with a popup for camera/microphone access, OR like many people, out of habit, you race to the Block button, click the Lock icon on the left side of the URL address bar, as shown below. The drop-down box that appears should provide options for the camera and microphone that you can enable if necessary.

The sections below provide information on recording options and other interface features.

Recording inputs and options

Your recording input options are listed on the right side of the browser capture window. They include Camera, Screen, and Microphone. Each contains a drop-down list for selecting what input you want to use for each.

If you only have one input for that type, the drop-down list contains only that option and None.

Camera input

You can skip this section if your computer does not have a built-in camera or an externally attached (USB or other) camera. Leave the Camera setting at None and move on.

Most laptops, however, come with a built-in camera, and you may have an external camera attached.

Use the Camera drop-down list to select the camera input you want to use. A preview of what the camera will record appears on the screen.

Virtual Background

You can skip this section if your computer does not have a built-in camera or an externally attached (USB or other) camera. Leave the Camera setting at None and move on.

Most laptops, however, come with a built-in camera, and you may have an external camera attached.

Use the Camera drop-down list to select the camera input you want to use. A preview of what the camera will record appears on the screen. Click the Camera Options button to open the Virtual Backgrounds drop-down. Choose from None, Blur, Green Screen, Beach, Colored Pencils, EchoVideo, Fence, Geometric, Lake, Library, Space, Texture, Tiles, and Wall.

Screen input

The screen input option lets you determine what, if any, display items you want to include in your recording. Click Add Screen on the right, and a dialog box will appear with three options, as shown and described below.

Entire Screen

The Entire Screen option allows you to select a display screen and record everything that occurs on the screen during the recording. If you have multiple monitors, you can select WHICH monitor's screen to use for the recording. This is shown in the below figure. If you work from a computer with only one display, you have a single-screen option to select.

Remember that the recording will capture EVERYTHING on the screen if you select this option.

Window

The Window option allows you to select a particular application window and record everything that occurs within that application window. The application must already be open on the computer so that the Browser Capture program knows it is available to select. If necessary, minimize the browser you use for in-browser capture, then find and open the application you want.

Browser Tab

The Browser Tab option allows you to select a particular tab of your browser (in which Browser Capture is running) to record all activity in that tab. The tab you want to use must already be open to select it.

You cannot select a tab from a different browser; you can only use currently open tabs for the browser where the in-browser capture application is running. If you need to use a different browser, open that browser and use the Window option described above.

When you select a tab, a preview of the contents of the tab appears in the Screen share selection pop-up.

Microphone

The Microphone recording options include both a drop-down list with sound input options and a sound level bar located immediately above the drop-down list.

As you make different selections, you can speak or make other noises to ensure the selected input works and can discern the sound.

In the figure below, notice that the sound level bar visually indicates sound input for the selected Microphone device.

All captured audio, regardless of selected input, has automatic audio normalization applied. This means that we automatically adjust the audio levels to maintain consistency throughout the capture.

Resolution

Camera

EchoVideo records up to 1080p (1920x1080) without a virtual background and up to 720p (1280 x 720) with a virtual background.

Screen

EchoVideo records whatever the screen resolution is, e.g., 720p (1280x720), 1080p (1920x1080), or 4k (3840 x 2160).

However, the media processor will create a final video that is not larger than 1920x1080. For instance, if we record a 4k video (3840 x 2160) it will be reduced in processing to 1080p (1920 x 1080). If we record a 720p video (1280 x 720), it will remain 720p in processing since it is smaller than 1080p.

Known Issues

Since the browser technology that we are using is still in development, we inherited a few issues with this that are still being perfected by the browser developers. We will continue monitoring and developing workarounds, but in the meantime, here is a list of issues that we know of:

• Safari only supports recording the whole screen or a window. It does not yet support recording a particular tab.
• Downloaded media from browser capture will have a different format depending on your browser:
  • Safari will create MP4 files.
  • Chrome, Edge, and Firefox will create WebM files.
• If you're unable to capture the screen on your Mac, there are several troubleshooting steps you can take to resolve the issue.

  • In Terminal

    • Quit Chrome.

    • Launch Terminal.

    • Copy / paste the following into Terminal:

      tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.google.Chrome

    • Run the command.

      If run successfully, you will see a success message.

  • In macOS system settings

    • Go to Privacy and Security.

    • Search “screen recording”.

    • Select “Allow applications to record your screen”.

    • If Chrome is not in the list, click the plus sign to add it.

    • If it IS in the list, you can remove and re-add it with minus and plus signs.