Echo360 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:

Echo360 browser-based capture must be enabled on your Echo360 tenant.
You must be online and be in Echo360.
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 Echo360 cannot provide warnings for through an incognito browser window.
You MUST be using Chrome (either on Windows or Mac).

To launch Browser Capture recording

Enter Echo360 the way you normally do.
Click the Create button in the main navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Select New Browser Capture.

In-browser capture opens in a new tab.
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.
Select the inputs you want to record. These are discussed in more detail below, but your options include any available camera, any available microphone, and the computer screen, with specific options for WHAT item in the screen you want to capture.
Click the Record button, identified in the below figure.
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.
The recording immediately stops and begins uploading to your Echo360 library.
After upload, use the Screen download icon or the Camera download icon that appear 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.

Each visual input is downloaded as a separate MP4 file or WebM file, depending on the browser you are using. The Echo360 processor combines them into single capture playback within the platform, but locally they are separate recordings.
When you are finished using the browser capture application, close the tab to exit.

When processing of your uploaded recording is finished, 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 including 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 on the Title textbox and overriding the default name.

Allowing Access to Camera and Microphone

In the event that 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 located 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 the available recording options and other features of the interface.

Recording inputs and options

In the browser capture window, your recording input options are listed on the right side. 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 available for that type, the drop-down list contains only that option and None.

Camera input

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

Most laptops, however, do 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.

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 appears with three options, 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 happen to have multiple monitors, you can select WHICH monitor's screen to use for the recording. This is shown in the below figure. If you are working from a computer that has only one display, you have a single screen option to select.

Remember that EVERYTHING on the screen will be captured in the recording 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 are using for in-browser capture, then find and open the application you want.

Browser Tab

The [browser] Tab option allows you to select a tab of the browser in which you have browser capture running, in order to record all activity that occurs in that tab. The tab you want to use must already be open in order 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 available as well as 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 that the selected input is working and is able to discern the sound.

In the figure below, notice that the sound level bar has a visual indication of sound input for the selected Microphone device.

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 browser does not support different modalities for screen capture, it only supports recording the whole screen.
Uploading and processing of locally downloaded WebM files from Browser Capture is not supported.
Downloaded media from browser capture will have a different format depending on your browser:
- MacOS Safari will create MP4 files.
- Chrome, Edge and Firefox will create WebM files.
Downloading media with Firefox and Edge on iOS not supported.
Preview for Safari is supported on iPadOS 15.2+.
Currently, screen recording is not supported on smartphones and tablets.