Use the Epiphan device’s front panel or web-based Admin panel to manage EchoVideo captures from the room. You can create VOD-only ad hoc captures, view and start scheduled captures, pause, resume, or extend active captures, and reupload completed recordings. You can also use supported room control systems to control captures.

Ad hoc captures are recordings you create as needed rather than schedule through EchoVideo Room Management or start from Create > New Capture in EchoVideo. Scheduled captures always take priority over ad hoc captures.

Important: The Epiphan device must be running firmware version 4.24.6 or later to use these features.

Create an Ad Hoc Capture

Ad hoc captures created from the Epiphan front panel or the device's Admin panel are video-on-demand (VOD) only. 

1. From a web browser, log in to the Epiphan device's Admin panel using the admin account.

2. Scroll to Events and click Events, as shown in the image below.

   

3. Click Create New Event, as shown in the image above.

4. Optionally, edit the Event Name.

   By default, the event is named Ad Hoc, followed by the date and time you selected when you selected Create New Event. The date and time are based on the Epiphan device clock, not your local time zone.

5. Select an EchoVideo Profile from the dropdown.

   When you use a named profile, the input selections are locked and reflect the selected profile's settings defined in the EchoVideo Room configuration. Select Custom to choose an input for each channel and designate the channel that provides the primary audio. Custom and additional profiles are available only if their respective toggles are turned on.

6. Choose the Duration from the dropdowns.

   The default duration is one hour.

7. Select the Recording Quality.

   The default quality is High.

8. Select Next.

   

9. Review the event details and click CREATE EVENT.

   

The recording starts and is visible under Ongoing and completed events.

When it finishes, the completed recording is uploaded to the Captures page in EchoVideo. An administrator must assign the capture to an owner or publish it to a course.

Pause, Resume, and Extend a Capture

You can pause and resume an active capture directly from the Epiphan device or through the device’s Admin panel. This allows you to temporarily stop the capture without ending the recording.

When you pause a scheduled VOD capture, the system stops adding new content to the recording for the duration of the pause. The scheduled end time remains unchanged, so pausing does not automatically extend the capture. Any video or audio that occurs while the capture is paused is excluded from the final recording. Once you resume the capture, new content is added to the recording again until the scheduled end time is reached.

When you pause a live capture, viewers see an EVENT PAUSED message instead of the live video. Audio is also unavailable while the event is paused. Resuming the event removes the paused state and allows the live stream to continue for viewers.

You can extend an active capture by five minutes using the +5 minutes option. This provides additional time when the event runs longer than originally planned.

Handle Upcoming Scheduled Captures

Scheduled captures always take priority over ad hoc captures. If an upcoming scheduled capture is expected to overlap with an ad hoc capture, the device displays a warning to notify you of the conflict.

Depending on how soon the scheduled capture is set to begin, the device will limit the remaining recording time available for the ad hoc capture. If there is not enough time to complete even a brief ad hoc capture, the device prevents it from starting altogether. 

View and Start Scheduled Captures

Captures scheduled for a room in EchoVideo are displayed on the Epiphan Events screen. This allows you to review upcoming scheduled captures and start them when the appropriate time window becomes available.

The Start button, shown in the image below, becomes available five minutes before the scheduled capture start time. If the button does not become active automatically when the five-minute window begins, refresh the Events screen and check again. Once the button is available, select Start to begin the scheduled capture before its official start time.

The five-minute early-start window applies specifically to the EchoVideo integration. Other integrations may use a different early-start window based on the default settings Epiphan defines.

For more information about the Events screen, see View scheduled CMS events and history in the Epiphan documentation.

Reupload a Completed Capture

Completed events include a Re-upload button. Use this option when a capture recorded successfully, but the upload did not finish because of a network interruption, a device restart, another temporary connection issue, etc. Re-uploading allows you to send the existing capture to EchoVideo without recording the event again.

1. From the Events screen, find and select the completed capture you want to send again.
2. Click Re-upload to begin uploading the previously recorded capture.

3. When prompted, click OK to confirm that you want to re-upload the capture.

   The system will resend the recorded content to EchoVideo.

After the capture uploads, open the Captures page in EchoVideo to monitor its processing status. Processing may take some time before the capture is fully available.

Use External Room Controls

Epiphan devices can also receive capture controls from supported room control systems. Epiphan has tested this functionality with Q-SYS and Crestron. Refer to the documentation for your Epiphan device and room control system for configuration and supported commands.