Video Cameras

[GizmoIT]

Does anyone still use video cameras?

Our English Dept use them for spoken language assesments but are complaining that the audio quality isnt great and that it takes time to copy files from memory cards.

I am thinking of some decent quality webcams to replace them and recording directly to VLC or ClipChamp.

Does anyone do anything different?

[synaesthesia]

Yeah, some caveats though - we have to copy the files over from them due to USB/portable storage restrictions so they do them in bulk and hand them over, doesn't take long. Also means we can resize them into something sensible too, so we don't have lots of 4GB, 5 minute long videos

Still think it's less hassle than faffing with webcams, staff are often using their laptops anyway so it's best to keep them separate IMO.

[machy]

Do they need to be video? 

if not plenty of Dictaphones out there that record to MP3

 

if its purely an audio issue, then webcams are likely to be worse that an external mic for the video camera (which are quite cheap).

Also check that its recording settings are sensible 

 

We just have half decent camcorders and seems to be fine 

[dhicks]

1 hour ago, GizmoIT said:

I am thinking of some decent quality webcams to replace them and recording directly to VLC or ClipChamp.

 

Cameras / camcorders: "Camcorder" still just about seems to be a product catagory on Amazon, we have a couple of older Panasonic camcorders which have lasted well. They have decent-enough image quality and will take external inputs for microphones if you want to get a mic closer to the speaker. If you want to use a camera as a webcam then we've found cheap HDMI-to-USB adaptors (£20 on Amazon) work surpisingly well - they turn an HDMI signal into a USB webcam signal.

 

For recording a basic one-to-one language assesement I would have thought the average webcam on a laptop / Chromebook would be okay. If you want to add an external mic, we've used a USB mic interface with a Chromebook before (£30-ish on Amazon for basic ones, plus a mic and cable), they're pretty much plug-and-play, although it does make for more things to plug in.

 

If you use iPads, the Padcaster might be your most compact / all-in-one solution:

 

https://padcaster.com/

 

It gives the iPad a zoom-able lense and an external mic. I think they now have options for phones as well, so you could have a cheap-ish managed phone (£150-ish?) you use for video recording.

[synaesthesia]

Oooh @dhicks raises a good point - iPads/tablets are ideal for this!

I've recently saved 8 old iPads from WEEE as PE for their coursework need to record and view what they do - but not save, so they didn't need any connectivity or file sharing/retrieval. More up to date iPads, phones certainly would be ideal!

[dhicks]

2 hours ago, GizmoIT said:

Our English Dept use them for spoken language assesments but are complaining that the audio quality isnt great and that it takes time to copy files from memory cards.

 

Also possibly an option: the average CCTV system these days probably has good-enough-for-assesements video / audio quality. Our Ubiquiti CCTV system can manage 4K cameras, and audio recording is an option, so you could have a fixed location for recorded assesements with a CCTV camera there.

[DrBeaker]

We had an MFL teacher the once needed to play CD's - advised to go buy some personal CD players from a local well-known catalogue company at £10 each.

 

No, no NO.... apparently wasn't good enough.

 

It HAD to be laptops, with a CD-drive. Despite our advice there was far less to go wrong with a CD player, some AA batteries and enough money to have spares....it absolutely...had to be laptops. 🙄

 

[Andrew_C]

15 hours ago, DrBeaker said:

No, no NO.... apparently wasn't good enough.

 

Well, having worked in MFL, I can see that the lack of decent transport control for a lesson scenario WOULD be a deal breaker.  We fitted proper DVD players to all the classrooms back in the day.

[DrBeaker]

8 hours ago, Andrew_C said:

Well, having worked in MFL, I can see that the lack of decent transport control for a lesson scenario WOULD be a deal breaker.  We fitted proper DVD players to all the classrooms back in the day.

 

Thing is padded boxes like this do exist, they could have brought one, put them all in there, nice, safe and secure.

Bit like calculator boxes.

 

Just because again it 'has a plug on it' doesn't automatically mean it becomes an IT problem.

 

They had an "issue"

We identified a solution to said "issue", reliable, cheap etc.

Recommended it

They rejected it. 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew_C]

Transport controls.  Being able to rewind a bit, and hit the spot you need to replay for the kids, repeatedly.

[DrBeaker]

8 hours ago, Andrew_C said:

Transport controls.  Being able to rewind a bit, and hit the spot you need to replay for the kids, repeatedly.

 

D'oh!

 

I see what you mean now 😂

 

But that's erring in the side of nanny-state sort of thing. If they can't cope with rewind etc they'll have to learn 

[Andrew_C]

1 minute ago, DrBeaker said:

 

D'oh!

 

I see what you mean now 😂

 

But that's erring in the side of nanny-state sort of thing. If they can't cope with rewind etc they'll have to learn 

On cheap cd players, the controls are very poor. Skip forward or back, and pause is often all you get.