Echo360 is the perfect choice for classrooms needing HD video or live webcasting.
 

Beatles vs. Stones. Dogs vs. cats. Cronut vs. cupcake.

Some choices divide people in decidedly distinctive fan camps. The choice of lecture capture via software or hardware is one of them. That’s why we’re devoting 3 days out of the 30 Days of Lecture Capture to making the right choice for you.

Up first: Hardware solutions.

The hardware option has acquired a hard-core cheering section over the years. In addition to the obvious security and peace-of-mind benefits of capturing lecture content via an independent device, there are many other reasons why capture via hardware is a fan favorite:

  • It supports live streaming and webcasting to maximize real-time engagement, distance learning, special events and more
  • It delivers the high-quality HD video (up to 1080p) that large classrooms and specialized applications like maps or medical diagrams demand.
  • It takes the human element out of recording, so hands off! Once set up, you don’t have to touch it again, as scheduling, maintenance, upgrades and monitoring are all done through your network web browser. (You could schedule captures for an entire course in two minutes.) So, no more stomach-plummeting shocks when an instructor realizes he forgot to click “Start Capture” after pausing mid-lecture.
  • Yet it also gives instructors the freedom to use their own laptops, smartboards, DVD players, etc. rather than teach on a classroom computer. (A big plus for the DIY crowd.)

What characteristics make up the ideal lecture capture hardware? Make sure it’s set up from day one for recording, like the Echo360 SafeCapture HD, which was purposefully built just for capture. (A repurposed PC, like some others offer, just isn’t the same.)

Make sure your solution gives you true two-screen flexibility, with the ability to show two videos, two slide decks or one of each, side by side. Also look for a Linux operating system, which frees you from administrative overhead, system updates and antivirus configuration, and offers far more security than a Windows PC with public access.

Echo360 gives you options

With Echo360, lecture recording isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. We give you the ability to equip your classrooms with hardware or software, whatever works best for your situation, to record and securely distribute the class capture—and we’re the only provider to do so. Mix and match across the campus; we know that one size doesn’t fit all.

We understand that education institutions are a diverse crowd, with a lot of variation in terms of class size, pedagogy, physical layout, technical infrastructure and budget. So we accommodate—at a competitive price.