For every brand, capturing their audience’s attention is one of the key goals and in this competitive world, gaining an edge over their competitors is not an easy task. Today, video content has become the go-to option for businesses to capture their audience’s attention and establish their brand in the market. With attention spans shrinking and the scrolling game intensifying, brands are in dire need of creating engaging video content to make a lasting impact. Gone are the days when video content was considered just for entertainment purposes; today they serve as an important medium for disseminating information and instructions and influencing the audience.
Here are some statistics which prove why video content has become an integral part of the digital world:
- 95% of the viewers are more likely to retain information presented in a video than a text.
- 82% of the internet traffic in 2024 is made up of video content.
- 72% of the customers prefer video tutorials.
- 67% of marketers have experienced higher ROI by sharing video content on various platforms.
As you can see from the statistics, video content is the need of the hour which means businesses need to rely on a video management platform that can take care of all your video content needs. Panopto is one such leading video management platform that is ideal for businesses, educators, and content creators. This video management solution supports the complete video learning lifecycle – from creating and managing to sharing and measuring impact.
In this detailed blog, you can learn all about Panopto – how to set it up, how to record and upload videos, content management, gathering engagement analytics, and more.
Table of Contents
Setting Up Your Panopto Account
Once your organization has Panopto set up, the admin can follow the below steps to create a new user:
- A) Creating an Account
Step 1: Create a new user by selecting the Systems option from the lower-left corner of your Panopto site, and then select the option Users.
Step 2: Click on the option New, and fill in all the required information, such as username, first name, last name, email address, email options, and password. Once done, click on the option Create User.
Once the user is created, Admins will be directed to an Overview screen displaying the new user’s information. If required, Admins can edit the user’s information from this screen.
- B) Navigating the Dashboard
Once the user has login access, they can access the Panopto dashboard which offers various key features, such as Home, My Folder, Browse, Notifications, etc.
Below is a brief description of some of these key features:
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- My Folder – The My Folder option contains your personal Panopto videos and folders. Administrators can choose whether or not a user has a My Folder. You can perform various action items within this option, such as create sessions and create folders. You cannot share My Folder itself, but you can share sessions/folders within it.
- Browse – When you click on the Browse option, you can view all the folders for which you have the Viewer or Creator access. You can also drag and drop a folder to move it into another folder.
- Notifications – To access the Notification tab, click on the upper right corner of your Panopto site, select your user icon represented by your initials in a circle, and select User Settings. In the User Settings window, click on the Notifications option. There are different notification options available here and you can select or disable them as per your requirements.
Recording and Uploading Videos
Panopto allows its users to record videos as well as upload pre-recorded videos.
- A) Recording with Panopto
Users can use various recording tools within Panopto to record their videos, such as Panopto for Windows, Panopto for Mac, Panopto Capture, and Panopto Express. Panopto also supports a wide variety of remote recorder options that are suitable for any budget and situation. However, you will need to have Admin access to Panopto for installing remote recorders.
Different recording tools will have different recording quality (standard, high, and ultra quality). Panopto Capture and Panopto Express are both web-based recorders; however, Panopto Capture requires a licensed Panopto account, and Panopto Express can be used by anyone with or without an account. Creating videos on Panopto is as simple as clicking a button. All you need to do is click on the Create option, and you will find options to create different types of content. Below are the options you will see when you click on the Create option:
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to record your first video using Panopto.
Step 1: Go to the folder where you want your video to be recorded, click on the Create option, and select Panopto Capture.
Step 2: The Panopto Capture will launch in a new browser tab as shown below:
Step 3: You will find three options at the top of the screen: Audio, Video and Screen and Apps. Ideally, Panopto Capture will take your default audio and video inputs.
- Audio: If you wish to use a different microphone, then click on the Audio option to choose your desired microphone. The selected microphone will have a checkmark over it. You can also Switch or Add to a different audio source by hovering over the audio source. The audio bar should ideally show up in green color to indicate that the audio levels are good.
- Video: If you wish to use a different camera, then click on the Video option to choose your desired camera source. The selected camera will have a checkmark over it. You can also Switch or Add other video sources by opting for a secondary video source.
- You can also try out various other video-related options, such as blur and virtual background, no background, a Smart camera to automatically track and follow the speaker’s face, preview a source in full screen, remove a video source, and preview your camera while recording.
- Screen and Apps: You can select the Screen and Apps option to record a screen, application window, or individual browser tab. Select the option Your Entire Screen to record everything that is happening on the screen, select the option Application Window to record everything that is happening only in one application window, and select the option Chrome Tab to record everything that is happening in one browser tab.
Once you have selected the required audio and video inputs, background, apps, screens, etc., it is time to begin the recording.
- To start your recording, click the red circle button at the bottom centre of Panopto Capture. Once you click on it, a 5-second countdown will appear on the screen and then the recording will begin. To stop the recording, select the red square button at the bottom centre of Panopto Capture.
- Bear in mind that once you click on stop, the video will immediately begin to upload, so do not close the Panopto Capture browser tab until the upload is complete.
- You will see the two messages below when the video is processed and uploaded.
- The video will be uploaded to the folder that you were in when you opened Capture. If you do not have Creator access to that folder, then it will be uploaded to your My Folder. If you do not have the My Folder set up, then the video will be uploaded to the most recent folder that you used.
- You can perform various other functionalities as well, such as, you can either record a new video by selecting the Record Now option or if you are not happy with the current record, you can record it again by choosing the Redo option.
- You can edit the video’s name, change the video’s folder location, add tags, enter a video description, edit the video in the Panopto editor by clicking on Edit, or view it in the Panopto view by clicking on View, and finally share the video directly by putting in the name, group name, username, or email addresses of the people with whom you would like to share the video. You can also use the Manage Access option to open the video’s Share settings and make changes as required before sending the video.
- Once you have put in all the required information, you can go ahead and click on Send.
- You can also record your videos by selecting the Panopto for Windows option or the Panopto for Mac option.
- B) Uploading Pre-recorded Videos
There are two ways to upload your pre-recorded videos on Panopto. You can either use the Create option which will create a session for each file, or you can upload multiple files and videos by selecting the Build a Session option.
Below are the steps on how to upload files using the Create option.
Step 1: Select the Browse option from the left-hand menu, select All Folder or My Folder, and then select the folder to which you want to record your video.
Step 2: Next, click on the + Create button and choose the Upload media option.
Step 3: A window will appear where users can drag and drop the audio/video files into the box. Alternatively, users can also select the box to look for the desired audio/video files.
Step 4: Once the uploading is completed, the video sessions will be processed for playback in Panopto. Once the processing is complete, you can edit the video.
You can also use the drag-and-drop functionality to upload your files. All you need to do is open the Panopto folder to which you want to upload your files and drag and drop the files directly from your system into the folder. You can monitor the upload status via a status window that will appear in the lower right-hand corner.
Below are the steps on how to upload files using the Build a Session option.
Step 1: You can launch the Build a Session by selecting Browse from the left-hand menu, then select All Folders or My Folder, and then select the folder to which you want to record your video.
Step 2: Once the folder is selected, click on the + Create button and choose the Build a Session option.
Step 3: Provide the name and video description and click on Create.
Step 4: Next, the editor will open in Build a Session mode where you can begin by adding your primary video/audio.
Step 5: Once the primary video/audio has been added, you will see two more options displayed – drop another primary audio/video on the left side and drop the secondary video or PowerPoint file on the right side.
Step 6: To view the status of the uploaded file, you can click on the Streams option.
Step 7: Once the files are uploaded and processed, you can edit the video and publish the final file.
Step 8: The session will reprocess with the additional edits and become available to view.
- C) Supported Formats and File Size Tips
Panopto is compatible with a wide variety of formats and file sizes. The most common format is an MP4 container with H.264 Video codec and AAC audio codec. Panopto supports a video bitrate of 2.5 Mbps. Any higher bitrate will be re-encoded to a lower bitrate by Panopto. Below are examples of some of the different formats supported by Panopto:
- Containers with Example Extensions
- MP4
- MOV
- ASF
- FLV
- AVI
- MP3
- FLV v2
- Video Codecs
- H.264 / AVC1
- H.265 / HEVC
- AV1
- MJPEG
- Windows Media Screen Codec 1
- DV formats
- Audio Codecs
- AAC
- AC3
- MP3
- WMA2
- WMA9 Pro
Below are some file size tips to remember when using Panopto:
- Panopto does not support file types with multi-track video or multi-track audio.
- Panopto does not impose any hard limit for file size.
- If you are uploading larger files, make sure you have a strong and reliable network connection.
- If you need to reduce your file size, then use the Handbrake feature offered by Panopto.
- Panopto recommends using PowerPoint presentations under 5GB with standard fonts for best results.
Also read: How to Compress Video Without Losing Quality: 3 Simple Ways
Managing Your Content
It is very important to ensure that you are managing your content on Panopto efficiently and effectively. The platform offers various features that can help users to manage their content, such as folder management, tagging features, editing features, and more. Let’s take a look at some of them in detail.
- A) Organizing Videos into Folders
Organizing your videos into folders is a great way to stay on top of all your content. Users can access their folders via three options:
- My Folders: This folder contains your personal Panopto videos and folders.
- Subscriptions: If you subscribe to any folders, they will appear in this tab.
- Browse: All folders for which you have Viewer or Creator access will appear here.
To create a new folder, users can click on the + Create button and select the New Folder option.
In the Create Folder window, you can provide a name and description for the video, and if applicable, you can also select a parent folder. You can also select Inherit permissions from the parent folder if you are creating a subfolder and would like the subfolder to share the same level of permissions as its parent folder.
You can also access various folder settings by clicking on the upper right corner of the folder, expanding the dropdown menu, and selecting the Settings option. You will notice different options like Overview, Share, Settings, Order, and Manage. These options can be used to edit the name and description of the folder, share the folder link, change sharing permissions, edit the viewer’s permission, and more.
- B) Tagging and Descriptions
Adding tags, titles, and video descriptions are helpful in improving the discoverability of the videos. You can add tags by selecting the Settings options in your folder, then clicking on the Overview option and then clicking on the Tags option.
There is a limit of 10 tags per video. Once the tags are added, they will appear in the Settings window as well as under the title of the video.
You can learn more about how to manage the tags here.
- C) Editing Features
Panopto offers various editing features such as trimming and cutting a video, adding captions, etc. To trim a video, users can click on the cut tool in the video editor.
You can trim the beginning, middle, or end of the video. To make more accurate cuts, you can use the magnifying glass on the right to zoom in on the timeline.
Users can also add Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) captions into a video. You can import automatic captions by opening the video in the Panopto Editor, click on the Captions tab, and select the Import Captions dropdown.
You can also edit or delete the captions. There is a 384-character limitation to individual caption entries. To edit or delete a caption, select the more option next to a caption and choose the option required.
Leveraging Panopto’s Key Features
The key features offered by Panopto make it one of the top choices for reliable video management software. This all-in-one platform takes care of everything from recording and editing to compressing captioning videos, thus, making it easy for organizations to manage and maintain their corporate video library. Below is an overview of some of its key features and how to leverage them.
- A) Searchability with Smart Search
Panopto’s Smart Search is the most comprehensive way to search the content inside your video library. It can instantly find knowledge across your video library, from lectures to topics, moments, meetings, and more. This key feature supports fifteen languages, such as English, German, Spanish, Polish, French, Japanese, and more. Video content in any of these languages can be automatically indexed and instantly searched in the respective language. You can take advantage of the Smart Search feature by:
- Searching every word spoken – Automatic Speech Recognition captures and indexes each word spoken in the video.
- Searching every work on-screen – Every word that appears on-screen in the videos is captured and indexed by Optical Character Recognition.
- Slide searching – Every word that appears in slide decks, including speaker notes is indexed with the help of slide ingestion technology.
- Searching digital notes – You can take digital notes within the video while you are watching it and these notes can be later searched in Panopto as well.
- B) Analytics and Insights
Having access to actionable insights can help organizations create better and more relevant content and improve engagement and retention. This is why it is important to get data that focuses on outcomes. Panopto provides detailed analytics reports from its Analytics Dashboard for every video in your library. There are different insights that users can generate from the video content analytics:
- Analytics Dashboard – You can get detailed reports on engagement and comprehensive insights into user and viewing behavior.
- Engagement Tracking – You can track who’s watching what, how much, and where engagement falls off or grows to guide content creation, learner interventions, and more.
- Video Performance – You can evaluate the impact of your content library with statistics that provide comprehensive information on your best-performing videos.
- Customizable Views – You can filter administrator viewing based on unique preferences. View data across your organization or campus, teams or departments, individual users or videos, or custom playlists.
How to access viewer analytics to track engagement? Below is a step-by-step guide on how an Admin can view the statistics for a session that a user has viewed or created.
Step 1: On the dashboard, expand the Systems menu and click on the Users option.
Step 2: Place your cursor over the user for whom you would like the statistics and click on the Stats option.
Step 3: Once you click on it, the below User Dashboard will be launched.
Step 4: You can arrange the user statistics by using the drop-down box on the top right corner of the page to filter as per time range. You can also select whether you want to view the user’s stats for the sessions they have viewed or for the sessions they have created.
On the dashboard, you will find the below information:
- Views and Downloads
- Unique Sessions Viewed
- Minutes Delivered
- Average Completion
When you choose the option, Data for Sessions Viewed, you will notice a graph that displays the number of views and downloads for the videos by the user, by day.
When you choose the option, Top Sessions Viewed by User, you will see a dashboard that displays the top videos viewed by the user, depending on the sort range selected.
All the analytical information and insights can be downloaded by clicking on the download icon in the upper right corner of the dashboard. The reports will be downloaded in .csv format.
For Data for Sessions Created, users will have access to three different graphs. The first graph displays information about Views and Downloads by Day, and the second graph is the Subfolder Roll-up, which includes a pie chart that displays a list of all sub-folders where videos have been viewed, and the percentage of viewing that has happened in each one, and the third one is Top Sessions, which lists the top video sessions and can be arranged either alphabetically by Session name, or by the number of Views and Downloads, Minutes Delivered, Average Minutes Delivered, Video Duration Minutes, and Unique Viewers.
Knowledge Insights provides detailed analytics and data visualizations unlocking essential insights into usage and engagement trends on their Panopto site. To access the Knowledge Insights, the Admin can expand the System menu and click on the Insights option.
You will be directed to the Systems Insights page which details activity and insights on how your Panopto site is being used.
In each section, there are some widgets for which you can download the information in different formats (.csv, .xlsx, or .png).
You can set alerts, stay up to date with your site’s most important metrics, and address technical issues quickly, such as system error states, storage capacity, and usage.
- C) Interactive Features
Panopto offers various interactive features, such as adding notes within the videos and in-video quizzing capabilities to ensure that creators make their videos more engaging and interactive.
- Instructors can create and add multiple choice, checkbox, and true/false questions to their recordings in seconds, directly from the Panopto online video editor.
- Video creators can easily configure whether viewers can retake quizzes, see their grades, and/or review the correct answers.
- It also enables getting instant feedback to understand the challenges faced by the viewers with regard to any specific content in the video.
Maximizing Efficiency: Tips and Tricks
Panopto is a comprehensive, all-in-one platform, which offers a wide range of features and functionalities. Knowing how to utilize these features efficiently can make the users experience much easier and seamless. Here are some tips and tricks that can help users maximize efficiency:
- Batch Uploading – When uploading files, instead of uploading them one by one, you can select all the files and upload them at the same time. You can either upload them via the Create button or use the Drag and Drop feature.
- Speeding up Video Editing – You can take advantage of the various keyboard hotkeys to speed up your video editing process.
- Managing Storage and Bandwidth – While recording videos in Panopto, users can plug in multiple video sources. There are several best practices that you can follow to ensure that you are successfully optimizing the video size and managing storage limits. For example, always make a short recording test before the actual recording to ensure all the video and audio inputs are working fine, make sure that the resolution is as desired, adjust the framerate and bitrate if required, etc.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Panopto also offers comprehensive support that enables users to easily troubleshoot some of the common issues on their own. Whether you are facing issues while uploading videos or you need tips on improving the video playback quality, Panopto offers various support resources that users can go through to resolve these issues.
They can access Panopto’s:
Conclusion
As you can see, Panopto is truly an all-in-one, on-demand video platform offering all your video recording, sharing, and management solutions in one place. With Panopto, an organization can empower its content creators to create and curate their Panopto library, publish the recorded videos to your organization, access useful analytics and insights to drive engagement and retention and optimize your overall video recording and management experience.
So, go ahead and explore the world of Panopto to transform your video creation and learning journey. You can sign up and explore all its features to gain first-hand knowledge on how the platform works and how it can benefit you and your organization. You can use this guide to kick off your account setup and explore the various options to record a video, manage the video library, optimize your Panopto experience, and more.
