Why Can't We Backup Video to Hard Drive Before Uploading to Studio?

[sharked]

After the loss of three videos due to problems during uploading (not of my own creation), I have resolved to buy Screencast-O-Matic's (SOM)"Deluxe" annual subscription for under $20.  I'm doing this so I can save a backup of the video BEFORE uploading it through Studio. 

My question for Canvas/Instructure is why don't you revise your embedded SOM ("Studio") user interface so that faculty can first save a copy of their video recordings BEFORE starting what appears to be Studio's increasingly risky upload process where if anything goes wrong on the backend, their entire time investment in that video recording is lost? 

[James · Accepted solution]

 @sharked  

The video is stored on the local hard drive before being uploaded to Studio.

These screenshots are from Windows -- don't know what it looks like on a Mac.

When it's waiting for me to enter a title and description before hitting the Upload button, the top left has a "Back to Recordings" option.

There is a Manage Recordings option there.

Check the box to Manage Recordings, click "All" or individually select the video

Then click Copy.

If you click Local, it just makes a duplicate. If you check browse you can save it somewhere else so that it's not automatically removed.

All of that may not be necessary. If I record a very short video that I don't want, I can then click on Manage Recordings and get back to my previous recordings. From there, I can click on any video and get back to the title/description/upload screen and re-upload it to Canvas Studio. 

By the way, on my Windows machine, the videos are stored in %APPDATA%\..\Local\Screen Recorder\Recordings

That's C:\Users\james\AppData\Local\Screen Recorder\Recordings for me (you'll need to change the james)

Something similar probably exists for a Mac if that's what you're using.

[sharked]

Hi James,

Thanks for this.  I'm aware of this "work around" having found it by sheer accident while clicking around the other day.  My point is that Studio's user interface (embedded Screen Launcher from Screencast-O-Matic) should allow one to save to their just completed video to their hard drive at the OUTSET (i.e. before uploading), just like one can do using the web version of S-O-M).  Instead, one has to find this "hidden" way the video is saved to their PC/Mac or spend hours searching online to find this obscure remedy.

Also, the files stored on my Mac are in unknown (to me) file formats (e.g. .vc, .sel, and .s), not in expected .mp4 video format.  So, while the initial recording may be saved on one's hard drive (in the background by Studio) the saved file is not a plug-and-play ready video as far as I can tell.  Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here.

[SteveCave]

On PC is the same list of useless files. I think @James missed a step...

[James]

@SteveCave 

It might be one of those things where it worked when I wrote it but it doesn't now.  I did try something similar within the last year and it did not work anymore -- it had a bunch of non-beneficial files.

On the other hand, when I last tried it, I did not try uploading it to Canvas to see if it would compile an MP4 file. I might have done so much playing around in 2020 that I did that without realizing -- in which case, I missed a step.

Right now, the regular media record functionality counted down to 1 and then did nothing. No message about it not working, no controls that I could find. When I tried Studio's record, it captured it. Then I edited and had all those weird files but could not see where it made an MP4 file before uploading. It may have been that the file was too small (only 4 seconds) and that if I was able to hijack it between the time encoding finished and the uploading finished, I might have been able to grab it.

I rarely use Canvas' screen capture. Perhaps when I'm making short walk-through videos that do not need any editing. For my lecture videos, I heavily edit them before uploading them to Canvas so the Canvas screen recorder isn't an option.

Canvas' screen recorder is for uploading into directly into Canvas, so if you use it and need to edit it, then you'll have to let it upload to Canvas and then download it as an mp4 file. That doesn't help in the case of an failed upload. To me, it's just not worth the extra hassle to use it.

[mcclistd]

There is no "Back to recordings" button on my Studio screen. Just "Upload." I have the same problem as the OP. If something goes wrong with the upload process, the whole recording is lost. Unacceptable.

[MsC2]

Same here - no "Back to recordings" button on my Studio screen.  I was hoping to no longer have to use Screencast-o-matic outside of Canvas, but now I need to still use it.  This is an example of not being an all-inclusive program.  Please, Canvas, bring back this option so we can stay in just Canvas for efficiency.