Studio’s Screen Recorder Gets 64-bit Version Upgrade

The content in this blog is over six months old, and the comments are closed. For the most recent product updates and discussions, you're encouraged to explore newer posts from Instructure's Product Managers.

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
16
4987

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Happy Belated New Year!

 

Before moving on to the subject in the title, I wanted to thank you for all of your support and feedback in 2022.

We finished the year with some Lecture Capture focused workshops that included 15 Higher Ed institutions from the EMEA region. This is an ongoing discovery and we’ll carry out the same discussions with institutions in NORAM and APAC soon, so expect a form in the following weeks (which you might have already submitted previously). Alternatively, just leave a comment here or direct message me with a simple “I want to share my views on Lecture Capture too” and I’ll add you to my list right away! 

My impression as we progressed with the workshops was that representatives from at most 5 institutions at a time proved to be the optimal setting for a brainstorming discussion. Additionally, 60 minutes was not enough to get to the bottom of the problems, so we talked with schools directly as well as an alternative option. Nonetheless, the amount of feedback you provided already is massive and I cannot show my appreciation enough.

 

Now, what is going on with this screen recorder upgrade?

Since last spring, a new Screencast-O-Matic version has been available to download. You haven’t missed a thing if you haven’t tried it; however, we want to make sure that we only support the same version for everyone. There are no major changes in the new version, but it guarantees that no newer desktop devices will have issues installing it in the future.

This is especially important for Administrators where the institution works with managed devices. Updating the device’s image with the right Screencast-O-Matic version before the summer/autumn term or setting permissions so that installing new software is not blocked temporarily might be necessary for the upgrade. Devices that are not managed by the institutions will seamlessly get the new 64-bit version.

We wanted to give you several months of time before we transition to the new version. Over the next months, this will be communicated to you on different channels and also directly by Customer Success. 

UPDATE: How can I test the new version before July 3?

If you want to be 100% sure that the new version does not break anything then you can test it beforehand, please reach out to your CSM and you will be provided with the instructions. No need to download the installer above, however that should be used for building the image for managed devices.

Chromebook devices are not impacted in any way.

 

Anything exciting coming soon to Studio?

Yes! We are just a few weeks away to get you an overall better captioning experience. Some things that have been asked for years will come! Also, integration work with certain human captioning services is now going at full throttle... but that alone deserves a full blogpost next time.

 

All the best,

Akos

The content in this blog is over six months old, and the comments are closed. For the most recent product updates and discussions, you're encouraged to explore newer posts from Instructure's Product Managers.

16 Comments
JoshuaNovotny
Community Member

Hello,

I downloaded the new version from the link, but whenever I try to launch Studio, it prompts me to download the old version. Is there any other setup we need to do to get Canvas to recognize the new version?

Thanks.

Nancy_Webb_CCSF
Community Champion

Hi @AkosFarago , now that Screencast-O-Matic is re-branded as ScreenPal, and ScreenPal says we'll need to download it to get future updates, how do we do that? What exactly do we uninstall to get the most current version?  

I too ran the downloader when choosing to do a screen recording in Studio, but my Screen Recorder Laucher is still v.2.9.3vo and dated 8/2022.  Does that automatically use the right Screencast o'Matic or ScreenPal version?

Thanks for your help. We'll want to do this on school computers, those managed by our ITS, as well.

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@JoshuaNovotny , @Nancy_Webb_CCSF 

Apologies for the oversight. In order to experiment with the 64-bit version to make sure everything works as it should, we need to turn on the feature for your user specifically, so that the Screen Capture uses the new version - not only downloads it.

We will need your domain (abc.instructure.com) and email address for that. I am going to add this to the blogpost. Please send them in a private message and we set it up for you right away!

 

reedbrian
Community Participant

Good afternoon. What might be the implication for Districts that manage student Chromebooks and iPads? Is there anything that we would need to prepare in order to ensure that our managed devices are ready to handle the newer version of Studio Screen Recorder?  Or is this update just for Windows and Mac devices?

 

Thanks, in advance, for the guidance.

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@reedbrian this upgrade is only for Windows and Mac devices!

reedbrian
Community Participant

Thank you. This helps clarify things 🙂

jason_waltz
Community Participant

@AkosFarago Is it safe to assume this means Studio will continue to work as normal on Chromebooks or does this mean Chromebooks will no longer be supported and Studio will only work on Windows/Mac devices moving forward?

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@jason_waltz Chromebook devices are not impacted in any way - I added this comment to the original blogpost as well.

TSciarrillo
Community Explorer

@AkosFarago Hello, Akos.

We noticed that Studio has updated on our instance of Canvas, and we can no longer use the 32-bit screen recorder. Instead, the 64-bit is automatically downloaded, which is posing a problem since the 64-bit requires admin credentials (not all staff have admin rights to work PCs). I did some digging and I could not find any release notes regarding changing the screen recorder, and the Canvas Community article seems outdated. On this link - https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Studio/How-do-I-install-the-Studio-Screen-Capture-Application/ta-... - the article states, "By default, the URL provides the 32-bit version of the screen recorder," which is not the case for us. Do you know if we can go back to using the 32-bit version? Also, could you provide some insight on the release of 64-bit because I cannot find anything stating this is outside of testing?

Thank you!

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@TSciarrillo I sent you an email with the installer that requires no admin priviliges! We will make a change in a few days so users will download that version from Studio directly.

Fernsy
Community Participant

Hi Akos,

We too have the issue with the new 64 bit version requiring admin rights to install. Can you send me the installer that requires no admin privileges as I have had to provide admin rights today so staff can install. Or do I wait until the download of that version from studio and when will this occur?

Jason 

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@Fernsy we replaced the new installer with the one that require no admin rights and will be available from Monday (7/24).

I suggest to wait until then - also highly appreciated if you could confirm next week that it works as per your needs with the new installer. Thank you!

soxford
Community Contributor

@AkosFarago  We are still having issues with the new installer.20.3/ and installer .19.  If the new installer is installed,  the user is asked to download the old installer (.19), and after about three times of canceling out of the .19 installer, studio recorder will usually open without having to download .19.   Is there an issue of having the .19 version with the 20.3 version?

AkosFarago
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@soxford Thank you for reaching out!

The two versions should not have any issues when downloading and installing one in the presence of the other. As per my previous comment, we changed the screen recorder version so it no longer requires admin privileges to install. Please keep in mind that the one with admin privileges was 2.20.3, while the "new" one is version 2.19 (!) that you should have on your device. 

Please allow to download version 2.19 and let me know if you still experience the issue afterwards!

soxford
Community Contributor

Hi @AkosFarago , 

Thanks for replying.  I am unsure what the specific issue is, but we still have some faculty that download the new 2.19 version and then are constantly asked to re-download without studio allowing the screen share and record.  However,  When I help the faculty troubleshoot the error, it is fixed after they check the box to always use the tool when asked, download one more time, then shut down their browser and re-start.  It seems to "fix" it for the next time they start up studio.  I don't know which step is the actual fix.   

mmoore1
Community Contributor

I have this same question, but I am luckily at the same school.  I know of Sharon Oxford.