Introduction
RTL has upgraded the Kaltura media player available in bCourses and Mediaspace from the older V2 player to the new V7 player. You will find the v7 player wherever you view Kaltura media in Media Gallery and My Media. In addition, Kaltura media that has been embedded using the Rich Content Editor in bCourses content (Pages, Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions) should automatically play back using (be redirected to) a v7 Player, regardless of how the videos were originally embedded. This includes any videos in content imported from older bCourses sites. (Automatic playback using the new player, however, will not necessarily work for audio-only embeds that were embedded under v2; see "Embedded Content changes" below.)
The functionality of the new V7 player is the essentially the same as that of the current V2 player (with a few new features), but the player interface is different.
New functionality
- You can hide the smaller stream of a dual-stream video.
- The Transcript, when available, shows clickable timestamps. You can also have the transcript viewer pop out into a new window.
- You can click on the Settings button (gear icon) in the playbar area to customize how captions appear on the screen; decide between different sizes, backgrounds, font size, and more.
- The v7 player remembers where you last stopped watching a video (or listening to an audio file), so you can resume playback where you last left off. If you're viewing a playlist, it will also remember where you were when you go back to that playlist.
- On a video’s Edit page, you can easily download both streams of a dual stream video (For owners and co-editors of videos only)
- If a video has Chapters, they are visible on the timeline.
- If you’re playing a dual-stream video, you can hover on the timeline to see a dual-stream preview. (Note: this feature is temporarily broken. We expect it to be fixed by Kaltura soon.)
UI elements that have moved or changed slightly
Refer to Kaltura’s v7 Comparison Tool page to see the v2 and v7 players side-by-side.
- Video controls: The V2 player, when it first loaded, would typically display all the elements for controlling the player. The V7 player displays only a large play button in the center of the video window at first; only after you click that Play button will you see all the controls.
- Transcript:
- Show Transcript button is now in the upper right of the video window (whereas in the v2 player you could click “Show Transcript” in the space below the playbar).
- The transcript shows on the right side of the player (rather than below).
- You can download the transcript by clicking the “...” button, and choosing “Download current transcript” (whereas in the v2 player, there was a download icon to the left of the “Show Transcript” link)
- Close the transcript by clicking the X in the upper right corner (whereas in the v2 player you clicked “Hide Transcript”)
- Playback speed: To control playback speed, click the Settings icon (gear) and then select from the drop down menu next to Speed.
- Volume control: located in the lower right of the player, rather than the lower left.
- Dual-stream video controls for swapping which stream is the primary stream or putting them side-by-side are now on top of the smaller stream (whereas in the v2 player they were on top of the larger stream, in the upper right of the window).
- If a video has chapters, you can navigate the chapters by clicking the search icon (magnifying glass) in the upper right hand corner, and clicking on the individual chapters (whereas the Chapters icon was in the upper left corner with the v2 player).
- New V7 audio-only player cuts out options that are unnecessary for audio playback, like full screen option, but still has the ability to play/pause, seek forward and back, adjust speed, and adjust volume. The V7 player also displays the media’s title; this was missing from the V2 player.
Embedded content changes
While the vast majority of Kaltura embeds in bCourses will play back using the v7 Player, we do advise, if you are an Instructor, Designer, or TA planning to reuse content from sites from previous semesters, that you check the content in those pages, and consider re-embedding the videos. Some things to be aware of:
- Video player dimensions on pages where you’ve embedded videos using the v2 player may not be quite right. While we’ve swapped out v7 players for your old v2 players, there was no way for us to “fix” the space reserved on the page for the players. (The v2 player took up more vertical space, since the controls were below the video content space, whereas the v7 player’s controls show as an overlay on the video content space.)
- Video embedded using one of the video players without speed controls will be replaced in existing embeds with players that do have speed controls, and you won’t have a choice to embed players without speed controls. (There was virtually no use of players without speed controls.)
- You will also no longer see a choice of a video player “with transcript expanded”, since that was offered to compensate for page design issues that occurred as a result of the transcript appearing below the player; now that the transcript appears to the right of the video, we don't anticipate those same page design issues.
- Media embedded previously that is audio-only will work only if it was originally embedded with the "Audio only (transcript expanded)" player. (This is because the amount of space reserved for the v2 embed is too small for the v7 audio player to function.)
For those responsible for content in bCourses course sites, we suggest, if you plan to reuse bCourses content with embedded Kaltura media for multiple semesters, that you consider re-embedding the content from scratch so that it is a true v7 embed, rather than a v2 embed being redirected to play with a v7 player. See our KB article “How do I embed Kaltura media in bCourses using the Rich Content Editor?” if you need a reminder for how to embed content.