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Panopto for Windows/macOS: Automatic Audio Level Adjustment
Michael Espey
Superstar
We've seen a major uptick in problems with recordings, either the audio gain in Panopto being set way too low or way too high. Generally, it's bad enough that the capture is just unusable. Folks are used to and expect the workflow that is present in apps like Zoom and Teams (and other VCMS platforms), where this is handled automatically.
Please implement a feature to automatically detect and set the proper gain for the audio devices in Panopto for Windows/macOS.
2
Comments
A great idea, Michael!
As I'm sure you're already aware, we do have an alert if there is low/no audio being picked up by the Panopto recorder. From the feedback you have been given, does it seem like these notifications are not being noticed by the person recording? Similarly, there is an audio bar within the recorder that shows how loud/quiet the audio is. It sounds like previewing this setting hasn't been useful for instructors, correct?
We have a few existing requests that cover these sorts of ideas, so I would love to get some additional perspective to help consolidate them in a meaningful manner.
I agree. Audio gain has been a solved problem for years in every other recording or videoconferencing app I use. It would be nice to see that in Panopto.
@Brianna Parker Speaking to the current notification that pops up within the app, in my experience, it's not noticed because people are focused on delivering a lecture or leading a meeting. Even if it were noticed, it's not really actionable and users don't know what to do with that information.
To be clear, I'm not advocating for a more disruptive notification, and I'm definitely not advocating for continuing with a UX where a user needs to pay attention to the VU bar in the app as they record. The volume that is present before a lecture starts is certainly not going to be the same as when an instructor is speaking over an active learning activity, group work, etc. The app just needs to be able to make that adjustment on the fly.
That makes perfect sense — a "behind the scenes" adjustment on the fly for audio sensitivity/balance. Thanks for the clarification! I've got this filed away appropriately.
That first paragraph is especially insightful. While that's not the point of this suggestion, it's useful to know that what we're doing currently isn't very actionable by staff. I'll be sure to pass that along, independent of this request.
As always, I encourage other users to interact with this suggestion. That's the best way to help our team prioritize these requests.