Multimedia FAQ

MediaSpace is the University's online platform for educational video and multimedia content. It is available at https://mediaspace.city.ac.uk. Staff and students can use MediaSpace to create, upload, share and publish video, audio & images.

MediaSpace is also completely integrated with Moodle, so that your MediaSpace files are available to you when adding multimedia resources to Moodle or allowing students to upload multimedia assignments using the Video Assignment tool.

Strictly speaking, Kaltura is the company that supplies MediaSpace, and MediaSpace is the website which you can use to upload, create, manage and edit your media files. The two words "Kaltura" and "MediaSpace" are sometimes used interchangeably.

1. Go to https://mediaspace.city.ac.uk,
2. Select the Guest button in the top right and enter your university username and password.

Yes, nearly all functions are available if you access MediaSpace through the browser on your mobile device. There might be some functions, such as editing videos and creating screencasts, which cannot be done from a mobile device.

Students can use MediaSpace in two ways:

1. To submit multimedia assignments to a Moodle Video Assignment on one of their module,
2. Using their own MediaSpace account to create, upload and share their own media content, e.g. for a portfolio, blog, website or personal project.

MediaSpace accepts all common video, audio and image file formats, including:

• Video: flv, qt, mov, mpg, mpeg, avi, wmv, mp4, m4v
• Audio: flv, mp3, wav, m4a, wma, flac
• Image: jpg, jpeg, bmp, png, gif, tif, tiff

1. Log in to http://mediaspace.city.ac.uk,
2. Select the Add New menu in the top right of the screen,
3. Select Media Upload,
4. Follow the steps to choose your file, add a name, description and tags,
5. Select Save.

Files should be under 2GB to be reliably uploaded to MediaSpace. The system processes (transcodes) your media and produces a series of different versions, and plays the correct one in your viewer depending on your device and Internet connection speed. However, the original file is still stored in the system, so large source files will stay on the servers and add to the cost of our licence.

Please try to compress files (video files especially) before uploading. You can use applications like Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip to compress files while retaining the quality. Alternatively, if you create your media in video editing software or using a multimedia authoring tool, choose an appropriate export setting to keep the file size down while preserving the quality.

Handbrake Guidance

There is increased demand on MediaSpace. This is causing delays in uploading videos, transcoding and the production of subtitles. To ease the strain we do recommend you keep videos small in both file size (consider using Handbrake) and length (bite-size learning resources). We would also recommend uploading videos when demand on MediaSpace is low, for example late at night or early morning.

As well as uploading and storing your media, MediaSpace can also be used to create multimedia content. Via MediaSpace, you can download a screen capture and video recording app called Kaltura Capture which gives you options for creating and editing video-based presentations which you can upload to your MediaSpace account.

Detailed video or audio editing needs to be done offline, using software such as Adobe Premiere Rush which can be downloaded as part of City's subscription to the Adobe Creative Suite.

Video editing facilities and software including Adobe Premiere Pro are available at the MILL.

MediaSpace provides two options for editing entries online:

• Clipping: You can edit the in and out points of your entry to tidy up the start and end. See guidance on editing your video in MediaSpace
• Trimming: You can take a clip from an existing entry, to create a new item. See guidance on editing your video in MediaSpace

By default, entries cannot be downloaded from MediaSpace.

To enable downloads: 

1. Go to your My Media page, find the file you want to download and select Edit to the right of it.
2. On the next page, select the Downloads tab
3. Tick the box next to Source and select Save.
4. Select the title of your video near the video player. You will find a Download button available below your video.

To download the video to your computer:

1. Select the Download button.
2. Select the Download icon under the Actions column.
3. Select Save File and then select OK in the pop-up window. The video will be saved to the download folder in your computer or your chosen destination, depending on the setting of your browser.

Please note: You can only download the source file of clips that are less than 180 days old. After this point, the video will still be available to view, but you won’t be able to download and edit the source file. You will receive an email 20 days before the source file is deleted giving you instructions on how to download source files for safe-keeping. If you need access to the source file of a clip that is over 180 days old, please raise a request via the IT Self Service Portal.

Students are not able to download videos from Moodle pages or from MediaSpace for offline viewing.

Timecode is a time expressed in the following format:

hours : minutes : seconds , milliseconds

e.g. 01:23:15,500 (1 hour 23 minutes 15 seconds and 500 thousands of a second)

Yes. The audio is presented in a normal MediaSpace video player. To make it look nicer, you can add your own custom thumbnail image by choosing the recording and then ACTION > Edit > Thumbnail.

Only videos uploaded via MediaSpace will show the audio waveform in the video editor. Videos uploaded via My Media in Moodle will not show the audio waveform.

When you upload a video, you send the original video via the internet to MediaSpace. It is then processed - the original video is converted or encoded into several versions for different devices and bandwidths. These versions of the original film are called flavours.

By default, everything you upload to MediaSpace is private only to you. This means that if you upload a video or audio file and send someone the link to the resource, they will not be able to access it even after logging in (they will see an "Access Denied" message).

This is intended as a security measure so that other people cannot find your content. To make content available to other people, there are sharing options.

The only exceptions to this private-by-default setting are:

• Playlists and embedded items - these are always publicly available, even if the entry itself is private,
• Items which are uploaded from within a channel.

In order to share videos and audio with other staff/students, you must add them as a Video Resource in Moodle. If you want to share with users outside of a Moodle module, you can create a channel or make the videos Unlisted. Unlisted items are available to anyone with a link to the page.

To make an entry Unlisted, follow the steps above to upload your file and, before selecting Save, select the Unlisted option.

Private, Restricted or Open channels are ways to organise your entries into collections. You can create channels and send the link to the channel to staff/students, so they can access them all from one place. All items in a channel share the same privacy settings.

By default, all entries in MediaSpace are Private only to the owner. Once an item has been created/uploaded, you can change the privacy settings by clicking on the Actions menu below the player window, selecting Publish and choosing one of the following options:

• Unlisted: Unlisted items are accessible to anyone with a link to the page, with no login required. These items cannot be searched for. The user must have the specific link to the page to be able to access the item,
• Published: An item can be published to a channel with one of the following options:
  • Private: Items in a private channel are only accessible to City staff or students who have been specifically added to the channel,
  • Restricted: Any City staff or students can access items in a restricted channel,
  • Open: Staff and students at the Clerkenwell and Moorgate campuses can access items in an open channel, and they can also add items to the channel.

A channel is a user generated collection of content that pertains to a group of assigned users. Channel managers and site administrators may give users permission to perform specific actions in a channel. You can access your channels from the My Channels tab on MediaSpace.

To create a channel:

1. Log in to MediaSpace. Select My Channels from the user drop down menu on the top right.
2. On the My Channels page, select Create Channel.
3. On the Create New Channel page:
   • Enter values for:
     • Name – Enter the channel name to display on the Channels page.
     • Description – Enter a summary of the channel content to display on the My Channels page.
     • Tags – Enter a descriptive tag to use in searches.
   • Privacy – Select the privacy settings for the channel.
     • Open – All logged in users can view content but only admin-role users and channel members can contribute content.
     • Restricted – Non-members can view content, but users must be invited to participate
     • Private – Membership is by invitation only and only members can view content and participate.
   • Options – Select the options settings for the channel.
     • Moderate content (Media will not appear in channel until approved by channel manager.)
     • Enable comments in channel
4. Select Save.

To add members to a channel:

1. Select into the selected Channel.
2. Select the Members tab.
3. Select the Add Member button.
4. Enter username of member to add, then select Set Permission from the dropdown.
5. Select Add.

A playlist is an alternative way to display a group of videos. A playlist can be embedded on other web pages but does not have its own URL which can be used as its own web page. A video can be added to multiple playlists, regardless of what channel(s) it is in. Thus you can add one video from each of several channels to a single playlist, and embed that playlist on a web page to create a collection of videos from different channels.

To create a playlist:

1. Go to http://mediaspace.city.ac.uk and log in
2. Select your name in the top right of the screen and select My Media (not My Playlists),
3. Select at least one video that you want to add to a new playlist by ticking the checkbox on the left (you can add further videos from other places later),
4. Select the Actions button and select + Add to Playlist,
5. On the next screen, create a new playlist by typing a name in the Create New Playlist box and select Create.

To add videos to an existing playlist:

1. Select your name in the top right of the screen and select My Media (not My Playlists),
2. Select at least one video that you want to add to a new playlist by ticking the checkbox on the left (you can add further videos from other places later),
3. Select the Actions button and select + Add to Playlist,
4. On the next screen, tick the checkbox of an existing playlist(s) to add the video(s) and select Save.

To embed a playlist:

1. Select your name in the top right of the screen and select My Playlists,
2. Select a playlist from the list on the left and select Embed,
3. There are two sets of options to choose: player layout and colour. Pick the options you want to choose how it will display.
4. Highlight the text in the HTML code box and copy it to the clipboard.
5. Go to the page where you want to embed your video, and use the appropriate method to edit this page and insert the video embed code. The method for this will vary depending on the system you are using. In general, it requires editing the HTML for the page in an editor. Simply pasting the copied text onto a web page will just display the text (which is meaningless to humans) on the page.

To place your videos on a blog or other website, you need to access the embed code.

To access the embed code:

1. Log on to MediaSpace and go to the My Media tab,
2. Locate the entry you want to embed,
3. Select the Share button below the player window and select the Embed option,
4. A code window appears containing text which you will use to embed your video. Before copying the text in the window, select the size you want using the options below the code window,
5. Copy the text in the code window,
6. Go to the page where you want to embed your video, and use the appropriate method to edit this page and insert the video embed code. The method for this will vary depending on the system you are using. In general, it requires editing the HTML for the page in an editor. Simply pasting the copied text onto a web page will just display the text (which is meaningless to humans) on the page.

There are two ways to share video and audio content with external users:

1. Embed the item on another web page, either individually or in a playlist,
2. Make the entry Unlisted, following the steps above.

There are two options for adding your multimedia resources to Moodle

Add an item which is already in My Media on MediaSpace:

1. Go to your Moodle module and turn editing on,
2. Select + Add an activity or resource under the relevant section,
3. Select the Video Resource option,
4. Give the resource a title and description and then select the Add media button,
5. A pop-up window opens showing your MediaSpace collection. Search, filter or scroll to find the relevant item and Select it,
6. Select Save and return to course to add it to your Moodle page.

Add a new item

1. Go to your Moodle module and turn editing on,
2. Select + Add an activity or resource under the relevant section
3. Select the Video Resource option,
4. Give the resource a title and description and then select the Add media button,
5. A pop-up window opens showing your MediaSpace collection. Select the Add New menu in the top right of the screen and select Media Upload,
6. Follow the steps to choose your file, add a name, description and tags, and then select Back to browse and embed,
7. Select next to the item, which should now appear at the top of your list,
8. Select Save and return to course to add it to your Moodle page.

There is a known issue in transcript display in external systems including City Blogs, a workround is outlined below.

1. Login to the blog with your university credentials.
2. Select Dashboard.
3. Select All posts.
4. Select Edit post underneath the relevant post.
5. Select Text from the toolbar to reveal the html code. Update the embed code using the information below.

Sample embed code:  

<iframe id="kmsembed-1_mstmrkx5" width="600" height="429" src=https://mediaspace.city.ac.uk/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_mstmrkx5/uiConfId/47313613 class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen 
webkitallowfullscreen mozAllowFullScreen allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerPolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Kaltura Player"></iframe> 

replace uiConfId/numbers (location highlighted in yellow above) with uiConfId/19722532 This will remove the transcript from the embedded player for a better display.