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Use case tutorial: Secondary stream
In this article
What is a secondary stream?
A secondary stream allows instructors to add another video stream on top of the main video and simultaneously display both to learners. It can be a more versatile option for instructors to present information to learners, improve learner engagement, and close the gap of lacking interactions in asynchronous learning environments.
It is not uncommon that the content in the video may be complicated or abstract for some learners. Instructors can utilize the secondary stream to provide an extra visual explanation of the content to help learners understand the topic. On the other hand, a secondary stream can be an excellent tool for learner engagement. For example, if the instructor is using the slide show presentation as the main video, they can record themselves presenting the slides and add it as a secondary stream overlay on the slide deck. This can help provide learners with the feeling that they are interacting with their instructor and further motivate them to participate in the learning process.
Similarly to the primary stream video in the bulb, the video segments for the secondary stream can be hosted by the public video host (YouTube and Vimeo), the selected private hosts, or uploaded to PlayPosit through HLS. Please see the sections in this article for the sample bulbs and the instructions on adding secondary streams to a bulb.
- For more information about private video hosts, please see the articles here.
- Only some licenses include the HLS uploading feature, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager if you are interested in this feature.
- The secondary stream will be muted, and it is recommended to use videos that do not require audio as secondary streams.
Sample bulbs
Secondary stream overlay on the video (Secondary stream starts at 00:28)
Secondary stream in the sidebar (secondary stream starts at 03:26)
How to add secondary streams to a bulb?
- Select Add new bulb on the My bulbs page.
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Select the video host of choice to import the main video first.
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Select the desired video, click Done to import the video, or click Customize to adjust captions and trim the video. Please see this article for more information about importing videos into PlayPosit.
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(Optional) Continue adding more video segments to the bulb by clicking Add video.
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Select the Secondary streams tab on the top, and click Add secondary stream button.
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Select the video host of choice to import the video for the secondary stream.
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After the video is selected, instructors can preview the placement on the right. Click Customize to adjust the placement of the secondary stream.
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Click the gray area to select the placement for the secondary stream.
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For more precise adjustments, click Advanced to expand the advanced settings and adjust the position and size of the secondary stream. There are three advanced settings to configure:
- Transparent: Make the background transparent.
- Expandable: Allow learners to expand the secondary stream to full screen.
- Collapsible: Allow learners to minimize the secondary stream.
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After setting the placement, click Customize again to adjust the timing for the secondary stream.
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Select which main video segment the secondary stream should overlap with the dropdown menu, and use the blue flag or the timecode input section to adjust the timing for the secondary stream.
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Click Done to add the secondary stream to the bulb.
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(Optional) Continue adding more videos as secondary streams to the bulb by clicking Add secondary stream.
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After adding all the video segments and secondary streams, a blue mark will appear on the scrubber to indicate that there is a secondary stream adding to this part of the bulb.
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Instructors can then move on to add interactions to the bulb as usual. Please see more information about building bulbs in this article.
- If the secondary stream is longer than the main video segment, the exceeding part of the secondary stream will be trimmed out automatically. For example, if a one-minute secondary stream is added to a thirty-second video segment, Only the first thirty seconds of the secondary stream will be displayed to learners.
- If instructors are using Kaltura as the video host, the captions will be fetched to the secondary stream. Learners can view the captions by clicking the caption icon on the right side of the secondary stream. Please see this article for more information about building secondary streams with Kaltura.
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If instructors want to swap the secondary stream with the main video, please click the triple dot icon on the top right corner of the secondary stream, and select Swap video streams. Please readjust the timing for the secondary stream after swapping the video streams.
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When trimming the secondary stream, the secondary stream will always start from the beginning of the video segment. For example, if the video is a minute long, and the instructor trims it to twenty seconds, only the first twenty seconds of the secondary stream will be played to learners.
