Jitsi session recording
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I haven't tried this in practice myself, but as far as I understood the setup, the jibri component is standalone and essentially can participate as a silent/hidden user in conferences. It would join via a headless chromium and use that to record the session. This usually requires hardware acceleration to be any good as well as it can only join one session a time, which is why multiple jibri instances are required for multiple recordings in parallel. Given that complexity and also little demand, it makes more sense to use the default upstream install docs for this part and connect it with the Cloudron installed main jitsi-meet instance.
I guess overall we have to set this up once and fully document that in our jitsi docs.
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N nebulon marked this topic as a question on
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I haven't tried this in practice myself, but as far as I understood the setup, the jibri component is standalone and essentially can participate as a silent/hidden user in conferences. It would join via a headless chromium and use that to record the session. This usually requires hardware acceleration to be any good as well as it can only join one session a time, which is why multiple jibri instances are required for multiple recordings in parallel. Given that complexity and also little demand, it makes more sense to use the default upstream install docs for this part and connect it with the Cloudron installed main jitsi-meet instance.
I guess overall we have to set this up once and fully document that in our jitsi docs.
I'm no expert (on Jitsi or anything else) but what @nebulon says is correct in my understanding.
There are certainly installation challenges on jibri, and while there are a lot of tutorials and docs from Jitsi, it did my head in when I tried it.
I guess in theory jibri could live in containers and be spawned on demand. But far easier to write that than to do it. Especially in a controlled Cloudron environment.
I worry also that the streaming and performance loads on the Cloudron may be too much for many people, unless the box it is deployed on is generously (over) spec'ed. Especially for cheaper hosts (eg SSDNODEs but others maybe too) network performance can be an issue.
Oh dear, I'm rambling again. Stopping now. -
Ah, yeah, I see now having read a little more about Jibri that is basically works the same way as how recording locally with OBS works: another (OBS or Jibri) user joins the meetings and it gets recorded by that user.
And, yeah, given it can only record one meeting at a time anyway, and hence it takes a whole other Jibri instance per meeting one wants to record, I think for now the easiest option is for me to just record locally using OBS.
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Ah, yeah, I see now having read a little more about Jibri that is basically works the same way as how recording locally with OBS works: another (OBS or Jibri) user joins the meetings and it gets recorded by that user.
And, yeah, given it can only record one meeting at a time anyway, and hence it takes a whole other Jibri instance per meeting one wants to record, I think for now the easiest option is for me to just record locally using OBS.
@jdaviescoates VDO.Ninja (was OBS.Ninja) https://vdo.ninja is a nice system worth checking out.
Although I am not sure it adds much to the Jitsi + OBS mix.
Just alerting people to it in case they haven't met it yet.
Not sure whether that can be packaged easier than Jibri. -
@jdaviescoates VDO.Ninja (was OBS.Ninja) https://vdo.ninja is a nice system worth checking out.
Although I am not sure it adds much to the Jitsi + OBS mix.
Just alerting people to it in case they haven't met it yet.
Not sure whether that can be packaged easier than Jibri.@timconsidine said in Jitsi session recording:
VDO.Ninja (was OBS.Ninja) https://vdo.ninja is a nice system worth checking out.
Looks like another good option/ tool to have on Cloudron! Someone should create an App Wishlist post!
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Ah, yeah, I see now having read a little more about Jibri that is basically works the same way as how recording locally with OBS works: another (OBS or Jibri) user joins the meetings and it gets recorded by that user.
And, yeah, given it can only record one meeting at a time anyway, and hence it takes a whole other Jibri instance per meeting one wants to record, I think for now the easiest option is for me to just record locally using OBS.
@jdaviescoates said in Jitsi session recording:
Ah, yeah, I see now having read a little more about Jibri that is basically works the same way as how recording locally with OBS works: another (OBS or Jibri) user joins the meetings and it gets recorded by that user.
And, yeah, given it can only record one meeting at a time anyway, and hence it takes a whole other Jibri instance per meeting one wants to record, I think for now the easiest option is for me to just record locally using OBS.You've landed on the right solution if you ask me. Over the last few years I've occasionally tried to add Jibri for recording on our Jitsi and found it not at all worth the hassle. Far better to use OBS for general recording (or indeed live streaming as you have more options), which we do regularly.
If you really want a service that has good recording in-built I would suggest BigBlueButton. For conferences and webinars where you want to have a really useful record, the recording feature in BigBlueButton is stellar. You can start and stop as you wish and it will seamlessly put it together into one stream. It records the chat and slides (if any) and in playback you can manipulate to focus on what you want. And you can immediately forward to a particular slide and the discussion around that. There's also a failsafe if you forget to actually press record, which allows you to resurrect the whole thing if you catch it in time (i think 24 hours). It's really an unbelievably good recording solution and one that is properly built into the server, as a major feature, rather than an add on.
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@jdaviescoates said in Jitsi session recording:
Ah, yeah, I see now having read a little more about Jibri that is basically works the same way as how recording locally with OBS works: another (OBS or Jibri) user joins the meetings and it gets recorded by that user.
And, yeah, given it can only record one meeting at a time anyway, and hence it takes a whole other Jibri instance per meeting one wants to record, I think for now the easiest option is for me to just record locally using OBS.You've landed on the right solution if you ask me. Over the last few years I've occasionally tried to add Jibri for recording on our Jitsi and found it not at all worth the hassle. Far better to use OBS for general recording (or indeed live streaming as you have more options), which we do regularly.
If you really want a service that has good recording in-built I would suggest BigBlueButton. For conferences and webinars where you want to have a really useful record, the recording feature in BigBlueButton is stellar. You can start and stop as you wish and it will seamlessly put it together into one stream. It records the chat and slides (if any) and in playback you can manipulate to focus on what you want. And you can immediately forward to a particular slide and the discussion around that. There's also a failsafe if you forget to actually press record, which allows you to resurrect the whole thing if you catch it in time (i think 24 hours). It's really an unbelievably good recording solution and one that is properly built into the server, as a major feature, rather than an add on.
@eganonoa said in Jitsi session recording:
If you really want a service that has good recording in-built I would suggest BigBlueButton. For conferences and webinars where you want to have a really useful record, the recording feature in BigBlueButton is stellar. You can start and stop as you wish and it will seamlessly put it together into one stream. It records the chat and slides (if any) and in playback you can manipulate to focus on what you want. And you can immediately forward to a particular slide and the discussion around that. There's also a failsafe if you forget to actually press record, which allows you to resurrect the whole thing if you catch it in time (i think 24 hours). It's really an unbelievably good recording solution and one that is properly built into the server, as a major feature, rather than an add on.
That's all true, the recording and playback experience on BigBlueButton is exceptional.
But it's also true that BigBlueButton doesn't spit out a nice simple downloadable .mp4 video that you can just upload wherever (like Zoom does)
The great BigBlueButton recording and playback separately records and then syncs and mixes the webcams, presentation, audio and chat and allows people watching the playback to scroll back and forth and toggle the views on/ off. But you can only do that on the server via Greenlight (the BigBlueButton front end) not on YouTube or whatever.
I'm a member of https://meet.coop which is a co-op offering BigBlueButton
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@eganonoa said in Jitsi session recording:
If you really want a service that has good recording in-built I would suggest BigBlueButton. For conferences and webinars where you want to have a really useful record, the recording feature in BigBlueButton is stellar. You can start and stop as you wish and it will seamlessly put it together into one stream. It records the chat and slides (if any) and in playback you can manipulate to focus on what you want. And you can immediately forward to a particular slide and the discussion around that. There's also a failsafe if you forget to actually press record, which allows you to resurrect the whole thing if you catch it in time (i think 24 hours). It's really an unbelievably good recording solution and one that is properly built into the server, as a major feature, rather than an add on.
That's all true, the recording and playback experience on BigBlueButton is exceptional.
But it's also true that BigBlueButton doesn't spit out a nice simple downloadable .mp4 video that you can just upload wherever (like Zoom does)
The great BigBlueButton recording and playback separately records and then syncs and mixes the webcams, presentation, audio and chat and allows people watching the playback to scroll back and forth and toggle the views on/ off. But you can only do that on the server via Greenlight (the BigBlueButton front end) not on YouTube or whatever.
I'm a member of https://meet.coop which is a co-op offering BigBlueButton
@jdaviescoates Cool. Yeah definitely re the neat mp4 and then upload, though for that we just use OBS to record the recording on playback, and then upload. A good process also because simply uploading a recording is difficult in terms of wanting to make sure that things that get posted are curated a little before they go up.
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@jdaviescoates Cool. Yeah definitely re the neat mp4 and then upload, though for that we just use OBS to record the recording on playback, and then upload. A good process also because simply uploading a recording is difficult in terms of wanting to make sure that things that get posted are curated a little before they go up.
@eganonoa said in Jitsi session recording:
Yeah definitely re the neat mp4 and then upload, though for that we just use OBS to record the recording on playback, and then upload.
To be clear, you record using BBB, and then record the mixed together BBB playback using OBS?
Sounds like a good flow.
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@jdaviescoates Cool. Yeah definitely re the neat mp4 and then upload, though for that we just use OBS to record the recording on playback, and then upload. A good process also because simply uploading a recording is difficult in terms of wanting to make sure that things that get posted are curated a little before they go up.
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@eganonoa said in Jitsi session recording:
Yeah definitely re the neat mp4 and then upload, though for that we just use OBS to record the recording on playback, and then upload.
To be clear, you record using BBB, and then record the mixed together BBB playback using OBS?
Sounds like a good flow.
@jdaviescoates said in Jitsi session recording:
To be clear, you record using BBB, and then record the mixed together BBB playback using OBS?
Exactly. Takes additional time, of course. But gives you complete control over what you are posting online. It allows you to manipulate the BBB recording session in playback to emphasise the things that you want emphasised. Ensures that you can cut out anything that a participant wouldn't have wanted posted. And, I think most importantly, gives you a period of pause and reflection to think about whether actually the thing you are posting should be posted at all.
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@timconsidine streaming does not work in this package.
By the way: You can use PeerTube on Cloudron as a streaming endpoint. Use a URL like:
rtmp://peertube.example.org:1935/live/STREAM-KEY
(taken from here -> https://docs.joinpeertube.org/use-create-upload-video?id=with-jitsi-meet)
@luckow said in Jitsi session recording:
@timconsidine streaming does not work in this package.
By the way: You can use PeerTube on Cloudron as a streaming endpoint. Use a URL like:
rtmp://peertube.example.org:1935/live/STREAM-KEY
(taken from here -> https://docs.joinpeertube.org/use-create-upload-video?id=with-jitsi-meet)
Thanks! That is cool information to know.
Have you tried using Piped yet? There is an instance here:
https://piped.kavin.rocks
It is essentially a Youtube frontend/proxy, and some say better than invidious. -
I don't have any experience with this but a streaming capture card that gamers use could work, like this one. It's OBS-certified too.
@humptydumpty Nice suggestion!
However, this is mainly used to make your digital video camera or DSLR the camera for streaming instead of using a typical webcam.
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@eganonoa said in Jitsi session recording:
Yeah definitely re the neat mp4 and then upload, though for that we just use OBS to record the recording on playback, and then upload.
To be clear, you record using BBB, and then record the mixed together BBB playback using OBS?
Sounds like a good flow.
@jdaviescoates I am also interested in recording Jitsi conferences.
If you use the jitsi.org service on the main website for conferencing, there is a tool in the menu allowing people to record. Unfortunately (and rather strangely!) it prompts you to login to DropBox (proprietary software) in order to do so, without any option for a custom alternative...
