About
The Dual screen plugin lets viewers watch two synchronized media sources in a single player. These can be:
- Two videos
- A video and a slide presentation
The layout is often called picture-in-picture, where one stream appears larger (primary) and the other smaller (secondary).
Dual screen supports multi-stream playback. A multi-stream entry includes:
- One primary (parent) entry
- Up to three additional (child) entries
You can also combine two video streams and slides.
If cue points are used, only one video can play in parallel.
Slides are supported in both VOD and pre-recorded sessions:
- In VOD, slides appear on the timeline based on their timing
- In pre-recorded sessions, slides behave the same way, but only slides beyond the live point appear on the timeline
Primary video - The primary video will be played with audio by default, and viewed as the “main” video unless specified otherwise. The timeline reflects the duration of the primary video only.
Secondary video - The secondary video will be played without audio input by default, and will be viewed as the “minimized" video unless specified otherwise.
The following images demonstrate a picture-in-picture layout with the primary video as the main screen and then switched to the smaller screen.
Layouts
Picture-in-Picture
This is the default layout in the Kaltura player:
- The primary video appears large
- The secondary source appears as a smaller overlay
You can:
- Swap the primary and secondary sources
- Drag the smaller player to any corner of the screen
- Show or hide the smaller player
To switch to side-by-side view, click the expand (two arrows) icon.
Pop-Out
There are two pop-out options:
- Picture-in-Picture button on the player's lower bar (web browser feature supporting only the main stream).
- Dual / multi-stream feature on the player's screen (a Kaltura feature supporting all streams).
Please note, pop-out behavior may vary across browsers, see examples below:
Pop-out function examples: Firefox on the left, Chrome and Safari on the right
Side-by-Side
This layout lets attendees split the screen to view two videos side by side. Drag the primary and secondary videos left or right as you like.
Click Hide to hide the smaller screen. If it's hidden and you don't hover over it, the view switches to a single video.
From the hidden view, switch media sources to return to a single video display.
Click Show to go back to Picture-in-Picture mode.
Working with multiple streams
For multi-stream videos with more than two streams, viewers can select which stream plays on each screen. The primary stream's audio plays continuously, regardless of the selected streams on the screens.
Side-by-Side
Hover over the player and click the three dots (1) to select streams for the side-by-side view. Choose your desired stream using the switching arrows (2) on the video thumbnail.
Picture-in-Picture
Click the three dots (1) on the smaller screen to display stream thumbnails. Then, select either the primary or secondary display button (2) to play your chosen stream.
Single Stream
When focusing on a single stream, use the switching arrows on any of the thumbnails to switch over to the selected stream.
Setup
To learn how to configure the Dual Screen on your player, see Enable dual screen layouts in the player.
A dual stream or a multi-stream video can be created with the Kaltura capturing tools, Express Capture, Kaltura Capture, Lecture Capture, and Townhalls (Webcasting).
Please keep in mind that when you upload two videos, you will create two separate streams that cannot be combined to make a dual-stream video.
Try it out
