Kaltura offers a wide range of live and Real-Time Communication solutions, each is designed to meet the needs of a different live streaming demand, giving you the flexibility to choose the best solution for you and your organization. For more information, please refer to Types of Live Streaming for Communication.
Kaltura's live and Real-Time Communication solutions include the following standalone applications and products: Kaltura Webcasting (Townhalls), Lecture Capture, Kaltura Meetings/Virtual Classroom, and Kaltura Live.
To learn more, please visit Understanding the Difference between Different Types of Virtual Events.
The following table lists the main differences between the tools capabilities and features:
Topic | Description | Webcast (Town halls) | Live broadcasting via | Kaltura Meeting/Virtual Classroom | Live Entry |
Live | Supporting Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP/RTMPS) to stream audio and video by maintaining low latency connections. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Real Time Communications | Using Real time communications (RTC) is the exchange of audio/video from the sender to the receiver without latency. | ✔ | |||
VOD Recording (Video On Demand) | The VOD recording is done in real-time while the live stream is broadcasted. When the recording session is completed, the content is automatically uploaded as VOD into the Kaltura platform. | ✔ (Recording Is automatic and can be disabled via API only) | ✔ (Recording is automatic and can be disabled via API only) | ✔ (Optional) | ✔ (Optional)
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DVR | Enabling DVR feature allows your viewers to pause, rewind, and continue during the event. After a viewer resumes playing, the event continues from where the viewer left off/paused. | ✔ |
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| ✔ |
Event creation and scheduling via KMS/KAF applications | Login to your MediaSpace or KAF application and create the live event with it's scheduled date and time. | ✔(Optional) | ✔ | ||
Ad-Hoc | Live streaming can be initiated manually with a simple click on a button. No need for prior scheduling. | ✔ |
| ✔ | ✔ |
Video Conference Integration | Organizations can leverage Kaltura’s Video Conferencing Integrations (VCI) for solutions such as Zoom, WebEx and Skype for Business. Have your existing video meeting infrastructure (rooms, cameras, equipment) streamed into Kaltura Townhalls or Live Entry. | ✔ |
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| ✔ |
Number of inputs to stream | Supporting the deliver technology of number input devices (camera/screen) to live stream simultaneously. | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Encoder setup | The input video and audio are encoded (compressed) in real-time prior to being processed for streaming. Make sure to test any software or hardware encoder used to make sure it can stream to Kaltura. For more information, refer to the Live Encoding Best Practices Guide. | ✔(Optional) |
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| ✔
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Recommended capture cards |
| ✔ |
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Self Serve | Allows to broadcast directly from the user's device with the Kaltura application. Without the need for an external encoder. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Installation required | Downloading and installing the application is required upon first use. | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Management installation | Organization wide installation using a software management solution. For additional information refer to Deploying Kaltura Lecture Capture for your Organization. |
| ✔ |
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Real-Time Analytics | Real-time Analytics enables you to track and display stats for bandwidth usage, video content usage and to produce user and community reports in real-time and for the last 7 days. For additional information refer to Real-time Analytics | ✔ |
| ✔ | |
Automatic slide and chapter detection in presentation display | When recording PowerPoint slides, slides are added as chapters with their time stamp as part of the recording. | ✔ | ✔ |
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Screencast | Broadcast your screen with the participants. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ Host and participants can share their screen given the right permissions. | ✔ |
Interactive tools | Tools that promote engagement during the broadcast. | ✔ (Q&As, Polls, Announcements, Slides) |
| ✔(Chat, Q&As, Whiteboard, File sharing, HD video sharing, Quiz, Raise hand, etc.) |
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Interactive player display | The ability to choose from multiple display options: view video/Presentation as Picture in Picture, or Side by Side. | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Outlook integration | Outlook Add-In allows you to quickly and effortlessly create, edit, launch and send a Kaltura Webcast event from within Outlook. * Add to calendar is available for both Google & Outlook calendars. | ✔ |
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Registration form | The live event owner can add a registration page to the entry thus making it only available for users that have filled out the registration form. For additional information refer to Event Registration | ✔ |
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Max number of participants during the live event | The maximum number of concurrent participants.
| Unlimited | Unlimited | ✔ The max number of seats per class or meeting depends on your plan with Kaltura. Note that one Virtual Classroom can support up to 25 participants with active cameras and microphone at the same time. Meeting/collaboration mode-100 | Unlimited |
| Max number of presenters | The maximum number of presenters. | 100 (Using VCI and session takeover) | 1 | Meeting/collaboration mode-100 Webinar/Training mode -100 | 100 (Using VCI and session takeover) |
Max number of concurrent live events | The number of concurrent live streams broadcasted to Kaltura. | Up to 3 | Up to 3 | Unlimited | Up to 3 |
Participants focus track | The Focus feature allows the host to monitor participant's attention in the meeting. For additional information see Track Participant Focus During The Session - Kaltura Meeting. | ✔ |
| ✔ |
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