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Ensemble Video

Score9.1 out of 10

13 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Ensemble Video?

Ensemble Video is an online video platform that simplifies video management and delivers content any time, over a variety of networks.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Ensemble Video works in concert with users and systems across your organization to enable collaborative sharing and management of an ever-increasing flow of video content.
The Ensemble Video player is lightweight, customizable and brandable, and video streaming is seamless - no matter which device your viewers are using. Our Adaptive Bit Rate encoding tools ensure viewers will see great looking and consistently reliable video streams.
Display and search your captions to your viewers in your learning management systems, HTML pages, blogs, portals and other content management systems.
Use our built-in viewing analytics that provide you with the information and insight you need to successfully manage your content.
Ensemble Studio, our room capture solution, provides easy, automated recording in classrooms, meeting rooms, labs, courtrooms, and medical training rooms.
Ensemble Anthem, our screen capture solution, allows you to create screen, webcam and audio recordings wherever and whenever you want.

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Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Ensemble Video has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 13 ratings of Ensemble Video's features
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Top Performing Features

  • Video personalization

    Videos can be personalized based on unique details about the viewer, such as their name, company, photo, etc.

    Category average: 8.3

  • Integration to LMS

    The video platform integrates with the user's learning management system.

    Category average: 9.8

  • Video access controls

    Admins can set permissions and restrictions to control who has access to video content, from where videos can be accessed, etc.

    Category average: 8.8

Areas for Improvement

  • Support for advertisements

    Supports video advertising by integrating with ad servers or networks and allowing users to request ads and manage ad settings on their videos/players.

    Category average: 6.1

  • Audience polling

    Users can poll viewers during live video events, and display the results.

    Category average: 6.2

  • Video comments

    Viewers can comment publicly on videos.

    Category average: 7.5

Reviews

What users are saying about Ensemble Video.
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Create an ensemble of your campus videos!

Joseph AxenrothView profile
LMS Administrator / Instructional Technologist at Westfield State University (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Faculty bring in a variety of different formats for videos, including VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, MP4, and more. Those at Ensemble Video have helped us to develop a good streamlined workflow to get these varying formats hosted in a central location and develop a campus-wide standard.
  • Ensemble Video has greatly helped us provide better services to our students needing special accommodations.
  • Ensemble is a stable product, where needing help from their support team is very rare. However, on those very rare occasions, their support team is very knowledgeable. We had an issue once that I thought was so obscure, but the team quickly replied with the right answer to resolve our issue, without so much as a clarification on my support ticket.
  • If self hosting the Ensemble Video product, their team will take care of upgrades for you as part of the licensing.

Cons

  • There is one issue where sometimes the 'Add' button to add new media disappears, typically once per week. The workaround is to restart the physical server. While restarting the server each week can be a good thing, it would be nice not to have to keep a reminder on my calendar.

Return on Investment

  • I would say our campus' overall business objective would be to serve our students. Ensemble Video has helped us to do that, and in particular has helped to better serve students with special needs.

Other Software Used

Blackboard, Blackboard Collaborate, Dropbox

Amazing Media Streaming Service

Derek HardawayView profile
Instructional Tech Trainer in Information Technology at University of Memphis (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Ensemble Video delivers an easy and fast solution to upload media for educational purposes.
  • Ensemble Video has succeeded for us where other solutions have failed.

Cons

  • Include additional training and development sessions.
  • Introduce additional analytical features for reports.

Return on Investment

  • Ensemble Video has provided positive impact on our Distance Education program which allow users to view streaming media for educational purposes.

Ensemble - A Comprehensive Solution to all Multimedia Needs

Mike MaxseView profile
Director of Distance Learning at Erikson Institute (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

  • Adapting to user needs. Ensemble Video seems to always be listening to their clients needs and suggestions by implementing effective features in every system update. Communication seems to always indicate that these features are driven by requests that their customers have made to improve the service.
  • Client Support - I have an IT/support background and have had to deal with many vendors and external support. Ensemble is easily the most responsive and effective vendor when it comes to support. When needing certain solutions, they have sent code that was in development and not officially released so I could achieve my goals with project videos. Support is always personal, prompt and effective.
  • Customization. New templates, video players, account management, and embed options have allowed us to use Ensemble Video in a much more personalized way. Early versions of the service had an "Ensemble feel" but color schemes and logos are now able to be changed for a better organization feel.

Cons

  • Sometimes the wait time to convert videos can take awhile. It's not a huge concern but it is something we usually have to point out to students that are uploading their own videos.
  • Better file management options would also be nice. Functionality to copy or move video files to different libraries does exist but it can sometimes be a time consuming and tedious process.

Return on Investment

  • Ease of user contributed content. The videos that users upload to the system can either be automatically published or they can be reviewed by staff before being added to websites and courses. Instead of all these videos living on different sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) we now have a centralized location that we have control over.
  • LMS Integration - A year ago YouTube changed their policy to not allow direct recording from webcams. This essentially broke the Blackboard Video Everywhere tool that allowed our instructors to post quick comments in class discussions and content areas. While they need to be pre-recorded, the Ensemble Building Block allows our instructors and students to once again upload and post videos, all from directly within the Blackboard content editor.
  • Flexibility - With the ease of creating user accounts and video libraries, Ensemble Video has become the go to option for Erikson courses, professional development content and project videos. Different departments can have their own account and have control over their libraries without the worry of them viewing or editing other institute content.

Other Software Used

Blackboard, Articulate Storyline

An effective video platform for education

Verified User
Employee (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Screen capture tools are excellent.
  • Video Streaming is simple and reliable.
  • Video Quiz results integrate into the LMS gradebook.
  • Mobile App is great for instructors and students.
  • Viewing Reports inside the LMS.

Cons

  • Custom video analytics.
  • Artificial intelligence.

Return on Investment

  • Provided a number of video recording tools.
  • Simplified video management for educators and IT staff.
  • Makes publishing video in our LMS easy.
  • Video quizzing and video assignments are excellent.
  • Mobile video management and uploads have been simplified.

Alternatives Considered

Kaltura and Vimeo

The Multiple Benefits of Ensemble Video in Higher Education

Carlos AstorgaView profile
Instructional Systems Specialist in Information Technology at Wheaton College (501-1000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Customer support. One of the best experiences I have had in this respect. Always helpful and timely.
  • The system design and features is properly implemented. Enough flexibility with only the right amount of options.
  • Constant product improvement. Ensemble Video continues to evolve, adding better and more powerful features. We are always excited about new releases and how they will improve our processes.

Cons

  • User management. Some features are unique to the entire deployment (like authentication sources). It would be great if multiple authentication options could be used across different Ensemble institutions.
  • Upgrade processes. Though new versions of Ensemble Video are always better, the installation process is very manual and Ensemble Video must be involved directly. Not a weakness, but it would be nice to be able to perform our own upgrades/patches when needed.

Return on Investment

  • ROI is sometimes tricky because systems, once implemented, are never welcomed by end users and thus, the ROI originally foreseen was more idealistic than real. Ensemble Video is almost universally well received by end users and thus, there is a real ROI that mostly relates to institutional effectiveness.

Other Software Used

Schoology, Extensis Portfolio, Smartsheet

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