Panopto -- A solid lecture capture and acceptable video hosting platform
October 31, 2019

Panopto -- A solid lecture capture and acceptable video hosting platform

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Panopto

We have a sitewide license to Panopto for video hosting and playback. We have the lecture capture installed in many of the large classrooms, but not across campus. Panopto provides the hosting and streaming needs for courses and the campus. The ability to control the entire library, schedule recordings, and manage sharing and branding is the key advantage over using something like YouTube.
  • Recording lectures.
  • Playback with multiple sources to pick.
  • Pricing.
  • User Interface and Design.
  • Backend management.
  • Analytics.
  • Panopto's pricing model was better for our organization's needs than Kaltura.
  • Panopto has met our needs, but not exceeded them.
  • Development seems stagnant.
Kaltura is sleeker and more polished, both on the user-facing and backend. Panopto has been doing in-class lecture capture for longer, but Kaltura's new(er) offering is catching up. Kaltura was easier and more intuitive for faculty and instructors in many ways. Panopto is still ahead on the quality of lecture capture, in-video searching, and editing. However, the "personal lecture capture" of Panopto is terrible and Kaltura's is way better, if that's important to your users.
Panopto has been quick to answer any questions, but their rollouts and updates have caused issues where we felt a little blindsided by unexpected changes. Their development cycle is slow and often their promises for future updates have been extremely slow or never come.

Do you think Panopto delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Panopto's feature set?

Yes

Did Panopto live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Panopto go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Panopto again?

Yes

In the higher education market, the choices tend to boil down to Panopto or Kaltura. Panopto has a robust lecture capture system that supports a wide range of formats and inputs. The ability for the student to select the source they want to see (slides, camera view, etc.) for the lecture makes it much easier to "set it and forget it." The live transcription and searching within the video also are valuable tools. Panopto is not nearly as well polished in the backend as Kaltura (especially after Kaltura's most recent backend overhaul). On the support end, Panopto's role permission and sharing options are confusing. Its integration with the LMS is not as robust as Kaltura's, and its analytics are lacking. Panopto was more cost-effective than Kaltura.

Panopto Feature Ratings

Lead generation
Not Rated
Video personalization
8
eCommerce
Not Rated
Support for advertisements
Not Rated
Video SEO
Not Rated
Integration to Marketing Automation
Not Rated
Integration to Salesforce.com
Not Rated
Integration to Marketo
Not Rated
Integration to HubSpot
Not Rated
Integration to Eloqua
Not Rated
Integration to LMS
7
Video access controls
6
User management
6
Video link sharing
7
Internal video
9
External video
6
Player customization
4
Embedded videos
6
Video quality / Bandwidth controls
9
Mobile compatibility
5
A/B testing
Not Rated
Streaming quality reports
Not Rated
Per viewer tracking
7
Per video tracking
8
Video analytics dashboard
1
On-Demand video
Not Rated
Live streaming
9
Impact of streaming on network
Not Rated
Video upload & format support
10
Video library / File management
7
Video portal
5
Audience polling
5
Video comments
6