Re/Play FAQs

Re/Play is the University’s delivery and storage repository for video.

It uses Mediasite, a cloud service provided by Sonic Foundry. Videos on Re/Play are called “Presentations”.

In order to access Re/Play you will first need to log in to Blackboard and click the My Re/Play menu item at the top of the screen.

Captions and transcription

Why are captions being automatically added to my video content in Re/Play?

Adding captions to media such as recordings of lectures provides a direct and tangible improvement to the learning experience of many students, and is essential for students who are D/deaf. This was recognised in legislation from 2018 (Public Sector Body Accessibility Regulations or PSBAR), which requires that all Re/Play content must be captioned to make sure it is accessible by meeting the international WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard. Pre-recorded video or recorded lectures which do not have captions do not meet this legal requirement.

A student has said they need captions for accessibility reasons – what should I do?

Although the automatic captions are generally accurate, and work well to enhance the learning experience of the video for most students, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any captions automatically generated. Any student who relies on captions for their learning due to an accessibility need should contact Disability Services as soon as possible to discuss their situation.

A student has requested a transcript of a presentation – what can I do?

The presentation owner can download a caption file (as long as the presentation has captions.)

  1. In My Re/Play, click the presentation, then the bottom right click Download to Computer
  2. Click Download Transcription

When will captions be available on lecture recordings?

Captions will be automatically generated once the recording is published, which is usually 24 hours after recording. This 24-hour window allows for any minor edits to be made to the video (eg removing the start or end), before the captions are timestamped. For videos uploaded to Re/Play manually or via Mosaic, captions will be automatically generated when the presentation is shared. You can publish the lecture earlier if you wish, by changing the Who Can View setting from "Only Me" to one of the other settings.

For all content, captions will be available a short time after being automatically requested. This can take anything from a few minutes to some hours, but in almost all cases will happen within 24 hours. An email will be sent to the owner of the recording to alert them when captions are available.

I get the error “Cannot add more than one caption content” when editing captions

Try removing the captions, then adding them again:

  1. Go to Edit Details on your presentation
  2. Click the Delivery tab.
  3. Untick the Audio Transcriptions box
  4. Click Save
  5. Return to the Delivery tab and add transcriptions again (see how to add captions)
  6. Wait for the new captions to be generated (you should receive an automatic email when this is done)

You will now be able to edit captions again.

The captions on my content are not accurate, what can I do?

No automatically generated captions will be perfect. Setting expectations for how to use captions is important: captions should enhance the learning experience rather than provide an alternative to the lecture. Checking key terminology is useful though, and once captions are created, you are able to edit them using the built-in editing software. This shouldn’t take a long time to do: tips like using the editor’s ‘find and replace’ feature will help too. If you find that your captions are so inaccurate they are unusable, please contact the DEO so that we can help.

Managing recorded presentations

Instructions for most common Re/Play tasks can be found in Uploading, enhancing and adding videos to your course.

How do I add a collection of lectures to a Blackboard course?

Instructions for adding a collection of lectures to a Blackboard course.

How do I delete a Re/Play recording?

In order to delete a recording from Re/Play, you will need to have ownership of the video, or have the rights given to you by the owner.

Note: if you delete a recording associated with a unit it will delete it for all units.

  1. Log in to Blackboard, navigate to the Home page and click My Re/Play under Tools for Staff.
  2. Locate the recording you wish to delete.
  3. Click on the recording title and then select Delete from the options at the top.
  4. Click Delete Presentation on the warning dialogue. Your recording will move to the Administrator Recycle Bin. If you change your mind, contact the system administrator to retrieve it. The Recycle Bin will be emptied on a monthly basis.

How do I add presentations from other years/units to another course?

You will need to be an Instructor on both courses.

  1. Locate the presentation you wish to add
  2. Click on the presentation title and then select Edit Details from the options on the right hand side
  3. Scroll down and click Add Module
  4. Select the unit from the list or use the search box to find a unit code
  5. When it displays (it may take a couple of search cycles) click it so it now appears above the Add Module button
  6. Scroll up and click Save (top right of screen)

I want to turn a video presentation into just audio and remove all video from the recording

  1. Click on your video’s thumbnail.
  2. Click Edit Video in the right-hand column.
  3. Click to highlight one of the Video feeds at the bottom of the editor.
  4. Click on Audio Only. The line through the camera icon will be removed.
  5. Click to Save Video. Ensure the save is completed before closing the editor.

Are there any keyboard shortcuts in the mediasite player for ease of use and accessibility?

See this list of all Mediasite Player Keyboard Shortcuts.

Lecture recordings

The lecture room or time have been changed. Will my lecture still be recorded?

  • If you have changed to an equipped room via the timetabling system (Syllabus Plus) no later than the two days before the lecture, the recording schedules will be refreshed and your recording should start automatically.
  • If you have changed to an equipped room via the Web room booking system, or if you have made the change on the day of the lecture, you will need to use the Record Now app in the room to make a recording.
  • If some is using the room you are timetabled to be in they should stop the recording by pressing the lectern button for 5 seconds until the light goes off.
  • Please make sure you check any recordings done in the original room unless you have arranged for the recording to be stopped as described above. If another taught unit used your original room, the recording will need to be assigned to it. If the recording is empty or contains unrelated content (eg a staff meeting), you must delete it.

If you have changed to a non-equipped room, your lecture won’t be recorded. You can make short recordings of relevant materials before or after using Mosaic.

What if I do not want one lecture or part of a unit or lecture recorded?

You can only opt out of an entire unit being recorded, not just part of it. If you would like cancel recording of specific lectures you have the following options:

  1. Manually stop the recording on the day(s) by pressing and holding the lectern button for 5 seconds until the light goes off.
  2. Pause recording during a lecture with a short press of the lectern button. Note: the Record Now display will continue counting. Press it again to restart recording.
  3. Allow the recording to take place as scheduled then set it to Private inside My Re/Play. This has to be done after it has automatically been made Viewable, two working days after the lecture.
  4. In My Re/Play, delete the lecture after it has been automatically added.

Troubleshooting

Try clearing the browser cache to solve your problem

Clearing the browser cache can solve some problems (eg an old version of a presentation continuing to play after being replaced) and is worth trying first. Each browser uses a different technique:

My Re/Play link in Blackboard gives the error “The content below is outside the Blackboard Learn environment”

Links to Re/Play from Blackboard have to open in a new window, using the target="_blank" code:

In the Blackboard editor, select the link that is causing this error, click the chain-link icon, and set Open link in… to New window.

Students can’t find the My Re/Play menu

Students do not have a My Re/Play link - they access recordings to lectures via Re/Play links in their Blackboard course. If a student can’t see these links, contact the DEO helpdesk.

The Re/Play link is missing in the Blackboard course menu

How to add the link:

  1. Open the course and identify a suitable location in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click the + at the top of the course menu.
  3. Click Course Tools.
  4. Click the + icon below Re/Play Collections.
  5. Select Visible to students on the link.

Some students are having trouble playing Re/Play presentation(s)

If only some students are having problems, there is probably a connection problem. They should try accessing the recording via the student desktop.

Other things to try:

  • Try a different browser (Chrome or Edge are recommended)
  • Try using an incognito/private window
  • Clear the browser cache (see “How to clear the cache in a browser” in this section)
  • Restart their device
  • Use a wired connection network connection if possible
  • Allow cookies in your browser (see How to turn on Re/Play cookies)
  • Make the presentation available for download so that students with slow or unreliable connections can download a file to watch offline.

How to turn on Re/Play cookies

How to turn on Re/Play cookies in Chrome

  1. Open Chrome
  2. At the top right, click the three dots icon and then Settings
  3. Under Privacy and security click Site settings and then Cookies and site data
  4. Next to Sites that can always use cookies, select Add
  5. Type mediasite.bris.ac.uk in the box
  6. Select Add

How to turn on cookies in Edge:

  1. Open Edge
  2. At the top right click the three dots icon
  3. Select Settings, then Privacy, search and services
  4. Under Cookies and site permission / Cookies and site data click Add next to Allow.
  5. Type mediasite.bris.ac.uk in the box and click Add

A presentation won’t play: “The requested presentation is currently unavailable”

  • If you are a student and are having trouble playing a presentation please contact the IT department
  • Check that you have set permissions to allow playback (see item on permissions in General Re/Play tasks).
  • If your presentation has only recently been created or uploaded, it may not yet have been processed. Long recordings and larger files take longer to process.
  • Check your email: if Mediasite has been unable to turn a recording into a Re/Play presentation, you will receive a notification.

There is no sound or the volume is very low on some or all of my presentations

This problem may simply have been caused by muting or turning down the volume control! Ensure the volume control at the bottom is turned up. Pressing “M” during playback also mutes audio, so you may have accidentally muted your sound.

If this doesn't solve the problem, check if any audio is working on your computer: Many laptops have an audio muting key, and Windows has an App volume device preferences section in Sound settings, where individual programmes may have been muted.

The sound and video of my presentation go out of sync, but the original plays fine

This can sometimes be fixed by re-encoding the audio in your original video file and then re-uploading the new version. See our guide on fixing movies that don’t play properly on Mediasite.

The sound keeps dropping out for short periods

If you recorded a Powerpoint presentation, audio recording drops out briefly when you advance to the next slide. You should stop talking when the slide advances.

If you recorded using Mosaic or Desktop Recorder on a Dell Laptop, audio cutouts are sometimes caused by a software driver error. You may be able to fix this with an update:

  1. Install and run Dell Command Update from the Software Center (the Big-IP Edge Client VPN needs to be running) or Company Portal.
  2. Click on the blue Check button, then wait
  3. Click on the blue Install button
  4. If you haven't done this before, it will probably restart your computer as part of the process; if it does, run it again make sure it has updated everything.

The presentation I’ve just uploaded doesn’t play and I get the error message “MP4: Failed - An error occurred while transcoding the presentation media.”

First, make sure the file extension is correct for the media type you are uploading (check the media type by opening the file in VLC Player and looking at Tools > Codec information). If the renamed file doesn't work, try re-encoding the audio in your video file and then re-uploading the new version. See our guide on fixing movies that won’t convert to Mediasite.

If the above doesn’t work (eg if part of the sound is missing), try the following approach instead:

  1. Install Handbrake from the Software Center
  2. Drag the non-uploading file into Handbrake
  3. As a rule of thumb, use the “Fast 720p30” preset, or choose custom settings if you want to match the frame rate and dimensions of the original.
  4. The export will probably take 5-10 mins for a 30 minute recording.
  5. Upload the resulting .m4v file as normal. When uploading you’ll probably need to choose All Files (*.*) in the upload box.

My embedded presentation in Blackboard plays only the audio, but plays visuals ok in full-screen mode

This may be down to the way it has been formatted in the Blackboard editor. Look at the HTML code where the <iframe> has been positioned. If there are <span></span> tags around it, try removing them and see if it fixes the problem.

My Presentation won’t play and it says “replace media”

Try downloading the video. If the mp4 plays OK on your computer, upload it again using replace media to replace the non-playing original. NOTE: If it’s a Slides presentation, it’ll now be a Video presentation: students won't be able to skip slides, and you won’t be able to edit slides. You may also need to re-create the captions if it was captioned before.