Best-practice channel and audio setup for CMS events

Applies to: Pearl-2, Pearl Mini, Pearl Nano, Pearl Nexus.

This guidance applies to every CMS integration on Pearl devices — Kaltura, Panopto, YuJa, Opencast, and EchoVideo (Echo360).

Typically, events are predominantly isolated recordings and streams of audio and video in separate channels. For example, three video sources connected to a Pearl device, each being its own dedicated recording. Each channel is delivered to the CMS as a separate source, so adding channels adds views of the same event.

We recommend always associating the audio of the person speaking in the event to the primary video source when configuring your channel(s) in the Pearl Admin panel. For example:

• Primary video channel: Camera
• Secondary video channels: Content, Document Cam
• Primary video source: HDMI A
• Primary audio source: XLR/TRS Audio

Keep the audio consistent across the layouts within a channel. A channel that mixes audio sources between layouts produces recordings whose audio changes when the layout switches.

Use the same audio sources for every channel in a multi-view event. If the channels in one event carry different audio, the recordings the CMS receives will not match each other.

Audio in the local recordings held on Pearl storage follows the channel, not the event. A secondary channel records audio if an audio source is selected in that channel's active layout, so a secondary channel with no audio source in its active layout produces a silent local recording.

Panopto is the exception to watch. By default, Panopto secondary channel recordings contain no audio. To include it, check Enable embedded audio for all local channel recordings under Settings on the CMS page of the Pearl Admin panel. The Panopto guide documents this.

Device differences

• Pearl Nano: Pearl Nano supports a single channel, so a Pearl Nano event delivers one source to the CMS. The primary/secondary channel model above does not apply.

The maximum number of video sources and channels available to a CMS event varies by Pearl model and by CMS platform. See the guide for your CMS platform for its specific limits.

Once one device is configured the way you want it, save the configuration as a Configuration Preset and apply it to other devices of the same model rather than repeating the setup by hand.