Lecture2Go vs Planet eStream

Lecture2Go is the University of Hamburg’s web and self-hosted video portal for watching, listening to, and downloading recorded lectures. Its recording system synchronizes the speaker with the presentation. Viewers do not need accounts; login is reserved for producers. Search covers titles, series, people, keywords, and closed-caption text, with caption results linked to the matching video time. The player supports subtitles, German sign-language translations, and keyboard control, with German and English subtitles when available. Producers may enable MP4, MP4 with German Sign Language, MP3, M4A, and PDF downloads. Protected videos can use password links or embeds in university learning-management systems. Public series expose RSS feeds, and podcasts can link to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Since June 2024, uploaded German and English media receive automatic subtitles using open-source solutions. The software is based on Liferay CE and includes Opencast, Subtitle2Go, Elasticsearch, and Video.js. An open-source version is available to educational institutions.

Planet eStream is an education platform that brings media management together with lecture and room capture, live streaming, digital signage, TV and radio resources, and photo management. Its room-capture tools can schedule and record lessons or lectures, then stream them using autonomous hardware. The system can capture several audio and video sources at once, including cameras, microphones, whiteboards, and projectors. Automatic transcription can add subtitles, and searchable transcripts are supported. A web scheduler works from any internet-connected device and can publish recordings to Microsoft Office 365 calendars; viewers can ask questions in live-stream chat. Administrators can manage access by user or group. Listed integrations include Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Sway, SharePoint, PowerPoint, Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, and Google Classroom. Authentication options include Microsoft Azure AD, LDAP, Active Directory, Microsoft ADFS, SAML2/Shibboleth, and Google Login. Planet eStream is offered as a cloud platform or locally hosted option. Pricing is on request and modular; room capture has no per-room licence cost and no limit on rooms.