Zoom vs Panopto
What are the key features of Zoom and Panopto and how do the two tools differ?
Zoom
Zoom is an easy-to-use video conferencing tool that lets users quickly and reliably schedule, manage, and record meetings. Zoom was designed for online meetings, so its features are built to enhance interactivity and engagement during meeting sessions. In addition to sharing audio and webcam video, participants can also share a live feed of their screens. Zoom allows recording of meetings to the Zoom cloud.
Zoom is best if:
1. Your classes require students to participate in real-time and verbally.
2. You will have guest speakers.
3. You want to schedule your class meetings directly in Canvas.
Panopto
Panopto is Stevens’ cloud-based video content management system which allows you to create, edit, manage, and share video content. Panopto features work best for sharing on-demand videos and screen-recordings. Panopto recordings exist long-term, are easy to view, and integrate smoothly with Canvas.
Panopto is best if:
1. You use a flipped classroom learning model.
2. You want to combine pre-recorded lectures with live lectures.
3. You want the ability to edit your lectures and control release dates.
4. You want students to have an enhanced video playback experience.
Zoom vs Panopto Comparison Chart
Feature
Zoom
Panopto
Recording
Record a speaker and their shared screen. Must be connected to the internet to hold meetings and record them.
Record a speaker, their screen, slide deck, and additional camera feed or videos. Recordings can be created either online or offline.
Editing
Trim the tail ends of recordings to preferred length.
The Panopto non-destructive editor allows you to:
- trim the ends of recordings
- cut sections from the middle of your recordings
- switch between multiple video sources
- combine recordings or add other video clips
- embed links and YouTube videos
- add/edit slides
- add/edit captions
- upload or request human-edited captioning
- add/edit a table of contents
- add time-stamped quizzes
Panopto also supports 3rd party video editors such as Camtasia.
Sharing
Zoom recordings stored in the Zoom cloud are available to meeting participants in their Previous Meetings tab. Faculty can share Zom cloud recordings of class meetings directly with their students through the Zoom App in Canvas. Zoom recordings can be automatically uploaded to Panopto.
Panopto recordings can be securely shared in Canvas or Panopto with authenticated users without creating and sharing passwords.
Playback Features
Zoom allows variable speed playback, searching within recordings through transcription, and automated captioning.
Panopto playback features include:
- variable speed playback
- search within recordings through transcription or visual text recognition
- enable and configure captioning
- toggle video streams to focus on speaker, screen, slides, or additional video footage
- click through table of contents or video thumbnails to find specific topics
- add personal notes and bookmarks
- collaborate with others through time-stamped discussion threads
Searching
Search for text within the automated transcription and find transcribed recordings that include the text you are searching for.
Panopto uses optical character recognition and automated speech recognition to index your entire video to become searchable for any spoken word or word that shows up on a slide. search spoken words as well as words in slides or screenshots from any recording in your organization's library.
Video Analytics
You can view analytics (page views and downloads) for a cloud recording that you have shared internally or externally. Zoom dashboards and reports help administrators understand how video conferencing is being used within the organization, and how much of your cloud storage you are using.
Teaching teams have access to aggregate course folder level and individual video analytics, including user completion stats. Administrators can audit video communications across the entire organization. Content creators can see which users watched specific recordings and whether or not they watched them through to the end.
Interactions
Zoom features live audio/video interaction and a text chat. Users can post questions or comments during a meeting to everyone in the meeting or to an individual participant. Text chat can be saved to your local device when the meeting ends.
Panopto does not support live audio interactions but does support multi-way video interactions. In the Discussion tab, users can post questions and comments in the viewer window during live broadcasting. Viewers can also take public or private notes during the broadcast. Discussion comments, questions, and notes are all stored in Panopto for later review or reference.
AI Capabilities
Zoom AI companion is designed to enhance productivity and streamline communication within the platform. It offers context aware suggestions in the side panel, aggregates information from meetings, chats, and documents, and helps manage tasks through Zoom tasks. After meetings, the AI generates summaries that highlight key points and action items, which are shared via email. Additionally, it assists with drafting emails and chat messages, facilitates brainstorming sessions for creative collaboration, and integrates seamlessly with tools like Microsoft Outlook.
Panopto's AI companion tools, Access AI and Elai, enhance video content by automatically generating transcripts, translations, chapter markers, and summaries. They also improve video searchability and accessibility, while Elai allows users to create professional videos from text using AI avatars. These features streamline content creation, make learning more personalized and efficient, and support multilingual audiences.
Please note: Stevens does not presently offer or support Elai.
Mobile Accessibility
Zoom offers a mobile app for IOS and Android, allowing users to participate in meetings, schedule events, manage recordings, and interact in chats from their mobile devices. The app enables flexibility for users on the go
Panopto’s mobile apps are available for both IOS and Android, allowing users to view and interact with recorded content, engage with discussions, take notes, and access videos while on the move. It does not support live meeting participation.
Collaboration in Meetings
Zoom enables collaboration in real time through breakout rooms, whiteboarding, polls, screen sharing, making it a powerful tool for virtual meetings and group work
Panopto does not offer real-time collaboration during meetings, as it focuses on recorded content. However, it supports asynchronous collaboration via discussion threads, time stamped notes, and annotations during video playback, allowing users to engage with content on their own time.
Recording Storage
Zoom cloud recordings are automatically deleted after 180 days. However, users can still access all their past Zoom recordings through Panopto, the university’s video content management system, where recordings are automatically saved and retained beyond the 180-day limit.
For more information Zoom's recording storage, please visit our KB article: Zoom Cloud Recording Retention Policy
Panopto will automatically archive any video content that hasn’t been viewed in the past 12 months. Archived content can still be retrieved by users. This retention policy helps manage storage by outlining how long content is kept and providing guidelines for maintaining access to older videos.
For more information on Panopto's recording storage, please visit our KB article: Panopto Retention Policy
Integration with Third Party Tools
Zoom integrates with a wide range of third-party applications, including Canvas, and others. This enables Zoom to be seamlessly embedded into various workflows for scheduling and task management.
For more information on third-party apps please, visit our KB article: Zoom Third-Party App Approval Guidelines
Panopto is primarily integrated with Learning Management Systems like Canvas, and Zoom at Stevens. This makes Panopto an excellent choice for educational institutions that rely on LMS for course management and content delivery.
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