Kaltura: Linking to Content in YouTube

Audience: Kaltura users wishing to connect from Kaltura to a video in YouTube.

Kaltura is a media management platform for teaching, learning, collaboration, and outreach at the University of Minnesota. You can use Kaltura MediaSpace to:

• upload, manage, and share videos
• upload and link to videos hosted in Kaltura using Canvas' Rich Content Editor
• upload and link to videos in Media Galleries
• set up an assignment that allows media to be submitted using Kaltura. 

Additionally, Media owners can view analytics about usage of Kaltura videos, and Kaltura's YouTube module allows you to link from Kaltura into a YouTube video.

In this article:

• Why Combine Kaltura with YouTube?
• Linking from Kaltura to a YouTube video
• Captioning Youtube videos Linked to in Kaltura
• Limitations when Linking to YouTube

Why Combine Kaltura with YouTube?

There are three main reasons to link from Kaltura to YouTube:

• You can create a Kaltura Video Quiz based on a YouTube video. There is a lot of content on YouTube, so it can be handy to link out to that existing content.
• You can see which unique users have watched your videos, and for how long.
  • Note: YouTube has its own tools for collecting and reviewing information about viewers, but those are more about population statistics. If you want to know whether specific users are watching a YouTube video, you can view detailed analytics when linking to a YouTube video through Kaltura. For more information refer to Kaltura: View Analytics About Video Usage.
• For Kaltura videos added to Media Galleries in Canvas, and Channels in MediaSpace, closed captions are searchable. Using the search feature can help students find and review content. See notes about closed captioning in the Notes/Limitations section below.

Linking from Kaltura to a YouTube video

1. Go to a page where you can create a new Kaltura resource:
   • Kaltura in Canvas: go to My Media or Media Gallery. 
     • Missing these tools? Follow steps at Canvas: Add Kaltura Course Tools to Canvas.
   • Kaltura in Canvas: from the Rich Content Editor, click Embed Kaltura Media.
   • Log in to Kaltura MediaSpace.
2. From the Add New menu, select Connect to a Video in YouTube.
   
3. Paste a YouTube link in the space provided (e.g. https://youtu.be/UPMWF3ibiOg)
4. Click Preview. A preview of the video appears to the right. The Video Details section appears below the preview.
5. Enter details about how you want the video to appear, then click Save.

Captioning YouTube Videos Linked to in Kaltura

Unlike other media in Kaltura, when you link to a YouTube video, the media does not receive auto-generated closed captions by default. 

To create closed captions for a YouTube video in Kaltura, you can do so via the video in Kaltura:

1. Click the Title of the video.
2. Click the Actions menu.
3. Select Caption & Enrich
   
4. Scroll down to Optional: Request Caption & Enrichment Services to make your selections.

For more information about the closed captioning process in Kaltura, see Kaltura: Closed Captioning Process Overview.

Limitations when Linking to YouTube

• YouTube content creators sometimes refer to annotations overlaid on the YouTube video. These annotations will not appear when playing back a YouTube video within Kaltura. Make sure to review all video content within Kaltura to ensure the video displays as you expect.
• YouTube videos linked to from Kaltura currently do not allow the user to control the playback speed. 
• For more information on linking to YouTube Videos in Kaltura, please refer to the vendor's documentation on the Kaltura/YouTube integration.