Session recording quality

Hello
The goal of the recording in RDM is for auditing purpose. It's using a low quality (small size) since you can have many opened session at the same time. That being said it does not mean that we could not do anything better. Could you explain me your use case?

Regards

Auditing, yes. We develop accounting software and also install and maintain it on our customers servers and PCs.
The reason behind is a proof of what we were doing. We need to be able to clearly read smaller fonts, which in our opinion isn't well represented with the current quality. We reference it often ourselves at a later point, but also show sometimes to our customers, which also needs higher and representable quality.
Our current usage is seldom higher than 6 recorded sessions at a time with Teamviewer, but we are looking at the possibility of making multiple sessions easier to handle, possibly making 10 concurrent sessions, using Wayk.
I am aware that more sessions require higher CPU usage, but honestly, that is "my thing". You could as well build in a warning like "setting higher quality could cause very high CPU usage". It would allow me to set the highest quality possible for our computers.
Just as a reference, we would be OK with the quality recorded by Teamviewer. Also it should create only a single file per session. Simply some settings like:

• Retain same session resolution
• Bitrate/quality
• Framerate
• Standardized format

In the end, it wouldn't be any different than me using 10 external Wayk sessions, performance-wise. Except that there I can set the quality, only it would be extremely annoying, since I want them in one program.

Hi,

Wayk has its own session recording feature that could be closer to what you are looking for, with more controls for encoding the quality and frame rate. However, it is currently not exposed in RDM Wayk, so you would have to give a try with the external Wayk Client application. I suggest you try it out and see how well it performs, and then we could look into ways to improve the session recording in RDM.

You can enable it in Options -> Recording:



Best regards,

The only reason why I am contemplating of getting Wayk is the tabbed solution in RDM. If I don't use that, I might as well stay with Teamviewer.
Honestly, Wayk Client recording is also lacking. Quality vs file-size is meh... I guess this is due to windows codec.
I don't quite get it - you have an ability to do quality recordings in RDM, mp4, mkv... why not use that?

Hi,

The goal is really to keep improving the RDM Wayk integration, and I definitely get your point. However, my suggestion of using the Wayk Client externally was just so you could evaluate the quality and file size for the session recording implementation that is not the same as the one provided by RDM. Did you try it out, and did you experiment with higher quality levels before saying meh?

The session recording is using a cross-platform VP8/webm compressor, so it really has nothing to do with Windows codecs. I'm not suggesting it as the long term solution, I just want to see if one of those compression levels appears acceptable, such that then we could look into improving the session recording done within RDM. However, your comments worry me, as you're still saying it's not good enough, yet you wish to record a large number of concurrent sessions.

Best regards,

my suggestion of using the Wayk Client externally was just so you could evaluate the quality and file size for the session recording implementation that is not the same as the one provided by RDM. Did you try it out, and did you experiment with higher quality levels before saying meh?

Yes, I experimented with it. It's not the quality that is meh or file-size, but those two combined. I just noticed that Teamviewer actually has a way smaller file-size and much better quality, so I wondering why. That's all. I am in no way expert in codec, I just assumed that VP8/webm is a windows thing. Sorry for that.

The session recording is using a cross-platform VP8/webm compressor, so it really has nothing to do with Windows codecs. I'm not suggesting it as the long term solution, I just want to see if one of those compression levels appears acceptable

Yes, they seem acceptable. I could run lower quality, so that everything is well readable, have little higher size. This would be a good short-term solution, if there is a planned long term solution that might offer better quality vs size.

However, your comments worry me, as you're still saying it's not good enough, yet you wish to record a large number of concurrent sessions.

Why is this a problem? I can record 10 concurrent sessions in Teamviewer, without my laptop even breaking a sweat. CPU usage not even 10% on a 2 year old i7.
This only brings me to think that the session recording is most likely highly optimized. And this should be the ultimate goal really.

Hi,

Just to make sure we're talking of the same thing, here's a quick session recording I did with the default compression parameters. The quality could be increased, but even then, the text remains perfectly readable. Are you saying that even if you increase the quality settings, you think you're getting a bigger file size for less quality? What video format does TeamViewer use, and is it doing the session recording client-side or server-side?

Session recording is not meant to record screencasts with super high quality, it is meant to record the session for later review and auditing purposes. The more you record, the more it will consume CPU resources, memory and storage, that's just the way it works regardless of the product.

I am trying to figure out what is acceptable, as you do have a lot feature and improvement requests. We're not going to spend time trying to optimize something beyond its usefulness if there is no need for it. We can't meet all of your demands all at once, no matter how legitimate they are, we're going to have to prioritize them.

Best regards,

Can you give me a place to upload two files, I don't want to place these recordings on a forum.

Hi,

You can upload the files securely here: https://devolutions.sharefile.com/filedrop

Best regards,

Just to make sure we're talking of the same thing, here's a quick session recording I did with the default compression parameters. The quality could be increased, but even then, the text remains perfectly readable.

I will just quickly guess that this is Wayk Client recording. And yes, that is really fine - my examples, if you let me upload, are video2 and video3 - video 3 being a little higher quality. But those settings need to be implemented into RDM. Which currently has the quality of video1... unacceptable.

Are you saying that even if you increase the quality settings, you think you're getting a bigger file size for less quality?

No. Size grows as does the quality. But purely visually, if I set the approx. same size/minute, I will get better picture quality in TV. It's not drastically better, but better. This is why I said Wayk Client settings are completely fine, but you could, maybe at some later point in time, strive for the better.

What video format does TeamViewer use, and is it doing the session recording client-side or server-side?

No idea, I couldn't find anything on the net, but people are saying it's custom developed. I think the recording is client-side, as it asks you to save it and it saves, that moment. It's not transferring anything.

Session recording is not meant to record screencasts with super high quality, it is meant to record the session for later review and auditing purposes. The more you record, the more it will consume CPU resources, memory and storage, that's just the way it works regardless of the product.

Of course. I have a feeling we are talking a bit on two opposite ends. All I am saying, implement Wayk Client app settings in the RDM. Btw. I do sometimes get requests for higher quality recordings, but that is something that I cover with other tools, and doesn't necessarily need to be Wayk.

I am trying to figure out what is acceptable, as you do have a lot feature and improvement requests. We're not going to spend time trying to optimize something beyond its usefulness if there is no need for it. We can't meet all of your demands all at once, no matter how legitimate they are, we're going to have to prioritize them.

I understand. We also do software development, so believe me, I understand.

Hi,

You can upload the files securely here: https://devolutions.sharefile.com/filedrop

Best regards,

Thanks, uploaded.

Hi,

The first step was really to confirm with you that the Wayk session recording was acceptable, which it is. If we were to further optimize the session recording, you'd be happy, but it is not a deal breaker.

RDM session recording and Wayk session recording are not identical, but it doesn't mean we can't look into ways of improving the RDM session recording. However, for the short term, the most obvious fix would be to expose the Wayk session recording in RDM. I already opened a ticket for that earlier today, but I was waiting for you to confirm that it worked as intended.

Once this is first improvement is done, we'll see how RDM and Wayk session recording could be improved, mostly by improving RDM session recording instead of Wayk session recording. It makes more sense to move towards a single session recording solution on the long run. You also do software development, you know how it's like.

Best regards,

The first step was really to confirm with you that the Wayk session recording was acceptable, which it is. If we were to further optimize the session recording, you'd be happy, but it is not a deal breaker.

Correct.

RDM session recording and Wayk session recording are not identical, but it doesn't mean we can't look into ways of improving the RDM session recording. However, for the short term, the most obvious fix would be to expose the Wayk session recording in RDM. I already opened a ticket for that earlier today, but I was waiting for you to confirm that it worked as intended.

Thanks, looking very much forward to that (and the other fixes/implementations).

Once this is first improvement is done, we'll see how RDM and Wayk session recording could be improved, mostly by improving RDM session recording instead of Wayk session recording. It makes more sense to move towards a single session recording solution on the long run. You also do software development, you know how it's like.

Yep. Also better to have things integrated. Our software is somewhat similar, while we have one centralized components, we incorporate many modules around the central piece, which all integrate together.

And let me also express my sincere thanks for having an open ear. Not something I see very often.

Hello,

is there a timeline for the implementation of this?

Hello,

We're currently planning to have the Wayk recording integration in RDM 2021.1, which is planned to be released early next year.

Regards,

Great, looking forward to be using it with the next maintenance-batch in January/February.

Hello,
is there some info when the 2021.1 is slated for? I am in a dire need for that better recording, I have many customers on Wayk now, and the next installation batch is due next week for next couple of weeks, so would be looking forward to having it documented well.

Hello,

The beta for 2021.1 is slated in a few weeks. The actual release is planned for mid February.

Best regards,