Automating Lectures – Why the Lecture Hall Is Finally Filming Itself 🚀

Many universities and colleges now record or livestream their lectures so that students can learn anytime and anywhere. But these services still often require a lot of manual effort. Using the examples of the University of Leipzig and Technische Universität Berlin, we show how lecture productions can be automated with MiruSuite.

Current Challenges

1. Workarounds in Use
   From simple “push-button systems” that only recall preset PTZ camera positions, to complex hardware setups with laser scanners for automatic tracking - everything can be found at different universities. The simple solutions are often error-prone, and the complex ones can be difficult to install or integrate with existing hardware.

2. The Forgotten Button
   Manually switching between camera presets is forgotten surprisingly often during daily lectures - an unnecessary additional task for instructors.

3. High-End Hardware Comes at a Price
   Laser or sensor-based tracking solutions are powerful but come with high acquisition and maintenance costs.

4. Untapped Potential of Existing Equipment
   Many lecture halls already have PTZ cameras installed on the ceiling - they just need to be made smart.

MiruSuite: The Software That Makes Existing PTZ Cameras Smart

* For auto-tracking, an NVIDIA GPU or Apple Silicon device is recommended.

Use Cases: University of Leipzig & TU Berlin

University of Leipzig

Main building, University of Leipzig

The University of Leipzig operates 15 lecture halls where PTZ cameras stream via NDI® to virtual machines. From there, the signal is distributed online. Previously, instructors had to press buttons to decide what to show - Which board? Just the lectern? With MiruSuite, those buttons will become obsolete in the future:

• The cameras automatically align correctly and select the appropriate preset.
• The integrated person tracking ensures higher-quality, dynamic recordings - without needing someone in the control room.
• MiruSuite runs on its own VM in the data center alongside existing VMs. No additional hardware was required.

Technische Universität Berlin

Main building, Technische Universität Berlin

Together with TU Berlin, we experiment how MiruSuite can be used for internal productions such as presentations and talk recordings. The Lecture Director is currently being tested in traditional teaching settings. Especially with limited staff, MiruSuite enables:

• Producing more content in less time.
• Significantly improving quality through automated tracking and editing.

Both universities demonstrate impressively how existing infrastructure can be transformed into a full-fledged production setup with smart software - without additional hardware investments.

What Does This Mean for the Lecture Hall?

• Plug-and-Play: Integrate existing networked PTZ cameras, launch MiruSuite on an available PC, laptop or VM - and you’re done.
• Hands-off Production: Instructors press “Start” and can then focus entirely on their lecture.
• Portable: From small seminar rooms to hybrid-attended auditoriums.
• Cost-efficient: No additional sensors, special cameras, or expensive server hardware required.

Conclusion

Automated lecture production is no longer a dream of the future. With MiruSuite, existing lecture hall equipment becomes a full-fledged control system that films, edits, and selects the right view all by itself. This allows instructors to fully focus on their content - while students benefit from consistently high quality, whether live or on-demand.

Curious? Get in touch - we’ll show you how your lecture hall can run itself next semester. Until then, check out our Docs for more information.