Speaker Spotlight and optimized recording formats

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Niels Heinemann

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Oct 2, 2025, 5:39:14 AMOct 2
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Dear BBB Gurus and devs,

we are using BBB quite a lot and it has proven as the best video conference software for self hosters that we know. In the last months we integrated it in the social software https://www.humhub.com/ as a native module for embedded video sessions and we will expand it towards easy calling and bigger events like  community speed datings.
.
But we did not find a suitable layout setting to expose/highlght the presenter/speaker of a BBB session beside the presentation. The goal is to perfectly arrange speaker's camera and  slides.  Additionally, if more than one camera is enabled, the display logic should automagically identify any current speaker and hghtlight him/her. If another person than presenter is speaking (maybe a person from audience with a question) he/she should be put besides/next the presenter.

We're planning to engage a BBB hoster/provider/expert to implement a plugin that will fit this needs. Do you think this is realistic and feasible?

And on top of this work, we would like to give an order for a plugin that allows an all-in-one recording/video download of the main view (highlighted person(s) area and slides/presentation).

What do you think?

Thanks a load // Niels Heinemann


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Fred Dixon

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Oct 3, 2025, 7:52:09 AMOct 3
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Hi Niels,

> we are using BBB quite a lot and it has proven as the best video conference software for self hosters that we know.

Thanks Niels for the kind words.  We (the core developers) care about making BigBlueButton the best platform for virtual classrooms and, in doing so, it makes BigBlueButton useful for many other types of collaborations.

>  we did not find a suitable layout setting to expose/highlght the presenter/speaker of a BBB session beside the presentation. The goal is to perfectly arrange speaker's camera and  slides.  Additionally, if more than one camera is enabled, the display logic should automagically identify any current speaker and hghtlight him/her. If another person than presenter is speaking (maybe a person from audience with a question) he/she should be put besides/next the presenter.

We've been thinking of something similar.  A better automatic layout, one where if the presenter minimizes the presentation, for example, it automatically minimizes for everyone. And regarding the webcams, always show the presenter in the first webcam slot, and for a participant asking questions, move them to the second webcam slot, for example.

I would be interested to collaborate with you on this.  I'll reach out directly.


> And on top of this work, we would like to give an order for a plugin that allows an all-in-one recording/video download of the main view (highlighted person(s) area and slides/presentation).

Check out the following video recording format


and let us know if that provides what you need.

Regards,... Fred


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Niels Heinemann

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Oct 3, 2025, 4:48:41 PMOct 3
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Dear Fred,

thx a load for your insights. What you're thinking about is close to our needs. Additionally a manual "Spotlight" switch would be great if the presenter is a supporting staff person independent from the leading speaker.  But we can discuss this directly.

Do you know how to customize the recording steps  in docker setup like in https://github.com/bigbluebutton/docker? 
I modified recording.yml for testing like

steps:
archive: 'sanity'
sanity: 'captions'
captions:
- 'process:presentation'
- 'process:video'
- 'process:notes'
- 'process:screenshare'
- 'process:podcast'
'process:presentation': 'publish:presentation'
'process:video': 'publish:video'
'process:notes': 'publish:notes'
'process:screenshare': 'publish:screenshare'
'process:podcast': 'publish:podcast'

but I'm afraid I can't follow the docs-line
"The processing scripts and playback support files for these recording formats can be installed from the packages named bbb-playback-formatname (e.g. bbb-playback-video)"

I think I need to cusotmize the dockerfile?!

Yours // Niels

Niels Heinemann

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Oct 3, 2025, 4:51:19 PMOct 3
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Sorry for messed up .yml. File is indented correctly AFAIK.


Am Freitag, dem 03.10.2025 um 20:48 +0000 schrieb 'Niels Heinemann' via BigBlueButton-dev:
Dear Fred,

thx a load for your insights. What you're thinking about is close to our needs. Additionally a manual "Spotlight" switch would be great if the presenter is a supporting staff person independent from the leading speaker.  But we can discuss this directly.

Do you know how to customize the recording steps  in docker setup like in https://github.com/bigbluebutton/docker? 
I modified recording.yml for testing like

steps:
archive:'sanity'
sanity:'captions'
captions:
- 'process:presentation'
- 'process:video'
- 'process:notes'
- 'process:screenshare'
- 'process:podcast'
'process:presentation':'publish:presentation'
'process:video':'publish:video'
'process:notes':'publish:notes'
'process:screenshare':'publish:screenshare'
'process:podcast':'publish:podcast'

but I'm afraid I can't follow the docs-line
"The processing scripts and playback support files for these recording formats can be installed from the packages namedbbb-playback-formatname (e.g. bbb-playback-video)"
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