Breakout App

Breakout Desktop App was developed to add another layer of functionalities to the Breakout Platform. While the platform centralizes the streaming, interface and content hub solutions, the app turns computers into screen recording devices with internal backup. And even though Breakout’s Platform also performs recordings of all streams, it was found throughout our technical experience providing system support to associations’ events that the internet available at these gatherings was not always reliable. The app was developed then to solve connective issues that could interfere with the quality of screen recordings, providing trustworthy video files saved in an internal drive or flash drive.

The application is multi-platform being compatible with the latest versions of Mac, Windows and Linux. After installing, the app configures computers to the best settings for screen recordings. In this process, the software enables all mics connected to the machine - including the internal mic and other external mics - and sets them up for recording. This way, no audio is completely lost due to microphone malfunctions. The software runs seamlessly in the background so speakers don’t have to worry about it however, technicians can log in to the app and manually check and change configurations. Breakout App auto-updates if a new version is available.

Breakout App is fully integrated with Breakout Platform via internet connection. The app seamlessly imports information about the talks such as date, time, speakers’ names, and more. This allows it to run automated processes like starting and stopping recordings by itself. Recording files are automatically synced with Breakout’s server for cloud backup every 3 hours or at times pre-defined by the organization to save bandwidth during peak hours.

Once the recordings are uploaded to Breakout’s server, audios are automatically processed for speech enhancement and noise reduction. After that, presentations are ready to be manually clipped by Breakout’s staff. Videos are then neatly displayed on the Breakout’s interface where participants can watch presentations they could not attend to. These files can be archived at the organization’s request.

The integration between app and platform reflects on Breakout’s admin panel as well. Screens can be monitored live during talks in the admin panel. Other features that can be checked are hard drive space, version of the app, recording status and unsynced files.

Project Development

The idea of developing the desktop app came about when Breakout was already established as a company with different software solutions for associations’ meetings. When working with some clients, App Masters and Breakout Technologies noticed on a few occasions that the screen recording quality was not always the best due to internet instability. Since the internet available at these events was something that client had contracted and was beyond our control, we decided to fix it by recording presentations directly into the computers instead of capturing them from the live stream. This solution solved the problem entirely and helped us deliver incredible video-quality recordings and a more reliable system overall. On top of this internal recording capability, other remote monitoring features were added. These additions allowed Breakout Technologies to deliver more quality and reliability to their clients.