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Guide to Academic Use of Audio, Images, and Video

About Showing DVDs & Videos in Zoom

If you have a legally purchased DVD (your personal property or checked out from the Library), playing the DVD on your computer and sharing your screen via Zoom falls within copyright Fair Use under the following conditions:

  1. Don't record the session
  2. Only allow registered students in the course to access the Zoom session. Distribute the link via Blackboard/Canvas for example, not on the open web.
  3. DVDs will work for screen sharing, but streaming services may be able to detect the screen share and disable that ability (So Netflix/Hulu may not work due to their technology). While Netflix and other services may have terms of service that disallow screen sharing, there is no market harm from this activity if there is no time or ability to negotiate public display rights with the vendor.
     

(Copyright advice presented above is from Kyle K. Courtney, Esq., Harvard University, transmitted March 2020 during a Virtual Copyright Office Session)

Tips for showing DVDs & Streaming Video in Zoom

Start by clicking the 'Share Screen' button at the bottom of your Zoom screen.

Then click the 'Share sound' and 'Optimize for video clip' boxes
Video Share Options in Zoom


 

 

 

 


 

Make sure your volume is an appropriate level.

Select the screen showing your video so that others can see the content.  You may also want to click the "full screen" icon so the video fills your browser screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


It is recommended that all participants turn off their cameras for the duration of the video and that student participants mute their sound.

You may also want to click on "CC" when available to turn on the Closed Captioning.

Mac users may find that the native DVD player blocks the video when you share your screen.  If this happens we recommend downloading and using the free VLC Media Player to play DVDs.

Use only the portion of the video necessary to support your pedagogy.

Instructor commentary and lecture during the course of the video greatly increases the fair use defense of this activity.

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