Streaming media services
The Graphics Workshop is running a media streaming service that allows the viewing of media files (video and audio) across the network. The service is hosted on a MacPro workstation using QuickTime Streaming Server.
There is a wide variety of material hosted on the server, including lectures, demonstrations, interviews, examples of students’ work, presentations and training sessions. Samples of the material are accessible from here.
The media streaming service was introduced at the end of 2007. Since then the number of uploaded videos and viewed streams has grown exponentially. Service usage is shown on the statistics page.
Instructions for preparing video and audio material, and how to publish it on the server can be found on the media streaming service page.
The Graphics Workshop is also working on two new media streaming projects: Broadcasting and Podcasting. These two services are at the developmental stage and progress updates are published in the On-Line newsletter.
Podcasting Service
Podcasting automates the capture, processing and publishing of audio and video which can then be downloaded via the Internet.
The system allows recording of video and audio events, capture of on-screen presentations with audio commentary, and the uploading of previously captured video or audio material, or even documents and images. The recorded or uploaded material is automatically processed (edited and compressed) and published as a feed on the web server. The whole process is controlled by pre-defined workflows, each of which is created for a specific task.
What are the hardware and software requirements?
For full functionality of the system, a Macintosh computer is required: e.g. Mac Mini, MacBook or iMac connected to an external (for the best results) video camera and microphone. The latest operating system, Snow Leopard, is also recommended. The server part of the system, Podcast Capture 2, resides on the Graphics Workshop streaming server, which is running Snow Leopard Server OS.
A PC-based platform can also be used but functionality is limited to the uploading (processing and publishing on the web) of video or audio material that has already been captured.
The podcasting system is a big improvement over the streaming media service as the whole process is now fully automated. It can easily be adapted to capture lectures and other events in seminar rooms and lecture theatres.
For more information about the system, click here.
Broadcasting
Broadcasting captures live events using a video camera or a webcam, compresses the material on the fly and then broadcasts it via the streaming server. If required, events can also be recorded to a file for subsequent on-demand streaming. Broadcasts can be viewed in a web browser with the appropriate QuickTime plug-in installed. This project is at an advanced stage.
This page is maintained by the Graphics Workshop Tel ext. 4474 email graphics@brookes.ac.uk
Last updated: 27 January, 2010