Streaming Video 

April 2007 Update!! - Dudley schools now have Real Educational licences which don't expire after a certain date. Each school will soon have access to a folder on the streaming video server in the WAN centre with 1Gb of space.

The DGfL now has a streaming video solution. This means that it possible to capture videos in any digital format and put them on the network so that they can be viewed either on-demand or as live broadcasts.

The solution consists of a camera and microphone to capture the action that is then transferred to a desktop computer or laptop where it is converted into a digital video file. This file can then be converted (encoded) into a format that is optimised for viewing over a network. The files are then placed on a streaming video server and a hyperlink on a web page is used to give users access to the video. When a user clicks on the link the video is played in the appropriate player automatically however the video starts playing almost instantly and makes best use of the available bandwidth. The videos can be pre-recorded for on-demand use or can be broadcast live like a TV channel.
 

Video on-demand

Here is an example of a video on-demand streaming video file:

http://mediaserver.dudley.rmplc.co.uk/ramgen/example.rm

Live broadcast

Here is an example of a live broadcast streaming video file:

http://mediaserver.dudley.rmplc.co.uk/ramgen/broadcast/live.rm

The software from Real allows video and audio to be streamed in Real Player format but also Apple QuickTime, Windows Media Player, MP3 and MPEG formats. Each RM SmartCache server also has the Real Helix Proxy software installed to cache and manage the re-distribution of streams across the network.

The DGfL has a streaming video server that allows streaming content to be added to the DVRC and schools’ web sites.  Licences have now been purchased for each school to have copies of the Real Networks RealProducer Plus software for encoding video and audio clips as well as the enterprise version of the Real Player software for each managed computer and licences for each school to have its own streaming video server. For more information on buying a server contact Pat Bull on x3833.
 

Here are some more examples of streaming video;

Dudley Goes to the Movies 2005

Gigajam

To learn more about streaming video and the Real products click here:

http://www.realnetworks.com/industries/education/index.html

If you would like to add streaming audio or video to your school’s network or web site contact Richard Cornell in the first instance at rcornell@rm.com or on x3819.


 
 

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