VBrick Systems StreamPlayer User Manual
VBrick
StreamPlayer
StreamPlayer v4.4
User Guide
January 25, 2007
4410-0003-0005
Copyright
© 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
12 Beaumont Road
Wallingford, Connecticut 06492, USA
www.VBrick.com
This publication contains confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information. No part of this document may be
copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any machine-readable or electronic format without
prior written permission from VBrick. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and
VBrick Systems assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies. VBrick, VBrick Systems, the
VBrick logo, StreamPlayer, and StreamPlayer Plus are trademarks or registered trademarks in the United States and
other countries. Windows Media is a trademarked name of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other
countries. All other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks, service
marks, or product names as designated by the companies who market those products. Inquiries should be made
directly to those companies. This document may also have links to third-party web pages that are beyond the
control of VBrick. Use these links at your own risk. The use of such links does not imply that VBrick endorses or
recommends the content of any third-party web pages. Some VBrick products use open source software provided
by third parties. VBrick supports the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and this source code is freely available at
ww.vbrick.com/opensource.
FCC Notice
This equipment carries the CE mark and is UL listed in the U.S. and Canada. This equipment has been tested and
found to comply with the limits for Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules, Class A for OC3C Interface, Class A for the SDI Interface. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against
harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction
manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential
area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at
their own expense. This Class A digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference-Causing
Equipment Regulations. Cet appareil numerique de la Classe A respecte toutes les exigences do reglement dur le
materiel brouilleur du Canada.
About VBrick Systems
Founded in 1997, VBrick Systems, an ISO 9001 certified vendor, is a privately held company that has enjoyed rapid
growth by helping our customers successfully introduce mission critical video applications across their enterprise
networks. Since our founding, VBrick has been setting the standard for quality, performance and innovation in the
delivery of live and stored video over IP networks—LANs, WANs and the Internet. With thousands of video
appliances installed world-wide, VBrick is the recognized leader in reliable, high-performance, easy-to-use
networked video solutions.
VBrick is an active participant in the development of industry standards and continues to play an influential role in
the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), the MPEG Industry Forum, and Internet2. In 1998 VBrick
invented and shipped the world's first MPEG Video Network Appliance designed to provide affordable DVDquality video across the network. Since then, VBrick's video solutions have grown to include Video on Demand,
Management, Security and Access Control, Scheduling, and Rich Media Integration. VBrick solutions are
successfully supporting a broad variety of applications including distance learning and training, conferencing and
remote office communications, security, process monitoring, traffic monitoring, business and news feeds to the
desktop, webcasting, corporate communications, collaboration, command and control, and telemedicine. VBrick
serves customers in education, government, healthcare, and financial services markets among others.
Preface
Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Font Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Printer-Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
1. Getting Started
Using StreamPlayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
StreamPlayer Differences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Play
Playing a Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Record
Recording a Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Password Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
MPEG-4 Hinting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Disk Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Contents
4. Play/Edit Saved Files
Playing Saved Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Playing Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Edit/FTP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Editing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Moving Files via FTP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. Preferences
Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Custom Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
MPEG-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Program Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
File Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Play Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
StreamPlayer User Guide iii
7. Capture Driver
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Installing Capture Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Verifying Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using a Captured Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
iv Contents
This document is written for anyone using or evaluating StreamPlayer. The StreamPlayer
product family lets you view high quality MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and Windows Media
streams (both live and on-demand) right from your desktop. The StreamPlayer software is
available in two versions: StreamPlayer, a view-only component, and StreamPlayer Plus which
also allows recording and editing of MPEG streams.
It is important to note that the StreamPlayer software you have installed opens
different types of media files depending on the version you purchase and the licenses
you have installed. A fully configured StreamPlayer installation can play MPEG-1, MPEG-
2, MPEG-4, and WM (Windows Media) video streams. Also note that although the terms
StreamPlayer and StreamPlayer Plus are generally used interchangeably, StreamPlayer Plus is
actually the fully-featured system that plays and records all VBrick-supported media types.
Organization
Getting Started – provides a quick overview of the StreamPlayer user interface.
– explains how to launch a video stream using StreamPlayer.
Play
Record
Play/Edit Saved Files
– Explains how to record live video streams. StreamPlayer Plus only.
Preface
– Explains how to play and edit video streams. StreamPlayer Plus only.
Preferences
Windows Media Player
Capture Driver
– explains how to set preferences for standard StreamPlayer functions.
– explains how to Windows Media Player interacts with StreamPlayer.
– explains how to install and use VBrick's "virtual" capture card software.
Font Conventions
Arial bold is used to describe dialog boxes and menu choices, for example: Start > All
Programs > VBrick
Courier fixed-width font is used for code elements (C++, HTML) as well as
filenames, directories, etc.
Bold Courier fixed-width font is used to indicate user input in keyboard
commands, scripts, etc.
Web addresses are displayed as hyperlinks in the format: http://www.VBrick.com
Italics are used to emphasize specific words or phrases.
Printer-Friendly
Click on any of the following links to print a hard copy of the document. For best viewing,
open and resize the document using the magnification box at the bottom of the Acrobat
Reader window.
StreamPlayer v4.4 User Guide
StreamPlayer User Guide v
T To save or print a PDF document:
1. Click once to open the PDF document in Acrobat Reader.
2. On the
Acrobat Reader toolbar, click Save or Print.
vi Preface
Getting Started
Using StreamPlayer
Unless specifically noted, StreamPlayer refers to StreamPlayer WM, StreamPlayer,
StreamPlayer with MPEG-2 Playback, and StreamPlayer Plus. If you have Windows XP with
Service Pack 2 installed and are using the Windows Firewall (on by default) you need to
follow this procedure. The first time that you launch StreamPlayer or StreamPlayer Plus you
will see an error message. Click
not see this message again.
T To launch S trea mPlay er :
Chapter 1
Unblock. The next time you run StreamPlayer Plus you will
1. Go to
The StreamPlayer interface is easy to navigate. The following functions are available from the
interface.
Start > Programs > VBrick > StreamPlayer Plus.
Play Selecting a video in the Program Info and then pressing the Play
button plays the video. Double clicking a video from the list in the
Program Info window also plays the video.
Record StreamPlayer Plus only. Pressing the
video window, which allows recording of the currently selected video.
If a valid StreamPlayer Plus license is not installed, you will be
prompted to upgrade to StreamPlayer Plus.
StreamPlayer User Guide 1
Record button will launch the
Archive Pressing the
Archived Files button lets you play stored video files. If
StreamPlayer Plus is installed, it also allows users to edit MPEG-1 and
MPEG-2 video files and FTP video files.
Help Launch the online help system. Minimize or close the application.
Preferences The
Preferences button allows the user to modify the StreamPlayer
default settings.
IP Address IP address of selected stream.
Port Port number of selected stream.
StreamPlayer Differences
Table 1 . Supported Versions
Version Plays License Required
StreamPlayer WM WM, MPEG-1† No.
StreamPlayer WM, MPEG-1, MPEG-4† Yes. Installs automatically.
StreamPlayer with
MPEG-2 Playback
StreamPlayer Plus WM, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, plus
† Plays MPEG-2 with an MPEG-2 decoder (e.g. a DVD player) on your computer.
†† Edits MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 streams only.
††† Outputs raw streaming media for third-party applications.
WM, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Yes. See Product CD or
download from website.
Yes. See Pro duc t CD o r
Record, FTP, Edit††, Capture Driver†††
download from website.
2 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc.
Play
StreamPlayer buffers a certain amount of data before starting a stream to ensure smooth
playback. Streams with a lower data rate will take slightly longer to start than those with a
higher data rate. StreamPlayer launches Windows Media Player to play MPEG/Windows
Media video streams on the PC. There are several ways to play video through StreamPlayer.
Chapter 2
Playing a Stream
T To play a stream in StreamPlayer use one of the following methods:
• Double-click on any Program Title in the StreamPlayer
Windows Media Player. After a short delay (usually less than a second) the selected video
will appear.
• Highlight the entry in the Program Info window and press the
• To play an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 unicast stream or a multicast stream that does not
appear on the Program Guide, enter the IP Address of the VBrick and Port number in
StreamPlayer and press
• To play an RTSP stream, enter an RTSP address in the IP Address field and select
• To play a Windows Media stream, enter an HTTP or RTSPU URL in the IP Address field
and select
In some cases, you may receive the following error message when attempting to play a video:
0xC00D10B3: Windows Media Player cannot play this file. Connect to the
Internet or insert the removable media on which the file is located, and then
try to play the file again.
This problem occurs because Microsoft Windows Media Player automatically tries to detect
whether the player is connected to a network. If Windows Media Player cannot detect a
StreamPlayer User Guide 3
Play.
Play.
Program Info window to launch
Play button.
Play.
network connection, and if you try to play online content, you receive an error message. This
problem may also occur if your player is set to
T To force the player to always assume that the player is connected to a network:
Work Offline.
1. Go to
2. On the Player tab, under Player settings, check the
Tools > Options.
Connect to the Internet check box.
See the following URL for more information: http://support.microsoft.com/
default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;838101
4 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc.
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