VBrick Systems VBRICK APPLIANCE VB4000, VBRICK APPLIANCE VB5000, VBRICK APPLIANCE VB6000, VB4000 Series, VB5000 Series Admin Manual

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VBrick v4.2 WM Appliance

VB4000-5000-6000 Series Network Video Appliances

Admin Guide

March 18, 2008

4410-0151-0004

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 presence of such links does not imply that VBrick endorses or recommends the content of any third-party web pages. VBrick acknowledges the use of third-party open source software and licenses www.vbrick.com/opensource.

in some VBrick products. This freely available source code is posted at http://

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.

WM Admin Guide

Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Getting the Best Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Font Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Printer-Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

1. Introduction

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

System Requirements for Windows Media Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Standard Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Typical VBrick Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Multicasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Unicasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Reflecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

VBrick Reflecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Reflecting from VBrick Appliances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Push Reflecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Pull Reflecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Using Multiple Bit Rate Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

MBR Output Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

MBR Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

MBR Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Using On Demand Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Optimizing System Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Mixed Model Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Archiver and Recorder Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Contents

2. WM Configuration

Configuration: Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Configuration: Network > Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Configuration: Network > Routing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Configuration: Network > Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Configuration: Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Configuration: Encoder > Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Configuration: Encoder > Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Configuration: Encoder > Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Configuration: Encoder > Multicast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Multicast Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Configuration: Encoder > Announce (SAP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Configuration: Encoder > Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Unicast Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide iii

ASX Rollover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Creating Publishing Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Configuration: Encoder > Archiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Progressive Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Configuration: Encoder > Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Configuration: Reflector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Configuration: Reflector > Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Configuration: Reflector > Multicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Configuration: Reflector > Announce (SAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Configuration: Reflector > Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Configuration: Reflector > Archiver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Configuration: Reflector > Push. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Configuration: JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

JPEG Capture Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Configuration: FTP File Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Configuration: FTP File Transfer > Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Configuration: FTP File Transfer > Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Hard Drive Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Configuration: Passthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Configuration: Passthrough > COM1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Configuration: Passthrough > COM2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Configuration: System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Configuration: System > General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Configuration: System > SNMP Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Configuration: System > Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Configuration: System > Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Configuration: Script Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Configuration: Script Management > Event Triggering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Configuration: Script Management > Auto Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

3. SDI Configuration

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

SDI Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Configuration: Encoder > Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Configuration: Encoder > Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

SDI Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

4. Status

Status: System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Status: Network Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Status: Network Status > Codec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Status: Network Status > Routing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Status: Network Status > Network Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Status: Encoder Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Status: Reflector Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Status: Reflector Status > General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

iv Contents

Status: JPEG Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Status: Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Status: Hard Drive > General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Status: Hard Drive > Archiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Status: Server Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Status: Server Status > General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Status: Server Status > Encoder Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Status: Server Status > Reflector Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Status: Push Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Status: FTP Server Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Status: System Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Status: System Log > Config. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Status: System Log > System Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Status: System Log > Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Status: System Log > System Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Status: User Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Status: User Information > Main Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Status: User Information > Slot1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

5. Diagnostics

Diagnostics: Network Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Diagnostics: Network Tests > Ping Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Diagnostics: Network Tests > Trace Route Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Diagnostics: Device Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Diagnostics: Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

6. Maintenance

Maintenance: Device Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Maintenance: Default All Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Maintenance: Read/Write Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Maintenance: Read/Write > Read From Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Maintenance: Read/Write > Write To Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Maintenance: Usernames & Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Maintenance: Usernames & Passwords > Change Usernames & Passwords . . . . . . . . 123

Maintenance: Usernames & Passwords > Change SNMPv3 Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

7. Maintenance Mode

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Maintenance Mode Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Maintenance Mode Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Maintenance Mode CLI Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

8. WM Templates

Best Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide v

Cable/DSL-300K, High Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Cable/DSL-300K, Low Motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Cable/DSL-128K, High Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Cable/DSL-128K, Low Motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Modem 56K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Security & Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

9. Stream Prioritization

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Stream Prioritization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Non Bitrate Constrained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Bitrate Constrained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

How the WM Appliance Creates Priority Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

For Group Serving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

For Archiving, and Pushing to or Pulling from a WM Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Configuring Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Safe Group Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Index

vi Contents

WM Admin Guide

This VBrick WM Admin Guide is written for anyone who will be using or configuring a VB6000 Series WM appliance. This includes system administrators, network technicians, and anyone who will be using or configuring a VBrick network video appliance. The VBrick WM Appliance is compatible with Microsoft Windows Media and converts analog video and audio from any source into digital Windows Media streams. It attaches to your network and delivers the streaming video and audio directly to any Windows Media-compatible player or server. The VBrick can deliver the streams via multicast to any number of players on the network and it can serve the stream via unicast to up to 200 players or servers. The WM Appliance is part of VBrick's award winning VB6000 series of products with a proven track record of quality, reliability and flexibility.

VBrick's WM Appliance is an industrial strength, versatile, and reliable video appliance for one-way communication over low and medium

bandwidth IP networks using the widely deployed Windows Media format. The WM Appliance can be deployed in a variety of ways and integrates seamlessly into existing Windows Media deployments. This powerful, yet inexpensive product can reach thousands of people on your enterprise network, VPN, or the Internet. The Windows Media appliance provides both Windows Media encoder functionality and Windows Media server functionality for live video. A key benefit is its compatibility with the Windows Media Player, thus eliminating the need for a desktop player installation.

Organization

Introduction provides an overview of the WM Appliance and typical VBrick

applications. It explains how to optimize performance and how to deliver multiple bit rate streams.

WM Configuration

Status

Diagnostics

Maintenance

Maintenance Mode

WM Templates

explains all configuration windows for the encoder. These include encoder audio and video settings as well as passthrough, SNMP traps, script management, etc.

explains the status screens that provide information about the system, the encoder, the server. It also explains how to view the system and event logs and traps.

explains how to run various diagnostic tests. These include ping, traceroute, and loopback.

explains how to manage device information and reset all configuration parameters to the defaults. It also explains how to save configuration data and/or rewrite it back to the encoder.

explains how to use a limited subset of the IWS interface to manage appliance configuration parameters when there is a firmware download failure.

shows each setting on the pre-configured audio and video templates that are provided for common encoder configurations.

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide vii

Stream Prioritization describes the Windows Media Player logic that determines what

stream the player will select and play when multiple bit rates are configured.

Getting Help

If you need help, or more information about any topic, use the online help system. The

online help is cross-referenced and searchable and can usually find the information in a few seconds. Use the tree controls in the left pane to open documents and the up and down arrows to page through them. Use the one or more words in the box and press Enter. The search results will return pages that have all of the words you entered—highlighted in yellow (Internet Explorer only). The is not case-sensitive and does not recognize articles (a, an, the), operators (+ and – ), or quotation marks. You can narrow the search by adding words.

If you can't find the information you need from the online help, or from your certified VBrick reseller, you can contact VBrick Support Services usually answer your technical questions in 24 business hours or less. Also note that our publications team is committed to accurate and reliable documentation and we appreciate your feedback. If you find errors or omissions in any of our documents, please send e-mail to documentation@vbrick.com

and let us know. For more information about any VBrick products, all of our product documentation is available on the web. Go to www.vbrick.com/ documentation to search or download VBrick product documentation.

Search box to find specific information. Simply enter

Search box

on the web. Support Services can

Getting the Best Video

Video quality is a subjective concept that depends on a variety of factors. VBrick's philosophy is to make our network appliances as flexible as possible so they can be used effectively in different applications on a wide variety of networks. This means you can configure an appliance for maximum performance but you can also configure it in such a way that it will only work well in a very limited environment. Video quality is also relative. What is acceptable quality for a surveillance application on a low-bandwidth network is most likely unacceptable for a corporate presentation or a two-way video conference on a high-speed LAN. Much depends on your network, the bandwidth you have available, and the audience you are trying to reach.

VBrick tries to anticipate as many obstacles and limitations as possible and provides customdesigned MPEG-4 and WM (Windows Media) templates for a variety of applications. These templates are designed to provide the highest quality audio and video—using bit rate, frame rate and resolution settings that are tailored for a variety of common network environments. We encourage you to override specific template settings in order to meet the unique requirements of your own site, but in doing so, be aware that you can also degrade the quality and/or performance of the audio and video you are trying to deliver.

For best results, start with a pre-built template and then adjust the bit rate, frame rate, resolution, and other parameters with care. Experiment with different settings to see the trade-offs in quality and performance. You can track your changes by periodically saving the configuration file using the and video quality is still less than you would expect, re-apply one of the standard templates and try again. Keep in mind that the VBrick is stable, reliable and flexible. In most cases a small amount of experimentation will help you find the configuration settings that will deliver the best audio and video your network can support. For more information, or help configuring your appliance, contact VBrick Support Services

Read/Write option on the Maintenance page in IWS. If the audio

viii Preface

Font Conventions

Arial bold is used to describe dialog boxes and menu choices, for example: Start > All Programs > VBrick

Courier fixed - w id t h f on t i s us e d fo r c o d e el e m e nt s ( C+ + , H T M L) a s we l l as filenames, directories, etc.

Black Courier fixed-width font is used to indicate user input in keyboard commands, scripts, etc.

Folder names and user examples are displayed in this sans serif font.

Folder names and user input are displayed in this bold sans serif font.

Italics are used to emphasize specific words or phrases.

Printer-Friendly

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide

T To save or print a PDF document:

1. Click once to open the PDF document in Acrobat Reader.

2. To save or print a PDF document, right-click and select

Save Target As or Print Target.

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide ix

x Preface

Introduction

Topics in this chapter

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Typical VBrick Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

VBrick Reflecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Using Multiple Bit Rate Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Using On Demand Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Optimizing System Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Mixed Model Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Overview

Live and stored video-on-demand are among the most compelling and efficient forms of human communication and removes the barriers of time and distance. Microsoft Windows Media is a ubiquitous technology that makes it easier for VBrick customers to deploy video for one-way video delivery to millions of PCs and multimedia-equipped devices worldwide. "Windows Media" describes Microsoft's multimedia product technologies for Windows. It includes (1) Windows Media Format tools for encoding and decoding audio and video, (2) Window Media Services for publishing streaming audio and video on a server, and (3) Windows Media Player, which is the client program that plays Windows Media and other multimedia formats. The Windows Media Player is typically installed with the operating system on most desktop PCs so no player-side installation is necessary, eliminating a common IT concern when deploying a streaming audio/video solution. VBrick has licensed Windows Media encoding and server technology from Microsoft and created the VBrick WM Appliance to interoperate with other Windows Media compatible products including all versions of Windows Media Player and all versions of Windows Media Server.

Chapter 1

System Requirements for Windows Media Player

• Ethernet LAN.

•Multicast IGMP Version 2.

• Windows 98, 2000, XP (Windows XP Service Pack 1 or above (Service Pack 2

recommended).

• 500 MHz Pentium III processor for Windows Media streams (750 MHz recommended).

• 128 MB RAM.

• SVGA video card 640x480, 256 colors (video card acceleration recommended).

• Windows-compatible sound device.

• Minimum 15 MB hard disk space for installation.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.

•Microsoft DirectX Media 8.1 or higher (9.0 recommended).

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 1

• Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.1 (Windows 98 or 2000 only); Media Player 9, 10, or

11 (Windows XP only).

Standard Features

The VB6000 WM Appliance supports approximately 40 Mbits/sec total throughput via the Ethernet/IP connection. This bandwidth can be used for any of the standard features shown in Table 1 but the overall performance of any one of these features can be affected by the sum total. For example, you can download more content from the hard drive when the encoder(s) are not streaming, pushing, and/or multicasting. In a typical scenario, the hard drive will support the progressive download of a video file to a maximum of 20 simultaneous viewers, or 20 MBits/sec—whichever comes first.

Tab le 1 . Encoder and Reflector Features

Standard Feature Encoder Reflector

Accepts composite or S-Video input. X

Available as single or dual channel. X

Multiple bit rate support. X

Windows Media Audio 8 encoding (5 Kbps–192 Kbps). X

Windows Media Video 9 encoding (20 Kbps–4 Mbps). X

Optional 60 GB hard drive for local archiving. X X

8-bit 4:2:0 color format. X

Up to 640x480 resolution. X

Initiate HTTP Pull from a WM appliance or a WM server/encoder. X

Receive HTTP Push from a WM appliance or Microsoft encoder. X

Progressive download (20 simultaneous viewers). X X

Multicast streaming (UDP). X X

† Any combination of up to 200 clients including:

• Unicast RTSP Streaming (UDP).

• Unicast HTTP Streaming (TCP).

• Stream Push (25 maximum) to a VBrick Reflector, a Microsoft Windows Media Server, or RealNetworks Helix Server via HTTP (TCP).

• Stream Pull from Microsoft Windows Media Server or RealNetworks Helix Server via HTTP.

† The total number of supported clients will be reduced if you are using the JPEG capture

feature. See JPEG Capture Constraints

on page 68 for details.

Typical VBrick Applications

The following scenarios describe typical applications for the VBrick WM Appliance. These applications can be LAN-based, WAN-based, or a combination of both LAN and WAN network topologies. Note that the VBrick WM Appliance can support all of these

Introduction

applications at the same time. One of the major benefits of the VBrick WM Appliance is it's compatibility with the Microsoft ecosystem; this makes it easy to integrate with existing Windows Media installations.

Table 2. Typical VBrick Applications

Application Description

Standalone Multicast Streaming video and audio can be multicasted from the VBrick

WM Appliance directly to Microsoft's Windows Media Player on an unlimited number of PCs.

Standalone Unicast Streaming video and audio can be unicasted from the VBrick WM

Appliance via HTTP or RTSP (UDP) directly to Microsoft's Windows Media Player on up to 200 PCs depending on bit rate.

Pull Reflection via Microsoft Windows Media or RealNetworks Helix Servers

Push Reflection via Microsoft Windows Media or RealNetworks Helix Servers

HTTP Push to a VBrick Reflector

HTTP Pull to a VBrick Reflector

Streaming video and audio can be pulled from the VBrick WM Appliance by a publishing point on a Microsoft Windows Media or RealNetworks Helix server. The stream is then reflected by the server to players and other servers using any protocol supported by the server.

Streaming video and audio can be pushed from the VBrick WM Appliance to a publishing point on up to 25 Microsoft Windows Media or RealNetworks Helix servers. The stream is then reflected by the servers to players and other servers using any protocol supported by the server.

Streaming video and audio can be pushed via HTTP from a local WM VBrick to up to 25 reflectors on remote WM VBricks. From each reflector, the stream can then be multicast over the remote LAN, unicast to a maximum of 200 PCs, or be pushed again to other reflectors.

Streaming video and audio can be pulled via HTTP from a local VBrick WM Appliance to a remote VBrick Reflector. From the Reflector, the stream can be then multicast over the remote LAN, unicast to a maximum of 200 PCs, or be pushed or pulled again to other server or VBrick reflectors.

Figure 1. VBrick's Streaming Ecosystem

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 3

The Microsoft Windows Media 9 product suite divides transport functionality between two distinct products—the encoder and the server. In some applications the VBrick WM Appliance provides the same functionality as the Microsoft encoder in that it can encode live video and audio and provide a unicast stream to a Microsoft Windows Media server which then may relay the stream to the many players using various transport protocols. In other applications, the VBrick WM Appliance replaces both the Microsoft encoder and the server. It can directly support a large number of players connected via unicast (maximum 200) and it can multicast to an unlimited number of players. The VBrick WM Appliance supports direct player unicast connections, server unicast connections, and direct player multicast connections—all at the same time.

Multicasting

The VBrick WM Appliance can multicast to any number of players directly after using the

Configuration: Encoder > Multicast settings to enter a multicast address and port for the

session. There are many ways for a Windows Media player to access the multicast stream from a VBrick WM Appliance but here are some of the most common. (For more detailed information, see Multicast Playback

T To access a Windows Media multicast:

• Distribute the Windows Media .asx file. You can get an "announcement file" (*.asx) from the VBrick by right-clicking on the playback hyperlinks in IWS. Once moved to a Windows computer, the user can double-click the .asx file to launch the Windows Media Player and view the multicast. (A standard Windows system associates the .asx extension with the Windows Media Player.)

• Use an HTTP URL to access the .asx file on the VBrick. You can create a web page that contains an HTTP link to the multicast asx file on the VBrick or you can open the multicast asx URL using Windows Media Player or a web browser.

• Use VBrick StreamPlayer Program Guide. VBrick's StreamPlayer product adds an automatic program guide to Windows Media Player. Each WM Appliance on your network is automatically listed in the program guide on the player. You simply click on the entry in the program guide to play the stream.

• Use VBrick's EtherneTV Portal Server (v3.2 or later). The Portal Server is a fully integrated video solution with automatic program guides and an integrated player for live streams from all types of VBrick appliances as well as on-demand streams from video servers. EtherneTV offers many advanced features such as scheduling, recording, and access control.

on page 37.)

Unicasting

The WM Appliance can support up to 200 simultaneous unicast destinations depending on bit rate and other configuration options. There are many ways for a Windows Media player to access the unicast stream from a VBrick WM Appliance but here are some of the most common. (For more detailed information, see Unicast Playback

T To access a Windows Media unicast:

• Distribute a Windows Media .asx file. You can get an "announcement file" (*.asx) from the VBrick by right-clicking on the playback hyperlinks in IWS. Once moved to a Windows computer, the user can double-click the .asx file to launch the Windows Media Player and view the unicast. (A standard Windows system associates the .asx extension with the Windows Media Player.)

on page 44.)

Introduction

• Use an HTTP or RTSPU URL to get the unicast stream. You can create a web page that links to the HTTP or RTSPU stream directly or you can open the HTTP URL or RTSPU URL using Windows Media Player or a web browser.

• Use an HTTP URL to access the .asx file on the VBrick. You can create a web page that contains an HTTP link to the HTTP or RTSPU asx file on the VBrick or you can open the asx URL using Windows Media Player or a web browser.

Reflecting

VBrick supports the concept of reflecting wherein a WM stream is redistributed to other network devices. Reflecting is supported by two models: (1) a single channel WM Encoder device, and (2) a standalone reflector model. A variant of the models can have hard drives. Streams are acquired either via push or pull. The reflector can be configured to receive a stream pushed from another WM appliance or a Reflector, or pushed from a Microsoft Windows Media Encoder. The Reflector can also be configured to pull a stream from another VBrick WM Appliance, a Microsoft WM server, or a Microsoft WM Encoder.

VBrick Reflecting

Reflecting involves an "encoder" which creates a video stream and sends it over the network and a "reflector" which receives the network stream from the encoder and retransmits the stream to players or other reflectors. In many applications, VBrick appliances are used both as the encoders and as the reflectors, but since VBricks are compatible with other devices in the Microsoft Windows Media ecosystem so you can just as easily use a VBrick as the encoder and a Microsoft or Real Helix Server as the reflector, or you can use a Microsoft Encoder or Microsoft Server as the source of a stream for a VBrick Reflector.

There are two types of VBrick Appliances that can do reflecting. One type is the Single Channel WM Encoder Appliances (part numbers 9190-4200-xxxx) which have both encoder and reflector features in the same unit. The other type is the VBrick WM Reflector Appliances (part numbers 9190-0200-xxxx) which contain only reflector features. Both types of reflectors can optionally include an internal hard drive for archiving.

Regardless of the mix of VBrick or Microsoft products for encoding and reflecting, the transmission of the stream over the network from the encoder to the reflector can be done either by "push" or by "pull." Although they accomplish essentially the same thing, there are various reasons to choose one or the other but the most important factor is what kind of firewalls exist between the devices. For example, if an encoder behind a firewall needs to distribute its stream through a public reflector, then pushing from the encoder to the reflector works well. Conversely, if a reflector behind a firewall needs to acquire a stream from a public encoder or server, then pulling from the source to the reflector works better.

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 5

Reflecting from VBrick Appliances

This section provides more information about how to use VBrick appliances in reflecting applications. For more about the specific configuration settings on the VBrick, see Configuration: Encoder

A VBrick Reflector can reflect an HTTP Push from a VBrick Encoder, a VBrick Reflector, or Microsoft Encoder or it can pull an HTTP stream from a Microsoft Server, a Microsoft Encoder, a VBrick Encoder, or a VBrick Reflector. The VBrick Reflector supports a variety of destinations including multicast, Served HTTP, Served RTSP, and HTTP Push—all at the same time. Each VBrick Reflector supports a single pull or push source for the Windows Media stream. Note that only one source can be active at a time for a given Reflector and the same source stream is reflected to each of the enabled destinations. The reflector source option is currently available on single encoder and standalone VBrick reflector models. In all cases the reflector source connects to the Slot2 destinations and the Slot1 encoder features are not affected. For example, in the VBrick Encoder/Reflector model, the Slot1 multicast can be sending an encoded stream at the same time the Slot2 multicast is sending a reflected stream. Note that the reflector always sends exactly what is received. For this reason, there are no video or audio configuration fields on the reflector configuration pages nor do the destination pages let you select different video and audio rates.

on page 23 and Configuration: Reflector on page 57.

Figure 2. WM Appliance Encoder/Reflector

Push Reflecting

For push reflecting, there are basically two steps to starting a reflection. First you configure a reflector to receive the push and then you configure an encoder to initiate a push to the reflector. VBrick Appliances support up to 25 concurrent pushes, so many destinations (any mixture of VBrick Reflectors and Microsoft or Real Helix Servers) can receive the push at the same time and each of the servers or VBrick Reflectors can then reflect the stream using any or all of their supported protocols. This multiple push feature is unique to VBrick and is useful for stream distribution from a single encoder in a central office to many remote offices over WANs because you can push a stream over the low bandwidth WAN links to a reflector at each of the remote offices, and the reflector can then multicast or unicast to many viewers on the remote LAN.

Introduction

Push Reflecting from a Windows Media Server

The VBrick WM Appliance can push its Windows Media stream to a Microsoft Windows Media Server or to a RealNetworks Helix Server which can then reflect the stream to players or other servers using any of the protocols supported by the server.

T To refl e c t a pushed stream through a Windows Media or Helix server:

Create a broadcast publishing point on the Windows Media or Helix Server and configure it for a "Push" source. In the WM Appliance Configuration: Encoder > Push

options configure the VBrick to push the stream to the publishing point on the server or to a copy of the publishing point on the server. When the appliance push is active, the server makes the stream available to players or other servers via unicast and/or multicast, based on the configured publishing point options on the server. The Push feature is useful in cases where it is advantageous to have the VBrick send to the server instead of having the server request from the VBrick (for example when the encoder is behind a firewall and the server is not). For more information, see Creating Publishing Points

on page 48.

Pull Reflecting

For pull reflecting, the reflector is simply configured to act as a client that pulls the stream from the source. A VBrick Reflector—either in the dedicated reflector model (9190-0200xxxx) or in the encoder/reflector model (9190-4200)—can pull from a VBrick Encoder, a Microsoft Encoder, or it can pull live or stored content from a Microsoft Server.

Table 3. Typical Pul l Ref l e cting URLs

Pull Reflector Type URL

VBrick Reflector pull URL for pulling an

http://vbrick_ipaddress:8080/vbrickvideo1

HTTP stream from another VBrick:

Pull from an .asx file served from a

http://ipaddress/vbs1http.asx

VBrick or any HTTP server:

Pull from a Microsoft Encoder:

Pull from a broadcast publishing point on

http://microsoft_encoder_Ipaddress:port

http://microsoft_server_Ipaddress/LiveStream

a Microsoft Server:

Pull from an on-demand publishing point on a Microsoft Server:

Pull from a dynamically-generated or

http://microsoft_server_Ipaddress/videofolder/ storedvideo.wmv

http://myserver.com/findURL.dll?myplaylist

load-distributed publishing point that redirects the client to an .asx file or a WM HTTP stream:

T To refl e c t a pulled stream through a Windows Media or Helix server:

Create a broadcast publishing point on the Windows Media or Helix Server and use the VBrick HTTP URL (i.e.

http://172.22.113.9:8080/vbrickvideo1) as the source of the

publishing point. The server requests the stream from the VBrick via HTTP and makes the stream available to players or other servers via unicast and/or multicast based on the configured publishing point options on the server. For more information, see Creating Publishing Points.

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 7

Other Considerations

Keep in mind these additional details. The VBrick Pull Reflector:

• Supports up to five redirects.

• Supports the first (or only) HREF entry in an .asx file. Additional entries in the file are

ignored.

• Only pulls streams via HTTP. It will accept an MMS URL but will use HTTP for

streaming from that URL.

• Cannot pull multicast.

• Cannot pull from a server-side playlist.

Using Multiple Bit Rate Streams

A VBrick WM Appliance (v4.0 or higher) has three internal video encoders and three internal audio encoders that each produce a separate output stream as shown in Figure 3. These streams can have different rates and characterizations and consequently can be used for different applications. This feature allows these multiple applications to be served in a costefficient manner. Some sample applications are listed below. All of these applications can be simultaneously supported by a single WM Appliance.

Note System performance, particularly when using multiple bit rate streams, is directly

affected by configuration selections. See Optimizing System Performance for guidelines and suggestions.

on page 14

• Multicast – Typically a multicast stream is high bandwidth since multicast is normally

supported only on high-bandwidth networks.

• Unicast – Often unicast clients, who may be located on the Internet, are offered lower

bandwidth streams.

• Archive – It may be useful to archive content containing multiple data rates. This

archived stream can be transferred to an appropriate VOD system such as VBrick's EtherneTV Portal Server for serving at different data rates to different clients.

• Reflection – For an organization that has a distributed infrastructure with

multicast-capable offices connected by lower bandwidth non-multicast enabled links, it may be useful to push/pull a unicast stream to a reflector for redistribution and/or archiving at the remote site. The reflector can be provided by a Windows Media Server or by the reflecting capability of VBrick's WM appliance.

• Multiple Bit Rate – These differently formatted video and audio streams can be served

simultaneously and the Windows Media Player will select and play the best stream— based on bandwidth and other factors—from among the multiple streams that are available. In the Microsoft world, this concept is generally called multiple bit rate. With multiple bit rate, the player automatically selects the highest quality version of the stream that fits the limitations of the network, and end users receive a continuous flow of content that matches their specific connection speeds.

MBR Output Streams

The VBrick WM Appliance implementation of MBR lets you optionally enable and independently configure up to three video encoders (Video Rates 1, 2, and 3) and up to three audio encoders (Audio Rates 1, 2, and 3). They all run different encoding algorithms at the same time on a single WM appliance. Various configuration options let you select different

Introduction

combinations of audio and video rates for multicasting, HTTP and RTSPU serving, HTTP Push, and Archiving. See the Configuration: Encoder pages for more information.

The following drawing shows the selectable output streams from a WM appliance. (Note that the Archive output on the right is actually a .wmv file rather than a stream.) Depending on your requirements and what you select, the VBrick will produce any or all of these outputs. Each output can be configured with different audio and video rates. A multicast stream, for example, can be substantially different from the served, pushed, or archived streams.

Figure 3. Configurable Input/Output Stream Rates

Table 4. WM Output Streams

Output Description

Archive An archive .wmv file is automatically created if the Archiver is running on the

Configuration: Encoder > Archiver page. There are no restrictions on the "includes". This means you can select Video Rates 1, 2, and 3, and Audio Rates 1, 2, and 3. All included streams are multiplexed into a single archive file. A WM Appliance configured with a VBStar hard drive lets you create and save a .wmv file archive of the streams directly from the encoder. The file can be FTPed to a Windows Media Server or moved to a Windows system and played locally by a Media Player. (It can also be accessed locally via Using On Demand Playback.) In a mixed VBStar model with an MPEG-2 encoder and a WM encoder, the MPEG-2 encoder can archive the MPEG-2 stream and the WM encoder can archive the WM stream. In a mixed model with an MPEG-2 decoder and a WM encoder, only the WM encoder stream can be archived to disk.

Multicast A multicast stream is typically used on a local intranet. It has only one video

rate and one audio rate and is produced when

Transmit is enabled on the

Configuration: Encoder > Multicast page.

HTTP Push An HTTP Push is a unicast stream that can be pushed to a maximum of 25

different destinations. These destinations are typically VBrick Reflector Appliances or Microsoft Windows Media Servers. There is one set of configuration parameters to set address, publishing point name, user name, password, etc. for each destination. There are no restrictions on the "includes." This means you can select Video Rates 1, 2, and 3, and Audio Rates 1, 2, and 3. All included streams are multiplexed into one stream, and all

destinations receive the same stream (with the same MBR combination).

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 9

Output Description

HTTP/RTSP Unicast

Unicast streams are provided via the VBrick internal server. In order to use this feature, you first create up to three groups, each of which consists of an audio stream at a selected rate and video stream at a selected rate, and optionally closed captioning and metadata. Some or all of these groups are

Enabled on the Configuration: Encoder > Server page. The end-user client

then determines whether to pull a specific group from the server or to negotiate with the server in order to pull the best quality stream based on available network bandwidth. To allow the player/server negotiation, you can open a Windows Media Player and enter the page, for example

http://172.22.173.10:8080/vbrickvideo1. Alternately,

HTTP URL shown on the Server

you can request a specific group by appending a known group number, for example

http://172.22.173.10:8080/vbrickvideo1/group1.

Note The WM appliance reflector feature does not currently support multiple bit rates. If the

source of a push/pull to a reflector contains multiple video and/or audio streams, the reflector will reflect the entire stream with all video and audio included. This is only useful if there is a Microsoft Windows Media Server downstream from the reflector.

MBR Output Settings

The three concurrent video encoders all use the same video input. The following table shows the configuration output settings that are shared between all video encoders, and the output settings that can be configured independently for each one. See Configuration: Encoder > Video on page 24 for more details.

Table 5. Video Rate Settings

Shared Video Settings Independent Video Settings

•Video Format

•Video Input Type

• Video Source

• Closed Caption

• Inserted CC Update Rate

• Inserted CC text

•Inserted CC Row

•Luminance

•Resolution

•Rate Control Method

• Target Bit Rate

•Target Frame Rate

•Key Frame Interval

• Smoothness

• Picture Center Quality Difference

• Buffer size

• Contrast

• Saturation

•Hue

• Meta Data Enable

• Metadata String

The following table shows configuration output settings that are shared between all audio encoders, and the output settings that can be configured independently for each one. See Configuration: Encoder > Audio

on page 32 for more details.

Table 6. Audio Rate Settings

Shared Audio Settings Independent Audio Settings

Introduction

• Audio Input Level

•Audio Gain

•L+R Bit Rate

•Audio Channels

• Sample Frequency

MBR Groups

VBrick's implementation of multiple bit rate supports the concept of groups. Groups are used in a unicast environment where the VBrick WM appliance is being used as a server. The appliance

provides the option of serving one, two, or three groups of streams. A group is one set of parameters for video, audio, and script data (script data includes

Meta Data). One group must always be enabled; the other groups are optional and are

enabled only when you want to serve multiple bit rates. For example, you can create three separate groups with different combinations of audio, video, and closed caption settings. The primary (or default) group is always available. The following screenshot shows how you can enable and configure different audio and video settings for

Closed Caption and/or

MBR Group2.

Figure 4. Configuring MBR Groups

When serving multiple bit rate streams, it is the player that determines which group to request and play based on the bandwidth available or on the measured network performance between the player and the appliance. In this case, the appliance sends a stream to the player containing only the requested group. When using groups, you can also use a special URL in the player or server to request a specific group from a WM appliance that is configured with multiple bit rates. For example,

T To instruct the appliance to make available and send only MBR Group2 use this URL:

http://172.22.113.9/vbrickvideo1/Group2

VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 11

This feature is useful when you want to configure MBR on the appliance with a high bit rate group for LAN HTTP access and at the same time have a server pull a low bit rate group for reflecting. You can also use it to test playback for a particular group. MBR groups are configured on the Configuration: Encoder > Server

pages. When configuring audio and video MBR groups on the Configuration: Encoder > Server page (Figure 4), keep the following group configuration rules in mind.

Table 7. Group Configuration Rules

• The first video encoder (

Video Rate1) is always enabled and available for selection; the

first audio encoder (Audio Rate1) is always enabled and available for selection.

• Different enabled audio encoders must have different audio rates. Different enabled video encoders must have different video rates.

• An enabled group must have at least one stream selected.

• All enabled groups must have the same combination of audio and video. For example, if one group is configured for video and no audio, they must all be configured for video and no audio. There are three ways to configure the groups:

• audio and video

• audio, no video

•video, no audio

• A particular video or audio rate may appear in more than one group but two groups cannot have the same audio, video, and closed caption selections.

•

Closed Caption and Meta Data can be selectively turned on or off for each group but a

group cannot contain only Closed Caption and Meta Data.

•Group1 is the default group which will be played by older versions of the Windows Media Player that do not support MBR serving.

Note The Windows Media Player determines which bit rate stream to use and

communicates this information back to the appliance or the server in a negotiation process that is transparent to end users. With MBR intelligent streaming enabled, the Windows Media Player generally responds to insufficient bandwidth by requesting a lower bit rate from the server. Window Media Player Version 7.1 or higher is required to play MBR streams or files. Older versions of the player may not support MBR but will be generally able to play the default group from an MBR stream or an archived .wmv file.

MBR Troubleshooting

The Windows Media Player does not support ASF Group Exclusion or Mutual Exclusion mechanisms so the VBrick Appliance cannot guarantee that the player will always make stream selections that match up with the configured groups. To work around this player issue, the VBrick uses a "closest match" approach to avoid playback problems whenever possible. For example, if the VBrick is configured with Groups that are all video+audio and the player requests video-only, the VBrick will send the lowest rate group that contains the video rate the player requested. When this happens, the player will accept and play the closest match stream, even though the rate of the stream is higher than the player expected and the viewer will hear audio along with the video. This closest match approach is used by the VBrick anytime the player requests video-only, audio-only, or CC/metadata-only and there is no

Introduction

Group to match the request exactly. This closest match approach is also used when the player requests a "thinned" video stream, because the VBrick does not support video thinning.

Unfortunately, there may also be situations when the selection algorithm in the player causes it to request a pair of audio and video streams that are not available in any MBR group. This only happens when you use an "unqualified" URL such as

vbrickvideo1

that does not specify a particular Group. When this type of mismatch happens,

http://172.22.173.10:8080/

no stream will play, the player will display an error window, and a message similar to the following will be written to the Status: System Log > System Event page on the VBrick appliance.

SYSEVENT:12/07/2006 17:52:05LOC WM MBR Client Rejected, Buffer containing :Audio1:Video2:not found

Use the following recommendations to reduce the possibility that a stream will not play. Note that closed captions and metadata have no effect and are not relevant in this context.

T To reduce the possibility that an MBR stream may fail to play:

1. Use groups that are collectively video-only.

2. Use groups that are collectively audio-only.

3. Configure the groups so that they share either one common audio stream or one common video stream.

4. Use two audio encoders and two video encoders and configure three MBR groups as follows:

a. One group is the low-rate audio stream and the low-rate video stream.

b. One group is the low-rate audio stream and the high-rate video stream.

c. One group is the high-rate audio stream and the high-rate video stream.

If none of these options are possible, configure the group with the lowest rate audio stream to also have the lowest rate video stream; and configure the group with the highest rate audio stream to have the highest rate video stream. By carefully selecting audio and video rates, you can reduce the likelihood that the Media Player will ask for unavailable audio and video rate pairs. For more about the stream selection algorithm, see Stream Prioritization

Using On Demand Playback

On Demand Playback, sometimes called timeshifting, is a feature that lets remote viewers access previously-recorded streams using a combination of FTP and progressive download.

This feature is only available when the saved content is stored on WM appliances with a VBStar hard drive. In a typical scenario, a video presentation from a central location is streamed to a

VBrick reflector at a remote site over a low-bandwidth T-1 connection. It is also archived as a .wmv file on the VBStar hard drive at the remote site. Remote viewers can then watch the stream live via multicast, or if there is a shift in time zones that makes the live broadcast inconvenient, they can view the archived .wmv file locally during normal business hours. This same scenario applies at the central location, or at any other networked locations, where the stream can be multicast and archived in the same manner.

On Demand Playback can also be used to deliver high-quality video to a remote site, even if there is a low bandwidth connection to that site, by using a "store and forward" strategy. In this scenario, the WM encoder appliance is configured to archive the video to its internal hard drive locally and then automatically FTP the file to a remote WM Appliance hard drive so that it is available for high-quality on demand viewing at the remote location.

on page 137.

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Figure 5. On Demand Playback

It is important to note that on demand playback uses FTP and progressive download for playback, and the viewing experience is sub-optimal compared with content from a dedicated VOD server. See Progressive Download files.

on page 54 explains how to create and view these

Optimizing System Performance

VBrick appliances are designed to accommodate a variety of configurations. VBrick configuration choices enable the widest range of features and capabilities and are designed to provide the user with a high degree of flexibility. In some extreme cases, users can create configurations that exceed the normal processing capacity of the unit causing it to not perform optimally. VBrick units provide statistical counters and status variables indicating current device utilization and can even be configured to report SNMP trap alarm conditions when these situations occur. Corrective action usually involves reducing a video rate or disabling a channel. In general, video quality improves when video rate is increased toward the maximum of 4 Mbps. In short, video quality is subjective and relates to other components such as the response of the human eye, the quality of the original content and signal, and the quality of the decoder and monitor. As a general rule, use the lowest video rate that best suits the application.

When configuring VBrick units, pay close attention to the total bit rate of all streams exiting the unit. The sum of all streaming traffic should be closely monitored and kept to a minimum whenever possible. Once you have selected and applied a configuration to the unit, you can check the status of the processor and device load via the IWS or CLI. The CPU utilization and overloaded status variables are an excellent indication on the unit's overall health. If the CPU utilization is high or an overloaded condition is occurring, you can simply reduce bit rates, reduce the number of clients, and re-run the test. As a part of regular maintenance, you should periodically check the CPU utilization and the overloaded and "buffer full" count status variables to ensure the unit remains within normal operating limits.

Mixed Model Appliances

In addition to dual devices (for example two encoders, or an MPEG-2 encoder and MPEG-2 decoder), VBrick supports mixed model appliances (for example a WM encoder and an MPEG-4 encoder). VBrick appliance v4.1 software supports almost any combination of VBrick devices in Slots 1 and 2 so you can mix and match as necessary. For example, you can have a WM encoder in Slot1 and an MPEG-4 encoder in Slot2, or you can have an MPEG-2 encoder in Slot1 and MPEG-4 decoder in Slot2. The only exception is that you cannot have a

Introduction

WM encoder and an MPEG-4 decoder in the same appliance. In general, encoders are installed in Slot1; decoders are installed in Slot2. WM encoders, if present, are always installed in Slot1.

Note VBrick WM, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 appliances all run the same codebase. The

configurable options and user interface vary according to the type of appliance (e.g. MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc.) on which the code is installed.

Archiver and Recorder Functionality

Archiver/Recorder functionality may be different in mixed model appliances depending on how the slots are populated. In other words, the behavior of the device in a given slot may change depending on what combination of appliances are installed. See Figure 6 below and note the following distinctions:

•An archiver only records from an associated encoder. For example, a WM Archiver is associated with a specific WM encoder.

•A recorder is not associated with any encoder. It independently records one stream at a time from an encoder, a decoder, or from the network.

• On MPEG-4 appliances, there is no archiving or recording.

Figure 6. Archiver/Recorder Functionality

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WM Configuration

WM Appliances may be configured differently, for example with a single encoder or with dual encoders and a hard drive. As a result, the screens you see in IWS will vary depending on the configuration of your specific device. The images in this document show an encoder configured with one slot and the parameters apply to scroll down in IWS to see the values for Slot2. The second slot may also have a different device, for example MPEG-2 encoder, in which case you will need to refer to the VBrick MPEG-2 Appliance Admin Guide. For a detailed introduction to IWS (VBrick's Integrated Web Server), see the VBrick Appliance Getting Started Guide.