VBrick Systems ENTERPRISE MEDIA SYSTEM V5.0, VEMS v5.0 Portal Server User Manual

VEMS v5.0 Portal Server

VBrick Enterprise Media System

User Guide

August 15, 2009 4410-0264-0000

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. 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 VBrick products. This freely available source code is posted at http://www.vbrick.com/opensource.

in some

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.

Portal Server v5.0 User Guide

Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .v

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Font Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Printer-Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

1. Introduction

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

Optional Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Desktop Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Downloaded Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Home Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Search Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Search Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Contents

2. Media Library

Playing Stored Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Customizing Stored Videos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Sharing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Creating Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Creating Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Viewing Closed Captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Viewing Stored Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3. Live Media

Playing Live Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Viewing Multiple Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Recording Live Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Customizing Live Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4. Channel Guide

Viewing Scheduled Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Recording Scheduled Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5. Scheduling

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Schedule Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Viewing the Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

VEMS Portal Server User Guide iii

Scheduling an Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Recurrence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Advanced Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Create Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Delete Schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Live Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Stored Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Record by Program Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Record to NVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Record to VBrick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Record by Manual Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Control Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

6. More Tools

Create Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Creating Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Authoring Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Viewing Live Presentations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Viewing Saved Presentations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Creating Playlists from the Media Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating Playlists from the Playlist Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Editing Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Add Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Priority Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

iv Contents

Portal Server v5.0 User Guide

This Portal Server User Guide is written for anyone who will be using or evaluating the VBrick Enterprise Media System Portal Server. This includes system administrators, software developers, network technicians, and end users in a variety of business environments. The VEMS Portal Server is a web-based portal for accessing and managing video assets including both live or stored audio and video files. The VEMS Portal Server is a key component in VBrick's Enterprise Media System. The VEMS Portal Server provides a simple, intuitive interface that easily discovers available media assets in your network. Key components in VBrick's VEMS solution include:

• VOD Servers – VOD-W and VOD-WM servers provide standard video-on-demand

features for H.264 and Windows Media files respectively.

• VBrick Hardware Encoders/Decoders – network video appliances that can reside

anywhere on your network to provide either distributed or high-density centralized

encoding/decoding for Windows Media and H.264 video.

• WM IP Receiver – digital set top boxes that provide a low-cost standalone decoder for

DVD-quality Windows Media video assets.

Important Note

VEMS v5.0 supports Windows Media and H.264 technology (content, encoders and VOD servers). Existing MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 devices and content are compatible with VEMS

5.0 but have not been tested and will not be initially supported by VBrick. This means you can use existing MPEG content and devices at your own risk and that some VEMS functionality (e.g. video conferencing) that requires MPEG devices will not be available in VEMS v5.0 unless you have existing MPEG encoder/decoder assets. VBrick will provide full support for MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 in VEMS v5.1.

Similarly, the Portal Server client has not been tested and will not be initially supported on Macintosh PCs. Macintosh PCs will be supported in VEMS 5.1. Note that VBrick support for Linux PCs has been discontinued entirely. See the Portal Server Release Notes for other features not supported in this release.

Organization

Introduction provides a overview of the Portal Server. Describes login, logout,

Media Library explains how to play stored content and how to use all of the

Live Media explains how to play live streams and how to use all of the

Channel Guide explains how to use the channel guide to view scheduled

Scheduling explains how to schedule live or stored broadcasts, recordings, video

VEMS Portal Server User Guide v

help, and explains how the home page works.

functionality in the Media Library.

functionality on the Live Media page.

programming. This is an optional module.

conferences, etc. This is an optional module.

More Tools explains how to deliver live presentations (optional), create playlists,

add video, and other common tasks.

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 Search box to find specific information. Simply enter 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

Search box

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

on the web. Support Services can 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.

Font Conventions

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

Courier fixed-width font

Courier bold fixed-width font is used for user input in scripts, code examples, or keyboard

is used for scripts, code examples, or keyboard commands.

commands.

This bold black font is used to strongly emphasise important words or phrases.

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

User input in text is displayed in this bold sans serif font.

Italics are used in text to emphasize specific words or phrases.

Printer-Friendly

Click on the following link to print a hard copy of this document.

VEMS Portal Server User 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.

vi Preface

Introduction

Topics in this section

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

Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Home Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Overview

The VBrick Enterprise Media System (VEMS) is a web-based portal for accessing Live and On-Demand audio and video files. The Enterprise Media System provides a simple interface to easily locate available media assets from Windows PCs, Apple Macintoshes, and IP Receivers. Upon accessing the main portal page, users can navigate or search for specific videos, select the video, and immediately begin viewing television quality video. For ondemand videos, users can Details on the specific functionality are included later in this document.

The Enterprise Media System Portal Server can be accessed by Windows-base PCs, Macintoshes, or by the VEMS IP Receiver (IPR). For the most part, the operation of the Portal Server is the same from a Windows-based PC, an Apple Macintosh (see note below), or an IPR but there are some subtle differences. The majority of this document is written from a PC perspective, so certain screen shots may be slightly different on a Macintosh or a IP Receiver. For example, the Macintosh client can be configured to use QuickTime Player (or the VBrick Player) to display video. With Apple QuickTime, the player window will look different from the screen shots provided here.

Fast Forward/Rewind and Seek to specific points in the video.

Chapter 1

Optional Modules

Various Portal Server functions are optional and may not be included with your system. Each of these items is a separately-purchasable option and requires a license. If these options have not been purchased, that particular functionality will not be available in the application. For example, if you do not have a Scheduling license, the Scheduling pages will not be shown on the VEMS interface. All of the items in the following table require a license from VBrick.

Tab le 1. Optional Portal Server Modules

Module Description

Scheduler Lets you schedule broadcasts, conferences, etc. in advance.

Network Video Recorder Offloads recording tasks to a separate machine.

Channel Guide Provides program content from a third-party content provider.

VEMS Reporter An analysis tool for examining Portal Server usage and statistics.

VEMS Backup Provides a redundant backup server for automated backup of

key files and directories.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 1

Module Description

Presentations Allows you to create live and stored rich media webinars.

Distribution Server(s) Load-balances webinar delivery for large-scale presentations.

Zones As shown below a certain number of addressable zones are

available without charge. Additional zones require a separate

license and fee.

• Standard – 2 zones

• Professional – 10 zones

• Enterprise – 100 zones

Desktop Requirements

The following requirements show what is required on each end user desktop in order to run the Portal Server interface. The user interface in the VEMS Portal Server is designed for viewing at a screen resolution of 1024x768. Lower screen resolutions may not display properly. Note that the VEMS Admin Console runs only on Internet Explorer.

Table 2. Desktop Requirements

PC Type Requirements

Windows PCs • Windows XP (SP 3) or Vista (SP 2).

• 750 MHz Pentium III processor (Pentium IV required for H.264).

• 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended for H.264).

• SVGA video card 1024x768, video card acceleration and 32 bit color recommended.

• Minimum 250 MB hard disk space for installation.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher.

• Microsoft Windows Media Player 9.0 or higher.

•Firefox 3.1 or higher.

• DirectX Media Version 8.1 and higher.

Table 3. Supported Operating Systems and Browsers †

Operating System Browser †

Windows XP Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 3.1

Windows Vista (SP2) Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 3.1

† Use version shown or higher.

Downloaded Components

Depending on the platform and browser you are using, you may need to download additional components from VBrick. Be aware that if you do not download required components for a particular encoding format (for example H.264), files encoded in that format will not be displayed in the Media Library, Live Broadcast, or Playlist pages.

Introduction

Table 4. Downloaded Components

Platform Comments

Windows The Portal Server uses VBrick StreamPlayer software-based components

to decode video streams on the desktop. Depending on how your system is configured, the Portal Server may need to download components to your computer the first time you access the server. No download is necessary for subsequent access. You must answer

Yes to security requests

when prompted to download components. The Portal Server may require the installation of up to five components. If you check the box

trust content from VBrick Systems

any required components will be

Always

automatically downloaded the next time they are needed. After a download, you don't need to restart—just close the browser.

Macintosh The Portal Server may need to download components to your computer

the first time you access the server. If so, the Home page (see Figure 1) displays a link prompting you to download components that are appropriate for your computer. If you agree, these components are automatically installed and no additional download is necessary for subsequent access.

Firefox Firefox browser users will also be prompted to install additional

The VEMS Portal Server Home page is automatically displayed when you logon with a valid

Username and Password. All VEMS Portal Server functionality and commands are available

from this page but you may not have access to all features and functions depending on your user privileges. For example, you may not be able to access certain live media or VOD servers. Note that after three unsuccessful logon attempts, you will need to close the window and start

again.

components the first time you launch a stream—if you are configured to receive these download components. Links for the appropriate stream types (WM, and/or H.264) will be displayed in the area where the embedded player is normally displayed. These additional plugins must be installed. You will also be required to install an additional plugin when you

Add Video for the first time (if you have permission).

use

T To launch the VEMS Portal Server Home Page:

1. Open a browser that is appropriate for your operating system Supported browsers for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux are shown in Table 3.

2. Enter the VEMS 5.0 Portal Server

<vems_servername>

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 3

hostname or IP address (e.g. http://

) in the address bar.

3. Log in with a valid User Name and Password to launch the Portal Server (Figure 1). If your site uses multiple authentication servers, you may need to select a Domain name as well. Contact your system administrator for more information.

4. Depending on how your system is configured, the Portal Server may need to download additional components the first time you access the server. If prompted to download components, you must answer

5. Use the navigation bar at the bottom of the page to access other Portal Server pages. All Portal Server features and functions are briefly described below and explained in detail later in this guide. Remember that depending on your privileges you may not have access to some functions in which case these items are not shown on the navigation bar.

The

Logout command logs you out of the application and lets you log back in as a different

user. This may be necessary to gain access to certain functionality. For example, some users may not be allowed to create thumbnails and you may want to login as a user who has the permissions to do this. The by an administrator.

Home Page

There is no specific Portal Server "home" page. When started, the Portal Server displays the last page you were on when you logged out or closed the application. For example if you were on the log back in. All of the options on the navigation footer are explained below. Remember that not all of these items may be available at your site.

Live Media page when you logged out, that's the page that will be displayed when you

Yes to the security requests.

Logout hyperlink is only shown when Access Control is enabled

Figure 1. Media Library Page

Media Library View pre-recorded content available from the VOD (Video-on-Demand)

servers on your network. See Media Library

Live Media View live streams (for example, TV channels) currently available on the

network. See Live Media

on page 9.

on page 19.

Introduction

Channel Guide VBrick has partnered with a leading content provider to provide news,

information, and entertainment programming for the Portal Server. This optional service requires a license and may not be supported at your site. The program listing includes some 80+ television programs and comes from a VBrick-maintained server.

Scheduling View or create scheduled broadcasts of live or stored content. See

Scheduling

on page 27.

More Tools • Create Presentation – launches a page from which you can create rich

media presentations with PowerPoint slides. See Create Presentation on page 49.

• Playlist – opens the Playlists page from which you can create and manage playlists. See Playlist

on page 60.

• Add Video – if you have publishing permissions you can publish a Windows Media or H.264 video that you recorded using a VBStar or StreamPlayer Plus. See Add Video

on page 65.

• Status – shows the status of any videos currently being added or recorded. See Status

on page 67.

• Priority Alert – launch a previously-defined emergency broadcast that preempts all other content. See Priority Alert

on page 67.

Help Get help for any Portal Server feature or function. See Help

on page 5.

Logout Always log out when done. The system will automatically log you out if

idle for more than a few minutes.

Help

This command launches an online version of the Portal Server User Guide in a new window. This online help system provide fast full-text search and makes it easy to find the information you need. To navigate in the help window, use the tree controls on the left to expand a topic and the navigation buttons at the top to move to a different page. See Getting Help page vi for more information.

Figure 2. Online Help

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 5

The Portal Server has a search feature that makes it easy to find video assets. You can search for keyword tags or text using the search box, or you can use the dropdown list boxes to filter the results for different "types" of content (e.g. presentations). In general you search for a broad category of content using the search box; then you can get more granular using the date and folder filters. As shown in Figure 3 the options below the search box are page-based. This means that on the page you can search for stored assets; on the Channel Guide you can search for channel assets. The search ‘box itself is not case-sensitive and you can enter any combination of words, numbers, and special characters. You can also limit the search by selecting Title, Description, or Tags. After a search, you can launch any stream by simply clicking on the results in the content pane.

Figure 3. Page-based Search (Live Media, Media Library, Channel Guide)

The search feature is extremely flexible; the following steps show the basic steps you will typically follow in order to search effectively.

T To search for specific content:

Live Media page you can search for live assets; on the Media Library

1. Use the Search box to find specific text or keyword tags associated with a stream, or to specify a broad category of content. For example on the Media Library page you can select

Search Presentations from the dropdown menu.

2. Click the

Search button to launch the search and the results will be displayed in the

content pane below.

3. Then you can use the filters to refine your search. Start by selecting a "folder" filter. You can search the

My Media folder or any folder you wish. (The search will include all

subfolders if any.)

4. Then select a "date" filter. For example you can select all content created this week or this month.

5. Click to display the new search results in the content pane; click to discard the results and start another search. (You can also launch a search by clicking on a hyperlinked "tag" associated with a stream. This search will return all streams that have the same tag.)

Note The first time you launch the Media Library it will display the first five videos in the

"root" folder by default. The root folder (/) is the highest-level folder.

Search Filters

You can filter your search by "folder" or by "date" using the search filters on the left side of the page. The options vary depending on which page you are on. On the Live Media page you can only filter the content by date (it is not stored in any folder); on the Media Library page, you can filter the content by date and/or by folder.

Introduction

Filter by Folder The Media Library lets you filter stored content

by folder and/or date. If you select a folder, the search results will also include content in any subfolders. The search executes as soon as you select a folder. You typically select a folder first and then specify a date range. The following folders have a special meaning:

My Media – this is a special, private folder

• belonging to the user who is currently logged in. It can be used for playlists, personal content, or whatever. No one else can see your My Media folder.

•

/ – a forward slash indicates the root folder.

The root folder is the highest folder at the top level of the file system. It contains all other folders and can also contain files.

Filter by Date On the Live Media page you can filter the

content for upcoming events by date (day, week, month, or date range) only. Use the radio buttons or specify a date range in the format:

mm/dd/yyyy. For example 12/25/09 is a valid

date. After selecting options, use the button to execute a search; use the to reset the filter to the default (

Filter

Clear button

All).

Search Parameters

The currently selected search parameters are shown as read-only information on the left side of the page. Check this information as you search to see what folder and date range options are currently selected.

Current Folder Shows the folder currently selected in the Folder filter.

Date Range Shows the date range currently selected in the Date filter.

Tags Shows the currently specified search tags. A tag is any descriptive

information associated with a library asset.

Clear Filters Resets the folder filter to root (/) and the date range to All.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 7

Media Library

Some Portal Server functionality and features may be restricted for certain users. If you are not authorized to launch a Priority Alert or Add Video, for example, those menu items will not be displayed on the navigation footer on the Portal Server home page as shown in Figure 4. Similarly if you do not have "record" privileges, you will not see a "record" button in the preview window. Contact your system administrator if some functionality is not available or does not work as you would expect.

Topics in this section

Playing Stored Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Playing Stored Streams

If the VEMS Portal Server installation includes one or more VOD Video-on-Demand servers, the Media Library link on the home page displays a list of content files stored on the server. Note that you will only see files for which you have been given permission. To launch a stored video, simply click on any video and it will launch in the preview window. Note that video content may be limited to a specific number of viewers. If you receive a message indicating the stream exceeds the maximum number of concurrent viewers, contact a system administrator.

Chapter 2

Figure 4. Media Library Page

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 9

Filter By Folder Shows all content available in the selected folder(s) and includes any subfolders

(if present). See Search Filters

on page 6 for more information.

Filter By Date Shows all content available on the selected date(s). You can filter the content by

Day, Week, Month, or Date Range). See Search Filters

on page 6 for more

information.

Display Options

Show per page – Select the number of streams (5–100) to display on page. Page – jump to any available page. Showing – shows current page number.

Title The title of the video clip is displayed after the icon indicating it is a video clip. A

thumbnail image may provide a visual preview as to what is in the clip.

Add to Playlist – create a new playlist or append to an existing playlist. See

Playlist

Edit Playlist – modify an existing playlist. Jumps to the Playlist page.

Info – shows any descriptive text, keyword tags, or links associated with

on page 60.

the stream. You can also use this page to share content with other local (and remote) users if this feature has been configured. See Sharing Content on page 14.

Bookmark – adds a bookmark. See Creating Bookmarks on page 15.

Remove Thumbnail – replaces thumbnail with generic image.

Play – plays the selected stream.

Tags – these are searchable keywords entered by stream viewers using the

Info button. See Customizing Stored Videos

on page 12.

Media Library

Content Each listing displays either a default file icon or a thumbnail image of the clip

(see Creating Thumbnails

on page 15), as well as information about the clip such as duration and tags. The scroll bar on the right of the table of available videos allows the user to scroll up or down through the entries. You can also scroll up or down through the entries using a mouse wheel or Page Up and Page Down. Scrolling may be limited by the

Show per page setting.

This icon denotes standard library content. It can be replaced by an image or a thumbnail.

This icon is used for bookmarks and playlists. Playlists are used to consolidate several video files, or video file segments, into a single, virtual video file.

You can replace the standard video icon with a custom image or a thumbnail of any frame. See Creating Thumbnails

on page 15 for details.

This icon denotes rich media presentations (those with both video and PowerPoint slides, for example) that were recorded using VEMS. Presentations recorded on the Rich Media Studio appliance (and added using VEMS) have the standard library content icon. Create Presentation on page 49 for more about rich media presentations.

This icon denotes documents (PDFs, Word documents, etc.) that were manually entered by an administrator.

This icon denotes content (PowerPoint presentations, Flash demos, etc.) that was manually entered by an administrator.

Preview Window The preview window is embedded on the right side of the window. When you

select a library stream, it plays in the preview window. In certain instances an external player, such as Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player, may launch to play the stream.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 11

Player Controls

The icons at the bottom of the preview window control the video. (Note that the

controls here are different from those used for live media, for example, there is no Record button for stored media.) Mouseover each button to see the title.

Seek – use the slider to navigate to any point in a stream.

Play – starts the video stream if it was previously stopped. Pause – pauses the video stream until restarted. Stop – stops the video from playing. Rewind – rewind to beginning of stream. Fast Forward – fast forward to end of stream.

Full Screen – click to display stream at full size. Press Esc to

exit. You can also double-click on any video to go full screen.

Volume – use slider to adjust volume. If necessary, adjust the

volume setting on your computer.

Mute – click or unclick to mute volume.

Toggle CC On – turn closed captions on or off. See Viewing

Closed Captions on page 16.

Create Thumbnail – creates a thumbnail from the next frame in

the stream. See Creating Thumbnails

Upload Thumbnail – browse to an image on your computer. See

Creating Thumbnails

Create Bookmark – Use to bookmark a stream. This creates a

playlist in

My Media with one bookmark. Press again only if you

on page 15.

want to create another bookmark to the same stream. See Creating Bookmarks

on page 15 for more information.

Pop-Up – Launches the player in a pop-up window along with

the control buttons. Once the window is launched, subsequent selections will play in the external player. The launched window can be moved or resized. Closing the main VEMS Portal Server window leaves the smaller player on the screen (if this behavior has been configured by an administrator). The viewer may be resized after launch by dragging from the corners or from any side. If enabled by an administrator, you may be able to launch multiple pop-up windows. See Viewing Multiple Streams

page 21 for more information.

Time Counter The time counter displays the amount of time elapsed since the viewer began

running the currently selected video.

Show|Hide Info Show or hide error messages and other system information.

Customizing Stored Videos

Users (with Content Publishing permission) and administrators can customize or delete stored videos; they can change the name, the folder, keyword tags, etc. All stored videos have an Info hyperlink button that displays additional information (if available) about the video. For example it may have a description or tag that can be used for searching, as well as links to

Media Library

external web sites and desktop files. (You must have the appropriate application installed locally; for example, you need PowerPoint to open a PowerPoint presentation.)

T To delete a stored video:

1. Click on the

2. Click

Delete Video and confirm. If you have permissions, this will permanently remove

Info button to the right of any stored video.

the video from the Portal Server.

T To customize a stored video:

1. Click on the

2. Click

Modify Info to display the customization page.

3. Change the appropriate. For video

Info button to the right of any stored video.

Name, or Folder, and add a Description and Tags (separated by spaces) as

Name, use any combination of alphanumeric characters and the

following special characters .!~()_-

4. Click

Add New Link to create a link to a web page or a file.

a. Enter a

b. Click

Link Title and Link Type.

Add Link when done. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Link Title The title actually displayed on the Info page, for example "Click

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 13

Here for More Information."

Link Type • Web page URL – Enter a valid URL or copy and paste one

from your web browser.

• Uploaded File – Browse to select an upload file. This can be a PowerPoint, an image, or any file you want to make available to end users.

Sharing Content

The envelope icon at the bottom of the Info page associated with each video lets you share a stored VOD stream with other local or remote users via an e-mail message. Simply click on the icon and an e-mail (see below) is auto-generated with links for local network viewing and for outside Internet viewing (if this has been configured by an administrator). The user receiving the e-mail can click on the link (or paste the URL into a browser), and enter a user name and password if prompted, to launch the stream on a VBrick player page.

Note The

LAN Link is always present on the Info page and let's you share content with users

on your local area network. The

Internet Link must be configured by an administrator

and let's you share content with users on the web.

When the e-mail is auto-generated you can add an e-mail address for the recipient and modify any of the text as necessary. For example, if the intended user is on the local network, you may want to delete the outside Internet hyperlink, and vice versa. You can also use the and

Internet links at the bottom of the page to obtain the URL for use with PDAs or other

handheld devices. Simply click on the appropriate

[Get URL] link, then right-click and copy

LAN

the entire URL so you can paste it into a handheld device.

Creating Thumbnails

Media Library

You can create thumbnails for all videos stored in the Media Library that were recorded on the Portal Server. If given publishing permissions, you can replace the generic video clip icon with a

snapshot of the video or with any .jpg or .gif image you choose. The folders to which you can upload thumbnails are configured by an VEMS Portal Server administer. (Note that thumbnail images that exceed 512 K in size are not displayed in the VOD list on a WM IP Receiver; a special icon is used instead).

T To create a thumbnail:

1. Launch a stored video and click

Create Thumbnail on the Options menu at anytime to

capture the first frame in the video. This will automatically replace the existing thumbnail if any.

2. Repeat until you are satisfied or mouseover the title and click the Remove Thumbnail icon to replace it with the generic icon.

T To upload your own thumbnail image:

1. Launch a video and select

2. Browse to the jpg or gif image and click

3. Click

Cancel to close the window.

Upload Thumbnail from the Options menu.

Upload Image.

Creating Bookmarks

You can quickly bookmark any location in a stream playing in the preview window using the

Bookmark button or selecting Create Bookmark from the Options menu. This basically

creates a playlist in editing functions, open this bookmark from the

My Media with one bookmark. To add additional streams or perform other

Playlists page.

T To bookmark any point in a stream playing in the preview window:

1. Launch any video from the

2. Click the

Bookmark button at any point in the video. This displays a message and creates

a bookmark/playlist in the and has the following format:

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 15

Media Library.

My Media folder. The bookmark defaults to the end of the file

<video_title><date><time>, for example: VBrick Rules_09_14_2007_13_27:59

3. To edit the bookmark, go to the Playlist page, mouseover the bookmark you just created, and click Edit Playlist.

4. You can change the name, folder, duration, etc. using the editing options. See Editing Playlists on page 63.

Note Use the

with one bookmark. To add additional streams, open this bookmark on the page. Press video file. For more about playlists, see Playlist

Bookmark button to bookmark a stream. This creates a playlist in My Media

Playlists

Bookmark again only if you want to create another bookmark to the same

on page 60.

Viewing Closed Captions

The VEMS Portal Server supports closed captions for hearing-impaired viewers. Captions can be turned on or off for using the Options menu. If a video stream (either live or stored) is encoded with captions, they can be set to on or off; if a video stream is not encoded with captions, captions will not be displayed regardless of the setting. If set to displayed for all caption-enabled streams subsequently launched from the Portal Server, until turned to

CC OFF. A video stream must be encoded with captions in advance. VBrick can add

a date/time stamp to a live stream from a security camera, for example, but it provides no other functionality to encode live or stored video with closed captions. Closed captions (if enabled) are superimposed on the video as shown here. The actual placement of the closed captions will vary depending upon how it was encoded.

CC ON, captions are

Viewing Stored Presentations

Stored library presentations are those rich media presentations (with content and video) that have been recorded and saved in the Media Library. Create Presentation how to create and publish rich media presentations.

on page 49 explains

Media Library

Figure 5. Stored Rich Media Presentation

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 17

Live Media

Topics in this section

Playing Live Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Playing Live Streams

The Live Media page lets you view live streams, TV stations, and rich media presentations available on the network. The list of available streams is determined by the VBrick appliances or other encoders in your network. The administrator can assign a channel number, an icon, and other data to a live video stream. The channel appears as a number in a column to the left of each live stream. To launch a live broadcast or a presentation, simply click on any live channel and it will launch in the "preview window" on the right. The preview window has standard video controls. For example, click keyboard to return to preview. If you receive a message indicating the broadcast exceeds the maximum number of concurrent viewers, contact a system administrator. The Live Media page may include some or all of the following items:

Chapter 3

Full Screen to go to full screen; press Esc on the

• VBrick appliance live streams

• Manually-entered live stream URLs

• Active scheduled stored broadcasts

• Rich media presentations

Figure 6. Live Media Page

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 19

Note Many Portal Server functions have restricted permissions. If you are not authorized to

launch a

Priority Alert or Add Video, for example, those menu items will not be

displayed on the navigation footer. Other functionality may hidden or non-functional. For example if you do not have "record" permissions, you will not see a record button

in the player controls under the preview window.

Filter By Date Shows all content available on the selected date(s). You can filter the content by

Day, Week, Month, or Date Range). See Search Filters

on page 6 for more

information.

Display Options

Show per page – Select the number of streams (5–100) to display on page. Page – jump to any available page. Showing – shows current page number.

Title The title (and channel number) of the live stream is displayed after the icon. Use

the Play button to launch the selected stream.

Content The Live Media page shows stations and streams that can be requested and

played. Each item has its own icon and is preceded by a channel number if available. The scroll bar on the right of the table of available videos allows the user to scroll up or down through the entries. You can also scroll up or down through the entries using a mouse wheel or Page Up and Page Down. Scrolling may be limited by the

Show per page setting.

This icon denotes standard live streams. TV channels (without programming data) will typically have this icon.

Custom icons can be assigned by an administrator to each station. A station may, or may not, have programming data.

This icon denotes rich media presentations (those that have both video and PowerPoint slides, for example). See Create Presentation

on page 49

for more about rich media presentations.

Preview Window The embedded video player area at the right side of the window. When you select

a live stream, it plays in the preview window. In certain instances an external player such as Windows Media or QuickTime Player, may launch to play the stream.

Live Media

Player Controls

The icons at the bottom of the preview window control the video. (Note that the

controls here are different from those used for stored media, for example, there is a Record button for live media.) Mouseover each button to see the title. The buttons shown

are for the Windows-based player. (Macintosh users may see the QuickTime Player buttons.)

Play – starts the video stream if it was previously stopped. Pause – greyed out and not used with live streams. Stop – stops the video from playing. Does not stop recording. Record – records the video to the VOD server. Depending on

your user permissions you may not have the ability to record. Press once to start recording; press again to stop recording. A message will indicate a recording is in progress.

– black icon indicates no recording in progress.

– green icon indicates recording in progress. Go to More

Tools > Status

Full Screen – click to display stream at full size. Press Esc to exit.

for information about a recording in progress.

You can also double-click on any video to go full screen.

Volume – use slider to adjust volume. If necessary, adjust the

volume setting on your computer.

Mute – click or unclick to mute volume.

Toggle CC On – turn closed captions on or off. See Viewing

Closed Captions on page 16.

Pop-Up – Launches the player in a pop-up window along with

the control buttons. Once the window is launched, subsequent selections will play in the external player. The launched window can be moved or resized. Closing the main VEMS Portal Server window leaves the smaller player on the screen. The viewer may be resized after launch by dragging from the corners or from any side. If enabled by an administrator, you may be able to launch

multiple pop-up windows.

Time Counter The time counter displays the amount of time elapsed since the viewer began

running the currently selected video.

Show|Hide Info Show or hide error messages and other system information.

Viewing Multiple Streams

The video player can be configured by an administrator so that you can view

multiple streams in separate windows. Click on any live or recorded stream and then click the

Pop-Up button below the preview window. If this feature is enabled, you can repeat this step

to launch multiple streams in separate windows. This feature is particularly useful in security and surveillance applications. Note that the number of streams you can view display depends on the resources of your computer. Note also that when multiple windows are displayed, recording and bookmarking on the external windows is disabled. You can only record the stream currently displayed in the preview window.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 21

T To tile your screen as shown below:

1. Open multiple windows using the

Pop-Up button.

1. Right-click in an empty area on the Windows taskbar at the bottom of your screen.

2. Then select

3. When done click

Tile Windows Horizontally or Tile Windows Vertically.

Undo Tile.

Recording Live Streams

If you have permission, you can record any live channels being played in the preview window. (You cannot record or copy stored videos in the Media Library.) The live channel gets recorded and auto-ingested, usually into an assigned folder on the VOD server. The default recording length is defined by an administrator but you can stop recording at any time. See the "Player Controls" described above for a description of all the controls.

T To record a stream:

1. Launch a live channel.

2. Press the red "record" button under the preview window. A message will note that a recording is in progress.

3. To stop the recording press the "record" button again. A message will note the recording is complete and the file will be available shortly.

4. If necessary, go to the

Status page to view (or cancel) any "record" or auto-ingestion

currently in progress. See Status on page 67 for more about this page.

Customizing Live Streams

End users cannot customize live streams. Live streams can only be customized by administrators as explained in the Portal Server Admin Guide. Administrators can customize live streams by changing the name, channel number, and adding keyword tags, custom fields, etc. Live streams are broadcast by VBrick appliances and auto-discovered by the Portal Server. They can only be added or removed using the VBrick appliance's management application (IWS)—not the Portal Server's Admin Console.

Channel Guide

The Channel Guide displays a list of custom stations and TV stations. Custom stations are defined by an administrator at your site and may also include programming data (scheduled programs names and times). TV Stations are provided by a third-party content provider and always have programming data. Use the programming information up to 14 days in advance depending on what the channels are available.

VBrick has partnered with a leading content provider for TV stations that provide news, information, and entertainment content on the Portal Server. This is optional service that requires a license and may not be supported at your site. The program listing includes some 80+ television programs. These programs are generally "network" listings, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, National Geographic Channel, etc. The programming is hosted on a VBrick-maintained server.

Topics in this section

Viewing Scheduled Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Recording Scheduled Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter 4

Show Me filter to see what's on. You can view

Viewing Scheduled Programs

The Channel Guide page shows what's currently on, or what will be on up to 14 days in advance. Use the right or left arrows (or search using the Show Me filter) to search

for programming in different time slots. If you click on a channel before or after a scheduled program, you will play whatever is currently being broadcast—just like a regular TV. Click on the entered by an administrator. This popup also has options that let you record an entire program in progress or schedule a future recording. You can also use manual "pushbutton" recording in the preview window. You can perform all of the following tasks from the Channel Guide:

• Navigate and view program information

• Play and record programs

• Schedule program recording

• View recording information

• View station information

Info button to schedule a recording or display any custom program data

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 23

Figure 7. Channel Guide

The message "Program Unavailable" in the Channel Guide means there is no programming data associated with the stream. It does not mean the stream itself is unavailable. You can still click on the stream to launch it in the preview window. The message "Sign Off" means a network TV Station (for example ABC or CNN) does not have programming scheduled in that time slot. During "Sign Off" time, local stations typically air their local content.

Recording Scheduled Programs

Use the right or left arrows (or the Show Me filter) to display the program you want to record. Then click on the Info icon associated with the program to view program data or to schedule a recording. The popup has options that let you record an entire program in progress or schedule a future recording. (You can also use the record pushbutton on the preview window but it only records what's currently in progress.)

Record Use this option to schedule a recording of the selected program. The

program will be recorded in its entirety at the appointed date and time. Select the time zone where most of your viewers are located. Schedules created with this option will not be shown on the Scheduling page.

Channel Guide

Time Zone Select a time zone. Remote viewers will see a scheduled event that has

been time-adjusted relative to the zone selected here. If you schedule an event for 3:00 PM Eastern Time (US), it will be displayed as 6:00 PM Pacific Time (US) in California.

Schedule Options Use this option to schedule and customize a recording of the selected

program. (For example you may want to add an Expiration Date for the recording.) This launches the Scheduling

module prepopulated with the name, date, and time of the selected program. Schedules created with this option will be shown will be shown on the Scheduling page.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 25

Scheduling

Topics in this section

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Live Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Stored Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Control Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Overview

The Scheduling page lets you create (or view) a schedule for future VBrick events. These include scheduled broadcasts of live or stored video, video conferences, and the execution of previously defined scripts. You set all configuration parameters in advance and the scheduled event will occur without further intervention, assuming that all devices and streams are available at runtime. The initial steps required to create a scheduled program are described below followed by a detailed explanation of each schedule type (for example, live broadcast, video conference, etc.).

Chapter 5

In order to schedule an event, you must have the appropriate permissions enabled by an VEMS Portal Server administrator. You may have full permissions, partial permissions (with no access to button on the running, click on the event on the calendar page, then click Modify or Delete.

When using the Scheduler, be aware that all VBrick encoder/decoder resources must be available at the date and time of the scheduled event. When creating a schedule, the VEMS Portal Server verifies that the resources are currently present on the network but there is no way to determine if these resources will still be available at runtime. If there is a subsequent resource conflict, for example if a VBrick is not available (or the hard drive on a VBStar is full), the encoder/decoders will not connect for the scheduled event and there will be no video between the devices. When this happens, an error message, for example

172.16.127.29:Failed to Set will be displayed in the Portal Server Status log window.

Similar problems will occur if the VEMS Portal Server and VOD server clocks are not synchronized.

Note When navigating in the Scheduler, use the

Advanced Settings) or no privileges at all in which case you will not see the Add

Scheduling page. To modify or delete a scheduled event, including one that's

Next and Back buttons in the application.

Do not use the navigation controls in your browser or you may get unpredictable results.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 27

Schedule Privileges

As shown below, Portal Server users may have limited schedule privileges in which case their ability to create or modify schedules is restricted. For example, anyone can view a schedule on the calendar page but users with "partial" privileges, for example, will only be able to drill down and modify a schedule they "own" (i.e. one they created). Mouseover any scheduled event on the calendar page to view the owner.

Table 5. Schedule Privileges

User Privileges

Super Create/modify/delete all schedules and access all features.

Full Create/modify/delete owned schedules.

Partial Create/modify/delete owned schedules; no Advanced Settings.

None No schedule privileges; no Add button shown on Scheduling page.

Viewing the Schedule

Anyone can view scheduled events but only those users who have been granted permissions can actually "schedule" an event. The following window shows a Month view (with several events scheduled) for a user who does not have schedule permissions (there is no Add button). Mouseover a scheduled event as shown below to see schedule details. The schedule details include the dates, recurrence pattern, and owner.

Figure 8. Scheduling Page without Add Permissions

Scheduling

Scheduling an Event

The available content for creating a scheduled program include live streams from a VBrick encoder or stored files on an VOD server (or a VBStar). You can access the Scheduling page from anywhere in the application. Any scheduled programs currently in progress will display a TV icon and can be launched by clicking the icon or from the also be viewed from a PC if VBrick's StreamPlayer is installed) The first steps in creating a

schedule are the same for all types of schedules.

T To sche dul e an event :

1. Click

Scheduling on the Portal Server home page to display the "calendar" page shown

below. This pages uses special icons to indicate recurring events or events currently in progress. Switch to the view (

Month, Week, Day) you prefer. (The Month view is shown

here.)

Live Media page. (They can

Figure 9. Scheduling Page with Add Permissions

2. Click

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 29

Add on the date of the scheduled event to display the Schedule Live Broadcast

page. (In

Day view, you must click on a specific hour.)

3. Enter a Schedule Name and complete the Start and End fields. (To avoid format errors,

click in the date and time fields and use the calendar and dropdown list respectively.) Depending on the view you selected above, these fields may be pre-filled.

Schedule Name Alphanumeric, no special characters, must be unique. Maximum 128

characters.

Start Use the calendar and the dropdown menu respectively to select start

date and time.

End Use the calendar and the dropdown menu respectively to select start

date and time.

Time Zone Be sure to select a time zone. Remote viewers will see a scheduled

event that has been time-adjusted relative to the zone selected here. For example, if you schedule an event for 3:00 PM Eastern Time (US), it will be displayed as 6:00 PM Pacific Time (US) for viewers in California.

Recurrence

4. Create a Recurrence schedule if appropriate. This feature uses an intuitive interface that makes it easy to schedule recurring events. If a Recurrence schedule is in effect, the

Remove Recurrence button will be displayed at the bottom of the window (and a

recurrence icon will be shown on the "calendar" page).

Scheduling

Schedule time Set start, end, and duration. Duration cannot exceed 24 hours.

Recurrence pattern Use the radio buttons and check boxes to set a Daily, Weekly, or

Monthly recurrence pattern. A recurring event is shown on the scheduler with a special icon.

Range of recurrence Describe the start and end of the range. End can be none, number of

occurrences, or a specific date.

5. Select a Schedule Type.

Each schedule type has a different wizard as explained on the following pages but basically, you select the source and destination targets (for live and stored broadcasts), the VBricks (for a video conference), the live program you will record, or the script or control device you will manipulate. Go to the appropriate section below depending on the Schedule Type you select.

Schedule Type • Live Broadcast

• Stored Broadcast

• Conference

•Record

•Script

– Schedule and save a recording.

– Schedule a script to run on a device.

• Control Device

– Broadcast a live channel.

– Broadcast a stored video.

– Set up a video conference.

– Schedule and manipulate an external device.

6. Configure Advanced Settings for VBricks as necessary (see Advanced Settings below).

7. Click

Next to page through each wizard. Click Finish when done.

8. Verify the information and click below). If you need to make changes, click When done, the named schedule is added to the calendar page of scheduled events. Any scheduled links use color-coded text as shown in Table 6.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 31

Create Schedule when prompted (see Create Schedule

Modify and adjust the schedule as necessary.

Table 6. Color-coded Scheduled Events

Text C olo r Description

Red Expired. The scheduled event is over.

Beige Future. The scheduled event will occur at some point in the future.

Green Active. The scheduled event is currently in progress. If the event is

viewable (for example a stored video), a TV icon is displayed and you can click on it to launch the stream.

Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings are available to configure VBricks and IPRs with exceptional

configuration parameters—often with help from VBrick Support Services. It is unlikely you will ever need to change these settings. In all cases you can safely ignore these settings and use the defaults provided by the Portal Server. The available settings depend on the device characteristics. For example, the following window shows advanced settings for a Windows Media encoder. See the specific appliance documentation for more about these device settings.

Create Schedule

The final step in creating a schedule is to review and confirm the settings. If you are satisfied with the schedule and/or the recurrence pattern, click

Create Schedule. If not click Modify

Scheduling

and change the settings as necessary. Note that if you schedule a recording with a recurrence pattern, the filenames shown on the following window are automatically appended with the date and time, for example: filename>d>t.mp4

Delete Schedule

To delete a schedule, simply click on the scheduled event and click Delete. This removes the schedule and all future recurrences. To change a schedule without deleting it, open the schedule, click Modify, and page back to the item you want to change—then page forward to

Finish. In this manner you can change the devices, recurrence pattern, or other details in a

schedule without deleting the schedule and starting from scratch.

Live Broadcast

Use these steps to create a schedule for a live broadcast. This means that at the scheduled date and time a live stream will be added to the Live Media page and be available to authorized users for viewing.

T To schedule a live broadcast:

1. Select a schedule name, dates, and (optionally) recurrence pattern (see Scheduling an Event).

2. For

Schedule Type, select Live Broadcast and click Next.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 33

3. In Select Video Source, choose one of the following and click Next.

VBrick Select a live stream by VBrick name.

Program Name Select a live stream by Program Name from all available.

Enter Manually Enter an appliance source.

T To use a VBrick as the Video Source:

1. Select

2. Select one VBrick by

VBrick as the Video Source.

Hostname and click Next (or Finish if no destinations are to be

specified).

3. Select one or more destination

Finish.

4. Verify the information and click

VBrick(s) or IPR(s) that will receive the video and click

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

calendar.

If you create a "server" schedule whereby a unicast stream is pulled from a WM server

Note

(this means the

Destination is Server rather than Multicast), the scheduled event

cannot be launched from the Schedule page and will not display a TV icon. To launch this stream, you must know the IP address of the VBrick resource, or an administrator can add a URL for a live stream as explained in the Portal Server Admin Guide.

T To use a Program Name as the Video Source:

1. Select

2. Select one

Program Name as the Video Source.

Program Name and click Next.

3. Select the destination

4. Verify the information and click calendar.

VBrick(s) or IPR(s) that will receive the video and click Finish.

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

T To use Enter Manually as the Video Source:

Scheduling

1. Select

Enter Manually and click Next.

2. Enter the Schedule Start Options and click Next. The options vary as follows depending on the

Source device type.

Source Select one: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WM, or H.264.

Source IP Address Destination multicast IP address that will receive the broadcast. Range

224.0.0.0–239.255.255.255.

Port Destination port number that will receive the broadcast. Range

1040–65534.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 35

Connection Mode (MPEG-4 only)

Enter the video source location to connect to using one of the following. No special characters are allowed. If you enter the IP Address or Hostname of a VBrick encoder managed by the Portal Server, the availability will be verified.

• IP Address/Host Name – must include Slot number (if dual encoder/decoder) and Management Port.

•URL – use

vbhttp://MPEG4Unit1/vbs1d1.sdp rtsp://172.2.3.4/vbrickvideo1

VBHTTP or RTSP format. For example:

• SDP on Flash – read the onboard SDP file to make a connection. Enter the path to where file resides on the VBrick decoder (not in VEMS Portal Server), for example: vbs1d1.sdp

• Program Name – any valid Program Name that is available on the network (or one that will be available on the scheduled date and time).

Use care when specifying the IP Address/Host Name or the URL Connection Mode and entering the host name of a VBrick encoder not managed by VEMS Portal Server. These entries will not be accessible by IPRs (and in some cases by VBrick decoders either). Host names must be resolved at some point into IP Addresses and the processes that accomplish this may not always be available. When using IPRs or when Host Name resolution is questionable, use the specific device IP address.

3. Select the destination VBrick(s) or IPR(s) that will receive the video and click Finish.

4. Verify the information and click calendar.

Stored Broadcast

Use these steps to create a schedule for broadcasting a stored video. This means that at the scheduled date and time a stored video from a VOD server or a VBStar will be added to the

Live Media page and be available to authorized users for viewing. (You cannot schedule a

broadcast of a video stored on a file server.)

T To schedule a stored broadcast:

1. Select a schedule name, time, date, and (optionally) recurrence pattern (see Scheduling an Event).

2. For

Schedule Type, select Stored Broadcast and click Next.

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

Scheduling

3. Select the source of the stored broadcast. It can be either a VBrick VBStar (with a hard drive) or a VOD server. Each has a different icon.

This icon denotes a VOD Server with a specific IP address. Navigate through the file system to a source video on the VOD server.

This icon denotes a named VBStar with a hard drive. Navigate through the file system to a source video on the VBStar.

T To use a stored video on a VOD server:

1. Select a server by IP address and navigate to a video that will be the source of the broadcast.

2. Select a video and click

Next (or Finish if no destinations are to be specified). Do not use

the same stored video for broadcasts that will run concurrently.

3. Select the destination VBricks or IPRs that will receive the video and click

4. Verify the information and click

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

Finish.

calendar.

T To use a stored video on a VBStar:

1. Select a VBStar and navigate to a video that will be the source of the broadcast.

2. Select a video and click

3. Select the destination VBricks or IPRs that will receive the video and click

4. Verify the information and click

Next.

Finish.

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

calendar.

Note Be aware that regardless of how much time you scheduled for the video on the

calendar, the time blocked out will automatically adjust to the actual length of the video.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 37

Conference

Use these steps to create a video conference between two encoders/decoder pairs at different locations. This means that at the scheduled date and time a video conference will automatically be launched using two specified VBricks—one at each end.

Note A video conference requires a matching pair of MPEG-2/4 encoders/decoders at each

end. You cannot use Windows Media or H.264 appliances for conferencing.

T To schedule a video conference:

1. Select a schedule name, dates, and (optionally) recurrence pattern (see Scheduling an Event).

2. For

Schedule Type, select Conference and click Next.

3. Select VBrick 1, specify Private or Public and click Next.

VBrick 1 VBrick at one end of conference. For MPEG-4 RTSP conferencing,

Private Limited to the specified participants. Configure for Unicast using the

Public Available to any participants. Configure for Multicast using the

Advanced Settings are available to configure encoders and decoders with exceptional

Note

configuration parameters. It is unlikely you will ever need to change these settings. In all cases you can safely ignore the the VEMS Portal Server. See the VEMS Portal Server Admin Guide for details.

the RTSP ports must be set to 554 (the default) on each VBrick. In IWS, go to Configuration > System > Security > RTSP Server Port.

Advanced Settings.

Advanced Settings and use the defaults provided by

4. Select VBrick 2 and click Finish.

5. Verify the information and click

Record

Use these steps to create a schedule that will initiate the recording of live content. This means that at the scheduled date and time the live content will be recorded, optionally ingested and FTPed, and made available on the Media Library page to authorized users for viewing.

T To schedule a recording:

1. Select a schedule name, dates, and (optionally) recurrence pattern (see Scheduling an

2. For

Scheduling

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

calendar.

Event).

Schedule Type, select Record and click Next.

3. Select a Program Name as a record source and click

Settings

and select Manual Entry. See Record by Manual Entry on page 43.)

Program Name Select a live stream by Program Name from available live streams.

Manual Entry • MPEG-1 – enter a Program Name, or IP Address and Port number.

Record by Program Name

When the Record Source is Program Name, you can Record To an NVR (Network Video Recorder) or to a VBrick as explained below.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 39

Next. (Alternately, click Advanced

• MPEG-2 – enter a Program Name, or IP Address and Port number.

• MPEG-4 – enter a Program Name, or URL.

• WM – enter a Program Name or URL.

• H.264 – enter a Program Name or URL.

T To use a Program Name as the record source:

1. Select a live stream from the list of

2. Go to

Advanced Settings > Record To and select NVR or VBrick.

Program Names.

NVR The recording will be saved to an NVR on the VEMS Portal Server or

to a standalone Network Video Recorder. See the Portal Server Admin Guide for more about NVRs.

VBrick The recording will be saved to an MPEG-2 or WM VBStar.

Record to NVR

T To use an NVR to save the recording:

1. Select

NVR and click Next. Use the tabbed windows explained below to define specific

attributes for the recording. Some of these attributes (e.g. Custom Fields and Links) will be displayed on the

Expiration and Copyright) are used solely for administrative purposes.

Info page for the recording on the Media Library page. Others (e.g.

General

Filename Name of file to be recorded. The default is based on the Program

Title Title to be shown on VOD server. No special characters or

Name and device Type. If you schedule a recording with a recurrence pattern, the filenames are automatically appended with the date and time.

embedded spaces. Can be the same or different from Filename above. If you append

>d or >t to title, it will include the date and time in

mmddyy and hhmm format. For example, if you enter the record title

history>d>t.mpg, the recorded title will be history0608051105.mpg

as if the recording started at 11:05 AM on 06/08/05.

Scheduling

Location Use the dropdown to select the folder in which the recording will be

saved.

Tags Enter metadata text for search by tag.

Description Enter metadata text for Description search.

Custom Fields

Field name Shown only if custom fields are defined by an administrator.

Dropdown list Shown only if custom dropdown lists are defined by an administrator.

Links

Title Link title shown on the Info page for the recording.

Web Page URL Actual web URL displayed when you click on the title.

Expiration

Expiration Date Shown if current user has copyright and expiration privileges.

Content will expire after specified date in format: mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm AM.

Viewing Period Shown if current user has copyright and expiration privileges.

Content will expire after the specified viewing period.

Max. Concurrent Viewers

Advanced

Set the maximum number of concurrent viewers. Default = Unlimited. Enter a value or select the default.

Add to VOD Server Check to automatically ingest to VOD server.

Delete Recorded File After Ingestion

Overwrite Current

Check to delete file from the Portal Server after ingestion to VOD server.

Check to overwrite a file on the NVR with the same name.

File on NVR

Batch

Enable Batch Use to divide the recording into the specified number of batch files.

The files are divided evenly for the duration of the schedule. Note that in "batch" mode, the record files are not FTPed and ingested: they are saved to

D:\Inetpub\ftproot\MCS\Record and all other

options are disabled.

Continuous Recording

Enable Batch must be selected. Records continuously for the specified number of seconds per file (ignoring the scheduled duration).

• Recycle file number – reuses the file numbers after the specified number of batch files is reached.

• Keep file number chronologically – appends new file numbers after the specified number of batch files is reached.

Overwrite File On Save

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 41

Check to overwrite a file on the VOD server with the same name.

2. When done click Finish, then verify the information and click Create Schedule to add the

new schedule to the calendar.

Record to VBrick

T To use a VBrick (MPEG-2 or WM VBStar) to save the recording:

1. Select

VBrick and click Next.

2. Enter a filename and then select a VBrick (MPEG-2 or WM VBStar) that will save the recording.

3. Then click on the

Advanced tab, and complete the other fields.

Filename Filename of new recording. Filenames cannot exceed 25 characters

Add to VOD Server

FTP After Record (deprecated)

Overwrite Current File

and cannot include will include the date and time in example, if you enter the record filename as recorded file will be

" : * ? < | [ ] If you append >d or >t to filename, it

mmddyy and hhmm format. For

history>d>t.mpg, the

history0602081105.mpg if the recording started

at 11:05 AM on 06/02/08. If you schedule a recording with a recurrence pattern, the filenames are automatically appended with the date and time.

The recorded file will be ingested to all VOD servers. This option is available when a VBStar is configured as a VOD server.

If an FTP server is configured, check this box to FTP the file after recording. Use this parameter for a VBStar it is not configured as a VOD server.

Check to overwrite an existing file with the same name.

Scheduling

4. When done click Finish, verify the information, and click Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the calendar.

Record by Manual Entry

When the Record Source is Manual Entry, you can only Record To an NVR.

T To use Manual Entry as the record source:

1. Select a live stream from the list of

2. Go to

Advanced Settings and select Manual Entry.

Program Names.

MPEG-1 Enter a Program Name, or IP Address and Port number.

MPEG-2 Enter a Program Name, or IP Address and Port number.

MPEG-4 Enter a Program Name or URL. If URL, use

VBHTTP or RTSP in

following format:

vbhttp://MPEG4Unit1/vbs1d1.sdp rtsp://172.2.3.4/vbrickvideo1

WM Enter a Program Name or URL.

H.264 Enter a Program Name or URL.

3. Select and define

Next.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 43

MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WM, or H.264 as the record source and click

4. Use the tabbed windows to define specific attributes for the recording. These are the

5. When done click

Script

Scripts and Script Devices are created by Portal Server administrators. Use the following steps to create a schedule that will execute a previously-defined script on a previously-defined script device such as a camera or a VCR. This means that at the scheduled date and time the script will run against a networked script device. For example, PTZ cameras respond to pan, tilt, and zoom commands; these commands can be scripted and executed from the Portal Server. A script device must be physically connected to the network and must be available at the runtime of a scheduled event. See the Portal Server Admin Guide for a discussion of how to define script devices and create scripts.

T To schedule a script execution:

1. Select a schedule name, dates, and (optionally) recurrence pattern (see Scheduling an

2. For

same fields described above in Record by Program Name.

Finish, then verify the information and click Create Schedule to add the

new schedule to the calendar.

Event).

Schedule Type, select Script and click Next.

Scheduling

3. Select a previously-defined script and click Finish.

4. Verify the information and click calendar.

Control Device

Note Control devices are not supported in VEMS v5.0. Existing control devices are

compatible with VEMS 5.0 but have not been fully tested and will not be initially supported by VBrick—use them at your own risk. VBrick will provide full support for control devices in VEMS v5.1.

Control devices are video sources like DVDs or VCRs that can be controlled by end users from the Portal Server. A control device is connected to a VBrick encoder. It allows clientside control of the device and must be configured by a system administrator. (If no control devices are configured, Control Device is not shown as a Schedule Type.) Once configured, a special icon on the graphical control panel similar to the one shown here. This panel is displayed when you launch the stream and you can use it for supported functions like etc.

Live Media page indicates that you can control a stream from the device using a

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

Start, Stop, Fast Forward,

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 45

T To schedule a control device:

1. Select a schedule name, dates, and (optionally) recurrence pattern (see Scheduling an Event).

2. For

Schedule Type, select Control Device and click Next.

3. Select a device and click

Next.

4. Select the destination VBricks that will receive the video and click Finish.

5. Verify the information and click

Create Schedule to add the new schedule to the

calendar.

Scheduling

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 47

More Tools

Topics in this section

Create Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Add Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Priority Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Create Presentation

Create Presentation is an optional module that requires a separate license and may not be

available on your system. Be aware that even if you have this module, individual users may be restricted in the functions they can perform. For example some users may not be authorized to create presentations in which case this feature will not be displayed. Other users may only be authorized to edit or delete their own presentations. See "Multimedia Authoring Privileges" in the Portal Server Admin Guide for more information.

Chapter 6

The VEMS Presentation feature lets you deliver rich media presentations (webinars with live video and synchronized PowerPoint content) to large scale audiences worldwide. It provides interactive Q&A and polling and the presentations can be recorded for future use. Your live presentations can be scaled for thousands of users using VBrick's dedicated distribution servers. These server devices are specifically designed for load-balancing large scale webinars and require a separate license. Contact VBrick Support Services presentations are automatically displayed on the Live Media page; previously recorded presentations are shown in the

You create a presentation by following the sequence of steps shown in Figure 10 on the

Create Presentation page. When creating a presentation, all required fields are marked with an

asterisk. In most cases you will be scheduling a presentation that will take place at a later time. This will let you reserve the resources (for example VBrick appliances) that you will need for the presentation. When you are finished configuring the presentation, and have "published" your PowerPoint slides, the application will generate an e-mail to your invited viewers with a link to the presentation. The last step is to go to the "presenter" page (Figure 12) at the scheduled date and time to launch the presentation.

Several other administrator configuration steps are required before you can publish rich media presentations to the Portal Server. These steps are explained in detail in the

"Configuring for Presentations" topic in the Portal Server Release Notes. Also be aware that in many cases a presentation will be pushed from a VBrick appliance to a Windows Media VOD server and/or to a VBrick Reflector. If so you will need to configure these devices as well: the

WM Appliance Admin Guide explains how to configure a reflector; the VOD-WM Server Admin Guide explains how to configure publishing points on a Windows Media VOD server.

Media Library.

for more information. Live

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 49

Figure 10. Create Presentation Page

Creating Presentations

Go to More Tools > Create Presentation and use the following steps to create a presentation. When finished, the presentation will be shown in the Portal Server on the Live Media page. To edit or modify the presentation after it has been published, go to the Portal Server, then highlight the presentation and click (Figure 10) and you can modify the presentation as desired. When you are finished creating (or editing) a presentation click

1. Schedule

Use the scheduler to select a date, time, and time zone for your presentation. In most cases it should be scheduled in your local time zone. For remote viewers the time will be converted and

shown to them in their own time zone.

2. Select VBrick

Select a WM VBStar VBrick encoder that has been configured for "Multimedia" in the Portal Server Admin Console. A live presentation requires a dedicated VBStar (a Windows Media VBrick encoder with a hard drive). If the appliance you select is currently in use (or scheduled to be in use at the selected time) you will receive an error message when you attempt to publish the presentation.

Edit. This will launch the Create Presentation page

Publish to save and/or upload your changes.

More Tools

Note Several other administrator configuration steps are required before you can publish

rich media presentations to the Portal Server. See the "Configuring for Presentations" topic in the Portal Server Release Notes for complete details.

3. Content Description

Use this page to describe your content. Title and Description are required; Tags are optional. You can also upload an image that will replace the generic "presentation" icon on the Portal Server pages.

Use the Presenter(s) field to add one or more presenters whose names will be shown on the presentation page. Click the plus button to add additional presenters. The Presenter

Name

is the user name used to login to the Portal Server. (This name is also used to determine authoring privileges. Some users may not have edit or authoring permissions for presentations. See the "Multimedia Authoring Privileges" topic in the Portal Server Admin Guide for more information.)

4. Content

Use this panel to identify your PowerPoint slide presentation and to upload reference material before a presentation (you cannot upload reference material during a presentation). Presentations can include virtually any reference material. For example when creating a presentation, you can select and upload PDFs, Word files, Excel spreadsheets, video files, Flash demos, .jpg images, etc. These reference materials are listed and can be viewed or downloaded by presentation viewers. Simply browse to the desired file and click can upload as many files as necessary.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 51

Publish. You

5. Audience

Use this pane to invite attendees—either individuals or groups. As a convenience, you can also import a text file with each address on a separate line or delineated with commas. You can also add your own text to the invitation. The invitation will be sent automatically after you have published the presentation and will contain all necessary access data, the password, and your individual text. It will have URLs for both Internet (unicast) viewers and for local (multicast) viewers. See Viewing Live Presentations

on page 58 for more details.

6. Permissions

Use this pane to set permissions that will determine which viewers will be allowed to access a live webinar. There are three different ways to define permissions for live presentations: (1) permissions can be based on selected VEMS groups; (2) they can be restricted to authenticated users; (3) or they can be granted to everyone. Select the "Permission Mode" (see below) that best matches the viewer environment for your presentation. Each of these methods can also be configured with a required password. Be aware that the individual viewing

permissions defined here override the permissions defined in the VEMS Admin Console.

Note The permissions described here are for access to live webinars. Permissions for stored

webinars (those shown on the Media Library page) depend on VEMS folder name where the presentation video is stored. The VEMS Admin Console is used to define user access to specific folders.

More Tools

Protect viewer access with password

Any of the Permission modes explained below can also be configured with a password that will be sent with the e-mail invitation. If you configure a password, end users will be prompted for that password before they can view a presentation.

Protect presenter access with password

Presenters can also be restricted by password. Presenters can present this live webinar only if they first enter this password.

Permission mode This option determines which viewers will be allowed to access

the live webinar.

• Select authorized users – Use this option for LAN/VPN users. Select one or more defined VEMS User groups from the list.

• All authenticated users – Use this option for LAN/VPN users. It allows all VEMS (or LDAP-authenticated) users who are currently logged in.

• Everyone – Use this option for internal (LAN) and external

(Internet) viewers and whenever you are giving a large-scale presentation. Anyone can access this webinar using the e-mail

invitation URL. No authentication is necessary (although a password may still be required).

Authoring Presentations

Once a presentation has been configured and published you can launch it from the Portal Server at the scheduled date and time.

T To deliver a presentation from the Portal Server:

1. Configure and publish a presentation as explained above.

2. Launch the Portal Server and go to the

3. Go to the Search box and click

4. Click the info button or the edit button and select launch the Presenter page.

5. Customize the presentation using any of the features explained below and click

to launch the presentation and make it available to viewers.

on-line

6. When done click Go off-line to end the presentation. (It will automatically go off-line at the end of the scheduled period.)

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 53

Live Media page.

Search Live Presentations.

Start presenter or Present to

7. If desired, click Save presentation to save the presentation to the specified VOD folder.

Figure 11. Presentation Launch Page

Present Launches the Live Presenter page (Figure 12).

Edit Displays the Create Presentation page (Figure 10) so you can edit the

configuration (change dates, times, VBricks, etc.) as necessary.

Delete If you are authorized, this will automatically delete the presentation. There is

no additional confirmation or warning.

Figure 12. Live "Presenter" Page

More Tools

Video preview Launches a thumbnail of the stream in a preview window for

verification. It is always a good practice to verify your slides have been uploaded and your video is streaming. See Best Practices

for

more information.

Create poll Lets you create a multiple choice poll for viewers. See Creating

Polls on page 56.

Poll results Lets you view the tabulated results of polls sent to viewers.

Hide controls Hide all presenter controls. (This is a convenience to the presenter.

These controls are not seen by viewers regardless of this setting.)

Upload a presentation Add a presentation or browse to a different presentation. The

uploaded presentation will replace the current presentation.

Share a website Pops up a new browser window and launches the specified URL.

Overlay text The text you enter will replace the entire PowerPoint presentation.

When done, use

Upload a presentation to replace the overlay text

with a presentation.

Logged in viewers This read-only field shows the number of viewers currently logged

in to the presentation.

Viewer Questions This panel shows questions submitted by viewers. See Submitting

Questions on page 57 for details.

Record while online If checked, the presentation will be automatically recorded every

time click

Go on-line.

Go on-line|off-line This button makes the presentation live so it can be seen by

viewers. The button will turn red and the status on the Live Media page in the Portal Server will change to

Active during the scheduled

time period.

Start |Start recording This button starts or stops a recording of the presentation. The

button will turn red when a recording is in progress.

Save presentation This publishes the presentation to the

Media Library (in the

specified VOD folder). Use Delete Recorded File to remove it from the VBrick appliance. Recorded files are purged by default after seven days.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 55

Best Practices

It's always a good idea to test your audio, video, and slides locally before presenting to a live audience. This can help identify problems in advance and provide your viewers with an optimal viewing experience. For a successful presentation, there is no substitute for a thorough walk-through that can anticipate and address potential issues—particularly with your network. The best way to test what your viewers will actually see and hear is to have someone view your presentation from a separate desktop using Internet Explorer. This will test the presentation on your local network and/or over the public Internet and will provide a realworld test of your multimedia presentation in a simulated production environment. A simpler method is to self-test the audio and video using the

Video preview window the Presenter

page. This is an easy way to check and adjust the audio and the video. When you click on the viewer, a preview window opens and you can verify the audio and video quality and make sure you are properly centered in the window.

Creating Polls

Polling is an interactive feature that lets you communicate with viewers and share the results. Select Create Poll to conduct a realtime multiple-choice poll of your viewing audience. You can type in a question and up to five answers. If you type the questions and answers in realtime, your audience will have to wait while you type the questions. If you prepare the questions and answers in advance, the polling form is automatically populated when you click

Import. Saved presentations will also include poll results if any. It is important to note that

viewers must be online before a poll is initiated. Otherwise they will not see the poll.

T To create a poll:

1. From the Presenter interface, click

Create poll to display the following page.

2. Create a multiple choice poll by typing in the question (which becomes the name of the poll) and the possible answers. You can also use the

Import feature to import an existing

poll. If importing, create a text file with the question on the first line and each of the four possible answers on a separate line—do not use blank lines. Then click

Import to populate the form, and then Send Poll to distribute to viewers.

Browse to the file,

3. A pop-up window will then display in realtime on each viewers desktop and they can select an answer and send the response back to the presenter.

More Tools

4. Poll results from viewers are available from the presenter page by selecting the named poll (the current poll name +is preceded by as asterisk.) Responses from viewers are displayed in graphical form as shown below.

5. If desired the presenter can click and to populate the Poll Results pane on the viewer page.

Submitting Questions

Live presentations only. Viewers can submit questions at any time during a live presentation by clicking Submitted questions are only seen by the presenter in the presenter interface.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 57

Questions. Simply type your question on the viewer page and click Send.

Send Results to display the results in a viewer pop-up

Viewer Questions area of the

The following window shows questions that have been submitted preceded by the viewer's login name. The display panel is auto refreshed each time someone asks a question. This means you can see and answer new questions in realtime. Alternatively, you can tell your audience to ask questions at any time but they will be answered at the end of the presentation.

Figure 13. Audience Questions

Viewing Live Presentations

Although presentation viewers can launch a presentation directly from the Portal Server client page, the preferred method is to use the auto-generated "invitee" e-mail that all invited viewers will receive. The e-mail invitation will direct viewers to a load-balanced distribution server if present. Invited viewers will receive an e-mail similar to the following with different links for internal and external viewers. Internal viewers are those in your local network; they will view the presentation via multicast. External viewers are those on the public Internet; they will view the presentation via unicast from a VBrick distribution server (if present).

Users who receive the e-mail can double-click on the calendar attachment in the invitation to launch Microsoft Outlook and automatically schedule a reminder.

T To view a live presentation:

1. Open the e-mail invitation and click on the appropriate internal or external link. Alternately, you can launch the presentation from the Portal Server by searching for

Presentations

on the Live Media page.

Live

2. The internal e-mail link for example will display the following page.

More Tools

3. Click

View webinar to launch the live presentation (Figure 14).

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 59

Figure 14. Viewing a Live Presentation

Reference material Shows reference material, for example Microsoft Words documents or

PDFs, that were uploaded by the presenter.

Poll results Shows the results of polls that were initiated by the presenter.

Questions Lets you submit questions to the presenter. The questions will be seen

only by the presenter.

Viewing Saved Presentations

Presentations that have been saved to a VOD server are available on the Media Library page.

T To view a saved presentation:

1. Go to the Search box at the top of the

2. Click on any saved presentation to launch it in a browser (Figure 15).

3. When viewing a saved presentation you can navigate to any point in the presentation using the slider in the preview window or the thumbnail images at the bottom of the page.

4. You can also use the buttons to view reference material or poll results if any.

Media Library page and click Search Presentations.

Figure 15. Viewing a Saved Presentation

Playlist

Playlists are saved in the Media Library. A playlist is a mechanism to consolidate multiple video files, or video file segments, regardless of format, into a virtual file. A playlist is a list of pointers (bookmarks) to video streams, or parts of streams, that can

be played as if they were a single video file. Playlists can include files encoded in different

More Tools

formats (for example Windows Media or H.264) and at different bit rates. Playlists have a special icon and are only created from stored streams. They are not available with live streams and they are not available when multiple windows are displayed. (Playlists and bookmarks are supported on WM IP Receivers; they are not supported on Digital IP Receivers or Amino set top boxes.)

You typically create a playlist using the Add or Edit Playlist buttons on the

Media Library

page. They can be saved under any name and played back later. They can also be modified, reordered, or changed in a variety of ways on the Playlist page as explained below. Playlists can only be played in realtime. They cannot be scheduled in the Portal Server to run at a later time.

Table 7. Playlist and Bookmark Icons

Add To Playlist – use to create a new playlist or add to an existing playlist. You can name and save the playlist in any folder (default =

My Media).

Edit Playlist – Use to edit an existing playlist. Launches the Playlist page and you can manage all of the bookmarks in the playlist.

Create Bookmark – lets you create a bookmark to any point in a stream.

Bookmarks are slightly different. A bookmark is simply a pointer to a specific location in a file or to an entire file. In general, you can think of a bookmark as a playlist with a pointer to one segment in a video. You create bookmarks using the Bookmark button in the preview window. For more information, see Creating Bookmarks

on page 15.

Note Be aware that if the computer you are using to access a playlist does not support a

certain encoding format (for example H.264), a bookmark to that item in the playlist will not be displayed.

Playlists are saved by default in the My Media folder. A

My Media folder is automatically

created for each defined user and is available and viewable only to the user who is currently logged in. If Access Control is enabled, each user has their own

My Media folder which no

one else can access. If Access Control is not enabled, everyone's playlists are stored in My

Media

T To play an existing playlist:

1. Click on the

Media Library and navigate to the My Media folder or to any folder that has a

playlist.

2. Click on any item with a playlist icon to launch the playlist in the preview window.

3. Use the bookmarks. Use the

Previous and Next buttons to move up and down a playlist that has multiple

Fast Forward and Rewind icons to advance to any point in a playlist.

There may be a slight delay between clips—this is normal Portal Server behavior as the video loads. If any content in a playlist is unavailable for any reason (for example the file was moved or the content expired), the Portal Server will skip that clip, advance to the next clip,

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 61

and display an informational message below the preview window. As explained below, there are several ways to create playlists. You can quickly bookmark a stream playing in the preview window using the Bookmark button; this creates a playlist with one bookmark. You can also create a playlist from the

Media Library or the Playlists page.

Creating Playlists from the Media Library

T To create a playlist from the Media Library:

1. Highlight any library stream and click the playlist icon (or launch the stream and navigate to any point in the stream that you want to bookmark).

2. Add to an existing playlist by selecting it from the dropdown.

3. Create a new playlist by selecting a name and a folder.

Creating Playlists from the Playlist Page

T To create a playlist from the Playlists page:

1. Go to

2. Click the Add to Playlist icon. This adds the selected stream to the playlist "editor" at the

3. Repeat for each stream you wish to add.

4. Edit the start and end times or reorder the playlist as desired using the options (Up,

5. Enter a Folder name (the default is the

More Tools > Playlist and mouseover any video from the folders you have

permission to access.

bottom of the page. By default, it starts at the beginning of the file and ends at the end of the file. (Alternately you can launch the stream and navigate to any point in the stream.)

Down, Start Time, etc.) explained below in Editing Playlists

My Media folder of the user who logged in) and a

Title and click

Save Playlist when done. Note that only those folders for which you have

"publish" access are displayed.

More Tools

Note You may have folders without content but they are not displayed in the

Media Library.

Playlists without content, however, are not allowed. You cannot create a playlist without first selecting content.

Editing Playlists

You can launch the playlist editor from the Media Library or from the Playlist page.

T To edit an existing playlist:

1. Navigate to any existing playlist (or bookmark) and click the Edit Playlist icon.

2. Use any of the functionality explained below ( playlist. You can also change the Title or Folder location.

3. To add additional items to a playlist, mouseover any file currently displayed in the

Available Content list and click Add to Playlist. (If necessary, navigate to any folder you

have permission to access.)

4. Click

Save or Delete Playlist as appropriate. Click New Playlist to clear the editor and

start building another playlist.

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 63

Up, Down, Remove, etc.) to modify the

Info Each playlist has its own searchable metadata. You can add/change the

name, the folder, tags, etc. For example you can add a description or keyword tags that can be used for searching, as well as links to external web sites and desktop files. See Customizing Stored Videos

on page 12.

Up Move clip up one position in playlist.

Down Move clip down one position in playlist.

Start † Sets bookmark start time (default = beginning of file). There are two ways to

set Start time. (1) Launch the clip in the preview window and click Start at the point where the clip will start. Use the Fast Forward/Rewind buttons to advance through the video as necessary. (2) Mouseover and click Start without launching the clip and use the popup to enter Start time in exact format shown, for example

0h 23m 57s

End † Sets bookmark end time (default = end of file). There are two ways to set

End time. (1) Launch the clip in the preview window and click End at the point where the clip will end. Use the Fast Forward/Rewind buttons to advance through the video as necessary. (2) Mouseover and click End without launching the clip and use the popup to enter End time in exact format shown, for example

0h 23m 57s

Remove Use to delete individual clips from the playlist. If the deleted clip is the last

item in the playlist, the playlist itself will be removed.

† Start and end times are not supported on Macintosh desktops. The start and end times

popup will function properly in Internet Explorer only if the Portal Server host name or IP address has been added to the list of trusted websites.

Add Video

If given publishing permissions, you have the ability to Add Video to any VOD servers you have permission to access. The folders to which you can add video are configured by your system administrator. The folder list that you can add video to may also be different from the folders that you can view content from. If you have WM or H.264 video content saved on your PC, you can publish this content to the VOD server(s) using the Content acquired by recording with VBrick StreamPlayer Plus or a VBrick VBStar will always ingest and play at a consistent high quality; content acquired from third-party vendors or elsewhere may not. You can add any of the stream types shown below in Table 8.

Note Internet Explorer 8 has standard security options that may prevent the Portal Server

"Add Video" function from working properly. If using Internet Explorer 8 as a browser, you may have to re-configure one or more of the security options to successfully ingest recorded video to a VOD server. For more information, see "Security Recommendations for Internet Explorer 8" in the Portal Server Release Notes.

Table 8. Supported Stream Types

Stream Type Description

More Tools

Add Video page.

Windows Media Any stream type including .asf, .wmv, .wma, .mp3, and .wsx.

H.264 Most stream types. All ISMA-compliant streams.

T To add a video:

1. Go to

2. Browse to a

3. Select a

More Tools > Add Video on the navigation bar.

Source File for the video content.

Destination folder. You can add the video to any folder shown in the dropdown

list.

4. Enter a required

Tags and Description. (The name will be shown on the Media Library page; the tags and

Name (with a .wmv file extension for Windows Media files) and optional

description will be shown on the Info page.)

5. Optional. Complete

Additional Info (not shown), Reference Links, and Advanced as

explained below.

6. Click

Start to begin ingestion to the selected folder. This may take several minutes or a

lengthy period of time depending on the size of the file. Click

Status on the navigation

bar to see the status of the ingestion. When done, the video will be added to the

Library

in the folder you selected.

Media

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 65

Source File Browse to the folder on your PC or a network drive that has the video

you wish to add.

Destination Choose a folder you would like to publish the video to. Only the

folders you have permission to publish to will be shown in the dropdown list.

Video Name Enter the name you want displayed on the VEMS Portal Server

interface. If adding Windows Media files, you must include the file extension; valid file extensions are

.asf, .wmv, .wma, .mp3, and .wsx.

Use any combination of alphanumeric characters and the following special characters

. ! ~ / ( ) _ -

Tags Assign keyword tags that can be used to search for the video later.

Description Define a brief description of the video. This is displayed in the

messages area of the user interface when the video is played.

Additional Info A window similar to this is shown only if an administrator has added

Custom Field(s). It can be used to provide additional descriptive information about a video.

Reference Links Use this window to add or delete related web page links on the Info

page associated with a video.

Status

This window provides important realtime information. It shows the status of videos being added to the Video on Demand server or of any recordings currently in progress. Use

Refresh to update the screen or Purge to remove all entries. Click the Cancel icon to the

right of each item to cancel a recording or ingestion in progress. This will also cancel the recording on the Live Media page.

More Tools

Advanced Shown only if you have Expiration Privileges. Use to set expiration date,

viewing period, and copyright restrictions.

• Expiration – content will expire after the Expiration Date or the Viewing Period, depending on which radio button you select.

• Copyright Restrictions – Use to set the maximum number of concurrent viewers. This overrides the default Global Setting.

Priority Alert

A priority alert can be launched by any VEMS Portal Server user with appropriate permissions. It broadcasts a live or stored priority alert to specified VBricks or IPRs in case of an emergency. The broadcast is launched instantly, for a specified duration, and preempts all other broadcasts. (Any schedules whose start times occur during a priority alert are discarded.) It is not subject to copyright restrictions or expiration dates. When done (or manually stopped) all preempted schedules automatically resume. Priority alert templates are pre-defined in advance by administrators as explained in the VEMS Portal Server Admin Guide.

T To launch a priority alert:

1. Go to

VEMS Portal Server User Guide 67

More Tools > Priority Alert.

Note Priority alert streams are shown only on monitors or TVs attached to VBrick

appliances and IPRs respectively. They are not shown on the Portal Server user interface. If you are watching a stream in the preview window on the Portal Server user interface, you will not see a priority alert (except as selectable live stream).

2. Click a previously-defined template name.

3. Set the broadcast

4. Click

Start Priority Alert and confirm. (A message will indicate the broadcast is in

Duration in minutes (or click No Limit (Stop Manually).

progress. Any streams currently in progress will be preempted and replaced by the priority alert.) If necessary, click

Stop Priority Alert when done.

Template Name Pre-defined template created by an administrator.

Maximum Duration Maximum duration in minutes after which the broadcast will

automatically stop.

No Limit (Stop Manually) Broadcast will run indefinitely until manually stopped.

Start Priority Alert Launch priority alert.

Stop Priority Alert Stop priority alert.

VBrick Systems, Inc.

12 Beaumont Road

Wallingford, Connecticut 06492, USA

VBrick Systems ENTERPRISE MEDIA SYSTEM V5.0, VEMS v5.0 Portal Server User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual