The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
This chapter includes the following sections:
•Managing Configuration and Deployment Settings
•Managing User Access and Permission Settings
•Managing Programs, Videos, Video Parts, and Lineups
•Managing Digital Media Encoders
•Workflows for Setting Up Live Events
Tip For information about setting up DMM-VPM on a new DMM appliance, see the Quick Start Guide for Cisco Digital Media System 5.1.x on Cisco.com.
Administrators and configuration managers use options under the Setup tab to manage the configuration and deployment settings for DMM-VPM on a DMM appliance. For information about user accounts and permissions, see the "Managing User Access and Permission Settings" section.
•Configuring Administrative and Network Settings
•UI Reference: Viewing Environment Parameters
•Configuring the Settings to Use a Video Portal
•Configuring the Location Settings for Deployments
You can configure low-level administrative and network settings for DMM-VPM.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Setup > DMM.
Step 3 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 4 Click Save Configuration Parameters to save and commit your entries. Alternatively, click Cancel to discard your entries.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Administrative and Network Settings
•UI Reference: Settings to Use a Cisco Video Portal Appliance
Elements and settings to configure administrative and network settings for DMM-VPM.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Setup > DMM
Related Topics
•Managing User Access and Permission Settings
The bottom of the page shows environment parameters for the DMM appliance.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Setup > DMM
You can configure settings to use DMM-VPM with a Cisco Video Portal appliance.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Setup > Video Portal.
Step 3 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 4 Click Save Portal Parameters to save and commit your entries. Alternatively, click Cancel to discard your entries, click Cancel.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Settings to Use a Cisco Video Portal Appliance
Table 4-2 describes the elements and settings for configuring DMM-VPM to use a Video Portal appliance.
Navigation Path
|
|
---|---|
Video Portal Login Prompt |
The text that users see when they log in to the Video Portal; there is a 25-character limit. |
Video Portal FQDN |
Exactly the same DNS-resolvable hostname for your Video Portal appliance that you defined on your: •DNS server. •Video Portal appliance, in its version of AAI. Do not use underscores or any other special characters in hostnames. DNS standards do not support these characters. Use only letters, numerals, and hyphens. |
Video Portal Instance |
Caution You must not use Cisco as the instance name. We reserve and use the Cisco name for other purposes. All of your deployments will fail if you use Cisco as the instance name. Exactly the same instance name that you defined for your Video Portal appliance in its version of AAI. |
Video Portal Password |
The password that is currently in effect for the administrative account in AAI on your Video Portal appliance. Any time that you change that password on your Video Portal appliance, you must also enter exactly the same updated password value here. |
Video Portal Web Server Base |
The top-level HTTP URL of the server on which your audience can find your Video Portal. To confirm that the URL is reachable, click Check. |
The URL to the live video portal |
The HTTP URL that points directly to your public Video Portal. If you click Check, you see one of these messages: •"URL is blank." — You have not entered any URL. •"Server was not found." — You entered an invalid URL. •"URL exists." — The URL that you entered points correctly to a Video Portal. |
Default Audio Only Image |
The SWF or non-progressive JPEG image to show as the thumbnail for every audio file. You must specify a file that is 100 pixels wide and 75 pixels high (or uses any proportional multiple of those dimensions, such as 400 x 300). The file must be in the same directory that you specified as the Upload Path on Local File System when you completed the "Configuring Administrative and Network Settings" section. Note This option applies to you only if — when you or an administrator used AAI to set up your Video Portal appliance — you chose FLV as the only supported file type and Flash/Sorenson as the only supported format for encoding. For more information, see Task 10 in the "Setting Up and Configuring a Video Portal Appliance" chapter in Appliance Administration Guide for Cisco Digital Media System 5.1.x on Cisco.com. |
Default Preview Image |
The SWF or non-progressive JPEG image to show as a placeholder thumbnail image when no other preview image is available for a video file. You must specify a file that is 100 pixels wide and 75 pixels high or use any proportional multiple of those dimensions. |
Supported Media Formats |
The formats to support. Choose any combination of Flash Video, Windows Media, and MPEG4/H.264 (QuickTime). |
Media Preferences by Browser |
The order in which the Video Portal and embedded video players attempt to play a video. |
Video Portal URL with Plugin Detector |
The HTTP URL that activates the plugin detector on your Video Portal so that it automatically chooses the format to use when it shows media to Video Portal audience members. |
Video Portal URLs by Individual Supported Media Formats |
The HTTP URL that bypasses the plugin detector on your Video Portal so that it show only one media type to your Video Portal audience members whether or not they have the required plugin to see that media type. Ensure that users have installed the correct plugin on their systems; otherwise, they may experience technical difficulty when accessing a video by using this URL. |
Video Portal > Setup > Video Portal
You can configure the location settings for video deployments. You must deploy files to at least one remote location because you cannot present them to audiences directly from your DMM appliance.
Before You Begin
•You must enter a deployment location for each file type that you use. You can enter a unique location for each of the different file types, or you can use one location that applies equally to every file type. Any invalid entries will cause deployments to fail.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Setup > Deployment Locations.
Step 3 Enter the values that meet your requirements. Valid file types are:
Step 4 Click Save Deployment Locations to save and commit your entries. Alternatively, click Cancel to discard your entries.
Step 5 (Optional) To run a deployment now, complete the following steps:
a. Choose Video Portal > Deployments and click Schedule New Deployment.
b. Choose the Video Part 1 check box in the Video Part Selection area.
c. To deploy the pre-loaded content and metadata immediately, check the Schedule Immediately check box in the Deployment Time area.
d. Click Create Deployment.
e. To ensure that the content and metadata deployed appropriately, use another computer on your network to access the Video Portal that you installed.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Deployment Location Settings
Table 4-4 describes the settings and elements for configuring deployment locations.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Setup > Deployment Locations
Administrators use the features under the Users tab in DMM-VPM to assign differing levels of access and permissions to users of DMM-VPM, Video Portal Reports, and Video Portal, depending on their roles and responsibilities.
User accounts are:
•Centrally managed in DMS-Admin.
•Assigned roles in DMM-VPM.
Note If you are an Administrator in DMM-VPM, you can assign differing levels of access and permissions for other DMM-VPM users; however, not even an administrator can change his or her own access privileges. Only another administrator can change your access privileges if you are an administrator.
Before You Begin
•Use DMS-Admin to create or import user accounts.
•Use DMS-Admin to configure user authentication settings.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Users > User Accounts.
Step 3 Click Edit next to the user whose permissions should be assigned.
Related Topics
•Managing User Accounts and Authentication Settings, page 2-5
•UI Reference: User Account Settings
Note•Profile information is not editable in DMM-VPM. You can edit it DMS-Admin if you have Administrator or Configuration Manager permissions.
•Depending on your access level, you might not see the Module Access Type area.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Users > My Profile.
The My Profile page displays information that you see when you work with user accounts.
Table 4-5 describes the elements for DMM-VPM and Video Portal users.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Users > User Accounts
Administrators and authors user the options under the Video Portal tab to create, modify or disable programs, videos, video parts and lineups.
This section contains these topics:
•Working with Programs, Videos and Video Parts
•Approving or Denying the Request to Approve a Video Part or Playlist
•Understanding the Live Event Module
•Understanding and Working with Synchronized Slides
•Understanding and Working with Audience Questions
•Creating and Working with Playlists
•Creating and Working with Content Categories
•Creating and Working with Tickers
•Creating and Working with Interstitials
•Creating and Working with Interstitial Sequences
•Customizing Your Video Portal
•Configuring the Settings to Manage Deployments
Note To understand the features of the Video Portal Reports option, which is also available under the Video Portal tab, see Appendix A, "Using Video Portal Reports." You must have Video Portal Reports User permissions to see this option.
You can create programs and populate them with videos and video parts and then deliver the programs to your audiences live or on demand.
When you provide closed captioning, Video Portal viewers see a closed captioning icon that they can click to display text. For more information, see User Guide for Cisco Video Portal 5.1.x.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation, and then choose Video Portal > Programs.
On the Programs page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show a list of DMM-VPM programs. You can move programs from one table to the other.
Step 2 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the programs that are available to show to your audience. These programs are active in the sense that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any programs or if you archived every program, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the programs that you have disabled temporarily. These programs are disabled in the sense that they are not available for your audience to find or see and you cannot add them to playlists. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these programs.
Step 3 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 4 Click Save.
Related Topics
•Understanding Requirements for Content Objects
•Understanding Approvals for Video Parts
•Understanding Western European Font Support
•Understanding Closed Captioning
•UI Reference: Content Object Settings
•Programs, videos, and video parts are all content objects. You can create, edit, disable, and delete content objects at any time, according to your requirements.
•Although a program can contain multiple videos, you cannot add any video to more than one program.
•Each program that you create must contain at least one video before you can show it to any audience.
•Each video that you create must contain at least one video part before you can show it to any audience.
You can configure DMM-VPM to track approvals for video parts. Content authors can request approval for video parts; then, a designated approver can approve or deny the requests. A designated approver is someone whose DMM-VPM user type is Approver. Not even a designated approver can approve his or her own requests. Approval and denial have no effect on whether a video part can be deployed. Therefore, the approval process workflow does not help you to enforce any security policy; instead, it helps your organization to formalize communication. For information about user accounts and permissions, see the "Managing User Access and Permission Settings" section
The Video Portal can display Western European language fonts that are included in the ISO 8859-1 standard when content authors use supported language versions of their browsers, operating systems, and keyboards to enter information about videos in DMM-VPM. The information that content authors provide displays to Video Portal viewers in the language in which it was entered regardless of the language settings of their browsers. Video Portal navigational elements display in English, and Video Portal users cannot search for videos that include non-English characters in titles and descriptions.
Closed captioning enables you to display closed captioning text that is embedded in a Windows Media stream to Video Portal viewers.
•Closed captioning for VoDs—This option requires that you manually or use software tools to transcribe the audio track; synchronize the transcription with the video; and create a special SAMI file before you publish the VoD and deploy it to the Video Portal.
•Closed captioning for DME live events—This option requires that you edit the encoder profile on the DME to enable encoding of closed caption text before the event; see the documentation that came with your encoder for more information. Then, during the event, you need a stenographer-type system to provide the text and a closed caption multiplexer to insert the text into the analog video signal.
Table 4-6 describes the elements and settings that you use to configure the following content objects: programs, videos, and video parts.
Navigation Path
|
|
---|---|
Add New {Program | Video | Video Part}
|
Shows one of these pages, respectively: •Add New Program •Add New Video •Add New Video Part |
Archive Selected
|
Moves the content objects that you chose from the Active table to the Archive table. When you archive a program, the videos and video parts within it remain active. You can deploy them in a playlist, and your audiences can use a keyword search to find them on your Video Portal. |
Delete Selected
|
Caution When you delete a program, the actual effect of the deletion differs if the program is part of a playlist or is not. If you delete a program that is part of an active and deployed playlist, your audiences can still find, see, and use the program, its videos, and its video parts on your Video Portal. However, if you have not included the program in any playlist, DMM-VPM immediately deletes the program, its videos, and its video parts. They are not available for any purpose in DMM-VPM or on your Video Portal, and you cannot undo the deletion. However, VOD files are available through direct portal links until you delete the files from their content storage locations. Shows the Delete Confirmation page. See the instructions on that page that tell you how to delete the disabled or archived content objects that you chose. |
Activate Selected
|
Moves the content objects that you chose from the Archive table to the Active table. |
Select a Program Provider to Filter On |
Lists the program providers. Choose a provider name to filter the list of programs and display only the programs the are associated with that provider. |
columns |
|
Untitled check box |
One of the following: •Marks a content object that you will disable, when chosen, in the Active table. •Marks a content object that you disabled and that you will restore or delete, when chosen, in the Archive table. |
Name |
Shows the name or title for the content object that the corresponding row describes, shows the Modify () button, and sometimes shows the Preview () button. Values in the name column are the basis by default for how DMM-VPM sorts the rows, but you can click the heading in any other column to re-sort the rows by the values in that column. If you click the Modify button, DMM-VPM loads a page where you can edit content object metadata, such as the title and description for a program. |
Provider |
Programs only. |
Last Modified |
Shows the date on which the content object was last edited. |
Active Videos |
Programs only. |
Active Categories |
Programs only. |
Active Video Parts |
Videos only. |
Release Date |
Video Parts only. |
Length |
Video Parts only. |
Active Related Items |
Video Parts only. |
Approval Status |
Video Parts only. |
Add New Program | Modify Program |
|
The metadata attributes that define the program. Enter or choose the metadata after you click Add New Program or after you click the Edit button for a program. To save your work, click Save. |
|
Program Name |
The title for the program that your audiences see on the Video Portal when they click the Program Guide tab. Only the first 25 characters that you enter will be visible on the Video Portal. |
Program Description |
The description that your audiences see on the Program Guide tab, next to the corresponding program name. In addition, this description is visible in the Video Portal "More Info" text for any video that this program contains. |
Program Status |
When you choose Active, the program is visible to your audiences after you populate, save, and deploy it. When you choose Archive, the program is not visible to your audiences. |
Program Provider |
The name of your company, organization, or department. You use this information to manage and administer content; your audiences do not see it. The default provider name is whichever one you chose under the Setup tab. |
Program Categories |
Your audiences can use the program guide or search feature on your Video Portal to find this program in the categories that you choose. You can add or remove category associations at any time. |
Add New Video | Modify Video |
|
The metadata attributes that define the video. Enter or choose the metadata after you click Add New Video or after you click the Edit button for a video. To save your work, click Save. |
|
Video Title |
The title for this video, which your audiences see on your Video Portal when they use its playlist, program guide, or search features. Only the first 33 characters are used. |
Video Status |
When you choose Active, you can add the video to a program that you create. When you choose Inactive, you cannot add the video to any program unless you reactivate it. |
Video Description |
A description for your reference. Your audiences do not see it. |
Add New Video Part | Modify Video Part |
|
Physical and logical attributes of the file that you use as a video part. Enter or choose the attributes after you click Add New Video Part or after you click the Edit button for a video part. |
|
Show Direct Portal Link |
Shows the Video Portal URL for this video part. When you archive or delete a video part, the direct portal link is removed from the Video Portal listing but continues to access the VOD file from the original deployment location. We recommend that you remove the file from its content storage location to make it inaccessible. |
Video Part Description |
The description that your audiences see on your Video Portal in its preview pane and in the "More Info" text under its Overview tab. Do not enter more than 72 lines of text or more than 48 characters per line. This element is visible only when you are adding or editing a video part. |
Type of Video |
If VoD, the source is a file. If DME Live Event or Non-DME Live Event, the source is an encoder. The Non-DME Live Event option helps you to publish a live stream URL to the Video Portal and control event visibility, but you cannot control the encoder. The VoD option is for non-DME live events, but you cannot use this option to control event visibility on Cisco Video Portal. {Flash | Windows Media | QuickTime} Video (video or audio) — Shows a filename that you enter or that DMM-VPM enters automatically after you click the link to upload a new VoD file. Restrictions: The maximum supported file size for uploads is 2GB; you cannot upload any video part that is larger than 2GB. To work around this limitation, post the file to a public webserver, and enter the corresponding HTTP URL instead of entering a filename.If you enter the filename manually for a VoD, special requirements apply to each supported file type: •You must use HTTP to point to any remote Flash file that you will upload. Flash files must use {FLV | FLA} for their filename extension. You cannot choose Flash as the media format for a live event because Cisco Video Portal does not support Flash video streaming. •You must use {MMS | RTSP} to point to any remote Windows Media file that you will upload. Windows Media files must use {WMV | WMA | ASF} for their filename extension. Closed captioning requires Windows Media. •You must use {HTTP | RTSP} to point to any remote QuickTime (or H.264) file that you will upload. These files must use {MOV | MP4 | M4V | MP4V | M4A} for their filename extension. We use the terms MPEG-4, QuickTime, and H.264 interchangeably in DMM-VPM. DMM-VPM saves uploaded VoD files to the deployment location that you specified under the Setup tab. The file formats that you see are exactly the ones that you chose to support when you set up your Video Portal. You must enter or upload one file apiece for each format that your Video Portal supports. We recommend that you encode all files to be 400 pixels wide and 300 pixels high. If you chose the DME Live Event option as the video type, you see these additional options: •Encoder — Lists all of the encoders that you have configured DMM-VPM to use. Choose the encoder that is the source of the live stream. •Use Default Streaming Settings — Use the DMM-VPM settings exactly as they are. •Advanced Settings — Configure this stream to use settings that differ from the default. Choose the encoding or transcoding format, publishing method (push or pull), video input method (Composite/RCA or S-Video), audio input method [Unbalanced (RCA) or XLR Balanced], video input standard1 , whether to save a copy of the live stream as a file for later viewing as a VoD — and possibly also the DME 2000 input channel to use ( or ), if your encoder is a DME 2000. Encoding format options are 1.5M, 350K, 50K, and 768K. Transcoding format options are 1.5M, 2M, 350K, 50K, and 768K. When you point to a live stream, a filename is not necessary. In most cases, you point instead to a directory on the streaming server. If you are unsure about the configuration that your organization uses, ask your systems administrator for details. Streaming options are available for Windows Media, but not for Flash video. If you chose the Non-DME Live Event option as the video type, you see the following additional options: •Event Status—Shows Pending, Live, or Stopped, corresponding to whether Video Portal access to the event is turned on or off. •{Start | Stop | Re-Start} Live Event—Enables you to turn on and turn off Video Portal access to the event. |
Play Order in Video |
Shows when the video will play this video part, relative to the playback sequence of all the video parts in the video. |
{Release | End of Life} Date/Time |
Click to pick the date, choose options for the hour and minute, and then choose AM or PM. The release date is by default today. •DME Live Event and Non-DME Live Event: If you are setting up a live event, you must explicitly enter the End of Life Date/Time value. DMM-VPM does not obtain it automatically from the Release Date/Time value. If you do not enter an End of Life Date/Time value, the event will not be visible in the Encoder table; you will not be able to start the event; and the event will not be visible on the Video Portal. •VoD: The EoL/Date field is a placeholder to denote in DMM-VPM when content should be archived. |
Duration |
Describes the playback duration of the video part in hours, minutes and seconds. Use the format •DME Live Event and Non-DME Live Event: You can use the scheduled length of a live event as the duration of its corresponding stream. The duration that you enter does not stop your Video Portal from delivering the whole stream if the actual event runs past its scheduled time to stop; the stream continues to play in your Video Portal until you stop it or it is no longer available. •VoD: You must manually enter the duration for Windows Media and QuickTime video files, but this information is provided automatically for Flash video files. |
Access restrictions |
Enables content-level viewing security, so the Video Portal displays only the content that users see. Note Authentication must be enabled in DMS-Admin to enforce access restrictions. •None (Viewable to all user groups)—Specifies that all Video Portal users can see information about the video part and watch it. •Viewable only to select groups— Specifies that only user groups with permissions can see information about the video part and watch it. Click Choose Group to display the groups that the administrator created or to create or edit a group. |
Preview Content File URL |
The location of a SWF file or nonprogressive JPEG file (100 pixels wide and 75 pixels high, or any proportionate multiple of those dimensions) that your Video Portal should show as the preview image for this video part. To choose and upload a local file, click Upload new preview video file. If you use a SWF file, we recommended that you program it to pause after 10 seconds and not loop. Cisco Video Portal cannot display progressive JPEG images. |
{Pre-Event | Post-Event} JPEG URL |
Upload the JPEG image to show {before | after} the live event. |
Enable Questions from the Audience |
Click {On | Off} to enable or disable support for questions. |
Slide Show |
Choose and upload the SWF file or ZIP archive of slides to show next to the video stream. The ability to upload a slide presentation to a VoD is used for VoDs that were created from a live events. The ZIP archive that you upload must contain JPEG files that you exported from PowerPoint (or similar software), whose sequence of filenames is numbered correctly to preserve their natural order. |
Preview Description |
A text description that your Video Portal shows to your audiences but truncates after 160 characters. If you do not enter a preview description, your Video Portal shows the first 160 characters from the video part description instead. |
Keywords |
Descriptive words to make this video part searchable on Cisco Video Portal. There is no reason to enter commas, semicolons, or other word separators; Cisco Video Portal ignores them if you do. |
Embedded Video |
Provides the necessary HTML code to embed and display the live or on-demand video inside a custom website without the Video Portal interface. Embedded video requires an active Video Portal because the code checks the encoded video type and opens the correct supporting decoder software before displaying the video and basic playback controls to viewers. However, because viewers to do not log in to the Video Portal, usage statistics for this video are not available in Video Portal Reports. Note Because the code provides direct access to the video, do not assign access restrictions in Cisco Video Portal. We recommend that you manage access by implementing security measures on the website or through the application that publishes the code. |
{Add New Related Item | Modify Related Item} |
|
Links to web sites, video parts in other programs on your Video Portal, or files for your audience to download and use. Your audience sees the related items for a video part on your Video Portal if they click More Info during playback. Click Add New Related Item, choose the type of link, and enter the metadata. Alternatively, click the Edit button for a related item, and modify the metadata. To save your work, click Save. |
|
Download |
Provide files for users to download. For proper download, video files must be inside a ZIP archive. |
Web Link in New Default Browser |
Provide a URL that opens in a standard browser. |
Web Link in New Custom Browser |
Provide a URL that opens in a browser you customize in DMM-VPM. |
Related Video |
Provide a link to another video part. |
1 One of these: |
Video Portal > Programs
Related Topics
•Managing User Accounts and Authentication Settings, page 2-5
•Understanding Approvals for Video Parts
•Understanding Closed Captioning
•Understanding the Live Event Module
•Generating and Importing the Slides to Be Synchronized
•Creating and Working with Content Categories
•Modifying the Scheduled Times for DME Live Events
After anyone submits a video part or playlist approval request, DMM-VPM sends e-mail to the designated approver. The e-mail message contains a link to preview and approve or deny the video part.
If you receive the message, do the following:
Procedure
Step 1 Click the e-mail link to preview the video part or playlist and, when your browser loads the Approval Request page, click Preview Now.
Step 2 Watch the video part, enter comments if you have any, and use the controls at the bottom of the window to approve or deny the request.
DMM-VPM is updated immediately and notifies the requestor through e-mail that you approved or denied the request.
Step 3 To return to DMM-VPM, click Close and Return.
Related Topics
•Understanding Approvals for Video Parts
The Live Event Module is a separately licensed add-on to DMM-VPM that helps you to do the following:
•Synchronize presentation slides with live audio and video streams that you show on your Video Portal.
•Receive and work with text-based questions that remote audience members submit to you while they are viewing live events on your Video Portal.
Note Every time that you will host a live event, you must start the DME remotely from the DMM-VPM encoder dashboard. If you use any physical control on the DME chassis to start the encoder, your live events will not be available to your Video Portal audience members.
Related Topics
•Understanding and Working with Synchronized Slides
•Understanding and Working with Audience Questions
If you have purchased a license to use the Live Event Module, the moderators at your live events can synchronize slides with their live event streams. The slide synchronization option requires that you use the Windows Media format and that you use either a DME 1000 or DME 2000 as the encoder. Windows Media and the DMEs use types of APIs that are not currently available with other encoding formats to support tight synchronization between slides and streams of audio and video.
Directory Location for Slides
For slides that are JPG files, unless a /slides subdirectory exists within the root directory that you specified in the Support area on the Deployment Locations page, deployments will fail for your synchronized slides. DMM-VPM creates the /slides subdirectory for you automatically if you use forward slashes ( / ) in the Root File Directory field but does not create the directory if you use back slashes ( \ ). If you used back slashes, you must log in to the server that you specified and create the required subdirectory manually.
For slides that are contained in a SWF file, slides are copied over to the Video Portal appliance in the /appliance_name/dms/video_portal/assets/ directory to avoid cross-domain access issues that could prevent the SWF slides from working. Also, this setup prevents the SWF file from being overwritten during an upgrade..
VoDs Files Created From Live Events
If you chose to create a VoD from a live event, you can publish the resultant VoD file after the event is finished. You cannot edit the VoD file with Cisco DMS 5.1.x and maintain the slide synchronization commands that were created during the live event because the synchronization data is stored inline with the video data. Therefore, the data is lost if you use third-party tools that create and edit videos, such as Windows Movie Maker, to render and encode the file again.
Tip To edit video duration, you can use a third-party tool that enables you to trim the length of a video clip and transfer the synchronization data to the header, such as Windows Media File Editor.
Related Topics
•Configuring the Location Settings for Deployments
•Generating and Importing the Slides to Be Synchronized
•Generating and Importing the Slides to Be Synchronized
•What Video Portal Audiences See When You Use Synchronized Slides
In most cases, the synchronized slides that you show during live events will be derived from Microsoft PowerPoint presentations that your organization prepared for this purpose. Alternatively, your organization might use similar software from another vendor to develop its presentation slides.
•Best Practices for Creating and Importing Slides
•Creating and Importing a ZIP File for Synchronization
•Creating and Importing a SWF File for Synchronization
Related Topics
•Creating and Importing a ZIP File for Synchronization
•Creating and Importing a SWF File for Synchronization
The following procedures assume that PowerPoint is your preferred software.
Procedure
Step 1 After you finish preparing your PowerPoint slide deck, choose File > Save As.
Step 2 From the Save as type list, choose JPEG file Interchange Format (*.jpg).
Step 3 Using a method that your operating system provides for this purpose, create and name a new folder where the exported JPEG versions of your slides should be saved. The name that you enter should not contain any spaces.
Step 4 To start exporting your slides, click OK.
Step 5 When a prompt asks you, "Do you want to export every slide in the presentation or only the current slide?", click Every Slide.
PowerPoint then extracts each slide and saves it as a separate JPEG file in the folder that you created and named. Each JPEG file receives an ascending number as its filename.
Step 6 After PowerPoint is finished saving all of the JPEG versions of your slides, compress the folder that contains them so that it is the basis for a new ZIP archive.
After you finish preparing your PowerPoint slide deck, use a third-party application or a separately purchased PowerPoint plug-in to convert your slides into a single SWF file. Ensure that you remove all intra-slide and slide-to-slide transitions before you convert to a SWF file.
For most live events, a designated synchronization operator will use one of the two provided consoles to synchronize slides with the actions of the live presenter. When the presenter advances by one slide in a presentation, for example, the synchronization operator uses the synchronization console to do the same. There are two supported ways to synchronize slides.
•Simple — The first synchronization method uses a simple, full-screen interface that shows each slide. To change or synchronize a slide, the synchronization operator or presenter presses the right or left arrow keys on a keyboard to move forward or backward through a presentation one slide at a time. This method is ideal for small events or in-studio events where the presenter (not a separate synchronization operator) manages slides.
•Advanced — The second method uses a more advanced view that includes slide selection controls along its right side. By using this method, a synchronization operator or presenter can choose to selectively skip slides and move quickly forward or backward to any slide in the slide deck.
Each time that a slide is synchronized, the Live Event Module inserts a command into the stream:
•If you converted presentation slides into a sequence of numbered JPEG images that you uploaded inside a ZIP archive, the command in the stream instructs your Video Portal to fetch the relevant JPEG file and display it to audience members.
•If you converted presentation slides into a SWF file, the command in the stream instructs your Video Portal to find the relevant section in the SWF file and display it to audience members.
This process ensures that slides are tightly synchronized to streams.
Each time a slide synchronization takes place, the action is noted in the encoder console event window.
When you associate synchronized slides with a live event or a VoD, changes occur automatically in the user interface that Video Portal audience members see. By default, video is displayed on the left and synchronized slides are on the right. Audience members can choose to view slides inside a resizeable popup window, which is useful to them if information on a slide is not easily readable at the default size.
The popup view also provides audience members with an option to review past slides that were already presented. To choose a past slide to view at full size, audience members click its thumbnail preview in a scrolling list on the right.
If you have purchased a license to use the Live Event Module, your Video Portal audience members can submit text-based questions during the live events in which you have enabled this feature.
During a live event, audience members who click the Ask Question button on the Video Portal will open a new window where they can enter and submit questions for the presenters. All of the submitted questions appear first in the Question Manager console in DMM-VPM, which your live event moderators can monitor. At chosen times during a live event, your moderators can submit prescreened questions to the presenters either in the Presenter console or verbally. The presenters are then able to answer questions from remote audience members during the live event. Submitted questions are not visible to audience members, and audience member names are not associated with their questions or displayed to live event moderators and presenters.
Because the live events that you show on your Video Portal can have thousands of audience members and it might be difficult for just one moderator to prescreen all of the submitted questions, multiple moderators can open and manage multiple instances of the Question Manager console simultaneously. After the event is finished, you can export all of the submitted questions and, if necessary, publish them on a separate server.
Moderators and presenters at live events use the Question Manager console in DMM-VPM to work with questions from Video Portal audience members.
This section contains the following topics:
If you are a moderator for a live event, you can prescreen questions for the presenters.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Use your preferred method to open the moderation features:
Step 3 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Related Topics
•Working with Programs, Videos and Video Parts
•UI Reference: Settings for Moderating Live Events
Table 4-7 describes the settings for moderating live events.
Navigation Path
•Video Portal > Encoders > Encoder Dashboard > View Audience Questions
•Video Portal > Programs > Active > Active Videos > Active Video Parts > Modify > Review Audience Questions
If you are the presenter at a live event, you can see and answer the questions that your moderator has prescreened for you.
Before You Begin
•The moderator or another member of the stage crew at your live event might already have opened the Q&A Administration window for you where you can see the list of questions that await your answer. Otherwise, if no one did this for you already, complete Step 1 through Step 2c in the "Moderating Questions" procedure; then, click the Presenter's View tab.
Procedure
Step 1 Under the Presenter's View tab, you will see a list of the questions that the moderator has screened and edited for you to answer. The list is updated whenever your moderator adds a question to it manually. Information about the questions is sorted into the following columns:
•Question — The literal text of the question, exactly as it was submitted.
•Time Asked — The date, hour, minute, and second when the question was submitted.
•Actions — A button to move the corresponding question under the Removed Questions tab.
DMM-VPM can help you to emphasize particular content offerings by showing key videos on your Video Portal under its Featured Playlist tab.
Tip You can track approvals for playlists. The approval process workflow does not help you to enforce any security policy; instead, it helps your organization to formalize communication. Content authors can request approval for playlists; then, a designated approver can approve or deny the requests. A designated approver is someone whose DMM-VPM user type is Approver. Not even a designated approver can approve his or her own requests. Approval and denial have no effect on whether a playlist can be deployed. For information about responding to requests for approval, see the "Approving or Denying the Request to Approve a Video Part or Playlist" section.
Before You Begin
•Each playlist must contain at least one video part before you can show it to any audience.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Video Portal > Playlists.
On the Playlists page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show a list of DMM-VPM playlists. You can move playlists from one table to the other.
Step 3 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the playlists that are available to show to your audience. These playlists are active in the sense that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any playlists or if you archived every playlist, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the playlists that you have disabled temporarily. These playlists are disabled in the sense that they are not available for your audience to find or see. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these playlists.
Step 4 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 5 Click Save.
Related Topics
•Capturing a Live Stream and Publishing the Output File as Video On-Demand
Table 4-8 describes the elements and settings for configuring playlists.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Playlists
You can categorize programs according to characteristics that they have in common, such as their topic, subject matter, target audience, featured executive, or business function. Your audiences use corresponding categories on your Video Portal to find or browse content. The videos and video parts in a program inherit their category associations automatically.
The program guide on your Video Portal describes only the programs that you have categorized. If you deploy a program but do not associate it with any categories, it is not visible in the program guide. In this case, your audiences must either perform a keyword search or use the absolute URL to find and see a video that the program contains. Therefore, to improve the user experience for your audiences, we recommend that you associate each program with at least one category.
To create and manage categories and to associate programs with them, use the Categories page.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation, then choose Video Portal > Categories.
On the Categories page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show a list of DMM-VPM content categories. You can move categories from one table to the other.
Step 2 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the categories that are available to associate with content objects and show to your audience. These categories are active in the sense that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any categories or if you archived every category, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the categories that you have disabled temporarily. These categories are disabled in the sense that they are not available for your audience to find or see and you cannot associate them with any content objects. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these categories.
Step 3 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Category Settings
Table 4-9 describes the elements and settings that you configure for categories.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Categories
In DMM-VPM, an interstitial is a short segment that your Video Portal shows when you have not scheduled anything else to show. To create a new interstitial, follow these steps:
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Video Portal > Interstitials.
On the Interstitials page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show a list of DMM-VPM interstitials. You can move interstitials from one table to the other.
Step 3 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the interstitials that are available. These interstitials are active in the sense that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any interstitials or if you archived every interstitial, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the interstitials that you have disabled temporarily. These interstitials are disabled in the sense that your audience will not see them. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these interstitials.
Step 4 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 5 Click Save.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Interstitial Settings
Table 4-10 describes the elements and settings for configuring interstitials.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Interstitials
You can create a new interstitial sequence, which is an ordered list of interstitials that your Video Portal should play when you have not scheduled it to show anything else.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation,
Step 2 Choose Video Portal > Interstitial Sequences.
On the Interstitial Sequences page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show a list of sequences. You can move sequences from one table to the other.
Step 3 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the sequences that are available. These sequences are active in the sense that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any sequences or if you archived every sequence, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the sequences that you have disabled temporarily. These sequences are disabled in the sense that your audience will not see them. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these sequences.
Step 4 Enter the values that meet your requirements
Step 5 Click Save.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Interstitial Sequence Settings
Table 4-11 describes the elements and settings for configuring interstitial sequences.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Interstitial Sequences
In DMM-VPM, a ticker is scrolling text that your Video Portal shows to your audiences.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Video Portal > Tickers.
On the Tickers page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show a list of tickers. You can move tickers from one table to the other.
Step 3 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the tickers that are available. These tickers are active in the sense that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any tickers or if you archived every ticker, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the tickers that you have disabled temporarily. These tickers are disabled in the sense that your audience will not see them. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these tickers.
Step 4 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 5 Click Save.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Ticker Settings
Table 4-12 describes the elements and settings for configuring tickers.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Tickers
DMM-VPM helps you to control and customize the user interface colors that your audiences see when they use your Video Portal. You can customize the coloration of backgrounds, logos, ticker messages, interstitials, and controls.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Video Portal > User Interfaces.
On the User Interfaces page, you can toggle between two tables that are mostly very similar and that both show named sets of user interface customizations. You can move sets from one table to the other.
Step 3 Do one of the following:
•Click Active to see in the Active table a list of all the customization sets that are available, meaning that you have not disabled them. If you have not created any customization sets or if you archived every set, the table is empty.
•Click Archive to see in the Archive table a list of all the customization sets that you have disabled temporarily. These customizations are disabled in the sense that your audience will not see them. You might choose eventually to restore or delete these customization sets.
Step 4 Enter the values that meet your requirements.
Step 5 Click Save.
Related Topics
•UI Reference: Customization Settings
Table 4-13 describes the elements and settings that you configure to customize the Video Portal.
Navigation Path
Video Portal > User Interfaces
You must deploy all additions, updates, and other changes in your content and data. You can deploy immediately or schedule deployments in advance for any time and date. You can cancel any deployment that you schedule.
Note You do not need to deploy video parts when you make changes to access restrictions. These changes take effect immediately.
After you schedule a deployment, the Currently Scheduled Deployments table is refreshed and shows the new deployment that you scheduled, in its chronological sequence relative to any other scheduled deployments. DMM-VPM then deploys the job to the deployment location that you specified under the Setup tab (see the "Configuring the Location Settings for Deployments" section). After a deployment is finished, the Currently Scheduled Deployments table is refreshed again, so it no longer includes any description of the deployment.
This section contains the following topics:
•Scheduling a Pre-Event Listing
•Scheduling a Post-Event Listing
•Scheduling an On-Demand Deployment
•Learning the URL for a Deployed Video Part
Live event offerings differ from on-demand offerings in the following ways:
Live events |
Live events are scheduled to start and stop at a fixed date and time. After a live event starts, audience members who connect late see the event in progress and cannot see what came before. Each audience member sees the same thing at the same time as other audience members. Audience members cannot see a live stream before the event starts, go backward, or skip ahead. When a live event stops, it is no longer available to anyone. For information about the differences between the Live Event and Non-DME Live Event options, see the "Add New Video Part | Modify Video Part" section of Table 4-6. You can record a live event as it occurs, and then edit and upload the recording for on-demand access shortly thereafter. Live events are either pushed or pulled: •Push — The encoder pushes the live stream to a streaming server. •Pull — The streaming server pulls the live stream from an encoder. |
On-demand events |
You schedule on-demand events to become available at any date and time that you specify and to remain available for any span of hours or dates that you specify, depending on the freshness or relevance of the content. Any audience member can start at the beginning of an event, no matter when they see it. Likewise, any audience member can rewind, skip ahead, or jump to different parts of an event at any time, assuming that your Video Portal makes these video navigation controls available. As long as an on-demand offering is available, audience members can see it at any time. You can archive an on-demand event at any time; after you archive an event, no one in your audience can see it. |
Related Topics
•Capturing a Live Stream and Publishing the Output File as Video On-Demand
You can schedule a new deployment.
Before You Begin
•If you configured your browser to block popup windows, reenable popup windows now. You cannot complete this procedure successfully if your browser blocks popup windows.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Video Portal > Deployments.
The Currently Scheduled Deployments page lists all of the scheduled and queued deployments, as described in Table 4-15.
Step 3 Click Schedule New Deployment.
The legend at the top of the page shows the real-time color-coding that DMM-VPM applies to entities in the list, based on change statuses:
•Active — Entities whose status has been changed to Active. All entities classified as Active are visible in the Video Portal after deployment.
•Inactive — Entities whose status has been changed to Inactive. All entities classified as inactive or removed disappear from the Video Portal after deployment.
•Removed — Entities that have been permanently deleted from DMM-VPM.
Step 4 In the "Video Part Selection" area, click a check box to choose the corresponding video part.
DMM-VPM automatically lists for selection all new and modified video parts whose status is set to Active. Each video part is displayed with its corresponding videos and programs. All uploaded files, file references, and metadata associated to each Active video part are deployed with your selection. These files are deployed to the deployment location that you specified under the Setup tab.
Step 5 In the "Additional Items Included in Deployment" area, review any metadata changes that will be published with your deployment.
The following entities are identified in the Metadata Changes:
•Categories — All categories whose status has changed or that were deleted.
•Programs — All programs whose status has changed or that were deleted.
•Videos — All videos whose status has changed or that were deleted.
Step 6 Choose options from these lists in the "Global Options" area:
•Featured Playlist — Choose the playlist to publish on your Video Portal.
The list displays all Active Featured Playlists in alphabetical order by Featured Playlist Name with the Default Featured Playlist chosen by default. There can only be one Featured Playlist visible in the Video Portal at any given time.
•User Interface — Choose the customization set to use on your Video Portal.
The alphabetical list contains all Active user interfaces customization sets with the default customization set chosen by default. There can only be one user interface visible in your Video Portal at any given time.
•Ticker — Choose the ticker to publish on your Video Portal.
The list displays all Active tickers in alphabetical order by name with the default ticker chosen by default. To hide the ticker, click Don't Show a Ticker. You can use no more than one ticker at a time on your Video Portal.
•Interstitial Sequence — Choose the sequence to publish on your Video Portal.
The list displays all Active Interstitial Sequences in alphabetical order by Interstitial Sequence Name with the Default Interstitial Sequence chosen by default. There can only be one Interstitial Sequence visible in the Video Portal at any given time.
Step 7 Choose the deployment date and time in the "Deployment Time" area, or check the Schedule Immediately check box. When you choose a scheduled deployment, the default date is 7 days from today. Remember the following information:
•The relevant time zone is the one that you specified when you set up your DMM appliance. If an administrator set up your DMM appliance and you cannot guess what time zone is in effect at its deployment location, contact its system administrator.
•To conduct a live online event successfully, you must complete either three or four separate deployments in exactly the following sequence:
1. Prepare the pre-event listing to tell Video Portal audience members about the upcoming live event.
2. Prepare the actual live event offering.
3. Prepare the post-event listing to tell Video Portal audience members that the live event has concluded and is no longer available.
4. (Optional) Prepare the on-demand offering, which is a recorded version of the live event.
Step 8 To save your work and schedule the deployment, click Create Deployment.
Related Topics
•Creating and Working with Playlists
•Creating and Working with Interstitial Sequences
•Creating and Working with Tickers
•Customizing Your Video Portal
•Scheduling a Pre-Event Listing
•Scheduling a Post-Event Listing
•Scheduling an On-Demand Deployment
Navigation Path
Video Portal > Deployments
You can schedule a pre-event listing. We recommend that you use targeted e-mail messages or a web site to preannounce your live events. The notifications that you prepare can describe, for example, the event date and time, its subject matter, the speaker, and the moderator. A notification can also link directly to the pre-event listing on your Video Portal.
Before You Begin
•Ensure that your video part metadata is set appropriately for a pre-event listing.
•If you configured your browser to block popup windows, reenable popup windows now. You cannot complete this procedure successfully when your browser blocks popup windows.
•Complete Steps 1-6 in the "Scheduling a New Deployment" procedure.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose the deployment date and time in the "Deployment Time" area when your pre-event listing should become available on your Video Portal. The deployment date is by default today.
Note The relevant time zone is the one that you specified when you set up your DMM appliance. If an administrator set up your DMM appliance and you cannot guess what time zone is in effect at its deployment location, contact the system administrator.
Step 2 To schedule the deployment, click Create Deployment.
You can schedule a live event.
Before You Begin
•Ensure that your video part metadata is set appropriately for a pre-event listing.
•If you configured your browser to block popup windows, reenable popup windows now. You cannot complete this procedure successfully when your browser blocks popup windows.
•Complete Steps 1-6 in the "Scheduling a New Deployment" procedure.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose the deployment date and time in the "Deployment Time" area when your live event should become available on your Video Portal. The default date is 7 days from today.
Note The relevant time zone is the one that you specified when you set up your DMM appliance. If an administrator set up your DMM appliance and you cannot guess what time zone is in effect at its deployment location, contact the system administrator.
Tip We recommend that your Video Portal show a countdown to the live event for 10-15 minutes and then replace the countdown with the audio-video stream when the live event actually starts.
Step 2 To schedule the deployment, click Create Deployment.
You can schedule a post-event listing.
Before You Begin
•Ensure that your video part metadata is set appropriately for a post-event listing.
•If you configured your browser to block popup windows, reenable popup windows now. You cannot complete this procedure successfully when your browser blocks popup windows.
•Complete Steps 1-6 in the "Scheduling a New Deployment" procedure.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose the deployment date and time in the "Deployment Time" area when the post-event listing should become available on your Video Portal. The default date is 7 days from today.
Note The relevant time zone is the one that you specified when you set up your DMM appliance. If an administrator set up your DMM appliance and you cannot guess what time zone is in effect at its deployment location, contact the system administrator.
Step 2 To schedule the deployment, click Create Deployment.
You can schedule an on-demand deployment.
Before You Begin
•Ensure that your video part metadata is set appropriately for an on-demand deployment.
•If you configured your browser to block popup windows, reenable popup windows now. You cannot complete this procedure successfully if your browser blocks popup windows.
•Complete Steps 1-6 in the "Scheduling a New Deployment" procedure.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose the deployment date and time in the "Deployment Time" area, when the on-demand deployment should become available on your Video Portal. The default date is 7 days from today.
Note The relevant time zone is the one that you specified when you set up your DMM appliance. If an administrator set up your DMM appliance and you cannot guess what time zone is in effect at its deployment location, contact the system administrator.
Step 2 To schedule the deployment, click Create Deployment.
There is no need for you to navigate through your Video Portal to find a video part after you deploy it successfully because DMM-VPM links directly to it as a convenience to you. The link is not specific to any particular media format because your Video Portal determines automatically which format to deliver to each audience member according to his or her system configuration.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal > Programs.
Step 2 Find the row that describes the relevant program, and click Active Videos () in that row.
Step 3 Find the row that describes the relevant video, and click Active Video Parts () in that row.
Step 4 Find the row that describes the relevant video part; then, do one of the following:
•To play the video part, click Preview () in that row.
•To learn the actual URL for the video part, click Modify () in that row, and click Show Direct Portal Link.
Administrators and configuration managers use the features on the Encoders tab to manage Cisco Digital Media Encoders.
•Testing the Ability to Publish Streams
•Capturing a Live Stream and Publishing the Output File as Video On-Demand
•Creating and Working with Encoding Formats
You can add an encoder to DMM-VPM.
Procedure
Step 1 Set up and connect the encoder according to the procedures in its documentation.
Step 2 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 3 Determine whether the encoder will push streams to the streaming server or the streaming server will pull streams from the encoder; then, complete the steps in Table 4-16, as needed.
Related Topics
You can use DMM-VPM to test whether your encoder can publish a stream.
Procedure
Step 1 To see the encoder dashboard, choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Click the Encoders tab.
Step 3 In the encoder selection tree, find the encoder that you want to test, click Expand Encoder () to see the ad hoc streaming controls for it, and click Encoder Setup.
Step 4 From the Video Format list, choose the bit rate that you want to test, and check the Publish as a Streaming Video check box.
Step 5 Choose a Push publishing configuration or a Pull publishing configuration.
Tip To test a stream directly from the encoder, choose the test only (encoder-direct, port 6990) pull configuration.
Step 6 Confirm that a live video source is connected to your encoder; then, choose the options from the following lists that match your video source:
•Video Input
•Audio Input
•Video Input Standard
Step 7 Click Start Encoder.
Tip If the Start Encoder option is not visible, check the Stop Event date for the live event video part.
The button becomes animated and the animation continues until the encoder starts. A delay that ranges from 10 to 25 seconds is normal.
Step 8 After the encoder starts, click Close in the Encoder Setup window.
Step 9 Do either or both of the following to test the video stream:
•Click View Live Video. A popup window plays your current live stream.
•To test the video stream as a static image that is updated periodically, click Click to start preview. Your encoder serves the static image directly, independent of your streaming server.
Step 10 Click Stop Encoder.
Your encoder can capture and save a live stream as a file, which you can publish as video on-demand.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Click the Encoders tab to see the encoder dashboard.
Step 3 In the encoder selection tree, find the encoder that you will use, click Expand Encoder () to see the ad hoc streaming controls for it, and click Encoder Setup.
Step 4 Check the Store as File check box; then, enter a filename for the saved file.
Step 5 Confirm that a live video source is connected to your encoder and choose the options from the following lists that match your video source:
•Video Input
•Audio Input
•Video Input Standard
Step 6 Click Start Encoder.
The button becomes animated and the animation continues until the encoder starts. A delay that ranges from 10 to 25 seconds is normal.
Step 7 After the encoder starts, click Close in the Encoder Setup window.
Step 8 When you are ready to stop adding video from the stream to the output file that you are creating, click Stop Encoder.
Note The VoD file is overwritten each time that you click the Start/Stop button.
Step 9 To retrieve the output file from your encoder, point your web browser to ftp://<encoder_IP_address>/AVFiles/Out.
Step 10 Right-click the filename in the directory listing and choose the option to download the file.
Step 11 (Optional) Use third-party software to edit the file.
Note If you use a third-party software to edit the VoD file, the slide synch commands that were created during the live event will be erased, and the slides will not be synchronized for the VoD.
Step 12 Before you can deliver the downloaded output file to your Video Portal audiences as a video on-demand offering, you must deploy it as a VoD video part.
Related Topics
•Working with Programs, Videos and Video Parts
•Scheduling an On-Demand Deployment
You can manage push configurations, which apply only to Windows Media streams.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Encoders > Push Configurations.
Step 3 Enter the push configuration name and description in their respective fields.
Tip The push configuration name that you enter now will be an option that you can choose from a list before you start your encoder.
Step 4 Enter and confirm the other values:
•Format — Windows Media is the only supported option in this release.
•Streaming Server Base URL — Enter the base URL and port number for your streaming server.
•Name of Publishing Point — Enter the name of your Publishing Point.
•Full Stream URL—Confirm that the URL is the valid URL for your publishing point.
•User ID and Password — (Optional) Enter the username and password to push a stream to your streaming server if it requires authentication.
Step 5 Click Save.
An encoding format is a collection of settings to specify a particular combination of media type and video dimensions and to limit video bandwidth consumption and video quality.
DMM-VPM is preconfigured with the recommended encoding formats for your Video Portal. You can recognize these predefined and preferred formats in the Encoding Formats list when you first start to use DMM-VPM because it appends the word "default" to their names. If you choose other encoding formats as your defaults, the "default" label no longer signifies that any encoding format is one that Cisco defined.
You can choose only one default encoding format apiece for each supported media type. For example, you might choose one encoding format as the default for Windows Media and a different encoding format as the default for Flash Video.
You can add or edit an encoding format.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal from the global navigation.
Step 2 Choose Encoders > Encoding Formats, and do one of the following:
•To create and define a new encoding format, click Add a new Encoding Format.
•To edit an encoding format that you saved, click its name in the list.
Step 3 Enter or choose the required values to define the encoding format:
•Encoding Format Name — Enter a unique and meaningful name for this encoding format.
•Profile Description — Enter a description.
•Set as a Default Format — Check the check box if DMM-VPM should use this encoding format automatically when you choose the Use Default Streaming Settings option on the {Add New | Modify} Video Part page.
•Format — Click a radio button to choose its corresponding media format as the one that this encoding format should use.
•Dimensions — Choose an option from the list or choose Custom to use dimensions that the list does not contain.
•Pixel Proportion — Standard (square pixel) is the correct choice for most applications.
•Audio Capture {On | Off} — Enable or disable audio capture.
•Windows Media Capture Profiles — Choose an option to limit bandwidth usage.
Step 4 Click Save.
Transcoding is a process of deriving digital media files that use one codec from digital media files that use a different codec; the source file is not changed or destroyed. Because codecs are typically lossy, you might notice that the fidelity of the output file is not as high as the fidelity of the source file.
Your encoders can transcode AVI and MPEG2 files into Windows Media files. You can use DMM-VPM to manage your transcoding jobs. We recommend that you schedule your transcoding jobs so that they do not run at the same time as any other encoder tasks, such as streaming a live event or saving a live stream to a file. A transcoding job might take as long as, or possibly longer than, the duration of the source file, depending on multiple factors that include which codecs you use.
Procedure
Step 1 Copy the source file to your encoder.
a. Plug a keyboard, mouse, and monitor into your encoder.
b. Add the file to a USB 2.0 hard drive or flash drive.
c. Use Windows Explorer to copy the source file from the USB drive to D:\AVFiles\In.
Step 2 Log in to DMM-VPM, and choose Video Portal from the untitled list at the top far-right of any page.
Step 3 Choose Encoders > Transcoding, and click Add a New Transcoding Task.
Step 4 Enter or choose the required values to define the transcoding job:
•Transcoding Task Name — Enter a unique and meaningful name.
•Encoder Name — Choose the encoder that will transcode the source file.
•Start Date/Time — Choose the date and time when the transcoding job should start.
•Input Encoding Format — Choose the media format that the source file uses (AVI or MPEG2).
•Input Directory Path — Choose Input - Local Encoder Drive.s
–Edit—Modify the input directory path.
–Clone—Copy the input directory path so that you can modify and add it to the list.
–Add a Path—Add a new input directory path to the list.
•Input File Name — Enter the source filename. Do not include a path.
•Output Encoding Format — Choose a format that includes the word "transcode" in its title.
•Output Directory Path — Choose Output - Local Encoder Drive.
•Output File Name — Enter the output filename, which must use WMV as its extension. Do not include a path.
Step 5 Click Save.
Tip In the list, a color-coded icon next to the name of your transcoding job helps you to track its status. The icon is blue (scheduled or postponed); animated green (in progress); solid green (completed); or red (error). To learn more, mouse over the icon.
Step 6 To copy the output file from your encoder, do one of the following:
•If you plugged a keyboard, mouse, and monitor into your encoder, use Windows Explorer to copy the output file from D:\AVFiles\Out to the USB drive.
•Point your web browser to ftp://<encoder_IP_address>/AVFiles/Out, right-click the filename in the directory listing, and choose the option to download the file.
This section includes the following workflow checklists to help you set up live events:
•Using Your DME 1000 or DME 2000 to Set Up a Live Event
•Modifying the Scheduled Times for DME Live Events
•Setting Up Live Events Using Third-Party Live Streams
Use the following checklist to guide you through the required tasks to use your DME 1000 or 2000 to set up live events..
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1. Add a live event to DMM-VPM, and enter the required values by completing the following steps: a. Choose Video Portal from the global navigation; then, click the Video Portal tab. b. Create or edit the program and the video that should include the live event. c. In the Add New Video Part page, enter the following values: •Type of Video — Choose Live Event; you must use Windows Media as the video format. •Encoder — From the list, choose the encoder to use, then do one of the following: If you previously configured default streaming settings for the relevant encoder and those default settings are appropriate for this event, click Use Default Streaming Settings. If any of the default settings are not appropriate for this event or if you have not configured default settings for the relevant encoder, click Advanced Settings, and then make choices and enter values to define the settings for this stream: Encoding Format — From the list, choose the method to use for encoding or transcoding the live stream. DME 2000 Input Channel — Click or . Publish via Push — Choose whether the encoder should push the live stream to a streaming server. Publish via Pull — Choose whether the streaming server should pull the live stream from the encoder. Video Input — From the list, choose either Composite or SVideo. Audio Input — Choose the option to use balanced or unbalanced audio in the live stream. Video Input Standard — From the list, choose the standard that is relevant to your country and the equipment that you use. Store as a File — Check the check box to enable automatic archiving or uncheck the check box to disable automatic archiving. Storage Bookmark and File Name —To later deploy the event as a VoD, choose from the list the location on the encoder to store the file, and enter the filename, specifying .wmv as the file type. •Play Order in Video — From the list, choose where in the video to show this video part. •Release Date/Time and End of Life Date/Time — Enter a date in the format shown or click Show Calendar to choose a date from a calendar. Then, choose the hour, the minute, and AM or PM. You must explicitly enter the End of Life Date/Time value. DMS does not obtain it automatically from the Release Date/Time value. If you do not enter a End of Life Date/Time value, your live event will not occur. •Duration — Indicates the duration of the live event, based on the start and stop times that you set. |
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2. (Optional) In the Add New Video Part page, enter or choose these additional values: •Preview Content File URL — The location of a SWF file or nonprogressive JPEG file (100 pixels wide and 75 pixels high, or any proportionate multiple of those dimensions) that your Video Portal should show as the preview image for this video part. To choose and upload a local file, click Upload new preview video file. If you use a SWF file, we recommended that you program it to pause after 10 seconds and not loop. •{Pre-Event | Post-Event} JPEG URL — Upload the JPEG image to show {before | after} the live event. •Enable Questions from the Audience — Click {On | Off} to enable or disable support for questions. •Slide Show — Choose and upload the SWF file or ZIP archive of slides to show next to the video stream. The ZIP archive that you upload must contain JPEG files that you exported from PowerPoint (or similar software), whose sequence of filenames is numbered correctly to preserve their natural order. •Preview Description — A text description that your Video Portal shows to your audiences but truncates after 160 characters. If you do not enter a preview description, your Video Portal shows the first 160 characters from the video part description instead. •Keywords — Descriptive words to make this video part searchable on your Video Portal. Do no enter commas, semicolons, or other word separators; your Video Portal ignores them if you do. Note Cisco Video Portal cannot display progressive JPEG images. |
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3. Save your configuration entries for the live event and show a program listing for it, as follows: a. Click Save. b. When you want your Video Portal to show a program listing for this live event, see the deployment instructions in the "Scheduling a New Deployment" section. |
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4. Test the live stream and start the live event by completing the following steps: a. Approximately 30 minutes before the live event, click the Encoders tab. The Encoder Dashboard page appears. b. In the encoder selection tree, find the encoder that you will use for this live event, and then click Expand Encoder () to see the ad hoc streaming controls for the encoder. c. Click Encoder Setup, enter the relevant values, click Start Encoder, and wait 10-to-20 seconds for it to start. The Start or Stop Encoder button starts or stops the VoD file creation, and you can start or stop the encoder multiple times to adjust cameras, test connections, and so on. Caution Each time that you start or stop the encoder, you overwrite the existing file. To save the file, you must rename it before you start the encoder again. d. After an encoder setup message confirms that the encoder started, click Close. e. To open a preview window that shows the live stream from your encoder, click View Live Video. If you see the live stream, your streaming server is successfully streaming output from the encoder. f. When you are ready for the live event to start, click Start Broadcast. The Start Broadcast button makes the stream visible on the Video Portal and replaces the pre-event graphic. Approximately 5-to-20 seconds after you start the broadcast, the live stream should start for anyone who chose to see it. g. When you are ready to end the event, click Stop Broadcast, and then click Stop Encoder. The Stop Broadcast button replaces the video stream with the post-event graphic, and the Stop Encoder button stops the VoD file creation. |
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5. (Optional) Publish a recorded copy of the event for delivery on demand to audience members who missed the live stream. |
Related Topics
•Working with Programs, Videos and Video Parts
•"Generating and Importing the Slides to Be Synchronized" section
•Scheduling an On-Demand Deployment
•Modifying the Scheduled Times for DME Live Events
Use this procedure to modify the Release Date/Time on existing video parts for DME live events.
Before You Begin
Stop the encoder before you modify a pre-defined live event video part.
Procedure
Step 1 Choose Video Portal > Programs.
Step 2 Locate the Program and navigate to the Active Video Part for the live event.
Step 3 Click Modify next to the name of the video part.
Step 4 Change the Release Date/Time and click Save.
Step 5 Choose Video Portal > Deployments and schedule new deployment of the video part.
Step 6 Test the live stream 30 minutes before the event.
Related Topics
•Using Your DME 1000 or DME 2000 to Set Up a Live Event
Use the following checklist to guide you through the required tasks to use streams from a third-party encoder to set up live events.
Related Topics
•Scheduling a Pre-Event Listing
•Scheduling a Post-Event Listing