Table Of Contents

Live Capture and File Format Reference

Video Formats

Audio Formats

Live-Capture Parameters

File Formats

Recording and Streaming Restrictions

Live Capture and File Format Reference

---

This appendix lists video formats, audio formats, recommended settings for audio and video codec parameters and capture card settings, and file formats. Topics covered include:

•Video Formats

•Audio Formats

•Live-Capture Parameters

•File Formats

•Recording and Streaming Restrictions

When you define a live-capture program, you must set the video format, audio format, data rate, and frame rate parameters to values appropriate to the video capture card and codec (compression/decompression) used by the IP/TV Server that will multicast the program.

Video Formats

Table A-1 lists common live-capture video formats, their approximate bandwidth requirements, application usage, and RTP payload.

Table A-1 Video Formats 

Video Format	Bandwidth	Usage	RTP Payload
MPEG-4	28-768 kbps	Good image quality and optimized for low data rates.	Dynamically mapped
H.261	128-1000 kbps	For low-motion applications such as videoconferencing.	31
MPEG-1	500-1500 kbps	Motion picture or comparable VHS-quality video applications.	32
MPEG-2 Half D1	2-3.5 Mbps	Half D1 offers better quality than MPEG-2 Full D1.	32 plus mapped
MPEG-2 Full D1	3-6 Mbps	DVD-quality video and optimized for higher data rates.	32 plus mapped

Audio Formats

Table A-2 lists available audio formats and their approximate bandwidth requirements and RTP payloads.

Table A-2 Audio Formats 

Format	Bandwidth (kbps)	RTP Payload
TrueSpeech 8000 Hz mono	8	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 8000 Hz mono	13	3
Digital Video Interactive (DVI) 8000 Hz mono	34	5
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) (mu-law) 8000 Hz mono	66	0
MP2 (MPEG Layer 2)	64-384	14
MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) 8000 Hz mono	8	14 plus mapped
MP3 11,025 Hz stereo	24	14 plus mapped
MP3 22,050 Hz stereo	56	14 plus mapped
AAC, 22,050 Hz stereo	32	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
AAC, 44,100 Hz stereo	112	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
AAC, 32,000 Hz stereo	64	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
8-bit linear, 8000 Hz mono	66	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
8-bit linear, 8000 Hz stereo	132	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
8-bit linear 11,025 Hz mono	91	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
8-bit linear 11,025 Hz stereo	182	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
8-bit linear 22,050 Hz mono	182	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
8-bit linear 22,050 Hz stereo	364	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
16-bit linear 11,025 Hz mono	182	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
16-bit linear 11,025 Hz stereo	364	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
16-bit linear 22,050 Hz mono	364	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
16-bit linear 22,050 Hz stereo	728	Dynamically mapped; 96 or greater
16-bit linear 44,100 Hz mono	728	11
16-bit linear 44,100 Hz stereo	1456	10

Table A-3 maps several Microsoft Audio Compression Manager (ACM) codec formats to the corresponding RTP audio payload types transmitted by IP/TV Server.

Table A-3 Microsoft ACM Codecs

Microsoft ACM Codec	RTP Audio Payload Type
MA ADPCM	DVI4
Microsoft GSM 6.10	GSM
CCITT mu-law	PCM mu-law

Live-Capture Parameters

Table A-4 lists the preferred audio format, data rate, video frame rate, and compression of common codecs. These settings are configurable from IP/TV Program Manager. Also listed are the preferred source video format and video size, which are set locally on the capture device.

---

Note These settings are recommendations. The actual frame rate varies depending on system resources and the video source. You may need to adjust the settings slightly for best performance in your environment.

---

Table A-4 Live-Capture Parameters 

Codec	Preferred Audio Format	Data Rate (kbps)	Video Frame Rate (fps)1	Compression	Source Video Format	Source Video Size
ISO MPEG-42	MP3 8000 mono	72	15	—	RGB 24	176 x 144
	MP3 11,025 stereo	530	30	—	RGB 24	352 x 288
	MP3 22,050 stereo	560	30	—	RGB 24	352 x 288
	AAC 22,050 stereo	88	15	—	RGB 24	176 x 144
	AAC, 32,000 stereo	522	30	—	RGB 24	352 x 288
	AAC, 44,100 stereo	540	30	—	RGB 24	352 x 288
Microsoft MPEG-4	Windows Media Audio 8000 Hz mono or MP3 8000 Hz mono	28	10	—	RGB 16 or 243	176 x 144 or smaller
	Windows Media Audio 8000 Hz mono or MP3 8000 Hz mono	56	15	—	RGB 16 or 243	176 x 144 or smaller
	GSM	128	15	—	RGB 16 or 243	320 x 240
	DVI or PCM	256	15	—	RGB 16 or 243	320 x 240
	PCM or 8-bit linear, 11,025 mono	512	30	—	RGB 16 or 243	320 x 240
	PCM or 8-bit linear, 11,025 mono	768	30	—	RGB 16 or 243	320 x 240
H.261	GSM (MBone-compatible)	128	10	7	YVU 9 or RGB 15, 16, or 243	176 x144 or smaller
	DVI or PCM	256	15	8	YVU 9 or RGB 15, 16, or 243	176 x 144 or smaller
	PCM or 8-bit linear, 11,025 Hz, mono	512	30	8	YVU 9 or RGB 15, 16, or 243	176 x 144 or smaller
	PCM or 8-bit linear, 11,025 Hz, mono	768	30	8	YVU 9 or RGB 15, 16, or 243	320 x 240
	PCM or 8-bit linear, 11,025 Hz, mono	1,000	30	8	YVU 9 or RGB 15, 16, or 243	320 x 240
MPEG-1	MPEG (64 kbps)4	512	24	—	—	352 x 2405
	MPEG (64 kbps)4	750	24	—	—	352 x 2405
	MPEG (192 kbps)4	1000	30	—	—	352 x x2405
	MPEG	1250	30	—	—	352 x 2405
	MPEG	1500	30	—	—	352 x 2405
MPEG-2 Half D1	MPEG	2000 2500 3000 3500	30	—	—	352 x 4805
MPEG-2 Full D1	MPEG	3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000	30	—	—	704 x 4805

1 fps = frames per second. 2 Minimum requirements for ISO MPEG-4 streaming and recording include a 1.6-GHz Pentium 4 processor, 512 MB of memory, and one PCI slot for the capture card. 3 Setting the video format to RGB 24 increases the data rate. 4 To configure the data rate of the MPEG audio format, you must locally reset the capture device. See the "MPEG-4 Capture Devices" section. 5 For NTSC video input only. If the video input is PAL, MPEG-1 will be 352 x 288, MPEG-2 Full D1 will be 704 x 576, and MPEG-2 Half D1 will be 352 x 576.

File Formats

In prerecorded file server mode, IP/TV Server reads from prerecorded media files and multicasts the audio and video streams over the network. Table A-5 lists and describes these file formats.

Table A-5 File Formats 

File Format	Description
.asf1	The .asf version 1 format is a container for media streams. Basic .asf includes video, audio, the URL script type for web presentation, and marker information.
.avi1	The .avi format can contain video compressed with any Video  for Windows codec (such as H.261 Cinepak or Indeo). It can also contain audio compressed with any ACM codec.
.dat	The .dat format contains CD Interactive (CD-I) content, which can be video or audio.
.mov	The QuickTime Movie format or .mov file contains Cisco Streaming Engine streamable multimedia content.
.mp3	The MP3 format contains audio-only content compressed in the MPEG audio Layer 3 codec.
.mp4	IP/TV uses the MP4 format for recording ISO MPEG-4 video streams along with MP3 as well as AAC audio streams. These files may also store presentations in the form of URL or JPEG tracks.
.mpg	The .mpg format encompasses a family of compression technologies. MPEG-1 video produces high-quality CD-ROM video, whereas MPEG-2 video, at both half D1 and full D1 resolutions, produces higher-quality DVD video at high bit rates. MPEG audio layers 1 through 3 produce high-quality audio. Note that AC3 audio from Dolby is not currently supported.
.rtp	The .rtp format includes headers and timing information as well as RTP packet content. It was created by IP/TV to facilitate real-time delivery of audio, video, and SlideCast streams over IP networks.
.wav	The .wav format contains audio-only content compression in any ACM codec.

1 Video streams that require color tables or palettes are not supported.

Recording and Streaming Restrictions

Cisco IP/TV Release 5.1 supports three different file formats for recording: .mpg, .mp4, and .mov. Only .mp4 and .mov are supported for streaming over the Cisco Streaming Engine.

Cisco IP/TV does not support remote recording of MPEG and MP4 files. You can use only MOV recording for remote recording. For Web Presenter programs, only MP4 recording is supported.

Apart from these limitations, there are some restrictions related to file size and duration that you must observe while creating programs.

Table A-6 shows the limitations of the different file formats supported by IP/TV.

Table A-6 File Size and File Duration Restrictions

File Format (Recorded by IP/TV Server)	Maximum File Size (for Recording)	Maximum File Duration (for Streaming)
MP4 (.mp4)	2 GB	Unlimited on IP/TV Server; not more than 6 hours 37 minutes on the Cisco Streaming Engine.1
MPEG (.mpg)2	4 GB3	Unlimited.
MOV (.mov)	Unlimited4	Unlimited.

1 This restriction is applicable only for files created by Cisco IP/TV Server. 2 Cisco Streaming Engine does not support MPEG files for streaming. 3 This is the default size for MPEG files in Cisco IP/TV. For information on changing the file size, see the "Reserving Disk Space" section. 4 If your device is using a File Allocation Table (FAT) 32 file system, the maximum file size is limited to 4 GB. However, if you are using a Windows NT (NTFS) file system for your device, there is no limit on the maximum file size.

---

Note The Cisco Streaming Engine does not support streaming of files larger than 2 GB.

---