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Table Of Contents
Accessing and Locating Live Content
Automatic Expiration of Content
How to Access Live Video
This chapter discusses how live video works with in the Video Portal.
Figure 5-1 shows the Live Video Lists. From the initial Featured Playlist tab, you can glance at the lineup of spotlighted video content. Starting with the 3.5 release, videos that are scheduled for a live broadcast display the calendar date and local time, according to your timezone in the right column.
Figure 5-1 Live Video List
Live Support in Media Players
Support for live videos on the Video Portal corresponds to the video codecs currently supported by the Cisco Digital Media Encoder family. For this release, live is only supported on the Windows Media Player version of the Video Portal.
For example, if an administer configures the portal media types with these plugins in this order:
Accessing and Locating Live Content
Figure 5-2 shows the screen for locating live content through the Video Portal.
Figure 5-2
Locating Live Content
Find live content easily by browsing the spotlights on the Playlist (see Figure 5-3). Navigate through the collection of programs and videos in the organized Program Guide.
Figure 5-3
Browsing for Live Content
Live video content may be distinguished from other types by the color of the title in the Playlist. The title for live video content is displayed in yellow.
Searching for Known Content
All schedule live content has a date displayed in the right column (see Figure 5-4). Additionally, a live now event highlights the date and time in yellow. Hovering the mouse cursor over that item displays the word "LIVE" for additional emphasis.
Figure 5-4
Searching for Known Content
Lifecycle of Live Video
As time is an underlying element in a making a video feel live, it is important for viewers to not be confused with on-demand content from live broadcasts. There are safeguards in place for the publisher to exercise that help prompt the viewers of a live event to wait or leave, depending on the state of the event.
The following sections handle the common cases when a viewer joins the video stream either too early or too late. Note the time for each of these samples is in the top right of the video portal interface.
Sometime Prior to the Event
An eager and punctual attendee logs into the Video Portal a bit earlier than the publicly described broadcast start date. Upon launching the video, he is presented with a still image announcing to the audience that this event has not yet begun. This is known as the Pre-Event Image to the publisher. Until the publisher starts the broadcast on the Digital Media Manager, this image will remain on any clients viewing the video at this time (see Figure 5-5).
Figure 5-5 Attempting to view Live content before the scheduled time
During the Live Event
As with any real world event, the published start times may vary from the actual start time. In this scenario, possibly due to conference room still filling with audience members, the live stream was started a few minutes later than the scheduled time of 11:30. This capture shows an example live stream one second into the video. The duration is not known, therefore, masked with the word "LIVE". Many of the usual video controls are disabled for live video, such as rewind and fast forward. At this point forward, any new web viewers will simply jump right into the same live video without waiting (see Figure 5-6).
Figure 5-6
Viewing an Event While it is in Progress
After the Event
At the conclusion of each event, a post-event notification may be posted. This notification serves as a message to notify you that the event has just concluded and is no longer available and/or that it is currently being archived for later on demand access (see Figure 5-7).
Figure 5-7 Viewing an Event After it has Ended
Automatic Expiration of Content
Live events are automatically removed from the Video Portal one hour after its scheduled end date and time. Automatic expiration of a live event will completely remove it from both playlists (Featured and My), the Program Guide, and Search results (see Figure 5-8).
Figure 5-8 Viewing an Expired Live Event
