Feedback
Table Of Contents
Viewing a List of Upcoming Events
Knowing Which Events Will Be Live Events
Requirements for Watching Live Events
Searching for Live Events By Keyword
Asking Questions During Live Events
Watching Live Events
Revised: June 26, 2008, OL-15765-01
This chapter provides information to help you to find and watch live events on your Video Portal, and it includes the following sections:
•
Viewing a List of Upcoming Events
•
•
•
•
Viewing a List of Upcoming Events
Whenever you want to know which important live events are scheduled to run soon on your Video Portal, just check its lineup at Playlist > Featured Playlist.
Tip
•
Knowing Which Events Will Be Live Events
The Featured Playlist might describe live events, videos on demand, or a combination of both. In any case, it is simple to distinguish between the two types:
So, whenever you see a calendar date or a start time for an event in the Featured Playlist, you can be sure that — barring any unforeseen complications — the described event will occur live.
Requirements for Watching Live Events
To watch the live video events on your Video Portal, you must use a recent version of Windows Media Player. The live video events in this release do not support any other media formats or media player software.
Figure 5-1
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 attendee logs into the Video Portal a bit earlier than the publicly described broadcast start date. Upon launching the video, he or she is presented with a still image announcing to the audience that this event has not yet begun, as shown in Figure 5-2. 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.
Figure 5-2 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. Figure 5-3 shows an example live stream one second into the video. The duration is not known and 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.
Figure 5-3
Viewing an Event While it is in Progress
After the Event
At the conclusion of each event, a post-event notification may be posted, as shown in Figure 5-4. This notification serves as a message to inform 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.
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 Playlists, the Program Guide, and Search results.
Figure 5-4 Viewing an Event After it has Ended
Searching for Live Events By Keyword
Note
To search for a live event, click the Search tab, enter the required keyword in the displayed field, and then click Go.
A list that describes all the videos that match your query displays. The videos returned Search descriptions for videos of every kind always specify the video duration. However, the descriptions for any live events also include a start date and time that is based on your local time zone.
Therefore, when you see a calendar date or a start time for an event in the Featured Playlist, you can be sure that — barring any unforeseen complications — the described event will occur live.
Asking Questions During Live Events
If Question and Answer is enabled, you will see an Ask Question button beneath the basic controls area that you can click to submit text-based questions to live Webcast event producers and presenters.
Step 1
The Ask a Question area displays.
Step 2
Step 3
or
Click X to discard your question.
Viewing Presenter Slides
If the presenter has included a slide show, the slides display to the right of the video viewing area.
Open the slides in another window
Click New Window.
Close the presenter slide area
Click X in the upper-right corner.
Open the presenter slide area
1.
2.
For more information about these controls, see the "Using the Advanced Controls" section on page 4-3.
