{"id":1914,"date":"2017-03-30T12:42:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T16:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ctl\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2017-03-30T12:42:07","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T16:42:07","slug":"uvms-streaming-media-server-and-online-video-platform-ovp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ctl\/2017\/03\/30\/uvms-streaming-media-server-and-online-video-platform-ovp\/","title":{"rendered":"UVM’s Streaming Media Server and Online Video Platform (OVP)"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Online Video Platform (OVP) is a service for storage, management,and delivery of audio and video. OVPs are trendy, and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>tells us why in their December 2016 article, 7 things you should know about OVPs<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Big names in the OVP \u00a0marketplace include Ensemble<\/a>, ShareStream<\/a>, Kaltura<\/a>, Panopto<\/a>, Techsmith\u2019s Relay,<\/a> Instructure\u2019s Arc,<\/a> Sonic Foundry\u2019s Mediasite,<\/a> and Echo360\u2019s Active Learning Platform<\/a>.\u00a0OVP features vary, but the core functions that allow the upload, conversion, storage, sharing, and playing of video are essentially the same for all platforms. OVP pricing varies, too, with some systems clocking in at $50,000 to $100,ooo per year. That’s one reason why we built our own. Read on …<\/p>\n

A bit about streaming video<\/h2>\n

Streaming video is not all that new. Here at UVM, we had a\u00a0RealMedia Server<\/a> and a Quicktime\/Darwin Server<\/a>\u00a0both dating back to 1999. However, these products were obscure and difficult to use.\u00a0Both servers were retired around May 2015.<\/p>\n

Not all media\u00a0on the web is delivered by streaming. \u00a0A large chuck of content \u2014 in particular audio or video podcasts \u2014 is delivered by simple file download from a standard web server. This content is saved to the users device, and can be played either later at the user’s pleasure or even while the media is downloading. This latter viewing option is known as progressive download<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Streaming video is played as it is received, not stored or cached. It is always\u00a0used\u00a0for live events.\u00a0Pre-recorded Video On Demand (VOD) features fast-start, instant seek ahead or behind. Ideally, the server can adjust sound or video quality on the fly to match available bandwidth. Media is difficult if not impossible to save or copy, and streaming requires a dedicated Streaming server, which\u00a0historically has been clumsy and arcane to prepare, configure, and integrate into web sites.<\/p>\n

Exhibit A: Progressive Download vs. streaming. Same video, different delivery. Which is which?<\/h4>\n

https:\/\/streaming.uvm.edu\/media\/embed\/2935\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/~waw\/podcast_folder\/\/Test\/GOPR0015.MP4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

streaming.uvm.edu is born<\/h2>\n

The UVM streaming server was born serendipitously\u00a0in response to the STEM construction project. The\u00a0Physics Department bought an IP (Internet Protocol) Network camera, hung it out a window in Cook, and pointed it at the construction site. IP cameras stream video use\u00a0the Real Time Streaming Protocol, rtsp, rather than http, yielding ugly URLs like rtsp:\/\/physicscam.uvm.edu\/stream<\/a> that most browsers can’t understand. Soon after, other offices\u00a0wanted construction cams, too. It became quickly apparent that we needed some way to convert these rtsp addresses to http addresses in order to view the cameras on the web. In particular,\u00a0we needed a new streaming server.<\/p>\n

What we got was a product with a cool name: the Wowza Streaming Engine<\/a>. Basic, simple, and surprisingly inexpensive. It did just what we needed: feed it IP camera rtsp streams, it spits\u00a0back, well, something else. So we needed a player widget, too, which understood the something else and provided the play\/stop\/skip etc. controls necessary to render that something else as a video. We chose the JWplayer<\/a> widget. Like Wowza, basic, simple, and inexpensive.<\/p>\n

PhysicsCam Live<\/h4>\n