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NCast Hydra Reference Manual

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NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual
NCast Product Documentation
Presentation Recorder Hydra
Reference Manual
Revision 1.0
October 14th, 2015
PR-Hydra Software Release 9.0.0
Copyright © NCast Corporation, 2015
NCast Corporation
Revision 1.0
Page 1

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  • Page 1 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual NCast Product Documentation Presentation Recorder Hydra Reference Manual Revision 1.0 October 14th, 2015 PR-Hydra Software Release 9.0.0 Copyright © NCast Corporation, 2015 NCast Corporation Revision 1.0 Page 1...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1. Introduction............................. 6 1.1. Purpose............................6 1.2. Document Overview......................... 6 1.3. Presentation Recorders – Hydra...................... 6 1.4. Presentation Recorders – Connector Options..................6 1.5. Presentation Recorder – Phoenix Balanced Audio Connectors Wiring..........7 1.6. Presentation Recorder – Control 1 Connector Wiring..............7 1.7.
  • Page 3 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 8.3. Audio.............................. 74 8.4. Advanced............................75 8.5. Overlays............................76 8.6. Previews(1/2)..........................77 9. Viewer Interface and Media Players..................... 78 9.1. View Stream........................... 78 9.2. VLC Media Player.......................... 79 9.3. Media Players..........................80 9.4. Closed-Caption Support......................... 80 10.

  • Page 4: Regulatory Compliance Information

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Regulatory Compliance Information Equipment Label The Presentation Recorder meets all applicable FCC, CE and ICAN radiation and emission standards: Report 4103-1 Electromagnetic Compatibility Test Report 47 CFR Part 2 Subpart J Paragraph 2.906 Report 4103-2 Electromagnetic Compatibility Test Report 44366 S.
  • Page 5 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at the expense of the user.

  • Page 6: Introduction

    The PR-Hydra-R brings unique capabilities to the Presentation Recorder lineup in being able to simultaneously record and stream two hi-def images for capture or live viewing.

  • Page 7: Presentation Recorder - Phoenix Balanced Audio Connectors Wiring

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual • VGA In – RGBHV Input from the presenter's PC • HDMI-1 – Video input from cameras or computers + Audio • HDMI-2 – Video input from cameras or computers + Audio • DVI-D – Digital input •...

  • Page 8: Presentation Recorder - Control 2 Connector Wiring

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Signal Description Trigger 1 Active low, drive with relay Ground Trigger 2 Active low, drive with relay Ground 1.7. P – C RESENTATION ECORDER ONTROL ONNECTOR IRING There is a second serial port (reserved for future use) and two connections which may be used by an external controller or relay to power the unit on/off or reboot the system.

  • Page 9: Presentation Recorder - Installation

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 1.8. P – I RESENTATION ECORDER NSTALLATION The diagram below shows a typical room installation (single or dual stream): NCast Corporation Revision 1.0 Page 9...

  • Page 10: Quick Start

    2. When you see the bootup screen with the IP network address, log into the unit at http://ipaddress using “admin” as the user and “ncast” as the password. 3. On the Quick Start page select your Channel Layout, your Video Sources, your Audio Sources and then press Start.

  • Page 11: Dual Streaming And Recording

    2.2. D TREAMING AND ECORDING A significant new feature of the PR-Hydra is the ability to simultaneously, and in sync, stream and record two hi-def media streams. 2.2.1. Primary Stream The Primary Stream accepts input from all connectors listed above and provides for PIP options of all inputs with the exceptions listed in Section 1.4.
  • Page 12 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Single Stream Dual Stream 2.2.4. Local Confidence Monitor & Loopback Displays In single-stream mode the Main/PIP windows of the Primary Stream will be displayed, by default, on the HDMI Out connector. The VGA display will be blank or will have the OSD window if enabled.

  • Page 13: Presentation Recorder Modes Of Operation

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 2.3. P RESENTATION ECORDER ODES OF PERATION The Presentation Recorders have six major modes of operation: Record to File – The Presentation Recorder only records the file to storage. Once the Session has ended the file may be automatically uploaded to a video-on-demand server for later playback by client PCs or mobile devices.
  • Page 14 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual storage and once the Session is finished the archive may be uploaded to a distribution server or to a locally attached USB drive. Send a Stream to an RTMP Server – For live streaming the Presentation Recorder sends an RTMP protocol stream to a streaming server, CDN or Presentation Server where fanout occurs and the media is distributed to multiple receiving PC's or mobile devices.

  • Page 15: Quick Start Configuration And Setup

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 3. Quick Start Configuration and Setup 3.1. Q UICK TART RGANIZATION The Quick Start page is the primary control page for the Presentation Recorder and has six distinct functional areas: Channel Selection – A Channel is a preset or template containing all layout and startup •...

  • Page 16: Channel Selection

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 3.2. C HANNEL ELECTION A Channel is a preset containing all the layout and startup parameters needed for a streaming or recording session. There are seven categories of channel parameters: • General – The Channel name and the type of Channel operation desired.

  • Page 17: Source Selection

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual When a streaming or recording Session is started, the Main, PIP and Dual video/graphics input connectors and the Audio input connectors can be forced to a known state or “Not Modified” (left as they are prior to Session start).
  • Page 18 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Similarly, the audio inputs are selected by the audio button. Choices include: • Mic – Microphone jack input • Line-in – Line jack input • XLR – Balanced audio input • HDMI-1 – Audio from HDMI-1 source •...

  • Page 19: Streaming Start/Stop

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 3.4. S TREAMING TART The Streaming Start button activates a streaming/recording session based on the Channel parameters and the selected video and audio sources. Once activated the View button allows reception of the transmitted stream using an appropriate media player.

  • Page 20: Status Bar

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 3.6. S TATUS The Status Bar at the bottom of the page creates a real-time report of the activity underway and has indicators for Streaming and Recording operations, Audio levels and the state of the selected Main, PIP and Dual input signals.
  • Page 21 USB Disk – The encoder is “off net” and a USB thumb drive will supply the required files. The Network option is normally used to update the encoder, and in the case of a closed or secure network requiring USB drive files, please contact a customer support person at NCast for assistance in doing a USB update.

  • Page 22: The Channel Table

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4. The Channel Table 4.1. C HANNEL ETTINGS A “Channel” is a preset or template, a collection of parameter settings that defines the operating characteristics for a streaming webcast or a recording session. Just as Channel 2 on your TV defines the video carrier to be “55.25 MHz.”, Channel 2 on a Presentation Recorder might define the graphics...

  • Page 23: Edit Channel - General

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.1.1. Channel Initiation At the left edge of each channel icon is a Start button. Pressing this button activates all the parameters for the Channel and a new Session based on these settings is started.
  • Page 24 Channel 1 – The PR-Hydra unit transmits using multicast address 239.192.0.0 Channel 2 – The PR-Hydra unit receives using multicast address 239.192.0.0 Channel 3 – The PR-Hydra unit initiates RTMP streaming to the required CDN. Enter a descriptive name for the channel that makes sense to the administrators or users.

  • Page 25: Edit Channel - Frame Size

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.2.3. Select Media The media choices: ◦ Video & Audio – Record with all media, video and sound ◦ Video – Create a video recording with no sound ◦ Audio – Create an audio recording with no video 4.2.4.

  • Page 26: Edit Channel - Layout

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Once the frame is defined, the next step is to check for correct aspect ratio. 4.3.2. Set Aspect Ratio The aspect ratio of an image is the visual width divided by the visual height. For most computer systems “square pixels”...
  • Page 27 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.4.3. Background A Background graphic or “underlay” may be enabled (and uploaded) to the recorder. It is positioned as the lowest level graphic in the composition. All other windows and overlays will placed on top of this graphic.
  • Page 28 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Also, a text overlay may be a calendar time and date stamp to burn in the exact time a recording was done. Text overlays can implement dynamically displayed text such a news tapes, stock tickers, closed...

  • Page 29: Edit Channel - Profile

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Format String Function Abbreviated weekday name (for example Sun) Full weekday name (for example Sunday) Abbreviated month name (for example Jan) Full month name (for example January) Day of the month (01 to 31) Archive description...

  • Page 30: Edit Channel - Customized Profile Settings

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Each channel can be assigned a video quality (bit-rate) level. Use the standard settings or choose Custom (see the section below). 4.5.2. Set Audio Profile This menu pulldown selects the bandwidth and encoding properties of the audio media stream associated with the graphics stream.
  • Page 31 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.6.2. Frame-rate The video frame-rate represents the number of frame (visual image) grabs per second the system will attempt to achieve. The range of this setting is 1-60 frames per second. At HD720 resolutions, dropping the frame rate to lower values (5 frames/second, for example) allows a broader range of lower performance PCs to successfully decode the received presentations.

  • Page 32: Edit Channel - Network

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual the bit-rate to the maximum permitted, which is 10,000 kbps. Reducing the bit-rate, frame-rate and resolution will allow older PCs operating at lower performance levels to decode the received imagery without skips and stutters. For the full frame-rate and bit-rate at HD720 resolutions modern PCs in the 2 GHz.+ class are required.
  • Page 33 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual All units in one session use the same multicast address. The Video and Audio multicast addresses for a session can be the same if the Port numbers are different. Units engaged in different sessions should...

  • Page 34: Edit Channel - Rtmp Streaming

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual network jitter and latency, but, depending on network connection, it can cause packet loss and bottlenecks. If burst network transmission is acceptable, it is possible to disable this option to get extra low video latency. This is a video encoder option - it doesn't affect the decoder.

  • Page 35: Edit Channel - Recording

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.8.2. Port Number Port number 1935 is standard for this service. Enter an alternate number if your server is configured differently. 4.8.3. Stream Name Enter the name of the live stream. This name must be unique for each encoder broadcasting to the server.
  • Page 36 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual • Manual – Recording must be started and stopped by the user via controls on the Quick Start page or by the room controller via one of the serial interfaces or via the REST API.
  • Page 37 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Using this formatting notation, the default value of the format string for standard archive filenames is this: %Y%m%d-%H%M%S-%n The counter variables start at 0001 or 000001 and go to 9999 or 999999. Only one counter variable is permitted per filename.

  • Page 38: Edit Channel - Upload

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual check this box if Final Cut import will be needed as it adds to the post-processing time required for the file. 4.9.11. Enable Blackout on Pause and Resume? This option adds a fade-in/fade-out special effect when the recording is paused.
  • Page 39 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.10.3.Remove Recording After Upload is Finished? The recording will be removed after the archive has been transferred to its target location. Actually, the recording is not removed but is placed into the Trash Can where it remains until accumulated Trash exceeds the space allocated for it.
  • Page 40 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The Upload information is specified on a Channel basis. Since each Channel has its own unique target information, different target locations may be accessed by starting or using different Channels. For example, if the Session starting at 9:00 am needs to be uploaded to Dept. A's server, and the Session starting at 10:00 am needs to be uploaded to Dept.
  • Page 41 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual For FTP transfer the use of anonymous login does not require any credentials. 4.10.13. Set Username The user account for the server. 4.10.14. Set Password The password required for the user account 4.10.15. Set Upload Directory The name of the directory where archives will be placed, which may be an absolute or relative name (from the home directory of the account).
  • Page 42 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.10.18. Universal Serial Bus Upload The Presentation Recorders are able to transfer ready archive files to a locally inserted USB drive. Due to the wide variety (and often poor performance) of USB sticks, all archive files are first recorded and finished on the internal storage of the unit and then transferred to the external USB drive.
  • Page 43 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.10.19. Presentation Server Upload to a Presentation Server utilizes a specialized open-standards protocol (the Matterhorn Capture Agent REST API). The credentials to access a Presentation Server are setup in the Configuration → Presentation Server tab.

  • Page 44: Edit Channel - Notifications

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.11. E – N HANNEL OTIFICATIONS The Presentation Recorder has an extensive system of notifications by e-mail for routine and extraordinary events related to Channel operation. Events can be informational, like “Archive uploaded” or “Recording Started Normally”, or they can be error reports such as “Recording Start Failed - Disk Full”...
  • Page 45 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 4.11.2.Channel N Settings – Notification Events A subset of all system-wide events is available for Channel-specific notifications. A system-wide event would report the start of ANY Session, whereas a Channel-specific event would only report the start of activity on Channel N.

  • Page 46: Archives

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 5. Archives 5.1. A RCHIVE ETTINGS The Presentation Recorder units allow complete recording of audio and graphics streams onto internal storage for later retrieval and playback. The estimate for recording time is a simple calculation based on the bit-rate set for the channel.
  • Page 47 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The final processing of an archive file occurs when a Session has ended. If a Session is active an archive file may be in an incomplete state listed as “Captured” or “Processing”. After pressing the “End Session”...
  • Page 48 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The “video_format” types currently supported are “mpeg4” and “h264”. There is currently only one audio format available, “aac”. 5.1.3. Upload Button Clicking on this button marks this archive file for immediate upload (via FTP or Secure FTP) to the configured FTP server (see Section 4.10 for details on (S)FTP server setup).
  • Page 49 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual • Cleaning up a file by removing unneeded material at the beginning, end or in the middle of a file. • Converting archive files to another format (e.g. conversion to RealMedia or WindowsMedia formats). •...

  • Page 50: Configuration

    The Contact e-mail should be the address of the owner/administrator of the unit or an address where questions or service requests concerning the unit are sent. The email address should be formatted according to RFC 822, for example, info@ncast.com. 6.1.4. Contact Phone The Contact phone should be the number of the owner/administrator of the unit or a number of a service desk, which a user could contact for help with regards to the media stream being generated.

  • Page 51: Time

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The location of the unit. The degree of precision of the location is at the discretion of the systems administrator. For example, one might enter “Sunnyvale, CA” or “Room 23B, Building 5, San Jose Campus, 2050 Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA”.

  • Page 52: Network

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual There will be some time offset with clock drift, so if running manually the clock time needs to be rechecked on a periodic basis. 6.3. N ETWORK The Network Configuration page is used to set and report parameters related to the IP address of the unit and its behavior on an Internet network.
  • Page 53 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 6.3.3. Netmask The IP netmask in use for this LAN segment (e.g. 255.255.255.0). 6.3.4. Gateway The numeric IP address of the gateway host on this LAN segment (e.g. www.xxx.yyy.1). 6.3.5. Primary DNS The numeric IP address of the primary Domain Name Server (DNS) for this LAN segment (e.g.
  • Page 54 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 1000hd (auto negotiation, 10, 100, 1000 Mbps, Full or Half Duplex). These values are case sensitive. The other keywords require numeric IP addresses or netmasks as shown above. The “ntp” parameter enables or disables network time protocol within the unit. If enabled, the Presentation Recorder must be on a network where access to public network time servers is available.
  • Page 55 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual IP-FORWARD-MIB TCP-MIB UDP-MIB HOST-RESOURCES-MIB DISMAN-EVENT-MIB NOTIFICATION-LOG-MIB For security reasons and to prevent unwanted use and probes of your network it is advised to change all the default settings in the SNMP configuration window to private, custom values.

  • Page 56: Web

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 6.4. W The Web tab provides for security settings and selection of the type of HTTP protocol access to the encoder. Also, the Admin and Coordinator passwords may be changed on this page. 6.4.1. HTTP/HTTPS Access Normal web access, which is unprotected and insecure, is accomplished through use of the HTTP protocol typically utilizing port 80.

  • Page 57: Display

    The PR-Hydra has two display outputs: HDMI and VGA. In normal operation the Main/PIP window is shown on the HDMI display and the Dual window is shown on the VGA display. These assignments may be swapped.

  • Page 58: Telnet Settings

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The OSD positioning controls (Top-left, Top-right, Bottom-left, Bottom-right) allow the meter display to be set in an area of the screen that does not obscure other important windows (like the PIP window, for example). 6.5.5. Configure OSD...

  • Page 59: Scheduler

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Choose a password, which has random characters and numbers and is at least 8 characters in length. Unfortunately, Telnet protocol sends this password in clear-text, so network sniffers may be able to compromise this entry.
  • Page 60 (e.g. clock widgets, PDA’s, other calendar systems) to access and create events within a Google calendar. NCast has taken advantage of this programmable API to implement a scheduling system for Presentation Recorders where the web-based Google Calendar is the administrative interface for defining session start/stop times for one or more Presentation Recorders within a customer’s network.
  • Page 61 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The "What" field (Title shown above) must contain (anywhere in the field) the letters “PR720” to identify this as a Presentation Recorder event. Additional words can further describe the nature of this entry (e.g., “Chem 101”, “Weekly Staff”, etc.).
  • Page 62 Presentation Recorder the results will occur in the order scheduled 6.7.7. iCalendar Overview There are many different calendar applications in use, both PC based and Web based. NCast provides a facility to utilize these other calendar applications to generate schedules through a file interchange standard known as “iCalendar”.
  • Page 63 ToDo’s, meeting invitations and blog entries between different computer applications, and indeed, many different programs now support this standard (including Google Calendar). The NCast Scheduler can read standard iCalendar (.ics) files containing scheduled events, and can control Presentation Recorders based on the contents of these events.

  • Page 64: Presentation Server

    There is an external utility program available (in the Python programming language) which may be used to schedule multiple Presentation Recorders from a single, central location. Check the download area of the NCast website for this utility. 6.8. P RESENTATION ERVER 6.8.1.

  • Page 65: Notifications

    Verify that the encoder is seeing the event using the “View Schedule” test button. At the scheduled time the encoder should be recording. Upload should work the same way as a manual event. Please contact NCast if any of these steps are not working. 6.9. N OTIFICATIONS The PR-HD Series has an extensive system of notifications by e-mail for routine and extraordinary events during its operation.
  • Page 66 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Event are categorized by their severity level (Info, Warning, Error and Critical), and by their specific action or type (e.g. Session start, Recording start, etc.). Events can be system-wide (e-mails are sent to the system administrator) or Channel specific (a subset of events is associated with a single Channel and sent to an e-mail address associated with that Channel).

  • Page 67: Custom

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 6.9.11.Select Events This button brings up a checkbox menu which allows selection of notifications by severity level or by type. There are two methods by which to choose a notification to be reported: • Select by event type – Any event which is assigned the selected severity level is reported.
  • Page 68 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 6.10.2.Texts Text formatting variables (%0 through %9) may be used to define the Title, Presenter and Description fields. Normally these variables are initialized and changed through the use of serial commands (TA-TJ). This table lists and allows editing of the ten available text formatting strings.
  • Page 69 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 6.10.4.Trash Can Size The Trash Can size specifies how much of the disk may be used to store trashed (deleted or removed) files. If the trashed files exceed the spec then the oldest ones are removed until the trash limit is reached.

  • Page 70: Status

    • Archive space available • Mainboard temperature • Fan speed When reporting problems to NCast it is very helpful to copy and send this information as part of a trouble ticket. 7.2. N ETWORK 7.2.1. IP Address Details The Network tab reports the IP address and other related parameters currently in use. The MAC address is frequently needed to register this device on corporate or university networks.

  • Page 71: Event Logs

    Logs are part of the Event Notification System discussed in Section 6.9. 7.3.2. Download Logs Log reporting is an important tool which NCast uses to diagnose any problems, whether they hardware or software, bugs or operational issues. When reporting a problem, please click on the “Download Logs”...
  • Page 72 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 7.4.2. Download Logs Log reporting is an important tool which NCast uses to diagnose any problems, whether they hardware or software, bugs or operational issues. When reporting a problem, please click on the “Download Logs”...

  • Page 73: Sources

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 8. Sources 8.1. V IDEO The Sources line on the Quick Start page controls what graphics/video or audio inputs will be sent to the compression engines. 8.1.1. Main input The user may select one of the following graphics/video sources for capture as the primary image:...

  • Page 74: Dual Input

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual may be placed adjacent to and outside the Main image (picture-out-of-picture, POP, side-by-side). The following table shows Main/PIP combinations which are available: MAIN \\ DVI-A DVI-D HDMI-1 HDMI-2 3G-SDI COMPOSITE Duplicat Comp DVI-A Comp Duplicat...

  • Page 75: Advanced

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual The audio line-in gain adjusts the signal level from the line-in connector to the input of the audio codec. A reference signal of 0.0 dBu (0.775 V RMS) on the line-in connector will produce maximum sample values with the line-in gain set to approximately 21.

  • Page 76: Overlays

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual These buttons control fine positioning of the Graphics image (VGA, DVI-A input connector only). The image will move a few pixels to the left, right, up or down when these buttons are activated. The center button attempts to center the image properly on the screen.

  • Page 77: Previews(1/2)

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 8.5.2. Text Overlays Enables or disables display of text overlay 1-4. Text overlays are initialized from the Channel Table presets and after Session start may be changed though use of serial commands or via the Edit button shown above.

  • Page 78: Viewer Interface And Media Players

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 9. Viewer Interface and Media Players 9.1. V TREAM The View Stream dialog box on the Quick Start page allows users at their desktops or laptops to launch client media players, which will receive and decode the media streams for playback to the user.

  • Page 79: Vlc Media Player

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 2. On the web page, when the playback link is clicked, the browser sends a request to the server to retrieve the requested SDP file. 3. The server, upon receiving this request, dynamically generates an SDP file based on the current channel and media parameters in use.

  • Page 80: Media Players

    A codec required for playback has not been installed. Windows Media Player does not natively support MPEG-4 files and needs a plug-in to be installed to properly decode Presentation Recorder streams. Contact NCast Corporation for details concerning availability of its MPEG-4 plug-in.
  • Page 81 Subtitle 1 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,800 Subtitle 2 The NCast Presentation Recorders support real-time caption or sub-title capture through use of serial commands which define timings and durations of sub-title text. See the Presentation Recorder Serial Interface Reference Manual for complete details.
  • Page 82 MAGpie 1.0 can be used to export the captions to three multimedia formats: SAMI, RealText Apple's Timed Text and SMIL (which can also be used by Apple and Real). Magpie 2.02 is the newest version, and adds functionality for Flash, and can play NCast’s MPEG-4 media files. The tool can be found here: http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/#v2 World Caption is a program written by a University of Wisconsin staff member and is distributed free.

  • Page 83: Custom Layouts

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 10. Custom Layouts 10.1. F RAME AYOUTS AND RESETS The main Frame of a Presentation Recorder composition consists of the following elements: • Text Overlays (1-4) (optional) • Graphical Overlays (1-4) (optional) • A PIP Window Border (optional) •...
  • Page 84 For archival purposes or for playback on hi-definition 16:9 screens this example gives the dimensions of a 720p layout that NCast and its customers have used successfully to capture conference proceedings and other seminars. The capture window used is WXGA at 1280x720 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio.
  • Page 85 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual To create this composite the following steps are required: 1. Go to the Channels tab and mouse over the Channel icon to be modified. Click “Edit”. 2. Complete the information required in the General dialog and click “Next”.
  • Page 86 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual If the podium is to the left of the projection screen (as viewed from the audience) the following layout shows the correct positioning for the PIP window: The point being made here is that in planning for a conference or seminar recording, rooms may have a...
  • Page 87 Channel 15 Channel 24 10.1.3.Customer Layout Examples NCast customers and associates have created some outstanding examples of graphically interesting and aesthetically pleasing layouts using this overlay facility. The following are some examples of captures done from live conferences: HASTAC Conference, courtesy of Duke University...
  • Page 88 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Virtual Teams Conference, courtesy of Media-X HP Historical Presentation NCast Corporation Revision 1.0 Page 88...

  • Page 89: Presentation Recorder Interfaces

    Telnet Interface. One such program is called the “Presentation Recorder Management System” and there is a version written in Java. See the “Download” area of the NCast web site. An example of the interface implemented by PMS is shown here: For simple operations such as starting and stopping a Presentation Recorder from a controlling system, simple scripts will be adequate.

  • Page 90: Rest Interface - Archive Download

    You can upload a channel overlay with this command: curl -0 --digest -u admin:ncast -F "overlay_1_1_file=@test.png" http://192.168.0.100/rest/files/upload This will upload the first overlay on Channel 1. Option "-0" is required because lighttpd is not handling HTTP 1.1 upload correctly.

  • Page 91: Theory Of Operation

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 12. Theory of Operation 12.1. P RESENTATION ECORDER OMPONENT LOCK IAGRAM The Presentation Recorder consists of these main hardware functions: Capture Hardware – A custom designed, high-performance module is used to grab and digitize the RGB or video signals created by the presenter or media source.

  • Page 92: Compression

    12.8. A RCHIVE A 1 TB drive in the Presentation Recorder Hydra is available for recording transmitted sessions. The file format is standard MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264, .mp4), which can be played on a variety of desktop client players, or these same files can be installed on a video-streaming server for on-demand playback over the Internet.

  • Page 93: Techniques For Presentation Capture

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Techniques for Presentation Capture 13.1. W EBCASTING ODCASTING AND RCHIVING The new world of webcasting meetings and conferences, recording presentations and running effective distance learning operations requires some thought, planning, and understanding of the objectives to be met for the operation.
  • Page 94 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual • VGA Splitter – A VGA splitter is a small distribution amplifier which accepts a VGA signal as input and provides two or more VGA signals as output. The VGA splitter plus two extra cables is all that’s required. One cable (a short one, one or two meters in length) connects the output of the presentation PC to the splitter.

  • Page 95: Conference Day Problems And Issues

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual • House Audio – If the conference staff is setting up audio, ask for a feed from their mixer. It is usually easy to get a balanced or unbalanced feed (if asked for in advance). A balanced feed going into a small mixer (e.g.

  • Page 96: Video Post-Production

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual • Session Length – If the cameras are recording a backup copy of the sound and video (which is a really good idea) the MC must know that MiniDV tapes only record for an hour (or some other length of time) and need to be changed at some point.
  • Page 97 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Open the .mp4 file to be trimmed NCast Corporation Revision 1.0 Page 97...
  • Page 98 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Drag the slider to the starting sequence of your new clip and select the “In” point where the new clip should start Align the “In” point to the nearest key frame. This is required to eliminate pixelation and picture breakup at the start of the new clip.
  • Page 99 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual Save the file as a new .mp4 file. You should override the “.mov” suggested suffix with “.mp4”. If this file will be used on a streaming server, the “hint” tracks must be added to the file.

  • Page 100: Terms And Definitions

    PIP – A picture-in-picture function overlays one video or graphics image with a reduced- sized version of another video image. Presentation Server – NCast's Open-Standards video and presentation content management system and video-on-demand server. REST - REpresentational State Transfer (REST) is a style of software architecture for distributed systems such as the World Wide Web.
  • Page 101 NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual S-Video – A video connector (usually DIN style) where luminance and chroma information are transmitted on separate wires or cable pairs. Provides for a higher fidelity image than a composite connection. SDI – Serial Digital Interface, a coax based standard for digital video signal interchange.

  • Page 102: References

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 15. References 15.1. MPEG C OMPRESSION ISO 14496-12 - ISO base media file format ISO 14496-14 - MP4 file format 15.2. P ACKET RANSMISSION IETF RFC 3550 “RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications”, H. Schulzrinne, et. al., July 2003 IETF RFC 3551 “RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences with Minimal Control”, H.

  • Page 103: Revision History

    NCast Presentation Recorder Reference Manual 16. Revision History • Revision 1.0 – Initial revision based on software Release 9.0.0. NCast Corporation Revision 1.0 Page 103...

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