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NCast Telepresenter M4 Reference Manual

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NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual
NCast Product Specification
Telepresenter M4
Reference Manual
Revision 2.2
March 1st, 2010
M4 Software Release 5.2.0
M3 Series 2 Software Release 5.2.0
Copyright © NCast Corporation, 2010
NCast Corporation
Revision 2.2
Page 1

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Summary of Contents for NCast Telepresenter M4

  • Page 1 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual NCast Product Specification Telepresenter M4 Reference Manual Revision 2.2 March 1st, 2010 M4 Software Release 5.2.0 M3 Series 2 Software Release 5.2.0 Copyright © NCast Corporation, 2010 NCast Corporation Revision 2.2 Page 1...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................... 6 1.1. Purpose ..............................6 1.2. Document Overview ..........................6 1.3. Terms and Definitions ..........................6 1.4. Telepresenter Units ..........................7 1.5. Telepresenter Modes of Operation ......................7 1.6. Startup ..............................10 2.
  • Page 3 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 4.6. Channel Settings – Text Overlays ......................59 4.7. Channel Settings – Upload ........................62 4.8. Channel Settings – Notifications ......................64 5. Archive Page ..........................66 5.1. Archive Settings ........................... 66 6. Sources Page ..........................70 6.1.

  • Page 4: Regulatory Compliance Information

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Regulatory Compliance Information Equipment Label The Telepresenter meets all applicable FCC, CE and ICAN radiation and emission standards: NCast Corporation This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
  • Page 5 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual “How to Identify and Resolve Radio-TV Interference Problems” Stock Number 004-000-00345-4, available exclusively from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 (telephone +1-202-512-1800). FCC WARNING Changes or modification not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance to Part 15 of the FCC Rules could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.

  • Page 6: Introduction

    1.1. P URPOSE The NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual is intended for the Audio/Video or Network engineer who will be tasked with the job of installing and setting up a Telepresenter or a system of multiple Telepresenters. The Quick Start Manual should be consulted for basic setup, power-on of a unit and troubleshooting. This guide is designed to cover topics in greater depth and to assist in optimizing the performance of a Telepresenter.

  • Page 7: Telepresenter Units

    WUXGA (1920x1200) and 1080p resolutions. Includes PIP and overlays. The M3 Series 2 must have been upgraded to the Revision 5.0 software level. Telepresenter M4, M4W – A rack-mounted unit with streaming, archiving, collaboration, capabilities at WUXGA (1920x1200) and 1080p resolutions. Includes PIP and overlays.
  • Page 8 Each endpoint will be transmitting to the other endpoint and simultaneously receiving a stream from the remote unit. Collaboration Mode – Two or more Telepresenters can be engaged in NCast’s proprietary Collaboration Mode. In this mode, one unit is designated as “Conference Coordinator” and all other units are designated as “Conference Participants”.
  • Page 9 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual In addition to these three modes of operation there is the following additional functionality: Webcasting to Desktops – The Telepresenters can generate RTSP media streams which may be unicast to desktops or laptops that wish to join a conference. Commonly available client players allow these presentations to be displayed either full-screen or in a window on an individual’s monitor or LCD display.

  • Page 10: Startup

    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 Sources page select your input feeds from the top two rows of buttons and then on the Channels page click the Channel Start button “1”...
  • Page 11 Transmission can be automated so that all that is required is to press the power- on button. Please feel free to contact NCast Corporation if you have any questions about the use or configuration of the Telepresenter.

  • Page 12: Theory Of Operation

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 2. Theory of Operation 2.1. T ELEPRESENTER OMPONENT LOCK IAGRAM The Telepresenter consists of these main hardware functions: Digitizer Capture Hardware – A specially designed, high-performance PCI card is used to grab and digitize the RGB or video signals created by the presenter or media source. This card accepts VGA, DVI, PAL/NTSC composite or PAL/NTSC S-Video connections and converts those signals to RGB or YUV digital format.

  • Page 13: Digitizer Capture Function

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 2.2. D IGITIZER APTURE UNCTION The digitizer capture card selects one of the available four inputs (VGA, DVI, Composite, S-Video) and locks onto the signal. The signal is converted into the appropriate digital formats, and each pixel in the image is stored in a local memory buffer on the card.

  • Page 14: Archive Disk

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 2.8. A RCHIVE A local hard-drive in the Telepresenter is available for recording transmitted sessions. The file format is standard MPEG-4 (.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 15: Configuration Settings And Parameters Reference

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3. Configuration Settings and Parameters Reference 3.1. U PTIONS ETTINGS The Unit Options page gives the Telepresenter its unique ID and provides a place to enter system-wide settings. The ID and contact information are transmitted over the Internet to identify this Telepresenter as a member of an ongoing conference session.
  • Page 16 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, service@ncast.com. 3.1.4. 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 17: Passwords

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual • Reboot – Shuts down and then restarts the unit. This operation may be needed to clear problems after a power brownout or other unexpected glitch. • Factory Defaults – All operating parameters are reset to the Telepresenter’s initial factory configuration.

  • Page 18: Web Control

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The HTTP API password allows access to archived files. This password permits HTTP access to the archive list, allows downloading of the archive and details file and the removal of one or more archived files. All of these operations utilize special HTTP URLs described in Section 9.3.

  • Page 19: Display Settings

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual This will automatically direct the request to port 443, the standard for HTTPS access. 3.3.2. Certificates and RSA Keys If an organization has purchased an official SSL Certificate, or has created a non-authoritative one (which can be done with many different SSL tools) this new certificate may be uploaded and installed on the Web Control page.
  • Page 20 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual cases the required output resolution size must be set with the pull-down tab. All incoming media streams are scaled to this fixed resolution. There may be a loss of quality if, for example, an incoming XGA image is scaled to SVGA size.

  • Page 21: Custom Settings

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual This parameter allows the operator to decrease the local loopback refresh loading. The local screen will still be updated, but at a rate which provides some relief from excessive use. Reduce the setting from the “Full”...
  • Page 22 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.5.1. Custom Frame Sizes The Channel Table permits the selection of many common, industry standard frame sizes. However, if a special composite image is desired (some combination of Main, PIP and Overlay windows) then the user would probably have to define a custom Frame Size.
  • Page 23 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.5.2. Custom Aspect Ratios The aspect ratio defines the visual geometry of the Frame (capture surface). If the frame width (in pixels) divided by the frame height (in pixels) is the same as the aspect ratio, then square pixels will be displayed.
  • Page 24 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The values for X,Y,W,H may be entered as integers or percents. If integers are used then these are pixel widths and heights or pixel offsets from the upper left corner of the frame. If percents are used, then the dimensions are scaled to the current size of the frame area (e.g.
  • Page 25 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Overlay graphics can be uploaded dynamically, allowing scheduling tools and scripts to automatically change the presentation graphics and layouts at prescribed times (e.g. to conform to speaker times and track changes at a conference). See Section Error: Reference source not found for details on dynamic upload.

  • Page 26: Network Settings

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Text overlays can implement dynamically displayed text such a news tapes, stock tickers, closed captions, and for other purposes such as changing the name of the speaker for a presentation due to a last-minute change of presenters or participants Details of using Custom Text Overlays are discussed in Channel Table setup (Section 4.6).
  • Page 27 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The static IP address to be used by the unit in numeric form (www.xxx.yyy.zzz). Not required if DHCP is enabled. 3.6.3. Netmask The IP netmask in use for this LAN segment (e.g. 255.255.255.0). 3.6.4. Gateway The numeric IP address of the gateway host on this LAN segment (e.g. www.xxx.yyy.1).

  • Page 28: Telnet Settings

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual dhcp=(bool)0 dns_1=(string)204.89.223.4 dns_2=(string)204.89.223.44 ethernet=(string)auto gateway=(string)204.89.223.1 ipaddress=(string)204.89.223.25 netmask=(string)255.255.255.0 ntp=(bool)1 The “dhcp” keyword accepts two values: 0 which means disabled (no dhcp, use static addresses) or 1 which means enabled (use dhcp, dynamic addresses). The “dns” values identify the domain name servers. The “ethernet”...

  • Page 29: N-Way

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.7.3. IP restriction This limits the valid IP addresses, which may send commands to the Telepresenter. Normally this field should contain a single IP address, which is the IP of the controller in charge of the Telepresenter. Thus, if the password is compromised an attacker will still not gain access to the unit.

  • Page 30: Scheduler

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.9. S CHEDULER 3.9.1. Overview The Telepresenter Scheduler is a feature that allows the manager of one or more Telepresenters to schedule these appliances through use of a Google calendar or through use of industry-standard iCalendar files. The...
  • Page 31 (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 Telepresenters where the web-based Google Calendar is the administrative interface for defining session start/stop times for one or more Telepresenters within a customer’s network.
  • Page 32 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.9.5. Creating Scheduled Events To create an event click on a time-slot and fill in the following fields: The "What" field must contain (anywhere in the field) the letters “M3” to identify this as a Telepresenter event.
  • Page 33 Telepresenter the results will occur in the order scheduled 3.9.7. 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 34 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The NCast Scheduler can read standard iCalendar (.ics) files containing scheduled events, and can control Telepresenters based on the contents of these events. 3.9.9. Using an iCalendar File There are three basic steps to use an iCalendar file with the NCast Scheduler: 1.
  • Page 35 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.9.12.Configuration These parameters control scheduler process: • Google calendar – Enables or disables scheduling using Google Calendar data. • Google username – The account containing the calendar to be used. • Google password – Password for the above account •...

  • Page 36: Notifications

    3.9.16.External Scheduler Program There is an external utility program available (in the Python programming language) which may be used to schedule multiple Telepresenters from a single, central location. Check the download area of the NCast website for this utility. 3.10. N...
  • Page 37 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual This dropdown menu selection enables or disables the system-wide e-mail notification service. It does not affect Channel notification activity. 3.10.2.E-mail address Enter the e-mail address of the administrator to be informed about system-wide events. 3.10.3.E-mail from address Enter the e-mail address denoting the source of this email (this unit).

  • Page 38: Logs

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 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. Selecting “Info” will report Info level events, but not others. You must also select “Critical” and “Error” to be informed about events classified as Critical and Error.
  • Page 39 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.11.1. View Event Logs Many events during the operation of the Telepresenter are recorded in the Event Logs. These Logs are part of the Event Notification System discussed in Section 3.10. 3.11.2. View Serial Logs Serial command activity can be initiated from the RS-232 connector or the Telnet interface. Serial commands are also used with the Scheduler interface.

  • Page 40: Update Tool

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 3.11.3. 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” button which will create a .zip file of recently logged activity.
  • Page 41 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Once the “Update” button is pressed the Telepresenter downloads a list of required files and their timestamps. Files which are missing or out-of-date are downloaded and installed. The unit will then reboot and becomes ready for service again with the new software release.

  • Page 42: The Channel Table

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 4. The Channel Table 4.1. C HANNEL ETTINGS A channel is a collection of parameter settings that defines the operating characteristics for a streaming, webcast or collaborative session. Just as Channel 2 on your TV defines the video carrier to be “55.25 MHz.”, Channel 2 on a Telepresenter might define the graphics multicast address to be “239.192.0.1”.

  • Page 43: Channel Settings - General

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual • Recording – Recording options and archive naming • Layout – Frame size and placement of the Main and PIP windows • Image Overlays – Definition of graphical overlay images to be used • Text Overlays – Definition of text overlays to be used •...
  • Page 44 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Channel 4 – Telepresenter A participates in a collaborative session on multicast address 239.192.2.0 Channel 5 – Telepresenter A establishes a full-duplex session to B using unicast point-to-point Channel 6 – Telepresenter A establishes a full-duplex session to C using unicast point-to-point The channel tables in units B and C are setup to complement these assignments.
  • Page 45 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The passing of “floor control” triggers two important events for the participants in the conference. First, the media stream being generated by the Coordinator is shut down, and a new media stream being generated by one of the participants starts up. Only one graphics media stream is present on the network, leading to constant network utilization in terms of traffic load or bandwidth used.
  • Page 46 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The default settings for a Telepresenter use Administratively-Scoped multicast addresses. This implies that streams created using these addresses will not exit the organization’s network. If the network is not multicast enabled, point-to-point communications between two Telepresenters is possible by entering the numeric IP address of the remote unit into this field.
  • Page 47 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual For the lowest bit rate, 128 kbps, a resolution of 640x480 and a frame-rate of 5 frames/second for graphics or 10 frames/second for video are recommended. There is no way to define the optimum settings for a given application. It depends on the material being presented, the expectations for motion smoothness and embedded video performance, the equipment available to the receiving audience, the maximum network bandwidth available, and other factors.
  • Page 48 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Sample Rate Channels Bit Rate Quality 11 kHz. Mono 16 kbps. Phone 22 kHz. Mono 32 kbps. FM radio 44 kHz. Mono 64 kbps. 44 kHz. Stereo 128 kbps. Stereo CD If audio is not to be transmitted or recorded, it may be disabled here as well.
  • Page 49 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual always on the server (SDP files describe the media being streamed and other details such as port assignments). Typically the SDP file is transferred when a session starts and during the session when the SDP file changes.
  • Page 50 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The port number assigned to the conference control protocol. See the discussion above (Graphics ports) for more detailed information on ports. Note that the Conference Port fields will only be visible if the Channel is setup as a Collaboration channel.

  • Page 51: Channel Settings - Recording

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual quality. Increasing max quantizer too much may cause the encoder to skip frames in order to maintain the target framerate. This is a video encoder option - it doesn't affect the decoder. 4.2.23. Graphics CBR Buffer Sets the Constant Bit Rate buffer size in seconds.
  • Page 52 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Three options are available for control of recording: Manual – Recording must be started and stopped by the user via controls on the Session page or by the room controller via one of the serial interfaces.
  • Page 53 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Enter information about the Title of the session being recorded (e.g. class or course number, conference session title, meeting name, etc.). This information is entered as meta-data about the recorded archive and will be captured in the .xml data file associated with the archive.

  • Page 54: Channel Settings - Layout

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Sometimes a media file is placed on a web server and is played without the assistance of a streaming server. In such instances the location of the media data required for progressive download needs to be optimized.
  • Page 55 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual an overlay graphic. A “Main” and “PIP” side-by-side composition would also dictate that the Main image only occupies one-half of the capture surface area. Next, if the secondary “PIP” stream is enabled, its (X,Y) placement and (W,H) dimensions are overlaid on the frame.
  • Page 56 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual In a typical conference it is quite common to have different input resolutions during the course of one session (graphical input from laptops set for SVGA and XGA resolution, and video input from a camera). These different resolution images can be transmitted in their native dimensions, or stretched or shrunk to some common size for the webcast or the recording.
  • Page 57 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual This menu selection item allows specification of five standard aspect ratios and ten custom aspect ratios (which are defined in the Custom menu under the Configuration tab). “Square pixel” derives the aspect ratio from the given capture width and height.
  • Page 58 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 4.4.4. PIP Video/Graphics Window This pull-down menu specifies the positioning of the secondary (PIP) image input onto the frame. The most common selection would be one of the corner settings (Top-left, Top-right, Bottom-left, Bottom-right). The custom window selections (Window 1, Window 2, ...) allow for placement of the PIP window in arrangements not covered by the standard selections.

  • Page 59: Channel Settings - Image Overlays

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 4.5. C – I HANNEL ETTINGS MAGE VERLAYS Customized images may be added to the media stream being created. These images would typically be corporate or organizational logos, trademarks or watermarks, copyright statements, media content or date annotation, or descriptive information on the course or presentation being viewed (speaker, topic, etc.).
  • Page 60 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual RS-232 or Serial Telnet IP commands. See the Telepresenter Serial Reference Manual for details on these commands. Text overlays can implement dynamically displayed text such a news tapes, stock tickers, closed captions, and for other purposes such as changing the name of the speaker for a presentation due to a last-minute...
  • Page 61 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Specifies a minimum distance (in pixels) between the frame of a window and the text. This option keeps the text from crowding or adjoining the edge of the window. 4.6.7. Foreground (R/G/B/A) The (R,G,B) color values for the text and alpha value (transparency setting) for the characters are specified here.

  • Page 62: Channel Settings - Upload

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Format Function String 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 63 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual The system marks an archive for automatic upload right after it was created if auto upload is enabled. If auto upload is disabled archives are not marked and will be not uploaded even when auto upload is later enabled.

  • Page 64: Channel Settings - Notifications

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual • (S)FTP username - FTP server username • (S)FTP password - FTP server password • FTP anonymous login - login as anonymous (username & password are not used) • (S)FTP upload directory - directory where to upload archives, which may be absolute or relative •...
  • Page 65 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual to inform a presenter or lecturer that the recordings and transcodes have completed and are available on the VOD server. See Section 3.10. for detailed information on the entries required for this page. 4.8.2. Channel N Settings – Notification Events A subset of all system-wide events is available for Channel-specific notifications.

  • Page 66: Archive Page

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 5. Archive Page 5.1. A RCHIVE ETTINGS The Telepresenter units with archive disks allow complete recording of audio and graphics streams onto a hard-drive for later retrieval and playback. The estimate for recording time is a simple calculation based on the bit-rate set for the channel.
  • Page 67 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Note that during recording two separate files (one video, one audio) are being created and at the end of recording these two files must be multiplexed into a single .mp4 file. This multiplexing is not permitted during active Sessions.
  • Page 68 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual </archive> The use of XML format allows the content to be encoded in the Unicode (UTF-8) character set. The <main_window> and <pip_window> tags record the position of these windows at the start of a session. This information may be useful for downstream video editing processes which wish to extract video or graphics details from these windows.
  • Page 69 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 5.1.11. Editing Archive Files There are several tools which have been used to edit and manipulate MPEG-4 archive files: Quicktime Pro, Adobe After Effects and Streamclip. There may be, and probably are, other tools as well, but these are known to work.

  • Page 70: Sources Page

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 6. Sources Page 6.1. S OURCES ETTINGS The Sources Page controls what graphics/video or audio inputs will be sent to the compression engines. 6.1.1. Main input The user may select one of the following graphics/video sources for capture as the primary image:...
  • Page 71 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual If Autodetect is selected the hardware will search for an active signal from one of the input connectors. If more than one signal is present, then the first one detected will be utilized. The Swap button is used during Picture-in-Picture (PIP) setups. The Main and PIP inputs will be exchanged when the button is toggled.
  • Page 72 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual When the Audio Meter pushbutton is on, two pairs of audio meters appear on the local loopback display connected to the Telepresenter. The audio meter window is never transmitted over the network nor recorded as part of the media stream.
  • Page 73 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Audio Gain Charts Mic Gain Amplification Line-in Gain Amplification Output Gain Output Level Mute Mute Mute -18.0 -6.0 dB -37.3 dBu -16.5 -4.5 dB -33.2 dBu -13.5 -1.5 dB -28.8 dBu -12.0 0.0 dB -24.9 dBu -9.0...
  • Page 74 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual For each Control there are four adjustments for the four different inputs: XGA, DVI, Composite and S-Video. There is no Sharpness control for XGA or DVI, as this control applies to the video inputs only. 6.1.17. Video Preview This button launches a new web page with a single-frame capture of the composite image currently being encoded and compressed.

  • Page 75: Information Pages Reference

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 7. Information Pages Reference 7.1. S ESSION The Session Page summarizes the current operational state of the Telepresenter. The bulk of the information listed here comes directly from the Channel Table parameters. When a Session is started, the Channel in use is queried and all addresses, ports and other controls listed for the Channel are activated.

  • Page 76: Viewers Page

    The Viewers Page lists units that are currently on-line and active in this Session. This information is derived from RTCP (Real-time Control Protocol) reports and from information obtained through use of the NCast Conference Protocol. The descriptive information comes from entries made in each unit’s Unit Options page.

  • Page 77: View Page

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual In Collaboration Mode the Coordinator is able to select which participant has floor control by highlighting a Viewer and clicking on the selection. 7.3. V The View 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 78 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Access controls on the “Passwords” page may be used to restrict viewing to selected users or groups. For small organizations and departments this page will be sufficient for most uses. However, for larger organizations or for universities the functions of this page should probably be duplicated on the streaming media pages of the organization’s website.

  • Page 79: Vlc Media Player

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 5. The browser passes the file information to the application by giving the application the filename or the location of the file. 6. The application (the client media player) reads the contents of the SDP file and determines how many media streams must be requested, what types of audio/video codecs are required to process the media, and what type of connection (multicast, RTSP) is required.

  • Page 80: Closed-Caption Support

    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 Telepresenter streams. Contact NCast Corporation for details concerning availability of its MPEG-4 plug-in. Some other application has associated with one of the above file extensions.
  • Page 81 Subtitle 1 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,800 Subtitle 2 The NCast Telepresenters support real-time caption or sub-title capture through use of serial commands which define timings and durations of sub-title text. See the Telepresenter Serial Interface Reference Manual for complete details. 7.6.2.
  • 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 Telepresenter Reference Manual 8. Custom Layouts 8.1. F RAME AYOUTS AND RESETS The main Frame of a Telepresenter composition consists of the following elements: • The Main Window • The PIP Window (optional) • Graphical Overlays (1-4) • Text Overlays (1-4) •...
  • Page 84 For archival purposes or for playback on hi-definition 16:9 screens the following 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 Telepresenter Reference Manual 8.1.3. Overlay Layout Placement Conference rooms or presentation auditoriums typically have the speaker’s podium to the right or left of the projection screen being viewed by the audience. A potential problem in using the PIP video window or speaker shot as a side-by-side layout is to position the window in the wrong spatial relationship to the screen being discussed by the presenter.
  • Page 86 Here is an example of a mismatched left-right alignment: 8.1.4. 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...
  • Page 87 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual HASTAC Conference, courtesy of Duke University TeraGrid Conference, courtesy of UCSD Virtual Teams Conference, courtesy of Media-X HP Historical Presentation NCast Corporation Revision 2.2 Page 87...

  • Page 88: Telepresenter Interfaces

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

  • Page 89: Http Interface - Archive Download

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual #!/bin/bash # Stops a Telepresenter session using the telnet interface if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then echo "This script stops a Telepresenter session using the telnet interface." echo "Synopsis: stop.sh address password" exit ADDRESS=$1 PASSWORD=$2 ( echo "IdTelnet,002,$PASSWORD"...
  • Page 90 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual if ($passwd == "") then echo "m4files: M4 password required" echo "Usage: m4files.tcsh host password" exit 1 endif # Get list of current archive files if (-e m4-filelist) then rm -f m4-filelist endif wget $verbosity --output-document=m4-filelist --http-user=backup --http-passwd=$passwd http:// $m4ip/backup/list.cgi...
  • Page 91 #! /usr/bin/python """ ncfiles.py -- A Python program to download NCast archive files This program allows downloading of archive files from one or more Telepresenters. It requires installation and use of the Python programming language. The most recent versions of the language may be installed by visiting "www.python.org" and downloading the correct binaries for Windows, Linux, Macs or other platforms.
  • Page 92 A simpler alternative is to create a shortcut to "ncfiles.py" and then using the Properties tab for the shortcut enter the required arguments: "C:\Documents and Settings\owner\My Documents\Python\ncfiles.py" 192.168.0.5 Please send comments or questions to "info@ncast.com". Copyright (2005) NCast Corporation All rights reserved """...
  • Page 93 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual files.append(file) filelist.close() if debug: print "ncfiles: Download list", files if len(files) == 0: print "ncfiles: No files to download" return True # Download each file for mp4 in files: url = "http://" + host + "/backup/download/" + mp4 print "ncfiles: Downloading", url...
  • Page 94 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual filein.close() fileout.close() # Remove file if requested if remove: url = "http://" + host + "/backup/remove.cgi?file=" + mp4 if debug: print "ncfiles: Removing", url try: filerm = urllib2.urlopen(url) except urllib2.URLError, msg: print "ncfiles: Urllib2 error (%s):" % msg return False except socket.error, (errno, strerror):...

  • Page 95: Http Interface - Image And Thumbnail Capture

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual hostlist.extend(args) if inputfile : try: f = open(inputfile, 'r') for line in f: host = line.strip(' \n\r') if host == "": continue if host[0] == '#': continue if host[0:4] == 'pswd': pswd = host[5:] continue print "ncfiles: Adding host", host, "to list of hosts"...

  • Page 96: Http Interface - Graphics Overlay Upload

    -u api:ncast -F "overlay_1_file=@test.png" http://w.x.y.z/api.cgi The following program is an example of a Python utility which may be used to upload multiple new graphics images on command (check the NCast website for the latest version of this program): #!/usr/bin/env python Tool to upload graphical overlays to an NCast Telepresenter.
  • Page 97 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual password = 'ncast' images = {} try: getopt_func = getopt.gnu_getopt except AttributeError: getopt_func = getopt.getopt shortopts = 'dhp:v1:2:3:4:' longopts = ('debug', 'help', 'pswd=', 'version', 'g1=', 'g2=', 'g3=', 'g4=') try: opts, args = getopt_func(sys.argv[1:], shortopts, longopts) except getopt.GetoptError, e: print >>sys.stderr, 'Error: %s' % str(e)
  • Page 98 'ncgo: uploading image(s)' url = 'http://%s/api.cgi' % server # Create an OpenerDirector with support for Basic HTTP Authentication... auth_handler = urllib2.HTTPBasicAuthHandler() auth_handler.add_password(realm='NCast Telepresenter', uri=url, user=username, pass- wd=password) opener = urllib2.build_opener(auth_handler) # ...and install it globally so it can be used with urlopen.

  • Page 99: Techniques For Presentation Capture

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Techniques for Presentation Capture 10.1. 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 100 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual the A/V equipment in the room the day before the recording, if possible, or to consult with the A/V staff to plan how these video, graphics and audio connections will be made. There are several ways to solve this problem: •...

  • Page 101: Conference Day Problems And Issues

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual • Lavalier Microphone – The best audio capture is through use of wireless lavalier (lapel) microphone on the speaker. Including one in the Telepresenter gadget bag is a really good idea. The levels will be consistently correct (through experience), and the results will be predictable.

  • Page 102: Video Post-Production

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual talk or tell a story while this speaker transition is occurring. It is hard to capture clean recordings when one presentation runs right into the next one. • 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 103 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual To use Streamclip to trim a file, follow these steps: Open the .mp4 file to be trimmed 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”...
  • Page 104 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual Drag the slider to the end of the new clip and select an “Out” point where the new clip ends Save the file as a new .mp4 file. You should override the “.mov” suggested suffix with “.mp4”.

  • Page 105: References

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 11. References 11.1. MPEG C OMPRESSION ISO 14496-12 - ISO base media file format ISO 14496-14 - MP4 file format 11.2. 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 106: Revision History

    NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual 12. Revision History • Revision 2.2 – Revision for changes in Release 5.2. A new Event Notification System with emailed notices and warnings. Transcoding to Theora. DVI output support. Local archive playback and an Archive trash can implementation. Video preview windows and thumbnails. A new HTTP API with additional commands for image grabs.
  • Page 107 NCast Telepresenter Reference Manual “Auto-start” option is now available for a Channel. The Archive detail files now support Unicode and are in XML format. The .txt files are no longer available. • Revision 1.0 – Initial revision based on software Release 2.7.4.

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