VBrick Systems v4.4 manual

StreamPla yer v4.4 User Guide J anuary 2 5, 2007 4410-0003-0005 VBric k StreamPla yer[...]

Copyright © 2007 VBrick Systems , Inc . All rights reserved. 12 Beaumont R oad W allingford, Connecti cut 06492, USA www .VBrick.com This pu blication contains c onfidential, proprie tary , and trade secret inf or mation. No part of this document m ay be copied, photocopied, re produced, transl ated, or reduced to any machine-readable or electr on[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide iii Contents Pref ace Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Font Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Printer-F riendly . .[...]

iv Contents 7. Capture Driv er Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Installing Capture Driv er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 V erifying Installation . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide v Preface This document is written for anyone using or ev aluating StreamPlayer . T he StreamPlayer product family lets y ou view high qu ality MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and Wind ows Media streams (both liv e and on-demand) right from yo ur desktop . Th e StreamPlayer softw are is av ailable in two v ersions: StreamPlayer , a[...]

vi Preface T T o sav e or print a PDF document: 1. Click once to open the PDF document in Acrobat Reader . 2. On the Acrobat Reader toolbar , click Save or Print .[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 1 Chapter 1 Getting Star ted Using StreamPlayer Unless specifically noted, StreamPlayer re fers to StreamPla yer WM, StreamPlay er, StreamPlayer with MPEG-2 Pla yback, and Stream Player Plus . If you ha ve Windo ws XP with Ser vice Pac k 2 installed and are using the Wi ndo ws Firewall (on b y default) you need to follow th[...]

2 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . StreamPlayer Differences Ta b l e 1 . Supported V ersions † Plays MPEG-2 with an MPEG-2 decoder (e.g . a D VD player) on your computer . †† Edits MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 streams only . ††† Outputs raw streaming media for third-par ty applicat ions . Archi ve Pressing the Archived Files button let s you play sto[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 3 Chapter 2 Pla y Playing a Stream StreamPlayer buffers a cer tain amount of da ta before star ting a stream to ensure sm ooth playbac k. Streams with a low er data rate will take slightly longer to star t than those with a higher data rate. StreamPlayer launches Windo ws Media Player to play MPEG/Windows Media video stream[...]

4 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . network connection, and if you tr y to play onlin e content, you receiv e an er ror message. This problem may also occur if y our player is set to Work Offline . T T o force the player to alwa ys assume th at the player is connected to a netw ork: 1. Go to Tools > Opt ions . 2. On the Player tab , under Player set[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 5 Chapter 3 Re c o r d Recording a Stream StreamPlayer Plus only . Recording from VBric ks using StreamPlayer Plus softw are may be done in a number of different modes with va rious protection schemes . T he recording might consist of a single large file or a series of smalle r , or batch, files . Batch files may be set up [...]

6 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . P ass w ord Protection Enter the password if it is a protected stream. St reams can be password protected in a VBrick Appliance in the SAP T ransmit or Enco der Configuration section of a VBric k Appliance (refer to the VB1000-2000-3000 or VB4000-5000-6000 User Guide for instr uctions on how to configure SAPs). Strea[...]

Rec o r d StreamPla yer User Guide 7 Units • Time – Enter the duration in H (h ours), M (minutes) and S (seconds). T he file can be recorded in on e continu ous stream and the length of the recorde d file sp ecified b y duration in seconds or KB . T he minimum number of seconds that can be entered is 1; the default is 1 minu te. An error messa [...]

8 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . Disk Stora ge Requirements Stream recording requires significant disk spac e. One minute of captured video/audio from a 1.2 Mbps stream (a typical MPEG-1 stream or a high bit rate MPEG-4 st ream) requires approximately 9 MB of disk space. By comparis on, 1 minute of capture d video/audio from a 5.5 MB per second stre[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 9 Chapter 4 Pla y/Edit Sa v ed Files Playing Sav ed Files StreamPlayer Plus can play most MPEG and Windo ws Media files, and video can be played directly on a PC after re cording a stream to disk. Select th e Arch iv e button on StreamPlayer to open the video file lo cation. A file browser ma kes it possible to select, open[...]

10 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . Editing Files The Archiv e Editor allows selecting a port i on of the MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video file for immediate playback, and per mits saving this c lip as a new file . The editor is not frame- accurate; rather, it indicates how many seconds from the start of the file that the edited section begins, and how many sec[...]

Play/Edit Sav ed Files StreamPla yer User Guide 11 After entering the Logi n name and P assword, y ou can to br owse the contents of the FTP ser ver by selecting the Br owse button. This is convenient fo r deter mining what video files may already exist on the ser ver . Local File Name The full path name of the f ile to transfer . The default is th[...]

12 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc .[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 13 Chapter 5 Preferences Setting Prefer ences Note that StreamPla yer alw ays uses the l atest Windows M edia Player inst alled on your computer . Y ou cannot c hoose a specific player . General Computer resources allocated to Windows Media Player This setting allocate s computer video resource preferences . Depending on th[...]

14 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . Custom Columns IMGP IGMP (Inter net Group Manag emen t Protocol) is used to receive multicast streams from a network. The latest version of this protocol (version 3) supports Source Spec ific Multicast (SSM). In an SSM- enabled environment, mu ltiple streams can be sent to the same multicast address . Decoders can d[...]

Preferen ces StreamPla yer User Guide 15 MPEG-4 Due to the lower bandwidth nature of MPEG -4 streams , StreamPlayer offers sev eral parameters to tune the receiving of MPEG-4 streams. Buffer Size Sets the buffer size which pro v ides a more smooth viewing experienc e if there is pack et loss . Default (and minimum setting) is 200 milliseconds for U[...]

16 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . Categories StreamPlayer supports Categ ories . Categories allow the sender to restrict the ability of network users to see a stream announcement th e network. F or example, a corpo ration can broadcast financial, sales and en gineering infor mation from se parate VBrick appliances onto a common network. A Categ or y[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 17 Chapter 6 Windo ws Media Pla y er StreamPlayer u ses the latest v ersion of the Wi ndows Media Player installed on y our computer to play a selected stream. (Windows Media Player can be downloaded from the Microsoft website if it isn't already installed on y our PC.) Once a stream is launc hed with Windows Media Pla[...]

18 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . File Options Launching a Stream fr om Windows Media Play er This applies t o entering MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 streams . Open does not work with R TSP on Windows Media Pla yer 7.1 and 9. Th e address on those versions can be entered directly into the IP Address windo w on St reamPla yer . The multicast addr ess and port nu[...]

Windows Media Pla yer StreamPla yer User Guide 19 View Op tio ns Most StreamPlayer Plus options are set under the Preferences tab of the StreamPlayer Plus application but others can be set in the menus Windows Media Pla yer . The Vi ew options make it possible to resize the displa y , choo se a skin, and set other displa y options . View options in[...]

20 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc .[...]

StreamPla yer User Guide 21 Chapter 7 Capture Dri v er MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 only . VBrick's Capture Driv er is a vir tual video capture card. The Capture Driver softw are acts similar to the w ay hardw are capture cards w ork, with the added benefit that it c an receiv e video originating from a VBrick. T he Capture Driver recei ves the MPEG[...]

22 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc . Check Capture Driver and press Next . If y ou hav e previously installed Capture Dri ver then a popup dialog box will appear asking y ou if you wish to remo ve the old v ersion and restart your PC . Y ou must c hoose Yes to install the software . Choosing No will cancel the install. If you se le ct Yes , an addition[...]

Capture Driver StreamPla yer User Guide 23 7. The Properties tab shows VBr ick Video Capture . The General tab repor ts De vice Status . 8. Under Sound, Vid eo and game contr ollers , double-click on Legacy Audio Dri vers . 9. Select the Properties tab . Double-click on Audio Devices . The Audio for VBrick Video Capture will displa y . T he General[...]

24 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc .[...]

[...]

VBrick Systems , Inc . 12 Beaumont R oad W allingfor d, Connecticut 06492, USA[...]