Video Contents

Audio
Cameras
Capture Cards
Check List
FAQ
Firewire
Flash Cards
Indexed Powerpoint
Mice
Monitors
MP3
NetMeeting
NetShow
Links
Real
PCMCIA
Powerpoint
Premiere
Projectors
Setup Guide
Tape to ASF
Telephones
To do
Tripods
USB
Vendors
Video decks

December

NetShow

Links

Contents

Overview

The basic idea is that we generate a file that contains the audio and video along with slide flips and then make that file available on the web for later viewing.

Examples

To see sample NetShow/Powerpoint talks, you need to be a GSRC Website member. The talks can be found on the Gigascale site under Publications->Talks

If you are running Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can try looking at Brooks Cutter's ppt2k presentation with video and slide flips This page will not work with Netscape Communicator

Requirements

Powerpoint97

Locally, we have used Windows Media Presenter to capture talks.

Windows Media Presenter requires the NetShow 3.0 or 3.1 encoder or the Windows Media Player 4.1 Encoder, and it can run under NT4.0 workstation or Windows 2000. We have not tested any software under Windows 95 or 98, as those software packages are not operating systems, they are toy single user single tasking software packages from hell.

Window Media Player (WiMP)

In the Windows Media Player (WiMP) that ships with NetShow 3.0 Help->About Windows Media Player shows that it is version 6.01.05.0217

The WiMP that ships with 4.0beta has a version number of 6.02.05.0410

The WiMP that ships with 4.1 has a version number of 6.4.05.0809 (Gary's laptop, which was failing)

6.4.7.1028 WMP 6.4 with multi-bit rate (MBR) updates for Internet Explorer

The WiMP that a user was having problems with under NT is 6.4.07.1112 - WMP 6.4 with MBR updates (minor error messaging updates from 6.4.7.1028)

The WiMP that ships with Windows 2000 is 6.4.09.1190 or 4.1.0.3920 (I think) Versions 6.4.9.* WMP 6.4 for Windows 2000 only (cxh's W2k laptop)

The WiMP v6.4 is not supported under Windows 2000.

The WiMP 7 beta is 7.00.00.1304. It works under Windows 2000, but not NT. Note that WiMP 7 does not support msbd previewing, but does support html previewing while the encoder is running.

7.00.00.1956 is another version that has been seen under NT

In 9/01, the default version was 7.01.00.3055

5/03: 9.00.00.2980

Windows Media 7.x and later will not work under NT

Windows Media SDK 7.1 requires Direct X 6.0 or later.
When trying to install Windows Media Encoder SDK 7.1, it says

This application requires DirectX Media 6.0 or higher. Please install the DirectX Media 6.0 or greater run-time from www.microsoft.com/directx. Select Yes to continue and No to abort Setup.

Setup has detected an earlier version of the Windows Media Encoder installed on your system. Setup will leave the previous Encoder version installed on your system but will upgrade the program links to reference Windows Media Encoder v7

Set up has detected that you are running an older operating system. Windows Media Player 7 is supported on Windows 98 and Windows 2000

<ASX Version = "3.0">
<Entry>
	<Ref href ="http://10.0.0.1/gsrc/talks/2000/losangeles/01/01.asf" />
</entry>
</ASX>

AddType video/x-ms-asf asf asx

Shure gain -> Mackie trim ->Mackie channel slider -> dbx -|
                                                          |
 ----------------------------------------------------------
 |
 |-> dbx -> Mackie master -> Winnov card -> Videum Audio Mixer

1. On the presentation machine, or on another machine that has the Powerpoint 97 Windows Media plugin, for each talk, open the .pptfile and then do Tools->Windows Media Presenter->Export Slides.
   Typically, the Powerpoint file should be in the same directory on the web server as the other files, which would be: \\10.0.0.1\\wwwrootgsrc\\talks\\year\\city\\talknumber\\talknumber.ppt

   The slides should be exported to a partition that is mounted on the encoder machine. Typically, this would be \\10.0.0.1\\wwwrootgsrc\\talks\\year\\city\\talknumber

   Currently, we are exporting the slides as gifs so that they are not lossy.

   We use the default settings for size: 480x360

   Regina Pistilli writes

   Occasionally, I have had problems with complex slides exporting from PPT. Then I use SangIt on the slide that doesn't export; delete all the info on the troubled slide in PPT and re-export; finally replace the blank GIF with the SangIt file.

   The standard size for GSRC and DAC is 480wide x 360 height GIFs.
   We use GIFs instead of jpegs because GIFs are lossless. It would be nice if we could export PNG

2. Each talk should have a The Netshow Encoder File (.nse). This file can be created ahead of time.
To create this file, start Powerpoint, go to Tools->Windows Media Presenter->New Windows Media Encoder Settings File
(Or, you can copy a .nse file from another page, and change just the Base URL)
The dialog box should look like
   Encoder: the name or IP address of the Encoder. (10.0.0.1)
   Base URL: "This is the URL for the location of the slides on the IIS Server. The BaseURL is important because when you move from slide to slide in the presentation, Windows Media Presenter appends the name of each image to the URL, and then sends this URL as a script command to the client"
We used to set Base URL to something like http://10.0.0.1/gsrc/talks/2000/city/talknumber/talknumber
(Note that the talknumber/talknumber is repeated.)
   However, this requires having the html page include javascript that does not work very well under Netscape.
   A better solution is to leave this blank, which will use the current directory.
   We export slides as gifs so that they are lossless, so for Image Format:, select GIF
   Ignore Errors from Netshow Encoder should be checked
   Connect to a running Netshow Encoder should be checked
   Reconfigure using ASD File should be not be checked.
   It is fairly easy to overwrite the .asf file from the previous talk. So, each time the server is configured, we reconfigure it with a new .asd file.
   There should be a different .asd file for each talk. Each .asd file should have a separate output .asf file. These files are generated using the encoder on the presentation machine by using Save As.

   The asd file is accessed remotely from the presentation machine, so the file should be named something like \\\\10.0.0.1\wwwgsrcroot\talks\2000\city\talknumber

   Use this configuration with current slide show should be checked
3. On the presentation machine, go to Tools->Windows Media Presenter->Presenter Settings and enter in the path to the .nse file. This might be: \\10.0.0.1\\wwwrootgsrc\\talknumber\\talknumber.nse
   Also, check the Use Netshow Encoder during the slide show box. You might want to uncheck this if the author wants to test slides
4. Save the Powerpoint file

Right before the first talk

1. Replace batteries on wireless mouse, wireless mics, laser pointers
2. Check laser pointers
3. Start the video tape back up rolling.

Right before the talk

1. Watch the sound levels on the Mackey and the Videum Audio Mixer
2. Start up PowerPoint for the speaker, and open up their slides, which should be in \\10.0.0.1\wwwrootgsrc\talks\year\city
3. Go to Tools->Windows Media Presenter->Presenter Settings and select Use Windows Encoder during the slide show
   Note that even if you save the .ppt file with this set, when you bring it up, it will not be set.

At the start of the talk

1. Stop, then exit the encoder from the previous talk
2. Copy the .asf from the previous talk to a safe place
3. On the encoder machine, start up the encoder by clicking on the .asd file.
4. On the encoder machine, start up the encoder by pressing the play button (small triangle, like a tape deck)
5. If possible, blank the projector so that the audience is not distracted by the setup process on the presentation machine.
6. On the presenter machine via PCAnywhere, go to the powerpoint file open it, goto Tools->Windows Media Presenter->Presenter Settings and select Use Windows Media Encoder during the slide show, check the other settings, then wait until the encoder is running and start the slide show with Alt-d-v.

During the talk

1. Watch the soundlevels on both the Mackey Mixer and the Winnov Audio mixer. The Winnov vu meter on the should rarely reach the red. Usually, each time the meter hits the red, then the audio output of the encoded stream will click because of clipping.
2. You can monitor the talk via the web from a third machine.
   The encoder will display two addresses like
   msbd:///10.0.0.1:7007
   http:///10.0.0.1:1041
3. Verify that the video tape deck is rolling

During a break or lunch

1. Back up the previous .asf files
2. Swap 9v batteries in the wireless mikes
3. Swap tapes in the tape deck
4. Set up for the next talk and start the encoder early - we have had many problems starting the first talk, it is easier to cut out 10 minutes of kruft than it is to reboot at the last minute
5. Check out the .ppt and .asd files for the next section.
6. Be sure that there is enough disk space (figure 1mb/minute)
7. Take slides from speakers

Dinner Capture

At the GSRC Workshops, we occaisionally capture a dinner presentation.  Most dinner speakers use transparencies generated from Powerpoint files.  Often, the ppt file is only available after the presentation.  To capture these presentations, the trick is to create a large talk with 50 empty pages and then follow along with the speaker and advance the slides on the presentation machine.

The Dinner Capture setup consists of a subset of the regular setup - we use only the encoder, the presentation machine and the wireless mic.

• IBM 600 Base with PCI Video Card and powercable
• Encoder Laptop with ethernet card
• Presentation Laptop with ethernet card and A/C Adapter
• Wireless mouse
• Crossover Cat5 ethernet cable
• Optional: ethernet hub, powersupply and 10' and 50' ethernet cables
• Wireless Shure Mic + basestation
• Optional: small mackie, XLR M/F cable, head phones
• 1/4" mono/mini plug
• Spare batteries 9V, AA, AAA
• Video Camera + power supply + remote 
• Tripod
• SVideo cable
• Laser pointer
• XGA Projector + vga cable
• Optional: Overhead projector
• Two long extension cords (overhead projector + recording setup)
• Plug Strip
• Duct Tape.

After the capture

1. For each presentation
   Use the ASF Indexer to truncate the start of the talk, and add a Script Event for the first slide.
   Under Windows Media Tools 7(?) use the ASF Indexer, under Windows Media Player 9 Series, install the Encoder, and use Start -> All Programs -> Windows Media -> Utilities -> Windows Media File Editor
   generate slide GIFS
   Use PowerPoint 97 to save as HTML - make sure the html works under IE and Netscape.

   With ppt2k and Netscape 4.7, do not use dhtml - it will not work with Netscape

   The 'save as' option under ppt2k is somewhat broken.

   There is a menu choice to save as html in a format that is compatible with Netscape 3.0 and later. This menu choice produces dhtml that does not work with Netscape 4.7, in particular, the slides look like hell, the GSRC logo at the top is present twice, and there are other problems.

   There are three menu choices, which go something like:

   IE5

   IE4 and Netscape3 and later

   all other browsers

   Choose the 'all other browsers' menu choice
   Generate PDFs (2 up). Generating PDF requires Adobe Acrobat and having the PDF printer setup.
2. Edit the following files:

   mkallasx.sh

   Add each talk to this file

   mkasx.sh

   change the paths from the previous workshop to the current workshop, and update the title.

   lib/footer.htm

   Update the name of the workshop

3. Split up any asf files that contain multiple talks.
   There are two ways to do this:
   Have each subtalk be in a submenu of the main talk
   Have each subtalk be at the same level as the rest of the talks.
   To have each subtalk be in a submenu, modify mkallasx.sh so that the call to mkasx includes the optional 4th level argument:

   ./mkasx.sh 12c/12c.asf "subtalk" "subtalk author" 1
   	

   To have each subtalk be in its own menu, don't use the optional 4th argument

   ./mkasx.sh 12c/12c.asf "subtalk" "subtalk author"
   	

   No matter how the talks are displayed, for each subtalk, do the following:
   1. Create subdirectories for each talk.
      If the asf file is called 12.asf and it contains 3 subtalks, then create three subdirectories

      	mkdir 12a 12b 12c
      

   2. Copy the master asf file to each subdirectory

      	cp 12/12.asf 12/12a.asf
      	cp 12/12.asf 12/12b.asf
      	cp 12/12.asf 12/12c.asf
      

   3. Use the asf indexer to truncate each talk
   4. Copy the powerpoint file to each subdirectory

      	cp 12/12.ppt 12/12a.ppt
      	cp 12/12.ppt 12/12b.ppt
      	cp 12/12.ppt 12/12c.ppt
      

   5. Truncate the ppt file and save it as html and pdf
4. Run make. If, when running make you receive the following error:

   bash-2.02$./mkallasx.sh > index.html
   ./mkallasx.sh: not found
   make: *** [all] Error 127
   bash-2.02$
   

   then you need to verify that /bin/sh.exe exists in your current directory structure. If it does not then you will need to do the following which is basically copying bash.exe into /bin and renaming it sh.exe:
   

   bash-202$ type bash
   bash-202$ <cygwin-b20/H-i586-cygwin32/bin/bash.exe /bin/sh.exe
   bash-202$ make
   

   How make works: When you type

   make
   

   the make.exe executable looks for a makefile and then runs the first rule it finds, in this case the all: rule

   In this case

   make
   

   and

   make all 
   

   do the same thing, which is run the all: rule.

   The all: rule executes the command:

   ./mkallasx.sh > index.html
   

   which runs the mkallasx.sh shell script and puts the output of that script into the index.html file.

5. Place the ASF files in the asfroot directory in order that they function properly.
6. Check the files under both IE and Netscape. Ideally, we should also from a machine outside of the eecs domain.

Updating the website

Click Start->All Programs -> Accessories -> Communication ->Remote Desktop Connection.

Enter Gigavault.eecs.berkeley.edu as the host you wish to connect to.

1. Update http://www.gigascale.org/pubs/talks/ by editing gsrcwww/pubs/talks/index.htm in the gsrcwww cvs repository and adding the new workshop
2. Update http://www.gigascale.org/ by editing php/index.php3 in the php cvs repository and adding the new workshop under News. Remove the reference to the recent workshop in the past
3. Update http://www.gigascale.org/calendar/workshops/ so that the recent workshop is mentioned in the 'Recent Workshops' section.
   For information about changing this file, see How do I author About, Calendar and People?

Summary Of Staff Time

I think it could be done with 3 people, but 4 makes it easier.

Bugs

1. A couple of debugging hints

   In Netscape, if you type in javascript: into the Location entry widget at the top, then you will be able to view any javascript errors.

   If you right click on the video widget, there should be an errors menu choice that will show you errors like the URL that the video widget was trying to open

2. After installing Netshow 3.0, then 4.0 and then downgrading to 3.0, we were not able to run the MPEG-4 encoder, the error message was Video compressor failed to start. This message comes from /Program Files/NetShow Services/Tools/NsRex.exe. The problem was that /WINNT/System32/mpg4c32.dll was updated with the 4.0 installation. The fix was to copy that file from a 3.0 installation.
3. When I watch a presentation on a 760XD, the video is blurry. This is a know problem with some video drivers.
   The fix is to start up the Windows Media Player and go to File>Properties>Advanced, and then select Video Renderer in Filters in use and hit Properties. In the Filter Properties window, select the DirectDraw tab and then unselect YUV Flipping
4. The user needs to go to Tools->Windows Media Presenter->Presenter Settings and select Use Netshow Encoder during the slide show We should figure out a way to avoid this, PC Anywhere helps here.
5. What happens if the URLS to the slides need to be moved?

   The problem is that when we recorded the GSRC April 99 offsite with the Powerpoint 97 plugin, we used an absolute URL to encode the slides. We did this so that we could view the asf as the talk was being recorded to be sure that everything was working.

   We thought that we would be able to change the URLs later, but the problem is that the script commands that do the URL flips are encoded in the stream, and the Windows Media Tools ASF Indexer associated with older versions of Windows Media does not operate on the stream, instead it operates on script commands at the front of the file. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get at these commands

   The fix was to use scripting events to catch the slide flips and rewrite them. The way this is done is that the javascript code has a regular expression that matches the bad URL and substitutes in a new, correct URL.

   Sometimes, one asf file will have incorrect urls. For example 10.asf and 11.asf might both refer to gifs in the same directory, even though these are different talks. The fix is to modify the IE and Netscape javascript files for one of the talks so that the proper URL is substituted in.

6. What happens if you don't have any slide flips at all?

   If the primary encoder fails and you are working from the backup encoder or a video tape, then the asf stream will not have any slide flips at all.

   If this is the case, then you need to play the problem .asf file and write down the times of each slide flip. Then add these to the asf file using the Windows Media ASF Indexer found at (Start -> Program -> Windows Media -> Windows Media ASF Indexer)
   Under Windows Media Tools 7(?) use the ASF Indexer, under Windows Media Player 9 Series, install the Encoder, and use Start -> All Programs -> Windows Media -> Utilities -> Windows Media File Editor

   Windows Media ASF Indexer instructions

   1. Start up the Windows Media ASF Indexer or the
   2. Open an existing .asf file that has the proper slide flips. (Starting from an existing file makes it easier to get the format right)
   3. Export the script file for the working asf file with File->Export Script File
   4. Edit that file and add your slide flips for the problem asf file. You may want to change the Title etc.
   5. Open up the problem .asf file
   6. Import the script file with File -> Import from Script file
   7. Play the .asf file and be sure that the flips happen after the presenter presses the button. Note that there can be timing issues around the key frames and the delays.

   Windows Media File Editor Instructions

   Under Windows Media Player 9 Encoder Start -> All Programs -> Windows Media -> Utilities -> Windows Media File Editor
   1. Copy the .asf file to the local machine - everything will be faster
   2. Open the .asf file
   3. During the capture, the encoder records the slide flips as events in the body of the file. To operate on the script events, the events have to be moved from the body of the asf file to the header.
      Move the Script to the header: File -?> Move Scripts to Header
   4. Part of moving the scripts to the header requires that you save the file
   5. Export the header: File -> Export header file
   6. The resulting header file has double wide characters, so don't open it with Emacs, open it with Notepad and substitute the proper urls. Inside Notepad, I did
      1. Edit -> Replace
      2. Find what: http://10.0.0.1/gsrc
      3. Replace with: http://www.gigascale.org/pubs
      4. Replace All
      5. Save and exit
   7. In Windows Media File Editor, reimport the new script: File -> import header file
   8. Unfortunately, there is a bug. Even though the header file has <RemoveAllMarkers /> <RemoveAllScripts</> the previous script flips remain. The fix is to hit the Script Commands button and remove the old http://10.0.0.1 script events
   9. Save the file
   10. Copy it back up to the server - be sure to save the old file on the server
7. If you try to play back a .asf file, and you get an unknown error in the Windows Media Player, then try upgrading the Windows Media Player
8. The Nady mics eat batteries - replace them in the morning, at the morning break, at lunch, at the afternoon break.
9. The Windows Media Audio V2 encoder does not sound good with voice, use the ACELP encoder instead.
10. If the .ppt file is large then you may want to copy it from the encoder machine to the presenter laptop so that the start up time is faster.

9/01

Mozilla 1.1/Netscape 7 and Windows Media Player (11/02)

Under Netscape 4.x, we use the NPDS.npDSEvtObsProxy applet to register a call back so that each time we get a slide flip in the stream, we can adjust the URL.

Initially, the problem was that a message about obsApp not being inited showed up in the status area. One fix to this was to copy c:/Program Files/Windows Media Player/npds.zip to c:/Program Files/java/j2re1.4.1/lib/ext/npds.zip However, npds.zip extends netscape.plugin.Plugin, which is part of LiveConnect, which is present in Netscape4.x, but not Netscape 6,7 or Mozilla 1.1, so this fix does not really solve the problem.

Between Netscape 4.x and Mozilla 1.1, the plug-in technology changed, see http://mozilla.org/projects/plugins/scripting-plugins.html

Real.com overview of embedding viewers: http://service.real.com/help/library/guides/realonescripting/browse/htmfiles/embedint.htm
Perhaps one solution would be to have Netscape 7 users install the Premium version of Real One that will read asf files?
http://www.expressresponse.com/cgi-bin/progsnp/real_rec/srchjnnp?search_type=fdocument &search_input=rap01741updv.html&session_id=1037911291.27375.8&template= says that the Premium Version supports .asf files
Unfortunately, the Premium Version of Real is $5.95/month.

See the Mozilla Plugin doc at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/
and a description of the Windows Media Player Plugin and Mozilla at: http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/wmpwin.html
and a description of where Mozilla looks for plugins at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/notes.html
Searching google for JavaScript callback plugin group:netscape.public.mozilla. Yields some interesting hits.

There is a good description of the sort of problem that was present between Windows Media Player and Netscape 6.x at http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2001/ms-wmp/ It is unclear whether this problem persists in Netscape 7

Netscape 6.2 and 7 preview release 1 both say that there might be problems viewing embedded Microsoft Media Players. However, the Netscape 7 final release notes do not have this mentioned? http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/ns62/relnotes/62.html, http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/ns7/relnotes/7pv1.html#plugins

Microsoft has "Using Windows Media Player with Netscape Navigator" http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp ?url=/library/en-us/wmplay/mmp_sdk/usingwindowsmediaplayerwithnetscapenavigator.asp, which looks Windows Media Player 9 specific.

However, if I use their example code:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Netscape test with WNPNS.WMP</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<SCRIPT>
if (navigator.appName == "Netscape") {
  document.writeln('<APPLET NAME="Player" HEIGHT="200" WIDTH="200" CODE="WMPNS.WMP">');
  document.writeln('  <PARAM NAME="URL" VALUE="url.asx"/>');
  document.writeln('</APPLET>');
} else {
  document.writeln('<OBJECT ID="Player" height="200" width="200"
      (newline here to make this page readable)
      CLASSID="CLSID:6BF52A52-394A-11d3-B153-00C04F79FAA6">');
  document.writeln('  <PARAM name="URL" value="url.asx"/>');
  document.writeln('</OBJECT>');
}
</SCRIPT>

Netscape security model is no longer supported.
Please migrate to the Java 2 security model instead.


Netscape security model is no longer supported.
Please migrate to the Java 2 security model instead.


java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: sun/awt/DrawingSurface
	at WMPNS.WMP.getHWND(WMP.java)
	at WMPNS.WMP.start(WMP.java)
	at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(AppletPanel.java:370)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)

See ppt/pptindex/README.htm for a possible solution