Summary of the content on the page No. 1
VBrick
StreamPlayer
StreamPlayer v4.4
User Guide
January 25, 2007
4410-0003-0005
Summary of the content on the page No. 2
Copyright © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 Beaumont Road Wallingford, Connecticut 06492, USA www.VBrick.com This publication contains confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information. No part of this document may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any machine-readable or electronic format without prior written permission from VBrick. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and VBrick Systems assumes no responsibilit
Summary of the content on the page No. 3
Contents Preface Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Font Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Printer-Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v 1. Getting Started Using StreamPlayer . . . . . . . . . .
Summary of the content on the page No. 4
7. Capture Driver Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Installing Capture Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Verifying Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Using a Captured Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary of the content on the page No. 5
Preface This document is written for anyone using or evaluating StreamPlayer. The StreamPlayer product family lets you view high quality MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and Windows Media streams (both live and on-demand) right from your desktop. The StreamPlayer software is available in two versions: StreamPlayer, a view-only component, and StreamPlayer Plus which also allows recording and editing of MPEG streams. It is important to note that the StreamPlayer software you have installed opens diffe
Summary of the content on the page No. 6
To save 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. vi Preface
Summary of the content on the page No. 7
Chapter 1 Getting Started Using StreamPlayer Unless specifically noted, StreamPlayer refers to StreamPlayer WM, StreamPlayer, StreamPlayer with MPEG-2 Playback, and StreamPlayer Plus. If you have Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed and are using the Windows Firewall (on by default) you need to follow this procedure. The first time that you launch StreamPlayer or StreamPlayer Plus you will see an error message. Click Unblock. The next time you run StreamPlayer Plus you will not see this
Summary of the content on the page No. 8
Archive Pressing the Archived Files button lets you play stored video files. If StreamPlayer Plus is installed, it also allows users to edit MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video files and FTP video files. Help Launch the online help system. Minimize or close the application. Preferences The Preferences button allows the user to modify the StreamPlayer default settings. IP Address IP address of selected stream. Port Port number of selected stream. StreamPlayer Differences Table 1. Supported Versions Versi
Summary of the content on the page No. 9
Chapter 2 Play Playing a Stream StreamPlayer buffers a certain amount of data before starting a stream to ensure smooth playback. Streams with a lower data rate will take slightly longer to start than those with a higher data rate. StreamPlayer launches Windows Media Player to play MPEG/Windows Media video streams on the PC. There are several ways to play video through StreamPlayer. To play a stream in StreamPlayer use one of the following methods: • Double-click on any Program Title in the
Summary of the content on the page No. 10
network connection, and if you try to play online content, you receive an error message. This problem may also occur if your player is set to Work Offline. To force the player to always assume that the player is connected to a network: 1. Go to Tools > Options. 2. On the Player tab, under Player settings, check the Connect to the Internet check box. See the following URL for more information: http://support.microsoft.com/ default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;838101 4 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc.
Summary of the content on the page No. 11
Chapter 3 Record Recording a Stream StreamPlayer Plus only. Recording from VBricks using StreamPlayer Plus software may be done in a number of different modes with various protection schemes. The recording might consist of a single large file or a series of smaller, or batch, files. Batch files may be set up so that recent files overwrite earlier ones. Live streams might have the ability to record them suppressed or allowed through a password. The recorded stream can be the current stream b
Summary of the content on the page No. 12
Note The file name extension for MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, is .mpg. For MPEG-4 it is .mp4. For Windows Media it is .wmv. Password Protection Enter the password if it is a protected stream. Streams can be password protected in a VBrick Appliance in the SAP Transmit or Encoder Configuration section of a VBrick Appliance (refer to the VB1000-2000-3000 or VB4000-5000-6000 User Guide for instructions on how to configure SAPs). StreamPlayer Plus can record password-protected streams if the password is k
Summary of the content on the page No. 13
Record Units • Time – Enter the duration in H (hours), M (minutes) and S (seconds). The file can be recorded in one continuous stream and the length of the recorded file specified by duration in seconds or KB. The minimum number of seconds that can be entered is 1; the default is 1 minute. An error message will be displayed if there is not sufficient disk space for the file being captured. If it is desired to simply Start and Stop a record manually, simply set a long duration, press Start
Summary of the content on the page No. 14
Disk Storage Requirements Stream recording requires significant disk space. One minute of captured video/audio from a 1.2 Mbps stream (a typical MPEG-1 stream or a high bit rate MPEG-4 stream) requires approximately 9 MB of disk space. By comparison, 1 minute of captured video/audio from a 5.5 MB per second stream (a typical MPEG-2 stream) requires approximately 40 MB of disk space. Be sure to have enough disk space free for any intended capture. The amount of disk storage required depends
Summary of the content on the page No. 15
Chapter 4 Play/Edit Saved Files Playing Saved Files StreamPlayer Plus can play most MPEG and Windows Media files, and video can be played directly on a PC after recording a stream to disk. Select the Archive button on StreamPlayer to open the video file location. A file browser makes it possible to select, open and play a file. Recorded MPEG and Windows Media video files placed on a file server are available for on- demand viewing using StreamPlayer software. Files can also be transferred to
Summary of the content on the page No. 16
Editing Files The Archive Editor allows selecting a portion of the MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video file for immediate playback, and permits saving this clip 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 seconds from the start of the file until it ends. To edit an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video file: 1. After selecting an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video file, put the viewer in pause mode by starting and t
Summary of the content on the page No. 17
Play/Edit Saved Files Local File Name The full path name of the file to transfer. The default is the current file. Start/Stop Bytes If a start and stop position have been selected in the Archive Viewer, this is the starting and ending position in bytes that will constitute the file to be transferred. In other words, the edit can be FTPed without saving it locally. Save to Remote The full path name where the file will be located on the FTP server. File Name Remote Address The name or IP addre
Summary of the content on the page No. 18
12 © 2007 VBrick Systems, Inc.
Summary of the content on the page No. 19
Chapter 5 Preferences Setting Preferences Note that StreamPlayer always uses the latest Windows Media Player installed on your computer. You cannot choose a specific player. General Computer This setting allocates computer video resource preferences. resources allocated Depending on the computer environment, StreamPlayer may require to Windows Media higher priority than other non-real time processes that may be running Player on the desktop. The computer Resource Allocation (priority) may be
Summary of the content on the page No. 20
IMGP IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) is used to receive multicast streams from a network. The latest version of this protocol (version 3) supports Source Specific Multicast (SSM). In an SSM- enabled environment, multiple streams can be sent to the same multicast address. Decoders can distinguish between streams based on their source IP address. This option is available only on Windows XP machines and is supported for 232.x.x.x address space. When this option is on, StreamPlayer c
