Streaming Video in Yorkshare

Yorkshare makes use of the University's Streaming Service to allow you to deliver video and audio to students enrolled in your modules in an efficient, fast and secure way.

Delivery over the VLE is more secure than using the standard University Streaming Server - only students enrolled on your module can see the player. The audio/video player can also be made subject to Adaptive Release rules.

Pre-requisites

Your video must be in one of the following formats to be compatible with the VLE's streaming service:

Supported encoding/formats for streaming:
Video
FLV	All variants of video and audio.
MP4 QuickTime container - .mp4, .f4v, .mov, .m4v, .mp4a, .3gp, and .3g2)	Video saved in these formats MUST be H264 encoded and the audio stream MUST be AAC encoded.
Audio
AAC	Audio encoded using the AAC codec.
MP3	Audio encoded using the MP3 codec.

This guide does not deal with creating or encoding/exporting your video in the above required formats. This guide assumes you already have a video file(s) that can be streamed.

Uploading the Video

Video to be streamed must be stored in the VLE's Content Collection. If you have already upoaded your video, you may skip these steps.

Click on the the Content tab. (This can be found the "Home" tab)
Browse to the folder where you wish to store your files.
Click [Upload] and select Upload Files.
Click [Browse], and select the files you wish to upload.

Tip

You can also drag and drop files into the upload area.

Repeat the step above to add additional files.
Click [Submit].

Your file will be uploaded. Next, you will need to enable streaming in the properties of your video.

Enabling Streaming for Your Video

Remaining within the Content Tab, in the folder where your video is stored:

Click the Options menu button $Description: \\userFS\StaffFS\cjps100\w2k\ELDT\Guides\resources\images\generic\content-item-edit-menu.png$ , alongside your file.
You will see a long list of options. At the bottom of the menu (you may need to scroll the page), click Streaming Metadata (York) (No Data).

You will be taken to a Streaming Metadata form.

Check the box alongside Make File Available for Streaming.
Click [Submit].

Your file is now enabled for streaming. Next, we will embed it into a course site.

Embedding the Video

Return to the Yorkshare homepage, enter your course, and locate the Content Area where you wish to embed the video. From within this Content Area, perform the following steps (ensuring firs that Edit Mode is on):

Click [Tool].
Select York Streaming.

You will be taken to a form for embedding your video. Fill this in as follows:

Enter a name for your file in the Item Title box.

Tip

The video itself always retains the correct aspect ratio regardless of the width and height of the player. Rather than squashing or stretching to fit the rectangle exactly, it fits itself either vertically or horizontally to the player, filling the remaing space with black bars.

Optionally, add a "Description" for your streaming video. This text displays in a paragraph before the video when it is embedded.
Click [Browse] alongside the "Select Main File" area. A Content Collection browser will open.
Locate the file you uploaded above, and select the radio button alongside it.
Click [Submit].

The Select Main File text box will now be filled in with an ID in the following format: "/xid-990568_2".

At this stage you can create your embedded video by clicking [Submit].

Before submitting the form, however, you may wish to fine-tune the settings below.

Optional Settings

Width and Height

The default with and height are set to a standard Widescreen rectangle (490x300 pixels). You may alter these as desired. Note, however, that the minimum video width is 490 pixels .

If you are embedding audio, set the height to 0 (the zero numeral) - only the controls will now display, with no blank "video" area.

Tip

It is good practice to include a prominent "play" button on your poster frame image.

The Poster Frame option

A "poster frame" is the starting image for the video. This is a graphic your students will see when the page loads, before they have clicked "play". Students play the video by clicking on this image. Images can be in JPG or PNG format, and should be stored in the Content Collection. The Poster frame must be stored in the Content collection, and is selected in the same way as the main video file.

Alternate File

Allows you to provide an alternate video (e.g. one with built-in subtitles or descriptive audio, or a higher-definition version of your video). The alternate video must be stored in the Content collection, and is selected in the same way as the main video file.

Support File

Allows you to attach any file to the item you create. This option can be used to provide a transcript or descriptive text for your streamed audio or video media. The support file must be stored in the Content collection, and is selected in the same way as the main video file.

Link Label

Set the text of the download link for the support file (see above).

Caption File

Allows you to attach a caption file in XML format to your video. The captions file must be stored in the Content collection, and is selected in the same way as the main video file.