Streaming Video Made Easy

Video distribution software and a USB digital camera

This month, as part of my ongoing research into video solutions for theWindows NT platform, I take a look at Microsoft's NetShow 3.0. NetShow is a full-featured product and promises to keep Progressive Networks on its toes. And because NT 5.0 Beta 2 supports Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, I hooked up Eastman Kodak's USB-based DVC323 digital video camera and gave the camera a run for its money. Keep reading, and I'll tell you what you can expect when working with the new USB interface and the OS that isn't--­yet.

NETSHOW 3.0
I like so many features in Microsoft's third version of NetShow, thecompany's video broadcasting and distribution software, that I can't bringmyself to single out just one. On a level from 1 to 10, with 10 being virtually unattainable, I'd give NetShow 3.0 an 8.5.

NetShow 3.0 includes NetShow Services, a software suite Microsoft designedfor video distribution over the Internet or an intranet. NetShow Servicesconsists of two parts: a server component and a tools component. You installeach component separately. Depending on how many clients you serve and theperformance you desire, you might not want to put NetShow's server componentsand tools on the same system.

The server component contains all the utilities and documentation necessaryto distribute content over a variety of networks in different ways, dependingupon available bandwidth and desired performance. The tools component includesthree utilities for producing and editing content: NetShow Encoder, NetShowT.A.G. Author, and NetShow Indexer.

NetShow Encoder is a powerful tool for capturing, compressing, andconverting multimedia data to a format acceptable for NetShow streams. NetShowstreams use Microsoft's proprietary Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) codec.NetShow T.A.G. Author and NetShow Indexer edit and organize content (an AdobePremiere plug-in lets you save the content you created or edited as an .asffile). Currently, you can view an .asf file's content only by using Microsoft'sfreely distributed Windows Media Player.

The ASF codec offers variations that let you tailor your stream to thecontent and bandwidth with which you are working. Depending on the quality ofvideo and audio you want, the amount of motion in the video, whether you includeslides, and how the majority of your client systems will view the content (i.e.,via Internet or intranet), you can choose from up to 28 ASF variations. Ifyou're not sure which codec variation is best for your needs, the NetShow setupwizard includes detailed dialog boxes that explain the advantages of eachformat.

Installing the NetShow software wasn't difficult. Configuring the software,although a complicated task, wasn't too difficult either, thanks to superbdocumentation and wizards that worked so easily and quickly they gave mewhiplash. As with most new Microsoft products, you must have or install InternetExplorer (IE) 4.01 to run the NetShow software.

When you open the server-based NetShow Administrator window, a list ofpossible operations displays. Selecting any operation (e.g., Start Here,Configure Server, Monitor Server) calls a list of options and features,including various Quick Start wizards with integrated descriptions of thefeatures and options available when you configure content for networkdelivery. For example, selecting the Start Here option initializes a guided texttour. The opening text block runs through a brief introduction to the software,defines key terms, and provides links to appropriate wizards. Selecting theConfigure Server option, as Screen 1 shows, gives you the information you needto completely configure a NetShow server to transmit content across a network.Selecting Monitor Server enables tracking of the activity of NetShow servers andclients through an event log.

The first step in implementing a video distribution solution for yournetwork is deciding whether you want to deliver the content by unicast ormulticast. In unicasting, a server broadcasts one stream of content to oneviewer. Unicast streams usually let viewers pause, rewind, or fast-forward thestream. NetShow delivers unicast streams from a folder on the server called apublishing point.

In multicasting, a server broadcasts one stream of content to a station,and multiple viewers can pick up the stream from the station. A station is afile on the server that contains the location of ASF content. Becausemulticasting transmits only one outgoing source stream that multicast-enabledrouters replicate across the network, multicasting uses much less bandwidth thanunicasting uses and reaches a larger audience. Because multicasts are availableto all network viewers simultaneously, one viewer can't control the stream'sprogression. Multicast is best suited for live content and can also presentprerecorded material that many viewers access at the same time, such as a CEO'saddress to stockholders.

Whether you choose to unicast or multicast your video content usingNetShow, a wizard exists to help with setup and configuration. The NetShowAdministrator server configuration interface includes Unicast Publishing Points,Multicast Stations, Multicast File Transfers, and Server Properties options.Selecting any of the first three options activates corresponding wizards;selecting Server Properties lets you enable security and authentication and setlimits on the number of concurrent connections, bandwidth utilization, and bit-rate transfer.

NetShow Administrator's wizards are exceptional in the high degree ofcustomization they make available to users. If you are unsure what a particularselection will do, you can almost always access an onscreen explanation or a link to explanatory text. NetShow has the best-documented and mostflexible wizards I have seen in any software product to date.

Opening the Unicast Publishing Points wizard calls a screen displaying twooptions: On-Demand Unicast Publishing Point and Broadcast Unicast PublishingPoint. When you select either of these options, you can create a new publishingpoint or modify existing publishing points. When creating a new publishingpoint, you must choose a source for your content from options such as NetShowEncoder, Remote Publishing Point, or Remote Station.

I selected the NetShow Encoder option on my test network in the WindowsNT Magazine Lab. Using an Intergraph TDZ 2000 with a Winnov Videum videocapture card and a Toshiba MK-128 video camera, and a Compaq WS6000 and Intel'sProShare video camera and video capture card, I had no trouble linking livevideo streams to a publishing point on my Toshiba Tecra 780CDM server using theNetShow wizards. In fact, the entire process took less than 5 minutes.

I didn't just create a link to the site: The wizards let me dictate exactlywhat formats to produce the video connection in. My choices included thefollowing: create an .asx file that points to the ASF stream; create an .htmfile with an tag that links to an .asx file; create an .htm filecontaining and

An .asx file (or ASF Stream Redirector--­ASX--­metafile) isNetShow-specific. An .asx file is a redirector file that directs a browser orWindows Media Player to the source of an ASF stream.

As much as I like NetShow, the product lacks an important capability:distributing content between smart servers during off-peak network hours tooptimize performance and limit network traffic. Multimedia content requires efficient management tools. Fortunately, Microsoft engineers told me suchfunctionality will appear in a future NetShow release.

DVC323
Not one to be left out of PC-based video solutions, photographic giantEastman Kodak has developed the DVC323 digital video camera. Without itsdetach-able base, the DVC323 is approximately the size of a cellular phone. Afocus wheel just behind the 6.2mm, f/2.5 aperture Kodak lens adjusts for imagesas near as 5" and as far away as you care to go.

Whenever I'm working with PC-based video cameras, I always seem to want tomove the camera to show objects that aren't directly in front of the lens.Because of this habit, I found the DVC323's 9.8' (3-meter) cable particularlyhandy. At the end of that cable is what makes the DVC323 video camera differentfrom other digital video cameras you've read about in this videoconferencingseries--­this is the first USB device we've tested in the Windows NTMagazine Lab.

How am I testing a device that uses USB when everybody knows NT 4.0 doesn'tsupport USB? Easy. I hooked up the DVC323 to a system running Beta 2--­thefirst beta release of Windows 2000 (Win2K--­formerly NT 5.0) to support theemerging USB standard. Officially, the DVC323 doesn't support Win2K. However,the good engineers at Eastman Kodak have developed a driver that works with Beta2.

I'll tell you up front that the DVC323's USB-based device beats dinkingaround with parallel ports and capture cards, hands down. With Beta 2 running, Isimply reached around the back of my test system and plugged the camera into thedime-sized USB port. Immediately, a window opened on my monitor and initiated asearch for the drivers. Cool.

Of course, the system couldn't find the drivers and prompted me for aKodak-specific disk, which I inserted. Then I received a prompt for the Beta 2disk, which I inserted. Then, I received another prompt for the Kodak diskbefore the program got going. But the DVC323 did get going, with norebooting, no IRQ hassles, no cover removal, and no printer-cabling futzing.

Removing the DVC323 from the system was just as easy. By clicking adevice icon in the system tray, I shut down the USB port and removed the DVC323from the system without having to shut down the computer. Unfortunately, when Ireinstalled the DVC323, the system again prompted me for the manufacturer's diskand the Beta 2 disk. I hope the final release of Win2K won't have such a shortmemory.

The DVC323 comes bundled with many useful and just plain fun softwareutilities, including Microsoft's NetMeeting, Kodak's PictureWorks Live, andMetaCreations' Kai's Power Goo SE. In particular, I found the PictureWorks Livesoftware interesting, because it lets you capture time-lapse video. Not that Ican think of a reason I'd want to capture time-lapse video; I just haven't seenthat option before and it sounds fun.

The DVC323 can capture and display either a 160 * 120- or 320 *240-resolution video, or a 640 * 480 24-bit still image. A feature you won't seeon a lot of PC-based video cameras that you will find on the DVC323 is a 1X or2X digital zoom.

Perhaps best of all is that the DVC323 doesn't eat up as much processingpower as its competitors do. Recording a video stream with the DVC323 usedroughly 30 percent of my two 333MHz Pentium II processors' capacity. Performingthe same task with the same system configuration using parallel port-baseddevices has taken up as much as 83 percent of my processing power. Fortunately,the DVC323 doesn't compromise picture quality for performance. The image streamthis camera produces is as good as any I've seen and is exceeded only by thosedevices that connect to a dedicated video capture card, which can typicallyproduce image streams at a much higher resolution with even less CPU overhead.

Overall, the DVC323 performs well, and the camera gives you some niftyfeatures, too. Expect to see other videoconferencing vendors follow Kodak'slead. But perhaps the big winner here isn't so much the DVC323 as it is USBports in general. USB ports greatly simplify adding peripherals to a system orremoving peripherals from a system. I can get used to that.