Oracle Video Server Quick Start(TM) Release 2.1.7.1 A49563_1

Library Product Contents

Oracle Video Server
Quick Start

This Quick Start describes the benefits of digital video, guides you through creating digital video content, and instructs you on how to use your video content with the Oracle Video Server. As the quickest way to get your own video up and running, it sometimes refers to, sometimes shortcuts, but does not replace the rest of the Oracle Video Server documentation.

This Quick Start contains the following sections:

• Why Digital Video?
• What is the Oracle Video Server?
• What to do First
• Creating Digital Video For Use with the Oracle Video Server
• Using Your Video with the Oracle Video Server
• Delivering Your Video from a Web Page

Why Digital Video?

Communicating with video is commonplace today. Uses range from product promotions, employee training, and customer education, to surveillance and record keeping. However, in today's corporate climate, where people expect immediate availability of information, traditional methods of video storage and distribution are rapidly becoming too restrictive.

Analog video, which is stored on individual tape cassettes, has several inherent disadvantages:

• Image quality degrades from repeated use or aging.
• Videos can be checked out or lost from the video library.
• Multiple copies of videos must be stored to satisfy demand.
• Users must have access to a VCR to watch the videos.

Digital video, on the other hand, is stored on and played from a computer and is not susceptible to these physical limitations. In addition, digital video provides other advantages:

• Videos can be immediately available to users via a local area network (LAN) or corporate web site.
• Any video can be viewed concurrently by many different people in any location with guaranteed availability.
• Video applications can be interactive.

You can use the Oracle Video Server (OVS) to incorporate digital video into a variety of applications, such as interactive training-on-demand, product announcements, CEO messages, point-of-sale kiosks, web sites, corporate repositories, and multimedia catalogs. These multimedia applications can provide your company with competitive advantages which dramatically improve productivity while reducing costs.

What is the Oracle Video Server?

Oracle Video Server is an end-to-end software solution for networked client-server computers which store, manage, deliver, and display digital video on demand. Client applications run on standard desktop and kiosk platforms. Oracle Video Server is supported on a variety of server platforms and scales to many users. Figure 1 illustrates a typical Oracle Video Server configuration deployed in a corporate network.

Figure 1: Oracle Video Server used in a LAN Environment

What to do First

To learn more about the Oracle Video Server through on-line documentation and view the sample video content distributed with the product, have your system administrator install and configure the Oracle Video Server system, as follows:

Server-side Steps

1. Install the Oracle Video Server, as described in the Oracle Video Server Installation Guide for your server platform. (When prompted to install the sample MPEG content files, select Yes.)

2. Initialize the Media Data Store (MDS), as described in the Oracle Video Server Installation Guide for your server platform. The Media Data Store is an optimized file system designed to store multimedia data and deliver it in real time to multiple clients.

3. Start the Oracle Video Server, as follows:

For UNIX:

1. Log in to the server as the user oracle or the user you established to administer Oracle software.
2. Establish the directory $ORACLE_HOME/ovs21/admin as your current working directory:

% cd $ORACLE_HOME/vs21/admin

3. Execute the start-up script ovsstart:

% ./ovsstart

For Windows NT:

1. Log in to Windows NT as the user oracle or the user you established to administer Oracle software.
2. Double-click on the Video Server Startup icon.





4. Sample MPEG content was copied to the video server computer during installation. Copy oracle1.mpg to the MDS volume video:

For UNIX

% mdscopy $ORACLE_HOME/vs21/demo/content/oracle1.mpg /mds/video/oracle1.mpg

For Windows NT

c:> mdscopy orant\vs21\demo\content\oracle1.mpg /mds/video/oracle1.mpg

5. Tag oracle1.mpg using the command:

vstag /mds/video/oracle1.mpg /mds/video/oracle1.mpi

Client-side Steps

1. Install and test the Oracle Video Client (OVC), as described in Chapter 1 of the Oracle Video Client Software Guide.
   
   
2. Watch a sample video from the server, as follows:
   1. Double-click on the OVS Player icon.
   2. Click on the Server button to view the list of videos on the server.
   3. Select one of the sample videos and click OK.
   4. Choose Play from the Video menu to view the video.

   If the video does not play, see your network administratorfor assistance.

3. Install and test the client on the PCs of other users who will want to play video from the server.

After you have installed and tested the Oracle Video Server, you can load video content into it. The next section describes how to film, edit, and encode your own video content.

Creating Digital Video For Use with the Oracle Video Server

This section describes how to identify beneficial uses for video in your company, how to film your video, and how to encode your video for use with the Oracle Video Server.

Identify the Projects

First, determine what videos you want to make available. Consider the ways video is used in your company. Typical applications include training and education, product presentations, and product launches. Then, ask yourself the following questions:

• How can I use these videos to help my employees be more productive?
• How can I use these videos to gain a competitive advantage?
• How can I use these videos to serve my customers?
• Which videos are in the greatest demand?

Answers to these types of questions will dictate the order in which you should make your videos available.

You may discover that your company has an existing video library that can be digitized and put online. To learn how to encode these videos, refer to the "Encode Your Video" section later in this guide.

Example

Once a month, product managers present a 30-minute product update to highlight and discuss features. These demos are videotaped, digitally encoded, and loaded onto the Oracle Video Server. The video is posted on the corporate intranet so that employees can play the videotaped presentations on demand from their desktop PC.

Plan and Purchase Equipment

Once you've determined the video application projects, you need to plan the purchase of the equipment. (Your company may already have much of the equipment listed here.)

To record video, you need a video camera, video tape, and a few accessories. Of course, higher quality equipment yields higher quality videos. When choosing your equipment, consider the following:

• Use the best quality camera and tape available to you. Your choices, in order of decreasing quality, include:
• Digital tape: D1, D2, or D3
• Betacam or Betacam SP (professional quality)
• Hi-8
• S-VHS
• VHS or 8mm
• Video cameras provide features that can help you produce better source video. We recommend using a camera with the following features:
• 400 scan-line image resolution (S-VHS or Hi-8) or better (Betacam or digital tape). VHS and standard 8mm support only 250 lines.
• image stabilization
• manual control over exposure and focus
• hi-fi audio (stereo) for S-VHS; AFM or PCM for Hi-8
• time code
• headphone and microphone jacks
• Accessories can make filming easier and help you produce better video. We recommend having some or all of the following:
• headphones
• carrying case
• tripod
• extra batteries and tape
• lens and head cleaners
• lighting equipment
• wireless microphone

Shoot Your Video Project

To optimize your video for encoding and compression, follow a few simple rules when you record your video projects:

• Move in for close-ups; zoom, tilt, or pan slowly, if at all. Rapid movements do not digitize well.
• Film your subject as closely as possible, with occasional medium-distance shots for variety. Avoid long-distance shots, especially with rapidly-moving subjects.
• When possible, frame your subjects against solid-colored, unchanging backgrounds. This approach digitizes and compresses well.
• Keep your film clips as short as possible, within reason. Record continuous video sequences that can be digitized into a single, continuous movie file.
• Avoid recording at slow tape speeds.
• When using Hi-8, use 60-minute tape. The 120-minute tapes are 25% thinner and may break.
• Use a tripod. Unsteady camera movements do not digitize well.
• Use the dominant light source in a mixed lighting environment to manually calibrate your camera's white balance control.
• Use a wired or wireless microphone positioned close to your speaker or audio source. Avoid using the videocam microphone unless there are no other sound sources in the room.
• Always wear headphones if you are capturing audio with your video. This allows you to monitor the audio input as it's being recorded.

Edit Your Video Project

If you plan to edit your video, you must do so before you encode it. Performing digital editing after encoding will damage valuable encoding data that the video server and client need to play your video successfully.

When editing your video:

• Only capture the clips you plan to use, because captured video uses a large amount of disk space.
• End a clip as soon as the action finishes.
• Make sure each scene is at least three seconds to allow the viewer to adjust to viewing it.
• Do not put two separate clips of the same scene in a sequence. Called a jump cut, this editing technique is jarring and looks unprofessional.

To avoid video jumps, replace a portion of the video where the two shots join with video from a different scene, such as something the person is talking about. Or, use the transition features in your editing software to avoid jumps. The audio does not jump so you can use the audio from both clips.

• Make the credits fade on or pop on rather than crawl. Crawling credits do not compress as well during encoding. If credits must crawl, they should do so slowly and use large type.

Encode Your Video

Video encoding captures the analog video signal from the source tape and converts it to a digital signal which is then compressed. Video compression removes redundant information between frames and reduces the amount of data necessary to produce a usable image. Compressed videos can be easily transported over networks and require less disk space for storage. And since digital video is stored on a computer, it does not degrade from repeated use or aging, and can be made available concurrently to many different people.

In a corporate LAN environment, the Oracle Video Server 2.1 supports MPEG-1 compressed video files. The Oracle Video Server requires that your MPEG-1 files be encoded using:

• MPEG-1 system layer
• MPEG-1 audio layer 2
• MPEG-1 video layer with I-frames, P-frames, and B-frames

For a complete technical explanation of the MPEG-1 standard, please refer to ISO/IEC specification 11172-1, 2, 3.

Encoding Methods

When your video is ready to be encoded, you have several options. Listed in order of decreasing hardware cost, your options are:

• Purchase an encoding station.
• Purchase a capture/encoding card for your PC.
• Employ a service bureau.

Purchase an Encoding Station

This option entails the highest capital cost, but if you plan to encode many hours of high-quality video, it may ultimately be the most cost-effective. Depending on how robust a system you need and how much equipment you already own, the price for setting up your own video capture studio can vary greatly. A typical encoding system requires the following equipment:

Hardware

• high-performance PC
• 8-24 Mb of additional memory
• high-end 20" monitor
• capture card
• two 2-Gigabyte SCSI hard drives
• double-speed CD-ROM drive (minimum)
• optical writer

Audio/Video Gear

• video tape recorder
• time base corrector
• video camera
• speakers

In addition, you may wish to purchase software to perform video editing, special effects, and authoring.

Purchase a Capture/Encoding Card for Your PC

PC capture cards convert analog video data to digital video data, and compress the digitized video data. Costing only a few hundred dollars, capture cards provide an inexpensive way to enable your PC to encode video. Of course, more expensive capture cards provide better digitized video. If you can find a capture card that supports your existing hardware configuration, this option provides an inexpensive alternative to the dedicated encoding station.

When choosing a capture card, make sure it is compatible with your PC and has the same video connectors as your video camera.

Employ a Service Bureau

Before investing in an encoding system or purchasing any capture/encoding cards, consider the amount of video encoding you plan to do. It may be more practical and affordable to send your video to a service bureau that specializes in video capture and encoding. When choosing a service bureau, research the following:

• price
• source format requirements
• file output types (make sure they provide MPEG-1 files)
• media output (CD-ROM, ftp, tape) provided by the service bureau

Before You Encode

Whether you do the video encoding yourself or hire a video production studio, first gather some basic information, listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Required Information Before Encoding Video

When selecting your system bit rate, consider the following:

• The sum of the bit rate components (audio, video, and padding) cannot be larger than the system bit rate.
• Video quality is generally better at higher encoding rates; however, the encoded file must not exceed the capacity of your transport mechanism (network) or storage medium (disk).
• Lower encoding rates allow the server to stream more files at once, but provide lower quality video.

For a detailed discussion on Oracle Video Server planning and configuration issues, refer to the Oracle Video Server Administrator's Guide for the LAN Environment.

Using Your Video with the Oracle Video Server

This section describes how to load your video content into the Media Data Store and prepare the video for delivery via the Oracle Video Server.

Note:

This section assumes that you have already installed and tested the Oracle Video Server system as described under "What to do First."

Task 1. Start the Oracle Video Server

To start the Oracle Video Server, follow these steps:

For UNIX:

1. Log in to the server as the user oracle or the user you established to administer Oracle software.
2. Establish the directory $ORACLE_HOME/ovs21/admin as your current working directory:

% cd $ORACLE_HOME/vs21/admin

3. Execute the start-up script ovsstart:

% ./ovsstart

For Windows NT:

1. Log in to Windows NT as the user oracle or the user you established to administer Oracle software.
2. Double-click on the Video Server Startup icon.

The Oracle Video Server is now running.

Task 2. Load the Encoded Video Content

Each content file must be loaded into an MDS volume. A volume can contain several content files. How you load encoded video content into the MDS depends on how the encoded video is stored. Common methods for transporting encoded video include 4 or 8mm tape, CD-ROM, and removable hard drives.

For UNIX:

The utilities used to load files into the MDS are mdstar and mdscopy.

Using mdstar

If the encoded video is to be extracted into the MDS from a tar archive on tape or disk, use the mdstar utility. The mdstar utility allows you to create or extract a tar archive between the MDS and a host file system or tape device.

Example

This example extracts the file yourvideo.mpg from a tape device and places it in the MDS volume video:

% mdstar -x -b 128 -f /dev/scsi/rmt7 -p /mds/video "yourvideo.mpg"

where:

-x

extracts a file from a tar archive to the specified MDS volume.

-b

specifies the blocking factor to be used. In this example the blocking factor specified is 128; mdstar defaults to 20. Get this value from the person or vendor that encoded your video.

-f

the device name used as an archive (tape, disk, or other file system).

-p

the MDS volume to place files into during extraction. Get this information from your system administrator.

Using mdscopy

If your encoded video is to be copied into the MDS from a CD-ROM or removable hard drive, use the mdscopy utility.

Example

This example copies the file yourvideo.mpg from the current host directory into the MDS volume video:

% mdscopy ./yourvideo.mpg /mds/video

For further information on mdstar and mdscopy, refer to the Oracle Video Server Utilities Guide.

For Windows NT:

1. Change to the directory that contains your content files.
2. Use the mdsdir utility with the -f option to verify that the MDS volume is accessible. mdsdir lists the free space available in the volume:

C:> mdsdir -f /mds/video

Volume /mds/video (rw): 1 match 

2400 MB's of free space in 1 fragment(s) 

largest free block is 2400 MB's

3. Copy the content file to the MDS volume with the mdscopy utility. Note that when specifying a volume to copy content into you first specify mds and then the volume name, in this case video, followed by the file name:

C:> mdscopy D:\yourvideo.mpg

          /mds/video/yourvideo.mpg

4. Use mdsdir to list the file(s) in the MDS volume:

C:> mdsdir -b /mds/video

Volume /mds/video (rw): 2 matches 

14854692 Feb  1 14:15:26 rw yourvideo.mpg 

Task 3. Generate Tag Files for Each Content File

For each video file that you load into the MDS, you need to generate a tag file and store it in the MDS with the video content file. Tag files contain important video information, such as encoding rate, time length, and rate control operations (seek forward, seek backward, pause) that the client application uses when accessing the video content file.

For UNIX:

This example generates a tag file for the MPEG file yourvideo.mpg , giving the extension .mpi to the tag file with the -E option:

% vstag -E mpi /mds/video/yourvideo.mpg

For Windows NT:

This example generates a tag file for the MPEG file yourvideo.mpg , giving the extension .mpi to the tag file:

C:> vstag /mds/video/oracle1.mpg /mds/video/oracle1.mpi

For further information on vstag, refer to the Oracle Video Server Utilities Guide.

Task 4. Stream a Network MPEG File

After you have loaded your video file and generated its tag file, test the video with the Oracle Video Server.

1. On the client machine, double-click the OVS Player icon.
2. Click the Server button.
3. Select the tag file (yourvideo.mpi) for the video you wish to play and click OK.
4. Choose Play from the Video menu to view the video.

If the MPEG file does not play, see your system administrator for assistance.

Delivering Your Video from a Web Page

After you have loaded and tagged your video content in the MDS, the next step is to incorporate the video into the application that will deliver the video to the client. This section describes how to deliver video from a sample web page using the Oracle Video Server Web Plug-in.

Note:

The sample web page is a very simple application for selecting and playing video. Building sophisticated interfaces for applications that deliver video is beyond the scope of this Quick Start. Refer to the Oracle Video Client Software Guide for more information on tools that you can use to develop interactive video applications.

The Oracle Video Server Web Plug-in

The Oracle Video Server includes a web plug-in, which allows web pages to receive video from the Oracle Video Server through a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connection. The Oracle Video Server Web Plug-in requires that you have a browser that supports plug-ins, such as Oracle PowerBrowser.

The Oracle Video Server Web Plug-in is installed with the Oracle Video Client.

Note:

Different client platforms have their Oracle files installed in different areas.

• On Windows 95 clients, this will be \orawin95 on whatever hard disk you installed the files.
• On Windows for Workgroups clients, this will be \orawin on whatever hard disk you installed the files.

Testing the Plug-in

The Oracle Video Server comes with several sample web pages. To open a page that embeds a video, perform the following steps:

1. From Windows, open your browser.
2. From the File menu, open the following Oracle sample web page: c:\orawin95\vc21\demo\www\client\vidlist.htm.
3. Click on the video you wish to play.

If the video does not play, see your system administrator for assistance.

For more information on how to develop applications with the web plug-in, refer to the "Oracle Video Server Web Plug-in" chapter of the Oracle Video Client Software Guide.

Modifying the Web Page Templates to Play Your Video

The Oracle Video Server includes several web page templates which you can modify to play your MPEG-1 files. To edit the HTML template to list and play your video, perform the following steps:

1. In a text editor, open the file c:\orawin95\vc21\demo\www\client\yourvid1.htm.

   The contents of this file are:

   <HTML>
   <HEAD><TITLE>Your Company Name Page</TITLE></HEAD>
   <BODY>
   <img src="ovs_ban.gif" alt="Oracle Video Option"><p>
   <h4>Now Playing: <i>yourvid1.mpi</i><h4>
   <ul> <h5>
   <li>use left mouse button to toggle between Play and Pause
   <li>use right mouse button to pop up a menu with various options
   </ul> </h5>
   <tr>
   <td>
   <img src="ovs_opt.gif" width=200 height=240>
   <td>
   <embed src="oracle.mpg" width=352 height=240 autostart=true
   mdsfile="yourvideo.mpi">
   </table>
   </BODY>
   </HTML>
   

2. Replace the yourvid1.mpi in line 5 so that the video name matches the video being played.
3. Replace the text yourvideo.mpi in line 14 with the file name of the video you wish to play. Be sure to specify the .mpi file, not the .mpg file.
4. Save the file.
5. In a text editor, open the file c:\orawin95\vc21\demo\www\vidlist.htm. Scroll down the file until you see the following text:

   <h3>Your Videos:</h3>
   <h4>
   <dd><a href="yourvid1.htm"><img src="ovs_icon.gif" 
   align=middle>Movie: yourvid1</a>
   <dd><a href="yourvid2.htm"><img src="ovs_icon.gif" 
   align=middle>Movie: yourvid2</a>
   

6. Replace the text yourvid1 with the video name you entered in Step 2.
7. Save the file.
8. From Windows, open your web browser.
9. From the File menu, open the file c:\orawin95\vc21\demo\www\client\vidlist.htm.
10. Scroll down and click on the hyperlink to watch your video.
11. To play a second video, repeat Step 1 to Step 7 using the file yourvid2.htm.

These templates provide only simple static web pages. You may choose to create more elaborate pages for your web site. You can also create dynamic web pages that will automatically update as you add or remove videos from your digital video repository. HTML editing and web programming is beyond the scope of this Quick Start. To learn more about the options available to you, contact your web master or network administrator.

Congratulations!

You have just learned how to embed your own digital video into a simple application that can be deployed via the Oracle Video Server over an enterprise network. Refer to the rest of the Oracle Video Server documentation for more information about managing your OVS and creating more complex applications. The more videos you make available to your users, the more ideas you'll get for using video effectively.

Prev Next

Copyright © 1997 Oracle Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Library Product Contents