If
the organization wants to publish an entire directory of files, the
Windows Media server can be configured to publish a number of video
files. The hosting of a directory of videos is typically set up on an
on-demand basis to provide users with access to a number of videos.
Whereas the single file broadcast has a single file associated to a
publishing point, the hosting of a directory eliminates the need to
selectively publish each file. Instead, the directory is published and
files can simply be copied to the directory, where users can then
request them.
Configuring a Server to Host a Directory of Videos for Playback
To configure a Windows
Media server for on-demand video playback of any file in a directory on
the server, a publishing point needs to be configured for publishing a
directory of files. The configuration process is as follows:
1. | In
the Windows Media Services MMC, right-click on Publishing Points in the
navigation tree, and select Add Publishing Point (Wizard).
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2. | Click Next to move past the Welcome screen.
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3. | Enter
a publishing point name that describes the function. When broadcasting a
directory of files, you might choose something like Company Training Files. Click Next to continue.
Note
The name of a publishing
point should not have special characters such as <, >, \, ?, %,
&, ‘, #, “, {, }, [, ], or *. These characters can interfere with
the successful publishing of the broadcast over the Internet.
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4. | Select
the Files (Digital Media or Playlists) in a Directory (Useful for
Providing Access for On-Demand Playback Through a Single Publishing
Point) option and click Next.
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5. | Choose either Broadcast Publishing Point or On-Demand Publishing Point. Refer to the “Broadcast Publishing Versus On-Demand Publishing” sidebar for decisions on publishing points. Click Next to continue.
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At this point,
whether you selected Broadcast Publishing Point or On-Demand Publishing
Point in step 5 will determine what options are available in the
remaining steps of the wizard.
If you selected On-Demand Publishing Point in step 5, you will be prompted with a series of questions:
1. | You
will be prompted to add the name of the directory where the published
files will be stored. You can also choose to allow access to the
subdirectory using wildcards. Click Next to continue.
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2. | A
choice to select content playback gives you the option to loop videos,
shuffle videos, both, or none. Make your choices and click Next to
continue.
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3. | Select the Enable Logging option if you want to log media events, and then click Next.
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4. | The
next screen shows a summary of the created publishing point. You can
choose to start the publishing point when the wizard is finished, and if
you want to capture and archive the live event, select the Start
Archiving When Publishing Point Starts option. Click Next to continue.
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Looping
videos means that when the video is complete, it will start from the
beginning and play again. This is a good option for kiosks or other
public systems where a video will be played over and over.
Shuffle
means that the video being played will be randomly selected from any
one of the videos in the directory. This option provides an organization
with the choice of selecting the streaming files it wants to display.
This might be a good option for advertisements or for public kiosk
systems. However, the shuffle process only randomly plays the videos in
the directory once. The videos will stop after all the files have been
played back.
If both looping and shuffle
are selected, the videos in the directory will be played randomly, and
the publishing of videos will be continuous. This is the best option for
organizations that want different videos displayed continuously.
You can also choose neither
of these options. This is the best option for the publishing and
on-demand playback of any of the videos in the directory. The videos are
selected individually and they play once. Upon completion, the video
stops and allows the user to choose another video to play back.
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If you selected Broadcast Publishing Point in step 5, you will be prompted with several other options:
1. | Select Unicast or Multicast as the delivery option for the broadcasting publishing point, and then click Next.
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2. | You will then be prompted for the name of the directory that you want to publish. Select the directory and then click Next.
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3. | A
choice to select content playback gives you the option to loop videos,
shuffle videos, both, or none. Make your choices and click Next to
continue.
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4. | Select the Enable Logging option if you want to log media events, and then click Next.
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5. | The next screen shows a summary of the created publishing point, as shown in Figure 1 .
You can choose to start the publishing point when the wizard is
finished, and if you want to capture and archive the live event, select
the Start Archiving When Publishing Point Starts option. Click Next to
continue.
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For
either the broadcast or on-demand publishing options, before finishing
the Add Publishing Point Wizard, you are prompted to choose between
three file creation options:
Create an Announcement File (.asx) or Web Page (.htm)—
An announcement file is similar to an invitation file that can be used
to notify users of a pending live broadcast or the availability of an
on-demand video playback session.
Create a Wrapper Playlist (.wsx)—
A wrapper playlist is content that can be added to either the start or
end of a broadcast. An example of wrapper content might be a welcome or
closing message, advertisements, or broadcast identification.
Create a Wrapper Playlist (.wsx) and Announcement File (.asx) or Web Page (.htm)—
Choosing this option launches both the Announcement File and Wrapper
Playlist Wizards to create the invitation announcement, as well as the
capability to add content at the start or end of a broadcast.
Choose one of these three
options or deselect the After the Wizard Finishes check box if you don’t
want to choose any of the options. Click Finish when complete.
Starting a File from Within the Directory Publishing Point
A single file can be viewed
from within the directory publishing point. Depending on the option
selected, a user simply enters the URL of the directory publishing point
(such as mms://media.companyabc.com/pubpoint/) followed by the name of the individual file in the directory (like Training-Jan-21st.wmv). The full URL would be mms://media.companyabc.com/pubpoint/training-jan-21.wmv.
The advantage of the directory publishing point is that a media
administrator can simply copy more files to the directory and the
initial publishing point directory URL remains the same—only the
filename changes for each file being accessed. A single publishing point
can also be created without the need of individually publishing files
one by one.
