Posts in category Media Distribution

New Duke Crestron Rep

May15th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

Some Duke AV folks recently met with Crestron’s new Regional Education Market Manager, Ryan Berndt.  He will be replacing Brian Montini.  Ryan will be Duke’s Crestron rep from now on.

During our meeting with Ryan and Brian we learned of a new Crestron wireless content sharing technology device that they are working on.  It will allow content sharing over the network to a small footprint box that has HDMI out similar to an Apple TV.  They are claiming that several operating systems (Windows, Mac, iOS and Android OS) will be supported.  That is all we know for now but we are very anxious to learn more.

AV Integration, Classroom Technology, DDMC Info

Duke Digital Signage Service Announcement

Feb5th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

A few weeks ago Duke Digital Signage Governance Committee and OIT launched Duke’s Digital Signage service.  Duke’s Digital Signage service is a centrally managed/locally controlled electronic sign and interactive display platform powered by technology from Four Winds Interactive.  The service is available to both Duke University and Duke Medicine.

Please visit the Duke Digital Signage webpage for more information about the service.  If you are interested in participating, please fill out the participation form which can be accessed from this page.

AV Integration, DDMC Info, Monitors   

Free HD Files For Comparison

Nov27th
2012 1 Comment Written by Scott Wells

Cinematographer Tom Guilmette has graciously provided 10-second downloadable files in a variety of formats that you can ingest into the NLE of your choice for testing purposes. They include several formats from a RED One MX,Sony PDW-F800 & PMW-F3, Canon 5D Mark II & Mark III, GoPro Hero2 and Fastec TS3.

Get them here.


Video Production   

Do you want an HD Broadcasting Suite? You may already have your very own.

Nov1st
2012 Leave a Comment Written by tbf@duke.edu

If you have an existing HD videoconferencing room or a Telepresence System, you very likely have the ability to use it as a production facility and connect to places like CNN, CBS and ESPN to participate in interviews or deliver your message.

Getting your company’s spokespersons and brand ambassadors on the right television programs at the right time with the right message can be a major challenge due to physical travel, pre-scheduling and cost constraints.

MASERGY’s Business to Broadcast Exchange (B2BC) gives enterprises the power to easily and seamlessly transform their Telepresence/HD video rooms into insert studios that can be instantly and broadly accessible by any television network or program. The result—no media opportunities missed, and all messages communicated.

FEATURES

  • Guaranteed network QoS, delivered through a private, fully secured global IP network
  • Ultra-low latency from anywhere in the world
  • Seamless interfaces with leading HD media switching centers

BENEFITS

  • Leverage existing investment in Telepresence/HD videoconferencing systems
  • Enable full HD-quality transmission to any broadcast production studio
  • Capitalize on media appearance opportunities on short notice

Additional information can be found here

AV Integration, Video Conferencing & TelePresence, Video Production

AJA lo XT Testing

Aug28th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

 

 

 

 

 

We recently received a demo AJA lo XT video capture device and tested it with one of the new MPS iMacs that has Thunderbolt connectivity.  This was our first experience using a Thunderbolt supported device.  After installing the needed AJA drivers and capture application we were up and running.

The device can accept several different connection types, which are documented here.  We only tested the HDMI connection.  The lo XT supports wide range of video formats.  We tested sending 720P and 1080P video at it.  It also supports scaling and converting HD and SD formats, if needed.  With the AJA drivers installed the configuration settings for the device can be controlled using the AJA Control Panel application.

We tested capturing using AJA’s VTR Xchange software, Final Cut 7, DukeCapture Mobile, and Screen Flow.  It also supports Adobe Premiere but we did not test that.  ScreenFlow and DukeCapture Mobile each saw the device as another A/V input.  In Final Cut 7 we needed to choose the AJA capture format that matched what was being sent to the lo XT.  Once we had the right format selected we were able to use log and capture to record, which worked perfectly.

The device offers a lot of functionality that we did not test.  However, what we did test worked great.  This paired with any of Apple’s computers that have a Thunderbolt connection offers a great capturing option without the need of a Mac Pro and PCI cards.  Click here for more information about the lo XT.

DDMC Info, Video Production

Airplay Mirroring to an Apple TV on Duke’s Network

Jul19th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne
I know there were some emails that bounced around on the DDMC mailing list some time ago about folks having issues getting Apple’s Airplay Mirroring to work on Duke’s network.  I recently reached out to OIT Networking to see if and how this could work.  They had already received some requests for it and started configuring Duke’s wireless network to allow traffic for Apple’s Bonjour protocol.  This will not work if any device is connected to the Duke network via ethernet.   All Airplay Mirroring devices trying to communicate with an Apple TV will need to be on the same wireless subnet.  Most buildings across campus are on their own wireless subnets so this should not be a problem.  Also, having devices only seeable on the same subnet will reduce the number of Apple TVs seen in the share list.
I would recommend a naming convention that makes sense for your Apple TVs.  Protecting them with a simple password may not be a bad idea either.  I know some schools have their own networks and/or firewalls in place so you may need to work directly with your school’s networking team to get this up and running.  If you have any issues getting this to work, OIT Networking has asked that you submit an OIT Help Desk ticket for support.
Please share your experiences using Airplay Mirroring to an Apple TV with the DDMC mailing list.   I think this has great potential for specific classroom and portable applications.  And because it’s free and built-in to Apple’s soon to be released Mountain Lion, it will be that much more accessible and handy.
Audio, AV Integration, Classroom Technology, DDMC Info, iPhone/iPad, Monitors

YouTube Announces Face-Blurring Tool

Jul18th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Todd Stabley

YouTube just announced a new tool for face-blurring, now part of the Enhancements option in the Video Manager. YouTube is the first online video platform to support this feature. Unfortunately, at least for starters, it’s either an all-or-none proposition, automatically blurring all faces detected. YouTube hints, however, that there may be an option available down the road for selecting individual faces to blur.

This announcement follows closely on the heels of a Pew study showing that more people are getting their news from user-generated video, and this feature is likely targeted toward use cases in journalism. But perhaps there could be use cases in academia as well, and we’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this.

You can find more information about using this tool on YouTube’s support site: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=1388381&page=guide.cs&answer=2640535

DDMC Info, Video Production

YouTube For Schools

Dec15th
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Stephen Toback

It should read, YouTube for K-12 Schools. This is a new service being brought out by YouTube to help solve the issue of their service being blocked by many K-12 school districts. http://youtube.com/education (they can’t use a .edu domain because they are not a school) offers screened content and no comments or related videos to help schools access appropriate videos for their courses. Duke’s content will automatically be available because we are a content partner for YouTube.

If you have a K-12 School that you are working with, you can point them to http://youtube.com/education for more information or one of the following links:

Sign up Process: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=1686318

FAQ: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=1657123

There’s great information on not only the service but how to configure your network to only allow this version of YouTube through your filters.

Another Way To Record…

Oct10th
2011 1 Comment Written by Scott Wells

Here’s an interesting product offering from Black Magic Design: http://tinyurl.com/3lz9wlf

Looks like it would speed up the process of going from shooting to editing. Anyone had any experience with one?

AV Integration