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CityLive
and CityTV: Live Broadcasting on Campus
By
Joe Chow
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Live
Internet Broadcasting Services
CityLive and
CityTV are two live Internet broadcasting services provided by
the Computing Services Centre (CSC). These two services use equipment
that supports streaming media technology, which allows users to
capture video and audio signals to be viewed over the Internet
instantaneously. It is suitable for live broadcasting of ceremonies,
public lectures, conferences, seminars and performances. Some
recently held major events such as the CityU 15th Anniversary
Opening Ceremony in October 1999 and the Nobel Laureate Lecture
by Prof. Charles H. Townes in November 1999 were being shown over
the Internet using these facilities.
CityLive: Viewing
Nobel Laureate Lecture with RealPlayer
CityTV:
Viewing the CityU 15th Anniversary Opening Ceremony with Media
Player
Differences
Between CityLive and CityTV
CityLive employs
the Real Video technology with RealVideo Server for streaming
the video and RealPlayer as the client while CityTV uses Microsoft
NetShow Server and Microsoft Media Player.
To hold a
broadcasting event through CityLive and CityTV, the locations
of audience, video quality and expected number of audience are
the major considerations. CityTV service is limited to Intranet
users within the CityU campus because of the requirement of high
bandwidth (300K or above) and the use of multi-cast streaming
technology. CityLive service, on the other hand, can provide video
broadcasting to both Intranet and Internet users with different
connection speeds ranging from 28.8K up to 200K or above.
In general,
the video quality of CityTV is better than that of CityLive because
of the higher encoded bit rate. Broadcasting through CityTV can
be received by any number of PCs on the CityU Intranet. For CityLive,
a limit on the number of concurrent users is bounded by licence
purchased.
The table
below summaries the differences of the two services:
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CityLive
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CityTV
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Software
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RealServer
G2 and RealPlayer G2 or above
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MS
Netshow Server and MS Media Player
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Location
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Both
Intranet and Internet broadcast
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In-campus
Intranet broadcast only
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Connection
Speed
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Support
speeds at 28.8K, 56K or higher
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Video
Quality
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Low
to Medium
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Good
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Technology
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Point-to-point
streaming
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Multi-cast
streaming
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Viewer
Licence required
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Yes
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No
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Encoding
Format
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RealVideo
Format (RM)
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Microsoft’s
Advanced Streaming Format (ASF)
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How to
Watch a Broadcast Event
Choose "VideoNet"on
the CityU Intranet home page and click on either "CityLive"or
"CityTV"button for the corresponding service.
CityLive
If you are
unable to view the RealVideo files on the CityLive Web page, you
need to upgrade your RealPlayer to a newer version. On-campus
users using Windows 95 or 98 provided by the CSC can simply choose
the option "RealPlayer G2 for Netscape Communicator"
under the "Departmental Applications Menu" on the Intranet
home page. Home and external users can download a free copy of
RealPlayer from the vendor's Web site (http://www.real.com/products/player/index.html
) and install it as a plug-in for any standard Web browser.
(Note: CityLive
can also be accessed at http://www.cityu.edu.hk/CityLive/
)
CityTV
If you are selecting CityTV for the first time, Microsoft Windows
Media Player will be installed on your PC automatically unless
the software is already there. After the installation, restart
the Web browser software, Netscape Communicator, and follow the
"VideoNet"menu again to start the Player for CityTV.
Any Events
to Broadcast?
Try CityLive
and CityTV next time you host some exciting events. Believe it
or not, you may increase the number of participants by ten-fold.
The CSC would be very happy to study the feasibility and provide
technical support for you. For further queries, please write to
cc@plink.cityu.edu.hk.
