Build a Windows Videoconferencing System

So in this TechBuilder Recipe, I'll show you how to build an online video broadcasting system using Windows Media Services and Macromedia Breeze. It's a breeze!

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to get started. Please note, all are required:

• A Webcam: Any model is fine, as long as it has a USB or Firewire connection to the PC. A Digital Video Camera (DVcam) also may act as a Webcam, as long as it ships with Windows XP drivers (check with the manufacturer&'s website to confirm). In general, the more expensive the Webcam or DVcam, the better the video quality. For this reason, a $300 DVcam is a great choice; it delivers a near-TV-quality picture.
• Encoding PC: Hard-wired to the camera, it sends the video to the distribution server via the internet. Note: These two PCs do not have any proximity requirements. A PC running Microsoft Windows XP and connected to the Internet. This system must also run Windows Media Encoder, which can be downloaded from Microsoft here. Media Encoder is a tool for content producers that supports high-definition video, among other media; the most recent version is Media Encoder 9 Series. The PC's Internet connection can be modest: a DSL or cable upstream connection and DHCP/NAT IP addressing are both adequate.
• Distribution Server: This receives the single video stream from the encoder and broadcasts it to the audience. At least one more PC running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, with a routable public IP address if the system will be broadcasting beyond its LAN. I also recommend that this server be co-located in some sort of ISP facility with at least 80 GB of allocated bandwidth (both upstream and downstream). This much bandwidth should allow high-quality video for at least 50 viewers for two hours per month at a monthly cost of about $300. But DHCP is not supported for the application in this box. You can download a demo of Windows Server 2003 (good for six months) from this Microsoft trial software page.
• A free demo subscription to Macromedia Breeze, which you can get from Macromedia here. The demo is good for 15 days and can be renewed at any time. It supports up to five concurrent users. Generally, the price for Breeze comes out to $75 per month per user on an unlimited basis. This is strictly a subscription-based application (hosted by Macromedia) and cannot be customized in any way. A purchased copy, hosted by the box builder, costs around $10,000 a year for the license; this application may be customized by the box builder. For a less expensive solution, take a look at Megameeting. It's a great system that costs $225 a month for up to 25 users, plus a $795 one-time setup fee. A real bargain!

Windows Media: What You Need to Know, Section 1

By the end of this section you should be able to complete the following tasks:

• Run Windows Media Player and load a .wmv or .avi file from your disk drive.
• Install Webcam, and monitor yourself. Save an a/v file of yourself saying “test1 test2 etc….”

Microsoft's Windows Media platform provides near-cable-TV video quality and a large video image. Windows Media uses the Windows Media Encoder, described above, to capture the live video stream. This program offers the presenter many streaming and bandwidth options.

In addition, Windows Media lets a developer build online Web pages with any desired look and feel, as opposed to being locked in to a proprietary interface. For users who want a customized Web page, this is the way to go. Of course, you will need a good understanding of Web programming to build these pages, as they are not pre-fab and must be created from scratch.

For the client UI, Windows Media uses the Windows Media Player (WMP). You may have seen the WMP in its native mode as a full-screen application, or embedded in a Web page. But don&'t worry about a download, as WMP is part of Windows, so it&'s ready to go. You can find it here in Windows: Start / Programs / Accessories / Entertainment / Windows Media Player.

As for installing and testing your webcam, simply connect it via USB or Firewire and use whichever software came in the box with the camera. If the camera did not come with software (or Windows drivers at the very least), then it does not satisfy the requirements for this recipe listed in the ingredients section above. The software should allow you to monitor yourself with both audio and video. It should also allow you to save a clip of yourself to an output file. Windows Media: What You Need to Know, Section 2

By the end of this section you should be able to complete the following tasks:

• Create a Publishing Point in WMS and enable WMS http.
• Assign same Publishing Point as a Push.

Now let&'s move to the Windows 2003 server, which is what you will need to distribute your content. The program you will use is Windows Media Services (WMS), which you can find here: Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Windows Media Services.

For the sake of brevity, here are two screen shots from WMS that will illustrate the creation of the publishing point, a portion of the socket, which is defined in the next section of this recipe. The good news is that I have encapsulated many hours of trial and error into these screen shots. Finding the right combination of settings to get WMS to work correctly took me quite some time! It would be painstaking and lengthy to describe every mouse click of the setup. By following the red text in the two screen shots below, you will have all the information you need to set up a functioning publishing point.

Windows Media: What You Need to Know, Section 3

By the end of this section, you should be able to complete the following tasks:

• Load Windows Media Encoder and encode a PUSHED live video stream to the WMS server. (This is by far the most difficult task. Don&'t be discouraged if you don&'t get it on the first (or second) try).
• Browse to the socket using WMP or IE.

Now would be a good time to load the Windows Media Encoder. If you have not downloaded it yet, please grab the link from the “ingredients” section earlier in this recipe. The Windows Media Encoder is software you will use to control the actual camera and live stream. It is a user-friendly software package, but has a few interesting twists. Before you can use it, you must collect the following information:

• The IP address of the Windows 2003 server (described in the previous section).
• The publishing point name. The name is simply a label that the user must come up with. For this Recipe, I used "Techbuilder."

Also, you must have a Webcam installed and working. Once you do, Windows Media Encoder will auto-sense the Webcam with no need for additional modifications.

Below are our screen shots of the Windows Media Encoder screen, displaying the required selections:

The publishing point and the server IP address create what is known as a socket. A socket is a connection point between an IP client (the Encoder) and its IP-hosted server (WMS server). The socket is expressed as: IP address/publishing point ties all the components of the video stream (WMP and the Windows Encoder) together in a single point of reference. Look at the field labeled “URL to server” in the screen shot below to see the socket assigned:

The easiest way to test the overall stream is to copy/paste the socket text (under "URL to server") into a browser window. The result should be a full-page WMP with the live video running. Windows Media: What You Need to Know, Section 4

By the end of this section, you should be able to set up a demo Breeze meeting and run it. Breeze is an out-of-the-box teleconferencing software system offering the following features:

• Live-action video image for the presenter only, or multiple video windows for presenter and viewers.
• Powerpoint upload and sharing feature
• Internet powered desktop sharing for the presenter, a powerful and versatile feature.
• An automated invitation and login system, thus ensuring a secure connection.
• Flash support, which usually eliminates the need for a complex download as Flash is pre-installed on most new machines. For those PCs that don&'t have Flash, Breeze auto-detects this, and the download takes less than 30 seconds to complete.
• Much more…..

Visit this Macromedia page for a pre-recorded Breeze demo. It&'s informative and will give you a great deal of knowledge about the program very quickly. To see the demo, click on Launch the Breeze Meeting Experience.

In the world of Web Broadcasting, customers want the ability to share their files, images, pictures, and Powerpoint presentations. Macromedia Breeze has this function built-in and does it with an uncanny ease-of-use and user friendliness.

System builders can install, train and host Breeze meetings. A sample sale campaign for box builders might go something like this: Macromedia Breeze offers a free 15-day demo program that allows users to invite up to 4 guests to a live video conference. This demo may be renewed at any time without restriction. A Box Builder might set up sample conferences, and invite their clients using the automated invitation system built right into Breeze. While the presentation is running, the box builder could display a Powerpoint slideshow which could emphasize the convenience and communications capability of Breeze. Let&'s take that idea on another tack. A savvy Box builder could host a demo Breeze session, with a Powerpoint slideshow supplied by one of his or her customers. This Powerpoint would be specific to the customer&'s business. The customer could have the box builder send out invitations to any contacts that the box builder&'s customer wishes to invite (usually THEIR customers!!)

If you have made it this far, and have completed all steps above, congratulations, you are now a full-fledged video broadcaster! You will find this technology a whole lot of fun, and potentially lucrative. Start talking it up among your customers, and see if you can convince them to go out and purchase a good webcam (I recommend the Sony DV Cam line which recently experienced some hefty price reductions). But for now let&'s just say……….lights, camera, action!!

Sidebar: How To Produce a Live Video Presentation

Using the embedded WMP application, I was able to produce a live video presentation for a prestigious medical school in New York. Here is a link to a video clip from the conference last year. This type of page would be perfect for broadcasts and Webcasts to a large audience.

Using Java code from scratch, I created a chatting function (as seen on the right side of the screen) in standard AOL fashion. That is, scrolling text for everybody to see. As we know from AOL chat rooms, this type of chat can be free flow stream of consciousness, not designed to be controlled or proctored. Another more formalized for of chat box could be a “raise your hand” type of chat. This iteration would allow the moderator (usually someone sitting in the same room as the speaker on camera) to accept the “raised hand&'s” questions, print them out, and hand them to the speaker one by one.

If you are a box-builder who likes to dabble in HTML or Java code, and you wish to use this Web page as a template, feel free to do so. It contains the embedded object code needed to run Windows Media Player in a webpage, so you should find this useful. Use the link above to grab the HTML code for the graphical images and text box, along with this link to grab the HTML code for the WMP object.

DAVID KARY is the founder and CEO of rippt.com, which offers PC support, troubleshooting, maintenance, diagnosing, problem solving, and documentation.