: I have an AVI file that in the details under properties for the
bitrate it says it is 14KB/sec but when I convert the file it does a lot of
buffering when users try to view it over a 28.8 connection.
Answer: No that is no going to work.. What it likely says in the
details is 14 KB/sec (notice the capital B that is for BYTES, small b for bits),
so if I take 14 * 1024 * 8 = 114688. Throw in a little bit of ASF overhead and
you have 118750 kilobytes per second. What needs to happen is that AVI needs
to be compressed down to no more than 2kB/sec if you hope to be able to stream
that over 28.8 bps links. When you are compressing I would set the video at
bout 11 to 13 kb/s depending on the audio codec and settings you choose. Check
out the Content Creation Authoring Guide available in the How To area on the
NetShow website.
Question: What is an ASX file?
Answer: Summary: In Microsoft NetShow 2.0 there are 2 types of ASX files.
There are machine-generated files and hand crafted ASX files.
More Information: The Machine generated is encrypted and they will allow you
to publish an announcement that will support multicast. They are generated
in the NetShow Program Manager and are created by right clicking on an
existing NetShow program and choosing Announce. This will create an ASX
file that you can link to in the stand alone player, use with an embedded
object on a HTML document, use with a anchor tag in a HTML document, or
distribute as appropriate. You need to use machine generated ASX files that
are created from the Program Manager if you wish to Multicast.
If you are using a Unicast distribution then you can create your ASX file
by hand using the information below as appropriate.
ANATOMY of a V2 ASX file. (This is one example):
[Reference]
Ref1=mms://nclib/sample.asf <- This is the first reference to try.
ref2=http://nclib/asfroot/sample.asf <- This is the second server to try
BaseURL = http://nclib/content/ <- This is the Base URL for relative references in the ASF stream to use as a base path.
[Description] <-Descriptive Information displayed in the browser
Program Title=Sample ASX File <- The Program Title displayed in the browser
Program Description=stuff <- The Program Description displayed in the browser
Program Author=scott <- The Program Author displayed in the browser
Program Copyright=other stuff <- The Program Copyright displayed in the browser
More Information:
You do not need ref1 and ref2 if the virtual path is the same for both protocols. eg if you had http streaming enabled on the NetShow server or had a WWW virtual root that was the same the first REF1 would be enough with the protocol rollover feature of V2 clients.
Question: I want to use the NetScape Plugin where can I download
and how do I install this software?
Answer: The plugin for use with NetScape browsers is installed and
part of the NetShow install package NSPLAY.EXE. If the following
conditions are met when this component is executed and installed the
plugin will be automatically installed and configured. You must have
a 32-bit version of NetScape installed and this browser must be set
as your default html browser.
Question: I have created an ASX file but when I use it I get an
error but get 'No reference URLs were found in
c:\winnt\TemporaryInternetFile\cache\netshow.asx'.
I am using a UNIX machine to create these files.
Answer: You will want to use notepad or any other program that will
save out a DOS/windows text file in order to create these files.
On most text editing program on the UNIX platform it does not place a
LF at the end of each line.
Question: I am using a XirCom PCMCIA network adapter but cannot
receive multicast streams.
Answer: Check out the following KB article ID: Q164677
Question: I'm trying to transfer files with multicasting. Everything
is OK on the server side, but on the client, I don't know how to use
the nsfile.ocx.
Answer: Take a look at the content creation Station docs.
Look in the client SDK under NetShow File Transfer Control SDK and you
will find an example HTML page for Multicast file transfer client
Question: Where can I get more information on other Frequently
Asked Questions?
Answer: Save time, search the ListSrv archives
at
http://microsoft.ease.lsoft.com/archives/index.html
Question: I noticed that Netshow did not install into the IIS 3.0
Internet Service Manager, is that by design or did my setup not quite
work.
Answer: NetShow 2.0 has no dependency on IIS and will not show up in
the Internet Service Manager. This has been a source of confusion
among those that are familiar with the NetShow 1.0 release.
All of the administration for NetShow 2.0 is performed via web based
accessed from the NetShow program group choose NetShow administrator
to access the HTML administration pages.
Question: What do I have to do if I want to use my HTTP server for
streaming ASF content?
Answer: You Must use an ASX file to prevent your content being
downloaded. When installing NetShow On-Demand Server, the MIME
types settings for .ASF and .ASX files is set automatically for
Microsoft Internet Information Server.
To set MIME type for non-Microsoft HTTP servers.
For HTTP servers other than Microsoft IIS, you must add the
following MIME settings (refer to your HTTP server documentation).
Afterwards, you may need to restart the HTTP server.
The generic settings are:
MIME type: video/x-ms-asf
Extensions: asf,asx
Question: I'd like to restrict access to certain ASFs by using
standard web authentication (username/password). How can I do this?
Answer: If it is a stored file simply enable File level Access
checking in the Server settings for the Unicast server. This is found
under the Unicast Manager in the NetShow administrator. If you are
referring to a Live stream it is much more difficult and will entail
some programming.
Question: I get the following error message during setup : "Couldn't install Channel
Manager", (or Unicast Manager) and then the install process aborts. What
can I do?
Answer: This has been spotted on machines that are NT 3.51 upgrades to NT 4.0.
The workaround it to change the suggested installation path from
C:\Program Files\Microsoft NetShow to a short filename path such as
c:\NetShow2
Question: How many users can a Netshow server support with slightly above minimal
acceptable performance at 28K streams, also assume the machine
is a single processor Pentium Pro 200
Answer: We have tested 800-1000 clients from a single processor Pentium Pro
200 with a minimum of 64 MB of ram. You will want to set the Windows
NT server component to "Minimize memory Usage in the Server properties
of the network control panel applet for best NetShow performance.
NetShow performs it's own file caching so it is not necessary to utilize
the NT server cache mechanism.
Question: How can I contact someone for help with questions on NetShow?
Answer: There are a variety of resources available to help with NetShow technical
problems. There is extensive product documentation installed on a
NetShow machine in the form of HTML pages. You should also visit the
NetShow website located at
http://www.microsoft.com/netshow.
View the Technical Support here area to view the most up-to-date
versions of the FAQ, current support policies, and other free support
options such as the ListSrv and newsgroups. Please note that all time
sensitive or critical requests should not be sent to the ListSrv or
Newsgroups as these are peer bases support vehicles and a response is
not guaranteed. You can contact Microsoft Technical Support to learn
about other support options at the following numbers. For a Priority or
Comprehensive support contract you should use 1-800-936-4900, for all
other per incident options use 1-800-936-5900 or visit the Technical
Support website at
http://www.microsoft.com/support for up to date support options
and information.
Question: I am trying to multicast but when I try to view an ASX link I get an error message the there is a bad or missing channel file URL. What can I do?
Answer: This is most often caused by one of several possible causes.
Most often this is due to an invalid path for the channel file URL
when creating the channel. Check that the path listed in the channel
is the proper path to the channel file (.NSC file) and re-export the
channel file. Often if you are using a Proxy that requires authentication
to use it this error will be generated. This is because the http browser
can authenticate with the proxy by the NetShow control cannot use either
Basic or NT Challenge Response authentication. You must also ensure that
when hosting the NSC file from a file server the user has access to this
file as well if this file is being hosted from an HTTP server you must
allow anonymous access to this file. You can test the server for
anonymous access by using the Client to open an HTTP location to an ASX
file. If this is successful then you would want to make sure the NSC file
is also allowing anonymous access generally by disabling the other
authentication methods or checking the HTTP server log files.
Here are some quick notes on anonymous user access on an IIS webserver.
- In the Microsoft Internet Service Manager open the WWW Service Properties.
- Verify the Anonymous Logon Username and Password.
- Verify that the username and password in the WWW Service Properties has an
identical username and password used in User Manager.
- Run User Manager to verify the local logon rights for your designated
anonymous user.
- Run the Microsoft Internet Service Manager to change your anonymous logon
user to an account that does have local logon rights. Verifying the same
username and password as used in User Manager. For more information see
Knowledge Base article Q142715.
Question: When I try to view a Multicast link I get an error message Bad or Missing Stream format.
Answer: When you create your Multicast channel you need to make sure you add a stream format for each active stream. In the case of a live stream you add the ASD file you save in from the encoder with the current settings. In the case of a stored .ASF file you need to use the ASF file as the file you open to add the stream format to the channel. After making any changes to the encoder or other stream formats that are used in a particular program/channel you will need to update the format information in the channel and export the channel file.
Question: What is IP Multicast all about you ask...
Answer: Well it is a not a true network broadcast transmission but is similar. It is like a Radio Station that transmits a signal that everyone that listens to "Tunes" into. This "broadcast" is in comparison to a Cable broadcast that is like a normal TCP connection. Multicasting is Session-less networking (like the terrestrial TV broadcast) Vs other Internet connections such as the HTTP connection to a WEB server. The advantage of IP multicast is it uses a Constant amount of bandwidth. The practical disadvantage is that there must be a multicast route (or pathway) between the Server and the client. In this case that means all of the networking equipment in between and connections must both support and be enabled for IP multicasting routing. Right now IP multicast is best suited for Intranets and will not work in most cases on the Internet. Expect to see IP multicast gain momentum on the Internet as it evolves. As new infrastructure is added you will see this becoming more and more prevalent. Note there are ways to "Tunnel" IP multicast broadcasts using UNIX machines. So this means when you are broadcasting your signal on the Internet you do not need to setup or configure a Multicast Channel or Program. The least complex configuration would be to simply configure a Unicast Server publishing point and use the real time encoder as the source of this server alias.
Question: My capture board only support a video output of Motion Jpeg or MJPEG I get error messages when I try to use this in the Real Time Encoder what is up with this?
Answer: The Real Time Encoder does not support MJPEG. This card would have to offer a different video format to work with this NetShow component.
Question:: How do I get started with a live broadcast from a NetShow server?
Answer: If you look in the Product Documentation I think you will find what you need
to see example usage and configuration scenarios. You will want to look in the
NetShow administrator on the getting started page, click the option to learn about
the many scenarios you can implement with Microsoft NetShow.
Each one will
have a step by step guide for setting it up and this coupled with the Wizards
should get up you up and running. One word of advice, If you are doing an
Internet broadcast you in most cases and likely you do not need to setup a
channel or program. In the Internet scenario simply setting up the real
time encoder and a Unicast Publishing Point (Alias) pulling the feed from the
real Time Encoder using a fixed port is all you need to do. If you are doing
this in a Intranet scenario then you would want to setup a channel to do the
Multicast broadcast and that would require that the routers/switches on the
corporate network both support Multicast and be enabled for Multicast routing.
Here is the Recommended Internet configuration using the Unicast Server.
- Setup Real Time Encoder (REX) to Operate on a Fixed port. ( I usually use 5005 but this is just one in a large valid range)
- Start this Encoder Session.
- On Server use Administration Page to add a Stream to a URL based media
- Use something as follows.
Name := Live
Path := msbd://EncoderNameorIP:Port
Then on your web server create the following ASX file. (NOTE: Use a DOS/Windows Based text editor such as Notepad, In some cases if you use a UNIX editor you will not get the LF/CR combination at the end of lines and will create a malformed ASX file.) See the article Anatomy of an ASX for more details on ASX files.
Save in the WWWRoot dir as LiveDemo.ASX
[Reference]
ref1=mms://NetShowServerNameOrIP/Live
Then you could use in the NetShow Player or Link via HTML to the following Paths
NetShow Player (this will verify the feed coming from the server) mms://NetShowServerNameOrIP/Live
NetShow Player (for testing this will verify the feed coming from the Encoder)msbd://EncoderNameorIP:Port
In the Player or in HTML source or in a Web browser. (this will verify the server and the ASX file)
HTTP://WWWServerNameOrIP/LiveDemo.asx
This will create a feed appropriate for Internet distribution. If you need multicast or distribution capabilities you will need and want to setup a Channel and Program. First you will want to step through the Channel Wizard and create a channel. Once that is done you will need to create a new program stream in the Manage Programs page. From a new program create a new stream (ASF stream) and for the URL use msbd://EncoderNameorIP:Port. Then you will need to Announce the program by right clicking on the program and choosing Announce. Save this file (it is the ASX file) in the WWWROOT dir someplace and use.
HTTP://WWWServerNameOrIP/AnnouncementFileName.asx
You will want to make sure your program starts playing and you have green arrows on both the program and at least one stream as you can add multiple streams to a program.
Question: I want to protect a live stream how can I do this?
Answer: Here are a few ideas you can run with.
- There is a Client /Server Access list you set this in the registry there is NO UI This should be documented somewhere I would have to check the beta2 docs to see if I could find it. Let me know if this is not turning up. It may have been in the release notes. You would keep track of authenticated clients and put their IP address in the registry to ALLOW access all others would be denied.
- Keep your own "Database" of "Authenticated" clients that includes their IP address when they log in. Use the Monitor interface to see what clients are connected and if the IP is not an Authenticated IP disconnect the client using the monitor interface.
- Use Microsoft membership system to provide the Authentication and validation of the resources that is part of MCIS 1.0 and will be part future products. (this would by it self not be a complete solution. If you know the source link information that is one of the client properties you can use that to get the source feed. you would still need to implement some form of monitoring using the monitor interface to disconnect clients)
- Implement this in VB or VC as a service, application, or ISAPI extension throw in a sprinkling of ASP or other scripting and you have a total solution.
Question: How can I do a Multicast on the Internet?
Answer: In most cases you will want to
coordinate between your ISP and the MBONE. In order be able to use
Multicast on the Internet. You will need to schedule your event/channel
with and receive the Multicast parameters from the MBONE organizers to
perform your broadcast. Multicast is best suited for the Intranet.
Here are some related Links
Question: I want to use HTTP streaming from my NetShow server how do I do this?
Answer: Http streaming is disabled by default. This is because most people will
be running a web server on the same box using port 80. Using this feature of NetShow would be recommend when you use the server as a dedicated NetShow server. (or not running a web server on the same box) to run a web server on port 80 would create a fight over who
services port 80. If you want your NetShow server to stream HTTP do the following:
Remove/Disable/Stop your Webserver OR change the port it used to a non standard port for HTTP then in the registry make the following change :HKLM\sysem\CurrentControlSet\Services\NSUNICST\Parameters\ENABLEHTTPSTREAMING - change the value from 0 (off) to 1 (on)
Then you will be able to perform streaming HTTP from your NetShow server.
Question: Should I use Multicast or Unicast?
Answer: Who is your audience? Internet or Intranet? Here is the lowdown. If you are multicasting it will give you a very
low consistent amount of bandwidth used but all points between the
Client and Server must be enabled for multicast. (I dare say all of the
routers between the two must be multicast enabled but in fact as someone
pointed out you could do UNIX tunneling to get around non multicast
enabled routers) we will leave that subject as is: The Internet at large is
not quite ripe to support Multicast traffic and so consequently Multicasting
is more suited for an INTRANET currently. It does work quite well on a
Controlled Intranet to reduce the amount of bandwidth you use for
NetShow streams.
Question: How can I do multiple Unicast server load balancing?
Answer: In High volume situations I would recommend separate servers all running a separate network connection.. These servers IP's could then be put in a DNS table resolving to the same name. So you would get round robin load distribution managed by the DNS servers. This is the easiest and most reliable way to service a large volume of connections. Another way I have seen to do the load balancing is through the use of Scripting. A script lets say an Active server page could be used to cycle through a list of servers.
Question: Trying to install the server components and I get to right after setup asks for username for the service and I get an error message regarding DAO and Jet drivers are in use with retry or cancel options. Have all programs shut down prior to install. Have tried stopping all stoppable services that will not affect system performance (ie mail servers, web and ftp servers)
Answer: This has been observed in a few cases. This has been worked around by going to the System32 directory in a DOS prompt and renaming the following files using the following commands as an example. REN MSJT*.* *.old and REN MSJI*.*. *.old Then try the NSSERVER install package again.
Question: I am using Netshow and have it multicasting. Internally on the network it does fine but when I use a modem and dial in I get a message that says could not connect to Multicast Channel
Answer: If you are dialing into a RAS SERVER this will not work as RAS server currently does not support Multicast. You need to dial into a device that supports Multicast. Something like a Terminal server http://www.ascend.com/products/max4000/max4000data.html like Ascend's Max 4000 for one example. If you are not dialing into RAS check with your ISP to see if they support Multicast. The catch here as EVERY router between you and your server must also support multicast and be enabled for multicast. Multicast is great for reducing bandwidth on corporate networks but is not quite there for the Internet. you can look in to the MBONE or check out these links for more information.
Here is our multicast whitepaper: http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/eval/multiwp.htm
There's lots of information about setting up multicast infrastructure on
the MBONE Information Web, http://www.mbone.com/
or check out the multicast initiative
http://www.stardust.com/ipmulticast.
Question: I'm interesting in convert MPEG and .MOV in .ASF files. Is it possible?
Answer: You can use VIDTOASF to convert .AVI and .MOV files. See the Content Creation Station Documentation for more information on using this and the other NetShow tools and view the Content Creation Authoring Guide for a multimedia tutorial on content creation. You will need to use a 3rd party tool to convert MPEG files. One is available from ULEAD as well as other vendors.
Question: I would like to send a live stream and use the script commands but I don't want to have to type in each one when it is time to send it when using the Real Time Encoder.
Answer: The Real Time Encoder has an automation interface. You can write a VB application to read the list from a data file. There is an example app that is in the Encoder SDK that will read a text file and let you "Drop" the url in to the stream with a button click. Clever coders could do all kinds of stuff like create a time based scripts or other automated sending mechanisms based on events from other software.
Question: In the Net Show ASF Real-Time Encoder. When reaching the screen asking "Which codec and format would you like to use for compressing audio and video would you like to use?" the boxes for audio compression and format are both blank.
Answer: This has been observed on systems with bad or mismatched drivers. This has most often been observed on systems with an Integrated OPL3-SA. In all cases that were investigated obtaining updated drivers from the manufacturer resolved this problem.
Question: When I play NetShow clips my audio sounds bad, scratchy, has hissing, pops or is silent.
Answer: To Troubleshoot:
- Open Sound Recorder.
- Open the Microsoft Sound (found in the Media directory under your Windows directory). 3.Play the sound. If it sounds OK then you can proceed. If it does not play, check the directions for installing your sound device.
- Choose File / Save As.
- In the Save As dialog choose Format and pick the same Codec and sampling rate that the source is using.
- Click OK to accept the new format and save the file as a different name or in a different directory (do not overwrite the existing file).
- Open the file saved in the previous step.
- Play the file. If it does not sound OK, check the drivers you are using to ensure that they are the most recent and the proper drivers for your sound card.
If the sound does not play properly in steps 3 and 8, you need to check that your sound card drivers are installed, that your sound device is configured properly, and you are using the proper drivers for your sound device and operating system. If the sound plays normally in steps 3 and 8 you should be able to play NetShow media.
More Information:
Microsoft NetShow uses standard Windows compression codecs (compression/decompression software). When you have poorly implemented or incorrect sound card drivers installed it has the following effect. Sounds that use these Codecs to play/record will do so poorly. Many users live with bad drivers unknowingly for long times as all the sounds included with the Windows operating systems are PCM or uncompressed audio files. These files often will play correctly with bad or mismatched drivers (Mismatched means for example you have a sound card based on the ESS chipset, which has Soundblaster functionality, and are using SoundBlaster drivers rather than the ESS AudioDrive drivers). This problem is not unique to NetShow virtually any multimedia program that uses Windows sound codecs and compressed audio files would exhibit similar behavior.
The most common source of problems is running a PNP soundcard under Win NT 4.0 . To support an ISA PNP soundcard you need to manually install the ISA PNP manager. You can view information on this and find the PNP Sound Blaster and an ESS driver on the Win NT CD in the DRIVLIB\AUDIO\SBPNP directory. Read the readme for detailed installation instructions.
Question: When using the Real Time Encoder I get an error No audio data has been sent from the input device for multiple seconds. This could be due to excessive CPU loading or device failure.
Answer: This is usually caused by 1 of 2 things. The Audio input is not properly selected in the Recording mixer device or the encoding settings are overloading the CPU. In the former case check the Recording mixer to view the inputs that are selected. For the former problem use the settings under the advanced button on the Wizard page for selecting the Video codec. You ma need to reduce your window size, decrease the Picture quality, choose a optimal pixel format for your capture device or reduce the Frames per second and or increase the IFrame / Second value. One or a combination of these may need to be changed for optimal results.
Question: I'd like to be able to skip ahead yet the sliding skip bar is always "grayed" out and unavailable, as are the buttons.
Answer: If you use the Real Time Encoder or the NetShow server to archive a Live show in the ASF format by default it will not have an index and will not be seekable. When an ASF file is not seekable you cannot Fast Forward or rewind using the slider control. You will always start at the beginning of the clip, will not be able to pause the playback, and will force the user to watch the file all of the way through from beginning to finish to see all of the content. You can use ASFCHOP.EXE to make a file seekable. e.g.. ASFCHOP -in C:\Test1.asf -out c:\seekable.asf Simply specify the input and output files, you do not need to specify any other command arguments.
Question: I am trying to develop an application in MSVC++ to use the real-time Encoder
Automation. I could not find the encoder ActiveX component in my MSVC++ registered ActiveX components Gallery
Answer: What you need to do is in the class wizard import a class from a tlb/exe and point the wizard at nsrex.exe It will then create the proxy stub class for you automatically.
Question: I am having a hard time getting good results when creating ASF files.
Answer: There are many methods and tricks to achieving professional results. Check out the Content Creation Authoring Guide that is available in the How To section of the NetShow website and is also referenced in the Content Creation Station Documentation. You might also look at a tool from VIVO called the Active Producer for NetShow it is found at http://www.vivo.com/netshow.
Question: I am trying to use the ASF editor to send commands to a browser. I need for the player to be embedded in one frame and the URLs that are sent from the ASF file to be sent to another frame. Does anyone have any information about sending frame specific URL commands to a browse?
Answer: Use a command as follows URL Http://WebServer/Page.htm&&TargetFrame The && will delimit the frame name following this character combination.
Question: I am viewing NetShow content It worked fine with IE but when I used a NetScape browser I got this message:[ This page contains information of type "application/octet-stream" that can only be viewed with the application Plug-in?..]
Answer: You will need to make sure the server is serving ASF and ASX files with the proper mime type. The Server administrator will need to add the mime types on the server if this is not an IIS server or is an IIS server but NetShow is not being used on this machine. It should be serving ASX and ASF files as type video/x-ms-asf.
Question: I am desperately searching for a solution as to why my machine keeps throwing me an "integer divide by 0" error whenever I try to make an .AVI movie in Premiere suitable for MS NetShow viewing.
Answer: I have found that Adobe is not too good at handling compressed audio and will not handle 8bit sound samples. I have seen various problems and we are working with Adobe to bring these to their attention. I usually take the audio in to another program such as sound forge and then put the audio and video tracks back together with VIDTOASF. Or you can always take the easy route and check out VIVO's tool Active producer. WWW.VIVO.COM they make this very easy.
Question: I'm trying to make NetShow video and audio files for streaming via 28.8 modems therefore am trying to keep the bitrate to within 20 - 23 Kbps. I just do not seem to be able to get the bitrate to what I need.
Answer: I suspect that the audio is adding more than you are accounting for. I normally keep the Video using MPEG4 in the 10-11kbs range and usually either 11khz FHG, or the MSNAudio codecs depending on the media. Or if you really want to do it the easy way I would recommend VIVO's Active Producer or I have had some luck with Sound Forge from Sonic Foundry. Another thing that I might suggest is that you may need to specify a larger value than the default for the -leadtime parameter when using VIDTOASF. This parameter specifies how much data to buffer or pre load before the clip begins to render a larger lead-time can have the net effect of reducing this bandwidth needed slightly
Question:What is a reasonable delay to be expected between real events and the picture received by people over the Internet?
Answer: I normally see between 5 and 30 seconds. The length of this delay depends on my advanced settings, the codec choice, and the capabilities of the encoding hardware. You will want to look in the advanced video codec settings to control this. The Data Window is the setting that will have the most effect along with the Quality Setting. The data window set to 5 is optimal for the MPEG4 video codec.
