Adding Active Streaming Media to a Program


When you add a stream from the Real-Time Encoder or from an .asf file to a program, you must specify the channel to use when multicasting the stream. Before adding streams, create a channel that supports the appropriate stream formats for the streams you want to add to the program.

For more information on creating a channel, see Creating a Channel.

To add Active Streaming media to a program

  1. Under Programs, click Manage Programs.
  2. Click to select the name of the program to which you want to add the stream.
  3. Point to New on the Stream menu, and then click Active Streaming Format (ASF) Stream.
  4. To give the stream a name and description, click the General tab:

    • In the Name box, type a name for the stream.
    • In the Description box, type a description for the stream.
  5. To define the source and destination of the Active Streaming media, click the Source/Destination tab.

  6. In the Source area, specify the source of the stream. You can specify the following sources for streams:
    • You can specify a live stream from the Real-Time Encoder using either the URL or Alias options. When you specify a live stream using the URL option, NetShow Server attempts to connect to the Real-Time Encoder when the program starts and waits for the stream for the time specified in the Open Timeout box in the Advanced tab. When you specify a live stream using the Alias option, NetShow Server waits for the encoder to send the stream. Use the Alias option when you do not intend to start the live stream until after you start the program.

      To specify a live stream from the Real-Time Encoder using the URL option, click URL, and then specify the URL using the MSBD protocol, the name of the server, and, optionally, the port, for example msbd://servername:portnumber. It is necessary to specify a port only when you have changed the default port (7007) used by the Real-Time Encoder.

      To specify a live stream from the Real-Time Encoder using the Alias option, click Alias, and then specify the logical name for a stream from the Real-Time Encoder. Create the alias when you create the stream using the Real-Time Encoder.

    • To specify an .asf file as the source, click URL, and then specify the file using the MMS protocol, the name of the server, the publishing point, and the name of the file, for example mms://servername/pubpointalias/filename.asf. If you are storing .asf files in the default home publishing point on the NetShow server, you can specify the protocol, server name, and file name, omitting the publishing point. For example:
      mms://servername/filename.asf.
      If HTTP streaming has been enabled, you can also use HTTP as the protocol, for example:
      http://servername/pubpointalias/filename.asf.
    • To specify a stream from a NetShow channel, click URL, and then specify the channel using the MSBD protocol, the name of the NetShow server, and the name of the channel, for example,
      msbd://servername/channelname.
    • To specify a unicast stream from a NetShow publishing point, click URL, and then specify the publishing point using the MMS protocol, the name of the NetShow server, and the alias of the publishing point, for example:
      mms://servername/pubpointalias.

      For more information on using publishing points, see Using Publishing Points.

  7. In the Channel box, select the channel you want to use for the stream.
  8. To display the advanced options, click the Advanced tab.

    • To save the stream to a file in .asf format, click Save To ASF, and then specify the path and name for the file. You can also click Browse to search for a location for the file.
    • To restrict the size of the .asf file, click Maximum File Size, and then specify the size in megabytes.
    • To specify a length of time for the stream to run, click the Duration box, and then type the time in the format hh:mm:ss, where h represents hours, m represents minutes, and s represents seconds. When the time is up either the program ends or, if there is another stream following this one, the next stream starts. If no duration is specified, the stream plays to its end or until the program stops.
    • Click Open Timeout to specify the amount of time NetShow Server waits for a source stream (for example, from the Real-Time Encoder) to start before attempting to play the next stream in the list. If no time period is specified for this time-out, Netshow Server waits indefinitely for the stream to start.
    • If you are adding a stream whose source is another NetShow server, click Ignore Source From Channel Stop to ensure that this stream continues to play even though the source stream may have stopped temporarily.
  9. Click OK.

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