The University of Wyoming utilizes a Real product called “Helix Universal Media Server”. You can find more information on the Helix media delivery platform at their webpage: http://www.realnetworks.com/helix/index.aspx

The University’s multimedia streaming server does not currently support live streaming. WyoCast, the University’s lecture capturing technology, does: http://www.uwyo.edu/infotech/services/multimedia/wyocast/

You can request a multimedia streaming site through the Central Web Site Management Requests site (www.uwyo.edu/csr/). Complete the steps to request a new site and in the Site Purpose box, select Multimedia Streaming Site.

Information technology recommends using the mpeg-4 (.MP4) file format for both audio and video.

Note: The preceding table is a guide to file format support, not codec support. For example, although the Helix server does not stream the raw AAC file format (.aac), it can deliver content encoded with AAC codecs through other file formats, such as MPEG-4 (.mp4).

Note: Information Technology does not currently ensure that media is accessible across all client media players. Therefore, it is recommended that you distribute your media content through the most compatible file format that fits your needs. Please be aware that some older media players cannot handle newer streaming formats. After consulting this list, if you encounter a scenario where you believe that your media should be streaming to a client player/device (such as an iPad/iPhone), but it is not, please contact the IT helpdesk at userhelp@uwyo.edu.

You can select the Start menu, and click Run or map a network drive (www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=239) to the space created for your multimedia files. In either case, the path you should use to access your site's space will be in the format \\multimedia\multimedia$\sitename.

For off-campus access, see How to Access Your Share through the WyoSecure VPN (www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=4941).

Once you have accessed your site folder using one of these methods, you can use drag and drop functionality to copy your multimedia files into the folder.

See the IT Data Storage page for current allocation space and pricing information.

If you are interested in additional space, contact your IT user consultant (www.uwyo.edu/InfoTech/services/helpdesk/uc/) for more information.

Yes. At this time, any files placed onto a multimedia site are available for direct download through a web browser.

All multimedia site content is accessible through the URL syntax listed below. There are many ways to distribute multimedia content, and the following are the three recommended practices:

1. Embed your URL with a player on a website
2. Instruct your audience to open the URL in a player of their choice
   Note: Not all players are able to stream all content types. For instance, Windows Media Player cannot stream Quicktime’s .mov files. Information Technology does not support media player configuration.
3. Instruct your audience to open the URL in a web browser to directly download the file.
   This is not recommended for large media files

There are many ways to distribute your multimedia content, and it is up to you to determine the best way to reach your intended audience.

http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/sitename/mediafilename

where sitename = your multimedia site name
where mediafilename = the name of the media file you would like to stream

Example:
I have a multimedia site named “streaming_example” with a media file called “testfile.mp4”. The URL path to download my .mp4 file would be:

http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/streaming_example/testfile.mp4

You can use Helix’s built-in streaming file generator system to distribute a URL that creates a file with all the information required by a client’s player to stream your media. Since the generated file specifies which streaming protocol to use, the protocol associated with the file format you are trying to stream must match the protocol utilized by the corresponding URL segment. Note that this is not the recommended process on distributing your multimedia content. Information Technology recommends that you distribute your content using one of the methods described in “What is the best method to distribute my multimedia content?” listed above.

So, the URL convention for this method looks like this:

http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/urlsegment/sitename/mediafilename

where sitename = your multimedia site name
where urlsegment = the correct segment in the chart above
where mediafilename = the name of the media file you would like to stream

Example 1:
I want to use a URL that creates a file to stream to a Windows Media Video called wm_test.wmv on my multimedia site, streaming_example. Since the file type “.wmv” is a file-type that uses the MMS streaming protocol, the URL would be:
http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/asxgen/streaming_example/wm_test.wmv

Example 2:
I want to use a URL that creates a file to stream to a QuickTime movie called qt_test.mov on my multimedia site, streaming_example. Since the file type “.mov” is a file-type that uses the RTSP streaming protocol, the URL would be:
http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/ramgen/streaming_example/qt_test.mov

Example 3:
I want to use a URL that creates a file to stream to a RealVideo video called real_test.rv on my multimedia site, streaming_example. Since the file type “.mov” is a file-type that uses the RTSP streaming protocol, the URL would be:
http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/ramgen/streaming_example/real_test.rv

Please be aware that there are many different ways to digitize media and you should do some research on the subject before diving into it. Most importantly, please ensure that you are using a file format capable of streaming through the chart above, labeled: “What are the supported streaming media file formats?”

Information Technology does not currently assist in creating media files. The Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning (ECTL) can help create media files. See the ECTL website (www.uwyo.edu/ctl), and click the Instructional Media Services link for more information.