PBS Video Streaming Service
Update for VIVA Members
VLA VIVA User’s Group
VLA Annual Conference 2007
Ralph Alberico
alberira@jmu.edu
James Madison University
Licensing Considerations - PBS
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Breadth of coverage, quality of content
One-time fee vs. ongoing subscription
Term license vs. perpetual license
Access via IP domain vs. authentication
Downloading vs. stream only
Subsidiary rights and stability of content
The PBS Collection
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Content supports learning across schools
498 titles, over 500 hours of video
Delivered as MPEG-4 DVDs ~2 mbps
Broad subject coverage & high production
values, low “volatility”
License in perpetuity, one fee, host your own
Downloading prohibited
User id and password required for
authentication and authorization
Streaming Video Planning Goals
• Develop expertise with rich media within the
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consortium
Establish a forum for resource sharing and
information exchange
Recommend technical specs and technical
support structures
Recommend approaches to cataloging,
resource discovery and preservation
Develop models for user support
Planning Issues
• Wide variation in infrastructure and technical
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expertise among VIVA members
Bandwidth!!!
Server/service management issues
Encoding – facing multiple, changing formats
Access control – for local and central services
Resource Discovery & Cataloging
Integration with learning & teaching
User support
Parallel Strategy Elements
• Emphasize VIVA principles of sharing,
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equitable access and cost effectiveness
University of Virginia provides central hosting
under Shibboleth; other schools can opt to
host their own content and/or use central host
Define and follow best practices
Encode files to a standard and share them
Divide the labor, avoid duplication of effort
Pursue common denominator solutions (e.g.
same encoding and cataloging for local and
central hosting)
Shibboleth Definition
The Hebrew word used by Jephthah as a testword by which to distinguish the fleeing
Ephraimites (who could not pronounce the
sh) from his own men the Gileadites (Judges
xii. 4-6).
2. transf. a. A word or sound which a person is
unable to pronounce correctly; a word used
as a test for detecting foreigners, or persons
from another district, by their pronunciation.
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989
http://dictionary.oed.com/
User View
of
Shibboleth Service
Search for a Video
I think I will search
for the online video my
Professor
recommended.
Request a Video Stream
This looks interesting. I
think I will watch it now.
Request for Shibboleth Streaming Service
Hmm… looks like I
need to click on the link
to see the online video
Link to Shibboleth
Streaming service at
University of Virginia
WAYF dialog
I guess they need to
know where I am from
before they let me see
the video.
Where are you from?
College of William and Mary
George Mason University
James Madison University
Old Dominion University
Sweet Briar College
University of Mary Washington
University of Richmond
University of Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Tech University
User request
is redirected
to InCommon
federation
WAYF.
Login at Home Institution
Now they want me to
login to JMU.
After login,
assertion about
user attributes
is passed to
streaming
service
View Stream After Authentication
Hey …this looks a lot
better than what I am
used to seeing on
YouTube.
Streaming video in
QuickTime player
Stream is launched after
Shibboleth Service Provider
determines that attribute obtained
from Identity Provider at home
school matches type of person
authorized to view the stream.
Shibboleth Steps
1. Establish a federation within VIVA along with
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a “trust fabric” and policies governing which
types of users have access to which types of
video streams
Implement Shibboleth Service Provider for
video streaming at University of Virginia
Join InCommon federation to manage policies
and WAYF (Where are you from?) services
Install Shibboleth Identity Provider software at
participating campuses
Server & Player Selection Issues
• Shibboleth solution requires Darwin Streaming
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Server (open source equivalent of QTSS)
QuickTime is default player for the project
Server and player decisions at each school can
be made independently from central service
Standalone player offers screen size and
random access advantages
Plug-in keeps everything in the browser and
can be configured to play segments from within
longer streams
Encoding Decision Process
• Encoding samples developed for each of the major
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media players
Samples prepared with different compression tools, bit
rates, resolutions, frame rates etc
Samples served from different institutions and tested
for quality on different bandwidth networks
Decision to go with QuickTime compatible scheme and
MPEG-4 with H.264 codec at 300 and 800 kbps
Encoding of files outsourced to TapHere! Technologies
Encoded files distributed from JMU on hard drives
Encoding Workflow
• Technical specifications developed and refined
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within VIVA
Various approaches to encoding processes
tested within VIVA
1 hour of streaming = 10+ hours of encoding
Decision made to outsource encoding
RFP developed for outsourcing
Key criteria: technical specifications, stream
quality, turnaround time, adherence to QA
process, embedded metadata, intellectual
property protection, cost
Bandwidth
• Bandwidth has been the single most
critical issue
• 6 research universities have 1-10 Gigabit
per second pipes to edge of campus
• 50+ campuses have pipes from 45 to 500
megabits per second capacity
• A few schools have capacity of 10
megabits per second or less
Authentication and Authorization
• Shibboleth for authorization based on user
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attributes
Local authentication solutions for files hosted
on individual campuses (LDAP scripts, EZ
Proxy, etc)
Authentication often happens in front of release
of stream and not at local streaming servers
(requires strategies to hide stream URIs)
Moving toward authentication at server level
Cataloging & User Interface Issues
• Integrate with existing systems or
develop separate repository?
• Discovery tools and schema in flux
• Looked at many schema and tools for
enabling search and resource discovery
(MARC, Dublin Core, MODS, MPEG-7,
PBCore, Blinxx?)
• Need to balance metadata quality with a
reasonable production timetable
Cataloging Strategies
• Produce records for video streams from existing
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OCLC MARC records
Modify OCLC MARC records to provide episode level
cataloging and suit local needs
Prepare records to be imported into local integrated
library systems
Script iTunes atom level embedded metadata at time
of encoding
Ingest metadata from either OCLC or file manifest
spreadsheet or add manually for use in local file
systems and repositories
User View
of
Locally Hosted Service
Catalog Record Display
Cataloging and User Interface
MARC Record & Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)
Link to Companion Web Site
Cataloging and User Interface
Embedded Metadata from iTunes Atoms shown in QuickTime Player Display
OPAC Search Results Display
Catalog Display for Streaming File Record
Current Status
 Streaming files encoded at 300 and 800 kbps in QuickTime
H.264 format
 State contract available for subsequent encoding services
 Cataloging records developed for streaming files
 Video files and catalog records available from JMU
 Catalog records available from VIVA FTP site
 Locally hosted service available at several schools
 Centrally hosted Shibboleth streaming operational at UVa
 Contract template for InCommon Federation developed (5
VIVA members have joined)
 Apple OS X “Leopard” supports authentication at streaming
server
Next Steps
• For central service, pilot test Shibboleth with subset of
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VIVA schools
Sponsor Shibboleth “Installfest”
Conduct quality assurance testing; pursue strategies to
expand access to smaller schools
Develop “recipe” for Apple OS X Leopard and
QuickTime Server to support local hosting
License and encode additional streaming content?
Integrate with teaching and learning systems and
practices
Let’s try it out.
James Madison University Library Catalog
http://leo.jmu.edu/