Guidelines for Access to Videostreams
General Guidelines:
Password Protection: For copyright reasons, class videostreams
are often password protected. To obtain the password, contact your
professor.
Media Players: In order to watch a videostream you will need
a media player. WHETS classes are either streamed in RealPlayer
or Windows Media. RealPlayer version 8 or above is required. Videostreams
WILL NOT WORK with RealPlayer version 7 (G2) or previous versions
of RealPlayer.
Download
RealPlayer for free:
Download RealPlayer
version 8
Download
RealOne
Download
WindowsMedia for free:
Windows
Media
· Connection Speed: Make sure that your connection speed is set for the appropriate level. Streams may appear to have poor quality even over a LAN connection if your connection is set to a 56 Kbps modem. You can set the connecion speed in Real Player by going to "View" and then "Preferences." Click on the Connection speed tab and select your connection speed from the "Bandwidth" drop down lists.
· Screen Size: If you like, you can change the screen
size of your media player. For Real Player go to "View"
then "Zoom" and select your screen size. For Windows Media,
select "View" and then "Full Screen" or "Zoom."
Keep in mind that increasing the screen size will make the image
more blurry.
· Chat Rooms: Chat rooms are available for some classes.
Contact your professor for information on chatrooms. Keep in mind
that when accessing a class via videostreaming there is a 20-30
second delay. This means that when your professor asks a question,
you hear it 20-30 seconds later. You can reply in the chatroom,
which is instantaneous, but by the time you question arrives in
the classroom, your professor may have gone on to another point.
Most of the time, professors will stop to address your question
from the chat room.
· Archived Videos: Archived videos will be available
for all classes 24 hours after the live class or sooner.
· Linking Directly from Netscape: If you know the
direct address to a videostream and type it in directly to Netscape
it may not work. Netscape does not support direct access to a videostreaming
server, so typing the address of a videostream file directly into
the Netscape browser will not work. Use Internet Explorer for this
function. Netscape can still be used to access videostreams, but
only through links to "ram" or "asx" extensions.
· Interupted Streams: A videostream might get interrupted
for several reasons. There might be "net congestion" (too
much traffic on the Internet) or problems with our equipment. If
you lose the connection, try to reconnect. In most instances, just
pressing the play button (green triangle rotated 90°) should
automatically reconnect the stream.
Firewall Issues:
· Some users may experience problems connecting to videostreams
if their network is behind a firewall. If you are using Real Player
and are experiencing difficulties connecting to the videostream,
do the following:
1. Open Real Player. Under the "View" menu, select "Preferences."
2. Click on the "Trasnport" tab and make sure "automatically
select best transport" is selected.
3. Click the "Auto-Configure" button.
4. Click "OK."
5. Real Player will configure itself to work behind a firewall.
When it's finished, click "OK."
6. Click "OK" to close the Preferences Window
· If you are still unable to connect after completing the
above procedure, contact your network administrator.