IP/TV and Windows Media Technologies

This appendix briefly describes the interoperability of IP/TV and Windows Media Technologies (WMT).

Integrating IP/TV and Windows Media Technology

When you set up the IP/TV system so that it interoperates with WMT, Windows Media Multicast Stations (comparable to IP/TV scheduled programs) are automatically added to the IP/TV Viewer's program listings. The IP/TV Viewer then tunes in directly to the Windows Media Multicast Station. However, WMT Multicast Stations are not displayed in the Scheduled Programs page of the IP/TV Content Manager.

For IP/TV OnDemand programs, you have the option to either use IP/TV Server or Windows Media Services to serve an Active Streaming Format (.asf) file. If Windows Media Services serves an .asf file, IP/TV Viewer communicates with Windows Media Services directly as soon as it retrieves the file URL from the Content Manager.

For more information about WMT and to create new WMT Multicast Stations and programs, refer to the WMT documentation.

Steps for Achieving IP/TV and WMT Interoperability

This section describes the steps necessary to achieve IP/TV and WMT interoperability.

Step 1 Install Windows Media Services and IP/TV Server on the same computer. You can install Windows Media Services before or after installing IP/TV Server.

If you install Windows Media Services after IP/TV Server is installed, then you need to manually set the IP/TV media root and the Windows Media Services media root to be the same.

If you install IP/TV Server after Windows Media Services is installed, then the media root will automatically be configured to be the same, which occurs during the IP/TV Server installation.

Refer to Step 10 in the "Performing a CD-ROM Installation"section in the "Installing IP/TV Server" chapter for IP/TV Server installation instructions.

Note

"About .asf Files"

Step 2 When you define programs in the Content Manager, and want the server to be able to serve programs using either IP/TV Server or Windows Media Services, click the Interoperate with Windows Media Services check box. Refer to the "Defining Servers" section located in the "Setting Up IP/TV Content Manager" chapter for instructions.

If you define a server to interoperate with WMS when you define an on-demand program (see the IP/TV Content Manager User Guide manual), the column titled Use WMT will include a radio button beside the name of the server. You then have the option of having the program served by either IP/TV Server or Windows Media Services.

Note WMT programs do not participate in the IP/TV load balance feature. WMT programs are not reported in Server Watch.

Note If a server can handle 20 Mbps, any WMT stream is not accounted against the 20 Mbps. Therefore, it is possible to overrun a server's capacity with WMT streams.

Using IP/TV Server versus WMT

This section lists the different scenerios for choosing IP/TV Server or WMT.

Use IP/TV Server when you want to:

Stream basic .asf files.
Stream to intranet/extranet users.
Use the load balancing server feature of IP/TV.
Use the server maximum bandwidth feature and StreamWatch monitoring feature of IP/TV.

Use the WMT server when you want to:

Stream advanced .asf files.
Stream to modem users.
Stream to Internet users.

Abou t .asf Files

Both IP/TV Server and Windows Media Services can serve files with the extension .asf. These files fall into two categories, basic and advanced.

Basic .asf files and marker information contain only one video stream, one audio stream, and the URL script type for Web Presenter. IP/TV Content Manager, you can choose to have basic .asf files played either by IP/TV Server or Windows Media Services. The resulting transmission is the same regardless of which server plays the program.

: If a basic .asf file is played by IP/TV Server, the IP/TV Content Manager can balance the load among IP/TV Servers. However, if you specify that a file is to be played by a Windows Media Services, you can only specify one Windows Media Service and IP/TV Content Manager cannot balance the load.

Note

Advanced .asf files contain multiple streams of the same type, for example, two or more audio streams as well as non-URL script types and audio files with embedded images. When an advanced .asf file is served by IP/TV Server, only the basic media streams play. If you want all media streams in the .asf file to play, you must configure the program in the IP/TV Content Manager to be served by Windows Media Services.

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