UW MediaWeb Project

1
UW MediaWeb Project

• Jim DeRoest
• Director Streaming Media Technologies,
  ResearchChannel
• Assistant Director, UW Computing Communications
• deroest_at_cac.washington.edu
• 206 543-6343

2
What Were Up To

• ResearchChannel Consortium/UWTV - Exploring
  digital convergence and educational outreach.
• National Echostar and CATV to over 5 million
  homes
• International VoD and live streams I2 Abilene
• First cinema quality HD over IP I2 Oct 99
• First live 5 stream news broadcast NAB Apr 00
• 200Mb HD Video Conference I2 Oct 01
• KEXP UW and EMP collaboration exploring digital
  radio.
• Uncompressed 1.4Mb live stream.
• Real time web playlist generation.
• World music format DJ choice.
• Faculty, Staff, Student, Clinical, Affiliate
• HD Surgery Pavilion, Catalyst Project, etc

3
Managing Content

• Problem
• Large media libraries - multiple sources/formats
• RC/UWTV broadcast assets, KEXP audio library
• UW Library, Faculty, Student, Staff, Clinical
• Affiliate projects
• Asset capture, encoding, metadata generation
• Multiple Consumer Interfaces
• RC/UWTV post production access
• KEXP DJ access via Audiovault
• General Viewers/Listeners
• Distributed asset management
• Access/Rights Controls

4
UW MediaWeb Project

• 18 month technology/requirements review
• Buy, build, both, call it quits?
• Vendor products
• Proprietary closed systems
• 70 solution
• Consumer specific interfaces
• Created prototype during review process
• Let analysts play with toys while we shopped
  around
• Pluggable, Scalable, Standards based architecture
• Decision to go with prototype
• Analysts created a really neat toy!

5
UW MediaWeb Architecture
6
UW MediaWeb Core Services

• Asset Store HSM Based (HPSS)
• Hierarchy of online/nearline multi-vendor
  hardware.
• Gigabit and fiber channel interconnects.
• Block I/O stream to servers (smoke and mirrors)
• Distributed/Redundant environment
• Asset Metadata Service
• SQL, Directory, Imbedded objects
• Stream Re-Director
• Maintains asset locality state
• Moves/Expires assets from stream caches
• Re-direct asset requests to target
  server/interface

7
UW MediaWeb Feeds

• Video
• Airtime/Dubtime to 50Mb MPEG2 i-frame base
• Virage Video Logger metadata generation
• Audio
• CD ripping stations to raw audio base
• Metadata map CDDB sites (Muse, AMG, )
• DJ metadata
• May use Virage Speech/Text
• Transcode from base formats as needed

8
UW MediaWeb Metadata

• Schema How rich can we afford
• Consumer Interviews
• Standards Dublin Core, MPEG7
• Vendor (Muse, AMG, Louth playlists, )
• Draft submitted for review by I2-VidMid
• Access/Rights controls
• Every vendor seems to have their own
• Authentication Time NetID Pubcookie,
  Shibboleth,
• Imbedded Honored by clients
• Dare we count on consistency?
• Metadata Objects
• SQL (base), LDAP (reflection), Imbedded
  objects/methods

9
UW MediaWeb Delivery

• Streaming Servers
• Standard file system or API required
• Stream initiated as first blocks arrive to local
  cache
• Tape, disk, OS and network speed vs. hybrid file
  systems
• Selectable stream stub support
• First 30 seconds of clip to hide robot mount time
• Low bit rate (no MPEG1)
• Quicktime, Real, Windows Media
• High bit rate
• Windows Media KEXP 1.4Mb live stream
• Optivision RC 5.6Mb live stream to remote sites
• MPEG2 Concurrent Computer Xstreme 5.6Mb
• MPEG4 Looking at Videocharger interface
  issues
• HD In-house (gt270Mb), vendor lower bit rates

10
UW MediaWeb Status

• Prototype operational with simple search
• Geographically separated/mirrored server
  environment
• Video RC/UWTV content (700 hrs MPEG2, lower bit
  rates)
• Audio Sample audio
• Refining schema
• Object experiments
• Imbedded controls (MPEG7)
• Reviewing large vendor schemas
• Building feed systems (35,000 disc KEXP library)
• Defining faculty/student mgt (expiration, quotas,
  )
• Evaluating other large content requests
• Ongoing evaluation of streaming servers
• Expanding/Scaling/Benchmarking architecture