unitedstreaming speed issues?
Posted by Fritzquist on December 10, 2007
Playing unitedstreaming video over the internet can be a frustrating experience for West High teachers. The reason behind this issue is related to bandwidth. According to www.answers.com, bandwidth is “the amount of data that can be passed along a communications channel in a given period of time.” The capacity in our building is currently very limited. Because a video stream contains so much information, it takes a lot of the available bandwidth to deliver it to your computer. At the same time, many other people in the building may be surfing the internet, taking attendance, accessing shared files, and doing all the other things that take up bandwidth in our building. Streaming one unitedstreaming video takes up approximately 16% of all the available bandwidth in the whole building. This is why if you try to watch one in class it may often start and stop, or not load at all. There simply is not enough bandwidth to allow it (and everything else everyone else is doing) to come through.
There is a better way.
The unitedstreaming people understand that some schools are bandwidth-challenged. For us, they have created the Network Manager. This feature lets you select videos to ”Download Later.” If you choose this option, the video you chose will be downloaded to the server overnight. This way, you do not have to sit and wait for it, and you are guaranteed smooth playback during your lesson.
How do you do it?
Navigate to the video you wish to show. Click on the “Download Later” icon. That’s it. You can do this for as many videos as you want. If you want to check that it is indeed queued for download overnight, click on My Content at the top of the page and then on Network Manager. The names of all videos scheduled to be downloaded will be listed there.
The videos you selected will be downloaded to a shared drive called unitedstreaming downloads. The next morning (or whenever you are ready) simply open the folder that contains your video and show it to the class. These videos can also be burned to CDs for even more reliable playback.
unitedstreaming made easier. If you do not have a unitedstreaming account or would like more information, please see Bridget in the Nexus. Happy viewing!
