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Here's an external source: rtsp://real.cict.fr:554/real9video.rm

The CS Department webcams are Axis 211 systems. They include mpeg4 streaming, so should work as InfoCaster sources. Here's one to try:

rtsp://lwsnb148-cam.cs.purdue.edu/mpeg4/media.amp

(this URL works with VLC).

Other webcams are linked from http://www.cs.purdue.edu/resources/facilities/labs/.

Brian has created a NAT so that the InfoCaster players and other devices on the 131 subnet can get out to the Internet. To complete this change, the devices must be reconfigured with new routes:

default: 128.10.131.251
static: 128.10.0.0/16 128.10.131.250
static: 128.10.240.0/20 128.10.131.251
static: 128.211.0.0/17 128.10.131.250

The first one is the route through the NAT gateway (131.251 instead of 131.250). The other three are so that departmental hosts can still establish internal connections with them.

We now have an alternate network interface for the InfoCaster Creation Station on the 9 subnet (so it can get full Internet access):

128.10.9.21 vw-creator.cs.purdue.edu vw-creator-9.cs.purdue.edu
128.10.131.21 vw-creator.cs.purdue.edu vw-creator-131.cs.purdue.edu

The 9 subnet interface is on switch port 13.

I have added the materials received from Harris to the documentation page. These instructions include how to download beta versions of InfoCaster Creation Station, Player, and Manager; registry keys to enable streaming; and sample JavaScript code to send triggers to the players. Have at it!

Re: Questions for Harris by Tim KorbTim Korb, 18 Feb 2011 01:52

Attendees from Purdue: Tim Korb, Tyler Wear, Nick Hendrickx. The conference call lasted about 40 minutes and was very helpful.

Answers…

1. The solution to this problem is clearer in the in the beta version, which Harris will send us. The solution is to set up one Player as the master, and all the others as "normal". The timing on the master controls all the other players, rather than using the Windows time. It is also possible to have a backup master player.

2. This problem is also fixed or improved in the beta version. In both cases, though, we need to set a key in the Windows registry to enable the feature. Harris will send us the registry key setting.

3. We don't need the Pro version of Manager, at least not yet. Harris will send us a JavaScript snippet that illustrates how to fire triggers in the players. The triggers are set up in the Creation station (with beta version and registry setting), published to the Manager, then propagate to the Players. The JavaScript snippet connects to each Player in the wall and causes the trigger to be fired. (Somehow they synchronize beyond that.)

4. Harris recommends an AJA converter. (Blackmagic is also good.)

5. For now (as above), ditch the SDK, use JavaScript to fire triggers instead. Eventually we may want to use the SDK to control the players since it allows a very fine level of access, but it also bypasses some of the features.

6. InfoCasts are device specific, so the answer is no, they need to be customized for each different display device (or wall).

Re: Questions for Harris by Tim KorbTim Korb, 17 Feb 2011 20:58

I sent this message off this morning. We'll see how it goes.

Re: Questions for Harris by Tim KorbTim Korb, 17 Feb 2011 12:19

Here is the message I plan to send to my Harris contact. Do I have the correct terminology? Do the questions make sense? Any additions or clarifications? I would like to send the message first thing in the morning (Thursday).


We have started working with the InfoCaster software and systems over the last few weeks and are accumulating some questions. We have set up a scaled down version of the display wall, with a 2x2 grid of InfoCaster Players, four 17" VGA monitors, an InfoCaster Creation Station, and the InfoCaster Manager.

Would it be possible to arrange a teleconference with you to discuss a few things? Here are the kinds of questions we have…

1. What is the right way to synchronize the time on the players? When using Display Wall mode, the documentation indicates that the Internet time synchronization is turned off. However, when we try to stream video to the wall, the four segments appear to synchronize based on the local (player) time, rather than with one another.

2. How do we get an external live stream onto InfoCasts in Display Wall mode? Is that possible? For example, can we get an RSS feed from weather.com to display to the wall?

3. It appears that some features of the Manager, e.g., external triggers, are only available with Manager Pro. Is that right? If so, would it be possible for us to get the necessary software?

4. Our NetVX encoder card converts from HD-SDI to MPEG, but we don't have any sources that produce HD-SDI. Do you have a recommended converter, say, HDMI-to-HD-SDI, that we should buy? Also (or alternatively), are there NetVX encoder cards that take HDMI inputs? As a stop-gap measure to allow us to do some testing, does the NetVX encoder card have a "test pattern" mode in which it generates an encoded stream?

5. We've looked at the SDK documentation, but are unclear on how to use this information. How do we control the Manager using the XML described in the documentation? For example, we'd like to change the input stream associated with an item on the wall—can we send (somehow) an appropriate XML segment to make that happen?

6. The InfoCaster Player comes with a number of example InfoCasts (e.g., Museum). They seem to be designed to run on a single player and display. Is it possible to retarget them (in some direct way) to display on our video wall?

Our lab meets on Thursday from 11:30-1:20 ET, so a conference call during that period would be especially helpful since the whole group could participate. Otherwise, is there some other time when you are available?

Re: Questions for Harris by Tim KorbTim Korb, 17 Feb 2011 00:01
  • How to get "live" streaming onto infocasts (ex: getting rss feed from weather.com) during display wall mode
  • Using live video feeds: getting live video streams from netvx (xbox, bluray) to display wall
  • Do we have manager pro/how can we get manager pro
  • Getting more input cards for Netvx (recommendation for converting from hd-sdi)
  • Synchronizing players (without having to manually change time in windows)
  • What all can with do with XML files
  • Is there any way to take an infocast that was designed for a single screen and change it so that it can be displayed on the display wall
Questions for Harris by tweartwear, 15 Feb 2011 17:41

The InfoCaster Manager is now installed in the rack in LWSN B138 and connected to one of the displays on the table.

InfoCaster Manager by Tim KorbTim Korb, 04 Feb 2011 23:18

From Brian Board, 2/4/11…

Here is the scheme I came up with for the video wall:

All of the displays are NEC. The names would indicate row/column.

vw-display-r1c1
vw-display-r1c2
vw-display-r1c3
vw-display-r1c4
vw-display-r2c1
vw-display-r2c2
vw-display-r2c3
vw-display-r2c4
vw-display-r3c1
vw-display-r3c2
vw-display-r3c3
vw-display-r3c4
vw-display-r4c1
vw-display-r4c2
vw-display-r4c3
vw-display-r4c4

The players are Harris Infocaster DS1100. Row/columns match displays.

vw-player-r1c1 to vw-player-r4c4

The transmitters and receivers are Minicom DS Vision Receiver/Transmitter. Same naming scheme.

vw-tx-r1c1 to vw-tx-r4c4

vw-rx-r1c1 to vw-rx-r4c4

The manager is a Harris branded server running Windows Server 2008. It needs one video wall subnet address and one windows subnet address.

vw-manager

The content creator is a Harris DS1100.

vw-creator

The Harris NetVX has (3) network ports. One should be on the video wall subnet. The other (2) are for management with one being redundant.

vw-netvx

video wall host names by Tim KorbTim Korb, 04 Feb 2011 23:17

An NEC display is installed in B138 and connected to player 5. Use the power strip to turn it on.

NEC Display by Tim KorbTim Korb, 04 Feb 2011 12:34

Title of the Paper with Footnote to Bibliographic Reference Below [((bibcite unique-paper-id))]

Synopsis

Brief one or two sentence summary of the paper (mainly to remind you and the reader what it was about).

Strengths

  1. Strength 1
  2. Strength 2

Weaknesses

  1. Weakness 1
  2. Weakness 2

Unanswered question(s) you would like to raise in class or for other discussion.

Bibliography
: unique-paper-id : First1 Last1, First2 Last2, and FirstN Last N, Title of Paper.
Format for Reviews by Tim KorbTim Korb, 23 Jan 2011 15:07

Yes, the SSH key is a pain to set up, but cleaner in the long run.

Re: Android and Git Teams by Tim KorbTim Korb, 21 Jan 2011 19:48

Rick, Nick, and I didn't set up a team, but we did set up a share between the three of us for one of Rick's repositories and were able to successfully link it to Eclipse.

Holzer helped us get it set up and we figured it's easier/better to set it up by creating a private key. After setting it up, we were able to commit, push, and pull from Git.

Re: Android and Git Teams by Jon MooreJon Moore, 21 Jan 2011 18:45
Video streams
Tim KorbTim Korb 21 Jan 2011 13:57
in discussion General Discussion / Labs » Video streams

From a recent "Purdue Today" e-newsletter…

President's Forum set for Tuesday
The President's Forum will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday (Jan. 25) in the South Ballroom, Purdue Memorial Union. President France A. Córdova will present the annual State of the University address. A live webcast of the forum will be available at mms://video.dis.purdue.edu/PresidentsForum.

We need to be able to direct an mms: stream to the InfoCaster players.

Video streams by Tim KorbTim Korb, 21 Jan 2011 13:57

What problems did you have with creating an Android project and creating teams at GitHub?

I don't think the lab version of the Eclipse + ADT Plugin + Android SDK was fully installed and updated until after lab time today, but it appears to be working now. I can post suggestions for using it if you're having problems.

Did you try to create teams within the purdue-hci context at GitHub? Maybe I need to fix permissions, but I thought you would be able to use the "Switch Context" button to set "purdue-hci" as your context, then create teams and repositories. I see that some of you were able to create and share a repository within your group; good start!

Android and Git Teams by Tim KorbTim Korb, 21 Jan 2011 00:40

This forum system is likely more than necessary for the 10 of us, but here it is. Use as you see fit!

Forum up and running by Tim KorbTim Korb, 21 Jan 2011 00:24