Configuring Servers for Live Production

When setting up for a live production, the Fabrikam technicians follow these steps:

1. Decide the layout of the encoders and publishing points, as shown in the following table.

   Publishing Point	Source:	Encoder Session
   Channel 1	Rollover56.wsx, Enc56.asf	Enc56.wme
   Channel 2	Rollover300.wsx, Enc300.asf	Enc300.wme

2. Configure the publishing point sources to point to the associated rollover playlists.

3. One hour or so before the event, open the encoders with the appropriate session files. Then start encoding test streams, such as color bars and a test tone.

4. Start the publishing points. Test connectivity to each publishing point by connecting to it with Windows Media Player on another computer, such as the remote control computer. The technicians could also select end users in edge locations throughout the company to check playback.

5. Near the start of the program, show a title slide announcing the start time. The title slide can contain additional configuration information if appropriate. You could also add a countdown clock and include some pre-show music.

6. Moments before the program starts, click the Start archiving button on the Source tab of each publishing point.

After the live production, technicians stop the publishing points and the encoders. Then they check the archive files. If necessary, they can edit content from the beginning or end of the files by using an editing program such as Windows Media File Editor. They can also open the files in a program that imports Windows Media files, such as Windows Movie Maker or Producer.

Archiving Files from a Live Broadcast

After editing the files, the technicians copy them to a final archive location. The Media department can add links to these files from the Media Guide site.

If you expect files to receive heavy play, you can save network bandwidth by scheduling playback through a broadcast publishing point by using multicast streaming. For example, if the program is 25 minutes, you can schedule it to play repeatedly on the hour and half-hour. That way end users know they can tune in at 2:30 PM, for example, and catch the beginning of the program. This technique is very useful in an international company, like Fabrikam, in which end users may be tuning in at various hours of the day, depending on the local time zone.

To accomplish the scheduling, you can simply stand by the server snap-in and restart the publishing point manually. You can also experiment with techniques like adding blank material or a still image to the end of the program so that the Windows Media file is exactly 30 minutes long. You can do this with an advanced editing program. Then add the digital media file to a playlist, set the list to loop, and start the publishing point on the hour or half-hour.

A more advanced solution would be to create a scheduling program by using the Windows Media Services SDK. The program could enable a technician to attach start times to publishing points, and the start times would be triggered by the system clock.