Chapter 19: Phase II: Microsoft Producer Mini-studio

In phase II of the Windows Media deployment, the Fabrikam Media and IT departments expand on the on-demand streaming system created in phase I. In the previous chapter, they added live encoding capability to the studio and built an encoder road kit. In this chapter, the staff will make it easy for users to take their PowerPoint presentations online with Microsoft Producer and a Producer mini-studio.

Using Microsoft Producer Presentations

At Fabrikam, like many corporations, people use PowerPoint slides to help them present information. To make more efficient use of their time, and reach more viewers, presenters can record their presentations with Producer. Then individuals and groups can view the recordings of the presentations.

To convert a live PowerPoint presentation to a form that can be viewed on-demand, a video camera is used to record the presenter giving the presentation. Then the slides and other digital media, such as Web pages and images, are synchronized to the recording. When an end user plays back the presentation, the slides play in synchronization with the video in a presentation page displayed in a Web browser, as shown in figure 19.1.

Figure 19.1: Producer presentations can be displayed in a Web browser.

In this example, the presentation page includes video and audio of the presenter, the PowerPoint slides, and a clickable table of contents that allows users to skip to different parts of a presentation. A presenter can choose from a number of preconfigured templates in Producer, and can include additional Web pages, links, and images. Producer provides a presenter with a simple, yet powerful, way to build on-demand presentations, and then helps the presenter coordinate, package, and publish all the elements.

To help users record their presentations, the Fabrikam staff will build a self-service Producer mini-studio. They will also provide users with Producer and the information they need to convert their presentations. The Media department decided a small investment in a Producer mini-studio would enable employees to make better use of their time. The studio would, therefore, save the company money in the long run.

Users capture video and audio for presentations in several ways:

• Record presentations directly into Producer using audio and video capture cards.

• Record to videotape, and later capture the recording with Producer.

• Capture with another utility, such as Microsoft VidCap32, and then import the file into Producer.

The mini-studio will provide tools and instructions for using Producer to capture live content to a Windows Media file. Users can then synchronize the slides with the file manually, edit all the presentation elements, and create and publish a final presentation with Producer.

In the Fabrikam scenario, the final presentation can be published directly from Producer to the Media Guide SharePoint Portal Server site. Because SharePoint makes use of the metadata provided by Producer, end users will be able to locate the presentation by searching for particular keywords or browsing the site.

In the first part of this chapter, we will see how Fabrikam builds the mini-studio. In the second half, we will see the process of recording, synchronizing, saving, and publishing a presentation. The Fabrikam Media department will create a very detailed explanation of this process and make it available to company employees.