All things related to multicast

[Dan Oachs <>]

I would be curious to know how others would answer the questions Frank 
mentioned.  I will try to add my thoughts as well.  You can get an idea 
of what we are doing here: https://gustv.gac.edu/about.php

Frank Fulchiero wrote:
> 1. Are any institutions streaming similar channels, either internally 
> in their own intranet, or externally on multicast so others can view 
> them?
We are not yet streaming any free to air television.
> 2. Are there any future plans to do so?
We do have an unused dish and are considering using it to grab what we 
can and then multicast it to our network and possibly I2.
> 3. Do any educators feel this is a unique asset that has the potential 
> to benefit:
>
> a) Teaching and Learning
> b) Research
> c) Cross-cultural understanding and appreciation
I am not sure exactly how they would use it, but the faculty here that 
have seen the UCTV  channels are very excited about them.  We also get 
some international programming from a Dish Network receiver which is 
used quite a bit by our language faculty.
> 4. If an institution is streaming these internally, what would it take 
> to enable sharing the channels to a larger educational group? What 
> obstacles need to be overcome?
>
> 5. Can anything be done to assist in seeing these types of services grow?
I think with more exposure, students and faculty will get very excited 
and ask for more.  So, letting everyone know that it can be done and 
providing an easy way to access them would probably help.
> 6. Is there any room for collaboration? For example, having different 
> institutions stream a different channel or group, to eliminate 
> duplication of efforts.
It think it would be great if each institution that has a spare dish and 
some extra bandwidth could start streaming a channel or two.
> 7. More specifically, George Bray, who heads UCTV, could use some 
> assistance in continuing this service, in the form of:
>
> a) Letters from any participants that what UCTV is doing is worthwhile 
> in the educational context.
What kind of letter would have the most impact?  Email, postal, blog, 
flattering website, all of the above?  I would be happy to do them all.
> b) Feedback on how many other institutions are using multicast TV to 
> reach the campus student network, or are planning this in the future. 
> UCTV would like to continue this.
Gustavus is using multicast IPTV in a pilot project to provide 8 local 
TV stations, I2 streams, and live events to the students and faculty on 
our campus.
> c) Assistance in procuring new equipment, and development funds that 
> would result in benefit to other institutions.. The outcome would be 
> hardware and software specs for a Mac-Mini based DVB-S or DVB-T 
> receiver for three satellite USB boxes that others could use.
We gave a short presentation about what we have done earlier this year.  
You can view the slides from that presentation here: 
http://www.csbsju.edu/itservices/gusday/IPTV.pdf  Hopefully that will be 
useful to others.
> d) Clarification of the position of I2 and institutional management on 
> the legal aspects of relaying channels from one global jurisdiction to 
> another. And  the legal aspects of receiving them.
>
> e) George also mentions development on VLC, specifically to quote him:
>
> “The other area where I think a little developer funding would go a 
> long way is putting some effort into refinement of the VLC browser 
> plugin.  This open-source plugin allows web site developers to easily 
> include broadcast TV services in their web applications. This software 
> opens up enormous opportunities for global communities to be formed 
> around broadcast media, by combining the live (or recorded) TV and all 
> the "Web 2.0" aspects of web-based group communication. Currently, the 
> software is buggy and not very reliable. What's required here is some 
> technical talent to get inside how the plugin works, and how it ties 
> into VLC on the host platforms, and to work with the VLC developers on 
> making it reliable and extending the functionality.”
If we could draw some more developer attention to the VLC application 
and the browser plugin, that would be great.  We are using the plugin 
extensively on our IPTV website.  I have had great luck with the PPC Mac 
OS X version of the plugin.  Rarely ever seems to crash.  However the 
Windows plugin seems a bit more buggy.  Would be great if we could 
assist in fixing those problems.
> I think it boils down to the fact that some type of 
> cooperative/collaborative effort will be needed to ensure the survival 
> and growth of this beyond the "Pilot" stage. It's too much to expect 
> one person at one institution to do this for free year after year, 
> ideally there should be some type of distributed responsibility. In 
> the meantime, folks can contact George regarding any assistance they 
> can provide. It's natural that some institutions and individuals will 
> be in a position to assist more than others.
>
> We are a small institution, but at our end, I have tried to make the 
> UCTV channels more useful by starting to put information and a 
> schedule for them on-line
>
> http://nutmeg.conncoll.edu/wiki/index.php/UCTV_Channels
>
> And if George can still benefit from a Mac Mini for development  this 
> summer, will try to get him one.
> I also may have $600 or so in wages available for "summer of code" 
> student programming to improve the functionality of VLC for these 
> purposes. I know it's not a lot, but if we all chip in somehow, maybe 
> we can keep this going.
>
> If anyone has feedback on any of the above, I'd love to hear it. And 
> George, if I've got anything wrong, please correct me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Frank Fulchiero
> Digital Media Specialist
> Connecticut College
Frank, looks like you have a very informative website there.  I would be 
interested in seeing what you have for "a better system to display the 
schedules".

Now I would like to share a bit more details about what we have at 
Gustavus.  We put together a website we call GusTV ( 
https://gustv.gac.edu/ ) where we are attempting to aggregate all of the 
known I2 video streams as well as our own local TV channels. ( Local 
channels are not listed for any computer off our campus subnet. )  For 
some of the UCTV channels we are displaying guide information.  Feel 
free to give it a try.  If you can get I2 multicast streams, the website 
should work for you as well.  You can either open the streams in the VLC 
plugin or in VLC independently depending on where you click.

We also have a perl script that we wrote which listens for SAP 
announcements and sticks much of that information into a database.  From 
there we then generate another part of the GusTV website where anyone 
can go and try to tune into these streams.

For the streams we have found that don't have SAP announcements, we have 
manually inserted them on some of our pages as well.

If anyone finds this website useful, I would like to know.  Please send 
any comments, suggestions, etc. to .  And if you know 
of any video feeds not listed on our site, we would like to know.  We 
have a bunch of ideas for improving what we have and I am trying to add 
what I can when I have time.

   Thanks,
      Dan Oachs
      Gustavus Adolphus College

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