Citrix and video streaming

[cookie_monster]

We use VLCPlayer on our XP clients as it's easy to update and supports most codecs, to make it easy for staff I installed this on our Citrix boxes but have noticed that video playback is poor and sound is fuzzy. We had an engineer onsite who suggested that it could be due to Citrix optimizing their client for streaming with Media Player codecs, I tried the same videos and MP3's with Media Player and they do indeed stream much better using that.
The problem is that Media Player can be a pain to update codecs for and updating to a new version means quite an update to the servers that I’ll have to plan. Currently our Citrix boxes have media player 10 on is there a quick and easy way to make sure that it has all the latest codecs on or has anyone got a better suggestion on how they support this on their Citrix setup?

Our Citrix boxes run Server 2003 SP2 and PS 4.5. The thin client devices are a mix of Axel units and HP Windows CE5/Debian Linux.

Thanks.

[SpuffMonkey]

I'd be surprised (and impressed) if you can get thin clients to show video of a watchable quality.

[localzuk]

I'd be surprised (and impressed) if you can get thin clients to show video of a watchable quality.

Then you've not used Citrix...

There is no 'easy' way to get all the codecs if you want to remain legal I'm afraid. There are various codec packs available which can do the job, but you'll be skating in a grey area of the law AFAIK.

[cookie_monster]

@ SpuffMonkey - using the correct codecs and Media Player I could even get acceptable playback on the Axel devices (not in full screen). Some HP units even offload some of the work onto the client unit (if of the appropriate spec) to improve performance.

@ localzuk -

There is no 'easy' way to get all the codecs if you want to remain legal I'm afraid. There are various codec packs available which can do the job, but you'll be skating in a grey area of the law AFAIK

I thought that might be the case, i'll just have to see how it goes. For now i'll set MP3s to play using Media Player it does seem to stream audio better. Cheers.

[localzuk]

@ SpuffMonkey - using the correct codecs and Media Player I could even get acceptable playback on the Axel devices (not in full screen). Some HP units even offload some of the work onto the client unit (if of the appropriate spec) to improve performance.

It all depends on the Citrix SpeedScreen technology, and the client having the capability enabled also. This is why some thin clients are actually quite beefy machines (1Ghz processors etc...).

[cookie_monster]

Yep that's true, some of the newer terminals are getting damn expensive though it can feel like buying a new PC price wise. Still they're way easier to manage especially the Axel units.

Do you run some Citrix boxes localzuk?

[localzuk]

Yep that's true, some of the newer terminals are getting damn expensive though it can feel like buying a new PC price wise. Still they're way easier to manage especially the Axel units.

Do you run some Citrix boxes localzuk?

Yep, got a couple of citrix servers and about 70 clients so far. Only problem I've come across is that during high load, things can crawl for everyone - so I just need to deploy a third server.

[cookie_monster]

Yep, got a couple of citrix servers and about 70 clients so far. Only problem I've come across is that during high load, things can crawl for everyone - so I just need to deploy a third server.

At the end of last term the staff let the students 'play' as per usual and I noticed things running a bit slowly, I had a look around and loads were watching i-Player the server coped surprisingly well I think i-Player will be banned from now on though.

[localzuk]

At the end of last term the staff let the students 'play' as per usual and I noticed things running a bit slowly, I had a look around and loads were watching i-Player the server coped surprisingly well I think i-Player will be banned from now on though.

Yeah, when we have a full class of people watching youtube it grinds to a halt. But I can't block it, as I would be lynched, so will just add more server power (already have the physical boxes to do it so not a big problem).

[cookie_monster]

We blocked youtube for students but staff can use it so they can show anything they need to on the projectors.