Microsoft Multimedia Server???

Evening people.

I may be supporting a new school in the coming months. The current Tech is leaving, and I'll be taking over. He has sold to the school the idea of a media server which will run Microsoft Multimedia Software.

The W2K box will have a TV card, which will be set to record tv to HDD. This can then be access via any pc on the network using Microsoft Multimedia Software interface.

Now I maybe missing something, but I have never heard of this, and a quick google turns up nothing that relates to it.

He says he gets it because he MCP, and therefore gets it before anyone else. Is this true?

Also do MCPs get discounted licencing?

Cheers guys.

[ajbritton]

Could he be referring to Windows XP Media Center edition?

No i thort that at first, but he says it software that sits on a w2k / w2k3 box, records tv, then makes it available for network users to access.

Im currently looking at the MS site at the WM9 services.....

[steve]

Never heard of that software either.

You could use Windows Media Encoder with a TV card to stream live programs across the network. As far as I know you can't automate the recording / streaming.

Most TV cards come with some software to schedule the recording. Maybe he intended to just give access to a folder of these files.

Another possability is this bit of kit http://www.nebula-electronics.com/
Allows scheduling of recording via a webpage for staff, but again no easy way of broadcasting.

MCP's don't get advanced releases of software unfortunatly.

[ChrisH]

Most MCP offers seem to be tied in with a Technet subscription. I just had a quick look at the MCP secure site and there was nothing there of interest.

[DMcCoy]

Do you mean Windows Media server? Its a Windows server component. Listed under windows media services. According to the add/remove programs info: Enables you to stream digital media across networks.

I think you use it to create mms streams of content, but seeing as I use aac lossless and mpg mostly I've never really bothered with it.

Its on 2000 server and 2003 if I remember right.

[kingswood]

Sounds like Windows Media Services to me...

Paul

[Ric_]

The pulling of content over the network does sound like Windows XP MCE - you can use the Windows Media Connect software or dedicated devices as clients.

Just because 2K and 2003 are mentioned doesn't mean that the guy got his info correct.

Maybe it would be worth finding out why the school wants to do this andimplementing a system you are more familiar with.

Cheers for the input guys.

Taking a look at Windows Media Services at the moment. Im guessing this is what he means + a seperate capture card that records the TV, ready to be encoded via WM9 encoder, and distibuted via the server. All fun and games.

@ Ric_

Good points. XP MCE would be much eaiser, but would it run on an RM server? (all rm removed )

I alway like takign on something im not familiar with, great way to learn.

[Ric_]

@SYSMAN_MK: You need to carefully choose your hardware with MCE - particularly the TV cards and video card. I can almost garauntee that it won't like running on a server box.

Try asking your usual suppliers for ideas about software - I'm sure they'll go out of their way to find something to do the job

Well I have been playing around this morning, and now have a W2K3 box which is running Microsoft Multimedia Services. I can publish files, and the clients can access these via a web link..

The only problem I have at the moment is getting the play lists (asx) to list all the files (e.g. play list with all episodes of a maths program) like they do in a wpl file in WMP, rather then just playing one after the other in one long list.

If I can get this to work then it would just be a matter of setting up the server with a TV card to record the TV programs. Encode them into WM9 files. Then add the new file to a current play list, which is accessed via a link on a webpage.

What do you think?

[GrumbleDook]

I would use a seperate box for the encoding, even with a decent card it can dint the perform of the box, and if you are encoding at the same time that several class are trying to watch stuff then you may "notice a reduction in performance" as the M$ blokey I spoke to about it told me.

The local RBC have a Helix server so that they can host pretty much everything, MPG, Mov, AVI, WMV, etc with no issues ...

I did play with Darwin Streaming Server for a bit (and it's commercial equivalent QuickTime Streaming Server) and it can be very nice ... but is a pig to set up.