Getting Started With Silverlight Objects

December 2009

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Getting Started with Silverlight Objects

Table of Contents Adaptive Bitrate Streaming .............................................................................................................. 3 Silverlight......................................................................................................................................... 3 Creating a New Silverlight On Demand Object ............................................................................... 3 Converting a Windows Media On Demand Object to Silverlight ....................................................... 5 Codecs and Containers Supported by Internap's Adaptive Bitrate Conversion (Windows Media) ..... 6

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Getting Started with Silverlight Objects

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming Adaptive bitrate streams offer a better viewer experience and are recommended for most situations. Support is provided for converting and playing adaptive bitrate files for viewers. Internap suggests uploading the highest quality file you expect your users to experience. Silverlight adaptive bitrate assets can either be set up directly in MediaConsole as Silverlight On Demand objects, or Windows Media (.wmv) files can be uploaded outside of MediaConsole to undergo automated conversion to adaptive bitrate files. The converted files will then appear within MediaConsole as Silverlight On Demand files. Silverlight Internap’s support of Silverlight takes advantage of the Microsoft Smooth Streaming technology which dynamically detects and transparently switches the video quality of a media file. Two media players are included for Silverlight files – the default player from Microsoft’s Expressions Encoder was used to provide the default media player; and the OVP player (a community-built player http://www.openvideoplayer.sourceforge.net ) is also available as an option for viewers to select. The embed code tells the browser which player (.xap file) to use, and which media file (.ism file) the player should play. Developers can use their own custom player as well. For information regarding converting your Windows Media files to Silverlight Smooth Streaming, please refer to section 2: Converting a Windows Media On Demand Object to Silverlight. Note: converted Windows Media files will be displayed within the Silverlight portion of the Media section as On Demand objects. Silverlight is currently not available as a Live stream, or as an Authenticated object. Section 1: Creating a New Silverlight On Demand Object You will need to begin by uploading a file through the Upload section of MediaConsole. Details on uploading are available in MediaConsole User Guide, Chapter 1: Uploading Files. Silverlight files should be uploaded into the /media/http directory. Internap recommends that each Silverlight On Demand video’s files be placed in a separate subdirectory for ease of management. Multiple .xap files may be uploaded to support multiple themes. You must re-encode/choose theme for each theme you want available. Every theme is a different filename (xxxx.xap) 1. Within MediaConsole, select the Media section. 2. Within the ‘Silverlight’ section, select ‘On Demand’. A list of object names populated by the uploaded files will be displayed.

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Getting Started with Silverlight Objects

3. Select the desired object. The information screen will be displayed. Within the informational screen, several sections of information are provided depending on which file type is selected: a. Preview - use the Preview object to view your stream content. b. Embed Code – this provides the code that needs to be embedded into your web page to play this media file. c. Stream Information – this serves as a reference for information about your stream such as the Direct url for the stream. d. Customize – several settings can be customized for Silverlight streams:

i. If desired, you can customize the width and height of the stream. The default value is 320x240. Width and height values can also be modified after creation of the object. You can adjust the width and height and then click the ‘Customize’ button. This will adjust the values in the Embed Code above so that they can be copy/pasted. For On Demand objects, the new width and height settings are NOT saved, and both the displayed values and the Embed Code values will revert to the default values when you exit the screen. ii. Determine whether the stream will begin to play automatically using the Auto Start checkbox under Player Options. iii. Select Theme options for the stream. Themes represent not only a different ‘skin’, but also a different video player built by different entities. A separate .xap file with a unique name must be uploaded for each Theme.

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Getting Started with Silverlight Objects

Section 2: Converting a Windows Media On Demand Object to Silverlight Internap offers the ability to convert Window Media (.wmv) files to Silverlight smooth streaming assets. This is initiated outside of MediaConsole via ftp to the Adaptive bitrate submissions ftp server (ftp://transcode.internapcdn.com). This url information is also shown as the Adaptive Bitrate Submissions url within the Preferences section of MediaConsole. Internap has created the \ToSilverlight directory on the Adaptive bitrate submissions ftp server for your account. Internap recommends you create a new subdirectory for each Silverlight video for ease of maintenance. You will then ftp your Windows Media file to this subdirectory under: User Name\ToSilverlight to initiate the conversion process. The conversion process will detect the bitrate of the Windows Media file and create a spectrum of bitrates/screen resolutions that will provide the best viewing experience for your customers based on the input file provided. The Silverlight Smooth Streaming files that are created will be placed in your account’s http directory/ and can be maintained in the Silverlight On Demand Media section in MediaConsole. The input source files will be deleted from the Adaptive submissions ftp server when the conversion is complete.

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Getting Started with Silverlight Objects

Section 3: Codecs and Containers Supported by Internap’s Adaptive Bitrate Conversion (Windows Media)

Input Output Container Codecs Container Codec Width

WMV

66

VC-1

IMSV (MP4)

VC-1 Match input for highest bitrate. Scaled back for others.

Height

Bitrate

Match input If the input is above the for highest bitrates listed below, all bitrate. bitrates will be generated. If Scaled the input is lower than a back for bitrate listed below, only the others. bitrates below the input will be generated. (bitrates subject to change) 1,600 kbps 1,241 kbps 937 kbps 708 kbps 403 kbps 305 kbps 230 kbps

Number of Outputs Varies, up to 7.

Number of Other outputs Outputs Converted Varies, ism and ismc up to 7. manifest files.