You are on page 1of 14

Mediasite System

Overview
2014 Sonic Foundry, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied and/or
redistributed without the consent of Sonic Foundry, Inc. Additional copies may be obtained by
contacting Sonic Foundry. Sonic Foundry, the Sonic Foundry logo, Mediasite, and the Mediasite
logo are registered trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.

Sonic Foundry, Inc.


222 W. Washington Avenue
Madison WI 53703
877-783-7987 toll free from the US and Canada
608-443-1600

Sonic Foundry. Since 1991.

For more information, please contact mediasite@sonicfoundry.com

Revision:7.0, January 2014

Sonic Foundry, Inc.


Overview
This document provides an overview of the workflows supported by Mediasite Enterprise Video
Platform (formerly known as EX Server). The workflows include recording, delivering and
managing video content for various applications in the areas of webcasting, education and
training, and specialized briefings. A Mediasite installation includes the Enterprise Video
Platform (EVP) that powers the workflows. Depending on the application, Mediasite installations
will also include Mediasite Recorders and/or My Mediasite. Mediasite Recorders are appliances
used for recording content generated in rooms. My Mediasite is used by content owners to
upload video or record their desktop.
Recorders record, encode and synchronize content from video, audio and DVI/VGA devices.
DVI/VGA capture provides high resolution content recording from laptops and tablets as well as
whiteboards, document cameras, and digital instrumentation. Recorders capture in real-time,
making it unnecessary to author content, pre-upload slides or devote time to post-production.
Recorders can record up to four inputs concurrently, depending on the Recorder model.
Recorders can be pre-scheduled to automatically start and stop recording without presenter
interaction. Presenters can also control their own recordings with the easy-to-use Recorder
interface or a Crestron or AMX room-control touch panel.
My Mediasite allows users to upload videos of any media format and download Mediasite
Desktop Recorder for recording the desktop. Mediasite Desktop Recorder can be used to record a
users desktop as slides or a video (screencast). The recorded desktop is synchronized with the
presenters narration, which may be audio or video.
Mediasite provides control over how and when recorded presentations are delivered and can be
used to:
Stream presentations live or on-demand to any computer or mobile device
Automatically publish presentations to searchable Mediasite Catalogs, course and
learning management systems, training portals or any web page
Create podcasts for on-the-go playback
Publish presentations to a CD/DVD, USB or zipped folder for playback without Internet
access
Audiences watch Mediasite presentations from any PC, Mac or mobile device using the
Mediasite Player, which includes:
High resolution video and slides
User-controlled navigation
Keyword search
Custom branding
Interactive polls and ask a question capabilities
Links to additional reference materials
Closed captioning support
Mediasite Enterprise Video Platform, available as an on-premise or hosted/SaaS offering,
webcasts and manages live and on-demand presentations captured by Mediasite Recorders. It

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 1 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

simplifies video content management by providing all the necessary tools to schedule, organize,
customize, secure, track and search recorded webcasts.
With Mediasite you can:
Automatically archive, organize and index content in online catalogs
Secure presentations for authorized access through Microsoft Active Directory and
LDAP directory integration and support single sign-on using SAML 2.0
Brand presentation content and incorporate audience interactivity tools
Track viewing activity to see who is watching what presentations, when and for how
long
Provide powerful content search capabilities to viewers and system users
Integrate or embed content in other learning, course or content management systems and
portals (Building Block for Blackboard Learn and Moodle Module are available)
Automatically import videos of any format and convert them to H.264 or Microsoft
Windows Media
Automatically submit Mediasite presentations for closed captioning with third-party
providers (e.g., Automatic Sync Technologies and 3Play Media)
Manage and remotely control Mediasite Recorders
Reliably scale webcasting across any organization
Create custom metadata fields

Mediasite Applications and Workflows


Mediasite components work together to support a range of workflows for videos in an enterprise
that include recording, uploading, publishing, managing, metadata extraction, search and
analytics. This section explains various components of Mediasite and supported workflows.

Mediasite Recorder
Mediasite Recorder is a purpose-built appliance for capturing and synchronizing audio, video
and high resolution presentation graphics. The hardware is powered by the Mediasite Recorder
software that includes:
Mediasite Scheduler to automatically control recording sessions based on a schedule
Mediasite Recorder Control Center, a web interface to control Recorders
Mediasite Editor to edit recorded presentations
Mediasite Control Interface Protocol (MCIP), a serial communication interface module

Mediasite Enterprise Video Platform (formerly EX Server)


Mediasite Enterprise Video Platform includes web applications, web services that support third-
party application integration with Mediasite and modules. Some of the modules can be installed
on one or more workstations that work cooperatively in a farm to balance load and provide
faster processing.
The web applications include:
Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 2 of 12
Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Mediasite Management Portal to customize, manage and configure access control for
Mediasite content
Mediasite Catalog to publish Mediasite presentations to the web
Mediasite Player to play back Mediasite presentations
Mediasite Search to search Mediasite presentations and catalogs
Mediasite Configuration Editor to configure system settings
My Mediasite for light-weight presentation management
Web Editor for editing presentations

Mediasite Enterprise Video Platform also includes the System Manager, which is used by system
administrators to manage security and system policies and to import presentations.
Mediasite Enterprise Video Platform can be installed:
On-premise in a single site configuration, suitable for enterprise-wide deployment
On-premise in a multi-site configuration, suitable for a service provider deployment
As a hosted/SaaS deployment, suitable for deployment with minimal upfront
investment in infrastructure, resources and personnel

My Mediasite Module
My Mediasite Module enables additional functions in My Mediasite and includes the following
applications:
The enhanced My Mediasite, used to manage user generated content
Mediasite Desktop Recorder, downloaded by users from the My Mediasite application
and used to record the desktop
Additional Mediasite Transcoders
A Media Upload interface that allows users to upload videos created from other
applications
Multi-format video import, which enhances all Transcoders allowing them to import
additional media formats
Customers must purchase a My Mediasite module license.

Voice Search
Voice Search is an optional hosted service that automates metadata extraction from the audio
track for use by the Search Service:
With voice search, media files are posted to Sonic Foundrys data center for processing
(similar to how files are posted to a Captioning Provider with Mediasite).
Voice search settings include user credentials, an SFTP drop box location, and a word list.
Keywords present in a word list are identified at specific points in time in the audio
track.

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 3 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Once keywords are identified, they are posted back to the presentation by the Sonic
Foundry Voice Search Service. The keywords are then indexed by Mediasite Search.
Voice Search Portal, hosted at Sonic Foundrys data center, is used to manage user
accounts and word lists.
NOTE: Keywords identified via voice search are never displayed as captions. They are only used
for search.

Workflows
This section includes diagrams that explain some of the most popular Mediasite workflows. The
workflow diagrams include flows, scenarios and Mediasite components. The legend below
provides a description of flows:

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 4 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 5 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 6 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 7 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 8 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 9 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 10 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 11 of 12


Technical Planner Introduction to Mediasite

Mediasite Technical Planner Series


The following technical planners are available to assist IT administrators and AV integrators as
they plan their Mediasite implementations:
Mediasite for the Enterprise: Explains how to plan a Mediasite deployment on your
network.
Network Setup and Firewall Considerations: Explains issues most commonly
encountered when installing and running Mediasite in an existing network.
Understanding Mediasite Security: Explains access control in Mediasite and the manner
in which an external directory can be configured to work with Mediasite in an enterprise.
Recorder Communication Security: Explains settings for Recorder naming, security and
TCP ports to facilitate operating and monitoring the Recorder remotely.
Designing AV Automation for the Mediasite Recorder: Explains how to integrate the
Mediasite Recorder into an AV-controlled environment using Mediasite Control Interface
Protocol (MCIP).
Mediasite Content Accessibility: Explains how Mediasite Player addresses accessibility
for both visually and hearing impaired users and how Mediasite Catalog addresses
accessibility for the visually impaired.
MediasiteEnterprise Video Platform: Explains how Mediasite is used as an enterprise
video platform for content management and delivery.

Sonic Foundry, Inc. Page 12 of 12

You might also like