Below are some of our customers’ most frequently asked questions. Have a question not answered here? Contact us today and we’ll be happy to help.
- What is a “podcast”?
- How do I get the IP address from the EDUcast device?
- How do I test audio settings and levels?
- How do I create a key for my EDUcast system?
- Can I have multiple keys with different settings for my EDUcast system?
- My organization has multiple EDUcast devices. Can I use my key with more than one device?
Q. What is a “podcast”?
A. A media file that you can subscribe to. Specifically, a podcast is an audio or video file transmitted over the internet and enclosed inside an “RSS” or “XML” file. RSS and XML allow users to subscribe to these audio and video files, and be automatically notified when new files are available. They’re really easy to use, and though the standard was invented only 2 years ago, hundreds of thousands of people enjoy podcasts every day.
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Q. How do I get the IP address from the EDUcast device?
A. When you plug the USB key into the EDUcast or the box that you installed the iso into, then you will hear a beeping sound, wait about 20 seconds. This will instruct the EDUcast device to write a file that has the IP address information into the USB, then you can remove the key. After that, you can insert this USB key to any other desktop computer or laptop to pull that file which is named the network.txt. This file is inside the directory called “piab” when you open the thumbdrive…. you should find the IP information for your ethernet port under “interface eth0″ most likely.
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Q. How do I test audio settings and levels?
A. If you are using an EDUcast Audio System, you can access the live stream by opening http://:8000/main.mp3 in iTunes or another streaming media player. This only works if you first access the web UI using a browser, as this tells the device to drop the firewall from connections originating on the same IP as the browser. This is a security feature to prevent unauthorized access to the live stream. For example, if a box was broadcasting in a classroom a student would not be able to listen in (or record) from the device because of this firewall protection. If you do this you can listen to the live stream and test audio settings, and adjust audio levels if necessary.
If you are using a EDUcast Video System (SD or HD) a little more configuration is required. To enable live broadcasting, you need to plugin a monitor, mouse and keyboard and login to the device. Then, visit the web UI, and go to “Settings” Then, click on the “Configure Video Settings” to popup the GUI for configuring this. Then, click “Transmit” to turn on live broadcasting. Then, you can click “Start” to start broadcasting. This next step is a little tricky, but you will need to copy the SDP file (you can see the filename in the interface near the “transmit” button) from the device to the system on which you want to watch the video. The easiest way is to email the SDP file to yourself; you can do this by clicking on the blue globe at the bottom of the screen to launch Firefox and then logging into your email, emailing it, and then downloading the file onto any machine with the Quicktime player installed. Then, just open the SDP file in Quicktime and you’ll see the live stream. This does require that multicast is enabled on the network, which for most educational networks is the case. This “preview” feature is purely to test the stream settings; it is not intended to be used to host live events, and is unsupported in that way.
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Q. How do I create a key for my EDUcast System?
A. A “key” is simply a USB thumbdrive with a special file on it. This file needs to be named metadata.xml and should be placed in a directory named “piab” or “podcast” The name of the directory is case-sensitive, so this means you cannot use “Piab” or “PODcast” as the directory name.
The easiest way to create this file is to login to your media server and generate the key using the USB Key section of the interface.
You can also hand write these files in a text editor. Preview them to make sure they are valid XML by opening the file in your favorite web browser like Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. If they are invalid, the browser will indicate an error.
This file looks like this:
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Q. Can I have multiple keys with different settings for my EDUcast System?
A. Yes, you can! In fact, this is the easiest way to manage situations where you want different resolutions or options for different circumstances.
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Q. My organization has multiple EDUcast devices. Can I use my key with more than one device?
A. Yes. Your key is tied to your organization and user information, not to a specific hardware device. Any key will work in any EDUcast device, provided the unit you are using the key on supports all of the options you have specified on your key. For example, an EDUcast Audio System will only record the audio of your presentation even if your key specifies options for HD video recording.
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