City of Seattle Streaming Information

November, 2004

Backbone

• 1 - 100 Mbps internet connection
• 1 - 100 Mbps intranet connection
• Intranet connection is 1 gigabit
• Real Server can be ‘throttled’ back to use more or less of available 100 Mbps. Currently set for maximum use of approx. 30 percent or 30 Mbps.

Server Hardware Specs – Current – Except where noted VOD box

• Compaq DL380G1 (Live Server is Compaq 360)
• Dual P3 733 (Live Server is P3 1Ghz)
• 3131 NIC
• (1) 1000 MHZ processor
• 512 Mb RAM
• 1 power supply
• (4) 72Gb drives (1 reserved for RAID) (216 Gb available storage space)
• (2) 100 Mb network cards
• Windows 2000 SP4
• 3 year warranty

Connection from server to public is 100 base T; server output throttled at a maximum of 30 megabits per second.

Server Hardware Specs – Next Buildout proposed

• IBM X345
• (1) 2800 Mhz processor (almost 3x faster than current)
• (2) power supplies
• (6) 146 Gb drives (1 reserved for RAID) (730 Gb space avail > 3x current)
• 2 Gigabit network card (10 x current speed)
• 5 year warranty
• Estimated total cost: $6-8,000.00

Encoder Hardware Specs – July 2004 purchase

• E-4100-C
• OS: MS Windows XP
• P4 2.8 Ghz
• 40 Gb HD
• Osprey 210 video capture card
• CD-RW, DVD R/RW
• (Configured cost: $1044.00 – does not include capture card)

Connections from Osprey 100 card from the video unit are video coax

Connection from encoder to server is 100 BaseT over an internal gigabit WAN

Software Specs

• Real Encoder Software approx. $200/license
• Real Server Software with annual maintenance contract: scalable based on estimated total bandwidth.

Video on Demand - General

• Usage/total # of plays per video strongly related to media exposure of content
• Newer videos consistently played more
• Average ‘active’ life of council videos – 2 weeks – then sharp fall off
• Video Voters Guide – 2 minute speeches all candidates, available indexed and on demand
• Management of space – archive council meetings after 6 months by burning to DVD. Remove from server. Available for restore upon request (3-5 days)
• Minimal edits to encoded files as needed; front or back end using real editor included with encoding software
• Total archive capacity is currently 216 Gb – and we run out of space from time to time. Will likely be adding more storage soon

Video on Demand – Technical

• Surestream encoding – optimized for 56K, 128K and 256kbps.
• Can be adjusted – graphics intensive programs (not talking heads or meetings) throttle high end up to 350 Kbps
• High end PC for encoding with Osprey 100 or 210 video capture cards. Don’t need higher end cards.
• In our experience, have the encoder as network close to the video input source and streaming server as possible (with as few ‘jumps’ as possible)
• Dedicated server storing videos with one nic for encoder and one nice to service the public. Real Networks has similar architecture.
• Currently encoding with Real Encoder Ver. 8.5, and helix (ver. 9.0)

Live Stream – Technical

• Live stream can be sensitive to network ‘hiccups’ and may disconnect/ drop out of service. New, helix servers and encoders have auto restart.
• Live stream of channel runs 24/7
• Live Council Stream active only during City Council meetings (typically 2 meetings a day, 1-2 forums/hearings/special meetings per week)

Reasons to stream / Miscellaneous General Info

• Make government proceedings transparent
• Enhance local media coverage of local government events
• Indexing makes access to specific items of interest far more accessible
• Live stream – enables citizens to watch meetings live without driving downtown
• Far less expensive to stream in house than to hire streaming company for all or part (i.e., storage or live stream)
• We use Real products exclusively; Real controlled 90% of the streaming market when we began this project, good partner over years with help and support.
• Currently use 4 PCs for encoding; 2 live, 2 archive
• As of July 30, 2004 – 920 videos available in our archive
• Total archive capacity is currently 216 Gb – and we run out of space from time to time.