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This chapter provides information on the Cisco IP/TV product. The information is organized into the following sections:
Cisco IP/TV uses emerging Internet standards to reliably and efficiently transmit audio and video content over existing IP networks. IP/TV represents a significant new opportunity for leveraging the multimedia capabilities of Cisco IOS networks. Using IP/TV, an organization can use its intranet for more effective employee communications, distance learning, and any number of other applications for audio and full-motion video distribution.
IP/TV consists of four components for Windows 95 or Windows NT systems: Server, Viewer, Program Guide, and Streamwatch. The IP/TV Server captures live or prerecorded video and audio streams using a variety of third-party video capture cards. One real-time stream and several stored streams can then be sent by the IP/TV Server throughout a corporate intranet using IP Multicast and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) technologies. In this way each stream can serve any number of viewers, without any increase in network bandwidth consumed.
The IP/TV Viewer communicates with the IP/TV Program Guide to present the list of scheduled multicasts at the user's desktop and displays the actual audio/video program content. Users can sign up for a particular multicast using the IP/TV Viewer, which provides VCR-style controls along with the ability to "channel surf" among multiple multicast programs. IP/TV provides facilities for collecting management information, displaying network performance statistics, and exercising administrative controls to manage network and bandwidth utilization. Any Windows 95 or Windows NT system can run the IP/TV Viewer to "tune in" to the desired stream, or channel.
The Server and Viewer are Windows applications that support Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG-1) compression as well as H.261, Indeo, VXtreme, or future ActiveMovie-compatible hardware or software codec, and can play back any files in both MPEG and Video-for-Windows format (AVI). IP/TV will also work with MPEG and other hardware decompression boards, if available on the viewer system.
The IP/TV Program Guide, used for multicast program setup and management, is accessed via any HTML network browser. The IP/TV Program Guide provides channel and program scheduling information that both the Server and Viewer systems can reference, including parameters for limiting the number of audio/video streams allowed on a network. The IP/TV Server delivers multicast programs according to parameters entered in the Program Guide, including start time, audio only, or audio/video. The Program Guide requires a Windows NT system running Microsoft's Internet Information Server or a UNIX platform with web server.
The IP/TV Streamwatch is a software utility to measure reach and ROI (return of investment). It helps you log user subscription and view user demographics by each video stream broadcasted.
IP/TV's Slidecast feature displays two windows on the viewer's PC--one with the presenter giving a presentation and the other with a view of the actual PC-based demonstration materials. With Slidecast, the IP/TV Server can capture both the presenter being videotaped (for example, a CEO delivering a message to employees or a teacher giving a technical seminar) and the slides or overheads from the associated Microsoft PowerPoint (or similar) presentation. Slidecast is also useful in sales demonstrations, software training sessions, and similar applications that require synchronizing of audio and PC-based applications. Slidecast can be used with audio only, in cases where bandwidth is insufficient for full-motion video transmission.
Distance learning and other training applications can now be delivered interactively with the Question Manager capability. Viewers can easily call up a form to type in questions, which are then automatically routed to the moderator, or to the speaker directly. Questions are logged and can be sorted by time, subject, or sender's name. The speaker can then read and respond in real time, providing a more interactive learning experience for all the viewers tuned in. Question Manager can be simply activated when scheduling the broadcast via the Program Guide.
IP/TV uses state-of-the-art Internet standards such as IP Multicast, RTP (RFC 1889, 1890), Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP), and in the future, Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) to provide high-quality, synchronized audio/video information over existing packet-switched networks simultaneously with current network data traffic.
Cisco IP/TV includes the following key features:
Because software-based audio/video compression and decompression is fairly CPU intensive, the system requirements listed in Table 119 apply to IP/TV. Refer to http://www.cisco.com/iptv for latest updates.
Cisco IP/TV products are available in a starter kit and as separate single licenses and bundles. The first IP/TV Server should include the Program Guide.
Table 120 lists the product numbers you can use to order Cisco IP/TV.
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