Individual Article:
New access to DVD-quality digital video through VideoFurnace
Fall quarter 2004, the Library began a pilot implementation of a high-resolution MPEG video streaming system. Northwestern's Information Technology division has been using VideoFurnace technology to deliver live cable television at two megabits per second to dormitories since 2002. The Library's implementation will allow faculty and students to watch titles on demand, at very high quality, at any time of day or night, delivered securely over the campus computer network.
The Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center and Digital Media Services have been delivering faculty-assigned audio and video streams at lower resolutions since early 2001. Improvements in the speed of the campus network and computing power now make it possible to deliver DVD-quality digital video in real time. Faculty will be able to use smart classroom computers to show multiple titles per class session and easily jump between them for comparison and study without shuffling tapes and loading DVD discs. Students assigned to watch titles outside of class will have access to the same content from dorms and computer labs.
Libertyville-based VideoFurnace has designed a Video On Demand (VOD) system that delivers player software and video content to the user simultaneously, eliminating the need to install and troubleshoot media player software. A faculty user need never worry whether a classroom computer has the right version of RealPlayer or QuickTime installed before a class viewing period begins.
MPEG (short for the Motion Picture Experts Group, the body overseeing development of MPEG standards) is an accepted standard for digital audiovisual content that is widely used in broadcasting and in other sectors of the content industry. The library will initially deliver MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video in the 4 to 6 megabit per second (mbps) range, but hopes to move into even higher bit ranges to ensure that all encoded titles are of sufficient quality to become digital archival masters.
For more information, please contact Claire Stewart, head of Marjorie I. Mitchell Digital Media Services, at 847-467-1437 or claire-stewart@northwestern.edu.
Claire Stewart