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Help Module - Frequently Asked Questions

How do I embed media in a website or Moodle?

Media can be incorporated in a website or a Moodle web-page without having to upload the media directly. This is a far easier and better method of incorporating media in your website or Moodle course area because (a) the media  ‘streams’ (b) you don't have to be bothered about the media format (c) you save disk space (d) it reduces the back up cycle on our servers.

Copy the embed code supplied and paste it into the CODE view of the page or HTML web block.

See further information about embedding media.

How do I download media?

If the uploader has permitted download, click on one of the download links to obtain media for your computer or mobile device.

For computer media players download either the WMV or MP4 files.

For mobile phones you will usually need to download the WMV or 3GP formats (depending on the capabilities of your device).

For the iPod (Touch)/iPhone, download the MP4 or use iTunes.

The MP4 download (for video uploaded on or after 6th April 2009) will also play on the PSP.

Can OurTube be viewed on mobile devices?

Yes. On your mobile device go to http://ourtube.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/m and choose the type of device.

Why are there three different players?

The flash media is the main player - this streams the video to your browser. The streaming flash media is also used in the embedded player. The WMV and MP4 players may be useful for mobile devices which can browse the site but cannot use the flash media player. The MP4 player uses the original width and height dimensions of the uploaded media.

How do I login and upload media?

Click on ‘Upload media’ and login using your network username and password.

• fill in the upload form including a description and tags (keywords) that help to describe the media's content – these help other users to find your media.
• supply the correct Learning and Skills Council (LSC) curriculum category. For help choosing the main category area see subject categories (opens in a new window).
• acknowledge the source of the media in the description.
• browse to your media item and upload it (do NOT navigate away from the upload page whilst the media is uploading).

Video media will then go through processing. Audio media is ready for immediate use.

Please note that site administrators may add, amend or delete tags and alter the category and/or they may contact you where titles and descriptions of items are not clear. We also reserve the right to remove items which are not adequately titled, described and tagged.

There is a 60MB upload limit. If your media is larger than 60MB it will be refused and it will need to be split in two or more sections.

Any item uploaded under your account is your responsibility so after uploading media or editing media please remember to log-out or close the browser. Simply navigating to another site is NOT enough to log you out.

What if my media fits into more than one category?

Select the most closely related category and use keywords to help others find your media item.

Can I 'protect' my upload?

Depending on your account type, yes, but OurTube wants to promote a sharing community.

On the upload form, there may be an option to supply an access code. When a user clicks on the uploaded media item it will ask for this Access code before it plays. Please don't insert a Access code unnecessarily as it spoils the purpose of OurTube being available to all for quick and easy access. Similarly, the upload form allows you to prevent the downloading of media files. Again, please don't prevent download unecessarily as it inhibits a 'sharing community'.

Note that the Access code system is a simple four digit combination. The Access code gives a degree of content protection.

When download is prevented, only you (if logged in to OurTube as the media file owner) can download and use the link and embed code supplied.

Any user who has the Access code for your media item can use the link and embed code supplied. If the Access code is secret to yourself you (and only you) can use the embed code within your VLE (your VLE is presumably password protected by its own system). The use of the embed code in another website/VLE does not require use of the Access code.

Do I need to be aware of copyright?

You should make sure that any media you use – regardless of whether it is placed on ‘OurTube’ or not - does not break copyright laws. Use of an access code should not mean that you can upload copyright protected content. If the media contains images of people (particularly young people) you may need to obtain permission before uploading it.

You must get the permission of those 'acting' in a video regardless of where it is placed. We are allowed to 'film in public places' so passing members of the public are not a problem.

Please read information relating to terms of use and copyright.

How long does it take to upload media?

A 40MB file will take about 12 minutes to upload (20MB = 6minutes, 10MB = 3 minutes). There is an upload limit of 60MB. (The HTTP protocol has to be used for upload - whilst this is great for download it's never at it's best for upload). For quicker encoding and download by users try and limit your upload to under 20MB. A 60MB video could be split into three parts _001, _002, _003.

After I upload my media how long does processing/encoding take?

Audio

MP3 files are available immediately after upload.

Video

For other video formats it depends on how busy the server is, the size of the media and what position it is in the queue but can take between 10 minutes and a few hours. The media converts the audio and video to four different formats (FLV, WMV, MP4 for iPod/PSP and 3GP). When the streaming Flash video has processed it is available for viewing.

A good quality WMV file, for example, 11MB, 3 minutes long will take about 20 minutes to convert audio and video to four different formats. For several reasons your media should ideally be under 20MB - this helps conversion, helps to make an impact on the user i.e. it's better to have several short clips than one long clip particularly where your media is explaining a process.

After conversion starts you will then see a 'processing completed' indicator as 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%. When processing starts it may stay at 0% for several minutes. 'In Process' indicates that your media is converting to Adobe Flash Video, Windows Media, MP4 for iPod/PSP and 3GP. The 'Media Coming Soon' page will refresh every 45 seconds and enables you to view the progress of the conversion.

When there are a number of media items in the queue conversion systems will be working together - because of this, the percentage figures are only approximate and once your media reaches 50% it may take only a short time to do the remainder of the conversion. Depending on the file it may take some time to finish after reaching 75% whilst the MP4 formats are processed. The MP4 undergoes multiple conversion passes in order to get the best quality for iTUNES/iPod/PSP.

Basically, you should upload your media item (do NOT navigate away from the upload page whilst the media is uploading) and then leave OurTube to it. Come back later and your media should be available. You will receive an email when your media item is available.

The quality between the different formats can vary. Sometimes, the quality of the MP4/WMV download formats can be slightly better than the streaming FLV. This is because you really want a version of the media that truly streams and when converting the file the system has to strike a balance between the size of the file and the best settings for streaming. Formats that do not stream (i.e. the WMV and MP players) may pause during play. It's all to do with balance and a 'compromise' format for streaming especially when many users are connected (share and share alike!).

The 3GP format is heavily compressed and is suitable for some mobile devices.

The MP4 file can be downloaded/viewed on an iPod (e.g. iPod Touch). The MP4 file can be downloaded for PSP (if the upload date is on or after 6th April 2009). Obviously, a poor quality upload will result in even poorer quality playback. As this is a new system we are constantly looking at the settings across a range of the media uploaded by users and assessing quality issues.

There is a cut-down dedicated viewing version of OurTube for the iPod Touch and iPHONE at ourtube.ccm.ac.uk/mobile/ipod. This system is not suitable for computer browsers.

Can processing an uploaded file 'go wrong'?

Occasionally, yes! Sorensen (the software used for conversion) works in the background and can skip a beat (or more) resulting in, perhaps, successful conversion of the video but not the audio. If this happens (and it doesn't happen often) delete your upload and try again. If the uploaded file fails to convert properly a second time please contact eservices@themanchestercollege.ac.uk.

Can I edit information relating to the media after it has been uploaded?

Yes. Login to OurTube and you will be able to edit or delete the title, description, category and tags relating to your media items.

Should I upload media to Moodle directly?

No! Take the strain off the college network and use OurTube's embed code. It should save you a lot of hassle regarding formats and your media is playing from a dedicated streaming server.

How do I use RSS?

Note that only the media items which are AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD are available to RSS.

RSS Feed links are a way of syndicating content between different websites. They are signified by a RSS button. Click on this button to open a web page containing the feed. The address of the web page you open (e.g. http://ourtube.ccm.ac.uk/rss/RSSNew.aspx) can be copied and pasted into a RSS News Reader or Moodle (there is an RSS block in Moodle).

Use of RSS may be particularly useful if you want to list all media items in a particular subject category. From a page where the categories are linked, click the RSS button, copy the web address at the top of the page (all RSS pages start http:// and contain /rss/) and paste the address of this page into your news reader or Moodle page.

Using iTUNES

see information about Podcasting/iTUNES.

Can I create my own Podcast channel/playlists?

Note that only the media items which are AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD are available to iTunes.

The podcasts module allows you to add digital media items to your own channel/playlist. Your channel/playlist can be used in RSS readers for your own use or to share with others and/or upload to your local copy of iTunes. It is possible to upload these feeds to the iTune store however they must meet certain criteria, such as (a) be regularly updated (b) contain non-copyright material.

To access the podcasts module you need to be logged in. The podcasts module is available from the menu 'Me >> MyPodcasts. If you are logged in to OurTube, Media can be added to the podcasts module using the link at the top of the watch (media player) page in the right hand column. See information about Podcasting/iTUNES.

What about formats?

The conversion software has issues with some forms of AVI upload - in particular, Indeo5 and Techsmith. If you upload AVIs using these codecs they will not convert - this is not an issue with OurTube processing but an issue with the AVI format itself. You should probably, in any case, try to compress an AVI to say, MP4 and upload that version of the file. An MP4 is likely to be a smaller file size than AVI. By all means try upload an AVI format and if it doesn't work convert it and try again.

What about widescreen?

OurTube accepts uploads using normal 4:3 and widescreen 16:9. When uploading you are asked whether the format is normal or widescreen. In fact, if you don't choose an option or aren't sure then OurTube will work it out for you after the media has played a couple of times.

Do larger files take a longer time to process?

Yes! Upload your item and then forget if for a while if you are uploading a file over 30MB. Return to the site later - the conversions should have taken place although the MP4s formats usually take the longest time. Please remember that each video item you upload is converted to four formats (audio and video) and the Flash video is multi-passing, trying to convert your upload to stream good quality. This can take time.

My video is not great quality, will it convert?

It will, but don't expect the quality to improve. The FLV will try hard to improve the quality but it might not succeed. You can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear!

What about media that does not convert successfully?

Visual media items which 'fail' conversion will be deleted from the conversion queue in one hour. There is no action you need to take. You may wish to contact eservices@themanchestercollege.ac.uk if your item fails the conversion process so that we can investigate the issue.

How do I upload media items which relate to each other?

When you fill in the form to upload the media or edit the details relating to the media add or change the title to reflect that the media is part of a series e.g. 'my media - part 01', my media - part 02.

Can I play the media items in full screen mode?

Yes, click on the icon at the bottom right of the FLV media player. This is useful to playing your video in the classroom through a whiteboard/smartboard. There are some times issues with playing in full screen - usually dependant on your bandwidth and your connection to the site. The success of full screen also depends on the item your are viewing. Please test it first. You can also try playing media at 'near full screen size' using the link situated in the RSS feed file.

Can I use keyboard controls within the Flash player?

Yes. The flash player must have focus (i.e. clicked on) - the SPACEBAR - toggles play/pause, the RIGHT ARROW key - advances the playhead by 5 seconds, the LEFT ARROW key - moves the playhead back 5 seconds, the DOWN ARROW key - reduces the volume by 5, the UP ARROW key - increases the volume by 5.

Is OurTube searchable?

Yes! Enter a keyword and click the search button or press the enter/return key. Enter the full keyword, not a partial word - this is to help the search not bringing back irrelevant material.

Can I add comments and ratings?

Yes, you can if you are logged in to OurTube. When you play a video (or audio) you will see sections for ratings and comments underneath the player window.

Is OurTube finished?

To be honest it will probably never be finished. As we have time we will add new features we think about or are suggested to us. Your comments and views are useful and of interest, so please let us know - eservices@themanchestercollege.ac.uk. OurTube tends to mirror what is going on at the national service for digital media - see www.moletv.org.uk.

What is a Tag Cloud?

A tag cloud is a set of related tags with corresponding weights - the more often the tag appears the greater the weight. The weights are represented using font sizes.

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