This FAQ is designed to help answer a broad range of questions about the Digital Lecture Recording service. For additional information, please check the Windows Media Player FAQ. If the FAQ don't answer your questions, please contact us via the feedback form.

Please Note: If your question relates to a particular lecture recording (stream), it is best to use the feedback link provided in the player pop-up window for that stream. The identity of that stream is then attached to the feedback form automatically (lecture in context).

Questions

• I'm having problems with Windows Media Player. Where can I get help with this?
• Where can I find information for students about the online lecture streaming service?
• Where can I find information for lecturers about the online lecture streaming service?
• What are the minimum requirements for access to the online lectures?
• What formats are the lectures available in?
• Do I need to run Windows to use Windows Media Player?
• Does it matter what version of Media Player I use?
• Why are the lectures not available in Real or QuickTime formats?
• Why does the recording start and finish not correspond exactly with the start and finish of the actual lecture?
• Why are some of the lectures for my subject not available online, while others are?
• I don't have a computer with Internet access at home. Where else can I access the online lectures?
• I want to listen to the lecture offline. How can I do this?
• The streamed picture is very blurry and I can't read the text. Can this be fixed?
• The sound is too low. How can it be made louder?
• The file, which I need to download for streaming, is very large. Why is this and how much will it cost me?
• I would like to get an audio cassette tape or an audio CD of the lecture. Is this possible?

Answers

I'm having problems with Windows Media Player. Where can I get help with this?

Microsoft have a troubleshooting Windows Media Player FAQ, which is maintained by their Windows Media Player SUPPORT CENTRE.

Where can I find information for students about the online lecture streaming service?

Details of the service can be found on UC Online. For further details, please contact Lecture Streaming Support. 

Where can I find information for lecturers about the online lecture streaming service?

Details about the service for staff can be found on UC Online. For further details you can also contact Lecture Streaming Support. Information about requesting the service is also available.

What are the minimum requirements for access to the online lectures?

You will require a computer capable of running Internet Explorer 5.0 or better, Netscape 4.7 or better, Mozilla Firefox 1.1 or better, or Opera 9 or better. It must also be capable of running Windows Media Player 6.4 or better - we recommend Media Player version 9 - and have sound capability.

If you have a PC, it will need at least a Pentium 233 processor or equivalent, 64MB of RAM and Windows 95. We would recommend at least Pentium II-400 processor with 128MB of RAM and Windows 98SE or later.

If you have a Macintosh, it will need at least a PowerPC 603e 180 MHz processor with 64MB of RAM and Apple Mac OS 8.1. We would recommend at least G3 processor with 128MB of RAM and Apple Mac OS 8.6 or later.

What formats are the lectures available in?

The lectures are available in Windows Media Streaming format (.asf) and Windows Media Video (.wmv).

Do I need to run Windows to use Windows Media Player?

No. Windows Media Player is also available for Mac OS 8.1 and higher, Mac OS X and Solaris 2.5.1 and higher. Unfortunately Windows Media Player is not available for Linux.

Does it matter what version of Media Player I use?

You must use at least Version 6.4 (6.3 under Solaris). You should get better results with later versions of Windows Media Player. We would recommend that, if your computer is relatively modern (less than three years old), you use the latest version of Media Player available (note that Windows Media Player is a free download).

Why are the lectures not available in Real or QuickTime formats?

The cost of the Real Streaming Server software makes the use of Real Media format unlikely at this time. Another associated cost is the replicated cost of data conversion, support and storage of duplicates in the alternative format. Multimedia data (such as audio and especially video) take up massive amounts of computer storage even when the data is compressed.

Why does the recording start and finish not correspond exactly with the start and finish of the actual lecture?

The system for recording (capturing) lectures is completely automated so the capturing devices will simply switch on and switch off at the pre-determined times, even though the lecture may not start or stop on schedule. If a lecture starts late or finishes early, the recording will contain the corresponding amount of "useless footage". As we do not have the resources to hand-edit each recording, this footage will unfortunately remain in the recording.

Why are some of the lectures for my subject not available online, while others are?

There are several possibilities:

• The lecturer may have chosen not to have all of the lectures recorded
• There is a (maximum) 24 hour delay between the live recording and when it is made available as an archive
• A technical malfunction may have made a recording unavailable

I don't have a computer with Internet access at home. Where else can I access the online lectures?

The PC labs in building 10 should provide access to the online lecture recordings. You will need headphones for the audio. You may purchase headphones at the Service Desk in building 10. Other computers with audio output on campus and in the Library are also an option.

I want to listen to the lecture offline. How can I do this?

There are two options.

1. You can click on the download link in the lecture window and download the Windows Media file. Due to the large file sizes, unless you have a broadband connection at home, it would be better to download the file on campus to a USB flash drive or CD-R and listen to it on your home computer. You can burn CDs on the PCs and Macs in the Building 10 labs, and all the PCs and Macs allow the use of USB flash drives. There is also a PC in the Library that allows you to burn CDs (full instructions are located next to the PC).
2. You can also burn the lecture to a standard audio CD, which can be played in any CD player. This can be done using the CD burning PC in the Library (full instructions on how to do this are located next to the PC), but note that only lectures with a duration of less than 80 minutes will fit on an audio CD. For longer lectures you must download the Windows Media file and listen to it on a computer.
   

The streamed picture is very blurry and I can't read the text. Can this be fixed?

• If you are viewing the stream from home via a modem, you will get better picture quality if you connect via a high-speed Internet connection (either broadband such as ADSL or TransACT or from on campus).
• If you are already viewing the stream via a high-speed connection, make sure you have the latest version of Windows Media Player installed.

Otherwise there is probably little you can do. The resolution of the video is limited because even broadband Internet connections offer relatively little bandwidth for video data (most broadband connections are 256Kbps or 512Kbps - by comparison, the data rate of DVDs averages about 5000Kbps). Text readability can be improved by lecturers using larger fonts in their presentations. In some cases you may need to pass on this information to your lecturer.

The sound is too low. How can it be made louder?

There are a wide range of factors that affect the volume level. Listed below are some of the items you may want to check:

• Is the volume on the player (windows media player) turned up to maximum or is it muted?
• Is the overall volume turned up in the operating system (master volume) or is it muted?
• Is the digital audio channel's volume turned up (wave volume) or is it muted?
• If there is more than one sound output device in the system, is the media player playing through the correct one?
• Are the drivers for the sound card installed and working properly (i.e. can you get sound from other applications)?
• Have you plugged your speakers/headphones into the right socket? Sometimes different output sockets on the sound card produce different levels.
• Is the physical audio device (sound card) operating properly? Does it have any defects?

The lecturer may not have mounted the microphone optimally, i.e. it may be positioned too low. If so, you may need to turn up the volume as much as possible.

The file, which I need to download for streaming, is very large. Why is this and how much will it cost me?

Using computers on campus does not take any of the credit off your UC Internet account, because the lecture service is served on our local networks and the data does not come in from an external Internet source.

For download costs for off-campus usage, you will need to consult your Internet Service Provider (ISP) about their "volume charging". To avoid ISP charges, download the lecture to disk on campus and then listen to it at home. Audio/video information is very data intensive for computers, i.e. it takes up a lot of space. Even with compression, multimedia data will always lead to relatively large file sizes. This service uses very effective compression to reduce the file size as much as possible.

I would like to get an audio cassette tape or an audio CD of the lecture. Is this possible?

A computer located in the Library has been set up to allow students to burn audio CDs of recorded lectures. Full instructions on how to do this are located next to the PC, but note that only lectures with a duration of less than 80 minutes will fit on an audio CD. For longer lectures, you will need to download the Windows Media file and listen to it on a computer (see the question "I want to listen to the lecture offline. How can I do this?").