stream your windows media over the internet

stream your windows media over the internet


Once you have created and compressed audio or video files in Windows Media format, you can put them on the Web so that others can view your videos.

This document explains how to set up a Windows Media video file as streaming media using the University of Washington streaming servers.

You will need:

a digitized movie or other media file compressed in a Windows Media format (.asf, .wmv, .wma),
an FTP program such as SSH Secure File Transfer Client or Secure Fetch installed on your computer,
basic knowledge of an FTP program,
to activate your streaming media and Web publishing services; (If you have already activated these services, you will have a "public_media" or "student_media" and a "public_html" or "student_html" directory in your UW Homer or Dante account.)
Windows Media Player installed on your computer, and
a text-editing program such as Notepad, SimpleText, or BBEdit where you can save a file as an .asx file.


Upload and test your Windows Media.


After you have compressed your movie in a Windows Media format, you should upload your movie to the Web.

Using an FTP program, log in to your UW Homer or Dante account.
Open your "public_media" or "student_media" directory and upload your media files.
Close your connection and quit your FTP program.
It is a good idea to make sure your movie will stream from the Web. To test your movie:

Open Windows Media Player.
Select File > Open URL . This will open a window titled "Open URL."
Type the following URL to test your movie:

mms://media.type.washington.edu/userid/filename

Substitue type with "staff," "faculty," "student," "depts," or "courses," depending on the account to which you uploaded your movie, userid with the UWNetID of the account, and filename with the name of your original movie, including its extension (.asf or .wmv).
You may have placed your movie within file folders on the "public_media" server, so make sure these folder names are typed in correctly ni the address. For instance, the URL for a movie placed within a subfolder of a faculty media directory will look something like this:

mms://media.faculty.washington.edu/
john32/english100/filename.wmv


Click OK. The movie should load and play in the Windows player.

If your movie doesn't play, check Computing and Communications's page to troubleshoot common streaming problems.


Create a Windows Media metafile.


The way streaming media works, you cannot link directly from your HTML web page to your streaming movie. This is because the page and the media live in completely different places - one on the "public_html" server and one on the "public_media" server. In order to bridge this gap between servers, you must create a Windows Media metafile. These data files point the way from the web page (where you put your html page) to the streaming media servers (where you put your actual movie). In other words, they offer the Web browser directions on how to find your streaming media on the public_media servers.

To create a Windows Media metafile:

Open a new file in your text-editing program (Notepad, SimpleText, or BBEdit).
Type the following:







Substitue type with "staff," "faculty," "student," "depts," or "courses," depending on the account to which you uploaded your movie, userid with the UWNetID of the account, and filename with the name of your original movie, including its extension (.asf or .wmv).
Save your file by clicking File > Save. In order to keep your media files organized, rename it to match the movie it references. For instance, if your Windows Media movie is titled "john32.asf," title the reference file "john32_ref.asx" or some other easily recognizable name. Make sure to change the extension to .asx.
Upload your saved metafile using a FTP program to your "public_html" or "student_html" folder.



Link to your streaming Windows Media


Once you've created and uploaded your Windows Media metafile, you should create a link on your Web page that your audience can click to view your streaming video.

Open or create your Web page in your favorite Web page editor.
Create a link to your Windows Media metafile. The URL should look something like this:

http://type.washington.edu/userid/filename_ref.asx.

Substitute type with "staff," "faculty," "student," "depts," or "courses," depending on the type of your account, userid with the UW NetID of that account, and filename_ref.asx with the name of your Windows Media metafile. If you saved your reference file in subfolders of the "public_html" directory, make sure to include the folders in the URL.
Save your Web page, and if you're not using SimpleSite, use your FTP program to upload it to your Web site.


If you haven't already made your Web page and aren't sure how, please look at our Action Plan for creating a class Web site.

Make sure to load your web page and test the link to make sure it works. If the movie doesn't open in a new player window, make sure the URL link is correct and that you linked to your metafile on the "public_html" server rather than the real movie on the "public_media" server.