MediaCenter 9.3 Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 FAQs MediaCenter 9.3 Frequently Asked Questions Is the Kollective SD ECDN Agent required when using MediaCenter? The Kollective SD ECDN Agent is not required for MediaCenter operation; however, Kontiki strongly recommends that it is utilized to enhance performance and provide a high quality viewing experience, regardless of bandwidth constraints. Does MediaCenter support public content (available outside the firewall)? MediaCenter supports public as well as private content. Security restrictions can be adjusted per content item to ensure that corporate policies are enforced. For example, a policy can bet set to all pages within MediaCenter to company employees or a customer could choose to make that decision on a per page or per video basis. Does MediaCenter support mobile devices? Can I upload content from a mobile device? MediaCenter can play content on ios, Android and Windows Mobile devices as well as Windows and Mac desktops. The Kollective SD ECDN agent is available for Windows, Mac, and ios.. You can upload videos from ios or Android devices. Windows Mobile uploads will be supported in the future. Uploaded videos can be rotated by 90, 180 and 270 degrees by administrators and moderators. This is useful for videos taken on mobile devices held vertically or upside down. Can MediaCenter be customized? How? MediaCenter is highly configurable. Pages can be configured to show well-designed banners and feature content with context-specific thumbnails. If more extensive customization is required, Kollective makes it possible for customers to modify source code through a shared-source model. This enables any level of customization, from changing text labels and background colors to modifying usage flows. You can also access MediaCenter with custom domain names and restrict the IP range from which users can access. kollective.com page 1

2 What video formats does MediaCenter accept? MediaCenter ingests and transcodes literally all widely used video formats, including: wmv, f4v, avi, mpg, mpeg, mp3, mp4, mov, 3gp, m4v, and mv4. Can MediaCenter be used for more than video? If so, what other content can it support? MediaCenter can be used to deliver any file type. Delivery is done through Kollective SD ECDN if one is in use. MediaCenter identifies certain file types such as PDF and Microsoft Office documents and marks them accordingly. Non-video files can be displayed using the browser s built-in capabilities or downloaded for local storage. It is also easy to turn an audio into a video file once uploaded. In this case, the thumbnail serves as a static image throughout the video. What search features does MediaCenter have? Are there other features that help retrieve content? MediaCenter features a robust built-in search engine that advanced search options. These include logic operations such as and, or, and keyword qualifiers. Matches are searched for in metadata and tags. To aid in retrieving relevant content, video files can be divided into chapters and viewers can jump between them to focus on parts of the video that are important to them. MediaCenter also uses player-bar thumbnails, which give viewers a preview of different sections of the video, enabling them to quickly find relevant sections. In addition, related links for every video can be augmented by adding descriptive images. Does MediaCenter support uploading content? Users can upload videos, documents or files. They can also create live events. A comprehensive array of roles and workflows facilitate employee-generated content, whereas certain user roles are allowed to upload while others provide content moderation and governance. Does MediaCenter support content creation? MediaCenter is not a content creation tool in the sense that it does not directly support the ability to create or edit videos. However, you can easily upload videos and documents and you can record video with an external tool (such as a free encoder) and upload it to MediaCenter. Through an integration with Collaaj, MediaCenter can host employee-generated content which can feature screen and webcam recording. kollective.com page 2

3 Does MediaCenter support content approval workflows? Does it have a system for notifications? Content approval workflows are an integral part of MediaCenter. Notifications are sent to moderators and other user roles on various events such as content awaiting approval, content about to expire, and content assigned to channel. There are also aggregated notifications, whereby notifications can be sent to multiple targets via or displayed in the MediaCenter Message Center. Users can subscribe to a custom set of events, change notification intervals, and choose their preferred language. Administrators can also broadcast a message to all users. Does your solution support multiple tenancies? Kollective provides multi-tenant cloud based solution, of which MediaCenter is a key part. While the hosting environment is shared with other Kollective customers, strict policies were put in place to guarantee that separation is maintained at all time. Kollective s IT infrastructure is SOC-2 certified and abides by the strictest security and privacy requirements. Is it possible to set up separate portals for different lines of business? Different lines of business or departments can have their own MediaCenter portal set up, providing access to a subset of the content delivered by Kollective. Alternatively, business lines can each have their own channel and homepage within a single MediaCenter portal. Does MediaCenter support multiple languages? MediaCenter currently supports six languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. The user s browser language is detected automatically and all of the primary navigation elements are updated to reflect that language. Kollective is constantly tracking usage patterns to determine which languages to add. If necessary, other languages can be added by the customer or by Kollective through a professional services engagement. Subtitles are supported out-of-the-box with MediaCenter. Videos can be transcribed, translated or subtitled directly in MediaCenter via a third party integration with Cielo 24. Contact your Kollective Account Manager for details. Does MediaCenter support webcam capture and screen capture? Webcam recording and screen capture are not part of MediaCenter, however, they are available by using Collaaj, a content creation solution integrated with MediaCenter. kollective.com page 3

4 What level of reporting is available? Video view stats are on every video page in MediaCenter (this option can be disabled). For advanced stats, Kollective Analytics provides robust viewership reporting, allowing an administrator to look at the data from multiple angles and providing insight into the Kollective SD ECDN delivery performance. Administrators can configure Kollective Analytics access rights from MediaCenter or AdminCenter. MediaCenter can also integrate with Google Analytics, augmenting the built-in reporting with page usage information. This option has to be enabled per customer and does not incur an additional cost. Can MediaCenter be installed on-premises? Kollective does not support on-premises installations. Our state-of-the-art, hosted environment is highly secure and privacy is strictly enforced. Our view, corroborated by third party auditors, is that our hosted solution is far superior to other options from the cost and security perspectives. Does MediaCenter work over SSL (HTTPS) connections? MediaCenter uses SSL exclusively. All communication between the browser and the server is encrypted. The Kollective SD ECDN agent also uses encrypted communication. Does MediaCenter encrypt content when stored in the cloud? A configuration parameter instructs MediaCenter to encrypt all content by default. When this parameter is set, content is stored in an encrypted state on Kollective servers. Kollective does not hold the private keys and cannot read encrypted content. Do you have multiple geographical Points of Presence (POPs) for better performance? The Kollective SD ECDN agent, an integral part of the Kollective SD ECDN, is the recommended content delivery vehicle and essentially provides a POP on every desktop. When SD ECDN is not available, MediaCenter can rely on a third party Content Delivery Network (CDN) with multiple POPs all around the globe. Does MediaCenter integrate with Single Sign On solutions such as SAML or ADFS? MediaCenter is SSO-enabled and can integrate with a variety of authentication services, including SAML and ADFS. kollective.com page 4

5 What browsers does MediaCenter support? Are any browser plug-ins required? On Windows computers, MediaCenter runs on Internet Explorer versions 9 and up, as well as the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox. On a Macintosh, it runs on the latest version of Safari. The Flash player plug-in is required on desktop platforms. On mobile platforms, MediaCenter runs on the built-in browser. Can MediaCenter be used to create and watch live events? Does it support slide synchronization? Users can create, manage, and view video-only live events on MediaCenter. Slide synchronization and other webcasting features are available on Kontiki Webcaster (priced separately). Is MediaCenter integrated with Microsoft SharePoint? MediaCenter and Kollective s SharePoint web parts use the same content store. As a result, content uploaded on either one is automatically available on both. Kollective s SharePoint web parts are priced separately. Is MediaCenter integrated with InterCall IWS? Yes. Archived IWS events can be uploaded automatically and viewed on MediaCenter, however only the video stream is available (not the slides and other features like polling and Q&A). Can an InterCall IWS live event be archived and published into MediaCenter? Is the process manual or automated? Yes, InterCall IWS live events or archived events can be uploaded automatically and viewed in MediaCenter, however, only the video stream is available in the archive. How is MediaCenter integrated with WebEx? WebEx archives (wrf and arf files) can be uploaded into MediaCenter. The WebEx player is required for viewing. WebEx archives can also be saved as mp4 files, losing some of the interactive functionality but gaining the ability to play them back from within MediaCenter without the need for a WebEx player. kollective.com page 5

6 Is MediaCenter a webcasting tool? No, MediaCenter does not include webcasting features. It only enables viewing pure video, either live or on-demand. Kontiki Webcaster is a full-featured webcasting tool (priced separately). Do you support Adaptive Bit Rate playback? The Kollective SD ECDN supports Adaptive Bit Rate for live streams (9.1 SD ECDN agent is required). What are some convenience features available to administrators? Unlisted Channels - Channels can be unlisted, making it easier to create or modify media pages before end users are made aware. Bulk Deletion Content can be deleted in bulk. Audit Log User actions are logged for a period of 60 days. Contact Kontiki Support if you need to retrieve the logs. Virtual Groups An arbitrary set of users can be defined as a group. These virtual groups can be used wherever groups are used. Does MediaCenter have an Embedded Player? Embedded in other sites, the MediaCenter player features many of the options available in MediaCenter, such as displaying name and description, enabling chapter selection, and allowing users to rate, flag, download, and share. kollective.com page 6 Contact Kollective kollective.com info@kollective.com US UK +44 (0) ASIA +91 (80) Kollective Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved