Technical

Connectivity

There are typically four methods of broadcasting from a venue:

• ISDN2e
• Bundled ISDN
• Fibre/LAN
• Satellite

The standard and most cost efficient method is to use the ISDN2e route.

Security

We try to ensure that webcasts can surmount obstacles imposed by network security such as bandwidth throttling and firewalls. Various settings could prevent users from accessing a video. In addition to using Real and Windows video formats, we encode in Java, which has the ability to penetrate firewalls so that users on public or other firewall protected networks can access webcasts.

Bandwidth

Westminster Digital gives a lot of consideration to users with slow or fast connection speed as well as those who are not using the latest computer technology including computers with slow processing speeds, monitor types, software and media related plug-ins. In order to overcome issues mentioned above, we use singlebitrate as well as multibitrate encoding so that technology users have access to has as little impact as possible on their webcast viewing experience.

Operating systems

In order to ensure that no user group is disenfranchised as a result of using particular operating systems or incompatible media players pre-installed on their machines, we encode videos in three different formats: Real, Windows and Java. This way all users should be able to access the webcasts regardless of what machines or operating systems they use.

Players

These make it easy for viewers to find, open and play the video or audio content they are interested in. The RealPlayer and Microsoft Media Player software is available free of charge from the Internet. They are easy to use and offer good picture and audio quality even at low "telephone" bandwidth. When other graphical elements are used, consoles can be built to provide the content in a presentable way.