DV video conference technical
requirements and testing procedures
|
The
video conferencing technology we use streams native
uncompressed DV25 video (like from a
Handicam) thru firewire over IP at a rate of 30 Mbps UDP. It is not compatible with traditional
H.323 videoconferencing
and requires 30+ times more network bandwidth than H.323. Hardware
requirements include a 100+ Mbps full duplex NIC and 35+ Mbps full
duplex internet connectivity to Abilene (Internet2). DV uses completely
off-the-shelf components and I think you will find it to be very simple, yet
powerful, exciting, and scalable based on your needs. The DV streaming software
is called Digitized Video Transport System
(DVTS) and can be downloaded for free for Windows XP SP2 here. To test send you
will need a DV camera with firewire output into a WinXP SP2 box with firewire
I/O. You can receive on-screen without firewire I/O, but firewire I/O is
always preferred. Mac OSX may also
send and receive though the software interface is not as simple as XP. Please complete 1-3 and copy/paste and email
the results. Test 4 should be downloaded in advance and first tested locally
between two machines. 1) Perform a trace route,
preferably from the PC, port, IP, and location you will use for the video
conference: In
Windows Command Prompt
(remember DOS?)
type the following then press enter: tracert www.nws.edu or
in OSX Terminal (Apps/Utilities) type the following then press enter: Traceroute www.nws.edu 2) Run the Internet2 Detective
in your browser to test for 3) Run the Network Diagnostic
Tool in your browser. Test to the nearest server or any server that works
by clicking on the link and pressing Start.
Perform the test 3 times consecutively. Copy the plain English test results
that appear in the main window. 4) Download
in advance, test locally, complete when we can test together. Test
available bandwidth using a program called iperf. Iperf runs in
Terminal on OSX and Command Prompt on Windows using good old fashioned
command strings. Please download the software and put it in Applications\iperf on OSX and C:\iperf\ on Windows, or anywhere
you prefer. The install will not default to these locations: OSX iperf download Windows
iperf download You cannot
double-click this program to run, it must run in Terminal or Command Prompt. OSX
server instructions: Open Terminal from Applications\Utilities\ Drag the iperf file into Terminal. After you have done this the
Terminal line will look something like: username$ /Applications/iperf/iperf Next, copy the following string: -s -u -l 1372
-w 64k -i 10 and paste it such that it now looks like this, spaces and syntax are very important: username$ /Applications/iperf/iperf –s –u –l 1372 –w 64k –i 10 Press enter/return to run the server, you
should see the following. That's it for server mode!: ------------------------------------------------------------ Windows server instructions: Open Command Prompt from Start Menu, Run, and type: cmd.exe, press enter If you have placed iperf in c:\iperf\ then just type cd\iperf, and press enter in Command Prompt Use the same string to run server mode so that your screen looks
like the following, and hit enter: C:\iperf>iperf -s -u -l 1372 -w 64k -i 10 Client instructions for Windows
and OSX: When we connect online to test iperf, the client string
one of us will use is: iperf -c 67.17.206.143
-u -l 1372 -w 64k -i 10 -t 30 –r -b 30M –b
30M is the bandwidth tested. We will
start low with
–b 1M and
work our way up. If you’d like to know what these commands are doing please
visit the IPERF
documentation. I strongly suggest that you test
between two machines on your network, setup one client and one server, to see
that you can achieve 30 Mbps internally. If it does not work locally it will
not work over the internet. During the iperf test, we are
looking for an aggregate loss of less than 0.05 %, ideally 0 %. Good luck! |