fyi : back issues
Autumn 2005 - Blueprint for libraries - management and promotion
Conversion from VHS to digital video
Leanne Averill
An increasingly impractical, unsustainable and ageing video collection stared at us from the burgeoning shelves each day, and the inability to purchase VHS material had become a problem for the acquisitions department of the Educational Resource Centre (ERC) at Penola Catholic College. Something had to be done to address these issues but the unpredictability of future technology demanded a solution that hopefully would have some longevity.
Technological change is so rapid. It seems now that CDs are fast becoming old technology – an assertion that is supported by the proliferation of such technologies as mini-disk and mp3 players, ‘wearable’ computers and the ready sharing of files through the internet. Who knows what movies will look like in the future? Who says DVDs are here to stay? It seems the storage capacity for digital data increases in direction proportion to a decrease in the physical size of storage devices. Perhaps, in a not-too distant future, we will merely download movies to storage devices to be viewed anywhere, on anything, at anytime.
With the digital age pushing us to make a decision, it seemed the biggest change would be from analogue to digital. Once materials were in digital format the capacity to change, convert, store and view them didn’t seem too daunting. A shared vision and understanding between the ERC and ICT technical staff ensured that there was a commitment to moving in the digital direction for the storage and viewing of audiovisual content. Thus, the ICT Manager, the Network Administrator and Head of the ERC began some investigations into what products were on offer.
Humble beginnings
Twelve months ago we began the installation of a Canopus MediaEdge LAN based digital video distribution system in classrooms, with the purchase of a server, 3 set-top boxes and one software licence. From these humble beginnings, we commenced the digital conversion of not only the video collection but also the thinking and practices of the staff.
Our choice of the Canopus MediaEdge solution was based on a number of factors. It offered:
- a reasonably cost-effective method of distributing digital video content to multiple set-top boxes in the classrooms using the College’s existing televisions and network
- a software solution to PC clients
- a complete solution that does not need a knowledgeable technician to maintain it and is user-friendly enough for both the classroom teacher and the ERC staff to add to and maintain the content
- flexible content delivery including pre-programmed playback, live streaming of video broadcasts and full-featured interactive video-on-demand services
- scalability so that we could extend the system as finances allowed.
Several classrooms now have a Canopus MediaEdge-STB unit installed and video content is distributed using the school’s existing network. The set-top boxes operate via the network that is connected to the server. The system consists of Canopus MediaEdge-SVS server software running on a Pentium4 at 2.8 GHz, with 1 GB of RAM and a 250 GB RAID array.
The classroom teacher has access, via a remote control, to the entire digital video collection and can play on-demand content or tune in to live broadcasts from the centrally located server. There are no videos or DVDs to lose or share with other members of staff. Any digital file can be played back at any time and even at the same time as another class is playing it. Everything is streamed from the server.
Finding new content
The constraints of copyright and the desire to replace some of the very old material with more recent content were in the forefront of our thinking. This, of course, means that anything that is commercially produced cannot be included in the digital video library so the need to access copyright-free material was paramount.
We encoded and registered what we could of the ‘top fifty’ most used titles and other titles as demanded. Now we are looking for new content to come from cable or free-to-air TV. Each month the library emails information to all teachers, highlighting forthcoming programs that may be of interest. Many requests have been made that have broken the nexus of dependence on old material and the limitations of department budgets. This has also allowed some fabulous new content to be added.
The need for a complete database of all resources, irrespective of format, demanded that all material included in the digital video system was also added to our library software. This involved the establishment of some new procedures and protocols, especially given that these are not ‘physical’ resources and there is nowhere to stick a barcode or spine label.
Looking ahead
The future at Penola Catholic College includes the extension of the Canopus MediaEdge system to all currently installed TVs in the College. A 34 Mb microwave link connects the senior campus in Broadmeadows to the junior campus in Glenroy. The system has been tested across the link and performed with little loss of quality or speed. Thus, in 2005 there will be ten set-top boxes on the Broadmeadows campus and five on the Glenroy campus. There will also be a couple of software clients installed in the staff rooms and libraries so that viewing outside the classroom is possible. The possibility of developing an in-house student TV station is also in the pipeline.
The success of this project has been possible by the shared vision and solid relationship of the ERC and ICT technical staff, as there have been issues of information management and technology considerations that have had to be met for the project to be implemented and bedded down to the stable and dependable service it now is. The College’s administration has been invaluable in both sharing the vision and providing the essential financial support needed for implementation. Several teachers were also invaluable in the process as they generously provided troubleshooting in the classrooms. The collaboration of many members of the staff together with the reliable and ongoing support of Canopus and their local representatives at Go-Motion have made this adventurous foray into the digital domain very successful.
Leanne Averill is Head of the Educational Resource Centre at Penola Catholic College, Glenroy.