Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 16:13:34 -0500 To: pbs-demo@thequilt.net From: Mary Fran Yafchak Subject: Notes from PBS-Quilt call, 11/8/02 Cc: Mary Fran Yafchak Bcc: X-Attachments: Dear all, Below are the notes from today's PBS-Quilt call and info for our next call (at the bottom). -mfy *********** Attendees: Tony Conto, MAX Mark Johnson & Eddie Winstead, NCREN Greg Marks, MERIT David Felland, Wisconsin Jim Kutzner & Thomas Edwards, PBS Steve Shroeder, PSU MFY, SURA Ellen Vaughan, I2 Dennis Haarsager, Wash State/CPB Picking up from where we left off last time - more on See to Shining See and discussing whether that is a good project fit or if the group wants to explore beyond that... Jim K - Update on current status. Expecting PathOne units to arrive in the next day or so. Will be sending one to David Felland/WPTV. Also looking into bandwidth concerns at PBS location itself. Step 1: Establish real-time stream from Milwaukee to PBS/Washington DC with compressed HD material (19.39MB) - feed that stream into PBS HD feed from time to time to see what might be done with it, how it is received, etc. Currently feel they can accommodate this incoming stream without adding bandwidth but this will be over the commodity Internet. Asked the group if that's crazy (long pause...) Suggestion to get help from someone in E2E performance group to predict performance and/or troubleshoot possible problems. PBS is also looking at getting an I2 connection. Exploring this now, getting prices from MAX and others, but no real budget for this within PBS. Also working w/USC for use of their Arlington PoP.] MFY - Re: "See to Shining See" project - what is/was envisioned for Quilt involvement? Does PBS have specific ideas about what Quilt might do to work with them or are they interested in having Quilters brainstorm ideas with them? Jim K. - Want to be sure Quilters know what is happening (thus these discussions...) to inspire ideas which can be discussed as they crop up. David F. then summarized See to Shining See project again for some who missed it... Mark J - Are there plans to move to 270MB for the stream or just to stay at 19.39MB? PBSrs & WPTV - Both but need to start somewhere and 19.39MB will probably be easier to support. Also want to look at both contribution and distribution eventually but starting with the latter first and at the lower HD bandwidth. Encoders cost more but produce a stream that is more broadly usable/supportable. Jim K/PBS will send additional technical detail for See to Shining See to the project list. Additional suggested next step - Try to develop some curricular value in order to guide further development/focus/funding. MFY - In order to decide whether or not this idea meets the needs of those on the call or whether further ideas/considerations should be examined, really need to hear from everyone what their objectives are. Objectives/interest of Quilters on the call: * Greg - With the exception of one station in Mich, all PBS stations in Mich have I2 access. Would be interested as a second phase of the project in IP-multicasting the content to see if this is a useful distribution mechanism. Also wants to see if there is particular content of value to the education community that could be distributed over the Internet2, parallel to alternative distribution for other PBS materials (e.g., CD). * Tony - Had research perspective initially. For instance, are working w/on a project to distribute some files via a Web mechanism as exploration of advanced uses of their infrastructure. PBS project could be a similar exploration of high bandwidth content on the MAX infrastructure. Also interested in whether or not they can help distribute this new PBS content as an educational opportunity, develop a community around it, what impact that would have. * Mark - Looks at this as a starting point for distribution of digital video around the network. They have a PBS station, also film school, NC School of the Arts, etc. - Some of the assets of these groups might be shared more readily if they can be digitized and sent over the network. Have a number of groups in mind that can benefit from knowing how to archive and distribute this DV content - maybe a better sell at the 270MB though. * Steve - Penn State has PBS station (WPSX) which is involved with Rich Media Project. Wants to support this station in that effort, ensuring whatever end to end connectivity is needed. From a network point of view, is even more interested in putting high bandwidth content on the network and learning how to handle that. Lurking on this group in the hope that he can get local folks interested in whatever emerges. * Ellen - Two-fold interest. She is working with BBC and looking for the right opportunity for them to engage with the I2 community. Is doing similar work with CNN. Hoping to learn from this group what opportunities might be possible. Jim K. - Does CNN currently do or are planning any work with HD? Ellen not sure on that but will check and report back. MFY - All this planned moving of content sounds good. What sort of resources/expertise are in place, if any, for knowing how to manage the content that will be moved (asset management, rights/use management)? David Felland - Speaking from PBS perspective, they are very interested in learning more about how these assets can be managed for digital distribution - meta-tagging all content, managing that content. Have bought a system and are exploring how it can work. Their asset management system needs to manage assets in several versions (quality) and have a means of accessing/sharing these various versions. High quality content from HD, but sometimes reworking that at lower resolution, making all available for LAN or WAN distribution. Current system is Artesia (WGBH is also using this product - part of CPB metadata project) on a Sun. Needed this as a starting point but are not wedded to it forever. Very much new territory. Jim K. - PBS has a system historically for doing this but are looking at other asset management systems (also content integration management systems). Need to move to new type of server and are interested in what options are emerging. Not everyone is managing the same content so knowing which systems work for which purposes is an issue. PBS is interested in managing terabtyes of MPEG quality video from a broadcaster's perspective. Needs to track what they have, where it is, what are the rights... Suggestion from the group: Has David F interacted with Research Channel folks at all? Not yet, per Dave. Reference was passed on. MFY - There are others well-known in the community who may be able to contribute specifically to the discussion of asset management - ViDe and its Asset Management working group, Research Channel (some staff of this are already working with ViDe), the Vidmid (Middleware for Digital Video) group. MFY will check w/ViDe who is involved in all of these as well as the CPB asset management work and see if someone in that area can participate in these calls. David F also wondering about what funding resources might be available to support this project. Will make this a discussion item for next and future calls. Next call: Friday, October 22, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. EST, 877-672-9403, conf 3155930718