Accessing Who can use the HEAnet Media Hosting service?
The HEAnet Media Hosting service is open to all HEAnet member institutions. Membership in the Edugate federation is also required for authentication of users.
The HEAnet Media Hosting service receives a pseudo-anonymous identifier and institution affiliation from the the Edugate federation login. We do not receive or store your email address, username or password from your home institution.
Formats Creating files to upload to the HEAnet Media Hosting service.
Codec
A codec is the format in which your video will be encoded. Different codecs have different features and varying quality. For best results, we recommend using H.264 (sometimes referred to as MP4). However, we do support many formats including; MPEG2, MPEG and QuickTime.
Frame rate 25 or 30 FPS
If you know at which frame rate you shot, it is best to encode at that same frame rate. However, if it exceeds 30 FPS (frames per second), you should encode your video at half that frame rate. For example, if you shot 60 FPS, you should encode at 30 FPS. If you're uncertain what frame rate you shot at, set it to either "Current" or 25 FPS. If there is an option for keyframes, use the same value you used for frame rate.
Data rate 2000 kbps (SD), 5000 kbps (HD)
This setting controls both the visual quality of the video and its file size. In most video editors, this is measured of kilobits per second (kbps). Use 2000 kbps for standard definition or 5000 kbps for high definition video.
Resolution 720x576 (SD), 1280x720 (HD)
Choose 720×576 for 4:3 SD video, 720×405 for 16:9 SD video, and 1280×720 or 1920×1080 for HD. If you have the option to control the pixel aspect ratio (not the display aspect ratio), make sure it's set to "1:1" or "1.00," sometimes referred to as "square pixels." Currently the HEAnet Media Hosting service does not support anamorphic widescreen.
Uploading Uploading your files to the HEAnet Media Hosting service.
File smaller than 1GB
For video files smaller than 1GB in file size, please use the standard upload form.
Due to restrictions in 32bit browsers there is a limit to the maximum file size that can be uploaded using a web form. We have restricted the upload form to files under 1GB in size.
File larger than 1GB
For video file larger than 1 GB, you can upload these file to the HEAnet File Sender service.
Once you have uploaded the file to File Sender, you will receive an email with the File Sender URL. Copy and paste the complete URL into the text box and click "Import file".
Playback Viewing the files hosted on HEAnet's Media Hosting service.
Videos are encoded into multiple bandwidth and resolutions to give the best experience for all viewers. Depending on the original video's resolution, video are encodered into resolutions from 480x288 at 460 kbit/s to 1920x1080 at 5 mbit/s. The video player automatically switches between bandwidths during playback to delivery the highest quality experience the viewer.
The HEAnet Media Hosting service uses an Adobe Flash video player to playback the videos it hosts. The server infrastructure behind this player is based on Apache and the Adobe HTTP Origin Module which serves the video files as fragments using HTTP. This streaming method allows the most reliable delivery when stream to users behind firewalls and proxies. It also allows intermediate proxies and caches to cache these fragments, reducing the overall bandwidth used when multiple people are viewing the same video from behind a proxy.
For mobile devices, the service uses the HTTP Live Stream (HLS) format. The video player will use a HTML5 video tag with the HLS stream, if a Flash player is not available.