Setting up Your Windows Media Services for a Live Video Feed

April 7, 1998

Here's how you can get your Windows Media Services ready to send out a live video feed:

1. Make sure that your server meets the Windows Media Services system requirements .

2. Make sure that you have Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or higher on your Windows Media Services. Service Packs are available from the Microsoft downloads site .

3. Download the Windows Media Services software from the Windows Media Services product site and install it (be sure you're logged on as the administrator). Once the Windows Media Services is installed, unicast services are automatically started unless you go in and configure the service to start manually. You can confirm that the Windows Media Services unicast services are running by going into Control Panel (Start, Settings, Control Panel), double-clicking on Services, and verifying that the Windows Media Services Unicast Manager service is Started.

4. Verify that the Windows Media Services can stream. During the installation, a file called Sample.ASF is already placed in the ASFROOT (c:/ntserver/netshow/asfroot) on the server. This is the publishing point for ASF files, and when you place ASF files there it makes them available to be streamed. To test the server, go to another workstation on the network, open up the Windows Media Player, select File, then Open Location, and type mms://servername/sample.asf (where servername is the name of your Windows Media Services). The ASF file should play without problems. If you have problems, check the steps above and if it still doesn't work, consult the Windows Media Services online documentation.

5. Create a publishing point for your television station. Go to your Windows Media Services, and open the Windows Media Services Administrator (Start, Programs, Microsoft Windows Media Services, Windows Media Services Administrator. Under Unicast, select Set Publishing Points. In the Set Publishing Points wizard, make the following selections:

Set up a publishing point to a Windows Media Encoder, a Windows Media Services channel, or a Windows Media Services unicast stream. Then select the Next button.
Specify an alias for your publishing point (for example, TV_KXYZ). Then select the Next button.
Specify a path to the Windows Media Encoder feed (for example, msbd://IPaddress:port, where IPaddress is the IP address of the encoder PC, and the port is the port you specified when you set up the encoder). Then select the Next button.
Select the OK button.
To verify that your publishing point has been set up, select View Publishing Points.

6. Make sure that the Windows Media Encoder is set up. You can verify this by going to a computer with the Windows Media Player installed, and opening the player. Select File, Open Location, and type in mms://servername/publishingpoint/. In our example, the syntax would be mms://servername/tv_kxyz/. The stream should then play.