Broadcasting PowerPoint Presentations over the Network

Using NetShow Services with Presentation Broadcasting

When you use Presentation Broadcasting to broadcast a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to more than 15 viewers, you must also use Windows NT Server NetShow Services. NetShow Services consists of services that run on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later and Windows 2000. NetShow Services distributes streaming audio and video content that can be displayed on client computers by using Windows Media Player.

Presentation Broadcasting includes the Online Broadcasting Service, which must be installed on your NetShow server before it can be used for Presentation Broadcasts. The Online Broadcasting Service is not included on the Office Resource Kit CD-ROM, but is available as a self-extracting executable file from the Office Resource Kit Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/.

To install the Online Broadcasting Service, run the executable file and follow the instructions on your screen. Configure the NetShow server, and then add users to the NetShow Administrators group by using User Manager.

Note   When you install NetShow Services on Windows NT 4.0, a local Windows NT group named NetShow Administrators is created. Accounts that are members of this group are permitted to administer NetShow functions.

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System requirements for NetShow Services

You can use the Presentation Broadcasting feature with either Windows NT Server NetShow Services version 3.0 or 4.0, but you can use Presentation Broadcasting only with NetShow Encoder 3.0. NetShow Services 4.0 fully supports NetShow Encoder 3.0.

The following table identifies the recommended hardware for NetShow Services.

To run NetShow Services, you must have the following software installed on your server:

• Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3, or Windows 2000 or later
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later
• TCP/IP protocol

When you use NetShow Services on a server running Windows NT 4.0, you must install the Online Broadcasting Service. Client computers interact with this add-in to perform presentation broadcasts.

Note   Windows 2000 already includes the Online Broadcasting Service.

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Using NetShow Encoder

NetShow Encoder is installed with installation of Presentation Broadcast. The Netshow encoder produces streaming audio and video from microphone and camera input of the machine and sends it either to Netshow Server over the network or to ASF file.

The following table identifies the recommended hardware for NetShow Encoder.

To run NetShow Encoder, you must have the following software on your computer:

• Windows 95/98, Windows 2000, or Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3 with video and audio input (for audio/video broadcast) or audio input for (audio only broadcast).

NetShow Encoder encodes live or stored audio and video into an ASF stream, an ASF file, or both. NetShow Encoder can accept a live source, and it can compress the video source (live or stored) so that the resulting ASF stream or file fits within a target bandwidth.

By using NetShow Encoder, you can set the size of the display window and choose which codec to use to compress the output ASF stream. Even when you use live video and CD-quality audio as input, NetShow Encoder can create an ASF stream with a bit rate of 28.8 kilobits per second (Kbps).

NetShow Encoder does not deliver ASF information to clients. It delivers the ASF stream to a NetShow server that can either multicast or unicast the ASF stream over the network. If NetShow Encoder creates an ASF file, that file is saved to the directory specified during the configuration process.

NetShow Encoder must be configured before you use it to create content. The NetShow Encoder configuration contains the settings such as:

• Audio and video cards to use
• Audio and video codecs to use
• Where to send the ASF stream
• Size of the video display window
• Pixel format for video display

You can save a NetShow Encoder configuration as an ASF stream descriptor (ASD) file so that you can reuse it or, if necessary, provide the ASD file to a NetShow server. The NetShow server uses the information in the ASD file to prepare to stream the ASF information associated with that configuration. After you create a new encoder configuration or open an existing ASD file, you can start the encoder.

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Running NetShow Encoder remotely

You can run NetShow Encoder remotely on a computer that is separate from the NetShow server. If you run NetShow Encoder remotely, however, you must enable remote application launching on the NetShow Encoder server so that NetShow Services can start NetShow Encoder.

To enable remote application launching on the NetShow Encoder server

1. On the Start menu, click Run, and then type DCOMCNFG.

   This command runs the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) configuration utility.

2. Click the Applications tab.
3. In the Applications box, click Microsoft NetShow 2.0 Real-Time Encoder Proxy, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Security tab, click Use Custom Launch Permissions, and then click the middle Edit button.
5. In the Access Permissions dialog box, add the Everyone account, and then click OK until you return to the Applications tab.
6. In the Applications box, click NetShow Real Time Encoder Callback Class, and then click Properties.
7. Click the Security tab, click Use Custom Access Permissions, and then click the top Edit button.
8. In the Permissions dialog box, add the Everyone account, and then click OK in all dialog boxes to accept the changes.

If you create a custom ASD file, you must modify it to enable broadcast recording.

To modify an ASD file to enable broadcast recording

1. Open an ASD file in a text editor, such as Notepad.
2. Locate the following line, which is created by default:

   Save Locally = 0x00000000

3. Change the line to read:

   Save Locally = 0x00000001

If you create a custom ASD file, the HTTP port specified in the ASD file must match the NetShow Encoder port specified in the registry of each client computer by using the Presentation Broadcasting feature. In an ASD file, the HTTP port is specified under the Encoder Configuration heading in the following line:

HTTP port = 0x00000050

In the registry on an Office client computer, the NetShow Encoder port is specified in the REXPort entry in the following subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\PowerPoint\Broadcast\

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See also

For more information about NetShow Services, or to download program files and documentation, see the Windows Media Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/.