Concepts
• Overview
• Guidelines
• Restrictions
Overview
Categories help you to manage how VoDs are organized within the interactive menu system at sites where you deploy
Cisco Cast
.
Site Assessment for VoD Programming
Remote branch offices are better suited to VoD programming than they are to live video programming. Common use cases for VoD programming include training and executive communications.
We recommend that you use a content delivery system to provision the assets for your VoD programming, particularly if your remote sites have low bandwidth capacity.
User Permissions Restrictions
Note Features of Cisco Cast are hidden from you until your user role assignment is APPLICATION MANAGER and you have explicit WRITE permissions (CSCtr05337).
Channel Count Restrictions
Features of this
Cisco Cast
release support 99 or fewer channels of live broadcast programming and VoD programming, combined.
Workflow to Stage VoD Assets to DMP Local Storage
You can stage
Cisco Cast
assets directly to a DMP, for local storage on:
• Its internal SD flash memory card (
usb_1
).
• An external USB drive (
usb_2
).
This technique conserves WAN bandwidth and avoids latency that might detract from the quality of your
Cisco Cast
VoD programming. It is useful also if you do not have any dedicated content delivery solution in place.
1. Create the DMP group whose member DMPs should store VoD assets.
2. Define the channel lineup.
3. Customize the menu system.
4. Define VoD categories.
5. Add video assets to the media library.
6. Populate VoD categories with video assets from the media library.
7. Verify that the FTP service is enabled on target DMPs.
8. Create a DMS-CD deployment package for the EPG.
9. Stage your EPG to DMPs that should serve VoDs from local storage.
10. Transfer your customized menu system, channels list, VoD playlist, and video assets to DMPs.
11. Monitor progress and the current status of your deployment.
Procedures
Add a New VoD Category
Procedure
Step 1 Choose
Video on Demand > Categories
.
The Categories area is on the left, and after you click a category, a table on the right describes the videos that are mapped to that category.
Step 2 Click
Actions > Create a Category
.
Step 3 Enter a descriptive name for the category.
Step 4 Click
Save
.
OR
Click
Cancel
to discard your work.
Step 5 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Related Topics
Add a New VoD Subcategory
Procedure
Step 1 Choose
Video on Demand > Categories
.
The Categories area is on the left, and after you click a category, a table on the right describes the videos that are mapped to that category.
Step 2 Click the category that should contain the subcategory.
Step 3 Choose
Actions > Create a Category
.
Step 4 Enter a descriptive name for the subcategory.
Step 5 Click
Save
.
OR
Click
Cancel
to discard your work.
Step 6 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Related Topics
Edit a VoD Category
Procedure
Step 1 Choose
Video on Demand > Categories
.
The Categories area is on the left, and after you click a category, a table on the right describes the videos that are mapped to that category.
Step 2 Click the name of the category to be edited.
Step 3 Choose
Actions > Modify Category
.
Step 4 Edit the values.
Step 5 Click
Save
.
OR
Click
Cancel
to discard your work.
Step 6 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Related Topics
Delete a VoD Category
Procedure
Step 1 Choose
Video on Demand > Categories
.
The Categories area is on the left, and after you click a category, a table on the right describes the videos that are mapped to that category.
Step 2 Click the name of the category that you want to delete.
Step 3 Click
Actions > Delete Category
.
The Delete Confirmation dialog box opens.
Step 4 Click
Yes
to delete the category.
OR
Click
No
to retain it.
Step 5 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Related Topics
Map a Video to a VoD Category
Each video that you map to a category will be listed as a VoD in the interactive menu system at sites where you deploy
Cisco Cast
.
Before You Begin
• Add the video to your shared Media Library for digital signage and
Cisco Cast
.
Procedure
Step 1 Click the
Video on Demand
tab.
Step 2 In the Categories area, click the name of the category to which you will add a video.
Step 3 In the area that lists videos, click
Map Videos to Category
.
The VoD Mapping dialog box opens. A tree on the left shows the hierarchy of categories for assets in your shared Media Library and, after you click a category, an untitled table on the right describes each asset in that category.
Step 4 Click the Media Library category that contains the video that you want to use as a VoD.
The videos in this category are described in the untitled table on the right.
Step 5 Click the name of the video, and then drag and drop it to the area below.
Tip To choose more than one video, hold down the Shift key while you click each name.
Step 6 Click
Submit Mapping
to add the video.
The category that you chose is now part of the categories tree on the Video on Demand page. Later, whenever you choose this category in the tree, an untitled table on the left side of the page will describe each video that you added to it as a VoD.
OR
Click
Cancel
to discard your entries.
Step 7 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Organize Videos in VoD Categories
When you organize the videos in a VoD category, you set the order in which
Cisco Cast
plays the videos at your deployment sites.
Procedure
Step 1 Click the
Video on Demand
tab.
Step 2 In the Categories area, click the name of the category that includes the videos to be organized.
The videos in this category are described in the untitled table on the right.
Step 3 Click the name of the video; then, drag and drop it to its new location in the list.
Videos that are higher in the list will be shown before videos that are lower in the list.
Step 4 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Remove a Video from a Category
When you remove a video from a category on the Video on Demand page, you remove it also from the interactive menu system at sites where you deploy
Cisco Cast
.
Procedure
Step 1 Click the
Video on Demand
tab.
Step 2 In the area that lists videos, click
Map Videos to Category
.
The VoD Mapping dialog box opens.
Step 3 Click the
Remove
link that corresponds to a video that should be removed.
Step 4 Stop. You have completed this procedure.
Stage an EPG to DMP Local Storage
Procedure
Step 1 Choose
Digital Media Players > Advanced Tasks
.
Step 2 Choose
Deployment Package
from the Application Types list.
Step 3 Click
Add New Application
.
Step 4 Choose
Cast
from the Applications list.
Step 5 Enter
Deploy-Local-Cast
in the Name field.
Step 6 Choose an option from the Mount Point list.
-
Should “usb_1” be the local mount point?
|
When you will use usb_1
Choose
Flash Storage (default)
.
|
-
Should “usb_2” be the local mount point?
|
When you will use usb_2
Choose
USB
.
|
Step 7 Click the name of your
Cisco Cast
program guide, and then click
Select Application
.
Step 8 Click
Submit
.
Step 9 Stop. You have completed this procedure.