NYU Stream Help

NYUAD Service Degradation

Please note, ITS is aware of the difficulty many NYU Stream users are experiencing while uploading files from NYU Abu Dhabi. Please see the Ask ITS knowledgebase for more information.

How Tos

FAQs

How Tos

How to Upload

To upload media to NYU Stream:

Go to stream.nyu.edu, and log in with your NetID and password.
Click Upload Media in the top right hand corner.
Click Browse to locate the file on your computer to upload. Click Open.
Click Upload and wait for the file to upload.
Click Next when upload is complete.
Give the video a title and description. Check Not Published if you do not want the media to be public in NYU Stream. Select a category if you would like the video to be public to NYU.
When finished, click Done.
Depending on the file size/length of your video, please be patient while your video is encoding. Expect this to take 10-15 minutes for a 10 minute video.

How to Record with a Web Cam

Please ensure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player installed. You can find the latest version on www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html.
Log into stream.nyu.edu with your NetID and password.
Click on Upload Media in the top right hand corner.
Within the Video tab, click Webcam.
Select your web cam from the dropdown menu.
Once a camera is selected, Adobe Flash Player will request access to your camera and microphone. Click Allow.
You may now begin recording by clicking the Record button.
When you are finished recording, click the Stop button. (Note: NYU Stream shows you the length of your recording on the top left hand corner of the recording window. This will NOT be a part of the video.)
You may now either Play your recording or Record a new video.
When you are satisfied with your recording, click Next on the bottom right hand corner.
A screen will appear informing you that Your media is being converted. You will be prompted to include a Title and a Description. Check mark Not Published if you do not want the media to be public. Leave Not Published unchecked and select a category if you want the media file to be public to NYU.
Click Done.
You may have to refresh the page before your media becomes visible.

How to Embed in NYU Wikis

To embed an NYU Stream video in NYU Wikis:

Go to stream.nyu.edu and log in with your NetID and password.
Click My Media in the top right corner.
Select the video you wish to embed.
Scroll down to the media player, where the selected video should be playing, and click the Get Embed Code tab located below the media player.
Select html and choose between a 'player skin' and 'player size.' An updated embed code will be generated.
Under the 'Get Embed Code' tab, an 'Embed Code' will be displayed in a rectangular box. Copy the code by pressing Ctrl+C for PC users, or Command+C for Mac users.
Log into your NYU Wikis account at wikis.nyu.edu.
Select the page where you would like to embed the NYU Stream video. Click Edit in the top right corner.
Click Insert on the tool bar at the top.
Scroll down and click Other Macros.
In the 'Select Marco' pop-up, type html in the search bar (located in the top right corner). Select the HTML macro to the left.
Paste the NYU Stream embed code in the Body Text field. Click Refresh to see a preview in the left pane.
Click Insert in the bottom right corner. You will be redirected to your NYU Wikis’ edit page. Click Save.

NOTE: You might notice that the video has not been embedded, but that a horizontal list of video platforms has appeared. When you refresh the page, the video will appear as it would to viewers.

How to Embed in NYU Blackboard

To embed an NYU Stream video in NYU Blackboard:

Go to stream.nyu.edu, and log in with your NetID and password.
Determine whether you wish to embed a single video or an entire playlist into Blackbaord:
- For a single video:
  1. In the top-right corner, select My Media.
  2. Select the video you'd like to embed.
  3. Underneath the video, select Get Embed Code, as seen below.
  4. Copy the 'HTML' embed code
- For a playlist:
  1. In the top-right corner, select My Playlists.
  2. Select the player skin or style on the bottom-left.
  3. Copy the embed code by pressing Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command-C (Mac).
After logging into you Blackboard course, select the Control Panel under 'Tools.'
Select the desired Content Area where you would like to place the video or playlist.
In the top-left corner, select the Add Item button:
Give your new content a title, and click the Toggle HTML Code button (as seen below, circled in red).
Paste your code into the text field by pressing Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command-V (Mac).
Click Submit, followed by OK.

Your video or playlist should now appear on your NYU Blackboard page.

How to Embed in NYU Sites

To embed an NYU Stream video in NYU Sites:

Go to stream.nyu.edu and log in with your NetID and password.
Click My Media in the top right corner.
Select the video you wish to embed.
Scroll down to the media player, where the selected video should be playing, and click the Get Embed Code tab located below the media player.
Select html and choose between a 'player skin' and 'player size.' An updated embed code will be generated.
Under the 'Get Embed Code' tab, an 'Embed Code' will be displayed in a rectangular box. Copy the code by pressing Ctrl+C for PC users, or Command+C for Mac users.
Log into your NYU Site account.
Select the page that you would like to embed the NYU Stream video.
Click Edit Pagein the upper-right corner, which allows you to add text, images, and video to individual pages.
Click on the right side of the tool bar.The Edit HTML window will appear.
Paste the NYU Stream embed code into the window and click Update in the bottom left corner. You will be returned to the Edit page, where you will find a Google Gadget.
Once you click Savein the top right corner of the Edit page, your NYU Stream video or playlist will appear.

How to Create a Playlist

Go to stream.nyu.edu and log in with your NetID and password.
After logging in, click the My Playlists link in the top right corner, which will allow you to organize your media.
To add content to your playlist, first select the media you wish to add. Note that only videos that appear in 'My Media' may be added to your playlist.
Scroll down to the media player, where the selected media will be playing. Click the Add to Playlist tab, located in the bottom right corner.
Click the Create New Playlist link, located in the 'Add to Playlist' tab in the bottom right corner.
You will then be prompted to add a playlist name and description (optional). Once complete, click the Create New Playlist button.
The playlist name you have created will appear to the right of a check box. Click Apply.
To view your newly created playlist, click the My Playlists link in the top right corner.
In My Playlists, you can view your playlists' names, playlists' content, statistics on your media and a media player, as well as retrieve an embed code for selected media. To embed a video or playlist please see the how to embed tutorials associated with the specific service.

How to Delete a Video

Go to stream.nyu.edu and log in with your NetID and password.
Select My Media in the top right.
Select the video you wish to delete.
Scroll down to the media player, where the selected video should be playing. Click Delete media, located in the bottom right corner under the 'Details' tab.
A pop-up window will appear, asking you to confirm that you wish to permanently delete the selected media. Click OK to confirm.
You will now see that your media has been deleted and removed from your media list.

FAQs

What is the allowable file size?

NYU Stream allows videos under 2 GB to be uploaded.

What kind of media can I upload?

One of the major advantages of NYU Stream is that it can upload a wide variety of standard media formats. The list below outlines a what the media industry deems standard trans-coding formats. The following file types are supported:

Video: .flv, .asf, .qt, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .avi, .wmv, .mp4, .m4v, .3gp, f4v, m4v, h.264
Audio: .flv, .asf, .wmv, .qt, .mov, .mpg, .avi, .mp3, .wav

The following file types are NOT supported: .DV, .wma, .m4a, .divx, Apple codecs

What kind of quality can I expect from my uploaded video?

NYU Stream has the ability to deliver high-definition content, but the end result is dependent on the quality of the source file that is uploaded. If your original source video is low-quality, the uploaded video will not be high-definition.

Prior to uploading to NYU Stream, it is recommended that you encode your content at 4 Mbps or higher. Below are some additional specifications for an ideal video uploaded to NYU Stream:

Video

Format: h.264
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate: 5mbps
Width: 1920 pixels
Height: 1080 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame Rate Mode: Constant
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps

Audio

Format: AAC or MP3
Bit Rate Mode: Constant
Bit Rate: 256 kbps
Channels: 2 Channels (Stereo)
Channel Positions: Front: L R
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz

Please note, HD video playback is also dependent on the viewer's Internet connection speed. See What is bandwidth? for more information.

Can I embed a video in WordPress?

WordPress users may embed media content from NYU Stream by either using WordPress.org or paying for an upgrade on WordPress.com. WordPress.org does not restrict its users from embedding media content, while WordPress.com does.

WordPress.com is a shared weblog hosting platform in which all bloggers use the same site and server. WordPress.com currently limits the sources from which videos can be embedded to prevent an “unknown” and potentiatlly dangerous code from taking down the system. WordPress.com supports embedding videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, DailyMotion, Viddler, Blip.tv, TED Talks, and Videolog. Other video embed codes are not allowed in WordPress.com posts, pages, or text widgets. For security reasons, WordPress.com removes the tags or codes necessary for videos to play from sources that are not supported.

WordPress.com does offer paid upgrades, one of which allows users to embed videos from any source. Paid upgrades are a way for WordPress.com users to acquire some of the premium features that WordPress.org offers without the need to pay for hosting or manage a web server.

Unlike WordPress.com, WordPress.org is a paid, self-hosted platform. It does not limit the sources from which its users may embed videos.

For additional information regarding WordPress or the upgrades they offer, please see the WordPress.com Support website.

What is adaptive streaming?

NYU Stream uses Adaptive Streaming in it's media delivery. Most users may be familiar with YouTube's Progressive Download where users can see the content loading in the scrub bar. With Progressive Download the user may wait several seconds or minutes for a given video to load, whereas with Adaptive Streaming, waiting is drastically reduced. Here's why …

For Adaptive Streaming there are multiple bitrates available. Based on users' connection speed and its ability and the player or server (Akamai, etc) would know what bitrate to serve up to the guest. Ultimately the end user will only see one piece of video, unknown to them multiple streams are actually available and may be seamlessly switched to if their connection drops lower or improves. The key here is 'seamless'. When adaptive is done correctly there should be no interruption of playback.

For any single video, a player might be seamlessly transitioning between all of the following:

Video @ 2612 kbps
Video @ 1600 kbps
Video @ 1200 kbps
Video @ 800 kbps
Video @ 400 kbps

Case Examples
If a user's connection decreased from over 2.5 Mbps to 1600 kbps, the video player would seamlessly transition from a bitrate of 2612 kbps to that of a lower quality, such as 1600 kbps.

An Adaptive Streaming media player is designed to start on the lowest possible bit rate so that playback starts immediately. In this case, the user may initially view an 400 kbps stream, but as the player detects that the users' connection can handle a higher bitrate it would seamlessly increase to a higher bitrate.

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is like the traffic on the lanes of highways. A single car on the highway, for instance, can travel relatively fast, whereas during rush hour, the multitude of cars are ironically not 'rushing' but are rather stuck in traffic. Just as traffic yields a negative driving experience, low bandwidths produced by high Internet traffic yields a low quality video and audio playback experience. The reverse is also true, high bandwidths produced by low Internet traffic yields a high quality media experience.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of available data that allows users to receive and/or transmit data on the Internet. Often this is thought in terms of kilobits per second and is represented in terms of upload and download ability. Bandwidths and their data rates vary depending on users Internet service providers (ISP) and their data plan. Due to tiered pricing by ISP's, a U.S. customer may only have a connection as low as around 1.5 Mbps or, if they could afford a better plan, up to 50 Mbps. Unfortunately this variability presents a challenge to content creators as they try to meet the needs of users who have a varied range of bandwidths. On one hand a content creator wants their guests to experience the highest level of quality, but on the other hand that guest may not possess the required bandwidth capable of handling that quality.

Streaming Media
For Streaming Media, bandwidth plays a major role in determining the playback quality of video and audio. Your bandwidth is dependent on where you're connecting to the Internet, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and how you're connecting (wired, wireless, mobile). For the best user experience with NYU Stream, it is widely recommended to use a wired connection, preferably on campus, and Google's Chrome browser.

Page last reviewed: May 14, 2012