damien barrett - pennsylvania state university
TRANSCRIPT
Plexify your Classrooms
Damien Barrett Mac Systems Admin
The Montclair Kimberley Academy
Introduction. Breathe. Talk Slower.
Wearing Silly Hats in Europe
Damien Barrett Small Hat Expert
Teeny-Tiny hats on a Large Head
Introduction. Breathe. Talk Slower.
Wearing Silly Hats in Europe
Part 1 of 12: The fez
Introduction. Breathe. Talk Slower.
Introduction. Breathe. Talk Slower.
Plexify your Classrooms
Damien Barrett Mac Systems Admin
The Montclair Kimberley Academy
Introduction. Breathe. Talk Slower.
Problem #1: Legacy Tech
Whose classrooms look like this?
Or this?
Or this?
Abused and ancient wiring can lead to this…
Problem #2: A Changing Landscape
(Um, thanks Apple?)
• Apple is shipping no computers with optical drives • How to better facilitate DVD disc playback?
But…
• Apple is shipping no computers with optical drives • How to better facilitate DVD disc playback?
VHS? DVD?
• VHS is already dead. • DVD sales are plummeting. Rise of streaming services. My kids think discs are only for gaming consoles. • As goes the industry, so goes everyone, including Education.
Problem #3: Copyright
• Copyright is a huge problem. I’ll address it later in this presentation.
A solution is devised:
• Brief history of the project.
Out with the old…
• We’d already (mostly) eliminated the cabling from our classrooms • How could we get rid of combo decks?
Replace all projectors
• We replaced all our projectors with Epson 955W• Two HDMI ports. One goes to AppleTV; one goes to for direct connect• 20-watt speaker; loud and clear enough (not tinny) for our classrooms
Put digital playback in every
• Teacher can choose to AirPlay mirror their screen — or — plug in via HDMI• Because of video stuttering/bandwidth issues, video playback over WiFi was still a problem and still no DVD drive; continued reliance on combo decks• After 5 years, many are still in place. Hope to remove 100% in Summer 2020.
Choose a Digital
• Many digital streaming devices on the market
Low-Cost Solution• 75 classrooms across 3 campuses
• I have student workers in the summertime doing this; each “driving” 4 computers at once. • Projectors were paid for out of the Facilities budget; not Tech budget
How do we play digitized school-owned content (DVDs, VHS tapes) on an
AppleTV in a classroom that’s connected to a projector?
Okay, but how?
•
What is Plex?
• Media streamer (we’re only using for video streaming; it does much more) • Off-shoot of Xbox Media Center (XMBC) • Open source; available for every major platform
Plex on AppleTV 4
• Starting with tvOS 12 and AppleTV 4s, you can purchase and install the official Plex playback client on your AppleTVs.• Works with VPP and ASM/BSM
Finally! AppleTV 4s running
• Starting with tvOS 12 and AppleTV 4s, you can purchase and install the official Plex playback client on your AppleTVs.• Works with VPP and ASM/BSM
We can finally push VPP apps (Plex! )
• Starting with tvOS 12 and AppleTV 4s, you can purchase and install the official Plex playback client on your AppleTVs.• Works with VPP and ASM/BSM
Using the Plex App on an AppleTV 4
Support for Subtitles
Support for multiple Audio tracks
Plex Web App Interface
Whoa! That’s awesome but my students would monkey with the AppleTVs…
Single App Mode to the rescue!
• Single App mode• Warning about ATV 4K and no USB port• ATV reboots and launches into Plex app• Airplay works over the top of Plex, so teachers can still mirror their screens.
Okay, but how….
Digitizing DVD Content
• Hundreds of DVDs. About 1200 (and growing) across all three campuses.
Digitizing DVD Content
https://www.macdvdripperpro.com
• Mac DVD Ripper. $25.00 • MTR4, RipIt, Handbrake
A few words about video formats and container files
• MP4 is best for AppleTVs, but it’s not lossless. It streams almost flawlessly.• MKV is a great “container” format that can hold a lossless MP4 (or H.264/H.265) stream plus audio tracks and subtitle files.
Digitizing (ripping) in action:
Digitizing VHS Content
https://vidbox.company
Digitizing VHS Content
https://vidbox.company
Digitizing VHS Content
Digitizing VHS Content
If you follow Plex’s naming and organizational guidelines…
• Manually adding cover art • IMDB, Google Images
If you follow Plex’s naming and organizational guidelines…
https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-movie-media-files/
• Manually adding cover art • IMDB, Google Images
Plex automagically looks up metadata for most commercially-
• Manually adding cover art • IMDB, Google Images
Manually Adding Metadata
• Manually adding metadata
Adding Metadata
• Manually adding metadata
Adding Metadata
• Manually adding metadata
Adding Metadata
• Manually adding cover art • IMDB, Google Images
Adding Metadata
• Manually adding cover art • IMDB, Google Images
Adding Metadata In Action
• Manually adding cover art • IMDB, Google Images
Tips on Digitizing• DVD Ripping is definitely the biggest task.
• Outputs files between 1.0 and 1.5GB each• Be sure to have adequate backup of your video
file library and also the Plex Media Server
• When ripping DVDs, optimal quality is ≈25fps
• I have student workers in the summertime doing this; each “driving” 4 computers at once.
Backup!!
Copyright Issues
• Is this even legal?• Discuss that the actual act of ripping a DVD is technically still illegal
The Copyright Dilemma
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699100.html
If you own the content - school or institutionally produced Public domain or orphaned works - once copyright applied, but no longer
Fair Use Doctrine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEACH_Act
TEACH Act
Fair Use Doctrine
https://library.unt.edu/news/2013/ucla-streaming-case/
TEACH Act
An Industry Confused
https://www.publicknowledge.org/news-blog/blogs/warner-bros-embarrasses-self-everyone-new-adi
Guidelines
Need to look at what is out there in copyright, fair use, educational fair use and schools and industry in general. Establish your own guidelines based on this work for you own institutions
Internal Use Only...
Content can only be available from within the school. Not to be stored on a public server
Ownership
You MUST own the content either in physical or digital format No Rent it and RIP it...
Ownership
You MUST own the content either in physical or digital format No Rent it and RIP it...
Analog & DVD copy
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110
If there is a digital version of a resource it must be purchased in it’s digital form for any analog OR dvd version
Public Display License
http://www.movlic.com http://www.mplc.org
These are some sites that help you to understand public display licensing. Playing a movie to a classroom of 20 students is different from streaming a movie to an auditorium of 1000 people.
Work of others...
https://library.unt.edu/news/2013/ucla-streaming-case/
Work done by UCLA by their Information Technology Planning Board in February of 2010 Time-shifting aspect of teaching UCLA must maximally assert its rights to use intellectual property within the bounds of existing copyright laws.
Communicate
Be sure that the guidelines that you create are clearly communicated to you constituents. Make them easily available for reference via your web site’s faculty or staff portal.
Monitoring Compliance…
• Your goal should be to stay as compliant as possible with the law. So, what tools exist to help you monitor compliance?
Tautulli…
https://github.com/Tautulli/Tautulli
• A python app that runs alongside your Plex Media Server that monitors which files were played, by which devices (in which rooms), and records play counts. You can use this database to watch for concurrent streams and then adjust as needed.
Tautulli…
• A python app that runs alongside your Plex Media Server that monitors which files were played, by which devices (in which rooms), and records play counts. You can use this database to watch for concurrent streams and then adjust as needed.
Tautulli…
• A python app that runs alongside your Plex Media Server that monitors which files were played, by which devices (in which rooms), and records play counts. You can use this database to watch for concurrent streams and then adjust as needed.
Tautulli…
Gotchas• Your network backbone must be adequate • Change is hard. People resist it. • End-user training
https://bit.ly/psumac2019-360
Please Give Feedback
Damien Barrett Mac Systems Administrator
[email protected] @damienbarrett
Montclair Kimberley Academy