Using the SMS

An introduction to publishing audio and video media online, using the university's Streaming Media Service (SMS).

The SMS enables registered members of staff to upload video and audio which then gets transcoded into user-selected formats, suitable for online streaming or download. These formatted files are then made available to users via the SMS website, and can be embedded into your own web pages.

Access to downloads can be public or restricted to user-groups within the University, as you choose. There is no authentication requirement for users downloading published content, but to upload content, users must register for an SMS user account. SMS accounts are usually restricted to university staff.

Before you begin

You will need:

1. a Raven user account
2. a user account for the SMS – members of staff can register online at http://upload.sms.cam.ac.uk/register
3. a web browser with a functioning Java Runtime Environment (if you are unsure, try it anyway and you will be informed if you haven't got one).
4. orginal uncompressed video footage in Digital Video (.dv) format, or
5. original uncompressed audio files in either Digital Video (.dv), Waveform audio (.wav) containing PCM data chunks, or Audio Interchange File Format (.aiff) See: Supported file formats for further details.
6. a transcript of your media, for hearing-impaired users
7. a suitable preview image to use for your media file
8. to have decided on the most suitable file formats for your audience, although the SMS default formats have been chosen to work for most cases
9. to decide if you want your media files to be archived on DSpace.

Uploading content

To ensure that your final published files will be the best quality, always upload your highest quality original video files – don't worry, we expect very large files!

Content is uploaded via the SMS upload website.

Last updated: 13 August 2015