HELIX Media Server

We’ve purchased the HELIX media server which will basically give us our own version of YouTube. Tutors will be able to load media into the system and have it converted to a nice format, tag it, categorise it and so on. The added benefit is that we can integrate the media server into some of our existing systems much more easily.

I’m envisaging that we will be able to make it one of Moodle’s repositories and allow tutors to choose media to embed straight from the file picker. We might also be able to use the media server for some kinds of video feedback, provided we can get permissions sorted to a suitable level, so that the media feedback is only available to one student or one group, for example.

It would be great in future if we could develop something in Moodle which would allow real time recording (audio and video) and for that to be served from the media server. This would open up lots of possibilities for more effective uses of audio and video in Moodle courses.

At the time of writing Gareth Jenkins reported that the EIS team have had a bit of fun and games with the hardware with our suppliers sending the wrong interface card out with the storage devices.  That’s now rectified but given the timing (the replacement arrived during clearing) EIS are now looking at commissioning the hardware following enrolment (exact timing depending on how smooth enrolment goes).  Once they know it’s in place and working fine they’ll be getting in touch with the suppliers and getting it installed (that apparently takes about half a day).