| Author |
Message |
Sean Langston
Guest
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 Posted:
Mon Sep 15, 2003 2:20 pm Post subject:
Multicasting from an MCU |
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Does the H.323 standard support multicasting from an MCU to other
endpoints in a multi-party conference? I'm looking for a solution
that will allow endpoints to contribute video to an MCU in unicast,
but receive the mixed video in multicast.
This is for an application in a satellite environment, so the
multicast return path will save a lot of bandwidth, since each client
would only need enough bandwidth allocated to send their video to the
MCU and maintain a small control channel.
Is this possible? |
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ron tomlin
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:31 pm Post subject:
Re: Multicasting from an MCU |
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tetsuos@hotmail.com (Sean Langston) wrote in message news:<490db8c0.0309150220.757bfb@posting.google.com>...
| Quote: | Does the H.323 standard support multicasting from an MCU to other
endpoints in a multi-party conference? I'm looking for a solution
that will allow endpoints to contribute video to an MCU in unicast,
but receive the mixed video in multicast.
This is for an application in a satellite environment, so the
multicast return path will save a lot of bandwidth, since each client
would only need enough bandwidth allocated to send their video to the
MCU and maintain a small control channel.
Is this possible?
|
MeetingPoint MCUs can multicast to each other.
Neither Polycom nor Tandberg support multicast from the MCU.
However there are several ways of accomplishing the task outside of the MCU. |
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Sean Langston
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Sep 25, 2003 6:19 am Post subject:
Re: Multicasting from an MCU |
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rontomlin@aol.com (ron tomlin) wrote in message
| Quote: | MeetingPoint MCUs can multicast to each other.
Neither Polycom nor Tandberg support multicast from the MCU.
However there are several ways of accomplishing the task outside of the MCU.
|
I'm assuming that the ways of accomplishing this outside the MCU would
fall under the "decentralized conference" scenario where the endpoints
communicate in a single multicast group.
The MeetingPoint solution sounds like it half-way does what I need it
to do... I'm building a video conference system that will operate over
satellite, but I need the multicasting to be centralized at our
gateway/earth station.
Lets say I've got four endpoints that need to communicate with each
other and they're all at remote locations. Our network is designed in
a star topology where the endpoints need to pass through the hub to
talk. One of those endpoints is a teacher and the other three are
students. The teacher will always be visible to the students, but the
students will share a bandwidth pool so only one of them will be able
to talk at once.
The endpoints can't send multicast traffic due to security concerns,
so they need to communicate in unicast with the hub/MCU. They can
listen to multicast traffic, so in order to make best use of the
network resources, the hub will need to turn whatever traffic it
receives into multicast IP. It will also manage the network
resources, switching between the students depending on who is talking.
The goal here is to use no more than 128kbps from the endpoints to the
hub (up to 2 active at any time) and no more than 256kbps from the hub
to all the endpoints (multicast). This would be possible if the hub
could communicate with the endpoints in multicast IP and the endpoints
to the hub in unicast.
I've read some information on the H.323 standard and it sounds like
this _might_ be possible, but there are no clear details. I am fairly
certain that H.323 endpoints must be able to listen to a multicast
group IP, but the MCU part of the equation is confusing.
Can any give me a conclusive yes/no on this?
Sean |
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Marc Cooper
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Sep 26, 2003 1:45 pm Post subject:
Re: Multicasting from an MCU |
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I am not sure, but I think Starbak may have a device that will multicast a
VC stream. Take a look at http://www.starbak.com
"Sean Langston" <tetsuos@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:490db8c0.0309241819.5981a610@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | rontomlin@aol.com (ron tomlin) wrote in message
MeetingPoint MCUs can multicast to each other.
Neither Polycom nor Tandberg support multicast from the MCU.
However there are several ways of accomplishing the task outside of the
MCU.
I'm assuming that the ways of accomplishing this outside the MCU would
fall under the "decentralized conference" scenario where the endpoints
communicate in a single multicast group.
The MeetingPoint solution sounds like it half-way does what I need it
to do... I'm building a video conference system that will operate over
satellite, but I need the multicasting to be centralized at our
gateway/earth station.
Lets say I've got four endpoints that need to communicate with each
other and they're all at remote locations. Our network is designed in
a star topology where the endpoints need to pass through the hub to
talk. One of those endpoints is a teacher and the other three are
students. The teacher will always be visible to the students, but the
students will share a bandwidth pool so only one of them will be able
to talk at once.
The endpoints can't send multicast traffic due to security concerns,
so they need to communicate in unicast with the hub/MCU. They can
listen to multicast traffic, so in order to make best use of the
network resources, the hub will need to turn whatever traffic it
receives into multicast IP. It will also manage the network
resources, switching between the students depending on who is talking.
The goal here is to use no more than 128kbps from the endpoints to the
hub (up to 2 active at any time) and no more than 256kbps from the hub
to all the endpoints (multicast). This would be possible if the hub
could communicate with the endpoints in multicast IP and the endpoints
to the hub in unicast.
I've read some information on the H.323 standard and it sounds like
this _might_ be possible, but there are no clear details. I am fairly
certain that H.323 endpoints must be able to listen to a multicast
group IP, but the MCU part of the equation is confusing.
Can any give me a conclusive yes/no on this?
Sean |
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Craig Bismith
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Oct 01, 2003 5:23 pm Post subject:
Re: Multicasting from an MCU |
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http://www.camfrog.com has a free multipoint unit for Windows XP and 2000.
You might as well give it a try.
Good luck!
"Sean Langston" <tetsuos@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:490db8c0.0309150220.757bfb@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | Does the H.323 standard support multicasting from an MCU to other
endpoints in a multi-party conference? I'm looking for a solution
that will allow endpoints to contribute video to an MCU in unicast,
but receive the mixed video in multicast.
This is for an application in a satellite environment, so the
multicast return path will save a lot of bandwidth, since each client
would only need enough bandwidth allocated to send their video to the
MCU and maintain a small control channel.
Is this possible?
|
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