Next LDSTech Broadcast: Digital Media into Meetinghouses

[russellhltn]

Having several pieces of hardware powered on 24x7 per building, where the hardware is not UL listed as a whole unit, could yield a non-zero fire risk.

I wanted to come back to this one. When I look at my Roku, the box doesn't carry the UL mark, but the wall-wart does.

[rmrichesjr]

I wanted to come back to this one. When I look at my Roku, the box doesn't carry the UL mark, but the wall-wart does.

A UL listing on the wall wart does take care of the lion's share of the fire risk. It's pretty unlikely a device powered by a wall wart could trigger a fire.

[russellhltn]

A UL listing on the wall wart does take care of the lion's share of the fire risk. It's pretty unlikely a device powered by a wall wart could trigger a fire.

Thumbing though a few articles on the Pi, apparently it has the "CE" mark. It looks to me that the CE mark is the UK equivalent of UL. So it seems to suggest the risk is minimal. At least the risk is no worse then anything else left plugged in.

[rmrichesjr]

Thumbing though a few articles on the Pi, apparently it has the "CE" mark. It looks to me that the CE mark is the UK equivalent of UL. So it seems to suggest the risk is minimal. At least the risk is no worse then anything else left plugged in.

Agreed, especially with the CE mark on the PI board, that it appears the real risk is minimal. That just leaves the question of whether the FM groups will see it that way. It wouldn't surprise me if at least some FM groups took a less tolerant attitude toward anything that looks home-built being left powered on in a meetinghouse.

[jkentner]

In our stake center with 3 wards meeting, we have a major WiFi overcrowding issue. Everyone and their kid with a smart device knows the passcode. We have a Windows Home Server that I download a lot of content to test streaming. Streaming was still slow because of overcrowding depending on the time.

I think you guys need to take a step back. In realty what content really changes often? The youth lesson content once a quarter. Most of the other videos on medialibrary.lds.org is pretty static.

In our stake center we put in new TVs that will play video directly from USB thumb drives. Which via dongle and a cable, securely attached them to the TV, yet allowing users to easily plug in their own on the front of the TV. We (STS) will just need to download the quarterly youth content one time to a PC that the Ward website specialist/and or librarian will then following our instructions with batch files to copy the new content to the USB thumb drives. It doesn't take a lot of time. The static content will be on the thumb drives also with a document on the cart showing which videos are available.

[russellhltn]

In our stake center with 3 wards meeting, we have a major WiFi overcrowding issue. Everyone and their kid with a smart device knows the passcode. We have a Windows Home Server that I download a lot of content to test streaming. Streaming was still slow because of overcrowding depending on the time.

Just to make sure you I understand you - people are able to get an IP address, but still find streaming is slow over the wireless network even when accessing a local device?

I assume the device itself is not being overwhelmed?

The reason I ask is that some of us where thinking about some kind of local server, but if you've already tried that and found it lacking, then it seems the only reliable route is "on device" content.

[johnshaw]

Jason,

Last I heard you still had consumer based Wifi, is that still the case or have you installed the 881W with Cisco 1041N? Do you have a 2nd user zone for additional IP Addressing?

I also have a 3-unit meetinghouse with at least 2 wards pretty saturated with devices, even down to the kids.. not sure about the 3rd because it's a different stake.

Since I used the clerk computers, I have 3 available computers to stream from and it's basic 'who answers first' discovery process (I had to assign a static IP in both zones in our meetinghouse to each computer for discovery purposes)... it's Plex and not MS not sure if that makes a difference or not. Were you using standard DLNA protocol devices to receive the stream or was this file sharing?

Our Internet Bandwidth is 1.5Mbps Down, so that may actually dissuade people from using it, they get 4G in the building so they might just be turning off the wireless... that may be what is happening for me.

It sure would be nice to have access to dhcp pool info -> hope that feature makes its way quickly to TM.

[jkentner]

The WHS definitely is not overwhelmed as no one knows about it but me for testing. WHS works great for backup and restore of machines also...The problem is Wifi usage and coverage. Wifi is just not reliable enough. And we do not use any consumer based Wifi in any of our buildings...

At home I use WMC/HD Homeruns for TV services, and have for years. I refuse to use Wifi at home (even where I have complete control over the network) because it is just not reliable enough. I don't like to hear the kids and wife whine about problems!

Also hence the reason why most businesses do not rely on Wifi for production network connectivity versus copper.

Preloading data on to USB has been rock solid and works very well. It requires minimal work once a quarter to update the youth content. We feel like that is a good happy medium between reliability and ease of management.

[johnshaw]

Preloading data on to USB has been rock solid and works very well. It requires minimal work once a quarter to update the youth content. We feel like that is a good happy medium between reliability and ease of management.

I've said it before, while the Come, follow me youth curriculum has a quick, minimal work solution, it is not, in my mind, the entirety of what needs to be provided. As an example the WWLT this year has been announced as a 'local' viewing responsibility. It is not going to be broadcast over the satellite. The directions indicate that Councils and presidencies should regularly review the sessions. This means they should be available nearly any day of the week, and anytime necessary. What about Primary? What about Relief Society? What if I want to review a General Conference Talk, or RS training, or anything from the Leadership Training Library. Not to mention the Seminary curriculum.

The entirety of the medialibrary.lds.org should be available for viewing anytime, anywhere, and we need a solution for that. Either we have a local mechanism or we fix the 881W streaming issue, fix the online website limitations or allow those of us in Bandwidth purgatory due to location or local FM rules to find alternatives.

[jkentner]

WWLT is once or twice a year, GC twice a year. I haven't seen any Primary or Relief Society videos that pop up often. Seminary has DVDs that are used for classes for the most part. Those can be ripped and dumped on USB if needed. Yes an initial feed (from medialibrary.lds.org)would take time, but after that, I still think it will be minimal (as long as a process is put into place with documentation), not to mention, our callings may not be had forever by technical guys like us, so it will need to be managed by those less savvy also.