Video File

A Video File asset is used to upload video files into Squiz Matrix. To allow users to download and watch the file on your Site, you need to create a Video File asset. Once it has been created, it can be used as many times as you like within your Squiz Matrix system.

Adding a Video File

When you add a Video File, additional fields appear on the Create new Video File screen, as shown in the figure below.

The fields available on the Create new Video File screen  

Enter the following details for the Video File asset:

• Title: enter the name for the Video File asset. This will be used as the friendly name of the Video File and will appear in the Asset Map. This name will also appear wherever the keyword replacement %asset_short_name% is used. This field is required when creating a Video File.
• Upload File: select which file to use as the Video File. To do this, click on the Browse button; the File Upload pop-up will appear. Locate the file that you want to use, left click on it and click on the Open button. The path of the file that you have selected will appear in the Upload File field. You can only upload files of type mov, avi, wmv, asf, flv, mp4, m4v, mpg, mpeg, ogv, ogg and webm. This field is required when creating a Video File.
• Choose a pre-uploaded file: if the video file has already been uploaded to the server, you can select that file by clicking the Choose a pre-uploaded file button. For more information on how to do this, refer to the Using Pre-uploaded Files section in this chapter. 

Once you have entered the required information, click Commit. Your Video File will appear in the Asset Map on the left hand side of the screen.

Once created, you can configure the settings of your Video File on its associated asset screens. These screens are often the same or similar to those for a Standard Page and are described in the Asset Screens manual. In this chapter, we will describe the Details screen, which is different for a Video File.  

Tip: To find out which assets in the system are using a Video File in their content, look at the Linking screen. The assets using the file will be listed in the Current Linking section.

Details Screen

The Details screen for a Video File allows you to set up this asset. For more information about the Status, Future Status, and Thumbnail sections of this screen, see the Details chapter in the Asset Screens manual.

Details

This section allows you to change various details of the Video File including Metadata and Title.

 The Details section of the Details screen 

The fields available are as follows:

• Title: by default, the Title that was entered into the Title field when the Video File was created will appear in this field. You can change the title of the Video File by clicking into this field and entering the new Title for the Video File.
• File Name: by default, the name of the file that was used when the Video File was created will appear in this field. You can change the name of the file by clicking into this field and entering the new file name.
• Upload File: this field allows you to upload a new version of the Video File. This file can be an   updated version of the file or a different file. To upload a new file, click on the Browse button – the File Upload pop-up will appear. Locate the file that you want to use, left click on it and click on the Open button. The path of the file that you have selected will appear in the Upload File field. You can only upload files of type mov, avi, wmv, asf, flv, mp4, m4v, mpg and mpeg.
• Current File: this section outlines the details of the Video File including the size of the file and when it was last updated.  

  Tip: If you have selected a new Video File to upload using the Upload File field, the details of this file will not appear in the Current File section until you click Commit.  

• Allow Unrestricted Access: depending on what this setting is, the Status of the Video File and whether or not Public Read access has been granted, Squiz Matrix will use different style URLs.  
  • Yes: if the Statusof the Video File is Under Construction and Public Read access has been granted then a human readable URL will be used, for example, http://www.example.com/video.mov. This means that it is served dynamically from the Squiz Matrix repository and hence is not optimal in terms of performance.
    If the Status of the Video File is Live and Public Read access has been granted then a static URL will be used, for example http://www.example.com/__data/assets/image/5/video.mov where 5 is the asset ID of the Video File. The static URL gives optimal performance as it is served directly by the web server.
  • No: if this setting is No, then the human readable URL will be used. This may be required if an external system is referencing the file and needs to use the dynamic human readable URL.
  The default setting of the Allow Unrestricted Access field is Yes.

Video Metadata

This section allows you to change the settings for the Video File. The Video Metadata section is shown in the figure below.

The Video Metadata section of the Details screen

The fields available are as follows:

• Extract Video Metadata?:select this field to extract any metadata from the Video File to apply to the asset. To do this, the getID3 external tool must been enabled. If the tool was enabled when the Video File was created, any metadata will have been automatically extracted. If it was not enabled, an error message will be shown, as shown in the figure above. For more information on the getID3 tool, refer to the System Configuration manual. Selecting this option will overwrite any metadata information previously entered.
• File Format: the File Format metadata information of the Video File.
• Audio Codec: the Audio Codes metadata information of the Video File.
• Channels: the Channels metadata information of the Video File.
• Channel Mode: the Channel Mode metadata information of the Video File.
• Bitrate (kbps): the Bitrate metadata information of the Video File.
• Sample Rate (Hz): the Sample Rate metadata information of the Video File.
• Video Codec: the Video Codec metadata information of the Video File.
• Video Width: the Video Width metadata information of the Video File.
• Video Height: the Video Height metadata information of the Video File.
• Frames per Second: the Frames per Second metadata information of the Video File.
• Duration of track: the Duration metadata information of the Video File.
• Track Title: the Track Title metadata information of the Video File.
• Artist: the Artist metadata information of the Video File.
• Album: the Album metadata information of the Video File.
• Genre: the Genre metadata information of the Video File.
• Year: the Year metadata information of the Video File.
• Copyright: the Copyright metadata information of the Video File.
• Comments: the Comments metadata information of the Video File.

Accessibility

This section allows you to set an alternate video source for your Video File. This file can then provided as an alternative to users, enhancing the accessibility of the video. For example, if you are using an Ogg Video File and you would also like to provide users with the option to download an mp4 version of the video, you can use this attribute to select the mp4 file as the alternate video file for the asset. The Accessibility section of the Details screen is shown in the figure below.

The Accessibility section of the Details screen

In the Alternate Video File Asset field, select the asset to use as the alternate video file. This must be another Video File on your system.

Once you have set an alternate video file, you can access it's attributes using the following keyword replacement format:

%asset_attribute_alt_asset_<asset_attribute>% 

For example, %asset_attribute_alt_asset_asset_url% will display the URL of the alternate video file.

Using Pre-uploaded Files

When creating a new Video File, on the Create new Video File screen there is an option called Choose a pre-uploaded file. This option allows you to select a file that has already been uploaded to the Squiz Matrix server. For more information on how to upload a file to the server, refer to the Server Administrator manual.

When you click on the Choose a pre-uploaded file button, the fields shown in the figure below will appear on the Create new Video File screen.

The Create New CSS File screen when using a pre-uploaded file 

The fields available are as follows:

• Title: enter the name for the Video File asset. This will be used as the friendly name of the Video File and will appear in the Asset Map. This name will also appear where ever the keyword replacement %asset_short_name% is used. This field is required when creating a Video File.
• Uploaded File: select which file to use from the list provided. This field is required when creating a Video File.
• Upload a new file: if the file has not been uploaded to the server, click on the Upload a new file button to upload the file manually. For more information on how to do this, refer to the Adding a File section in this chapter.

Updating the File

Once a Video File has been created, you can change the file that it is using at any time. To do this, go to the Details screen of the Video File. In the Upload File field, click on the Browse button; the File Upload pop-up will appear. Locate the file that you want to use, left click on it and click on the Open button. The path of the file that you have selected will appear in the Upload File field.

Once you have clicked Commit, any assets that reference the Video File will be updated with the new version of the file. You can only upload files of type mov, avi, wmv, asf, flv, mp4, m4v, mpg and mpeg.

PreviousNext