Media can be incorporated in your website or a virtual learning environment (VLE) such as a Moodle web-page without having to upload the media directly. This is a far easier and better method of incorporating media in your website or VLE course area because (a) the media ‘streams’ (b) you don't have to be bothered about the media format (c) you save disk space (d) it reduces the back up cycle on your servers (e) content is shared for the wider community.
Copy the embed code supplied and paste it into the CODE view of the page or HTML web block.
See further information about embedding media.
If the uploader has permitted download, click on one of the download links to obtain media for your computer or mobile device.
For computer media players download either the WMV or MP4 files.
For mobile phones you will usually need to download the WMV or 3GP formats (depending on the capabilities of your device).
For the iPod (Touch)/iPhone, download the MP4 or use iTunes.
The MP4 download (for video uploaded on or after 6th April 2009) will also play on the PSP.
Yes. Go to www.moletv.org.uk on your mobile device.
There is a dedicated iTunes store application available for the iPhone3G(S) and iPodTouch, go to MoLeTV iPod Help.
The flash media player (FLV) is the main player - this streams the video to your browser. Streaming flash media is also used in the embedded player. The WMV and MP4 players may be useful for mobile devices that can browse the site but cannot use the flash media player.
The MP4 player uses the original width and height dimensions of the uploaded media.
Click on ‘Upload media’ and login using your email address and password.
In order to obtain a password you need to create an account and ACTIVATE your account (using the link in the email confirmation sent) within SEVEN days. Do NOT share your password with anyone else.
Email addresses which are NOT in the email domains of .gov, .sch.uk, .ac.uk, org, .org.uk CANNOT create accounts using the web interface. We may create an account for a user who does not possess an email address in one of these domains. Please write to admin@moletv.org.uk with details of the account you wish to use, the name of the organisation your belong to and the reason you cannot use one of the above accounts.
When your account is activated,
- log-in
- fill in the upload form including a description and tags (keywords) that help to describe the media's content – these help other users to find your media.
- supply the correct Learning and Skills Council (LSC) curriculum category. For help choosing the main category area see subject categories (opens in a new window).
- acknowledge the source of the media in the description.
- you can upload your media in one of the usual formats - AVI*, MP4, MP3, WMV, MOV.
* some AVIs may fail to convert due the conversion software not supporting particular codecs in particular, Indeo5 and Techsmith (this is not a MoLeTV issue). If your media does not convert successfully contact admin@moletv.org.uk. We may be able to convert it manually for you - please don't hesitate to ask for help! The conversion software has issues with some forms of AVI upload - you should try to compress an AVI to MP4 and upload that version of the file. An MP4 is likely to be a smaller file size than AVI. By all means try upload an AVI format and if it doesn't work, delete it, convert the original and try again.
- browse to your media item and upload it (do NOT navigate away from the upload page whilst the media is uploading).
Video media will then go through processing. Audio media is ready for immediate use.
Please note that site administrators may add, amend or delete tags and alter the category and/or they may contact you where titles and descriptions of items are not clear. We also reserve the right to remove items which are not adequately titled, described and tagged.
There is a 60MB upload limit. If your media is larger than 60MB it will be refused and it will need to be split in two or more sections.
Any item uploaded under your account is your responsibility so after uploading media or editing media please remember to log-out or close the browser. Simply navigating to another site is NOT enough to log you out.
- Load the audio clip into Audacity (download from the world wide web or ask your e-learning staff for help)
- Switch from stereo to mono - this reduces the clip by half in terms of data
- Convert the .wav file to .mp3 - this will reduce the file size even further
- Upload the .mp3 file to MoLeTV
- Give your students to link to the file - they can listen on line or download to their computer or mobile device
Select the most closely related category and use keywords to help others find your media item.
Depending on your account type, yes, but MoLeTV wants to promote a sharing community.
On the upload form, there may be an option to supply an access code (depending on the type of account). When a user clicks on the uploaded media item it will ask for this Access code before it plays. Please don't insert a Access code unnecessarily as it spoils the purpose of MoLeTV being available to all for quick and easy access. Similarly, the upload form allows you to prevent the downloading of media files. Again, please don't prevent download unecessarily as it inhibits a 'sharing community'.
Note that the Access code system is a simple four digit combination. The Access code gives a degree of content protection.
When download is prevented, only you (if logged in to MoLeTV as the media file owner) can download and use the link and embed code supplied.
Any user who has the Access code for your media item can use the link and embed code supplied. If the Access code is secret to yourself you (and only you) can use the embed code within your VLE (your VLE is presumably password protected by its own system). The use of the embed code in another website/VLE does not require use of the Access code.
You should make sure that any media you use – regardless of whether it is placed on ‘MoLeTV’ or not - does not break copyright laws. Use of an access code should not mean that you can upload copyright protected content. If the media contains images of people (particularly young people) you may need to obtain permission before uploading it. Remember that music tracks may be copyright.
Your organisation may require you to get the permission of those 'acting' in a video regardless of where it is placed. You are allowed to 'film in public places' so passing members of the public are not a problem.
Please read information relating to terms of use and copyright.
A 40MB file will take about 12 minutes to upload (20MB = 6minutes, 10MB = 3 minutes). There is an upload limit of 60MB. (The HTTP protocol has to be used for upload - whilst this is great for download it's never at it's best for upload). For quicker encoding and download by users try and limit your upload to under 20MB. A 60MB video could be split into three parts _001, _002, _003.
Audio
MP3 files are available immediately after upload.
Video
For other video formats it depends on how busy the server is, the size of the media and what position it is in the queue but can take between 10 minutes and a few hours. MoLeTV converts the audio and video to four different formats (FLV**, WMV, MP4 for iPod/PSP and 3GP). When the streaming Flash video has processed it is available for viewing.
(** Do not download the FLV format unless you have a specific player for it. It will not (normally) work by double clicking although if you have Real Player installed you could right click the file and open with Real Player. FLV is most useful for use in some specific systems such as Xerte).
After conversion starts you will then see a 'processing completed' indicator as
0%, 25%, 50%, 75%. When processing starts it may stay at 0% for several minutes. 'In Process' indicates that your media is converting to Adobe Flash Video, Windows Media, MP4 for iPod/PSP and 3GP. The 'Media Coming Soon' page will refresh every 45 seconds and enables you to view the progress of the conversion.
When there are a number of media items in the queue conversion systems will be working together - because of this, the percentage figures are only approximate and once your media reaches 50% it may take only a short time to do the remainder of the conversion OR depending on the size of the uploaded file it may take some time to finish after reaching 75% whilst the MP4 formats are processed. The MP4 undergoes multiple conversion passes in order to get the best quality for iTUNES/iPod/PSP.
Basically, you should upload your media item (do NOT navigate away from the upload page whilst the media is uploading) and then leave MoLeTV to it. Come back later and your media should be available. You will receive an email when your media item is available.
The quality between the different formats can vary. Sometimes, the quality of the MP4/WMV download formats can be slightly better than the streaming FLV. This is because you really want a version of the media that truly streams and when converting the file the system has to strike a balance between the size of the file and the best settings for streaming. Formats that do not stream (i.e. use progressive download - the WMV and MP players) may pause during play. It's all to do with balance and a 'compromise' format for streaming especially when many users are connected (share and share alike!).
The 3GP format is heavily compressed and is suitable for some mobile devices.
The MP4 file can be downloaded/viewed on an iPod (e.g. iPod Touch). The MP4 file can be downloaded for PSP (if the upload date is on or after 6th April 2009). Obviously, a poor quality upload will result in even poorer quality playback. We do look at the settings across a range of the media uploaded by users and assess quality issues.
Occasionally, yes! The software used for conversion works in the background and can skip a beat (or more) resulting in, perhaps, successful conversion of the video but not the audio. If this happens (and it doesn't happen often) delete your upload and try again. If the uploaded file fails to convert properly a second time please contact admin@moletv.org.uk. The AVI format is the most likely format to fail conversion. Try using conversion software such as AVS Video Converter to convert AVI to another format before uploading.
No! We suggest that you upload PowerPoint using AuthorStream and convert to MP4 using AuthorStream. Upload the converted MP4 after testing it locally. Keep the information on slides to a minimum per slide and use a large clear font.
Yes. Login to MoLeTV and you will be able to edit or delete the title, description, category and tags relating to your media items.
No! Take the strain off your network and use MoLeTVs embed code. It should save you a lot of hassle regarding formats and your media is playing from a dedicated streaming server.
RSS Feed links are a way of syndicating content between different websites. They are signified by a RSS button. Click on this button to open a web page containing the feed. The address of the web page you open (e.g. http://www.moletv.org.uk/rss/RSSNew.aspx) can be copied and pasted into a RSS News Reader or a virtual learning environment RSS feed link such as Moodle (there is an RSS block in Moodle).
Use of RSS may be particularly useful if you want to list all media items from your college or organisation e.g. click on the name of your college or organisation from a page where it is linked, click the RSS button, copy the web address at the top of the page (all RSS pages start http:// and contain /rss/) and paste the address of this page into your news reader or VLE RSS module.
Note that only the media items which are AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD are available to iTunes
see information about Podcasting/iTUNES.
Media on MoleTV is not available for download directly (via a download this Video link) using Real Player. Unlike most sites MoLeTV utitlises true streaming media using FMS (flash media server). The link is not availalable when FMS is used (this is not a limitation of MoLeTV). You can download the MP4 file to your computer (if permitted by the uploader) and open this file in Real Player (File >> Open).
You can download copy the Xerte link from the 'watch page' of MoLeTV OR download the FLV file (if permitted by the uploader of the media item) to then upload it for use in Xerte. The first option is preferable unless content is running locally without an internet connection.
Note that only the media items which are AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD are available to iTunes.
The podcasts module allows you to add digital media items to your own channel/playlist. Your channel/playlist can be used in RSS readers for your own use or to share with others and/or upload to your local copy of iTunes. It is possible to upload these feeds to the iTune store however they must meet certain criteria, such as (a) be regularly updated (b) contain non-copyright material.
To access the podcasts module you need to have created an account and be logged in. The podcasts module is available from the menu 'Me >> MyPodcasts. If you are logged in to MoLeTV Media can be added to the podcasts module using the link at the top of the watch (media player) page in the right hand column. See information about Podcasting/iTUNES.
MoLeTV accepts uploads using normal 4:3 and widescreen 16:9. When uploading you are asked whether the format is normal or widescreen. In fact, if you don't choose an option or aren't sure then MoLeTV will work it out for you after the media has played a couple of times.
Yes! Upload your item and then forget if for a while if you are uploading a file over 30MB. Return to the site later - the conversions should have taken place although the MP4s formats usually take the longest time. Please remember that each video item you upload is converted to four formats (audio and video) and the Flash video is multi-passing, trying to convert your upload to stream good quality. This can take time.
It will, but don't expect the quality to improve. The FLV will try hard to improve the quality but it might not succeed. You can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear!
Visual media items which 'fail' conversion will be deleted from the conversion queue in one hour. There is no action you need to take. You may wish to contact admin@moletv.org.uk if your item fails the conversion process so that we can investigate the issue.
When you fill in the form to upload the media or edit the details relating to the media add or change the title to reflect that the media is part of a series e.g. 'my media - part 01', my media - part 02.
Yes, click on the icon at the bottom right of the FLV media player. This is useful to playing your video in the classroom through a whiteboard/smartboard. There are some times issues with playing in full screen - usually dependant on your bandwidth and your connection to the site. The success of full screen also depends on the item your are viewing. Please test it first. You can also try playing media at 'near full screen size' using the link situated in the RSS feed file.
Yes. The flash player must have focus (i.e. clicked on) - the SPACEBAR - toggles play/pause, the RIGHT ARROW key - advances the playhead by 5 seconds, the LEFT ARROW key - moves the playhead back 5 seconds, the DOWN ARROW key - reduces the volume by 5, the UP ARROW key - increases the volume by 5.
Yes! Enter a keyword and click the search button or press the enter/return key. Enter a keyword and choose partial word option if required- complete keyword helps the search not to return irrelevant items.
Yes, you can if you are logged in to MoLeTV. When you play the video (or audio) you will see sections for ratings and comments underneath the player window.
To be honest it will probably never be finished. As we have time we will add new features we think about or are suggested to us. Your comments and views are useful and of interest, so please let us know - admin@moletv.org.uk.
A tag cloud is a set of related tags with corresponding weights - the more often the tag appears the greater the weight. The weights are represented using font sizes.