RotundaCam: Help

RotundaCam Help and Downloads Page
Time Lapse Movies | Time Lapse Movies (Macintosh) | Real Networks | Windows Media | Updating Image | Apple QuickTime

Time Lapse Movies
The Time Lapse Movie files are very large and definitely not recommended for use via a dial-up modem connection. The movies are created by recording a still camera image every thirty seconds and then processing these images into a MPEG-1 movie each evening. Most workstations will already be configured to view the movies. If you experience problems you may need to install a new viewer. Multimedia players such as Microsoft's Windows Media Player, Real Networks Real Player, and Apple's QuickTime Player are all able to display these movies. If you have problems viewing the movie clips, Windows users should try installing a new version of either Windows Media Player or Real Player. Macintosh users should install a new version of QuickTime. Users with older and slower computers will find that Windows Media Player does the best job rendering these movie clips. Real Player will often freeze on a single frame when used on slower computers.

Netscape users will find that the whole movie file will download to your computer before the clip begins to play. This is the preferred approach as only a small number of network connections have the capacity to play these movie clips in real time.

Microsoft Internet Explorer users will find that the movie clip attempts to play as it is being downloaded resulting in a slow and broken movie. Many personal computers and network connections can not maintain the needed data rate over the network. Internet Explorer users should wait for the initial display to finish and then replay the movie clip a second time. The movie will be stored locally and will work correctly during the second viewing. It may also be easier to right-click on the link and save the movie clip to your local hard disk. You can then view the movie clip with any installed MPEG player.

Time Lapse Movies (Macintosh)
Apple Macintosh users may find that their computer is configured to use a program named Sparkle to view the movie clips. If Sparkle is not already installed on your Macintosh, we recommend using Apple's QuickTime Player instead. You will need to reconfigure your Web browser to use QuickTime. This is accomplished in Netscape by going to Edit/Preferences/Navigator/Applications and modifying the entry for the MIME type video/mpeg to specify the QuickTime player.

If there is already an entry for MPEG Video, click on Edit; if there is not an entry, click on Create. Complete the specifications with the following:
        Description: MPEG Video
        MIME Type: video/mpeg
        Suffixes: mpg,mpeg,mpe
        Click on Application (not Plug-in)
        Click on Choose and find the QuickTime Movie Player
        File Type: MPG
        Click on OK to save these settings.

Real Networks
The Real Networks system is used to provide a live view of the Rotunda. This streaming video service has been tuned to work over both a dial-up modem session and over a standard Ethernet connection. The ability to work over a dial-up modem session causes a slower image update speed.

Windows Media
Microsoft Windows Media technology is used to provide a live video view from the camera. This is a medium-speed video connection that will not work well over a modem. An Ethernet, DSL, or cable modem connection is needed for proper operation. We limit the number of simultaneous users to fifty to conserve server resources.

Updating Image
The main RotundaCam page displays a JPEG image that is automatically updated between every five and fifteen seconds depending on your location on the network. The small JAVA applet that runs on your local workstation is used to update the image.

Apple QuickTime
Apple's QuickTime technology is used to deliver a live view of the camera image. This is a high performance video stream that will not work over a dial-up modem connection. An Ethernet, DSL, or cable modem connection is needed for proper operation. You will need QuickTime Version 6 or greater to use this link. QuickTime viewers can be downloaded directly from Apple's site.