Trying something...

Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -
Number of replies: 23

Yep...I'm doing something the hard way....

I couldn't find this in the Moodle books I have and have posted it over at using moodle...but I'm wanting to do something that I'm not finding. Every set of instructions for posting videos has their videos over on something like YouTube. We want to keep everything on our own servers as it's proprietary. The vids are between 45min and 70 min each. I have backend access to the server and can upload any size to any folder. Anyone ever done this before? What folder should they go in and how do I tell moodle where to load it from?

Thanks folks....

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by ben reynolds -

I haven't done this yet, Dan, but I'm *thinking* you can set up a private channel on YouTube, so they take the hits and the vid weight, and then embed via a label in Moodle.

BUT, those are HUGE files if they are that long. At a minimum, they want to be converted to Mp4, etc.

If you want them on your private server, the FIRST thing to do is reduce them to the smallest size possible.

Or, put them somewhere other than your Moodle server.

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In reply to ben reynolds

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

The people in charge of the school want to keep it on our own servers. We have the space and the bandwidth so...I get to figure out how to do it!!! I've got them down to a 500mb flashvid.

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Choong Michael -

Hi Dan,

I think the easiest way is to embed the flash movie into the HTML code. This can be easily done by following these simple steps:

  1. open the Flash movie file you have created and export it as "yourfilename.swf".
  2. upload 'yourfilename.swf' to your video hosting server where the file suppose to be stored.
  3. In the Moodle topic box where you want to see the video, select 'Compose a webpage' from the 'Add a resource' menu.
  4. Insert this code:

<object width="450" height="300">
<param name="movie" value="yourfilename.swf">
<embed src="somefilename.swf" width="450" height="300">
</embed>
</object>

Hope it helps!

Michael Choong
http://www.icteduc.com

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In reply to Choong Michael

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

So, I can just put the file out in the open with all the other moodle files and it will just find it?

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Choong Michael -

Hi Dan, I think it should work if you upload the .swf file to your course content page BUT if you upload it to another server/location, you may need to find out the absolute path from your ICT team.

The absolute path should look like this, 'http://yourdomain.com/yourfilename.swf'

Good luck

Michael

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In reply to Choong Michael

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

Hi, Michael! How's London? I'll try just placing the file out in the open in the domain folder and see if it will play nice with Moodle!!!

Thanks!

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In reply to Choong Michael

Re: Trying something...

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Dan

Videos are not my department, but I can confirm the previous posting by Choong Michael. You can find my documentation in http://elearning.zhaw.ch/moodle/course/view.php?id=611 sections 1, 3, 5 and 6.

> I couldn't find this in the moodle books

What are they?

> I have and have posted it over at using moodle...

Cross-posting is not a nice thing.
BTW, the "Lounge" is also not the right place for tech talk.

> Anyone ever done this before?

See above. So your Moodle books don't say anything about embedding videos?

> What folder should they go in and how do I tell moodle where to load it from?

If you upload within Moodle, they will land in the correct place. Otherwise you can upload the video files using ftp-access (or other allowed protocol) straight into the $moodledata

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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

Sorry! I didn't mean to offend. I guess I hang out with too many tech people! The books I have are "Using Moodle" 2nd edition and "How to Moodle". Now, they do talk about how to load video through the moodle interface but they don't say where the video goes in the hierarchy on the server within the domain folder. That's the question! Perhaps, now that the weekend is over, the guys over at the Using Moodle will get back to me. I don't have a file called $moodledata and I can't find Moodle file hierarchy in any of the documentation but I'll keep looking!!! It's a bit like Joomla! I just have to learn what all the folders are for!!! Thanks.

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Dan

> Sorry! I didn't mean to offend. I guess I hang out with too many tech people!

There was no offence meant, not from my side. Whereas the second point could be true.
wink

> they do talk about how to load video through the moodle interface

"embedding videos" must be the topic.

> but they don't say where the video goes in the hierarchy on the server within the domain folder.

Check this http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=123859

> I don't have a file called $moodledata and I can't find Moodle file hierarchy in any of the documentation but I'll keep looking!!!

Definitely too many geeks here! The $ in $moodledaa means that it is a variable. The value is set by the hoster, for example /var/moodledata. Your value is in the line $CFG->dataroot in $moodle/config.php.

P.S. I don't know where the term 'folder' comes, they used to be called 'directories'. ;-(
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Trying something...

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi Dan/Visvanath

If you are using Moodle 2.0 , Dan then you can ignore  a lot of the old file uploading  documentation because it has changed. The old "moodledata" folder/directory with its individual numbered folders relating to individual courses is no more and you cannot (easily) ftp into the directory in the server. (You can, however, in Moodle 2.0,create a folder on your server and ftp the videos to it and bring them into your courses -you need to do a search on Using Moodle for file system repository or look at this video here http://moodle.drupalgardens.com/article/tue-06152010-1918/ftp-files-moodle-20-repository-api )

OR..if you have converted them to swf (personally I would use flv) then do the following:

  • site admin>plugins>filters.manage filters>multimedia plugins>(ensure they are ON) and then check settings that swf filter is on (and/or flv filter)
  • go to where you want your video for instance add a resource>webpage and then click the filmstrip icon, upload your movie and then when you have saved it it will play. (You don't need code)
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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

Hi, Mary!!! That explains why nothing that I was reading made any sense!!! I do perfer .flv as it is an option straight out of Adobe Premiere. Thanks for the step by step. It's EXACTLY what I was looking for! I'm finding the Mary's here are the best!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

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In reply to Choong Michael

Re: Trying something...

by David Coates -

Hello,

 

We have recently installed Moodle 2.1.2+ and have the media player working with an outside FTP.  What we need is to be able to set it up so the user can go full screen, and be able to pause the videos.  

 

Is this possible with the media player built into Moodle?  If not is there a work around or Module for 2.1 that will do this for us?  

 

Thanks for the replies,

 

Lee

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Paul Jacobson -

Hi Dan - I'm wading into the video discussion without the whole picture - in Australia we have Clickview. Our college bought a licence for $10,000 or so and got the Library to serve all these full-length videos to classrooms, schoolbags (sic) and embedded in Moodle. We can also draw on the Clickview repository in Sydney. The facility works through Silverlight and it probably uses DivX compression.

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In reply to Paul Jacobson

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

Unfortunately, this is for a small school with almost no budget for this! I'm looking for what others are doing with their program "outside the box" so to speak! I'm looking into Kaltura CE as someone suggested.

Thanks!!!

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In reply to Paul Jacobson

Re: Trying something...

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators

> ... works through Silverlight and it probably uses DivX compression.

Holy Grail!
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In reply to Paul Jacobson

Re: Trying something...

by Cathy Macdonald -

Hi Paul
About your use of ClickView - are you using it with Moodle2 or Moodle1.9+? We are having problems with ClickView streaming/embedding in Moodle2.
Thanks
Cathy

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Randy Orwin -

Hey Dan, take a look at Kaltura (http://www.kaltura.org/ community edition) (http://corp.kaltura.com/ commercial version). You can host all of your own videos onsite and then use the embed code as pointed out by Michael or write a filter similar to the Youtube filter and you should be good to go.

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In reply to Randy Orwin

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

It's $300 per month for what we need. This is another reason for wanting them on our own server.

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Randy Orwin -

Hi again Dan,

You should be able to download and install the community version of Kaltura on your own server and host them yourself. You don't need to pay for the hosted solution. Check out this page: http://www.kaltura.org/kalturaorg-kalturacom

 

Good luck!

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In reply to Randy Orwin

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

Thanks! I found Kalura CE. What's your take. Should I load this in the same subdomain with moodle or make a separate subdomain? Just not sure if I can keep all those folders straight!!!

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by Dan Trouten -

OK...Now that I've figured it out I thought I'd post the answer. If you have backend access and the server is running a linux server you need to change the value in your PHP editor for your post_max_size and upload_max_filesize. If you are using something like CPanel your LimitRequestBody appears to update accordingly. Once you save those settings (and refresh your moodle admin access) the new limits should show up.

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In reply to Dan Trouten

Re: Trying something...

by William Hamilton -

I've done this for my institutions demo Moodle Site... I use Windows 2003 and streaming video. Ensure this function is installed for Windows Server (not default, refer to manual). You may have to convert the file to wmv in Sever 2003, load it in Windows Svr 2003 streaming media section/folder (not hard) and point to the file in Moodle. It's interesting to initially get it set up, but once in place, easy. Windows Server 2008 can do your MP4, etc. You point to the files as if they were websites (your media server address) and it's easy. ...can talk more.

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