Helix – LSBU Media Library

Helix – LSBU Media Library
Helix (LSBU Media Library) is a software based solution to simplify the way streaming
video is used in Teaching and Learning.
Helix is designed to make it easy for you to upload existing media content like AVI,
MPEG, QuickTime, WAV etc., and for these to be encoded for streaming delivery,
currently RealMedia, H.264/AAC and MP3 in a Flash player.
The content can be viewed from within the HML site, or embedded into external sites (a
Virtual Learning Environment for example) so users are not required to login directly to
the Library and from mobile devices such as the iPhone/iPad.
This help sheet is going to show you how to upload a video to Helix, embed the video
onto Moodle (LSBU VLE) and how send the video as an external link.
Step by step – Uploading a
video to Helix

Go to Helix by typing the
following URL into the
browser address bar:
https://hml.lsbu.ac.uk

Login to Helix by using your
LSBU username and
password.

When you have successfully
logged into Helix, you will be
presented with the home
screen. The home screen is
made up of the toolbar, latest
media, random viewable
content and category listing.
Toolbar
The toolbar offers a number
of options:
Home button will bring you
back to the main page from
any point.
Upload will take you to the
Add Media wizard.
Help will offer basic
guidelines to the use of the
system.
Sidebar
The sidebar shows all
categories you are able to
view, as well as contributors
and tags. Selecting a
category will display a list of
videos in that category.
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Step by step – Uploading a
video to Helix continued…
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Adding Media
Click on the Upload tab on
the home screen.
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Provide the following
information:
Title: Name of the video
Category: There will be 2
categories, Personal and
Public. We recommend that
Personal is used.
Description: Enter the
description of the video.
Email Address: Provide an
email address to be notified
when your media is ready.
Tags: Tagging media
uploads allow you to relate
content to certain areas. For
example, adding a Sport tag
to a number of uploads will
group that content in a
relationship that can be
easily searched. (This is not
a compulsory field)

Select Next, this will bring up
the file selection screen

File Selection
Click Browse to choose a file
to upload. Below are the file
types that you are able to
upload:
· AVI
· MPEG4
· MOV
· MPEG1 / MPEG2
· WMV
· DV / DVCPro
· MP3
· WMA
· WAV

Select the file you would like
to upload and clicking Open
will start the file upload
process. The maximum file
size allowed is 2GB.
the file is uploaded
 When
click Next.
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Personal is selected when you would like the
video to be private on the Helix site. Even if the
video is private on the helix site you can enable
public access which will give you a URL and
embed code, so external clients/students can
view it.
The Public category should not be used under
any circumstances as everyone including
external people could view this video on the
main page. If you are wanting to have a video
that is available to multiple people within LSBU,
like a marketing video then for the moment this
has to be uploaded into your private area and
then a job raised with AVS Team to move it into
the appropriate category like Internal LSBU
users only. (Moving forward we are hoping to
have group rights set up, so that videos can be
uploaded into specific categories by authorised
users)
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Step by step – Uploading a
video to Helix continued…
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Thumbnails
Once you have clicked Next,
you will be presented with a
range of thumbnails to
choose from, generated from
the uploaded video.

From here, you can select
one of the predefined
images, choose to upload an
image of your own (640x204
pixels), or use the default
thumbnail that is assigned to
the category you have
uploaded to.
When uploading an audio
file, thumbnail selection
changes. At this stage you
can choose the default
category thumbnail, or
upload your own as no
thumbnails will be generated
from an audio upload.

To select a thumbnail just
click on the image you want,
and click the Next button at
the bottom right-hand corner
of the screen.

Associated files
This next screen will allow
you attach associated
documents to the media.
In a similar style to adding
media, select browse and
choose a file to upload.
You can upload 3 associated
files per clip. Give the file a
title and click Browse, for
each file you want to upload.
In addition to associated files
you can add URL’s to clips
by checking the tick box.
These appear as hyperlinks
in the associated files
(resources) area for a clip
which take you to the URL in
another tab or window when
clicked.

Click the Next button
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Step by step – Uploading a
video to Helix continued…
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Final Screen
Once you have clicked Next,
you will be presented with
the final screen. This will
show an overview of the clip
ready to be uploaded. Before
clicking finish, any of the
information can be edited by
clicking on the appropriate
tab at the top.

Once you have summarised
the content you are
uploading, Click on the
Finish button.

That’s it; the content has now
been uploaded. The system
now needs to encode the
video so it can be streamed
online. You can check the
encoding progress in the
Media listing category under
the encoding section.
The longer the duration of
the content, the longer the
encoding process will take.
The system only has 1
encoder for everyone, so
when you upload your
content it could be in a queue
before it starts to encode. We
recommend uploading your
content at least 72hrs before
it needs to be used.
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Content Management
Clicking on a file name will download the original file uploaded, useful
if ever a local file is lost.
Edit
brings up the Media Upload Wizard shown previously, but
retaining all information added during the initial upload.
Videos can be moved between categories, titles changed,
descriptions edited and associated files replaced, deleted or added to.
Quick Edit allows the ability to move multiple clips to another
category at once.
To delete a video completely from the system, tick the box next to it,
and click Delete selected media. If you want to delete any
associated files, tick the box to include associated files in delete
before clicking Delete selected media. An asterisk below the check
box denotes media a user is able to delete. Clips without an asterisk
cannot be deleted.
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Step by step – Uploading a
video to Helix continued…

Email
When your content is
encoded you will receive an
email from
AVSVideo@lsbu.ac.uk.
It will contain a link to the
video which you can send to
external clients and an
embed code which you use
when linking onto Moodle for
students.
If your video category is
Public then you will be able
to use either the URL or the
embed code straight away.

If you have chosen the
Personal category the URL
or the embed code will not
work until you enable public
access.

Enable Public Access
Click Back to Library button
at the top, in the content
management section.

You will then see a new
category on the left hand
side called Personal; this is
where all your personal
videos will be kept. Click on
the personal category link.

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
Then click on thumbnail.
Click on Enable public
access

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Media Playback page
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Video playback

Quality: Select high or low quality, or HD, dependent on your bandwidth; Relates to both audio and
video playback.
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Copy URL: Displays a link to this page allowing you to highlight and copy the link.
Copy Code: Displays the code required to embed media into another web page/VLE.
Player size adjustment: Below the embed code you can select from 3 different sizes which will
alter the embed code accordingly.
Related Media: Links to video within the same category or related metadata.
Rate this media: You can click on the star you like to give the media a rating out of 5.
Resources: This displays any associated files that have been uploaded with the clip
Chapters: This section contains any chapter points that have been created, and allows you to
create new ones.
Playlist: Allows you to create a playlist and add a clip or chapter point to it, or an existing playlist
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Using Helix videos on Moodle
Uploaded videos on Helix can be used on Moodle. To link the content from
Helix onto Moodle the Copy Code MUST be used.
If copy URL is used then it will take the students to the Media playback page
where they can then have access to the Copy Code and the Copy URL
which they can then share.
We recommend that Copy Code is used when linking any content on Moodle
from Helix.
This help sheet will show you how to add the video using the Label, Page and
URL resource. However the Copy Code can be added to any of the Moodle
Resources and Activities where you see the HTML button
in the
WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor control panel.
Step by step – Using Helix
videos on Moodle

Go to the Media playback
page.

Chose the size of the video
you would like to share and
click on it.

Then copy the code by
clicking on the code and
pressing CTRL + C or rightclick and select Copy to
place it in the clipboard.
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Step by step – Using Helix
videos on Moodle cont…
Adding video to the Label
Resource:

Now go to the Moodle by
going to the following URL:
https://vle.lsbu.ac.uk

Login with your username
and password



Click on the site you would
like to add the video

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Click on Turn editing on
Go to the section where you
like to add the video and click
Add an activity or resource
Select Label from the
Resources category
It will then take you to the
Label setting page

Click on the HTML button in
the editor control panel

Now paste the Copy Code
either by pressing CTRL + V
or right click and choosing
paste


Then click Add

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Then click Update
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Step by step – Using Helix
videos on Moodle cont…
Adding video to the Label
Resource continued:

Now click on Save and
return to course

The video is now embedded
on the Label resource and
can be accessed by
students; all they need to do
it click on the play button.
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Step by step – Using Helix
videos on Moodle cont…
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Adding video to the Page
Resource:
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
Click on Turn editing on
Go to the section where you
like to add the video and click
Add an activity or resource

Select Page from the
Resources category

Then click Add
It will then take you to the
Page setting page

Fill in the name and
description

Then in the Page Content
section click on the HTML
button in the editor control
panel

Now paste the Copy Code
either by pressing CTRL + V
or right click and choosing
paste
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Then click Update
Now click on Save and
return to course

Click on the page link to view
the video.
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Step by step – Using Helix
videos on Moodle cont…
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Adding video to the URL
Resource:
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Click on Turn editing on
Go to the section where you
like to add the video and click
Add an activity or resource


Select URL from the
Resources category
Then click Add

It will then take you to the
URL setting page

Fill in the name and
description
Then in the Content section
the Hyperlink of the Copy
Code will be pasted in the
External URL

Go to the email that you
received with the link to the
video and the Copy Code

Right click on the URL within
the Copy Code and select
copy hyperlink

Then go back to Moodle and
paste in the hyperlink in the
External URL section by
either right click and paste or
CTRL + V

Make sure the display
options is set to New
window
Then click on Save and
return to course

Click on the URL link to view
the video.
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Sharing Helix videos externally
There are two ways of sharing the uploaded videos on Helix externally; the
first is using the link provided to you in the email sent by AVSVideo (Fig.
1.0), however if you use this method then everyone with the link will get
access to the Media playback page (Fig. 1.1) where they can then have
access to the Copy URL and Copy Code.
Fig. 1.0
Fig. 1.1
The second way is to use the hyperlink provided in the Copy Code (Fig 2.0),
using this method will only show the video and nothing else; this link is more
secure than using Copy URL and the link provided in the email.
Fig 2.0
Hyperlink
https://hml.lsbu.ac.uk/player?autostart=n&f
ullscreen=y&width=320&height=260&videoI
d=304&quality=hd&captions=n&chapterId=
0"
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