ETV Portal Server Administrator Guide 1

Chapter 1

Introduction
Overview
VBrick's EtherneTV Media Distribution System consists of a group of products that includes
the EtherneTV Portal (ETV Portal Server), EtherneTV Encoders, the EtherneTV-NXG
Video-on-Demand Server, EtherneTV Set-Top Boxes and StreamPlayer software. This
integrated system delivers both live and on-demand audio and video over an IP-based
infrastructure. The ETV Portal Server functions as a video portal, permitting end users to
view live and on-demand MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 and other streams on a PC,
Macintosh, or Set-Top Box. The ETV Portal Server comes as software-only solution that can
be installed on a Windows Server or as a pre-configured hardware/software combination.

Downloaded Components

For Windows-based PC users only, ETV Portal Server uses VBrick StreamPlayer software-
based components to decode video streams on the user desktop. The Portal Server
downloads these components to each user machine the first time you access the Portal Server.
No download is necessary for subsequent access. If this is a new installation, you must answer
Yes to security requests to download these components. The EtherneTV Portal Server may
require the installation of up to five components. If you check the box Always trust content
from VBrick Systems Incorporated, any required components will be automatically
downloaded the next time they are needed. You don’t have to restart your computer.
The standard method to download these components is by using CABs. When a user
connects to the Portal Server for the first time, the CABs are downloaded automatically to the
user computer. In certain circumstances however, the use of CABs is not allowed or
impracticable. In these cases, VBrick provides an .msi installer called
VBrickComponents.msi. This installer installs the same components and allows end-users
who cannot use CABs to gain full Portal Server functionality. This installer is located in the
utils directory under Portal Server. Go to Program Files\VBrick\MCS\utils to run this
utility.
Topics in this chapter
Overview
MySQL
ETV Portal Server
Additional ETV Components
Additional Portal Server Components
Portal Server License Files