UCLA Media Lab / VideoFurnace FAQ

Instructors may now request to have their class reserve videos encoded and linked to their course web page via Video Furnace.

Many of our titles can be made available for the duration of the quarter in which they are assigned through secure course-management web pages. They will only be accessible to students enrolled in the class in question and only after logging into the UCLA VPN (Virtual Portal Network). 

Instructors are urged to submit their requests as early as possible.  While we do our best to make these materials available as quickly as we can, it is important to understand that it takes as long to encode a program as it does to watch it--an hour long program will take an hour to encode.  Video links are typically completed within a few days of the request.  In order to provide equal access, the physical media will and must also be available for reserve viewing in the Media Lab. 

To request Video Furnace services please call the Instructional Media Collections & Services office at (310) 825-0755.   

Frequently Asked Questions:

I clicked on the link, but nothing happened?

The player application that launches when you click the link can take up to 30 seconds to launch, allow some time before clicking again or going to another page.

Clicking a link multiple times will only cause it to attempt to load multiple players and will increase the wait time

The player will sometimes load BEHIND your current window, so be aware and maybe minimize your main window.

Does this service work off-campus?

The streaming media is designed and meant for on-campus networks only. The media should be available via any network connection on campus, the classrooms and most dorms, including wireless networks, but off campus, while it may work in certain circumstances, is not supported, dependable, or recommended.

Will my older computer support the IP video service?

A computer must meet certain minimum system requirements. If your system does not meet these requirements, the service may perform less than desired or not at all. The minimum system requirements to view each service are listed below:

- Windows 98/2000/XP: Intel Pentium III 500MHz CPU or greater Current Java Virtual Machine or Sun JRE 1.4.1 Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher

- Mac OS X 10.1.5: Power PC G3 700MHz or G4 400 MHz or greater OpenGL-capable video card (ATI Rage 128 or Radeon, any nVidia card) Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, or Netscape Communicator 7.0

- RedHat (Intel) Linux 7.3: Intel Pentium III 500MHz CPU or greater 24-bit graphics enabled Properly configured and enabled audio card/module Mozilla v0.9.9/v1.2a with Java Plug-in (i.e., v1.4.1)

In all cases, the client computer must have network access and a recent Java run-time environment, in most cases available at http://java.sun.com .

For more information, see the detailed instructions

If your problem was not addressed in the FAQ above or the detailed instructions, please email the Media Lab at medialab@ucla.edu for assistance