Frequently Asked Questions and more

You can see your media files once encoded by logging into the Mediacentral home page, then clicking on the silhouette icon in the top right of your screen which will allow you to click on My Account > My Content, here you can search for your file and by clicking on Yes link in the "Encoded" field, this feature will load your video file. 
Every time you upload a media file, once encoded you receive an email from the system. The team recommends that it's best not to delete these emails as they contain the URL link to your videos and these are useful to have as a record of all your media.
 

Mediacentral has now moved to the Cloud, however, some people may be experiencing or having trouble playing, uploading or accessing content.

One major change since the move to the Cloud, is that Mediacentral now requires you to login using Single-Sign On or SSO, to access your account. Before this can take effect, it is important that you:

If problems still persist, please contact the Mediacentral team.

• Open the browser and clear the cache and browser history.

A tip for ensuring you are signed-out of your UCL web applications, is to:

We note these errors only seem to happen with Apple devices. If you see an error code displayed when trying to playback video such as 232011 or 224003 error, then in the first instance:

• Please check that you have the most up to date version of all of your web browsers.
• It is important to update browsers regularly, primarily for security purposes.
• Once you have updated your browser, it is good practice to restart your device to ensure any old settings are deleted.

If the problem persists:

For users who prefer Chrome for Mac, we have created a workaround:

Problem

• SSL certificates on UCL websites were revoked due to a security update, but we have discovered that Chrome for Mac is still referring to an old revoked SSL certificate.

Resolution

• We have created a document that outlines the steps that are required to manually update the SSL certificate, please contact the Mediacentral team to access the information.
• Simply read the document and download the attached .crt file
• Double click on the file and it should automatically open Keychain for Mac and update the certificate.
• Close and reopen Google Chrome for Mac

If you need additional assistance, please contact the Mediacentral team.

Yes, Mediacentral does work in countries that block mainly Google-hosted content. However, this should be caveated by saying the video viewing experience will be dictated primarily by a viewer's broadband speed (bandwidth) which can vary and that some people viewing may not have the best of experiences. Also, it is important to note that the services delivered are at the behest of any new firewall rules brought in by any national government in the future.

We now have a simple solution that will allow your media to be transferred to another UCL user/staff member.

Please request a change of ownership via email for content that is in use and may be required in the foreseeable future and the team will explain how to do this.

For Desktop@UCL and PC Users

Google Chrome

• Click on three dots on top right-hand corner
• Click on Settings
• Then click on Privacy and Security
• Then choose Site Settings
• Then scroll down until you see Sound
• Then ensure that the slider is on to Allow sites to play sound (recommended)

Internet Explorer

• Click on the Cog in the top right-hand corner of your browser window
• Choose Internet Options
• Then click on the Advanced tab
• Scroll down and ensure under Multimedia that the Play sounds in webpages option is ticked.

Firefox

• Click on the three lines in the top right of the screen
• Select Options Select Privacy and Security (left-hand side of the page)
• Scroll down and ensure that the check box Block websites from automatically playing sound is unticked.

Apple Mac users

Safari

If there is no sound when playing a video in Safari:

• Then in the menu bar choose Safari > Preferences
• In the Safari Preferences menu bar select Websites
• Then select Auto-Play in the sidebar mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk should show under Currently Open Websites
• Or if you have visited before under Configured Websites
• Choose Allow All Auto-Play in the drop-down box to allow sound to play automatically.

For Google Chrome and Firefox please follow the instructions for a PC

 Mediacentral should not be used as a data storage facility, users should use either their N, S or OneDrive for long term storage

For information about the policy

Information can be found here https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mediacentral/terms-use/retention-policy

Yes, we have recently received confirmation from a UCL department that Mediacentral videos can be embedded into a WordPress site. This is done using the Mediacentral Embed link rather than the Share link. Contact the team for further assistance.

This is an activity that is done in the upload process, or if you like, this can be done at a later stage, note that after 23rd September 2020 with respect to accessibility, you have to have added your captions file within 14 days of upload. in Mediacentral please use either a .srt or .vtt or .dfxp file format.

Depending on where you get your captions, you can always edit these within Mediacentral - further information to follow.

The Mediacentral team added a 'charged for' captioning service in the summer 2020, please contact captions at ucl.ac.uk, the rates are significantly lower than using external services and we can offer these in various languages.

There is a UCL document on subtitling best practices found here and a useful blog entry here.

There are free online tools to help you convert your captions file to a transcript.

A simple solution is to use Notepad or TextEdit to open your .srt or .vtt file, copy the text and paste it into the text box here, then copy the results and paste them into a Word (or similar) document, once you have completed this process you can then add to your Attachments in Mediacentral to share.

We now have the  MEDIALecture tool, this is a component of Mediacentral and was trialed during the initial Covid-19 lockdown, due to its success UCL staff & students can now record their screen, their webcam, and their voice or all three whilst at home. For further information go to the MEDIALecture pages

Currently, each file you have has to be uploaded individually, however, please contact the team for information on how we can assist with uploading a large number of files.

If you wish to add a file that links to your content then it is possible to add 3 attachments, these can be in the file formats .doc, .docx, .gif, .htm, .jpg, .mp3, .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .swf, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .zip

You can do this at the upload stage or if you wish to add at a later date just find your file in My Content and click on the Pencil icon to initiate the process, just click Next until you see the Assoc Files tab and then Browse and add your file. Once your file has uploaded click Next and then Finish. You do not need to wait for any encoding process, your file will be there immediately.

Currently, you can only upload via Apple iOS. To upload from an iOS device, you must be logged onto the site with an account that has upload permission for at least one category.

On an iOS device

• Click the Upload button at the bottom of the screen.
• On the next screen choose a file to upload by click Browse.
• You can upload an existing video or use the device's camera to shoot a new clip. Video with audio and video-only uploads are allowed.
• Once the clip has been uploaded click Next and provide the details for the clip. The Title, Category, Description, and Email fields are mandatory.
• Add tags to the clip to help viewers find the clip through search criteria. If there is a disclaimer check the box to agree to it.
• Click Next.
• On the confirmation page, click Finish to complete the upload process.

Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0)

It is best to use the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. This will let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only original copies of your work. If they want to modify your work, they must get your permission first.

You are free to:

Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

Attribution -You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your us

NoDerivatives - If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices: 

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation. No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

Prior to uploading to Mediacentral if you wish to add a watermark or overlay to brand your video then a simple solution is to download and use the free software VLC Media Player. Information on how to add your logo/watermark/overlay can be found here.

You can download video and audio files by right-clicking on the Download link in the information under the video on the Mediacentral site.

• You should note that not all content has been made available for download.
• If you need a copy of a file that is not available for download then we suggest that you note the name of the Contributor and email them with a request stating the purpose and why you would like a copy of their file.

Playlists are created with the application, currently, they are also only available to view within Mediacentral. 

You can view and manage your Mediacentral playlists by clicking the My Account button at the top of the screen after you have logged in.

Creating a Playlist

• Click New to create a playlist. In the pop-up window, give the playlist a name and a description.
• The Private checkbox is checked by default.
• Uncheck it to make the playlist available to other Mediacentral users.
• Click Save to save the playlist.
• You can then add content to the playlist.

Reordering Playlist Content

Once you have added content to a playlist, you can reorder the clips within the playlist

• Go to my My Account
• Click Playlists, and select the playlist by name, searching for it if necessary.
• The playlist displays the list of clips.
• Hover over a clip, then click and hold the four-way arrow, dragging the clip to a new position in the playlist.

Once you have uploaded content to Mediacentral, you can manage this by clicking the My Account button at the top of the screen after you have logged in.

Content List

Your content page displays information about the media you have uploaded. In the content list, you can search for content, modify settings, and delete items. In the media listing area, content is organised according to the most recent contributions.

Click any of the green column headings to organise your media differently.

Searching for media

In the Content Manager area at the top of the content listing page, you can search for media items by specifying certain criteria:

• Keywords: Keywords return content that contains these words in the title, description or tags.
• Category:  Selecting a category returns only the content from that category in the search results.

Deleting your media is quite simple, but before you do this ensure that you have a copy of your file offline, if you are not sure then download your file before deleting it.

To delete a file, first log in to Mediacentral and then:

• Under My Account select My Content to see your files.
• If you have a large quantity then use the Search function to find the file you wish to delete.
• Then tick the radio button on the left-hand side of the camera icon and at the bottom of the page.
• You will see the text Delete selected media and a tick box to include deleting any associated files.
• Before clicking on the Delete selected media, double-check that you have only chosen the files you no longer require as this action cannot be reversed.