CNN Newsource – Bitcentral On-Demand Digital Delivery System

Overview:
This manual has been written in accordance with the Bitcentral Oasis QuickStart Guide and has been modified to provide a comprehensive manual tailored to the use of CNN’s Newsource at the CUNY School of Journalism:
Bitcentral is a digital video distribution system used to view low-resolution video and download broadcast and/or Web quality video from CNN Newsource. Oasis is a browser based application accessible via http://newsource.cnn.com. Follow these step-by-step procedures to effectively view and download CNN content.

Log in to CNN Newsource
• Open Firefox or Safari
• Go to http://newsource.cnn.com
   - Username: CUNY
   - Password: lever

Launch Bitcentral Oasis
• Under PRODUCTION TOOLS, click on “BITCENTRAL LINK” located in the lower left corner of the webpage. This will open the Bitcentral Oasis homepage in a new window
   - NOTE: Oasis does not have a direct login option. Should you log out or get logged out of the site, you must come back to the CNN Newsource website and click on the “BITCENTRAL LINK” once again to return to the Oasis homepage.

Bitcentral Oasis Screen Overview
There are four major sections to the Bitcentral Oasis webpage.
1. The list of available content occupies the center of the screen.
2. Basic, Advanced, and Category search or filtering options are located on the left side of the page
3. Download manager and Help buttons are located in the upper right corner of the page. The Help Button (?) is where you can find the User Manual, QuickStart Guide, Contact Information, and FAQs.
4. The Download Request button is located on the lower right side of the page.


Video Types Glossary
Please refer to the table below for the Abbreviations, Video Types, and Descriptions of all of the possible formats available through Bitcentral Oasis.

Preview Items and Request Download
From the Oasis homepage you can preview story video and metadata, including scripts and supers.
• Double click on the SLUG of an item (under Story Slug) to open the preview window and display the low res video and
metadata for the item you have selected.
   - NOTE: Stories with “Embargo’s” other than NONE may be missing some content or only be available in specific formats due to certain rights’ restrictions.
   - Stories that have a paperclip icon have video, stories that have a paper icon have script.
• To download the selected video, click “Request” in the preview below.
• To exit the preview window, click “Close” to return to the main Oasis webpage.


Downloading your Video
• When you click on “Request,” a new window will open and allow you to select the desired video format and download destination for the selected item.
• Click on the folder icon next to the “Download Location” text box to select your destination.
   - The default location is C:/Downloads
• Next, choose the video format. This will typically be BROADCAST FORMAT: SD 4:3 NTSC, unless designated otherwise.
• After making your selections, click the “Request” button.

   - NOTE: The first time you request a video, you may be prompted to install a Java applet called Signiant.

   Before clicking “RUN” to install the applet on your system, check the “Always trust content from this publisher” box.

Proxy (Partial) Downloads
You can request a portion of a video by clicking on the “Proxy Video Edit” button below the low-res video screen.
• Mark your in and out points.
• Click the Play button to preview the selection.
• When you click “Request,” a new window (as seen above) will open and allow you to select the format and download destination for the selected item.
   - NOTE: No Web Ready version is available for proxy edited material.

Download Manger
• When you request a download, the Download Manager window opens up in a new window automatically. The status column will say “Complete” when your item has been downloaded successfully.
• The status of any previously requested item(s) will be available in the Download Manager window for 72 hours.
• Remove an item by clicking on the (X) next to the item.

Downloading MPEG Streamclip to your Mac
• Now that you have successfully downloaded your story, you need to convert it so that it is useable in Final Cut Pro. This is done using MPEG Streamclip.
• To download this free application, simply Google: “MPEG streamclip mac” and click on the top link: “Squared 5 – MPEG Streamclip video converter…”


• From the Squared 5 webpage, click on the “Download MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2 for MAC OS X” option.

• The download (pictured below) will finish promptly.

• Once the download is complete, an “MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2” window will open containing the Streamclip icon and a folder titled “Extras”. Ignore the folder, but drag the MPEG Streamclip icon into your Apllications folder located on your Macintosh HD

• If you receive and error message after dragging and dropping, choose “Authenticate” and enter the password for your user account.

• If you choose, you can now drag the MPEG Streamclip icon from your “Applications” folder to your dock for easier access.

Using MPEG Streamclip
• Launch Streamclip by clicking on the icon from your dock, or opening it from your Applications folder located on your Macintosh HD.
• Once it’s open, drag your newly downloaded story clip onto the dice-block.

• Your window should now look something like this:


• Now, choose “File” –> “Export to QuickTime”

MPEG Streamclip – Movie Exporter
• For “Compression” type, choose: Apple DV/DVCPRO – NTSC
• For Quality, choose: 100%
• In the “Frame Rate” box, type in “29.97”
• The other options are defaulted to the proper settings.
• Click on “Make Movie”

• Select the location for your exported file
• Click “Save”

• Depending on the size of the story, the export will occur relatively quickly
• Once it’s finished, you can import the file into Final Cut Pro as you would any .mov file