| Welcome to Frequently Asked Questions.
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| Q. |
What is e-cast? |
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e-cast provides a state-of-the-art Internet TV service for New Zealand delivering a range of digital services including the download of television and video programmes and supporting material to the education sector. |
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| Q1. |
What do I need technically to use the e-cast-education service? |
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All you need is an internet enabled PC or Mac computer that has QuickTime player version 7 or later installed - Available as a free download for PC & Mac from here
VLC Media Player may be used on platforms where QuickTime is not available such as Linux and Solaris. You can get VLC Media Player from here
You will also need flash player available from here
You will need to supply us with the IP range of your School or Tertiary Institution.
Windows Minimum Requirements:
A Pentium processor-based PC or compatible computer
At least 128MB of RAM
Windows 2000/XP
MAC Minimum Requirements:
400 MHz G3 processor or faster
At least 128 MB of RAM
Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later |
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| Q2. |
Do I have to register as an e-cast-education client before I use any e-cast-education services? |
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Yes - even if you are not Screenrights licensed. |
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| Q3. |
Do I need to be a Screenrights member to use e-cast-education? |
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To access the Ready To Watch section and the recorded television programmes there your School or Tertiary Institution needs to be a Screenrights member.
Live Streams The Library and the Shop are open to all educational institutions. |
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| Q4. |
How can my School order programmes to be recorded by the Ready to Watch service? |
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First your school has to have a Screenrights Licence and be a member of the e-cast-education service.
Secondly you will receive advance advice of programmes that are available and recommended for your school profile through your School Account Co-ordinator. You can add or delete programmes on that list and your School orders will be managed by your authorised Co-ordinator.
Thirdly the orders will be confirmed and placed in your School's folder on the e-cast-education servers. You can view these programmes free or download them to your School under the Subscription or PayGo plans.
Note: The capacity of your School's e-cast-education folder needs to be managed to avoid over-writing of programmes when the capacity has been exceeded. |
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| Q5. |
How can I request a copy of a television programme? |
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You must make the request in advance of the broadcast.
Log in as an e-cast-education User and select "Existing Requests" which lists your School's existing recording requests.
If the programme is not already requested fill out the required details on the right hand side of the form.
Click "Update Now" then the order will be forwarded to your School Account Co-ordinator who must authorise all your School's requests.
When the authorised request is received e-cast-education will process your order advise your School Co-ordinator and the programme will be placed in your "Ready to Watch" folder when it has been recorded. You will also be advised if for any reason the programme is not available.
Note: The capacity of your School's e-cast-education folder is managed by your school Account Co-ordinator to avoid over-writing of programmes when the capacity has been exceeded. |
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| Q6. |
From what TV channels can we make requests? |
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e-cast-education TV Channel Line-up from February 2008 is:
1. TV One, New Zealand
2. TV2, New Zealand
3. TV3, New Zealand
4. Stratos, New Zealand
5. Prime, New Zealand
6. TVNZ-6, New Zealand
7. Maori Television, New Zealand
8. Food Television, New Zealand
9. The Arts Channel, New Zealand
10. Documentary Channel, NZ
11. The History Channel, USA
12. NASA TV, USA
13. TV 5 Monde, France
14. CCTV-4 Mandarin, China
15. CCTV-9 English, China
16. Aljazeera English, Qatar |
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| Q7. |
How can I change which channels are displayed on the "Ready to Watch" Page? |
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The current range of New Zealand and international channels is preset to "show all" for every new User in "My Profile" but can be readily modified through the "My Profile" settings.
To change the channels go to "My Profile" select "My Channels". Turn on/off the channels as required; scroll down and click on "Update Now". |
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| Q8. |
Is recording from television legal? |
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Provided your school or institution holds a "Screenrights" license that allows the recording of television programmes upon request for educational purposes.
A breach of this condition may result in legal action being taken against the user. |
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| Q9. |
Can I archive the downloaded recordings to disc? |
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Yes download to your computer first and copy the file across to a disc. A CD-R will hold 700MB of content - that's three to four hours worth depending on the bit-rate of the file. A DVD-R disc holds 4.7GB of data - that's nearly thirty hours worth! Remember though older computers cannot read DVD discs. |
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| Q10. |
Can I play my archive CD-R disc in my DVD player at home? |
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No - these are what are known as streaming files and are not compatible with domestic DVD players. |
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| Q11. |
Can I access the e-cast-education service at home? |
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Yes you can but any use from home must be for the educational purposes of your school.
You may access the service directly if connected through your school's VPN.
Alternatively you will be required to enter a unique security code that will be sent to your personal email address whenever you connect from home.
It is important that your personal email address is entered when your school account co-ordinator sets up your account. |
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| Q12. |
I wish to lend a downloaded programme to another school. Is that okay? |
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No - you cannot lend your copy - it is for the educational purposes of your school only and any loans breach the contracts your school has with Screenrights and e-cast Limited. You may make additional copies for use within your own school provided you list the copies in your Screenrights return. |
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| Q13. |
Why is it that some Download programmes have the start missing or alternatively seem to take several minutes before the programme begins? |
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e-cast recordings will be programmed upon request according to published schedules but sometimes television channels run late or start a programme early. |
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| Q14. |
What about network Traffic Charges? |
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These depend on the network connection your School or Tertiary Institution has.
Many Schools are connected to a private network such as SchoolZone or have an Unlimited Data Internet Plan. |
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| Q15. |
Will downloading a video file fill up my computer hard drive? |
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A typical 30-minute 512kbps programme occupies only 80MB and depending on your network connection and other traffic will take from 5 to 30 minutes to download. |
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| Q16. |
What is the format for download files? |
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Download files are in a .zip format and should open automatically. |
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| Q17. |
What if the download files do not automatically unzip? |
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For both Windows XP users and Mac users the Operating system contains built-in compression software.
If you do not have compression software PC users can download WinZip from: here or WinRAR from here
MAC users can download the Stuffit expander from here |
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| Q18. |
How do I make a screenshot to report a problem to e-cast? |
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On a PC click the 'Print Screen' button on the keyboard and open 'Paint' (Start > Programs > Accessories > Paint) or any other image editing application. Press 'Control V' or select 'Paste' from the edit menu to open the screenshot then save as a JPEG.
On a MAC to take a picture of the whole screen press Apple Shift 3. To take a picture of part of the screen press Apple-Shift-4 then drag to select the area you want in the picture.
Screen shots are saved as files on the desktop. You can then paste the picture into an email and send to enquiries@e-cast.co.nz |
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| Q19. |
When I try to watch a video why do I get the following message: "-3285 Disconnected " or "10060 Disconnected "? |
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You are probably behind a firewall and need to make some adjustments to the QuickTime preferences on your computer. Please download the PDF by clicking below and follow the instructions. |
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| Q20. |
How do I rename video files once I have downloaded them? |
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For PC users:
Right click on the file you wish to rename and select "rename". Type the name you wish to save it as and press enter.
For Mac users:
Select the file you wish to rename and after a brief pause (so you don't double click to open) click on the name of the file. Then type the name you wish to save the file as and press enter.
NOTE: You must always leave the file extension in this case it would be .mov at the end of the file name. |
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| Q21. |
When I try to scroll down to view other programmes and details the window moves erratically slowly or sometimes stops completely. |
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You must make sure to keep the mouse within the scroll button and column. Moving outside of this button will loose control over the window. |
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| Q22. |
Why do I get logged out of the e-cast-education site if I enable pop-up windows in Internet Explorer 7? |
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Internet Explorer reloads the page as part of the changes to its security setting when pop-ups are first enabled for a site. |
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