DATN: the Digital Academic Television Network
| DATN allows you to watch television in a window on your computer. |
| As of January 10, 2013, the old Quicktime version of DATN has been retired. |
| Instead of clicking on channels individually, the new version of DATN uses InStream (a player from Video Furnace, part of Haivision) to play all of the channels. |
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| To use the new version of DATN: |
| A direct (wired) Ethernet connection is required. |
| DATN only works on the UW-Madison Campus. |
| DATN does not work over wireless. |
| DATN does not work over a VPN connection. |
| DATN does not work on iPad, iPhone, Kindle or Android devices. |
| When launched, a Java applet will load to determine what kind of computer you are using. This is safe to run. |
| The DATN player is called InStream. It is safe to run. InStream will need access to the network. |
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For help in resolving firewall issues,
see Knowledge Base Article
DATN and Firewalls in Windows and OS X
or contact the DoIT Help Desk
Notes:
Here is a description of the InStream process:
When you click on the DATN link it executes openguideapplet.
Openguideapplet tries to launch a Java applet that determines which platform you are using (Apple or PC). Without Java, DATN won't work.
MAC OSX might have disabled Java, but should display a message offering you the option of installing Java.
You could also install Java directly by going to java.com and installing Java.
There have been recent security vulnerabilities with Java, so it is very important to keep Java up-to-date on your computer. You can test whether Java is present, and which version of Java you have by going to java.com and clicking on Do I have Java?
The Firefox browser now blocks Java by default. Here are instructions from Firefox for How to use Java if it's been blocked
When when you click on the Launch the DATN player link, it launches another tab for "http://vfurnace.discovery.wisc.edu/openguideapplet.html". Java loads (which takes about 15-30 seconds) run and pop up a dialog box asking Do you want to run this application
com.videofurnace.player.VFAgent? If you dont click Run, InStream will not load and DATN won't work.
Once you click on Run, the server will detect the platform (Mac/Windows) and download the appropriate InStream player (InStream.app or InStream.exe). When InStream starts, it will ask to use the network. OSX will get that request and pop up a second dialog box, asking Do you want the application "InStream.app" to accept incoming network connections? Click Allow. InStream needs to be allowed network access to receive video.
If that question is answered no, an entry denying network access to InStream.app will be made in a table in System Settings, Security & Privacy, Firewall, Firewall Options (click the padlock to allow changes). If that question was answered No, there should be an entry in that table denying access to InStream. Change that setting to Allow incoming connections.
Note that InStream.app or InStream.exe are not permanently installed programs. They only exist while they is being used, and are discarded when complete. Therefore, if InStream is allowed to use the network, no entry will be made in the Firewall Exceptions table mentioned above.
Once that permission is provided and the Java program executes, a black InStream window and a grey channel list window should pop up. Click on one of the channels like CNN and video should appear.
Note that, on the Apple platform, there is only a 64 bit version of Java 7.x available. The Chrome browser is 32 bit. So there is no Java 32 bit plugin for Chrome on the Apple platform. So, with version Java 7.x, DATN can't be launched from the Chrome browser.
Multicast usually doesn't work through NAT (network address translation) connections. Home routers usually use NAT. DATN might not work when using Virtual operating systems like VMWare Fusion and Parallels, if the network connection is configured to use NAT.
If your computer has BOTH a wired Ethernet connection and a WiFi connection, AND if the WiFi connection has a higher priority than the Ethernet connection, then your computer will try to use WiFi for DATN, which won't work. (This is rare.) You can solve this by disabling the WiFi connection, or by going in to system settings and giving the Ethernet connection a higher priority.
Windows usually sets Ethernet priority above WiFi priority.
On a Mac, go to System Preferences, Network . If Wi-Fi and Ethernet are both green, and Wi-Fi is above Ethernet, find the little gear to the right of the + and - symbols, click on the downward arrow, and select Set Service Order. Drag Ethernet above Wi-Fi, and click OK. Then click Apply and close the window.
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