SAFARI Montage 3.0 - 3.0.3 Release Notes

Released: 2/1/2008

Blackline Masters

  • “Datasheets” are now called “Blackline Masters” system-wide.

Expansion Server

  • Improvements to reduce network throughput - For example, CreationStation uploads are now mirrored between servers in the cluster upon upload.
  • Stability Improvements

Promethean FlipCharts

  • SAFARI Montage now supports uploading and playback of Promethean’s FlipChart file format (.FLP).

LDAP

  • Support for Multiple Servers - SAFARI Montage may now be connected to any number of LDAP servers.

Selective Video Streaming


The “Selective Video Streaming” (SVS) add-on was significantly improved, including:
  • Bitrate - Streams now have a textbox for “Bitrate”. This is simply informational to the end-user, so they can see the bandwidth consumption of the stream prior to initiating playback.
  • Custom Stream Sources - Streams may now be organized into custom “Stream Sources” to better indicate to users from where the stream is coming. Examples of stream sources would be “Cable TV”, “Internet”, “School Camera”, and “School DVD Player”.
  • Hideable Streams - Streams can now be easily deactivated and reactivated if necessary. Previously, they had to be deleted to be hidden from the user interface.
  • Licensed Add-on - Selective Video Streaming is now a school-assignable add-on package similar to CreationStation. A purchased license for the add-on must be assigned to a school before SVS features will appear in SAFARI Montage for that school.
  • School Groupings - There are six, new, school-specific groupings that streams can fall under. Three are automatic and three are user-assignable.
    The automatic groupings are “All Schools”, “Direct Schools”, and “Remote Schools”. The system automatically makes streams filterable by these groupings based on where the stream was created, a Direct School or Remote.
    The three groups that streams can be added to manually are “High School”, “Middle School”, and “Elementary School”. As an example, this allows users to view “only Middle School streams”, “only High School streams”, or both, and so on.

Updates and Fixes

Admin

  • Fixed sudden lock-outs of Master Admin user. In certain rare cases, a duplicate master Admin would get created in the Montage database. This prevented login.
  • “Admin” navigation button was sometimes available to Teachers but, when clicked, would take them to the Login page.
  • “Hard Drive Info” page removed. Underlying operating-system processes were taking far too long and/or timing out on systems with a lot of drives.

Bulk Upload

  • Fixed issues with the Bulk Upload not uploading all files in the CSV file on certain operating systems.
  • Upload validator was not checking file extension.

CreationStation

  • Expired items were grayed out for Administrators. Admins should always be able to do anything to any content.
  • h.264 Codec Support

Expansion Server

  • Image thumbnails were sometimes not created upon upload in certain cases on Expansion Server environments.

Search

  • “Media Types” checkboxes removed for non-Admins. The Media Types tabs already serve this purpose.

Content Packages

This release supports the following content packages. All packages listed are available in QuickTime and Windows Media formats.

Video
  • Core K-8
  • Core K-8 American Overseas
  • Core K-8 Canadian
  • Core 9-12
  • Core 9-12 American Overseas
  • Core 9-12 Canadian
  • Core K-12
  • Core K-12 American Overseas
  • Schlessinger K-8 Additional
  • Reading Rainbow
  • Video Encyclopedia of the 20th Century
  • Almanac Newsreel
  • Junior High Supplement
  • Schlessinger K-8 Additional 2007
  • Schlessinger K-8 Additional 2007 Upgrade
  • Schlessinger K-8 Additional Rev. A
  • Schlessinger 9-12 Additional
  • Core K-8 2007
  • Core 9-12 2007
  • Core K-12 2007
  • Junior High Supplement 2007
Stills
  • Schlessinger Image Library 1
  • Schlessinger Image Library 2008 - NEW!
  • World Factbook