Digital Academic Television Network
The Digital Academic Television Network (DATN, pronounced "Dayton")
is the digital replacement for the University of Wisconsin's Academic
Television Network (ATN).
History
ATN previously carried a selection of local television channels,
instructional and specialty content from various campus entities,
and satellite programming over a traditional coaxial cable network.
ATN was essentially a full cable TV network operated by DoIT. However,
ATN has reached the end of its life and is no longer maintained by
the university.
When it came time to replace ATN, it was determined that the replacement
should be more flexible, able to deliver live content via the network
in addition to on-demand content, and enable origination of content
without costly investments in video equipment. The university's new,
high-speed 21st
Century Network provides the performance and capabilities necessary
to accomodate the needs of this type of high-bandwidth content delivery.
Going Digital
DoIT examined several options for delivering live content digitally
based on open standards, such as MPEG-4
and AAC, in an accessible
fashion (with novel implementation of services such as closed captioning).
A solution based on Apple QuickTime
technology was selected. The first phase of DATN is rebroadcasting
the same 11 local television channels previously offered by ATN with
QuickTime, at a reasonable quality to reach the widest possible range
of clients. Higher quality broadcasts are planned in the future.
System Requirements
| Macintosh |
Windows |
| Required |
Recommended |
Required |
Recommended |
700 MHz PowerPC G3
128 MB RAM
Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X
QuickTime 6
|
PowerPC G4 or newer
256 MB RAM or more
Mac OS X 10.2.8 or newer
QuickTime 6.5 or newer
|
700 MHz Pentium III
128 MB RAM
Windows 98
QuickTime 6
|
Pentium 4 or newer
256 MB RAM or more
Windows 2000, XP, or newer
QuickTime 6.5 or newer
|
All broadcasts can only be viewed on a multicast-enabled network
(21st Century
Network) on the University of Wisconsin campus. Apple QuickTime
technology is required to initate and view broadcasts. Download
Quicktime.
Channels Offered
Many channels are offered with closed captioning. To launch a broadcast,
make sure your computer meets the above system requirements, and visit
the channels page.
Feedback about DATN is welcome at feedback@datn.wisc.edu
