Troubleshooting the SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration Feature

Summary

By default, SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration is enabled at the server farm level.

The correct codec must be installed on the client device. Clients for Windows usually have the most common codecs installed, but if you need additional ones, you can download them from the media player manufacturer’s Web site.

Troubleshooting

The following table shows whether or not client devices play a specific media format type using SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration by default. If not enabled by default, codecs need to be installed on the client device. Citrix recommends that the server’s Media Player be updated with the supported codecs.

Note: All the client operating systems below had DirectX 9.0 installed on them.

Check that one of the audio legacy devices is properly enabled:

1. Right-click on the published application from the Management Console and go to Properties > Client options and you can select legacy audio. This feature should be enabled by default when you create a new published application.

2. When you create an ICA file from the Management Console, you are prompted to enable or disable audio legacy. If you disable it and then want to enable it, open the ICA file using Notepad and you should see a line stating “ClientAudio=On.”

3. When you create a custom ICA connection from the client side, the sound is disabled by default. To allow users to run multimedia applications in ICA sessions, click the ICA connection and choose Properties > Option tab and select Enable sound or give the users permission to turn on audio themselves in the Client interface.

Multimedia Players

Supported:

• Windows Media Player 6.4, 8.0, and 9.0

• RealOne Player Version 1, Version 2

• RealPlayer Version 8, Version 10

Not supported:

• Windows Media Player 7.1

Clients currently NOT supported with RAVE technology:

• Unix/Linux

• Macintosh

Speed connections:

• WAN (DSL) – Supported

• LAN – Supported

• Modem, 56kbs – Not supported

• Satellite – Not supported

This section describes the range of multimedia playback support for SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration. The table below lists a few of the media types that were tested successfully using Windows Media Player 6.4/8.0/9.0 and Real One Player. In general, SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration supports all media types that can be decoded by a DirectShow based codec, regardless of file format. SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration is supported when connecting to Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Servers; and from Windows 9x, Windows 2000, and Windows XP clients.

Note: It is important to note that the media type differs from the file format. Some examples of file formats are listed below:

• AVI

• MPEG

• MPG

• ASF

• WMV

• WMA

• MP3

These file formats can encapsulate various media types, such as those listed below. For example, a single AVI file could contain a DIVX video stream and an AC3 Digital Audio Stream. It would require both the DIVX and AC3 DirectShow codecs for proper playback.

S - Supported through SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration.

X - Not supported through SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration.

* - Support through SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration only when playing through Windows Media Player 9.0. Data is transferred in uncompressed format.

More Information

• Citrix recommends that you always upgrade the client devices to use the latest version of Microsoft’s DirectX software.

• Citrix also recommends that you keep the server’s version of Microsoft Windows Media Player upgraded to the latest version/update.

• MIDI file formats are not supported utilizing SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration

CTX083573 – Explaining the Relationship Between the ICA Protocol and the Server Video Card