HHS link


CIT can broadcast your seminar, conference or meeting live to a world-wide audience over the Internet as a real-time streaming video. The event can be recorded and made available for viewers to watch at their convenience as an on-demand video or a downloadable podcast. CIT can also broadcast NIH-only or HHS-only content.

Podcasting FAQ

The Center for Information Technology (CIT) makes enhanced video and audio Podcast files available for download so you can access content whenever you want from your portable media player. We recommend using iTunes to subscribe to the podcasts, as well as viewing the files and synching them to your media device. The podcasts can also be downloaded directly from our website and viewed in QuickTime.


Image of the iTunes player subscribing to a podcast

Figure 1. How to subscribe to Podcast RSS Feed.

Do I need a portable media player to view the Podcasts?

No. You can view Podcasts with either iTunes or QuickTime on your computer. Podcasts can then be transferred to a portable media player.

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How do I subscribe to the Podcasts?

You can subscribe to the Podcasts with iTunes or any other RSS reader. In iTunes, select Advanced from the menu bar and select Subscribe to Podcast.

iTunes Advanced - Subscribe to Podcast menu

In the URL box, type or paste the following URLs depending on which type of file you want.

Audio:
http://videocast.nih.gov/rss/podcasts.asp?type=A

Video:
http://videocast.nih.gov/rss/podcasts.asp?type=V

Both audio and video:
http://videocast.nih.gov/rss/podcasts.asp

box where podcast URL is entered

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How will I know when new Podcasts are available? Will new Podcasts download automatically when they’re made available?

You can configure iTunes to check for new Podcasts either every hour, every day, every week or you can check for new content manually. You can also configure iTunes to download new content automatically or you can download new content manually. To change your preferences for Podcasts, select Preferences from the iTunes menu.

screenshot of iTunes podcast configure screen

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What are some of the features of an Enhanced Podcast?

Enhanced Podcasts can contain Chapter Markers, Artwork and/or URLs to websites. Chapter Markers allow you to skip forward or back to certain parts of a Podcast, and some portable media players will have this feature carry over. You can also access Chapter Markers in iTunes and QuickTime. To view access Chapter Markers in iTunes, select the file you want and press the Play button. As the file begins to play, the Menu bar will have a Chapters listing. Click on this to see the Chapters listed; to skip to a certain part of the file, highlight the desired marker and click on it.

screenshot of chapter markers listed in iTunes


The file will begin to play in the player window in the lower right-hand corner.

screenshot of video podcast showing in player

To view the file in its full resolution, click on the window and new player window will open up. To pause, skip forward or back, or to view the video in full-screen, simply drag your mouse over the video window. The transport controls will appear:

screenshot of video podcast with controls shown

To access Chapter Markers in QuickTime, open the file in the QuickTime player; you will see a field above the transport buttons:

screenshot showing Chapter Marker pulldown at top of player

To access the list of Chapter Markers, click on the field. You will see a drop-down menu with the list of Chapters. Highlight and click on the desired marker to move to that part of the presentation.

closeup of Chapter Marker pulldown menu

When a Chapter Marker has a URL associated with it, it will be visible in the player window. To open the URL in your browser, simply click on the link in the player window.

screenshot of video podcast with Chapter Marker link shown in iTunes

This is the same for both iTunes and QuickTime:

screenshot of video podcast with Chapter Marker link shown in QuickTime

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Where can I download QuickTime and iTunes software?

We recommend using iTunes to subscribe to the podcasts, as well as viewing the files and synching them to your media device. The podcasts can also be downloaded directly from our website and viewed in QuickTime.

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Are there other health Podcasts from the U.S. Government?

USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state and local government web resources and services.

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