Just received version 1.0.0.0 of the IPExpert Video on Demand (VoD) the updated for the v4 R&S CCIE track. I have gone through the first day over the weekend and thought it would be helpful to post my initial thoughts.

For your money you get 45 videos, which are 116kbps MP4 files, consisting of 84kbps of video (only slides so this is fine), and 32kbps of audio. The menu splits the video up over 4 days but from the amount of content it could easily be over 5 days,.

The product gets shipped on a DVD and the files are 4GB, I have copied the files straight off the DVD onto my hard drive and they have worked fine. I have tested it with Windows 7 x64 and on my Mac with Snow Leopard and it worked really fine, just click on the .exe or .app file and you get presented the menu below.

Interface
Below is an example of the video interface which is the same on Windows or Mac. You might notice that there is no full screen option as there was in the v3 Video, I hope they put that in a future version as the videos could be a little larger especially if you have a large screen with high resolution.

One of my main issues with the old VoD was that the slides did not appear for long enough and the video was split between the slides and Scot Morris. It was sometimes a welcome break to pause it and try to get Scott Morris to pull strange faces mid talk. With the update there is no video of the instructor just the slides, command line and audio which is best but no funny faces of Joe like we could get with Scott.

Bypassing Obfuscation
One of the downsides to the product is they dont give you easy access to the MP4 files, personally I would like to have the media on my phone, ipod etc. Now from the looks of they havn’t encrypted the video files just obfuscated them. If you look in the /com/ipexpert/data.dat/ folder you will see 45 files with the .ipx extension. Changing the extension to MP4 allows you to play them in any player you like. You just need to match up the file names with the actual video content, it would be pretty simply for somebody to write a batch/shell script to do this

Quality of Content
The videos are presented by Joe Astorino who trained with the v3 BLS as he explained in the videos. From what I have seen so far (after day 1) Joe presents a lecture on the theory which lasts around and hour long and then a few 30 to 60 mins hands on labs on the topics talked about. The level of detail is really good and he doesn’t spend to long on the basics. There are 45 video files which are split over 4 official days.

Joe is really good at explaining every little detail, but is especially on the configuring sections. Sometimes there is a lot of detail on the slides, but if you want to refer back to the slides they are available to download from the members area of the IPExpert web site, which is a nice touch. There are a couple of really minor problems which should get fixed eg after one of the video Joe says words to the affect of “thats the end of day 1″ when there is another video, but that should get fixed pretty quickly and does not affect the quality of the training.

The quality of the audio is also excellent, almost too good as you can hear every creak of Joe’s chair and gulp of water!

Pros
Excellent quality instruction by Joe
Really high quality video
Good value for money, much cheaper than a boot camp

Cons
No full screen button
No easy access to the MP4 files

Overall
Its a damn good set of videos updated for the new track, I am very happy with it but could only be a little more if it had a full screen button or easier access to the MP4 files. Joe has done a brilliant job and I am defiantly feeling better about the configuration section regarding the topics he has covered. Its part of the BLS so contact IPExpert if you have the old version to get them to send you the updated one.

Right first off full disclosure – I purchased the Blended Learning Solution from IPExpert with my own money I did get a minor discount but nothing that any person enquiring still couldn’t get off, eg it still cost me way over US$1000 and I have absolutely no agreements to write or not write about their stuff. I am just choosing to do it as buying training material is a investment for anybody following the CCIE track.

Workbooks – The Workbooks are of a really good quality, I am still on volume 1 but the solutions to the tasks in the work books are very easy to understand and  written informally in a way you think so they don’t bore you (see below). The tasks also flow well and are interesting to complete. I also purchased Narbik’s Soup to Nuts which is comparative to the Volume 1 workbook and the IPExpert book is significantly easier to follow and more enjoyable. The files are heavily watermarked to deter piracy and there is encryption software which I will come onto in a bit.

Video – There is just tonnes and tonnes of video, the Video on Demand stuff is split into days if you wanted to simulate a boot camp type experience. The Video on Demand content appears to be all made by Scott Morris so I am suspecting that this has not been updated for a while and I would be interested to know if this will change for the CCIE R&S track updates. There is also video to cover solutions for the Volume 3 labs, I have not used volume 3 so have not tried this out yet. Its all of very high bitrates so much so the fans have to start spinning audibly on my MacBook but the raw files are not accessible.

Audio – Alot (all?) of the audio lectures are just audio versions of the video lectures I am not sure if its all recycled but it is handy to refresh on the move but its not totally unique content. All the audio is provided as 160kbps MP3 files.

Windows/Mac Support – The interface to the Blended Learning Solution is an application I tested it on Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac Leopard and Snow Leopard and no problems I have not tried it on a Linux based system yet so cant vouch for support.

Disk Images – I am not to fond of having to carry around the portable hard drive every time I want to use it, luckily its pretty easy on a Mac and with the right software in Windows to create and image of the disk, the image is about 34GB in size and means you don’t actually have to have the portable hard drive, I did not come across any restrictions preventing me from dong this.

PDF Encryption - The PDFs are encrypted with a bit of software called fileopen which is no way near as bad as locklizard when it was used by INE as it works on pretty much any OS Windows,Mac, Linux, even.. Solaris. It only works with Adobe reader and appears to be pretty stable with every OS I have tried including Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, but it does crash with an error when I close the encrypted PDF in Snow Leopard, but I am sure this will be fixed by fileopen soon.

When you open the PDF you are prompted to enter your username/password which is checked online, therefore you must be online when you open the PDF but you can disconnect later once it is open. Fileopen is a slight annoyance although probably necessary even though the files are really heavily watermarked to prevent piracy.

Ugly DRM – Maybe DRM isn’t the best word for it but I have purchased a product with lots of media including video and audio and I would like to be able to use this media however I please. The audio is provided in easy to use MP3s so you can load up your generic music player and listen to it on the go, unfortunately the videos are not accessible as they appear to be hidden in the many packages on the disk but I really want to extract them and have then in lower bitrates to store in portable devices.

Hidden shipping charge – Its not clear on the site but when even for the electronic copy where they ship you the hard drive I had to pay a US$90 shipping charge, I don’t know if this was as I live in the UK but that’s an extortionate amount for shipping a hard drive. To top it off I had to pay GDP£16 in import duty, if you paying 4 figures for something I don’t think you should have to pay a shipping charge and it should be made clear before you start to purchase the item.

Updates – Product updates are provided on the IPExpert website and a update to one of the workbooks has recently been released, the disk can be updated using a program available by their website. I spoke to Mike Down and he mentioned updates will be made at some point to cover the new material notably the troubleshooting section.

Overall – The training materials are of really high quality and I would defiantly buy it again and recommend it to anybody studying for the CCIE R&S track. The only big letdown is the lack of access to the video files to encode onto my portable media player or so I can play on the train without my laptop fans whirring as they are of a very high bitrate, it would also be handy to have them really small in the corner but this is difficult when you can only play them using the interface. Fileopen is also a bit annoying as I don’t with to use Adobe reader, but they have to do what they can to prevent piracy I just wish it didn’t get in the way.

Over the last couple of days I have been taking a look at some of the training materials offered by vendors for the CCIE lab. There appears to be 3 main vendors on the scene offering quality materials, Internetwork Expert, IP Expert, and Narbik.

IP Expert offer a blended learning solution which at the sale price is USD$1,499, which gets you;

• Volume 1 Workbook and Detailed Solution Guide: 34 Focus Labs
• Volume 2 Workbook and Detailed Solution Guide: 15 Multi-Protocol Labs
• Lab Mentoring Kit with Video Tutorials
• Video on Demand Lecture Series
• Audio Lecture on Demand Series

My initial thoughts on the product are that its a really good price and you get some nice materials for your money but there aren’t aren’t that many labs as Volume 1 are all focus labs eg mini labs to get exposure to most of the technology and there are 15 multi protocol labs in Volume 2. The material gets shipped on a 100GB hard drive which sounds appealing but I would be a bit concerned about it getting out of date.

EDIT: According to one of the comments below you are able to get updates to the product online

Internetwork Expert offer a roughly equivalent product called the CCIE 2.0 program which the cheapest electronic version is USD$2246 with the 25% discount on their site. For this you get ;

• Poly-Lab™ Assessments
• Core Knowledge Simulation – Online Simulation
• Lab Workbook Volume I PDF Version
• Lab Workbook Volume II PDF Version
• Lab Workbook Volume III PDF Version
• Lab Workbook Volume IV PDF Version
• Advanced Technologies Class-on-Demand Online Version
• Open Lecture Class-on-Demand Series Online Version
• Lab Meet-Ups Class-on-Demand Series Online Version
• Advanced Troubleshooting Bootcamp Class-on-Demand Pre-Order
• 5-Day Bootcamp Class-on-Demand Online Version
• Poly-Lab™ Mock Lab Exam
• Discounted Rack Rental Sessions

Initial thoughts are its a fair bit more money than the solution from IP Expert but you do get more for your money, but I wonder how much of the material I would actually use. Its not included in the cheapest CCIE 2.0 package but I really like the sound of the CCIE Routing & Switching Lab Meet Up Series, which is a Class on Demand or weekly meetup for a couple of hours to go over one of the labs in the workbooks. If money was no object I would go for the CCIE 2.0 program with the lab meet up series, but unfortunately it is.

Narbik also apparently has some good workbooks although he doesn’t appear to offer a package or any of the other features such as video or audio classes as his focus appears to be on bootcamps. Narbiks soup to nuts which seems equivalent to the focus labs is only USD$35!

I think my method of studying will start initially with focus labs and then move onto the multi protocol bigger labs accompanied by some form of video lectures or bootcamp depending on my budget. I don’t think I will go for a package deal purely as it is a big single expense which I just cant afford at the moment as much, therefore I plan on getting various items from multiple vendors when I feel ready and can budget for them.