Cablecast: The Manual. c Tightrope Media Systems Applies to Cablecast Build 266

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1 Cablecast: The Manual c Tightrope Media Systems Applies to Cablecast Build 266 Printed April 13, 2015

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3 Contents 1 Introduction Thank You About This Documentation Conventions Used In This Guide Document Structure About Tightrope To Whom Are We Talking? New Cablecast Users Upgrading From Older Versions I One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast 19 2 What Is Cablecast? Key Features Full Control from your Browser Schedule Shows on Channels, Not Devices on Outputs Schedule Once, Publish Anywhere Show Library End-to-end Workflow Reporting Integration with Carousel How Does Cablecast Work? Introduction Your Routing Switcher, Locations and Channels What Happens When Nothing s On?: Default Inputs The Show Library The Schedule Autopilot Devices and Formats A Device Has One Input and/or One Output A Device Can Do One Thing At a Time Tied Up By Formats Video Servers as Devices Video On Demand, Podcasting and Live Streaming How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow Introduction

4 4.2 From Shows to Schedule to Autopilot Working With Shows Working With the Schedule Tips for Autopilot Other Cool Things That You Can Do Recording Down Stream Keys (DSK) Reporting and X-List Public Web, Video On Demand and Live Streaming ical and RSS Logging in and A First Look Introduction Logging into the Frontdoor Server The Cablecast Interface Navigation In Cablecast: Moving Around Navigating Locations and Channels Locations Channels Navigation Bar Main Menu Tour You Should Know Advanced Topics of Cablecast Multiple Locations Installation Types Multiple Locations and Cablecast s Interface Multiple Locations and Default Inputs Abusing Multiple Locations: Two Routing Switchers in One Head End Cablecast, Control Modules and Devices Advanced Format Topics Multiple Formats Per Device Abusing Formats to Force Autopilot to Pick A Specific Device Using Formats to Distinguish Between Devices With Different Control II Cablecast Setup 65 7 Introduction and Planning Your Routing Switcher Taking a Look at Your Devices Make Room on Your Routing Switcher Labeling and Naming Devices Contents

5 7.2.3 How Is It Controlled? What Formats Do Your Devices Use? Outputs and Channels Numbering and Naming Default Inputs Linking Multiple Locations You Should Know For Multi-Location Setups, You Should Know Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up? Install the Hardware Install Servers Wire and Configure Networking Test Networking Connect Control Cables Connect AV Cables Name the Locations Configure Control Module Hosts Configure Formats Configure the Location s I/O and Devices Multiple Locations Only: Repeat Formats and IO for Each Location Configure the Channels Name the Channels Set Channel IO Configure Down Stream Key Configure Networking for VOD and Live Streaming Testing Next Steps Create Users for Cablecast and Set Defaults Configure Autopilot Defaults Set Interstitial Length Configure Carousel and Cable Display Create Categories, Dispositions, Run Types and Custom Fields Make Block Copies Configure the Public Web Site A Quick Tour of the Location Settings Menu Introduction If You Have Multiple Locations Location Settings The Location Settings: Shows Tab The Location Settings: Schedule Tab The Location Settings: I/O Tab The Location Settings: Autopilot Tab Contents 5

6 10 Location Settings: Shows Formats Defining Formats Deleting Formats Categories Default Transcode Quality Settings Adding a Category Deleting a Category Dispositions Assignments and Dispositions Adding a Disposition Deleting a Disposition Custom Fields Field Types Activating Custom Fields Deactivating Custom Fields IFrames Adding an IFrame Deleting an IFrame Location Settings: Schedule Location Settings: Schedule: Run Types Adding a New Run Type Deleting a Run Type Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask) Block Copy Examples Rules To Live By for Blocking Creating Blocks Deleting Blocks Location Settings: Blocking Settings Location Settings: IO Control Module Sets Adding your Control Module Sets Router Devices Deleting a Device Adding a Device Jump, Load, Take Delay and Post Roll Defined De-Activating a Device Resetting Runs on a Device Outputs Activating and Deactivating Outputs Deleting an Output Contents

7 Outputs and Multiple Location Channels On Demand IP Video Location Settings: Autopilot How Autopilot Works Adjusting Autopilot Defaults and Settings End Time Send For Warn of bumps over Use Sticky Devices Send the events to the hardware Clear Previous Bumps When Sending Systems Settings A Tour of the System Settings Menu System Settings: Locations Renaming Locations Adding Locations Deleting Locations System Settings: Channels Adding a Channel Deleting a Channel Setting Up a Channel Channel Name Channel IO Channel Setup in Single Location Systems Channel Setup in Multiple Location Systems Interstitial Length Changing the Interstitial Length Down Stream Key (DSK) Public Site System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Edit Site Information System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Edit Home About Section System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Site Colors System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Upload Banner Graphic System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Remote Servers Setup System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Local Server Setup Contents 7

8 System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: View Public Site System Settings: Control Module Hosts (CMH) Adding a Control Module Host Deleting a Control Module Host System Settings: Time Syncing, Database Tools and System Information System Settings: Time Syncing System Settings: Database Tools System Settings: System Information User Settings Defaults Default Location Default Channel Default Device Assignments Mode Time Format Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor Permissions with Location and Global Scope The Permissions of Cablecast CablecastDSK Setup Prerequisites Overview of DSK Operation Physical Setup Standalone Logostar ChyTV Compix Compix NewsScroll Versimation BB Software Setup Configuring CablecastDSK CablecastDSK Interface Where to control DSK in Cablecast s Web User Interface Model Specific Settings Logostar ChyTV, Compix and Standalone Compix NewsScroll Versimation BB SX Video Overlay Setup Prerequisites Contents

9 22.2 Overview of SX Video Overlay Installation Application Overview Configuration Cablecast Server Setup Enabling Overlay Style Editing Crawl Style Bug Style Bug Text Style Operation Overriding Output Importing and Exporting Settings Logging Testing and Troubleshooting Cablecast Router Control and Status Playback Get Some Media Testing Devices with Two-Way Communication Testing Devices with One-Way Communication III Using Cablecast FrontDoor Settings for Cablecast Introduction The FrontDoor Main Menu Changing Your Password More Details An Introduction to Using Cablecast Introduction Prerequisites Following Along Shows, Projects and Media Records Introduction Shows, Reels and Media Records Preparing your Location for Show Information Projects Creating a Project Finding a Project Linking Shows to Projects Show Records Adding and Editing Shows Contents 9

10 The Show Record Finding Show Records Free Show ID Menu Saved Searches Saved Shows Bin Media Ways to Find a Media Record Searching for Media Media Records The Schedule Introduction A Tour of the Scheduling Interface Adding Shows To the Schedule Add A Run By Selecting the Start Time Add A Run By Clicking the New Button Searching from the Schedule The Schedule s Action Buttons Selecting a Run in the Schedule Update New Delete Copy Paste Block Ripple Unbump Bin Print Runs in the Schedule Runs from the Previous Day Gaps in the Schedule Schedule Keyboard Shortcuts Schedule / Search Navigation Schedule Actions Schedule Date Navigation Copy and Paste Run Details Schedules With Multiple Locations Manual Runs Using Block Copies Blocks and Bumping The Record Schedule Making the Show Record Point to the New Files Recording Multi-Reel Shows Scheduling Crawls Contents

11 Some Notes about Crawls Producers Creating a New Producer Producer Properties Active Checkbox: Stopping a Producer s Shows from Running Saving Changes Deleting a Producer Autopilot Sending Autopilot When To Send How Much to Send Swapping: When you Run Out of Devices How to Send Autopilot Sending Autopilot Results The Event Table Editing an Event Device Assignments Swapping Devices Device Assignment Views Force Menu: Making Cablecast Do Something Now! Force (Matrix) Force (Small) Digital File Management Orphaned Files Ambiguous Files Deleting Files On Demand Video Files Live IP Video Batch Functions Copy Show Clear Shows Create Series Auto Schedule Clear Schedule Find and Replace Fill Gaps with Project Clear Filled Gaps Reporting All Shows and Scheduled Shows Export TV Guide X-List Export Data Contents 11

12 32 Extras DashboardWidget FacilImport icalschedule Copying the ical Link s Location The ical Address Importing ical into Google Calendar Importing ical into Mac ical LabelPrinter Modifying Labels In Cablecast PrintSchedule RSSSchedule Making an RSS Link by Hand Web Schedule Constructing the Web Schedule URL The Cablecast Web Service Accessing the Web Service and Its Documentation IV Appendix 347 A Release History 349 A.1 Cablecast Release Notes A.2 Cablecast Release Notes A.3 Cablecast Release Notes A.4 Cablecast Release Notes Contents

13 1 Introduction 1.1 Thank You Thank you for picking Cablecast and thank you for choosing Tightrope! We appreciate your business, not only because we depend on it, but because we really believe in Cablecast as a uniquely powerful tool that has changed the lives of access centers since Your choice inspires us to keep going. JJ and Andy, co-founders of Tightrope, volunteered in access at BEC-TV when they were in junior high. They did fun jobs like hand held camera at football games and operating the custom made Keeney Controller 1. They also did jobs that weren t so fun, like programming the Tech Electronics PVC-5 event controller, the station s automation system. It had squishy buttons that didn t always register a press from your finger, operated in military time and was otherwise as cryptic as it could be in every way. It was also revolutionary, as nothing else on the planet could run decks and switch inputs for as little money as that wretched PVC-5. FIGURE 1.1: Tom Ringdal of BEC-TV, the inspiration for Cablecast. 1 The Keeney Controller was a four-channel replay system made by volunteer Rick Keeney in It was a crude but simple-to-use device that allowed the operator to easily control four Panasonic VHS decks. The Keeney Controller featured a built-in routing switcher, the ability to mark the beginning of a play, cue any combination of decks to the start and to play, slo-mo or real time, any one of those decks on command. It was truly awesome and to this day, I ve seen few stations with as much replay power as what BEC-TV had in It only worked with those crappy Panasonic decks, so eventually it was retired. JJ and Brandon are now hard at work on its digital replacement, but the Keeney Controller will always have a place in our hearts.

14 To Tom Ringdal, BEC-TV s Executive Director, technology was useless if it didn t save him time or make possible something that wasn t before. It damaged his soul to do something that he knew a computer could do for him, with less error and in less time. Tom would have his staff spend hours custom programming the home-brewed people and show tracking system that station volunteers and staff had made in 4th Dimension on the Macintosh SE. Eventually, the station dumped the terrible PVC-5 for a more modern Leightronix TCD With its serial port, the best brains at BEC- TV 2 were able to tie the station s database to the TCD-1000 as well as the Amiga Scala on-air CG. Tom s dream came true as we were able to use one computer system to run the entire station, including dub reports, Watch For Its..., reporting and now the on-air schedule and playback. Time moved on and the Station of Champions needed a bigger and better system. They needed one built on a web server. They needed to manage multiple channels from multiple locations with multiple routing switchers. They wanted something simpler and more reliable. As fate would have it, JJ was able to cook up a prototype of a new system and Tightrope Media Systems was commissioned to build the next generation of automation for BEC-TV and the rest of Bloomington s access centers. Cablecast was born 3. In short, Cablecast is a product of Tom. He not only helped directly define the design of the first Cablecast system, he also instilled in all of the Tightrope employees that worked at BEC-TV 4 a set of values that runs right through Cablecast: Let computers do computer things. Let people do people things. I should never have to enter the same information twice. Tom Ringdal Executive Director of BEC-TV Cablecast, and the video servers that make up our line of community television products, are very personal to us. We are extremely proud of the good that they do for the people that make access television. We hope that as you get to know Cablecast, that you ll become part of the community that uses it. We hope that you will join the many others 5 that have voiced their opinions about how Cablecast could be made better and in turn, have become a part of its growth. Thank you for taking it and welcome to Cable- This is the first step. cast! 2 Jim Cole, Dan Rebar and Nathan Duffy 3 Although back then, it was called Axis CS 4 Andrew Starks, JJ Parker, John Reilly, Brandon McKenzie, Pete Tufigno, Aaron Parker, Joe Bongaarts, Chad Gartner, Garrett Goehner and Sean Smith worked/volunteered at BEC-TV and either work for Tightrope or have in the past like John Goran, Keri Stokstad, Ron Brown, David Shulkin and rapper Nicholas Lavallee Introduction

15 1.2 About This Documentation This is the Cablecast Manual and it is intended for anyone who will be involved in the playback automation of your cable station. Since every system ships with the software pre-installed, this manual does not cover installation of the software on a new system. Physically installing your Cablecast server into your head end is covered in the Tightrope Server Installation Guide Conventions Used In This Guide Throughout this guide, the following conventions will be used: This is a note. Notes are used to call attention to special information that may be helpful to keep in mind. This is a tip. Tips show unique ways to use the software, and tricks that have been picked up by other users. This is a warning. Warnings call attention to actions that may result in unforeseen consequences, such as actions that delete large amounts of data or configurations that might have network security implications. This is a margin note.! If we want to highlight an section of the text that is critical to a particular topic, we ll insert a margin note, like the one you see next to this paragraph. Margin notes might also include small pictures of the user interface, when a figure would be too cumbersome. If we need to call special attention to something that is critical, you might see the symbol you that you now see to the left. When the text references a particular menu item, field or label within the software, that text will appear as follows: Example: Click on the Main Menu button. Configuration: Channel Configuration When we talk about or reference a menu in the software, we use a special style and reference it in the margin. When we reference menus, we leave out the main menu and we separate each menu with a colon ( : ). Example: To edit your channel s configuration, go to Configuration: Channel Configuration. When the text references user input, this format will appear. 1.2 About This Documentation 15

16 1.2.2 Document Structure Example: When logging into Frontdoor from the main server, enter localhost into the browser s address field. When quotes are used to display user input, do not include them in your input unless specifically told to do so. You ll notice that we ve used a couple of Examples: in this section. You will see those throughout the text. They highlight... examples. The Cablecast Manual is separated into four parts: One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast : An introduction to Cablecast that will set your expectations and get you familiar with the system. You ll know what Cablecast is capable of and how best to use it. If you are new to Cablecast, this is a must read. Cablecast Setup : Walks you through the setup of a new system. You will need to understand One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast before executing the instructions in this part. Hardware Installation and Setup Guides : There are many parts and pieces to Cablecast. The setup guides cover aspects of the Cablecast software and specific equipment that you will encounter, such as video servers, routing switchers and more. Appendix : In the Appendix, we include extra information about setting up a public web interface, the Cablecast revision history, a glossary and an index. 1.3 About Tightrope Tightrope Media Systems is a manufacturer of web-centric media delivery and display systems. We strive to provide integrated solutions designed specifically for the markets we choose to address, with a web-centric interface as a core design of everything we do. For more information on Tightrope Media Systems, please visit our web site: us at: info@trms.com Our Address is: Tightrope Media Systems 800 Transfer Road, Suite 1B Saint Paul, Minnesota For customer service, please contact your dealer or Tightrope Media Systems directly: Forum : support@trms.com 16 1 Introduction

17 Support Request Form : An online support request form is at Knowledge Base : Training Videos : Blogs : blog.trms.com Chat : chat.trms.com Phone : (866) / (612) The fastest way to get support is through , the online support form, chat and our forum. The forum requires a free registration. 1.4 To Whom Are We Talking? Cablecast has many uses and is well suited for a variety of tasks. There is one application that Cablecast was specifically designed for, and that is community television. If you are part of a public, educational or government (PEG) access center, then the conventions used in this manual will make perfect sense. If not, then you may need a bit of context. Do not worry though, PEG centers push Tightrope into developing the most capable and reliable head end management system available. If you are not a PEG professional 6, you will still feel right at home using Cablecast for your audiovisual automation system. In order to be clear and concise, this manual will assume that you are using Cablecast in a cable access center. Therefore, some definition work and context is necessary in order to understand exactly to what we are referring New Cablecast Users Cablecast is an audiovisual head end management system for television stations. It is capable of managing many aspects of your station s life including: program information, schedules, routing switchers, digital video servers, public web schedule output, reports, video on demand servers, live streaming servers, TV Guide X-List output and Carousel schedule display. It is the automation and back office system for your head end operations. Through its web centric interface, Cablecast gives your staff the tools they need to program their entire audiovisual head end. If you are looking for a quick start guide to Cablecast, or to understand the basic concepts that comprise a Cablecast controlled head end, you will want to make sure you read part I on page 19, One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast. These chapters 6 Checkout The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors or The Alliance for Community Media for more information about community television. 1.4 To Whom Are We Talking? 17

18 1.4.2 Upgrading From Older Versions will give you a basic understanding of how Cablecast is organized, ensuring that you get the most from your new system! If you are an experienced Cablecast user, then welcome to Build 266! We are constantly adding features and improving the stability of Cablecast. For a complete list of version changes, please see XXX Missing Ref, which includes a list of all of the changes that have happened to Cablecast Introduction

19 I. One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast

20 20

21 2 What Is Cablecast? Cablecast is an odd bird. It s not like a broadcast automation system that requires an SBE 1 Certified Engineer to operate. It s not like an old-school event controller where you schedule things by day of the week. It s not just a video server with a drag and drop scheduling interface. Cablecast is... well, it s Cablecast! It s equal parts scheduling system, show library, automation system, video server, video on demand server and reporting engine. Cablecast is the heart of your head end system and if you have a good understanding of what it can do for you, it can transform your station. The web foundation that the system is built upon is called Frontdoor, which is the web framework of Cablecast that provides the user login, system rights and other support that Cablecast needs. All of Tightrope s products utilize this common platform in an effort to provide you with a reliable, easy to use and instantly familiar interface to the system. It is possible that your Cablecast server has Tightrope s Carousel video messaging system. If this is the case, you will want to read Carousel: The Manual. Using the Cable Display plug-in, Carousel works with Cablecast in several important ways. You will not want to miss these features! 2.1 Key Features Pardon a quick diversion... Tightrope hired Steve Israelsky to help promote and sell Cablecast. Steve had a lot of experience in the PEG market and knew one of our competitors really well. For months, he would say things like, I wish there was a way that we could automatically record a bunch of tapes overnight... like some kind of special schedule, but for recording. or Is there any way that we can add a feature where we can tie in one station s Cablecast database to another, so that a viewer could search one station and see another station s results on that search? Then he would find out that Cablecast did all of the things he was asking for and more. The frequency of this routine, Steve wishing Cablecast did something and then instantly finding it in the system, became a running joke. He finally 1 Society of Broadcast Engineers

22 2.1.1 Full Control from your Browser suggested that we should just market old features in Cablecast, since the ones that we ve forgotten about were enough to make an entirely new version. Poor Steve 2. Speaking of features... You already bought Cablecast, so we can dispense with the sales pitch, right? Not true. In the years that Cablecast has graced our planet, we continue to be amazed by the number of people who plod along, using half of the system, laboring under an incomplete knowledge of all of the goodness that it has to offer. Many times we ve been asked questions like Steve s. As you ll soon read, Cablecast might be even cooler than you thought! As we mentioned, Cablecast is built on Frontdoor, Tightrope s awesome web application platform. That means that you have one of the only systems that is entirely accessed through your web browser and the only system tested to work on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari on both the Mac and PC. If your system is set up on your network for access from the outside, you can get to it from anywhere on any computer that has internet access. Remote access to Cablecast does not work from cabins, vacation hot spots, during your kid s birthday parties or during your wedding or any wedding that you re in Schedule Shows on Channels, Not Devices on Outputs In Cablecast, you really do schedule shows to play on channels, regardless of the show s format or the playback device that is used. Playing a show on multiple VHS tapes is as simple as playing a live program and that is as simple as playing a digital file. Cablecast will automagically 3 assign devices for you, eliminating conflicts as they come up. It ll even tell you when to swap playback devices if you run out of decks! The brains behind this magic were really hard to program, so we hope that you ll have occasion to appreciate the algorithm, although video servers have made that less likely. The benefits of programming shows to channels do not stop with device assignment, however. The scheduling features of Cablecast are a huge time saver. There is copy and paste, of course, but block copy probably deserves a minor holiday. It allows you to take one or more shows and copy them into time slots later in the week. If you repeat your programming in predictable ways, be sure you check section 11.2 on page 103, Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To 2 ;) 3 A real word What Is Cablecast?

23 Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask) out. It will save you a huge a mount of time. There s also a cool ripple feature that can move shows to chain the beginning or end of another, which is handy for scheduling bumpers and PSAs. See section on page 249, Ripple for more information on that. Drag and drop scheduling was added in version 4.7. This set of features simplifies searching for shows and placing them into the schedule. Just pick the show you want and drop it into the schedule. The schedule is the domain of chapter 27 on page 239. If you need to schedule a set of shows over a long period of time, check out chapter 30 on page 301, Batch Functions, which covers batch functions that assist in scheduling many shows enmasse Schedule Once, Publish Anywhere There are a collection of features that are the result of an overall mission: Enter information one time. Why type your schedule into your automation system and then into your on-air CG and then on to your web site and then into your reports and then into TV-Guide s X-List and then... Cablecast does all of the above and more. You schedule shows before they re edited, updating the show records as needed. Updates to the show record happen wherever they re scheduled, so when you finally learn that your meeting went four and a half hours, the train wreck that it causes in your schedule will be evident. Of course, fixing that train wreck in Cablecast is simple. To set up your station s web site, see section 16.8 on page 143, Public Site and section 32.7 on page 342, Web Schedule. To check out ical, RSS and X-List see the rest of chapter 32 on page 325, Extras Show Library The show library is the key to Cablecast. Without it, it s just another automation system. The true power comes out as you add shows (with complete information) to your system, allowing you to build reports and to fulfill dub requests. The library, along with the schedule, is your station s gold. It is the answer to, Why do you deserve funding, you never run anything but that yoga show? The show library features projects (section 26.4 on page 209), saved searches (section on page 231), show bins (section on page 230) and all manner of helpful touches. 2.1 Key Features 23

24 2.1.5 End-to-end Workflow Cablecast is designed to be a part of a show s life from the moment you learn about it. Enter the show information early on and you can schedule it right away. When it s out of post production, update the TRT and any other show data that comes to light. All the while, your schedule is taking shape and all of the other systems that need that show information are up to date. We call this Edit to Air. That s what Cablecast is all about! Reporting Integration with Carousel Too many stations out there are doing awesome work without getting the recognition that they deserve! It s hard to prove that you re running thousands of hours of programming if you can t back it up in a report. Since stations don t typically have time to waste writing complicated reports, they have eluded most. Cablecast makes reporting trivial. Now you can bring the latest figures to every meeting, proving to people not only the amount of programming that you run, but also the type and by whom it s being produced. In 1999, Cablecast was the first system to come with a powerful on-air CG. Today, Carousel is still the class leader and Cablecast s ability to work with it goes unmatched. Cablecast and Carousel work together to provide on-air bulletins, Coming Up Next... and This Show Will Repeat... graphics. Never again will you type the schedule into your on-air CG! That is going to save you a ton of time and keep your channel s information accurate. You re welcome What Is Cablecast?

25 3 How Does Cablecast Work? 3.1 Introduction Let s take some time to see how Cablecast is organized. This will help you get a handle on how Cablecast was designed, so that its layout and configuration will make sense as we work through the rest of this manual. 3.2 Your Routing Switcher, Locations and Channels Cablecast sees the world from the view of your routing switcher, which is a device that can switch any video source that is plugged into it to any video output. Routing switchers can have any number of inputs and outputs, usually with more of the former than of the latter. The system assumes that any device that it will control is plugged into the routing switcher and that there is only one of these in your head end. Examples of system layouts can be seen in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide. Some of the outputs on your routing switcher are for confidence monitoring and recording devices in your head end, such as MPEG encoders or tape decks with recording ability. Cablecast handles these, but right now, we don t care about them. The outputs that we do care about are the ones that are used for your channels. These are plugged into your distribution equipment, such as your fiber transmitter or modulator. Your channel is assigned to an output on your routing switcher and Cablecast uses this assignment to execute the playback of that channel. With the routing switcher at the middle, locations and channels organize Cablecast s world and are the key to understanding how it operates. Location : A location in Cablecast is a single head end. A location must have exactly one routing switcher and will typically have one or more playback devices and a video server. Think of a location as a description of all of the hardware that is connected to your head end, with the routing switcher at the center of it all. Channel : A channel is associated with a dedicated output on the routing switcher and represents the final execution of a schedule (figure 3.1 on the next page).

26 F IGURE 3.1: Cablecast takes the media that you want on the air, and plays it out your channel, using playback devices and a routing switcher How Does Cablecast Work?

27 We take such pains to describe a location because it is possible to set more than one of these up. That is, in Cablecast, you can control multiple routing switchers and thus multiple locations. The implications of this capability are staggering, but most people never take advantage of it. We ll skip the whole idea of multiple locations for now and just assume that you have one routing switcher. Cablecast comes configured this way anyway, so if you re like 99% of the population, we can move on to more relevant topics. If your a pesky 1% er, then visit section 6.1 on page 55, Multiple Locations. You re a 1% er if you have more than one routing switcher controlled by Cablecast, even if it is in a single head end What Happens When Nothing s On?: Default Inputs We show programming on our channels, but in the world of PEG access, we generally don t show programming 24-hours a day. When nothing is scheduled, Cablecast automatically switches to a default input. The default input is usually an on-air CG, like Carousel 1, but could be any source. If you have a complicated set up with multiple routing switchers, check out section on page 58, Multiple Locations and Default Inputs. 3.3 The Show Library Show records aren t the same as the actual show. In Cablecast, you create show records that describe the programming that will air on your channel, an example of which is shown in figure 3.2 on the following page. These records might represent shows that are VHS tapes, DVD s, live shows or MPEG video files. Show records are not the actual show. They just represent it in the Cablecast database. Show records include information like the show s title, by whom it was produced, its description and all manner of information that you might find useful. Cablecast keeps show records around forever, using its built in database. Some stations tracking over 300,000 show records, which means that if they type something like Concert into the search engine, they get quite a few results! The system keeps records forever so that it can handle reporting and archiving duties. A show can belong to a project, which is a container for multiple shows. Stations use projects for series programing and they also contain information related to Podcasting, if a video on demand server is installed if your cool and forward thinking. 3.3 The Show Library 27

28 FIGURE 3.2: The show record in Cablecast How Does Cablecast Work?

29 The media information in a show record is organized in a very sophisticated way that seems simple at first, but is very powerful, if that power is needed. Specifically, the show record contains any number of media or reel records. The short version: one show has one or more reels and each reel points to a media record and media records can have more than one reel. Whew! That just means that you can have a DVD with four shows on it or a single meeting on three DV tapes and Cablecast will know exactly what to do with it. Check out section 26.2 on page 206, Shows, Reels and Media Records for more information on how multi-reel shows work in Cablecast. 3.4 The Schedule As the show library is built, you can add shows to the schedule (figure 3.3), which is also a part of Cablecast s database. Any show can be added to the schedule at any time, even before all of the show data is entered. FIGURE 3.3: This is an example of Cablecast s schedule. Here we are dragging a show onto the schedule. The schedule in Cablecast is used by many different parts of the system including the public web interface, RSS output, ical and Carousel s Cable Display plug-in. Even with incomplete information, these system parts are able to tell the viewer when the program will air and on which channel. Cablecast is not real-time. Changes to the schedule don t affect on-air playback until the autopilot system has been updated, a topic for section 3.5 on the next page. This is because Cablecast is a batch automation system, not a real-time system. You can make changes to the schedule without fear of messing up your on-air playback. The schedule handles not only playback, but also recording (section on page 265, The Record Schedule), station branding and on-air crawl overlay (section on page 269, Scheduling Crawls). These last two features are part of the down-stream key (DSK) functions of Cablecast and require third party hardware. 3.4 The Schedule 29

30 3.5 Autopilot Autopilot is where real-time activities are handled within Cablecast. The primary function of autopilot is to commit the schedule to air. Once a user sends autopilot Cablecast will process the schedule, eliminating conflicts where possible. This approach has some advantages, the biggest being its ability to automatically assign playback devices in the most efficient way possible. FIGURE 3.4: The Cablecast Force menu in action. Autopilot: Event Table and Device Assignments Autopilot: Force (Matrix) and Force(Small) The Autopilot menu not only gives you the means of programming the head end, it also shows you the results in the Event Table and tells you what needs to be loaded into which device in the Device Assignments menu. In addition to automating the head end, the autopilot system provides two force menus. The Matrix force menu, shown in figure 3.4, is larger and gives you a view of the routing switcher. The Small force menu is more compact and highly useful in systems with many inputs and outputs. See section 29.3 on page 284, Device Assignments for a tour of the Device Assignments menu and section 29.2 on page 281, The Event Table for information on the Event Table. The two force menus are discussed in section 29.4 on page 287, Force Menu: Making Cablecast Do Something Now! 3.6 Devices and Formats Understanding the concepts of how Cablecast controls your equipment and manages the inputs and outputs of your routing switcher are extremely important. Cablecast is pretty sophisticated in how it handles these details. It 30 3 How Does Cablecast Work?

31 automatically adjusts playback to accommodate limitations of some equipment and takes advantage of the special abilities of others. It knows that a DVD changer might need an extra 90 seconds to switch to the next DVD and that it s not OK to schedule three channels of playback while encoding on a 360 Systems Image Server. You don t need to worry about these details because when you configure Cablecast, you tell it exactly what it can do with its equipment. It takes it from there and automates everything perfectly. To accomplish this magic, Cablecast uses some sophisticated algorithms. For those algorithms to work, we need to understand some of the vocabulary and some of the rules A Device Has One Input and/or One Output First, there are devices. Simply stated, a device is anything that Cablecast has to switch to (source) or route things to (record). Any input that you want to switch to is going to be considered a device. If you want to record something with Cablecast, it must use an output of the routing switcher and that output is also part of a device. The word device implies something physical, like a tape player or a video server. In Cablecast, a device might also be a live input, such as a studio feed, which doesn t have any Cablecast controlled equipment. Because the live feed requires an input on the routing switcher and because you ll want to be able to tell Cablecast to switch to it, it s a device. Location Settings: I/O: Devices These distinctions and more are represented in Cablecast in the Devices menu, covered in section 12.3 on page 112, Devices. Again, anything plugged into a routing switcher as a source or something that records is considered a device A Device Can Do One Thing At a Time! Each device takes up one input and/or one output on your routing switcher. If a device can play or record, but not both at the same time, then it is considered one device. If a device can play and record at the same time, then to Cablecast, it is considered two devices. Why does Cablecast work this way? Because in this way Cablecast is able to avoid conflicts. The system allocates devices to only one task at a time. Following that rule simplifies the way the system works. Again, a piece of equipment that can show more than one program at a time or can record and play at the same time is considered more than one device by Cablecast. 3.6 Devices and Formats 31

32 Example: A VCR that you use to play and record is one device because it plays or records, but doesn t do both at the same time. Example: A video server that can play one channel of video while it records another is considered two devices in Cablecast s world. One input and/or output per device is an incredibly important nugget to keep in mind when you set your system up. A four-channel video server looks like four devices, unless it has two encoders that can work at the same time... then it looks like six devices. This might not seem like such a big deal right now, but when we get to section 7.2 on page 68, Taking a Look at Your Devices, it will be. Example: Some devices, like DVD changers, can hold a ton of shows, but can only play them one at a time. Because only one show can play at a time, it s just one device Tied Up By Formats Devices are tied to shows through formats. Formats and how Cablecast handles them are another important feature of the system. Formats are the glue between show records and devices. Cablecast ties devices to shows through formats. If a device s format matches a show record s, then Cablecast knows it can use that device to play the show. When more than one device has a matching format, the system will pick any available device, usually the one with the least number of runs under its belt. Any time Cablecast must choose one device over another, there has to be a unique format that distinguishes between the two devices. Example: You have a feed from a Community Center and a feed from a High School (figure 3.5 on the facing page), you must have a unique format for each feed so that when you schedule a live program from the high school, you can explicitly instruct Cablecast to use the high school s feed by selecting its unique format. Example: You have a VHS player in your head end that is capable of handling 6-hour tapes and other decks that are not. You will need a 6-hour VHS format for that device and for the shows that are recorded in that method. Example: If 20 devices in your head end can all play DVC-PRO tapes, the same format should be used for all 20 devices. Devices can have up to three different formats, which is useful when a device can play back more than one format or when you want to Cablecast to do weird things with certain shows How Does Cablecast Work?

33 Community Center Feed Community Center FIGURE 3.5: How can you force Cablecast to pick between two devices of the same type? By making unique formats for each device. High School Feed High School Community Center Feed Community Center Video Servers as Devices FIGURE 3.6: The show s file must start with the show ID number. If a device is to be utilized for automated playback, as opposed to simply being represented as a device so that an operator may force a command to it within the Autopilot menu, then it must have at least one format specified for Cablecast to match against a show s format. If you try to play a show on your channel and no device matches the format for that show, Cablecast throws an error during the autopilot send. There are a lot of nuances to formats, especially in how Cablecast deals with devices that have different capabilities, forcing Cablecast to use a specific device even when it might otherwise pick a different one, and other advanced topics. If you run into a bind or want to learn more about the magic of formats, feel free to check out section 6.3 on page 61, Advanced Format Topics. Cablecast treats video servers like any other playback device, with a few notable exceptions. Unlike tape decks, video servers can play back multiple programs from a single output, so there is no need to swap outputs when another show is ready to play. Also, Cablecast needs some way to know which file is tied to which show. It does this by looking at the beginning of the file name, which must start with the show ID number 2. When new shows come into the video server, 2 We talk about show ID numbers in section on page 40. In short, they are unique 3.6 Devices and Formats 33

34 you must put the show ID number at the front of the file s name. If they are recorded from the Cablecast web interface, then Cablecast will take care of this for you. FIGURE 3.7: The Digital File Management menu gives you a view of all of the files on your video servers. Autopilot: Digital File Management In the Autopilot menu, you can access the Digital File Management menu (figure 3.7), which gives you a view of all of the files on the video server along with detecting if they re valid for playback or not. From this screen you can delete these files, re-index them to detect file changes, or manipulate orphaned files not yet associated with Cablecast. Finally, Cablecast treats every video server output independently. That means that if, for example, you have a video server with four channel playback ability, Cablecast will use any of those outputs at any time. Remember from section on page 31, this means that multi-channel video servers are treated as multiple devices. We talk about this in section 7.2 on page 68, Taking a Look at Your Devices and it is important to understand this when you set your system up. 3.7 Video On Demand, Podcasting and Live Streaming Tightrope sells two products that can bring your channel to the internet. The SX-VOD is a video on demand server that links into the public web interface on Cablecast. The SX-Live is a live streaming device that encodes your channel on the internet in real-time. SX-VOD only makes files from the video server. The SX-VOD automatically transcodes video content from your video servers into either WindowsMedia Streaming or ipod-compatible MPEG-4. You specify shows that you want available for either format and the SX-VOD does the rest. Keep in mind, the SX-VOD cannot make files that come from tape, DVD, live sources or any non-tightrope video server. They must be on a Tightrope-made 3 video server before it can process them. The setup of the SX-VOD is covered in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules numbers that Cablecast assigns to all show records. 3 Such as a VS4, VSX or SX video server How Does Cablecast Work?

35 guide. See section on page 222, Show Record: IP Video to learn about adjusting the transcoding quality for a specific show. Podcasting uses projects to organize shows into RSS channels. These are published in an itunes friendly way. We introduce projects in section on page 40. Live streaming is handled with the SX-Live Streaming Server, which happily streams your channel as it is. You can specifically exempt certain programs from live streaming by checking a box in the show record. This is covered in section on page 222, Show Record: IP Video. The setup of the SX-Live is covered in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide. 3.7 Video On Demand, Podcasting and Live Streaming 35

36 36 3 How Does Cablecast Work?

37 4 How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow 4.1 Introduction We keep track of what people think about Cablecast. When we ask them, What do you like most about Cablecast? we get one answer more than any other: Its workflow. As you explore Cablecast, you ll gain an understanding into how it fits into the way that you operate. To get an idea, take a look at figure 4.1 on page 39, a flow chart of how your shows go from the planning stage to playback on your channel. Notice how Cablecast is a part of the process from start to finish! This will represent a new way of thinking for those who may be used to updating an automation system just before air. You will want to include Cablecast much earlier than this, because the system is used in so many aspects of your station s activities. Example: You enter a season of football games into your show database as soon as the schedule comes out. Now, a viewer can go to your web site and see that the game will be replayed on your channel, even before the start of the season! The simplified view in figure 4.1 does not take into account several important variables. You may be managing more than one channel, or there may be multiple head ends feeding multiple channels. Cablecast deals with these situations gracefully, provided the system has been planned appropriately and configured correctly.

38

39 At this point, viewers can see the program by searching for it from your public web site. At this point, viewers can see when this show will be aired on your public web site and on your character generator. start here!! planning stage You might be used to systems that would never have you enter show data this early. Remember, you re doing more than just automating your head end! The earlier the information is entered, the more useful it is to your station! shoot your program Here we are emphasizing that it doesn t matter when you shoot the program. Enter data early! post production process Someone at your station becomes aware of a program that will be aired on your channel. Data for the program is entered into Cablecast. Some of the data isn t known, because the show hasn t been posted. The program is scheduled. Format and length are guessed at within the show record....post production process When you are done posting the program, you will know the format and total run time. You may choose to give people who post programs access to Cablecast s program library so that they can enter this information for you. prepare the head end When all of the programming information is set and the schedule is completed, you are ready to Send Autopilot. This is done when the information that is already in the head end runs out. finalize autopilot During this process the operator swaps out the old media with the new. program Is aired! Cablecast takes care of the rest! The show record is updated when the program is posted. Before the show is aired, Autopilot is sent within Cablecast. This programs the head end equipment. The head end operator follows the device assignment list generated by Cabelcast. Cablecast automatically detects conflicts that arise from shows bumping into each other. Sending the instructions to the equipment is called sending Autopilot. FIGURE 4.1: A visual representation of how a station uses Cablecast. Follow the diagram from the top left. 4.1 Introduction 39

40 4.2 From Shows to Schedule to Autopilot If you re like most, you ll get into a routine of entering shows, updating the schedule and then eventually sending Autopilot. These three activities will take up the bulk of your time in Cablecast and we ll look at them together in this section Working With Shows Creating new show records is covered in section on page 213, Adding and Editing Shows. Keep in mind the following as you make plans to implement Cablecast: You can t assign your own show ID numbers. First, show records in Cablecast have a show ID number, which is a unique number that Cablecast assigns to each show when you create a new show record. You cannot assign your own show ID numbers to shows, although you can use the Local ID field for this purpose. Don t get too attached to show ID numbers and don t try to make Cablecast squeeze all of your council meetings into show ID numbers 20,000-30,000. It doesn t work like that. You will never run out of these numbers and Cablecast handles making new ones so that you know that they will always be unique. Plan on using show ID numbers outside of Cablecast? If you have a DVD or tape of a program, put the show ID number on the media. Remember, you may think, On Mondays, I always run the same show. The reality is that you probably run a new episode of the same show every week. Many people have trouble with the concept of making a brand new show record for every episode of a program, especially if they throw out or record over old episodes when a new one comes in. This kind of thinking usually stems from working with older automation systems that do not handle public web sites and reporting. Because Cablecast does handle these tasks, you need to give it new show records for each episode, lest you lead the public/cable commission to believe that you really have been running the same selectman s meeting for the last three years. Cablecast has tools to help you make new episodes of a program. We call multi-episode shows projects, a topic covered in section 26.4 on page 209. Projects contain shows, although a show does not have to be in a project it can be all by its lonesome. Projects also organize podcasts, if your system has a video on demand server. If you are creating episodes for a series or entering a season of programming for a sport, you can batch-create the shows, an activity covered in chapter 30 on page 301, Batch Functions. When you batch create a series of programs, they typically belong in a project How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow

41 4.2.2 Working With the Schedule Tips for Autopilot The schedule, along with the show library, is a big part of Cablecast. Like show records, the schedule is never erased. This means that you can go back in time to see what you ran last year, or the year before. It also means that you can track trends with Cablecast s reporting abilities. Going back is nice, but going into the future is even cooler! You can take an entire year of meetings or season of soccer and enter it into the schedule at once (using the batch scheduling tools that we cover in chapter 30 on page 301, Batch Functions). Now, anyone looking for information on when a shoot is going to happen or on pre-ordering copies of a program can simply go to Cablecast. Only shows in Cablecast can be scheduled 1. As we mentioned in section on page 24, you enter shows before they are posted, so you end up guessing on things like the show s total run time (TRT). If you schedule a show with inaccurate information, then your schedule won t be accurate. That is OK! That kind of behavior is expected in Cablecast. In the early stages of scheduling, we really don t care about the show s format, cueing information or its TRT. We only care that it will be scheduled and it s nice to have a guess at the length of the show. When the show finishes post production, update the show record with accurate information and your schedule will begin to take shape. What s cool about Cablecast is that when you update a show record, it will be updated anywhere in the schedule where that show appears. You may air a show fifteen times and if you update the TRT of that show record, all fifteen runs of that show will have the new length. Obviously, your guesses about a show s TRT would make for a sloppy looking channel, if that is all that Cablecast had to go on when it tried to play your shows. You might like to think all football games are three hours, but you ll get more than a few calls if the particular game scheduled for next Friday goes three hours and fifteen minutes. That last fifteen minutes might have had an impact on the game... The schedule that you create in Cablecast has no effect on the playback of your channel until you send autopilot (figure 4.2 on the following page). Sending autopilot is a magical moment where you say to Cablecast, The schedule from X DATE to Y DATE is all set up with accurate show information that includes the correct formats, total run times and cueing information. Please check everything over, correct any impossibilities and tell me what is going to play back and on which device it will play. 1 This is a lie that we ll expose in section 27.9 on page 261, Manual Runs. 4.2 From Shows to Schedule to Autopilot 41

42 FIGURE 4.2: Sending autopilot. Don t bother sending autopilot for dates and times where you don t have accurate show information. Many people will send for weeks in advance, knowing that they ll have to resend in a day because they don t know the TRT for a show record that airs tomorrow. This is not only a waste of time, but Cablecast won t make the very best decisions if it has to take a weeks worth of show records into account. Only send for what is accurate! Don t bother sending autopilot for dates where you know you have dummy show information in the schedule! When you send autopilot, Cablecast walks through your schedule, eliminates any conflicts by bumping programs around, assigns shows to play in the correct device and reports back to you what it did. If you are using tape or DVD players, this is the moment where Cablecast assigns your show s media to your devices. If Cablecast can t make sense of what you have asked it or cannot communicate with one of the devices, it will throw an error message on the screen and fail to program your equipment. You ll have to fix the error before you can program your channels. Warnings will happen if Cablecast was able to do what you asked, but not exactly in the way that you asked it, like when it has to bump a show by a few minutes to eliminate a conflict. If all you get are warnings, you re good to go, if you re ok with Cablecast s decisions. We cover sending autopilot in section 29.1 on page 276, Sending Autopilot How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow

43 FIGURE 4.3: A show was bumped in this send. The Force Menu and Live Programming Autopilot: Force (Matrix) or Force (Small) When you need to make something happen right away, you ll need to use the Force menu. It comes in two flavors: Matrix and Small. Use Matrix when you want to easily see the status of the routing switcher or if you have a smaller system. It may be easier to use the Small version with larger systems that have many inputs and outputs. Either version makes live programming a breeze with the override feature, a picture of which we showed in figure 3.4 on page 30. The override feature tells Cablecast to ignore switching events on a specified channel. That way you control when you take to or away from a show! So even if another show is scheduled to air and your meeting is still going strong, Cablecast will not switch away. The switch is suppressed, but the system is still smart enough to roll scheduled programs. If your live event ends in the middle of a program, you can join it in progress by clicking a button. If you have the a DSK system installed, Cablecast gives you the option of putting a crawl up that says, We are joining XXXX in progress. It will be replayed on XXX, XXX... Live programming could not be easier and we show you how it s done in section on page 291, Overriding a Channel for Live Programming and Automating Live Programs. 4.3 Other Cool Things That You Can Do Recording There are a few other things you should now about Cablecast before we move on. We ll cover them briefly in this section. Schedule We talked about the schedule in section on page 41, Working With the Schedule and in section 3.4 on page 29, The Schedule. The Schedule menu 4.3 Other Cool Things That You Can Do 43

44 has a special tab for recording shows. You can stack up as many recording events as you like, using any of the devices in your head end with recording capability. Usually, this is used to encode files into a video server, but could also be used for dubs. Cablecast also has the ability to record a show when it airs from its original source. This capability is called record on first run. You schedule the show for playback off tape, DVD or from a live input and Cablecast automatically records it during that showing. You can later tell Cablecast to play from the file. Autopilot: Force Recording can also happen from the Force menu, where you can switch an input to your record device and then force a record action Down Stream Keys (DSK) FIGURE 4.4: Here we are advertising over the program for a call-in show. This station doesn t have to put the phone number over the recorded program, which is nice for repeats. Cablecast can run a station watermark (aka bug) using an external downstream key (DSK) device. These devices take the channel output from your routing switcher and overlay graphics on top. In addition to your station s logo, you can crawl a message across the bottom 44 4 How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow

45 Schedule Schedule: Details of the screen. Like recording, the Schedule screen has a special schedule for the crawl (section on page 269, Scheduling Crawls). You can enter one here and give it any start and stop time. If you d rather have a crawl attached to a show s run, you can do that in the Details menu for that run in the schedule, illustrated in figure 4.4 on the preceding page. We cover this feature in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details Reporting and X-List Cablecast runs reports on demand. You simply pick the kind of report you d like to create and Cablecast will run the numbers. FIGURE 4.5: The X-List feature makes a CSV file that is compatible with TV Guide Public Web, Video On Demand and Live Streaming TV Guide uses the X-List format to take in your scheduling data and Cablecast is happy to comply. You can generate this special report whenever you want to update TV Guide s information. We go through reporting in detail in section 31.2 on page 320, Export TV Guide X-List. Once you set up your public web site, video on demand server and live streaming server, they pretty much take care of themselves. Whenever a 4.3 Other Cool Things That You Can Do 45

46 new show appears on the video server that you ve designated for VOD or podcasting, the VOD server will automatically import it and transcode it. Likewise, the SX-LIVE will show your channel 24/7, turning the stream off when you mark shows that you don t want on the internet. VOD setup is covered in section 12.5 on page 124, On Demand IP Video while and Live streaming is in section 12.4 on page 121, Outputs. The public web site can be used in a number of ways. Its configuration is covered in section 16.8 on page 143, Public Site ical and RSS There are lots of web systems and other third party applications that use ical and RSS. You can display Cablecast s schedule in Apple s ical application, Microsoft s Outlook and an endless number of RSS readers. See chapter 32 on page 325, Extras for more information on how to address these cool features How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow

47 5 Logging in and A First Look 5.1 Introduction User Name : admin Password : demotrms Before we leave our big picture tour, let s log into Cablecast and take a tour of its user interface. If you have not set your system up, you can follow along in this manual or try demo.trms.com. The login information for this site is: Installing your Cablecast system on your network is a topic for another manual. If this has not been accomplished, see the The Tightrope Server Installation Guide. If you will be following along with your own system, navigate to Cablecast by entering your server s IP address in your favorite web browser. 5.2 Logging into the Frontdoor Server User Name : admin Password : trms Remember, Cablecast is a web application. This means that its interface is created from a web server that is running on your Tightrope server, as you can see in figure 5.1 on the following page. You can access Cablecast directly from the server, but more often you will access it from a computer that is on your network. Some Cablecast systems are integrated with a video server. Using the video server as a desktop computer will result in poor video performance, with stuttering video and other unpredictable anomalies. Apart from testing and setup, using the a video server as a web client is not supported. Your Cablecast system comes with a built-in account called the Admin account. The default login for a new server is: The User Name field is not case sensitive. You may type Admin or admin and log in successfully.

48 FIGURE 5.1: Logging into the Cablecast Server You will use this account when following the instructions in this chapter and Admin always has access to when setting up your system. The Admin always has access to all of the everything in the system. features of Cablecast 1. Every system that Tightrope ships has trms as the password for the administrator! For fun, you may want to log in to a neighboring access center s Cablecast system and check to see if they left it at the defaults! Make sure that you are not as careless! Eventually, you may wish to create additional accounts that have access to Cablecast. To do so, you will use the Frontdoor user management system, which we discus in chapter 24 on page 201, FrontDoor Settings for Cablecast. Each account may have a different set of permissions that relate to the various capabilities of your Cablecast system. For information on how to create a new user, see the Frontdoor User Manager Guide. For now, just click the Cablecast menu item. 5.3 The Cablecast Interface! Since Cablecast comes to you through your web browser, it s different from an application installed on your computer. Keep a couple of the following tips in mind. First, Cablecast doesn t see what you do until you click one of the form 1 The Administrator account also manages Carousel, if that is installed on your system Logging in and A First Look

49 buttons, such as Save, Next, etc. That is, if you enter a bunch of information into a form and then navigate away from that form, you will lose the information that you entered. Next, it is important to remember that Cablecast often relies on context. This means that Cablecast is storing information about what you are doing, and will guide you to forms based on what you have done in the past. Example: For example, if you click on a show record from the schedule, Cablecast will allow you to edit the show. After you are finished, it will dump you back to the schedule. Otherwise, saving changes to a show record dumps you back Show Management to the Show Management menu. Don t use browser s back button! Because of this, it is very important that you do not use your browser s back button! Often, this will confuse Cablecast because you would be going around the system by letting your browser control navigation. It is always best to use the buttons provided in the user interface. FIGURE 5.2: Do not use the web browser s back button when navigating Cablecast! Only use the buttons provided in the system! Navigation In Cablecast: Moving Around FIGURE 5.3: Main Menu Shortcuts Navigating through the menus in Cablecast is simple. Some of the main menu items can be accessed from the upper right corner of the page and they are always available (Figure 5.3). Main Menu : Brings you back to the Cablecast Main Menu. Schedule : Create and modify program schedules. 5.3 The Cablecast Interface 49

50 Shows : Edit items in the show library, including media and project records. Autopilot : Commit and send the schedule to the head end equipment. Forcing actions in the head end is also accomplished here. About : Version information about your Cablecast system. Frontdoor : Return to the Frontdoor Main Menu. Logout : End the current session. Quick Search : Enter a Show or Local ID to jump to a show record or enter all or part of the show s title. Show ID numbers are explained in section on page 214, Show Record: ShowID. 5.4 Navigating Locations and Channels Locations FIGURE 5.4: In this is example, we show three locations: BEC, BCIT and BCAT. BEC is the active location. Cablecast separates channels and locations from each other. You can navigate between them easily by using the tabs provided in the web interface. If you are going to establish only one location in your Cablecast system, you can safely skip this section. Across the top of the main section of the interface is a list of tabs that includes entries for all of the locations that you have permissions to access (figure 5.4). When you are editing information within Cablecast, you are most often editing it only for the location you have selected. One of the few exceptions is 50 5 Logging in and A First Look

51 System Settings the System Settings menu, where settings are not location dependent Channels As you can see in figure 5.5, the list of channels at the location that is currently active within Cablecast s user interface will appear in a tab bar below the tabs that list the available locations. Make sure you select the desired channel before editing. FIGURE 5.5: In this example we are still in the BEC location and we can see the channels that are located here in these channel tabs. 5.5 Navigation Bar You are in an unfamiliar woods with a bag of croutons. To combat the likelihood of getting lost, you drop a crouton every few steps; tracing the tasty treats on your way back to safety... Think of the Navigation Bar (figure 5.6) as a collection of electronic breadcrumbs that guide you all the way back to the Main Menu. This bar displays the your current location within Cablecast and provides hyperlinks to the menus that you used to get there. FIGURE 5.6: The Navigation Bar Remember, if you do not save information in a form, your changes did not happen! Save your modifications by using the buttons provided on the form. Do not click the Navigation Bar links unless you do not need to save the data that you have entered. 5.5 Navigation Bar 51

52 5.6 Main Menu Tour After selecting the Cablecast button from the Frontdoor Main Menu, you are greeted with the Cablecast Main Menu (figure 5.7). The options on this page outline the major elements of the Cablecast system. FIGURE 5.7: The Main Menu Below is a broad description of each menu option: Schedule : Create and modify the schedule for your channel or channels. You can also edit the crawl and record shows on a schedule from this menu. Shows : Add, edit and search for projects, shows and media in your Cablecast database. Producers : Add, view, and edit Producers for the currently selected Location. Autopilot : Send programming information to your equipment, force an action to happen immediately and view the device assignment list. You can also see files on your digital file server from here. Batch Functions : Perform operations on your show or schedule database. Typically, batch functions create or delete a block of information when used. You will want to be sure you understand their purpose before using them. Reporting : Functions related to the reporting of statistical information as it relates to your programming and show library. X-List export is here as well. Extras : Various utilities that add functionality to the Cablecast system, including a Mac Dashboard widget, Facil record importing, ical and RSS schedule output settings and more. User Settings : Options to adjust the user s preferences, including how time is displayed and the default location the user sees. Location Settings : Adjust settings related to the active location. This is where you describe the physical and conceptual configuration of your head end. This will be your home when you are first setting up the system! 52 5 Logging in and A First Look

53 System Settings : Establish your system wide settings, including your location name, channel settings, and information related to control modules on any additional Tightrope servers. 5.7 You Should Know... You can see the current status table to the right in figure 5.7 on the facing page. This table displays the status of all of your channels along with information about invalid or orphaned files on your SX server or servers. See section 29.5 on page 296 for more information on invalid and orphaned files. Note that this channel status shows the information that is stored in your system s control modules from the last Autopilot send and not necessarily what is currently in Cablecast s schedule. Remember, in Cablecast, you have to send information to the equipment through Autopilot. If you don t send Autopilot, then your equipment will not run the scheduled programming. This list is showing what has been sent, not what is in the schedule. If you have more than one location, then you will only see the channels that are primary to the active location.... How to log in (section 5.2 on page 47).... That Cablecast doesn t see what you re doing until you click a form button.... Never to use your browser s back button.... How to navigate within Cablecast, including using the navigation breadcrumbs in the navigation bar (section 5.5 on page 51), and the location and channel tabs (section 5.4 on page 50).... How to use the quick links at the top (section on page 49). 5.7 You Should Know... 53

54 54 5 Logging in and A First Look

55 6 Advanced Topics of Cablecast In this chapter, we cover some of the advanced parts of Cablecast. If you re like most stations, there isn t anything essential to the daily use or set up of your system within this chapter. If you d like to know every corner of Cablecast, then read on. If you just want to get going, you can safely skip it. Other parts of the manual will refer back to this chapter, so you can read only the parts relevant to your needs, as those topics come up. 6.1 Multiple Locations Cablecast is unique in its ability to manage multiple routing switchers and channels. Not only can the system handle multiple channels, but a channel can exist at more than one head end! This means that Cablecast can tell a video server to play at Head End A to an input in Head End B then out to the viewer automatically coordinating the switching along the way. Most people never use this power, but it is there and if you need multiple routing switchers in your system, then you need to read this section. Remember, there is exactly one routing switcher at every location. In the software, we refer to a location as all of the devices, formats, shows and other equipment that make up the location, but there is always just one routing switcher. Therefore: two routing switchers, controlled by Cablecast, in your head end equals two locations. First, a channel must be associated with at least one location, called the primary location. The primary location is where the output of the channel hits the viewer, or more specifically, the fiber transmitter or modulator. Additional outputs from remote locations may be used to create a channel. These remote locations are called feeder locations and the connection between the feeder location and the primary location is called a feeder channel. Let s look at an example: Example: Imagine that you have a city hall that automates half of a channel s programming and you re at a school that automates the other half. Your head end feeds the cable company. The city hall is connected to your head end by a single fiber connection with one video feed. The city hall is a feeder location, your school s head end is the primary location. Their feed to you is the feeder channel and your routing switcher s output to the cable company is

56 the primary channel. Cablecast automates the feeder location and switches to the feeder channel as needed, as illustrated in figure 6.1. When programming comes from the school, Cablecast automates that programming as it normally would with just a single location. FIGURE 6.1: Feeder channels (left) add content to primary channels (right) using AV connections between routing switchers. If you plan on operating your channels from more than one routing switcher, then it is important to understand the above example. Cablecast uses this structure to seamlessly automate multiple locations operating together to make a single channel The Four Basic Installation Types There are four basic types of configurations and all of them center around the concepts of locations and channels. Remember, as you review the list below, each of these configurations has one thing in common: only one Cablecast server is needed for each of these examples, provided the necessary network support is in place. Review each installation type carefully, as these examples will help you understand the capabilities of Cablecast: Single Channel Single Location : One channel from one location. There is one location and one channel. One output of your routing switcher is dedicated to your channel, while the others may be used for recording and previewing sources (cueing tapes, verifying live feeds, etc). Channel Output Primary Location Final Channel Output Multi Channel Single Location : Multiple channels from one location. The single location shares all of the resources to support playback and routing for multiple channels of 56 6 Advanced Topics of Cablecast

57 output. The system will balance playback devices between all channels. Channel 1 Output Primary Location Channel 2 Output Channel 3 Output Single Channel Multiple Locations : One channel fed by multiple locations. With this configuration, you have multiple playback facilities with their own playback devices and routing switchers feeding a primary location. Feeds from the locations (called feeder locations) are combined at the primary location to produce a single channel. Typically, the remote locations are controlled over a network using a direct TCP/IP connection 1. Feeder Channel Channel (a.k.a. Primary Channel, when feeder channels are involved.) Feeder Location Primary Location Final Channel Output If you are running multiple routing switchers, you ll need Cablecast Pro. This is because Cablecast Pro runs on Windows 2003, which is better suited to handle the multiple network connections that are required by this configuration. Multi Channel Multiple Locations : Multiple channels from multiple locations. You can set Cablecast to program and maintain separate channels and locations. Channels exist at one or more locations. Channels at multiple locations will require video feeds between sites. These feeds behave exactly like any other source, except that Cablecast coordinates the devices and the switch between the feeder location and the primary location. This type of installation is typical for a community that has multiple access channels that share some of the same resources. Remember, one Cablecast is controlling all of the head ends represented in the diagram below. 1 through the Internet, or through your own metro-area network Multiple Locations 57

58 Primary Location for All Channels at this Head End Channel 1 Output Channel 2 Output Channel 3 Output Channel 4 Output Feeder for Ch. 2 Feeder For Ch. 3 Feeder for Ch. 4 Feeder Location for All Channels at this Head End Primary Location for All Channels at this Head End Channel 5 Output Feeder Location for Some Channels And Primary for Others Multiple Locations and Cablecast s Interface Day-to-day use of Cablecast is segmented by locations within the user interface. If you have multiple locations, it is very important to understand that Cablecast sees only the shows, channels and equipment that are at the location that is currently selected. For example: When searching for shows, only the shows in your location will appear. When scheduling programs, only the channels that are at the current location will appear. Autopilot: Force When working with equipment, only items within the current location will appear in the Force menu Multiple Locations and Default Inputs If you have only one location you will not need to worry about selecting the intended location. All locations operate identically within the Cablecast interface. Remembering from section 6.1 on page 55, locations identify a head end and the facility that is using it. However, sometimes locations are created only to identify a secondary routing switcher, as we ll see in section on the facing page. Cablecast creates the same internal infrastructure to support all locations, so, apart from the tab at the top navigating between them will not bring about any obvious changes within the software interface, except that different channels, shows, schedules and devices will appear at each location. We talked about default inputs in section on page 27, What Happens When Nothing s On?: Default Inputs. When channels originate from mul Advanced Topics of Cablecast

59 tiple locations, the setup of the default input for each of the associated channels becomes interesting. As you may recall, each channel has a default input, which in single-location channels, is a character generator that shows bulletins while no programming is running. The same is true for multi-location channels, except that the character generator might exist in any of the locations primary or one of the feeder locations. Remember, both feeder and primary channels have default inputs. If the character generator is at the primary location, then the primary channel s default input will be set to it. If not, then the default input for the primary channel will be set to the feeder channel that has the character generator and that feeder channel will default to its character generator. For feeder locations with no character generator, their default input may be set to anything, because, if everything goes well, it will never see air. Often a color bar generator or a logo generator is used in these situations Abusing Multiple Locations: Two Routing Switchers in One Head End Cablecast makes the all-important assumption that a routing switcher can switch any input to any output. This assumption is at the very heart of how Cablecast manages a location. When you introduce a second routing switcher into your head end, this assumption falls apart. Why would you want to have a second routing switcher in your head end? Below are a few examples. Example: You want to switch the background audio on your character generator to a different source and on a timed schedule. In this scenario, the feeder location s routing switcher is used to switch your background audio and the output of this switcher is sent to the primary routing switcher s input that has the character generator s video connected. Example: You don t have enough space on your primary routing switcher and can t afford a bigger one. Here you have one or two outputs from the feeder location s routing switcher connected to inputs of the primary routing switcher. You may only use as many devices on the secondary routing switcher at one time as you have connections between the routing switcher. That is, if you have two connections between the two routing switchers, you can only use two devices on the secondary routing switcher at the same time. Example: You enjoy complicated configurations, want to test the limits of Cablecast and you have an extra routing switcher lying around 2. If you need to implement a second routing switcher in your head end, you will be setting up a second location. This location will be represented by the secondary routing switcher and the devices (if any) that are connected to it. The output(s) of the secondary routing switcher will be connected to the 2 You re probably also a nerd. 6.1 Multiple Locations 59

60 input(s) of the primary. Each one of these connections will be represented as a feeder channel in the channel setup menu. 6.2 Cablecast, Control Modules and Devices The system called Cablecast on your server does not control any devices. Cablecast knows general commands, like Play and Jump to Timecode 2:30:04:00 and Switch Input 2 to Output 3 after 4 Seconds. When it comes to knowing the exact code for controlling your VTR or video server, Cablecast is at a complete loss. That is where the Control Module Service comes into play. The Control Module Service contains about 20 or so control modules. This service runs on Tightrope servers and a Tightrope server running the Control Module Service is often called a Control Module Host, especially when you re configuring Cablecast. Control modules act as the intermediary between Cablecast and the hardware that you are controlling. This model provides an extreme amount of flexibility, not only in terms of what we control, but also in terms of how and where we control it. Control Module Hosts are set up in chapter 17 on page 153, System Settings: Control Module Hosts (CMH). You can see them in the Cablecast interface in the System Settings:Control Module Hosts menu. First, the control module can communicate through any method necessary, including IP networks, serial ports (RS422 and RS232) or by any future means 3. Second, the control module can operate in varied ways depending on the intelligence of the device it is controlling. If the device has a memory and stores a table of commands in an event list, the control module can translate Cablecast s instructions into a compatible format and store it on the remote device, periodically synchronizing the remote device s clock with the Cablecast Server 4. If the device can only execute commands as they are received, then the control module will store the commands and execute them on its own schedule. Lastly, the control module can operate from anywhere. Commonly, the control module will be on the Cablecast Server, but sometimes this is not practical, efficient or convenient: Practical : When controlling multiple head ends with a Cablecast system, devices controlled at remote head ends become unreachable. If some kind of Tightrope 3 Tea leaves are in the works. 4 This is very common when the system is working with a a Tightrope video server, such as a VS or an SX Advanced Topics of Cablecast

61 computer is located at the remote head end, then control modules may be loaded on it and thus control over the remote devices becomes possible, even when Cablecast is across town 5. Efficient : If a device is controlled over an IP network, it may be more efficient, and thus more reliable, to run the control module on the device itself (as is the case on a Tightrope video server), or on a Tightrope computer that is located closer to the device. Convenient : Many times multiple Tightrope computers are in the same head end, many of them with available serial ports. Instead of purchasing additional USB to Serial Converters when more than one device requires a port, it may be easier to run the control module on a Tightrope computer other than Cablecast, thereby using the that machine s serial port. The bottom line is, Cablecast communicates with control modules, which in turn communicate with devices. These control modules operate on any Tightrope Server in your installation. Would you like to bend your mind further? Then consider Cablecast controlling a video server attached to a Leightronix TCD/IP. Here we have Cablecast talking to a control module, talking to the TCD/IP, talking to a PlusBus interface, talking to a video server... This is not only possible, but very common! Many customers use this exact setup when they use their TCD/RP video server with a TCD/IP event controller and Cablecast! 6.3 Advanced Format Topics There is a lot to formats and how Cablecast uses them to match shows to compatible playback devices. Many people never explore the power of this sophisticated design, but you might have occasion to. We cover these topics in this section Multiple Formats Per Device A device may have up to three formats associated with it. In this way, Cablecast can prioritize secondary formats for devices that can replay multiple formats. Example: Imagine that Device A is a Pseudo S-VHS deck and it can replay 6-Hour tapes. The other decks in the head end, which are real S-VHS decks, cannot replay the 6-Hour format. Device A would have the following formats in the following order: VHS, 6-Hour VHS, S-VHS. The other decks will be: S-VHS, VHS. Cablecast would pick device A last for any show that used the S-VHS format. 6.3 Advanced Format Topics 61

62 Location Settings: I/O: We ll cover this in more detail when we create devices in the Location Devices Settings: I/O: Devices menu, which we do in section 12.3 on page 112, Devices Abusing Formats to Force Autopilot to Pick A Specific Device Let s say you want Cablecast to play your meeting from a particular DVD player. You can do this by giving the DVD player and your meeting a special format. This format might be called Meeting-DVD and other than it s name, it would be identical to the DVD format that you entered for your other DVD players and shows. This kind of behavior is common when you want to simplify an activity for a volunteer: When you re done with the meeting, stick it in DVD Player 8. No guess work there, because you used the special format to force Cablecast to use that device. Truth be told, there are other, more appropriate ways to accomplish this effect. In older versions of Cablecast, this was the only way to force the system s hand, so the practice still goes on today. Feel free to be old school, if you wish. The better way would be to use a pre-assignment, which we cover in section on page 236, Media Records Using Formats to Distinguish Between Devices With Different Control If you have two devices of similar playback ability but different control types, such as a serial controlled VHS deck and an IR controlled VHS deck, compromises will have to be made. The reasons for this are... involved 6 : When you cue tapes in an IR deck, you either have to: A With IR : Cue them up just seconds before the show and press stop. Cablecast will play from that point. You need to have a deck that has a zero-rewind counter for this to work. B With IR : Rewind them to the very beginning of the tape. Rewinding the tape to the leader works by giving Cablecast the wall-clock time that it takes for video to show up from the very beginning of the tape. It s like saying, Play the deck for 00:01:32 then switch the routing switcher to it. Cueing a tape in a serial control deck also has two options, dependent on whether or not time code is present. If time code is present, then: A With Serial : The operator sticks the tape in the deck. If no time code is present, then... 5 A network connection is required between the two Tightrope computers. 6 Make sure you don t have to use the restroom and turn down the radio before you start reading this. Maybe put the kids to bed as well Advanced Topics of Cablecast

63 B With Serial : the operator rewinds the tape to the leader and zeros the counter in order to be sure that the counter will show zero when the first frame of video on the tape starts. In a head end with only IR decks, the station must choose either option A or (B, but not both. This is because Cablecast and you need a consistent way to cue shows. Either you cue them to the start of the show or the start of the tape. With only serial decks, Cablecast cues to a counter number. You can manually reset the counter to 00:00:00 at the beginning of the tape or rely on time code. As long as you are consistent with a given tape, you ll get good results. Remember, if time code is used, it must be stable and consistent to ensure successful cuing. If you mix serial and IR decks, there are three bad options: 1. Decide to designate unique formats for the IR decks and the serial decks. When you add show records, you ll have to pick one format or the other. Cablecast will not allow playback of shows that have been designated as VHS-IR (for example) on the VHS-SERIAL formatted deck. All of this is necessary because you will enter different cue times into the show records depending on which deck they are replayed on. That is: a 00:01:30 cue time for an IR deck is different than one for a deck that is jumping to that number on its counter. Why? Because a deck jumping to a time on a counter is not counting any tape that does not have time code or control track. Therefore, an IR deck will cue to a spot significantly before the serial controlled deck because it is using wall-clock time, not counter time. Because of this difference, you need a way to differentiate between the two decks, thus the different formats and the segregation of shows to certain decks. or Decide to degrade the primitive type of the serial decks so that they do not cue to counter or timecode numbers. Instead, like IR decks, they will play for the amount of time designated in the show s cue field, switching the routing switcher at the right time. Both decks will be set to the Generic primitive format and you ll lose the cool features that serial decks would otherwise bring. or Throw out the IR decks. These same scenarios play out when DVD players with IR and serial control are mixed, with the added difference of not being able to cue to a title or 6.3 Advanced Format Topics 63

64 chapter on an IR DVD player. We advise that you avoid IR DVD players, if at all possible. Serial controlled players are not that expensive and DVD playback is much more reliable when serial control is used. Which compromise is best? We re not a big fan of IR devices, so we d bring them out to a deserted field and have ourselves a technology skeet-shoot 7 But that s just us. You ll have to decide what s best for you on your own 8. 7 Respect your local ordinances, especially when turning old equipment into an ordnance. 8 Send pictures if you do anything fun Advanced Topics of Cablecast

65 II. Cablecast Setup

66 66

67 7 Introduction and Planning After spending some quality time reading the chapters in part I, One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast, you re finally ready to dive into the actual setup of your Cablecast system. Haven t seen part I, One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast? Then stop reading this chapter! We make bold assumptions about your knowledge of this system and things will not go well for you if you are not up to the task! This chapter covers the planning of your system s configuration. We take inventory of your playback devices, equipment, channels, locations before we configure Cablecast. Location Settings System Settings In later chapters, we go from a fresh Cablecast system and explore all of the steps necessary to make a functional system. We will cover every aspect of the Location Settings and System Settings menu, but not quite by order of how the menus are structured. If you follow along, you will be taken through the setup of your system and when you are finished with Cablecast Setup, your system will be ready for action, even if you won t know how to use it 1. If you have a larger system, you may want to write everything down and make a diagram of your system. This will not only help you with setup, but will also help you down the road, when you want to make changes or repair equipment. 7.1 Your Routing Switcher Remember, Cablecast organizes its world through your routing switcher. It assumes that any input can be sent to any output. If you have more than one routing switcher that Cablecast will control, then you ll need to represent that. If you re unsure about the number of routing switchers in your head end, the answer is probably one. 1 That comes later...

68 Some older Leightronix event controllers have a built-in routing switcher. You may use these as a routing switcher in Cablecast. If your routing switcher is being controlled through a compatible Leightronix event controller, then that Leightronix device is your routing switcher, as far as Cablecast is concerned. Later, when we configure the system, we ll tell Cablecast to use the Leightronix to switch. We won t directly communicate with the router. Make sure you take note of how your routing switcher is connected to your system. Example: Take a look at these three examples: comport 1 on Cablecast Pro comport 1 on Cablecast SX4 at x4 Routing switcher in Pro-16 connected to comport-1 on Cablecast Pro. Notice how we not only say the port number, but also the machine that is controlling it. We talk more about this in section on the next page, where we make decisions about where devices are controlled. Your routing switcher needs to be controlled as well, so make sure that you have a serial port for it, if needed. Cablecast usually communicates to routing switchers in real time. This means that a low-latency connection, such as a serial port, is a good idea. Switching inputs to outputs is at the core of your system, and keeping that connection simple, reliable and fast is a great idea. We suggest the built-in COM port on the Cablecast server. 7.2 Taking a Look at Your Devices Next up in our planning odyssey, we ll take inventory of the devices that we are going to control, remembering the definition of a device from section 3.6 on page 30, Devices and Formats. If you haven t read this section, please do! Make Room on Your Routing Switcher First, you may want to establish an order for your devices on your routing switcher. For devices that have multiple outputs, you ll need one input on the router for each output on the device. For devices that record, you ll need to dedicate an output of the routing switcher to that device as well, if you want to use the record function Introduction and Planning

69 7.2.2 Labeling and Naming Devices How Is It Controlled? When you configure Cablecast, each input on the routing switcher will be considered its own device. Each output will also be considered its own device if it is associated with a device that records, unless the record device cannot record and play at the same time. This is all a part of what we learned in Devices and Formats. If you are using multiple routings switchers, the connections between the routing switchers will be considered a device on the receiving end of the connection, so make room for it on your routing switcher. Example: Routing Switcher A sends video to Routing Switcher B. The connection on Routing Switcher B s input is a device. As you re sorting the inputs and outputs on your routing switcher, think of the names that you ll give your devices as you will later be entering them into Cablecast. You might want to put physical labels on the equipment that match the names that you give Cablecast. When a device is a part of a video server that has more than one port, label the input and output numbers. Each input or output of a video server gets its own entry because each takes up an input/output on your routing switcher. Make sure you spend some quality time in section 3.6 on page 30, Devices and Formats. When you re trying to figure out devices, it s your best friend. Remember, if a piece of equipment can record and play at the same time, you need to treat it like it s two devices. Devices can only do one thing at a time! Example: Deck 1 or Studio A Feed 1 or Feed from High School or Video Server Output 4. Some of your equipment will communicate with Cablecast through a communication port, known as a COM Port. Some of your equipment may work through infrared (IR) control. Count up the playback equipment that you have that will use a serial port. Then identify the serial ports on your Tightrope servers that you will use to connect to your playback equipment. Example: COM Port 2 on Cablecast Typically, a Cablecast Pro server will come with one internal serial port set to something like COM Port-1. These servers also include an CBL PT. This device is documented in the Tightrope Server Installation Guide. 7.2 Taking a Look at Your Devices 69

70 You can configure each port for 422 or 232 access and change the COM Port numbers. Most users select COM 1 8. Consult the device s documentation for changing these values. In cases where the device is plugged into a third party event controller, such as a Leightronix Pro 16, note how it is attached to the Pro 16 and how the Pro 16 is attached to Cablecast. Example: ProBus Interface 1 on Pro 16 on COM Port-1 on Cablecast or ProBus Interface 6 on TCD/IP at When the device is controlled through a network, list the device s IP address. Example: Extron Routing Switcher at Example: Video Server Output 1 at Using Other Tightrope Servers for Control You may use any serial port on a Tightrope video server or VOD server for control, even if you are not using that video server as your Cablecast server. This is an advanced topic that we covered in section 6.2 on page 60, Cablecast, Control Modules and Devices.! Basically, Cablecast can control devices that are plugged into other Tightrope servers, such as video or VOD servers. If the control module that will control the device is not on the main Cablecast unit, be it a Cablecast Pro or an SX video server, then you need to pay close attention to this detail. If everything is controlled by one server, then it s enough to know the port. If you wish to configure your system to use multiple Tightrope servers to control devices, make sure that you make notes on this. Example: The device is controlled from a serial port on a video server that is not your Cablecast server, such is the case when you have a Cablecast Pro controlling an SX4 video server. List the port number on the video server (such as COM Port 1 ) and list the video server with its IP address so that you know it s not a serial port on the Cablecast Pro machine, but on that video server. In this example: COM Port 1 on SX4 at You cannot use the CG-250 as a controller for equipment, because it does not have the Cablecast Device Control Service loaded on it. IR Devices For devices that use IR, you will need to use a supported Leightronix event controller with ProBus interfaces Introduction and Planning

71 7.2.4 What Formats Do Your Devices Use? Format and Device Types Tightrope Media Systems used to sell the IR-4, which was a serial controlled IR device. See the Tightrope Server Installation Guide for instructions on configuring the IR-4 if you have one of these devices. All of the devices that you will use in your head end will need a format, if they are to be used for playback in your system. Without a format, there is no way for Cablecast to link a show record to a compatible device. We covered this topic in section on page 32, Tied Up By Formats. Example: SVHS, VHS, Remote Feed, Satellite or MPEG2. Example: By way of example through contrast, if you never want to schedule your color bar generator to play back on your channel, you do not need to assign it a format. A related question might be, Why would you want to create a device without a format for your color bar generator? The answer is that if you want to access this input on your routing switcher through Cablecast s force interface (section 29.4 on page 287, Force Menu: Making Cablecast Do Something Now! ), you ll add it as a device without a format. That way it shows up on the virtual routing switcher, but is unavailable in all other parts of the system. You can create formats as a way to force an assignment for a show. This is ok, but it s probably better to override Cablecast s auto-assignment feature when editing the reel record using the media record. Check out section on page 216, Show Record: Reels to learn how. The key is to list out all of the unique formats that you will use in your head end. You ll need this list in one of the first steps that you take when you set up Cablecast. Not all formats are created equal. Live feeds are simply switched to, while tape players and video files need to be cued. DVD players need to be cued, but they cue differently in that they also have titles and chapters unless they don t, because they re IR controlled. Tape players might be IR controlled as well, meaning their cuing will be different than if they were working off of time code, as is the case with serial controlled decks. It s enough to make one s head spin! Cablecast automatically handles these differences when you specify the type of format and the type of device that you re working with. We go over this in detail in section 10.1 on page 89, Formats when we cover device types. 7.2 Taking a Look at Your Devices 71

72 For now, you may just jot down some notes about the kind of control you re using for each device. Pay special attention to devices where you do not have two-way communication, such as IR devices or any device controlled through Leightronix s ProBus interface. These will be treated differently than their serial controlled counterparts. If you d like to learn more about some of the trickier issues related to formats, see section 6.3 on page 61, Advanced Format Topics. 7.3 Outputs and Channels Now we are ready to take a closer look at the output side of your routing switcher. Outputs will include any channels that you are automating, preview outputs, feeds to other routing switchers (for multi-location installations) and any devices that need an output for recording. This last case should have been taken care of in section on page Numbering and Naming With outputs, you should make a distinction between your channels, outputs for devices that record, outputs to other routing switchers for multi-location installations and preview outputs, which are for previewing content, test pattern generators, etc. Example: Preview Monitor or Channel 15 or Feed 1 to Location Y Autopilot: Force In Cablecast, a preview output is only available from the Autopilot: Force menu. From there, you can switch an input to this output, but you will not be able to select this output from anywhere else within the Cablecast system. We use the name Preview because most often these outputs are used for quality control in the head end. However, this does not describe every use for these non-automated outputs. You may have feeds that you run through your routing switcher that rarely change. If you want to be able to switch them manually through Cablecast s web centric interface, then adding them as preview outputs is the way to go! That way, they are available in the Autopilot: Force menu, even if you cannot schedule them. Decide on the most logical assignments for each of your outputs on your routing switcher. Order your channels on the routing switcher in the same sequence as they are on the dial. Example: Channel 17 and Channel 18 might be on routing switcher outputs 1 and 2. This will make installation, troubleshooting and maintenance easier Introduction and Planning

73 City Wide Channel Default Inputs 7.4 Linking Multiple Locations Outputs for your channels will use a default input when they re not showing scheduled programming. Make a note on what that default is. For regular channels it will be your on-air character generator (Carousel). If you have multiple locations, then refer to section on page 58, Multiple Locations and Default Inputs when deciding on the default input for feeder channels (channel outputs that feed other routing switchers). The tricky part when working with feeder channels is that your default input may be a color bar or logo generator, if the CG is located at the Primary Location. If the CG is located at this feeder location, then the feeder channel s default input will be the CG and the primary channel s default input will be the feed from the Feeder Channel. Example: Carousel CG or Bars and Tone. Skip this section if you do not have more than one routing switcher in your installation. FIGURE 7.1: You need to take note that indicates where the interconnects are for your multi-location channels. On your feeder location s worksheet, mark down the output from your feeder for your feeder channel On the primary location s worksheet, mark the input where the feeder channel is received. City Wide Channel Feeder Channel for City Wide Channel Feeder Location Primary Location Feeder Location Primary Location City Wide Channel If you have channels in your installation that have content that originates for Channel Feeder from multiple routing switchers, you will need to take note of the interconnects. your feeder channel received. your for feeder from is feeder the channel Without skipping ahead too much, you will later designate feeder locations mark down the output mark input where and channels that will be associated with the primary channel. Make note on how the channel on the feeder location is connected to the primary location that it is associated with (figure 7.1). These connections will require extra setup steps, so marking them down is important. 7.5 You Should Know How all of your playback sources are connected and controlled. 7.4 Linking Multiple Locations 73

74 ... What all of your devices and outputs are called For Multi-Location Setups, You Should Know How all of your devices, channels and preview outputs are ordered on your routing switcher.... (or have a good idea, at least) all of the formats that you ll be using in your system.... Where all of your primary channels are located.... Where all of your feeder channels are located.... How the Feeder and Primary channels are connected to each other.... How all of the preview and non-automated outputs are connected Introduction and Planning

75 8 Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up? There are many set up forms and menus in Cablecast. Some have a direct effect on how the system operates and some you may never touch. When you re installing the system for the first time, it s a good idea to set the basics up first, test and then configure it the rest of the way. If you went through the menus as they are presented in Cablecast things would not go well. Some things are dependant on others, so there is a bit of skipping around. Also, you probably don t know the answers to every question Cablecast might ask of you and can safely skip much of the setup, until you are ready. In creating this documentation, a lot of thought went into how to lay out the menus... by setup process or by the way it is presented in the software. In the end, we decided to lay it out in the way that is ordered in the software and include this chapter, which walks you through the setup of a system. We don t actually perform any of the tasks called out in this chapter. Instead, we tell you where to go in the manual, why you are doing the task at hand and then we test what you have done. We ll close with a section called Next Steps, which will provide you with a list of all the remaining steps. 8.1 Install the Hardware Install Servers You first step is to install and configure the Tightrope equipment and the head end equipment that you will use with Cablecast. Install the servers in your rack mount cabinet. You can refer to the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for specific information about rack installation and cabling. Make sure that you pay attention to the proximity of devices that Cablecast will be controlling, especially the routing switcher. Mounting Breakout Boxes Some servers include a separate breakout box that can be mounted in your rack. It makes the most sense to mount these on your rack s rear rails.

76 Keyboard Video Mouse Switches If you have a keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) switch, configure and install it at this time, as well. If you have a KVM switch, it s a great idea to change the backgrounds of each Tightrope server. It s especially helpful if you put the name, purpose and IP address of the server on the desktop background as well Wire and Configure Networking Connect all of the Tightrope servers, and any other computers used in the system, to a single network switch, preferably located in the same rack as the servers. By consolidating everything to one network switch, you eliminate any network hops and potential for network latency. Make sure that everything is on the same IP network and configured appropriately. It s a good idea to put the network IP address on the front of each server. This will help you when you re troubleshooting your system Test Networking Log into Cablecast from your desk... We need to test to see if your Tightrope computers can see each other on your network and if you can reach your Cablecast server from your desk. From an office computer, log in to Cablecast through your web browser by typing in its IP address or its computer name into the URL field. We don t need to log in at this point. If you want to, however, feel free. We covered this in chapter 5 on page 47, Logging in and A First Look. If you cannot reach your Cablecast server, check your network settings. Verify that you can reach the internet from your office computer. Go to the Cablecast machine and see if you can reach the Internet from there. If you cannot, it s a good sign that your network settings are incorrect. If you can, see if you can ping your desktop machine. Step 1: Open the command prompt on your Cablecast machine. Substep A: Click the Start button on the Windows desktop. Substep B: Click the Run... button Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up?

77 Substep C: Type cmd and hit the return key. Step 2: In the opened command prompt, type ping <IP Address>, where IP address is the address of your desktop computer. Example: ping If you can t ping your desktop computer, perhaps there isn t a network path between your Tightrope computers and your office machines. Pinging a computer tells you that you have a path, but it isn t fool proof. Computers have to accept ping requests and respond to them, which is not always the case. Also, just because you can doesn t mean you can get to the web page. Ping uses ICMP, not TCP and therefore cannot tell you if a specific kind of network traffic will work. It can only tell you, If ICMP is not blocked and the computer is responding to ping requests, then it can tell you if it can reach the host your are looking for. Thankfully, this is usually true, so ping is a good test. For troubleshooting or more information check out Tightrope s Not So Short Introduction to Networking at If you can ping your desktop computer, make sure that you are working with the correct Tightrope server. Tightrope uses the same chassis for different servers and you may be attempting to access the web interface on a computer that does not have one, such as a CG-310. Log in to Cablecast from your other Tightrope computers... Once you ve established that you can access Cablecast from your office computers, attempt to log into the web interface from any other Tightrope machines that you have in your installation, if you have any. This would include any CG-310s or SX-VOD servers in your installation. This will verify that you have good connections between each server and you can later eliminate the network as a culprit, should any troubleshooting need to take place. Follow the steps in section on the facing page to test the connection between Tightrope computers. Since we ve been setting the network up, it might make sense to begin set up of the public web access feature of Cablecast and Carousel. We ll hold off on that for now. To get these functions to work, you need to set Carousel and Cablecast up, more than they are straight out of the box. The public web site for Cablecast is covered in section 16.8 on page Install the Hardware 77

78 8.1.4 Connect Control Cables Once your network has been tested, you can start to wire your equipment to Cablecast. This will involve plugging in serial ports and configuring devices that use the network. If you have not already done so, read section 7.2 on page 68, Taking a Look at Your Devices, which talks about devices and how and where they may be connected. It is essential information and we will not repeat very much from that section here. Using your notes (or memory) from chapter 7 on page 67, Introduction and Planning, plug your devices into the desired serial ports. You ll need to make reference to the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for wiring information, especially for devices that are 422 controlled. See the same guide for information on the IR4 and the CBL PT, Tightrope s 8-Port serial adaptor. Most of the examples discussed in the next sections are illustrated in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide. Be sure to reference this tome to get a better picture of how things are put together Connect AV Cables Connect the audiovisual cabling from your devices to the routing switcher. Example system diagrams are found in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide. The will help you visualize the connections needed in a typical installation. Also, we refer to almost all of the diagrams in that chapter, so you may want to review it before continuing. Make sure that you label everything and make a diagram of your head end. It may all seem very obvious right now, but when a deck goes out for service, or some other change happens in your head end, labeling and documentation are critical. Frame Synchronizers: Encoders and Channel Output All of Tightrope s video servers require a frame synchronizer (a.k.a. TBC) to be installed between its video source and its encoder s input, which is usually plugged into an output of the routing switcher. Also, put a TBC on the output of each of your channels. This will ensure that you are providing your cable company a stable video signal, even if something should go wrong with your channel. It will also smooth the transition from one source to the next, if your sources are not genlocked Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up?

79 Installing your Down Stream Key Installing a SX-LIVE A down stream key device (DSK), like a Compix, will be installed between the output of your channel on the routing switcher and your video distribution equipment (modulator, fiber transmitter, etc.). An SX-LIVE needs to be have a feed of your channel plugged into its inputs. This usually necessitates the addition of an audiovisual distribution amplifier (DA), which will be plugged into the output of your routing switcher that will be used for your channel. This will give you multiple outputs of that channel, one of which is for your video distribution hardware (fiber transmitter or RF modulator) and the other plugs into the SX-LIVE. One SX-LIVE is required for every channel that you want to stream. Installing a CG-310 The CG-310 s TV Input When your channel is not playing programming, it will switch to your default input, which is usually a Tightrope CG-310. If you want some audio to play along with your bulletins, you can use Carousel s ability to play audio in the background from its hard disk or you can plug an external audio source directly into Carousel s audio input. When a bulletin within Carousel includes audio, it will automatically fade the background or external audio source and play the bulletin s audio. Alternately, you can plug your external audio source directly into the routing switcher, completely bypassing Carousel s audio capability. If you do this, any audio linked to any bulletins in Carousel will not be heard. The TV Input option included with your CG-310 allows you to connect a video source the unit. You can do this through the routing switcher if you want the ability to easily change the source, or you can plug it directly into a dedicated source if you don t need this flexibility. 8.2 Name the Locations Once everything is physically installed, your network is configured and your AV cabling is connected, it s time to start configuring Cablecast. The first step is to name your location, which we do in chapter 15 on page 133, System Settings: Locations. In multi-location setups, this is an absolutely necessary step. In single location setups, it just makes it so you don t have to look at the words Default Location on every page. 8.2 Name the Locations 79

80 8.3 Configure Control Module Hosts Next, you will configure your control module hosts (CMH). A control module host is a Tightrope server that is running the Cablecast Control Module Service. We talk about CMHs in section 6.2 on page 60, Cablecast, Control Modules and Devices. Configuring Control Module Hosts within Cablecast consists primarily of just telling Cablecast where the servers are. We do this in chapter 17 on page 153, System Settings: Control Module Hosts (CMH). 8.4 Configure Formats Next, we need to configure the formats on our Cablecast system. Formats glue shows to devices that can play them and they are an essential building block of our setup. Go to section 10.1 on page 89, Formats. 8.5 Configure the Location s I/O and Devices Location Setup: I/O Settings Once formats are in place and your Control Module Hosts have been configured, you re ready to start configuring your equipment in Cablecast. Since the Location Setup: I/O Settings tab can be followed from start to finish, chapter 12 on page 109, Location Settings: IO serves as a walk-through for this step. Just follow each section in this chapter to setup your location. 8.6 Multiple Locations Only: Repeat Formats and IO for Each Location If you have multiple locations in your system, then you need to repeat the steps from sections 8.4 and 8.5. You cannot properly configure your channels until all of your outputs are in place. You should configure your devices at this time as well and that will require you to set up your formats. Do this before continuing. 8.7 Configure the Channels System Settings: Channels Now it s time to configure your channels. The Channels menu has many configuration options, only some of which are critical to your initial setup Name the Channels You need to add and name the channels in your system. Step 1: Add a channel by following the steps insection 16.1 on page 135, Adding a Channel Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up?

81 8.7.2 Set Channel IO Configure Down Stream Key Step 2: Follow the steps in section 16.4 on page 137, Channel Name to rename the channel. Step 3: Repeat for each channel in your system. Even though you ve set up the inputs and outputs of each location, you still need to tell Cablecast that a particular schedule in the system is driving a particular output. We do this in section 16.5 on page 137, Channel IO. If you have one or more down stream key (DSK) devices in your head end, you can configure that equipment now. Follow the steps in section 16.7 on page 143, Down Stream Key (DSK). 8.8 Configure Networking for VOD and Live Streaming If you have an SX-VOD or SX-LIVE, you want to control to Cablecast from the internet, or you want viewers to use Cablecast s public web interface, then you need to configure your network to allow the correct access. Getting access to Cablecast s web interface usually involves firewall and network router configuration. Some guidelines for configuring Cablecast for outside web access can be found in The Tightrope Server Installation Guide, which can be found on our web site. If you have an SX-VOD or SX-LIVE server, visit the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for information on setting that up. 8.9 Testing You ve gone through the essentials of setting up your Cablecast system! Now, everything is working perfectly and you can move on without fear... If you happen to live in an imperfect world, then it s time to test what you ve done to make sure everything is working as you hope. Follow the steps in chapter 23 on page 193, Testing and Troubleshooting Cablecast to make sure everything works as you expect Next Steps Everything that is in your head end is working correctly. Now it is time to personalize Cablecast to your stations preferences and needs. You don t want to go too far before you make the effort to do the next steps outlined in this section, because things like categories and custom fields will be a part of your show records. If you don t enter this information, then your older 8.8 Configure Networking for VOD and Live Streaming 81

82 shows won t be as complete as the newer ones, and that creates inaccurate reports. This section goes through the non-essential parts of your setup. These steps will make your life easier and your workflow simpler. It s these steps that will help you to truly enjoy using Cablecast, so make sure that you get to them sooner, not later! If you re a system installer and you are installing Cablecast for a customer, most of the configuration in this section will be done with the direct involvement of the station s staff. You want to be sure that you understand each of the features that are configured in this section so that you can help your customer to understand the consequences. You do not want to configure these settings without their input, however and for some features, the costumer might not yet be able to answer them completely. Just make sure that they are trained on their purpose and use Create Users for Cablecast and Set Defaults Cablecast uses FrontDoor as its login system. This system features the ability to create multiple user accounts with different levels of access. Example: You have a staff member that can enter shows, but you do not want them to be able to manipulate the schedule or send autopilot. Example: You have an emergency response team that you want to let access your down stream key system and your Carousel system. You can create user accounts and adjust permission levels using FrontDoor User Manager. The User Manger is a topic covered in FrontDoor:The Manual. Cablecast s permissions within FrontDoor are explained in chapter 20 on page 165, Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor. If you do not configure additional accounts, you can continue using the Admin account, as it has access to the entire system Configure Autopilot Defaults Location Setup: Autopilot When your schedule is set and all of the show records have accurate information, Cablecast is then ready to program the equipment. This process is called sending autopilot. There are preferences related to this process and they can be configured in the Location Setup: Autopilot menu. See chapter 13 on page 127, Location Settings: Autopilot for information on configuring autopilot Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up?

83 Set Interstitial Length Some users who operate Cablecast don t pack each day with twenty four hours of programming. They run a program and then show a bulletin board between that program and the next. The trouble comes when one program ends and the next begins within seconds. The viewer is treated to a jarring transition between show, bulletin board and back again before they have a chance to read what was going on. Cablecast can force breaks between programs on your system that is of at least a length that you specify. This length is called the interstitial length. We did not make that word up, contrary to what Doug Taylor and Roger Zinzer might tell you. The term comes from the broadcast word to describe a break between programming. The word interstitial comes from sewing. It describes the length between two stitches, or the interstitch length. The interstitial length also servers to give Carousel enough time to advertise the show that you were watching and the show that is coming up next. If you have graphics that are to take up, at most, thirty seconds of time, you can set the interstitial length to 30 seconds. If you want to play your programming back to back, you ll want to set the interstitial length to 0 seconds. This will disable the interstitial on that channel, allowing programs to be scheduled and played back to back. Read section 16.6 on page 140, Interstitial Length. It has the details on interstitial lengths and how to set it in Cablecast Configure Carousel and Cable Display Once you ve set your interstitial length, you re ready to create some graphics in Carousel. You need to advertise your schedule and make graphics that come before and after your shows. This is done in the Cable Display system in Carousel and configuring this feature is covered in Carousel: The Manual Create Categories, Dispositions, Run Types and Custom Fields Before you add too many shows to your system, be sure that you read the sections in chapter 10 on page 89, Location Settings: Shows regarding categories, custom fields and dispositions. These are properties that you can 8.10 Next Steps 83

84 configure in show records that will help you track your station s performance and assist you in your workflow. In section 11.1 on page 101, Location Settings: Schedule: Run Types, run types are described and configured. If you have a down stream key device or want to track the types of show runs that you air (live, studio, call-in, etc.), then you ll want to configure your run types. Your reports will benefit from having these properties filled out early, but you want to make sure that you put enough thought into their values. For example, if you change the purpose of a custom field, show records that used the field for the old purpose will retain that value. If you change a category, old shows with that category will be set blank. The bottom line: use these fields but know that changing them has consequences Make Block Copies Configure the Public Web Site If you repeat programming, then you need to learn about block copies and set them up. The subject is detailed in the appropriately named section 11.2 on page 103, Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask). In short, block copies make one or more time shifted copies of a program. Example: You always play a show at 6:00 pm on Monday and then repeat it on Wednesday at 4:00 pm and then again at Friday at 9:00 am. You can set up a block copy to ripple copy the repeats leaving you to only schedule the first run. You can advertise your station s schedule with Cablecast s public web site. Learn how to configure it in section 16.8 on page 143, Public Site. If you want to go (much) further, then check out chapter 33 on page 345, The Cablecast Web Service, where you will learn how to use the Cablecast Web Service. With it, you can create your own completely customized web site Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up?

85 9 A Quick Tour of the Location Settings Menu 9.1 Introduction Location Settings System Settings The Location Settings menu is where the bulk of your setup will happen. It is unique from the System Settings menu because the settings within it are unique for each location. Each location has its own formats, devices, producers, shows, categories, and channels. The settings within the System Settings menu are system wide in that every location within Cablecast is affected by them. We tour the System Settings menu in chapter 14 on page 131. This chapter tours the Location Settings Menu If You Have Multiple Locations... Because the settings within the Location Settings menu are unique to each location, you ll be repeating the steps in the remaining chapters of Cablecast Setup for every location that is in your head end. If you haven t already, you ll need to read section 6.1 on page 55, Multiple Locations. 9.2 Location Settings Location Settings: Shows, Schedule, I/O and Autopilot tabs From Cablecast s main menu, navigate to the Location Settings menu. Select the location you wish to edit by selecting its tab at the top. Within this menu there are four tabs: Shows, Schedule, I/O, and Autopilot The Location Settings: Shows Tab Formats: Location Settings: Shows Categories: Shows have attributes that describe them. menu. This data is defined in this Shows and devices have formats. Cablecast uses the entries in this list for both. Creating and deleting formats is covered in section 10.1 on page 89, Formats. You can categorize your shows for reporting purposes. Those fields are

86 FIGURE 9.1: The Shows Menu defined here. Along with Dispositions and Custom Fields, Categories are documented in chapter 10 on page 89, Location Settings: Shows. Dispositions: Custom Fields: IFrames: If you need to track the status of a show or the location of the media, you will use dispositions. Custom fields may be defined if the standard fields don t cut it. You can define up to eight in this menu. This menu allows you to create, edit, and delete IFrames that can be used in a show record and is covered in section 10.5 on page 98, IFrames The Location Settings: Schedule Tab Location Settings: Schedule Run Types: Modify Blocks: Blocking Settings: Like shows, the schedule has attributes that you can define. We use these attributes for reporting and for copying shows in the schedule. The items in this menu are documented in chapter 11 on page 101. A show is only live once. You may want to track a show s run by giving it a type. Blocks are time-shifted copies of shows. If you repeat your shows during the week and those repeats are predictable, then you need to get to know this menu. If you use the block copy feature, then you may want to control exactly 86 9 A Quick Tour of the Location Settings Menu

87 FIGURE 9.2: The Schedule Menu what is copied when the show is block copied. This menu sets those preferences The Location Settings: I/O Tab Location Settings: I/O The I/O tab is a very significant tab. It defines the configuration for all of the devices in a head end, channel output, default inputs and more. You ll spend a good amount of time here when you are configuring your Cablecast system. This menu is covered in chapter 12 on page 109. FIGURE 9.3: The I/O Menu. Control Module Sets: Router: Most devices use a control module, which is an interface between external equipment and Cablecast. Those settings are defined here. Every location has one routing switcher and that is defined here. 9.2 Location Settings 87

88 Devices: Outputs: On Demand IP Video: You configure each of your location s devices within this menu. All of your channel and preview outputs get configured here. If you have a video on demand server, you can configure it here. We cover this in a separate chapter, section 12.5 on page 124, On Demand IP Video The Location Settings: Autopilot Tab Location Settings: Autopilot There is only one menu item under this tab, Autopilot. You establish defaults for sending autopilot within this menu. We go over this in chapter 13 on page 127. FIGURE 9.4: The Autopilot preferences menu A Quick Tour of the Location Settings Menu

89 10 Location Settings: Shows Location Settings: Shows In the Shows tab, we configure Cablecast s treatment of shows and establish formats that our system will use Formats In this chapter, we define the formats that will be at the core of your automation. To borrow a line from Tied Up By Formats, Cablecast ties shows to playback devices through formats. The formats that we enter in this chapter will be used for both show records and devices Defining Formats FIGURE 10.1: The Formats menu. Your notes from Introduction and Planning on will be extremely helpful right about now... Location Settings: Shows From the Location Settings: Shows 1 menu, click on the Formats button. In this form, we establish the formats that will be in use within your head end. There are many important rules to remember from section on page 32, Tied Up By Formats. Here is a dry summary of them: 1 Strictly speaking, we re in the Location Settings menu with the Shows tab selected, but we treat tabs like regular navigation menus. We ll refer to them like they re a sub-menu in this manual.

90 Formats glue shows to devices. Any time that Cablecast must pick one device over another, there must be a unique format that Cablecast can use to distinguish. Therefore, use Live Feed From Studio and Live Feed From Stadium instead of one format called Live Feeds. Otherwise, Cablecast will pick either feed when a show is set to that format, which would not work, unless you can get the teams to play in your studio. The same principles apply for formats that can play in the same device, such as S-VHS, VHS and 6-Hour VHS. If some of your devices cannot playback certain formats, you need to make that distinction to keep 6-hour mode VHS tapes out of decks that cannot play them. Some video servers can play only certain digital files, while others might play a wider variety. Keep this in mind if you have two video servers with different capabilities. However, if you have devices that can all play the same list of multiple formats, there s no need to list them separately, unless you want to track the formats for reporting or workflow reasons. Just know that it won t effect Cablecast s automation. If you have more than one video server and your servers are not sharing storage, you need to make a separate format for each server. Otherwise, Cablecast will assign shows to either server and you ll have to copy files to meet its whims. Have Cablecast meet your whims instead and make a format for each server. When Cablecast can choose between more than one device to replay a program, only enter one format to represent those devices. Cablecast will automatically choose a device on its own. You ll notice a pop-down list under the Primitive Format column heading. Each format has one of six settings. Primitive formats determine compatibility with devices and the kind of cuing that is supported. Cablecast only allows formats to be applied to devices that are compatible with these primitives. Each primitive format is defined below: None : This format is not compatible with any device. This is one way to prevent a show from being played on your channel, as there is no way to even inadvertently assign this show to a device. Generic : Used for all devices that are controlled, but lack two-way communication. Example: A DVD player controlled via IR, or a serial controlled deck that is connected to Leightronix Pro 16 s ProBus interface. These are tricky examples of devices that should be Generic. Any IR controlled device should be set to Generic. Also, any device connected to Leightronix s ProBus interface should be set to Generic, as well. This is because the ProBus interface lacks two-way communication, even Location Settings: Shows

91 when it controls serial devices that might otherwise have two-way communication. If the format using the Generic primitive is used in a show record, then that show record will have a length and a cue field to describe the reel. When automating a show with this format, Cablecast will play the show for cue time, switch the routing switcher to that show, then play the show for length. Time Code Tape : Time code tape is used for tape decks with two-way communication, usually through a serial port. Cablecast is able to tell these devices, Go to 00:02:35:00 no matter where you are in the tape. If needed, you can set all serial controlled tape decks to the Generic primitive. This may be needed if you have some decks that are IR controlled and some that are serial. To learn why you would commit such a sin, see section on page 62, Using Formats to Distinguish Between Devices With Different Control. Like Generic, Cablecast provides a length and a cue for this format in the show records that use it. When automating shows with this primitive, Cablecast will send a cue command before the start of a show. Just before the show starts 2 Cablecast rolls tape and switches to the device. Time code is not necessarily needed on tapes that use this format. You can manually zero the counter, find the beginning of the show and give Cablecast that counter number in the show s cue field. DVD : This primitive format is used for serial controlled DVD players only. If you have a DVD player with IR control, it will use the Generic setting. In addition to length, the DVD primitive format adds three fields to show records that use this format: cue time, title and chapter. When automating these shows, a few minutes before the show starts 3 Cablecast cues to the title and chapter. Then it plays the disc for cue time, switches to the player and plays the show for length. Digital File : Cablecast handles digital files much like it does tape, except that it knows that a video server can play multiple files from a single server without swapping media. It also knows to check to see if the show s file is loaded in the video server when the operator sends autopilot. The Digital File primitive provides a length and cue field in the show records that use it. When automating digital files, Cablecast is smart about the cuing capabilities of video servers. Some servers, like the SX series from Tightrope, are able to jump to a specified point in the file. Dumber servers, which will 2... send a cue command before the show starts... and Just before the show starts... are details that we work out in section on page 113, Adding a Device. 3 Again, A few minutes... is covered in section on page Formats 91

92 Deleting Formats remain nameless, require Cablecast to play into the file, like a device that uses the Generic format. Cablecast handles both servers automatically. Live : Live formats are the simplest. Cablecast just switches to these formats without any further automation. The only field that this format will produce in a show record is length. To create a new format: Step 1: Click the new button for each new format. Step 2: In the Formats field, name the format something descriptive. Step 3: Select the correct primitive type in the Primitive Format pop-down list. Step 4: Repeat step 1 through step 3 for each format in your system. Step 5: When you are finished, click the save button. Because show media records use formats, deleting them should not be done carelessly. You can effect thousands of show records by deleting one format! To delete a format: Step 1: Click the check box next to the format, or formats, that you want to delete. Step 2: Click the delete button. Step 3: The system will ask you if you really want to delete the format and will tell you the number of shows that you ll affect, as demonstrated in figure 10.2 on the next page. Substep A: Select a replacement for the affected shows from the pop-down list. This will reassign shows to the new format. Substep B: Click delete and the format will be deleted and the shows reassigned Location Settings: Shows

93 FIGURE 10.2: Here we are about to affect 2,407 show records! We can re-assign them to a different format, or select the blank option. Remember, without a format, Cablecast can t assign it to devices Categories Location Settings: Shows: Categories Show records may be categorized. Categories are used in reporting and also to determine the default transcoding quality for video on demand servers, in systems that are so equipped. Navigate to Location Settings: Shows: Categories. FIGURE 10.3: The Location Settings: Shows: Categories Menu Default Transcode Quality Settings If you do not have a video on demand server, this section will not apply to you. You can leave these settings at their default for all of your categories. There are six settings for the Default Transcode Quality pop-down list, which you can see in figure Categories 93

94 The first three, High, Medium and Low, are constant bit-rate streams that will stay at their settings no matter the network conditions. The last three, Multi-bitrate High, Multi-bitrate Medium and Multibitrate Low, are dynamic bitrate settings. These settings instruct the video on demand server to encode multiple versions of the file. When network congestion occurs, the video on demand server will automatically reduce the quality of the stream, ensuring that the viewer will at least be able to see the content, if not at the maximum quality. The multi-bitrate files will take longer to encode and consume more space on the video on demand server. The constant bitrate files are less flexible when network congestion occurs. If you have limited bandwidth or are serving customers with unknown internet connections, you may want to stick with the multi-bitrate settings Adding a Category Deleting a Category To add a category: Step 1: Click the new button. Step 2: Enter a name for the category in the Categories field. Best practices are to pick a category and not a series. For example, instead of making a Selectman s Meetings category, make a Meetings category and create a Selectman s Meetings project for all of your Selectman s meetings. Categories describe the genre of your programming, not a single series of programming, which is what projects are for. We cover the creation of projects in section 26.4 on page 209, Projects. Step 3: If you have a video on demand server, chose the default quality for on demand streaming video for this category. For low-activity shows, such as meetings, you may choose a lower bit rate. For shows with a high amount of action, such as sports programming, you may want to pick a higher bandwidth setting. Step 4: If you need to add additional categories, go back to step 1. Step 5: When you re finished, click the save button. If you delete a category, all of the shows that had that category will have that field set to nothing. Be careful when deleting categories. To delete a category: Location Settings: Shows

95 Step 1: Select the checkbox next to the item(s) that you want to delete. Step 2: Click the delete button Dispositions Dispositions track the location or stage of a show. Is it in post production? Is it on your archive shelf? Is it erased or returned to the producer? You can create a disposition to describe any of these states. FIGURE 10.4: The Location Settings: Shows: Disposition menu. Location Settings: Shows: Dispositions Cablecast represents a show as a collection of the show record, the media record and the reel record. Basically, the media record is describes the physical media that shows are recorded on and is where the disposition is stored. The disposition is actually on the media record, but we talk like it s on the show record, because most often, it does not matter. This is explained in detail in section 26.2 on page 206, Shows, Reels and Media Records. Navigate to Location Settings: Shows: Dispositions Dispositions 95

96 Assignments and Dispositions FIGURE 10.5: The error that you get when you try to play a show that has a disposition that does not allow assignment. If you erase the tape that a show is on, you shouldn t be able to put it on the air, right? That s what the Allow Assignment check box, pictured in figure 10.4 on the previous page is designed to prevent. If you schedule a show with a disposition that does not allow assignment and then send autopilot for that schedule, it will report an error, similar to the one shown in figure Adding a Disposition To add a disposition: Location Settings: Shows: Dispositions Step 1: From the Location Settings: Shows: Dispositions menu, click the new button. Step 2: Name your disposition in the Dispositions field. Step 3: If you do not want to allow autopilot to assign this show to a device for playback, and therefore cause an error shown in figure 10.5, if they try to send autopilot when a show using this disposition is in the schedule, then uncheck the Allow Assignment check box. Step 4: If you want to add more dispositions, return to step 1. Step 5: When you are done, click the save button Deleting a Disposition If you have media records in your database that are using a disposition that you delete, then the Disposition field for those media records will be blank. Be careful when you delete dispositions. To delete a disposition: Step 1: Click the checkbox next to the disposition(s) that you wish to delete. Step 2: Click the delete button Location Settings: Shows

97 10.4 Custom Fields Location Settings: Shows: Custom Fields Cablecast has a good number of fields that may be used for describing your show records. If you need more, you can add up to eight in the Custom Fields menu. Navigate to that menu now. FIGURE 10.6: The Location Settings: Shows: Custom Fields menu Field Types There are three types of custom fields: Short Text, Long Text and Note Field. Each of these are illustrated in figure 10.7 on the next page. Each type varies the presentation of the field within the show record. When deciding between types, it s best to choose the type that matches the type of data that you are entering. If it s one or two words, the Short Text field is probably best. For a sentence, use Long Text. If you have many sentences or need to type multiple lines, then Note Field is the best option Custom Fields 97

98 FIGURE 10.7: This is an example of three custom fields, each showing a different type, which varies the length of the field within the show record Activating Custom Fields Deactivating Custom Fields All show records always have all eight custom fields activated. By default, they are all hidden from the interface. To activate a custom field: Step 1: Type a descriptive name for the custom field in the Field Name field. Step 2: Choose one of the three types of custom fields from the Field Name popdown list. Step 3: when you re done adding fields, click the save button. If you want to hide a custom field from show records: Step 1: Select -No Type- from the Field Type pop-down list. Step 2: Click the save button. If you hide a custom field, the data still lives on. Any show records that have information that was entered into the field will retain their data, but it will be hidden from the user interface. If you later re-activate that custom field, the data will reappear, even if you change the field type or name IFrames IFrames are used to load information about a show record from an external source. Example uses for IFrames include 3rd party Video-on-Demand solutions and Facility Management Software. The URL for an IFrame can be configured with tokens that represent identifying information about a show such as the ShowID Location Settings: Shows

99 Location Settings: Shows: IFrames Navigate to Location Settings: Shows: IFrames. FIGURE 10.8: The Location Settings: Shows: IFrames Menu Adding an IFrame To add an IFrame: Step 1: Click the new button. Step 2: Enter a name for the IFrame in the Title field. Step 3: Enter a Height in pixels for the IFrame in the IFrame Height field. Step 4: Enter a URL for the IFrame in the URL field. Use the tokens described in the Legend to add dynamic data to the URL. An example form is seen in: figure 10.9 on the following page. Step 5: When you re finished, click the save button An IFrame that points to the specified URL will now appear in the show record as seen in: figure on the next page IFrames 99

100 FIGURE 10.9: This is an example of setting up an IFrame that points at an EarthChannel VOD server. FIGURE 10.10: This is an example of an IFrame that points at an EarthChannel VOD server. IFrames are based on Location which means you can point to different URLs for different locations. A great example of this is if you had two locations that used different VOD servers. You could set it up so each Locations IFrames point at there respective VOD servers Deleting an IFrame To delete an IFrame: Step 1: Select the checkbox next to the item(s) that you want to delete. Step 2: Click the delete button Location Settings: Shows

101 11 Location Settings: Schedule Location Settings: Schedule The Schedule tab in the Location Settings menu is where you can configure some special features for Cablecast s scheduling system, the most significant being it s block copy capabilities. FIGURE 11.1: The Location Settings: Schedule menu. If you re trying to set a Cablecast system up for the first time, nothing in this chapter is essential. There is nothing in this chapter that affects machine control or any hardware connected to the system Location Settings: Schedule: Run Types Run types are entries that are found within a run of a show. That is, each time a show is in the schedule, a run type may be specified. A station manager may use this for tracking live or studio shoots. Run types may also be used as bug text. We cover bug text in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details, but basically it is a string of text that is placed near

102 FIGURE 11.2: The Run Type Form. a station logo by a down stream key device. Cablecast can automatically insert this text whenever a run type is selected. Location Settings: Navigate to Location Settings: Schedule: Run Types and you will see the Schedule: Run Types form pictured in figure Adding a New Run Type To enter a new run type: Step 1: Click the new button. Step 2: Enter the name of the run type in the Run Type Name field. Step 3: If you want to copy the run type setting to repeats of the shows that are made from block copies (see section on page 106, Creating Blocks), then click the Block Type check box. For live shows, you probably don t want to copy the run type, since it would only be live on the first run of the show. Step 4: If you want Cablecast to instruct a down stream key device to display the run type name near the station logo, click the Use as Bug Text check box. Step 5: Click the save button Location Settings: Schedule

103 Deleting a Run Type To delete a run type: Step 1: Click the check box to the left of the Run Type Name field of the doomed run type. Step 2: Click the delete button. Any show runs that were using that run type will be set to a blank entry. This includes any older shows that were using that run type. Be careful when deleting run types! 11.2 Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask) Many stations repeat programs throughout the week in a predictable manner. Example: You may have a show that airs first on Monday s at 9:00 am and you always repeat it on Tuesday at noon and Wednesday at 11:30 am. If your station plays programs at a semi-predictable time and repeats them letter in the week, then the block copy feature discussed in this section is for you. It will save you a tremendous amount of time. Simply put, block copy is a tool that will make any number of time-shifted copies of any number of programs. Blocks have a source air time and one or more target air times. Cablecast will take each target time and subtract the source time, resulting in an offset. Cablecast makes a copy of the show(s) and ripples those copies forward by the offset. Or, mathematically put: (target time) - (source time) = offset Block Copy Examples For our first example, we ll look at a single show that first plays on Monday at 9:00 am and block copy it to Tuesday at 12:00 pm: 11.2 Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afrai

104 Block Setting: (Monday 9:00 am) - (Tuesday 12:00 pm) = 27 Hours Result: Cablecast will copy your one program and ripple it by 27 Hours. One program would run once at Monday 9:00 am and again at Tuesday 12:00 pm. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Program 1 at 9:00 am Program 1 at 12:00 pm The start time does not have to match the target. Cablecasts will always add the offset to the start tim of the copy. Therefore, if we were to add a second show to our example that starts on Monday at 10:00 am, Cablecast will add the same 27 hours to the second show, even though it doesn t start at 9:00 am: Block Setting: (Monday 9:00 am) - (Tuesday 12:00 pm) = 27 Hours Result: Cablecast will copy your two programs and ripple them by 27 Hours. The first program would run once at Monday 9:00 am and again at Tuesday 12:00 pm. The second program would be played on both days, one hour later. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Program 1 at 9:00 am Program 2 at 10:00 am Program 1 at 12:00 pm Program 2 at 1:00 pm If we take our same two shows and add a second target of Wednesday at 11:30 am, the results look like this: Location Settings: Schedule

105 Block Setting: (Monday 9:00 am) - (Tuesday 12:00 pm) = 27 Hours Result: Cablecast will make two copies of your two programs. It will ripple the first copy by 27 Hours and the second copy by 50.5 hours. The first program would run once at Monday 9:00 am, again at Tuesday 12:00 pm and again on Wednesday at 11:30 am. The second program would be played on all three days, one hour later. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Program 1 at 9:00 am Program 2 at 10:00 am Program 1 at 12:00 pm Program 2 at 1:00 pm Program 1 at 11:30 am Program 2 at 12:30 am Rules To Live By for Blocking As we review the examples above, there are some important rules to understand about blocks: 1. Blocks have a source day-of-the-week and time. Example: Monday 9:00pm. 2. Any block that you create is only available within the Cablecast schedule and only when the source day matches the day of the week that you are scheduling. That is, a block with a source of Monday will not be available for you to select on a schedule for Tuesday. 3. Blocks do not work backwards. Therefore, if the source day is Friday and the target day is Thursday, Cablecast will ripple shows forward by six days. 4. Blocks only work within one seven-day period after the source date. 5. Blocks work over days. Therefore, if a target starts at 11:00 pm, it will ripple forward into the next day, if you needed. 6. There is nothing stopping you from making multiple target copies into the same day, as long as they have different times. That is, a show can have a target of Tuesday 9:00 am and Tuesday 2:30 pm. 7. You can select multiple blocks when copying a set of programs. This is helpful when you have some programs that do get copied multiple 11.2 Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afrai

106 times with other programs that have a more limited repeat schedule Creating Blocks Navigate to Locations Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks. FIGURE 11.3: The Block Setup form. The buttons at the bottom of this form create new blocks and save all changes. The buttons within each block work on the block that they are contained in. Each block, which has one source and one or more targets, is framed in a list, as you can see in figure At the top is where you name the block and set the source day and time, which is the time and day of the first run of the program(s) that you re going to copy. Below this, there may be any number of fields which represent targets. The first pop-down is the target day and the second field is where you enter the target time. You may add more targets by clicking the New button at the bottom of the block. If you click the Update button, Cablecast will save your entries. To delete targets, select them with the checkbox on the left and click Delete. To make a new block: Step 1: Click the new button at the bottom of the form. Step 2: Name the block something descriptive Location Settings: Schedule

107 Deleting Blocks If you are not sure what to name the block, try naming it after it s purpose, or after the first run of the program(s). If you are block copying 5 programs from Monday evening, Monday Evening Block might be a logical choice. If your block copying your Selectman s meeting, then Selectman Meeting might be a good name. Step 3: A new block with no targets will appear. Substep A: Click the New button within the block to create a new target. Substep B: The new target will appear at the top, set to Sunday 12:00:00 am. Adjust the time of the target as desired. Remember, the week starts at your source. If your source is set to Monday 9:00:00 am and you set your target to Monday 8:00:00 am, your copy will be shifted 168 hours into the future, which is one week minus an hour. Substep C: Add as many targets as needed by clicking the New button. Step 4: To add additional blocks, click the new button at the bottom of the form and repeat the steps above. Step 5: When you re finished, click the save button. To delete a block: Step 1: Check the checkbox to the left of the doomed block s name. Step 2: Click the delete button at the bottom of the form Location Settings: Blocking Settings Location Settings: Blocking Settings The block copy feature copies runs of programs and ripples them forward. You can determine the amount of the run s settings that you want to copy in the Location Settings: Blocking Settings menu. In this menu there are three settings. You can check/uncheck each of them and click the save button to save the changes. Below is a description of each of the changes. Block Run Locks : When a show is run locked it is barred from being bumped by Cablecast. That means that if Cablecast would otherwise ripple a program to eliminate a conflict, a run locked show would stay in place and cut the previous program short. Checking this option copies the run lock feature from a run to its copies Location Settings: Blocking Settings 107

108 Typically, you would not check this option because you usually run lock a show when it is live. Since the repeats won t be live, you don t want to force Cablecast to lock them in place. Block Bug Text : The bug text that appears around a station s logo when a show is run is entered in the Run Details menu on a show run. It can be any text entered or automatically generated by the run type, depending on the setting for the selected run type, which we covered in section 11.1 on page 101. Copying words like Live wouldn t make sense, so if that is how you use the bug text feature, leave this off. Block Crawl Text : Users may put crawl information into the Run Details menu for a shows run. If you want this copied when shows are block copied, then check this option Location Settings: Schedule

109 12 Location Settings: IO In this chapter, we configure the control module hosts, routing switcher, devices, outputs and your video on demand server 1. If you re coming to this section from Location Settings: Shows, you ll notice that we skipped over the Schedule tab. We cover that in chapter 11 on page 101. I/O is an essential part of your setup and adjusting the preferences in the Schedule tab usually comes after you ve used the system for a while. Therefore, we wait until later. Location Settings: I/O To begin, click on the I/O tab Control Module Sets A control module set (CMS) is a hook into a control module host (CMH). While the control module host is the service that is ready and waiting for instructions from Cablecast to control anything that it knows how to control, a control module set is a list of parameters for controlling one or more specific devices. We illustrate this in figure 12.1 on the following page One CMH can control multiple devices, if multiple control module sets are defined and pointing to the same CMH. Location Settings: I/O: Devices Most control module sets can control many compatible devices. That is, if you have fifteen Pioneer DVD F-07s, you only need to define one CMS, if all fifteen are plugged into the same server and thus the same control module host. You just address each device separately when you set up the devices in Location Settings: I/O: Devices There are some exceptions to this rule. Older control modules were sometimes written so that you would make a CMS entry for each device in your system. See the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for more information Adding your Control Module Sets Click the Control Module Sets button. If you are starting from a fresh system, you should see an entry for a control module named Generic. 1 If you have one. If you don t, call your dealer and get one! :)

110 Se r v e rr u n n i n gca b l e c a s t CMH CONTROLMODULEHOST: Se r v i c et h a t ma n a g e sc o n t r o l mo d u l e s ( r u n so nca b l e c a s t a n do t h e rtrmss e r v e r s ) CMS CCMS CMS CMS ONTROLMODULESET: De s c r i p t i o nf o rh o wt ot a l kt od e v i c e s Vi d e ose r v e r Ch1 DVD VHS Ro u t i n gswi t c h e r Vi d e ose r v e r Ch2 F IGURE 12.1: The connection between control module hosts, control module sets and devices Location Settings: IO Vi d e ose r v e r Ch2 Vi d e ose r v e r Ch1 DVD VHS Ro u t i n gswi t c h e r

111 FIGURE 12.2: The Location Settings: IO: Control Module Sets menu. Erase the CMS Name for this entry and replace it with the name of your routing switcher. Then in the Control Module pop-down, select the control module that matches your device. To find the matching CMS, guess. After you ve guessed, look in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide to see if you re right. Often the selection is obvious and sometimes there are some nuances, especially where routing switcher manufacturers insist on making subtly different protocols for different model numbers. Refer to the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for the settings that you will use on the remaining fields. Repeat this process for all of the equipment that you took note of in section 7.2 on page 68, Taking a Look at Your Devices, clicking the new button to add another control module set. For every piece of equipment, make sure you refer to the instructions in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for device specific setup information. When you are finished configuring the control modules in this location, click the save button Router Now that we have a CMS for our routing switcher, we must tell Cablecast to use it for this location. Location Settings: I/O: Router Step 1: From the Location Settings: I/O: Router menu, select the control module that is controlling your routing switcher. Step 2: Click the save button Router 111

112 FIGURE 12.3: The Location Settings: I/O: Router menu Devices Location Settings: I/O: Devices Navigate to the Location Settings: I/O: Devices menu. FIGURE 12.4: When a system ships, it has a set of devices already loaded. This is an example. When installing a fresh system, there will be devices already entered that Tightrope created when your system was assembled. Sometimes these devices were left in here as examples and may be deleted if you wish. Other Location Settings: IO

113 times they were entered at the factory to test equipment that you purchased with your Cablecast system and can be used as a starting point Deleting a Device To delete devices that came with your system: Step 1: Click the check box next to the devices Step 2: Click the delete button Adding a Device You ll need to create a device entry for every device in your system. Remember back from section 7.2 on page 68, Taking a Look at Your Devices where you took an inventory of all of your devices? You ll need that information here. FIGURE 12.5: Notice that this video server has Digital File listed as its Device Type and MPEG2 selected as the Format. Cablecast only allows the selection of formats that match the correct device type. Also, notice that there is no Jump Duration field. That is because this isn t valid for this device and is therefore not included. You could say there is no jumping on video servers Devices 113

114 Location Settings: I/O: Devices Many of the fields listed in the steps below will be missing, dependent on what is selected in the Device Type field. When a field is missing, skip that step with confidence. This documentation is long enough without having to re-type the steps below for every device type. :) Step 1: If you re not there already, navigate to Location Settings: I/O: Devices. Step 2: Click the new button. Step 3: Select the newly created device, which will be called New Input. Step 4: Rename the device, making sure that the name is unique, such as Deck 1 and not Deck. For video servers, make sure you number the output, like SX2- Output 1. Step 5: If the device has playback capability, choose the input number on the routing switcher in the Router Address field. This is the number that Cablecast uses to switch to this device when communicating with the routing switcher. Step 6: In the Device Function pop-down, select the function of the device. Here is a description of each option: No Device : The device neither plays nor records. Use this for dummy inputs like test pattern generators or other inputs that you don t want Cablecast to automate. Playback only : The device can only play a show, it can not record. Record only : The device can record but cannot play back. Playback & Record : The device can play a show or record one, but not both at the same time. Remember from section on page 69, Labeling and Naming Devices, if a device records and plays at the same time, it is two device. Another way to see it: For every input or output that a piece of equipment can use at the same time, you have a device. A four-channel video server that can encode two channels of video at the same time (an SX4, for example) is six devices as far as Cablecast is concerned. Therefore, your Video Server 1 Device Function entry is Playback only. Step 7: Select the device type from the Device Type pop-down. We covered this detail in section 10.1 on page 89, Formats. By making this selection, you re telling Cablecast how it cues the device and which formats it is compatible with. Here s a summary of each selection: Generic : IR devices or other devices that do not have two-way communication with Cablecast. DVD players that are IR controlled would fall under this category. VTR-TC : Tape decks with two-way communication, usually serial controlled. These devices can tell Cablecast where they are in the tape and can cue to specific timecode points Location Settings: IO

115 VTR-TC(Multitape) : The same as above, except that the device can access more than one tape. Tapes are loaded into a slot and the machine loads them on demand. Panasonic Minicart machines are the primary example of this. DVD : DVD players with serial control. These devices can cue to a specific title! and chapter within the DVD, making it easier to skip past menus. Do not select this option for IR controlled DVD players! DVD(Multidisc) : Same as above, except that the device can access more than one DVD. Examples include the Pioneer DVF07 and Sony DVP CX-777ES. Digital file : All video servers use this option. Cablecast can cue into shows and each show is accessed using a file key, which is actually the show ID number appended to the beginning of the file name, plus the reel number (ex My Show.mpg ). Live : Used for live inputs on the routing switcher. This involves no control, but Cablecast knows to match the format for a show to this input, if it matches. Bulletin Board : Basically, this is pretty much the same as selecting No Device from the Device Function pop-down list. It just blanks out all options for format and device control. Use this for your CG (Carousel) so that you can see it in the Autopilot: Force menu. The selection that you make here will determine the options that you have for the rest of this form. It will also filter the format options that you have in the Device Formats pop-down lists. Step 8: If the device type is generic and you are controlling an IR DVD player, you may need to wake the device after a period of time. To determine this, let the DVD player sit with a DVD loaded for a couple of hours. If it turns off on its own, you ll have to check the Wake Device checkbox and indicate the amount of time it will take for Cablecast to rustle the player out of its slumber. This value must be at least 20 seconds. This rarely works. Truth be told, you re better off not using an IR DVD player in your head end. Serial controlled versions are out there and don t cost that much any more. Give this feature a try if your DVD player turns off. If it doesn t work, you may have no other option than to replace it with something else. Step 9: For devices that are capable of having multiple media loaded in at any given time, such as a DVD changer or Panasonic Microcart system, you will have the Load Duration field available. The value in here is the maximum amount of time a device takes to unload the current media and load a new selection. Consult the control module s documentation for this value Devices 115

116 We go into the topic of Load, Jump, Take Delay and Post Roll durations in section on page 113, Adding a Device. Consult this section if any of these settings and their purpose does not seem clear. You may also want to check figure 12.6 on page 119 for an illustration of how these times are used when Cablecast automates a show. Step 10: Some devices, such as DVD and VTR(TC) devices, have a Jump Duration field. Here we establish the maximum amount of time that it takes the media to cue when Cablecast instructs it during automation. For example, a VTR may take three minutes to rewind and cue from the end of the tape to the beginning while a DVD player may take only 10 seconds to cue to Title 1, Chapter 3. Consult the control module s documentation for hints on this value. Step 11: The Take Delay field represents the amount of time it takes the device to spin up. When you press play on a DVD, the player will take time to spin the disk and then play. A tape deck will need time to thread the tape and get rolling. It is that amount of time you are entering here. This is not the amount of time it takes to get past a leader and it is not the same thing as a show s cue time. During this time, the tape should not be rolling and the DVD should not be playing. Example: Imagine an old-time 3/4 deck that takes 15 seconds to pull the tape around the drum and get all of its creaky threading posts in place. Only after this 15-second process does the tape start rolling. That is the Take Delay. Step 12: Post Roll roll is the amount of time to wait before performing the Device End Action after switching to the next input. That is: play the show, switch to the next input, wait for the value in Post Roll and then perform the selection in Device End Action. If you are worried about sync implications of taking away from this device at the same time that you switch away from it, enter a value of 1 or 2 seconds. Step 13: Select the control module that is responsible for this device in the Device CMS pop-down list. Step 14: Some video servers support shadowing. This is where a second video server operates in tandem with a primary video server and head end equipment is in place to fail over to the secondary video server if there is a problem with the first. If you have a secondary video server acting as backup, then enter that video server s control module into the Shadow CMS pop-down list. Step 15: Refer to the control module s instructions for the value needed in Device Address. For video servers, this will very often be a number 0-3 and for serial controlled devices, this is often a COM port, also entered as a number Location Settings: IO

117 Shadow video servers must be addressed the same as the main video server s output because they share this setting. That is if device address 2 used for the the main video server then it must also be used for the backup video server that is controlled by the Shadow CMS control module. Step 16: Select all of the formats that you want to associate with this device. Cablecast gives precedence to formats listed on the left, then middle, then right. Therefore, Cablecast will use all devices with a matching format on the left before it will consider one in the middle or right.. These fields are one way to force Cablecast to assign specific shows to specific devices, as in always play City Council from Deck 8. You can also assign shows to specific devices by editing their Preassign Device values in the show s media records. We cover this in section on page 236, Media Records Step 17: When a show is finished Cablecast will always switch to another input. In addition the Device End Action will be triggered. It s often necessary to rewind the tape, stop the device, both stop and then rewind, move the file, etc... Select the actions that Cablecast should take at the end of a show, referring to the control module s documentation. Note that two actions can be selected by holding the Ctrl key. Step 18: If the device records, you ll need to specify the output the device is attached to on the routing switcher in the Router Output field. Step 19: When setting up an encoder, you need to specify the bit rate of all encoded files in the Record Quality pop-down. Step 20: If you are setting up a digital video encoder, you can specify the network address that the encoder should copy the file to when it is finished in the Record Copy UNC field. Step 21: When all of the fields have been set, click the save button Jump, Load, Take Delay and Post Roll Defined As you go through the above steps, remember: many steps will be skipped, especially when you set up live feeds. When you are finished adding devices and back at the Location Settings: IO: Devices menu, click the save button to return to the main IO menu. Each device has settings that instruct Cablecast on the time needed to prepare a show for playback and there are four durations that instruct Cablecast on how much time a device needs to perform certain actions. We covered there definition in the steps above, but lets describe them briefly here Devices 117

118 Load Duration : DVD-Changers need time to load the media into the transport unit. This setting defines the amount of time it takes to do that. Jump Duration : This defines the amount of time that a playback device with two-way control needs to cue its media. Take Delay : This is the most miss-understood setting. :) Take delay is the amount of time that a device needs between the time a play command is issued before the device actually begins to play. An older 3/4 inch deck might need 7 seconds to thread the tape before it starts rolling the deck. You d enter 7 seconds in this field in that case. This effectively adds 7 seconds to every cue time that is entered in a show record, but only when played on this device. Post Roll : After Cablecast switches to the next show or to the CG, it will wait for this amount of time before entering the end action. This is sometimes desirable when the routing switcher might not switch fast enough and the viewer might catch a glitch on the end of the show. Typically, this setting can be left at 0. Some people get tripped up on these times, but in practice, you ll never think about them when using Cablecast. If you schedule a show at noon, it will play at noon, executing the commands needed prior to and after each show automatically. See figure 12.6 on the facing page for an illustration of the math that Cablecast does for you when it plays a show. In the example shown, the Load Duration is 60, Jump Duration 30, Take Delay is 2, Post Roll is 2 and the show s Cue time is 00:00:21. There are some common symptoms that can happen if you get these numbers wrong for your device. If you are seeing any of the following behavior, you can adjust the numbers accordingly: There is consistently too much black at the beginning and the end of the show gets cut off on any show played from this device. Presuming that the show s cue time is correct, you may need to lengthen the Take Delay. If the reverse is happening, shorten it. The show doesn t play or it doesn t play from the correct spot in the tape/dvd. Try adjusting the Jump Duration. For multi-disc or mult-tape playback machines, observe the device and see that you don t need to add more time to the Load Duration field. You catch a couple of frames of a stop icon on your channel whenever a show ends. Try adding a second or two to the Post Roll field. This will delay the end action so that Cablecast switches away before it stops the show Location Settings: IO

119 End Action command is sent (usually At this point the DVD/Tape is rolling. Load command Is sent Jump command Is sent Take Delay (00:00:02) Take command Is sent and show is now on the air Load (00:01:00) Jump (00:00:30) Cue (00:00:21) The Show is On the Air! Begin Action command is sent (usually Play ) Scheduled end of show (Start Time + Length) Before the show The Show (Length 00:28:11) The show is on the air for this period only! After the Show Scheduled start time of show The Show is On the Air! Post Roll (00:00:02) Switch away from show to CG or next show End Action command is sent (usually Stop or Rewind ) Stop or Rewind ) CG or next show Switch away from show to FIGURE 12.6: Cablecast uses four different timing settings to determine when commands are issued to a playback device. The thick timeline in the middle is the main time line and the The Show is On the Air! top and bottom versions call out the beginning and end of a show. Post Roll (00:00:02) 12.3 Devices 119

120 De-Activating a Device Location Settings: Devices In the Location Settings: Devices menu, there is a check box on the right of each device in a column called Active. Un-checking a device in this list removes it from all menus within Cablecast. The system will not show this device in the Autopilot: Force menu, nor will it use the device when the system automates your channels. This feature is important when you want to temporarily disable a device during maintenance. To de-activate a device: Step 1: Click the Active checkbox to uncheck it. Step 2: Click the save button Resetting Runs on a Device FIGURE 12.7: Resetting Runs. The run counter on each device increments whenever Cablecast assigns a command to it. This means every time Autopilot is sent, the counter may increase if runs are assigned to the device. As such, the run counter is not a precise measurement of scheduling. You may want to reset this if you replace a device or it goes in for major service. To reset a device s run counter: Step 1: Check the box to the left of the device. Step 2: Click the reset runs button Location Settings: IO

121 12.4 Outputs Location Settings: Outputs: I/O: Output Navigate to the Location Settings: Outputs: I/O: Output menu. FIGURE 12.8: An example of a channel output. By default, Cablecast ships with a test output called Channel Output already created. You can re-use this output by selecting it, but for the purposes of this manual, we ll assume that you are starting with a blank list. Leveraging the hard work that you did in chapter 7 on page 67, Introduction and Planning for this location, repeat the following steps to establish each output on your routing switcher: Step 1: Click the new button. Step 2: Select the newly created entry, which will bring up a form that looks like one illustrated in figure Step 3: Type the address of the output in the Router Address field. Step 4: Name the output in the Name field. Step 5: Select Channel or Preview from the Type field. Remember the tip from section on page 72: Preview is for any non-scheduled output. Step 6: For channel outputs, select the default input. The default input is the device that Cablecast switches to when there is no programming. Step 7: If you have a device that is attached to your channel that will fade between 12.4 Outputs 121

122 switches, select the control module for that device in the Fade CMS popdown list. Step 8: If you have a device that can generate V-Chip information, select the control module that is controlling that device in the Rating CMS pop-down list. Step 9: If you would like, you can select a default rating for this channel. This is only relevant when you have a V-Chip device that encodes the rating information on your channel s output. Step 10: If you have a Cablecast SX-Live streaming encoder that is controlled by Cablecast, enter the following information into the Live IP Video section: Substep A: Pick the control module set from the CMS pop-down list that is controlling your streaming server. Substep B: Leave the Device Address field set to 1. Substep C: Pick a bit rate that works for your available bandwidth and the expected traffic in the Stream URL pop-down list. Substep D: Enter the stream s URL in the Stream URL field. Example: mms://stream.trms.com:1234, where 1234 is the TCP/UDP port number of the stream. Substep E: Enter the maximum number of connections that you want to allow. An SX-Live can handle a maximum of 50 streams. Consider your connection s bandwidth when setting this value. Step 11: When you ve finished entering the information for your channel, click the save button to return to the Location Settings: I/O: Outputs menu. Step 12: Repeat the above steps for each output Activating and Deactivating Outputs You can temporarily disable outputs from Cablecast. Location Settings: I/O: Outputs Step 1: Navigate to Location Settings: I/O: Outputs. Step 2: Un-check the Active checkbox to the right of the output to disable it. To re-enable an output, check the Active checkbox. Step 3: Click the save button Deleting an Output To delete an output permanently: Location Settings: IO

123 The Community Center (Feeder Location) Step 1: Select the checkbox, or check boxes, to the left of the output(s) that you would like to delete. Step 2: Click the delete button at the bottom of the form. Step 3: When you are finished, click the save button Outputs and Multiple Location Channels Remember, if you have multiple locations (thinking back to section 7.4 on page 73, Linking Multiple Locations), you have to repeat all of these steps for each location. FIGURE 12.9: Feeder locations have routing switchers that have an output of their routing switcher connected to an input of a primary location s routing switcher. Feeder Channel 1 The School (Feeder Location) Output from the feeder location Input into the routing switcher Super Channel Output to the viewer. Feeder Channel 2 City Hall (Primary Location) The Viewers The Community Center (Feeder Location) In multi-location installations, you can have a channel that is shared across (Primary Location) Feeder Channel The Viewers 2 multiple locations. For a primer on how this works, see section 6.1 on Hall City page 55, Multiple Locations. (Feeder Location) Super Channel In these multi-location channels, there are always one or more feeder chan- School The nels and a single primary channel, each at their own location. Therefore, all of the feeder channels and the primary channel need setup at each of their locations. If you have a channel that is multi-location, then you need to create a channel output on each feeder location that binds them to the location that is hosting the final output of the channel, which is the primary channel. The feeder location s channel that is connected to the primary location is the output of the feeder location s routing switcher that is somehow connected to the primary location s routing switcher and it is called a feeder channel. A feeder channel is pretty much set up like a normal channel. The Type popdown list should be set to Channel and you can name it anything you like, although we recommend something like <Channel Name> <Location Name> Feed Outputs 123

124 FIGURE 12.10: An example of how a feeder channel might be configured. Example: SCAT City Hall Feed Keep in mind, if the character generater is not at the feeder location, then you ll set the Default Input field to a logo generator or a test pattern. If the character generater is at this location, then you will set it to your character generator (probably Carousel) and you ll be sure to set the default input on the primary location to the feeder channel, which we cover in section 16.5 on page 137, Channel IO On Demand IP Video Location Settings: I/O: On Demand IP Video If you have a video on demand server, navigate to Location Settings: I/O: On Demand IP Video to configure Cablecast to use it. You will need to configure the Video On Demand Server s control modules before you can configure Cablecast to use it. We covered Control Module Sets in section 12.1 on page 109. The settings for your video on demand server is covered in the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide. At the top of the form shown in figure on the facing page, you see the first two pop-downs, which deal with transcoding content from a video server to a format suitable for streaming on the internet. The second two settings are concerned with the video on demand server and how it is accessed from the outside. Step 1: In the Transcoding CMS pop-down list, pick the control module set that controls the video transcoder Location Settings: IO

125 FIGURE 12.11: The On Demand IP Video Menu. For SX-VOD servers, this will be the control module that is using the WMEncodeCM. See the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for details. Step 2: In the Transcoding quality pop-down list, pick the default quality setting that you would like to use for all encodings that do not specifically request an encoding quality. There are six settings for the Default Transcode Quality pop-down list. The first three, High, Medium and Low, are constant bit-rate streams that will stay at their settings no matter the network conditions. The last three, Multi-bitrate High, Multi-bitrate Medium and Multibitrate Low, are dynamic bitrate settings. These settings instruct the video on demand server to encode multiple versions of the file. When network congestion occurs, the video on demand server will automatically reduce the quality of the stream, ensuring that the viewer will at least be able to see the content, if not at the maximum quality. The multi-bitrate files will take longer to encode and consume more space on the video on demand server. The constant bitrate files are less flexible when network congestion occurs. A show s category can override this setting and a user can override this both the category s and this setting for a specific show by selecting a new choice in the show record. We cover category encode settings in section on page 93, Default Transcode Quality Settings and a show record s transcode quality setting in section on page 220, Show Record: Bibliographic Info. Step 3: In the Video On Demand Server CMS pop-down list, select the control module set that... controls the video on demand server. Cablecast uses this control module to retrieve a list of existing files, so that it knows what needs to be transcoded On Demand IP Video 125

126 Step 4: Enter the URL for your streaming server into the Public URL of On Demand Server. This is the address that is accessible from the internet. Your network configuration will have a lot to do with what is entered here, but it might look something like mms://streaming.mystation.org:8080 where mms:// is the Multi Media Stream designator used for Windows Media Servers, streaming.mystation.org is the domain name of your server that is reachable from the internet and :8080 is an optional port number designation that you might use if your network configuration uses a different port than port 80 for streaming. Step 5: When you re finished, click the save button to save your changes Location Settings: IO

127 13 Location Settings: Autopilot 13.1 How Autopilot Works 13.2 Adjusting Autopilot Defaults and Settings Autopilot is Cablecast s system for figuring out how to turn a schedule into commands that video servers, tape players and routing switchers understand. In the olden days, these commands were entered by mortals. Since the dawn of Cablecast, this drudgery has been removed from our lives. When someone sends Autopilot in Cablecast, they are, in effect, telling the system, From 4:00 pm today to 6:00 pm Thursday, my schedule is set. Take my schedule that falls within that time period and make it work on my channel. Cablecast looks at the schedule and the shows that are scheduled within, matches the formats of each show to a playback device and programs compatible devices to play those shows, eliminating conflicts as needed. A lot goes into the decisions that Autopilot makes and the algorithm is fantastically complicated. If the operator sends for a long period of time, Autopilot will have to take more shows into account. This will lead to compromises being made and when tape machines and DVD players are used, it can lead to shows needing to be swapped out of devices. It gets even more sticky when life gets imperfect. Often in a station s life, unexpected things happen that affect the schedule and Autopilot needs to be sent Autopilot over a previous send, which is to say that the previous send s end time had not yet passed. We call this re-sending Autopilot. When this happens, Cablecast re-calculates, which could mean very little to the operator... Or it could mean that every DVD in a DVD changer needs to be pulled out and re-inserted into a different slot. It all depends on the settings applied when the re-send was executed. Adjusting those settings defaults is the subject of the rest of this chapter. Location Settings: Autopilot You can provide defaults for the settings that control how Cablecast performs its calculations. These defaults are found in the Location Settings:

128 Autopilot menu. Once you navigate there, you ll notice only one menu choice. Select the Autopilot menu option and you ll see the menu shown in figure FIGURE 13.1: The Location Settings: Autopilot menu. Autopilot: Send Autopilot Almost the entire form is a list of defaults. You ll see many of these fields in the Autopilot: Send Autopilot menu, with their values defaulting to the settings that you save in this menu. Each setting will be described in the following sections. When you are finished, click the save button to save your settings End Time This field sets the default end time. The idea here is that your station typically works on the schedule at a certain time of the day. Sending Autopilot so that the last show plays just after you re ready for the next send is a good way to run your station. Set this field to a time when you expect that your operator will typically send autopilot. If a show starts before the end time, Cablecast will send the show s beginning and end commands. That is, it will play the show and stop/rewind it, even if the Autopilot send ended before the show s end Location Settings: Autopilot

129 Send For You can send Autopilot for multiple days. Set the default number of days here. Only send schedules that are complete! If you send Autopilot for a period that has a show that hasn t been posted, you ll just have to re-send it, once you know the show s cue and length. Sending for more than you need to is not only a waste of time, but you re preventing Cablecast from making the very best decisions on device assignments. This mistake is very common and you should avoid it Warn of bumps over The Autopilot send report will show a warning for any bumps longer than the number of seconds specified. This can help you notice a large bump that could drastically affect your programming schedule, such as a meeting running an hour over it s allotted time slot Use Sticky Devices Ah sticky devices. Were it not for Tightrope, we would probably never think of any device as sticky. Sticky device is a feature used when re-sending Autopilot. In short, it asks Cablecast to look at the last time you sent Autopilot and, whenever possible, keep a tape/dvd in the same playback device, if it s going to play in the new send. The advantage of checking this box is that it reduces the amount of times you need to press the Eject button to put a DVD in a new player. The disadvantage of checking this box is that it restricts Cablecast s freedom when it calculates Autopilot. Cablecast might need to move shows around or utterly fail to play shows, in extreme situations Send the events to the hardware Autopilot: Event Table If you leave this box unchecked, sending Autopilot will only create an event table. None of the devices under the system s control will receive any new commands. To have the new commands executed, the user would go to the bottom of the Autopilot: Event Table menu and click the send button Adjusting Autopilot Defaults and Settings 129

130 Some people like to check over Autopilot s decisions before sending the commands to the hardware. If they don t like something, they can edit it directly in the Autopilot: Event Table or re-send Autopilot with different settings. Most people aren t this picky and leave this option checked by default Clear Previous Bumps When Sending When this box is checked, bumps created from previous Autopilot sends are cleared before the current Autopilot send is calculated. This helps to ensure that a show that was bumped by an earlier scheduled show returns to its originally scheduled time slot Location Settings: Autopilot

131 14 Systems Settings System Settings The System Settings menu controls the settings for Cablecast that are not limited to a single location. FIGURE 14.1: The System Settings menu. Location Settings If you have one location, you won t see much significance in the distinction between Location Settings and what you find within System Settings, other than the fact that the options do different things. If you do have multiple locations, there is a significance. System Settings: Time Sync First, settings in this menu are applicable to all locations. If you adjust the Time Sync settings, you re adjusting it for every location in the system. Second, some channels in your multi-location setup might transcend multiple locations. Therefore, their settings are located in the this menu and not in the Location Settings menu, like you might expect.

132 14.1 A Tour of the System Settings Menu In this section, we ll provide a brief description of each menu option within the System Settings menu. Locations : This is where we can add and name locations. Even if you have just one location, you ll want to visit this menu to rename it. Otherwise, you ll wonder why the words Default Location are always staring at you at the top of every form in Cablecast. Channels : This is a big menu with many options. You can add channels, adjust how your channel behaves, what it looks like on the web and how your down stream key works, if you have one. Control Module Hosts : This is one of the first stops when setting up a Cablecast system. It tells Cablecast the network location of computers that are running the Cablecast Control Module Service. With this information, Cablecast can control devices that are attached to the main server, or to device attached to other Cablecast equipment, such as a Cablecast SX4 or an SX-VOD. Time Sync : You can adjust the frequency that Cablecast will synchronize computers that are running the Control Module Host Service. Database Tools : If you need to update the database version or back it up, you can do that here. As of FrontDoor 5.0, you can also back the Cablecast Database up from the FrontDoor: Server Setup: Database Tools menu. That form provides more flexibility in that you can send the database to an address and back up the FrontDoor and Carousel databases along with Cablecast s. System Information : On the phone with Tightrope s technical support? They may ask you to navigate here. There is some cool information in here, if you re kind of nerdy. It s mostly version numbers and machine status Systems Settings

133 15 System Settings: Locations System Settings: Locations In the System Settings: Locations menu, you can add, delete and rename locations. If you have only one routing switcher in your system, then you have only one location and you don t ever need to do any adding or deleting. See section 15.1, Renaming Locations and section 6.1 on page 55, Multiple Locations for more information on locations and how they are used within Cablecast Renaming Locations System Settings: Locations 15.2 Adding Locations System Settings: Locations Especially if you have multiple locations, it s important to pick a descriptive name. Remember, you re not naming your channel. You re naming the building that your channel(s) are housed in, like Community Center or City Hall. If you re creating a special location that is used to define a routing switcher for a special purpose, then you can name the location after that purpose, like Background Audio or Secondary Router. To rename a location: Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Locations menu. Step 2: Click on the location s current name. Step 3: Enter a new name in the Location Name field. Step 4: Click the save button. To add a location: Step 1: Click the add button at the bottom of the System Settings: Locations menu. Step 2: A new location will appear with the name set to New Location.

134 15.3 Deleting Locations System Settings: Locations Step 3: Follow the steps in section 15.1 on the preceding page to rename the location to something more descriptive. Deleting a location is very dangerous. All shows and settings for that location will be lost for ever. The only time that you should ever delete a location is if you accidently made one during the initial set up and now want to undo your mistake. To delete a location: Step 1: Navigate to the Locations menu. Step 2: Click the checkbox next to the doomed location. Step 3: Click the delete button at the bottom of the form System Settings: Locations

135 16 System Settings: Channels System Settings: Channels The Channels menu is a very important menu in Cablecast. This is where you name and configure the settings that will determine important channel behavior, how it is presented on your web site, how your downstream key looks and how it is connected to your routing switcher(s). It s big stuff. You can t start configuring your channel within this menu until you ve finished configuring your location from the Location Settings menu. For information about how to approach the setup of your system when you are configuring it for the first time, see chapter 7 on page 67, Introduction and Planning. When you first navigate to the Channels menu, you ll see a form like the one pictured in figure FIGURE 16.1: The System Settings: Channels form Adding a Channel System Settings: Channels To add a channel: Step 1: Navigate to the System Settings: Channels menu. Step 2: Click the add button. Step 3: Rename and configure the channel, a process described in section 16.3 on the next page.

136 In older versions of Cablecast, channels were licensed. Now, you can add as many as you like, for free! 16.2 Deleting a Channel System Settings: Channels 16.3 Setting Up a Channel Deleting a channel will permanently delete all of the scheduling data and configuration for that channel! Do not do this unless you really, really mean to. Generally, you ll only delete a channel if you ve accidentally created one and want to undo your mistake. To delete a channel: Step 1: Navigate to the System Settings: Channels menu. Step 2: Select the checkbox next to the doomed channel. Step 3: Click the delete button at the bottom of the form. System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name> After you create a channel, you need to configure it within the System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name> form, where <Channel Name> is the name of the channel. To get there, click on the channel s name from the System Settings: Channels form. Once you get there, you ll see the menu shown in figure 16.2 on the facing page. In the rest of this chapter, we ll cover each of the forms hidden beneath these menus System Settings: Channels

137 FIGURE 16.2: A channel s settings form Channel Name To rename a channel: System Settings: Channels: Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>. <Channel Step 2: Click on the Channel Name menu item. Name> Step 3: Type the new name in the Name field. Step 4: Click the save button Channel IO You have to set the output on your routing switcher that Cablecast is to use for this channel. You cannot do anything in this menu until you have your routing switcher configured from the Location Settings: I/O: Outputs form, as we covered in chapter 12 on page 109, Location Settings: IO. For information about how to approach the setup of your system when you are configuring it for the first time, see chapter 8 on page 75, Initial Setup Walk-through: How Do I Set This Thing Up? If you have a channel that is located at multiple locations, then you also need to set the inputs and outputs for the feeder locations. For more information on multiple location setups, see section 6.1 on page 55, Multiple Locations Channel Name 137

138 FIGURE 16.3: Selecting an output for a channel when working with a single location Channel Setup in Single Location Systems System Settings: Channels

139 To set the channel s input in a single location setup: System Settings: Channels: Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>. <Channel Step 2: Click on the Channel IO menu item. Name> Step 3: Select the output from the pop-down list, shown in figure 16.3 on the facing page. You named this output from the routing switcher in section 12.4 on page 121, Outputs. Step 4: Click the done button Channel Setup in Multiple Location Systems FIGURE 16.4: Setting the inputs and outputs for a channel when working with multiple locations. When working with multiple locations, the setup for a channel s inputs and outputs can be more involved, if the channel is at multiple locations Channel IO 139

140 If you have multiple routing switchers in your installation and you don t know what that means, stop reading this section and read section 6.1 on page 55, Multiple Locations. It explains feeder locations and primary channels and we won t repeat that description here. To set the channel s connections for a multiple location setup: System Settings: Channels: Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>. Step 2: Click on the Channel IO menu item. <Channel Name> Step 3: You ll see a pop-down labeled Primary Location. Pick the location where your channel finishes. This is the final output of your channel to the viewer. Step 4: Select the output for the channel from the Output pop-down list. You named this output from the routing switcher in section 12.4 on page 121, Outputs. Step 5: If your channel has feeders: Substep A: Click the new feeder button to create a new feeder location. Substep B: Select the feeder location from the Feeder Location pop-down list. This will not be the same location as your setting in the Primary Location pop-down list. Substep C: Select the output from the feeder location that is connected to the primary location s routing switcher in the Feeder Output field. Substep D: Select the input on the primary location s routing switcher that the feeder location s output is connected to in the Primary s Input pop-down list. Substep E: If you have more feeder channels that are a part of this multilocation channel, then go back to 5.A. Step 6: When you re finished, click the done button Interstitial Length System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Interstitial Length The interstitial length for a channel is a forced break between programs. Cablecast will allow you to schedule programs back-to-back, except that it pretends like shows are longer than they actually are by the length that you enter into the System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Interstitial System Settings: Channels

141 Length menu. If you want to play your programming back to back, you ll want to set the interstitial length to 0 seconds. This will disable the interstitial on that channel, allowing programs to be scheduled and played back to back. When setting this number, keep the following in mind: Only shows that do not have their CG Exempt buttons checked use the interstitial length. Shows that do will ignore this value, thereby making it possible to chain them back-to-back. Example: Two PSAs have their CG Exempt buttons checked. You can chain them together without a gap between them. If you are using Carousel s Coming up next... and This show will repeat... graphics, then you ll want to set this number high enough to accommodate both graphics. In the schedule, shows will appear to be their regular length, plus the interstitial length. When Cablecast automates those shows, however, it treats them as it normally would, switching away from them when they re over and going to the default input during the interstitial. If you enter a value of zero, Cablecast will disable this feature. If there is a gap between programs that is less than 5 seconds, Cablecast will hold on the previous program for those five seconds. If a gap is more than five seconds, it will switch to the default input Changing the Interstitial Length FIGURE 16.5: Setting a channel s interstitial length. To change the interstitial length: Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Interstitial Length. Step 2: Enter the time, in seconds, in the Interstitial Length field Interstitial Length 141

142 Step 3: Click the save button System Settings: Channels

143 16.7 Down Stream Key (DSK) System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: DSK The System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: DSK menu is where you configure a couple of schedule related options for DSK. See chapter 21 on page 169 for the configuration and customization of a downstream keying (DSK) device that may be plugged into your Cablecast system. There are two simple DSK settings located here for each channel: Show Bug Graphic : This is where you select when you want your bug graphic to be displayed on your channel. Your choices are Never, Always, or During Run. Standalone Crawl Schedule : Selecting this check box enables a special schedule to appear where the user can make a crawl on the channel that is not associated with a show s run. That is, you can schedule a crawl to appear without entering it into the show s details menu. We cover using this special schedule in section on page 269, Scheduling Crawls Public Site FIGURE 16.6: The Public Site menu. System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site The menu in System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site, shown in figure 16.6, is the home of setting your public web site up. The Cablecast public web site is where your viewers can go and find your programming and review your schedule. If you have an SX-VOD, they can stream your encoded files on demand and watch them from their computer. If you have an SX-LIVE, they can also see your channel live Down Stream Key (DSK) 143

144 FIGURE 16.7: An example of the public web output form BITV. The public web interface automatically ties into your Cablecast system and is updated as you update your schedule and show records. There is no need to retype! Each of your channels gets its own web site. That means that you can customize the look of each station, using a different logo and color scheme. The schedule is unique to each public web site, but a search for shows will return all shows in the database, regardless of where they air. This is because shows don t really belong to a channel in Cablecast. Any show can be scheduled to any channel, so long as both channel and show record are at the same location. The menu options in Public Site give you access to all of the customizable features of the public web interface. We ll step through each in the rest of this section System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Edit Site Information The site information includes your site, or your station s, name and a slogan. These appear in the banner as you can see in figure 16.8 on the next page System Settings: Channels

145 FIGURE 16.8: The site name and the slogan appear in the top banner. FIGURE 16.9: The Site Info form. Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Edit Site Information. Step 2: The form in figure 16.9 will appear. Step 3: Enter the station or site s name in the Site Name field. Step 4: Enter your slogan into Site Slogan field. Step 5: Click the save button. You can always see the results of your work by clicking on the System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: View Public Site menu option System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Edit Home About Section The Edit Home Section and Edit About Section are where you edit the body text and title of the home and about pages. You can enter valid HTML code into the body of each page, but there is no facility to upload pictures Public Site 145

146 If you want to put pictures in your home page, you can always use an image on another web server. Something like <img src= >. FIGURE 16.10: The Home Section form. Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Edit Home Section or Edit About Section. Step 2: Enter the home/about page s title into the Title field. This is the title that will appear in your viewer s web browser when they get to your home or about page. Step 3: Enter the body text into the HTML field. This can be any valid HTML. Step 4: When you re done, click the save button System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Site Colors The Site Colors form is where you can change the main and highlight color of a form. The highlight color is active when the user hovers their mouse over a link, while the main site color is used for the banner and other site elements. An example of an orange/blue setup is shown in figure on the next page. To change the site s color scheme: System Settings: Channels

147 FIGURE 16.11: The Site Color form. FIGURE 16.12: In this example, orange is the highlight color and blue is the main site color. System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Site Colors Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Site Colors. Step 2: Enter the desired color value into the Main Site Color and Highlight Color fields. Step 3: To see your changes, click the refresh button under the color swatches on the right. Step 4: When you re done, click the save button to save your changes. Admittedly, it s silly that there isn t any color palette for you to pick from. The hex color value fields betray the fact that a programmer made this feature and it didn t get checked by a user. If you need to convert turn a color into a hex value, check out where you ll find an online tool that does this for you System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Upload Banner Graphic The banner graphic appears in the upper left of each page in the public web site. It can be any image file that a web browser can understand, but we recommend GIF or JPG graphics Public Site 147

148 PNG files work too, but older web browsers don t handle their transparency. To upload a new logo: System Settings: Step Channels: <Channel Name>: Upload Banner Graphic. 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Public Site: Upload Step 2: Click the Browse... button that is to the right of the File to upload field. Banner Graphic Step 3: Find the graphic that you want to upload. For best quality, upload a graphic that is exactly 75 pixels in height. The public site will automatically resize your graphic to this height if it is there already. Step 4: Click the save button and your graphic will be uploaded System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Remote Servers Setup FIGURE 16.13: The viewer can check the Search Other Sites checkbox and get results from stations that you reference in the Remote Servers Setup menu. When your viewers search for programs, Cablecast will return all of the matching results from your database. But what happens if the show exists at another station that happens to have Cablecast? You can show results from other stations that have Cablecast using the remote servers feature. Example: Burnsville and Jefferson hockey play each other. The viewer searches your site, but Jefferson was the away team so Burnsville s educational access station video taped it. They can see the other station s results if you set it up in Cablecast. After Cablecast searches for results from its own database, it will call up results from remote servers and display their station information at the top System Settings: Channels

149 FIGURE 16.14: The remote site s information is displayed at the top of their results. of the results. We configure the remote information is configured in the System Settings: Channels: TBC: Public Site: Local Server Setup menu. To add a remote server: System Settings: Step Channels: <Channel Name>: Remote Servers Setup menu. 1: Navigate to the System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Public Site: Remote FIGURE Servers 16.15: Setup The Remote Servers form. Step 2: Replace the word localhost in the Web Service Address field with the address of the remote server. Example: Replace with Step 3: Click the Refresh button to the right of the Channel pop-down list. This will populate the list with the channels that are available. Step 4: Select the channel that you want to target from the Channel pop-down list. Step 5: Click the save button. To delete a remote server: Step 1: Navigate to the System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Remote Servers Setup menu Public Site 149

150 Step 2: Click the checkbox to the left of the Web Service Address field of the doomed remote server. Step 3: Click the delete button System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Local Server Setup FIGURE 16.16: The Local Server Setup menu. When a viewer finds results on your server from another site, the results are preceded by information about your station. To enter the information that viewers will see: Step 1: Navigate to System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: Local Server Setup. Step 2: Enter your station s name into the Site Name field. Step 3: Enter introductory information into the Description field. HTML code is valid here. You may want to invite them to order dubs of this program or tell them how they can watch it. Step 4: Enter your stations address and web site into the rest of the fields. Step 5: Click the save button when you are finished System Settings: Channels

151 If you have a video on demand server and a viewer from a remote site finds your show, they ll be able to watch it directly from the remote site! 16.8 Public Site 151

152 System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: View Public Site System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: View Public Site To see your public web site, click the System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: Public Site: View Public Site menu option. If you re linking to your public web site from your station s main site, clicking on this menu option gets you the link that you need to reference. Open it and then copy the link address into your main web site. The Cablecast Web Service The Cablecast Web Service provides another way to get your schedule and shows to the web. It s a protocol that you can access from programming languages like ASPX or Perl web pages. Cablecast uses the Cablecast Web Service to connect to remote servers. To learn how to access the Cablecast Web Service, see chapter 33 on page 345, The Cablecast Web Service System Settings: Channels

153 17 System Settings: Control Module Hosts (CMH) We briefly mentioned Control Module Hosts in section 6.2 on page 60, Cablecast, Control Modules and Devices. We go into greater detail in this section, where we set them up. System Settings: Control Module Hosts The main Cablecast server can use other computers to control devices. We tell Cablecast where those other computers are in the System Settings: Control Module Hosts menu, pictured in figure Go there now. FIGURE 17.1: The Control Module Hosts Menu Adding a Control Module Host System Settings: Control Module Hosts By default, Cablecast has the first Control Module Host (CMH) shown in figure 17.1 configured. This is the host that is running on the Cablecast server. When we say Cablecast server, we re talking about the computer that is running the web interface for Cablecast. This is the main control for your system. Sometimes this server is a Cablecast Pro server and sometimes it s an SX series video server, a Cablecast Digital Express or a Cablecast V2E. Any of these are your automation server, if you are using the Cablecast software that is installed on them. If not, and you re using a Cablecast Pro or Cablecast-Bundle as your system login, then these are considered other computers. If you are using a CMH on another computer, such as a Tightrope video server, then you need to add that CMH to the list. Step 1: If you have not already done so, navigate to the Control Module Hosts menu.

154 FIGURE 17.2: Failing to connect to a Control Module Host. Step 2: Click the new button. Step 3: Name the control module host in the Name field. Typically, this will be the name of the computer. Make sure the name is unique so that you can identify it elsewhere in Cablecast. Step 4: Enter the IP address or network name of the the computer in the Host Address field. Step 5: Click the refresh button. Step 6: If all went well, you ll see a list of available control modules in the Control Modules pop-down list for the new entry. If not, then you ll see see the error illustrated in figure If this happens, check the address and your network configuration and try again. There are many places where Cablecast talks to CMH s. If it can t contact a CMH, it will fail in autopilot and in the force menu. Remember, Tightrope video servers, live streaming servers and VOD servers need to be addressed in this menu because their control modules operate on their server, not on the Tightrope server. That is, your SX4 has a Control Module Service for itself, already running. Of course, if you re using your SX4 as your Cablecast machine, then localhost will cover you. You only need to add the second entry when Cablecast is running on a separate server, such as a Cablecast Pro server. Devices that are controlled through your network and are not Tightrope servers, such as Leightronix s TCD/IP, do not require a separate CMH. They may be controlled through any CMH on your system that has network access to the TCD/IP Deleting a Control Module Host Deleting a CMH is simple System Settings: Control Module Hosts (CMH)

155 Step 1: Check the box next to the doomed CMH. Step 2: Click the delete button, heed the warning and confirm your choice. Once you do this, any devices that reference this CMH will be disabled. You will have to go in and reassign them to a new CMH or delete them. See the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide for information on configuring devices. 155

156 System Settings: Control Module Hosts (CMH)

157 18 System Settings: Time Syncing, Database Tools and System Information The last three menu options in the System Settings menu represent topics too little for their own chapter, so we lump them into this one System Settings: Time Syncing FIGURE 18.1: The Time Sync form. Cablecast will synchronize all Control Module Hosts (CMH) on the same interval, which is configured in the Type Sync menu. System Settings: Time Sync Step 1: Navigate to the System Settings: Time Sync form, shown in figure Step 2: Enter the time interval, in minutes, into the Time sync interval field. Step 3: Click the save button. Usually the default is fine. A lower number will tighten up any timing issues that you may have, but will be more chatty on your network. Servers running Windows 7 need to have the Control Modules running with Administrator privlidges in order for time sync to function properly. If the Control Modules are running as Local System account Time Sync will not work.

158 FIGURE 18.2: The Database Tools form System Settings: Database Tools System Settings: Database Tools The Database Tools form provides you with the version information of the database and the ability to create a backup of it. To create a back up of the database: Step 1: Navigate to the Database Tools form. Step 2: If you want to back the database up to the Cablecast machine s database back up directory, probably located in d:\trms\database\backup, choose the radio button next to the Backup on Cablecast Server option. Step 3: If you want to backup the database to a network share, choose the Backup to network share option. If you choose the second option, the Cablecast Service needs to run with a network permission that has access to the share. If you don t know how this is done, contact a network professional or try asking on Tightrope s forum at forums.trms.com. Step 4: Click the backup to start the backup process. Step 5: When it is complete, you ll see a confirmation message, like the one in System Settings: Time Syncing, Database Tools and System Information

159 FIGURE 18.3: The database backup succeeded. FIGURE 18.4: The database backup failed. figure Click the done button to return to the System Settings menu. Step 6: If it failed, you ll see an error message similar to the one shown in figure Check the path of your backup and try again System Settings: System Information System Settings: System Information The System Settings: System Information form, shown in figure 18.5, includes information about the system including versions of the software and operating system and memory and processor usage. FIGURE 18.5: The System Settings form. There is nothing in here that you will need, unless something is wrong and 18.3 System Settings: System Information 159

160 you re on the phone with technical support. :) If you re curious, check it out to see what your system is up to! System Settings: Time Syncing, Database Tools and System Information

161 19 User Settings User Settings The User Settings menu contains preferences that are unique to account that has access to Cablecast. It holds preferences and defaults that you can adjust to your liking Defaults User Settings: Defaults Navigate to the User Settings: Defaults menu, where you will see the three options illustrated in figure FIGURE 19.1: The User Settings: Defaults menu Default Location If you have a single location, skip this section. When you log in, Cablecast will always put you in the default location. To change it, select a new location from the Default Location pop-down list. You will only have access to the locations that your account has permission to see.

162 Default Channel Schedule When you navigate to the Schedule menu, by you will see your default channel. You can change that default in the Default Channel pop-down list. You will only have access to the channels that your account has permission to see Default Device Assignments Mode Autopilot: Device Assignments In the Autopilot: Device Assignments menu, Cablecast will present a list of device assignments, which is a list of shows and the devices Cablecast will use to play or record them. Sometimes, it s nice to see this list ordered by device. Instead, you may want to see the list ordered by the times that you will need to change tapes out for new shows, which is called swapping a show. To set your preference, pick either Swap View or Device View from the Default Device Assignments Mode pop-down list. We go into these lists and their views in section on page 286, Device Assignment Views Time Format Some people prefer seeing the time in the military time format. Instead of the time listed as 3:30 pm you would see 15:30. If you prefer this time format, then choose the 24 hour option from the Time Format popdown list. Otherwise, choose the 12 hour setting for the standard am/pm format. FIGURE 19.2: The User Settings: Time Format menu User Settings

163 The military likes the 24 hour format because there is no chance for confusion. For example, there is only one 03:30, and that is in the morning Time Format 163

164 User Settings

165 20 Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor FrontDoor is the user and server management system that Cablecast is built upon. This system is documented in FrontDoor: The Manual and you ll want to understand its operation before you read the rest of this chapter. Also, in order to follow the steps in this chapter, the account that you use to access the system must have access to the Frontdoor: User Management menu. The Admin password always has access to this menu. Access to Cablecast s considerable power can be controlled through the FrontDoor User Management system, which you can access by navigating to FrontDoor: User Management. FrontDoor: User Management FrontDoor: User Management: Role Setup: Cablecast Roles Here you will find two options, User Accounts and Roles. In this chapter, we ll outline the permissions that you can grant the users of Cablecast in the Roles menu. Navigate to FrontDoor: User Management: Role Setup: Cablecast Roles. There you will see the menu illustrated in figure 20.1 on the next page At the top, you can name the role in the Role Name field. Again, this is covered in FrontDoor: The Manual. We re interested in the list of permissions that we can assign in the Access Rights list.

166 FIGURE 20.1: The permissions that you can assign a Cablecast user Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor

167 20.1 Permissions with Location and Global Scope You ll notice that at the end of each item is either the term Location based or Global. Location based permissions apply only to the location that you provide are granting access to. Later, when you assign a role to a user, you will have the opportunity to define the location to which the role applies. Permissions that are location based will obey this setting. If you have only one location, this distinction does not matter and you can skip this section. Example: You grant access to autopilot using the Autopilot Force menu but only to City Hall. The user will not be able to go to the Autopilot: Force menu on any other location, only City Hall. Permissions that are listed as Global do not obey these limitations. If you assign a permission to a user, they will be able to access all of the locations in the system for that feature. Example: You grant access to the reporting feature of Cablecast. Even if you only assign the right to the City Hall location, the user will be able to create reports on all of your locations. Some permissions are Location or Channel Based. These permissions are associated with channels, which can be limited to a single location or spread across multiple channels. You can give the user access to all of the channels at a location, or to a specific channel at a specific location Example: You assign the Modify Schedule permission to the City Hall location. The user has access to all of the channels at that location. Example: You have a channel at City Hall called City Channel. You assign the Modify Schudule permission to the City Hall - City Channel channel. If that channel is originating from multiple locations, you can choose to grant that permission to the other same channel at those other locations, or limit it only to City Hall The Permissions of Cablecast Below is a description of each permission that you can grant within Cablecast: Autopilot Force (Location Based) : Users will be able to see and control the routing switcher and devices in the location. This is a very powerful permission.! Autopilot Send (Location Based) : Users will be able to program the head end after shows have been added and the schedule has been created Permissions with Location and Global Scope 167

168 Batch Functions (Location Based) : User will be able to create and schedule many shows at once, using the tools in the Batch Functions menu. Extras Access (Global) : Users will be able to access the Extras menu within Cablecast, which would grant them access to many auxiliary features of Cablecast. We cover the Extras menu in chapter 32 on page 325, Extras. Modify Schedule (Location Based or Channel Based) : The user will be able to modify a channel s schedule. Modify Crawl Schedule (Location Based) : Each channel can have a crawl schedule, if there is a DSK device assigned to that channel. With this permission, the user would be able to modify that schedule. Modify Shows (Location Based) : The user would be able to add, edit, and clear shows. Reporting Access (Location Based) : The user would be able to generate reports. Modify Location Settings (Location Based) : The user would be able to modify the settings for the location. This is a very powerful permission.! Modify System Settings (Global) : The user would be able to modify the system settings of Cablecast. This too is a very powerful permission.! Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor

169 21 CablecastDSK Setup This chapter covers how to configure the CablecastDSK software included with Cablecast to interface with compatible downstream key devices Prerequisites Before proceeding, ensure that you have a supported external DSK device. These currently include: External scan converter with a luminance key. (Standalone Mode) Keywest Logostar 200 Chyron ChyTV Plus or ChyTV SDI Compix Legacy Hardware Compix NewsScroll Software and Compatible Hardware Versimation BB Overview of DSK Operation The CablecastDSK software is used to communicate the DSK information you enter into Cablecast to one of the compatible hardware solutions listed above. By default, all Tightrope machines with Cablecast or CablecastControlModules software installed have the CablecastDSK software available to run. It is good practice to not run CablecastDSK on a Tightrope video server, as this can have a negative affect on the playback and encoding of video. Likewise, running it on a normal workstation could result in the application being closed by an unaware user. Don t run CablecastDSK on your workstation or video server! If you would like to run CablecastDSK on a non-tightrope system, please request a download key for CablecastControlModules from support@trms.com and install it where you would prefer. CablecastDSK is installed to the TRMS directory on the drive you chose to install CablecastControlModules onto. The default location is D:\TRMS\CablecastDSK\.

170 21.3 Physical Setup In this section we will touch on the physical setup needed for each of the DSK devices. Be sure to make note of the IP address or serial port number of any externally controlled devices! Standalone Standalone mode places DSK information on the VGA output of the computer it is running on. An external scan converter that supports a luminance key is then used to key video in place of the color Black. See the scan converter documentation for directions on setting this up Logostar 200 Ensure your Keywest hardware is connected per the manufacturers documentation. Connect the Logostar s available 9-pin RS-232 port to an available 9-pin serial port on the computer that will be running the CablecastDSK software. Make note of the serial port number, as we need this later in software setup ChyTV Follow the ChyTV setup document that can be obtained by sending an e- mail to support@trms.com, along with Chyron s documentation of physical ChyTV connections. Make note of the ChyTV s IP address, as we need this later in software setup. Ensure that CablecastControlModules is installed onto a computer that also has ChyTV Tools installed, as we need the CablecastDSK software to interface with ChyTV Tools Compix Ensure your Compix hardware is connected per the manufacturers documentation. Install CablecastControlModules onto the computer running legacy Compix hardware, as the CablecastDSK software interfaces directly with the Compix card. Ensure that the Compix GenlockVGA settings are correct for your system. An example of GenlockVGA can be seen in figure 21.1 on the next page 1. Input Mode: Set this to the type of video connection you are feeding into the Compix card 2. Output Mode 1: This generally is set to "Overlay", but certain lumakey installations may need "Graphic Only" CablecastDSK Setup

171 FIGURE 21.1: The Genlock- VGA program from Compix. 3. Output Mode 2: Set this to the type of video connection you are feeding into the Compix card. This should be the same as "Input Mode". 4. Genlock Mode: Set this to "External" if your card is connected to Genlock or Black Burst, otherwise use "Internal" Compix NewsScroll Ensure your Compix hardware is connected per the manufacturers documentation. Make note of the IP address of the computer running the Compix NewsScroll software, as we need this later in software setup. Remember that the NewsScroll software needs to be running on the Compix computer Versimation BB101 Ensure that your Versimation hardware is connected per the manufacturers documentation, and that the unit is connected to the same network as your Cablecast equipment. Be sure to change the IP address of the Versimation so that it can be seen by your Cablecast system. The default login and password for your Versimation BB101 are both "admin" Make note of the IP address and login/password (if you choose to change it), as we need this later in software setup Software Setup In this section we will go over the software setup needed for the CablecastDSK program to operate with your particular system setup Software Setup 171

172 Configuring CablecastDSK We need to configure the CablecastDSK program to connect to our Cablecast server and use the correct DSK device. Step 1: Open CablecastDSK.exe, which will be located in D:\TRMS\CablecastDSK\. Step 2: Click Configure... when the Loading CablecastDSK... screen appears. Step 3: Enter the IP address of the Cablecast server in the Server: field, and then select the channel that this DSK unit will be displaying on. See figure Step 4: Under Hardware Configuration, select the type of DSK hardware you will be interfacing with. See figure Diagnostic : This mode is for testing communication with the Cablecast server and does not connect to a DSK device. Standalone : No additional data entry is required. Logostar 200 : Select the serial port that you previously connected the Logostar 200 to. ChyTV : Enter the previously noted IP address for the ChyTV unit. Compix : Select the type of Genlock your Compix hardware is using. Compix NewsScroll : Enter the previously noted IP address for the computer running Compix NewsScroll. FIGURE 21.2: The initial CablecastDSK configuration screen. Versimation : Enter the previously noted IP address for the Versimation BB101, along with the username and password. Step 5: ClickSave CablecastDSK Interface Once CablecastDSK has loaded, you will be presented with the interface (figure 21.3 on page 174). This interface may differ slightly based on the CablecastDSK Setup

173 DSK hardware you are interfacing with. In the upper left you will see if the CablecastDSK program is connected or disconnected to the Cablecast server, along with the current status of the Bug graphic, Bug text, and Crawl. The log in the lower third of the interface keeps track of connections and triggers. You may click the Save Log... button at any time to save this log to the hard drive. At any time, you may override the DSK commands sent from the Cablecast server. This can be useful for setting up or testing your DSK settings Software Setup 173

174 FIGURE 21.3: The CablecastDSK main interface. 1. Override Bug: Check this box to override the state of the Bug graphic as currently set on the Cablecast server. 2. Override Bug Text: Check this box to turn on Bug Text, even if not currently enabled on the Cablecast server. The adjacent box denotes which text will be displayed for the Bug Text. 3. Override Crawl Text: Check this box to turn on Crawl Text, even if not currently enabled on the Cablecast server. The adjacent box denotes which text will be displayed for the Crawl Text. 4. State: Check this box to turn the Bug graphic on. Only enabled once "Override Bug" is checked Where to control DSK in Cablecast s Web User Interface System Settings : Channels : <Your Channel> : DSK In the Cablecast web interface, browse to System Settings : Channels : <Your Channel> : DSK. From here, you can select when to show the Bug Graphic, and whether or not to enable a standalone crawl schedule. As of Cablecast 4.9, individual show records can have DSK information saved to them. This means that each time they re scheduled to air, the saved DSK information will appear. Additionally, this default DSK information can be overridden on an individual basis by clicking the Details link of a scheduled show. See section 16.7 on page 143 for further clarification on entering DSK information and standalone crawl schedules Model Specific Settings Each DSK unit installed in the system must be configured correctly to ensure proper operation CablecastDSK Setup

175 Logostar 200 The Logostar 200 is setup using the Logostar software on the unit. CablecastDSK triggers Bugs, Bug Text, and Crawls over the serial port setup earlier ChyTV, Compix and Standalone When setup to communicate with a ChyTV, legacy Compix hardware, or Standalone mode, CablecastDSK will control the setup and placement of Bugs, Bug Text, and Crawls. First, we ll look at the Bug settings tab as seen in figure This tab controls functions of the Bug Graphic. FIGURE 21.4: The ChyTV, Compix and Standalone Bug settings tab. 1. Location: Use these radio buttons to select the corner of the screen the Bug will be displayed. 2. Image: Click this link to select a new image to use as the Bug Graphic. 3. Vertical Offset: This adjusts the vertical offset of the Bug (in pixels). This may need to be adjusted to make the Bug visible on the TV output. 4. Horizontal Offset: This adjusts the horizontal offset of the Bug (in pixels). This may need to be adjusted to make the Bug visible on the TV output. 5. Bug Preview: This shows you a preview of what Bug Graphic will be displayed. 6. Apply: Click this button to apply the changes you ve made to the above options Model Specific Settings 175

176 Next is the Crawl settings tab, as you can see in figure This tab controls functions of the Crawl. FIGURE 21.5: The ChyTV, Compix and Standalone Crawl settings tab. 1. Location: Use these radio buttons to select where the crawl will be displayed. 2. -Vertical Offset: This adjusts the vertical offset of the Crawl (in pixels. This may need to be adjusted to make the Crawl visible on the TV output. 3. Crawl Speed: Move this slider to adjust the speed of the Crawl. 4. Font: Click this link to select a new font for the Crawl. 5. Text Color: Click this box to select a new color for the Crawl text. 6. Background: Select the box to enable a Crawl background. Click the color box to select a new color for the background. 7. Apply: Click this button to apply the changes you ve made to the above options CablecastDSK Setup

177 Finally we have the Bug Text settings tab, which you ll see in figure This tab controls functions of the Bug Text. FIGURE 21.6: The ChyTV, Compix and Standalone Bug Text settings tab. 1. Location: Use these radio buttons to select the corner of the screen the Bug Text will be displayed. 2. Vertical Offset: This adjusts the vertical offset of the Bug Text (in pixels). This may need to be adjusted to make the Bug visible on the TV output. 3. Horizontal Offset: This adjusts the horizontal offset of the Bug Text (in pixels). This may need to be adjusted to make the Bug visible on the TV output. 4. Font: Click this link to select a new font for the Bug Text. 5. Color: Click this box to select a new color for the Bug Text. Move the slider to adjust opacity. 6. Draw Background Rectangle: Select this to add and adjust the properties of a background for the Bug Text. 7. Draw Text Outline: Select this to add and adjust an outline around the Bug Text. 8. Draw Background Outline: Select this to add and adjust a background 21.5 Model Specific Settings 177

178 outline for the Bug Text Compix NewsScroll When connected to Compix NewsScroll software, CablecastDSK will show Bugs, Crawls, and Bug Text. Setup requires configuration of both the CablecastDSK and NewsScroll software. See figure 21.7 for the CablecastDSK settings. See figure 21.8 on the facing page for the NewsScroll fields we interface with. FIGURE 21.7: Compix NewsScroll settings in CablecastDSK. 1. Logo: Enter the name of a NewsScroll.LCF logo file you ve previously created. "LeftTop" is the default logo. 2. Primary Scroll Template: Enter the name of a NewsScroll crawl template you ve previously created. "Scroll" is the default template. 3. Speed: Move this slider to adjust the speed of the Crawl CablecastDSK Setup

179 FIGURE 21.8: The Compix NewsScroll fields CablecastDSK controls. To change the Bug (Logo1 in NewsScroll) FIGURE 21.9: The Logo window in NewsScroll for adjusting the position of the Bug/Logo field. Changing the Bug Graphic in NewsScroll requires making some changes in their software. See figure on the next page for an example of the Position window for the Bug in NewsScroll. Step 1: In the NewsScroll software, click on the Logo menu and select Logo Setting. Step 2: Click Logo1 Browse.. to select a new Bug/Logo.(figure 21.9) Step 3: Click Logo1 Save to save the new Bug/Logo as a.lcf file you can reference in the Logo: field of CablecastDSK. Step 4: Click Position to change the position of the Bug/Logo. (Be certain to adjust Logo1, as we don t use Logo2.) 21.5 Model Specific Settings 179

180 FIGURE 21.10: The Position window in NewsScroll for adjusting the position of the Bug/Logo field. To change the position of Bug Text (Title in NewsScroll) FIGURE 21.11: The Title window in NewsScroll for adjusting the position of the Bug/Logo field. We follow a similar set of steps to make changes to the Bug Text in the software. See figure on the next page for an example of the Position window for Bug Test in NewsScroll. Step 1: In the NewsScroll software, click on the Logo menu and select Title Setting Step 2: Click Position (figure 21.11) to change the position of the Bug Text/Title. (Don t change the Template unless you ve previously created one more to your liking.) CablecastDSK Setup

181 FIGURE 21.12: The Position window in NewsScroll for adjusting the position of the Bug Text/Title field. To change the position of the Crawl (Primary Crawl in NewsScroll) There are only a couple steps needed to change the position of the Crawl. See figure Step 1: Ensure the NewsScroll software is in Offline mode before making this change. Step 2: In the NewsScroll software, click on the Crawl menu and select Set Crawl Area FIGURE 21.13: The Set Crawl Area window in NewsScroll for adjusting the position of the Crawl field Model Specific Settings 181

182 Versimation BB101 When connected to a Versimation BB101, CablecastDSK will show Bugs and Crawls. Most configuration is done through the BB101 s web interface, but there are a few CablecastDSK settings as seen in figure The Versimation does not support Bug Text at this time. The Versimation does not support Bug Text at this time. 1. Crawl Color: Select one of the pre-defined colors you would like your crawl to use. 2. Background Color: Select one of the pre-defined colors (or None) for your crawl to use. 3. Background Transparent: Select this check box if you would like you Crawl Background to be transparent. FIGURE 21.14: Versimation BB101 settings in CablecastDSK. The Bug Graphic, placement of the Bug, and all other properties must be changed in the Versimation web management interface CablecastDSK Setup

183 22 SX Video Overlay Setup 22.1 Prerequisites 22.2 Overview of SX Video Overlay This chapter covers how to configure the SX Video Overlay software included with Cablecast SX Series Servers to overlay crawls, bug, and bug text. Before proceeding, please note that the SX Video Overlay is only supported on SX Servers running the Windows 7 operating system. If you are unsure if your server is supported, please contact Tightrope Media System support. The SX Video Overlay application allows your SX Series video server to overlay graphics on top of video playback. It uses the same data as the CablecastDSK application and has the same overlay capabilities. Bug : A logo that is placed in one of the corners and identifies the channel. A Channel s bug state can be configured in a Channel s DSK Settings. More info can be found in section 16.7 on page 143, Down Stream Key (DSK). Bug Text : Text that is placed in one of the corners and relates to the program currently running. Typically used for informative text such as Live or Pre Recorded. Bug Text is configured on a per run basis in a run s details. See section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details, for more info. Crawl : Text that scrolls along the bottom or top of the screen. Crawl text can originate from a run s details. See section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details. Crawl text can also come from a channel s standalone crawl schedule. See section on page 269, Scheduling Crawls ].

184 FIGURE 22.1: Example of bug, bug text, and crawl being overlayed on sx output Installation To get started begin by double clicking the SX Video Overlay Installer you previously downloaded. If you do not yet have a copy of the SX Video Overlay Installer contact support@trms.com to obtain one. The installer is simple with only a single option of where you would like to install the software. By default, it will install to D:\TRMS which is fine. Once installation is complete the application will automatically launch. A shortcut will also be placed on the desktop to launch the application in the future. The SX Video Overlay app needs to be running in order to operate normally. This means your SX server needs to be logged into the desktop for overlay to work Application Overview The SX Video Overlay Application s main window is divided into two primary areas. The top area lists all of the channels defined in your Cablecast system. For each channel you can see what SX Output the channel is assigned to (if any) as well as what the current values are for the bug state, bug text, and crawl text. There are also controls for overriding each channel s current overlay values as well as controls for editing the channel s style. The bottom area keeps a running log of the applications activity. The information provided in the log window can be useful for diagnosing issues with the application SX Video Overlay Setup

185 FIGURE 22.2: The main SX Video Overlay App screen. The application has a single menu item in the toolbar File which can be used to configure the Cablecast Server IP address, importing and exporting settings, and exiting the application. The SX Video Overlay application runs as tray application. Hitting the x in the upper left corner does not exit the app, but minimizes it to the tray. When minimized to the tray the main window can be brought forward by double clicking the SX Video Overlay App icon. To hide the app choose Hide from the File menu. To exit the app you must choose Exit from the File menu, or right click the tray icon and choose Exit. FIGURE 22.3: If you don t see the SX Video Overlay App, check the tray Application Overview 185

186 22.5 Configuration Cablecast Server Setup In this section we will go over the software setup needed for the SX Video Overlay program. Before using the SX Video Overlay App, the application first needs to know the address to the Cablecast Server. To set the address navigate to File -> Server Setup. Here enter the IP address or hostname of your Cablecast server. The IP address or hostname should be the same as what you would type into your web browser s address bar to access Frontdoor Enabling Overlay FIGURE 22.4: Enabling and disabling overlays for a channel. By default a channel will not have overlays enabled. This allows using the SX Video Overlay App for one channel, and a third party DSK device for another. To enable overlay for a channel click on the grey Disabled button in the Overlay column for the channel you wish to enable. You will be presented with the choice of using no device, or the built in SX Server output. To disable overlays for a channel click green Enabled button Style Editing Each channel on your system has its own independent style for controlling font sizes, colors, images, and positioning. To edit the style for a channel click the Edit button in the Style column. This will bring up the style editor. The style editor has three tabs for editing the three different types of overlays Crawl, Bug, and Bug Text. Each are covered in detail below. When done editing a style click the Save button to apply the style to your channel. Choosing Cancel will close the style editor, and discard any changes SX Video Overlay Setup

187 Crawl Style Text Face : Used to configure the font and text color of the text. Text Outline : Used to configure an outline for the text. Background Color : Used to configure a solid color background that appears the scrolling text. Background Image : Used to enable an image that will be shown below the scrolling text. The image will be scaled to fit the output resolution of your server. Transparency is supported, for best results use a full frame PNG32 file Bug Style Position / Speed : Used to set if the scrolling text will be placed at the top or bottom of the screen as well how far offset it is from the edge. The Crawl Speed slider allows for adjustment of how fast the text will move. Foreground Image : Used to enable an image that will be shown on top of the scrolling text. The image will mask any text scrolling behind it. The image will be scaled to fit the output resolution of your server. Transparency is supported, for best results use a full frame PNG32 file Bug Text Style Image : Used to to pick the image that will be shown when the bug is enabled. The Opacity slider, Max Width, and Max Height controls allow for fine tuning of the graphic. The image will be scaled proportionaly to fit within the bounds defined by Max Width and Max Height. Transparency is supported in the image, for best results use a high quality PNG32 file. Position : Used to configure in which corner and how far from the edge the bug will be placed. Text Properties : Used to configure the font, text color, and opacity of the text. Text Outline : Used to configure an outline for the text. Background Rectangle : Used to configure a solid color background that gets shown below the text. Background Outline : Used to configure an outline for the Background Rectangle Position : Used to configure in which corner and how far from the edge the bug text will be placed Configuration 187

188 FIGURE 22.5: The crawl style editor SX Video Overlay Setup

189 FIGURE 22.6: The bug style editor Configuration 189

190 FIGURE 22.7: The bug text style editor SX Video Overlay Setup

191 22.6 Operation Overriding Output For testing purposes it is sometimes useful to override overlay values for a channel. All of the values, crawl text, bug text, and bug state can be overridden. To override a value click the green Auto button to the properties right. This will turn the button orange to indicate that the property is now in Manual mode. When in manual mode text can be entered into the bug text and crawl fields and the bug state s On Off button can be clicked. Clicking the Update button on the far right will apply the values. FIGURE 22.8: An orange button next to a property indicates its overriden Importing and Exporting Settings The SX Video Overlay App supports exporting and importing setting files. These files contain all the images and style properties for all channels listed in the application. For systems with multiple SX Servers it can be useful to edit the style for all channels on a single server. The settings can then be exported and imported on all other servers to maintain consistent styles across all servers. To export settings choose File -> Export Settings and choose a location to save the.dat file. To import settings choose File -> Import Settings and select the.dat file to be imported Logging When things don t go as expected its useful to review the logs located in the lower portion of the SX Video Overlay App s main window. The log keeps a detailed record of what the App does and when, including overlay property changes, SX device assignment changes, and communication errors with the Cablecast server Operation 191

192 FIGURE 22.9: Export and Import settings to share styles with different servers. The Clear button clears the logs. The Copy button copies the entire log to the clipboard so it can be pasted into a text editor for more thourough review. FIGURE 22.10: The logs pane keeps a history of all the apps activity SX Video Overlay Setup

193 23 Testing and Troubleshooting Cablecast Once you ve connected and configured, it s time to test. In this chapter, we test the various parts of Cablecast and give you some troubleshooting advice, in case you don t get the expected results. When you ve completed your Cablecast setup process, this chapter is an excellent next step. Therefore, the sections are ordered in the most logical manner for testing a new system Router Control and Status Autopilot: Force (Matrix) Navigate to Autopilot: Force (Matrix). This form includes a view of your routing switcher as a matrix, with outputs as columns going down and inputs as rows across from left to right. When Cablecast loads this screen, it communicates with the routing switcher, which makes navigating here an excellent way to test the routing switcher in your head end. If all is well, you should see something resembling figure 23.1, with the dark green dots representing the pattern that your routing switcher is switched to. FIGURE 23.1: The force menu in this example is providing feedback, as evidenced by the green dots on the two outputs.

194 If all is not well, the system will wait for a response from the switcher and eventually fail. This could mean that two-way communication is not working or that no communication from the routing switcher is happening. Either way, your switcher will look something like the one shown in figure FIGURE 23.2: The force menu in this example provides no feedback or there may be no communication. It may work fine, but you cannot see what your routing switcher is set to by looking at Cablecast. Some routing switchers do not provide feed back. The only way to tell if those routers are working is to perform a switch in this form and watch the routing switcher to see if it performed it. To perform a switch, simply select the green dot at the cross-point that you would like to switch. In figure 23.2, if you wanted to switch DVD-1 to the BEC channel, you d click the button that was aligned where those two met Playback After verifying that your routing switcher is working, it s time to test the play back of each device Get Some Media Before you begin your testing, you re going to need to have some media with which to test. For tape and DVD players, put something that you have into the device and see if you can manually get Cablecast to play it. For video servers, you can copy a file into the server. Name the file 1-test.mpg. Later, we ll show you how to use this file to test your server Testing and Troubleshooting Cablecast

195 FIGURE 23.3: Testing playback on a two way device Testing Devices with Two-Way Communication Autopilot: Force (Matrix) If you re testing a device with two-way communication, you can see the results of your actions in the Autopilot: Force (Matrix) menu. Autopilot: Force (Matrix) Step 1: Navigate to the Autopilot: Force (Matrix) menu. Either the Matrix or Small will do, but the steps in this guide assume that you are using the Matrix version. In figure 23.3 we use the Matrix version of the force menu. FIGURE 23.4: If you have an action selected from the pop-down list and you select a switch to an output for that same device, both the action and the switch will be performed. Step 2: Find the device that you want to test. In the Actions column, you ll find a pop-down list with all of the actions that the device can perform. Step 3: For single disc DVD and tape players: Substep A: Select Play from the pop-down list. Substep B: Click the grey Dev Only button to force the action on the device. Alternately, you can select an output for that device and the action and switch will be performed. We illustrate this in figure Substep C: You should see the status change to something like what you see in figure 23.5 on the following page, but without the slot designation. Substep D: Verify that the DVD or tape player is playing the media. Step 4: For DVD changers: Substep A: Click the green arrow fields. to reveal the Slot, Title and Chapter 23.2 Playback 195

196 FIGURE 23.5: The feedback from a DVD changer that is playing. Substep B: When you loaded the DVD into the changer, you put it in a specific slot that was numbered. Enter that number into the Slot field. Substep C: In the Actions pop-down list for that device, select Load and click the grey Dev Only button to force the DVD player to load the disc. Substep D: Next, in the Actions pop-down list, select play. Substep E: Enter the same slot number into the Slot field. Substep F: Again click the grey Dev Only button. Alternately, you can select an output for that device and the action and switch will be performed, as illustrated in figure 23.4 on the previous page. Substep G: Wait and watch the status on the far right of the form. Check to see that it says that the device is playing (as shown in figure 23.5). Substep H: Visually verify that the device is, in fact, playing the disc that you asked it to play. Step 5: For outputs on your video server: Substep A: Select the green arrow name. icon next to the video server output s Substep B: To use the test file that you copied to your server, enter 1 into the ShowID field that appears after clicking on the arrow icon 1. Substep C: Next, in the Actions pop-down list, select play. Substep D: Click the grey Dev Only button. Alternately, you can select an output for that device and the action and switch will be performed, as illustrated in figure 23.4 on the previous page. Substep E: Check to see that the device played the file. 1 The 1 corresponds to the 1 in the file name 1-test.mpg. If you named the file 123-anothertest.mpeg, you will want to enter 123 in the ShowID field Testing and Troubleshooting Cablecast

197 Testing Devices with One-Way Communication Substep F: Repeat these steps for all of your devices to ensure they are working correctly. Autopilot: Force If your device uses one-way communication, such as an IR device or anything controlled from a Leightronix ProBus interface, you can force an action from the Autopilot: Force menu. You will not be able to see the status of these devices from the Cablecast web interface because they cannot communicate their status to Cablecast. To force one of these devices: Step 1: Navigate to the Autopilot: Force (Matrix) menu. Step 2: Find the device that you want to test. In the Actions column, you ll find a pop-down list with all of the actions that the device can perform. Select the Play action. Step 3: Make sure a tape or DVD is in this device. Step 4: Click the Dev Only button to the right of the Actions pop-down list. Step 5: Look at the DVD or tape player to verify that it is playing Playback 197

198 Testing and Troubleshooting Cablecast

199 III. Using Cablecast

200 200

201 24 FrontDoor Settings for Cablecast 24.1 Introduction Login: FrontDoor Login: FrontDoor: Server Setup In this chapter, we explain the the options found in the FrontDoor menu. We will not go into the FrontDoor user management system in great detail, nor will we discuss the Server Setup menu. These are topics covered in FrontDoor: The Manual. To see a list of permissions that can be granted to a Cablecast user, see chapter 20 on page 165, Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor The FrontDoor Main Menu FIGURE 24.1: The FrontDoor Menu When you log in, you ll see the FrontDoor main menu, which we illustrate in figure Here is a description of each item: FrontDoor Applications : This is the list of FrontDoor applications, such as Carousel and Cablecast, which are installed on the system. While the administrator always sees the complete list, user-level accounts may only see a subset of tools, depending on privileges assigned in the FrontDoor user management system. We re concerned with Cablecast in this manual.

202 Server Setup : This menu option gives the administrator control over server setup, the banner title, clock synchronization settings and other settings. The administrator will always see this option, but other accounts may have it disabled. You can learn about the items in this menu in FrontDoor: The Manual. Change Password : Change the account s password from here Changing Your Password FIGURE 24.2: When changing your password, make sure you enter it in the New Password and Confirm New Password fields. Logout : Ends the current session More Details All users may change their account s password by selecting the Change Password button. Simply type the new password into the New Password and Confirm New Password fields. This was just a brief overview of the FrontDoor settings in Cablecast. Please be sure to read FrontDoor: The Manual for more details on any of these operations FrontDoor Settings for Cablecast

203 25 An Introduction to Using Cablecast 25.1 Introduction After you ve completed the steps in Cablecast Setup and understand the concepts introduced in One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast, it s time to start using Cablecast! That is what this part of the manual is all about! The astute reader, however, will notice that a good chunk of this manual has already passed us by. That s because we took a good amount of time explaining the concepts of Cablecast and setting it up. You need to make sure that you understand the concepts of Cablecast and that your system has been set up Prerequisites Before reading the chapters in this part of the manual, you should have read most of One Thousand Miles Over Cablecast. The concepts of Cablecast are explained in this part of the manual and will not be repeated in any of the chapters that follow. Pay close attention to chapter 3 on page 25, How Does Cablecast Work?, chapter 4 on page 37, How Do I Use It: Cablecast s Workflow and chapter 5 on page 47, Logging in and A First Look. Also, you should either have a working system that has been tested or at least a clear idea of what your working system will look like. See the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guidefor system examples Following Along This part of the manual will walk you through the major components of Cablecast, starting from show records, then the schedule and then the rest of the main menu from top to bottom. If you are following along with your Cablecast system, you should end up with a complete understanding of Cablecast and all of its features.

204 If you need a refresher on the basics of Cablecast s web interface and a tour of its main menu, review chapter 5 on page 47, Logging in and A First Look An Introduction to Using Cablecast

205 26 Shows, Projects and Media Records 26.1 Introduction Projects, shows and media records... Oh, my! In Cablecast, you will schedule programs to replay on your channel. These programs, or shows as they are called in Cablecast, are often part of a series of programs, which we call a project. When they are recorded they are put onto tapes, DVD s, saved as video files, etcetera. We call these media. We track all of this information within Cablecast and we do it with following the elements: Projects : A project is only a container for shows. It has a name, can have a producer and holds all of the show records assigned to it. Projects typically have many shows. If you have a video on demand server, such as the Cablecast SX-VOD or Cablecast Pro with VOD, then Projects have one more function: they can create a podcast. If you make a podcast for a project, viewers can subscribe to it in itunes and receive the latest episodes automatically. Shows : A show record describes a program. It holds the program s title, date, notes and up to eight custom fields. Optionally, show records may belong to a project. They may not belong to more than one project, however. Media : Media records contain length, format, and status information for every show that points to it. Media records can track the disposition, or stage, that a file/dvd/tape is in. Example: Your media may have been erased, returned to the producer, in post production, etcetera. All of these are possible dispositions. If all of this record keeping sounds a bit daunting, fret not. Cablecast tracks as much or as little as you need. In fact, the only information that Cablecast needs to know is: The show title The program s length Any cue-ing information, such as title, chapter and cue length The format of the media

206 Beyond that, the rest is gravy. What can you do with this tasty gravy? Mostly, you can perform more effective searches and reports with more data. Our feelings will be hurt if you don t fill out all of the fields within your show and project records, but ultimately that is between you and your higher power. Don t come to us if someone asks you what you ve been doing the last ten years and all you can say is, I ve run some shows, but I don t really know anything beyond that Shows, Reels and Media Records Because Cablecast does so much for you automatically, it is sometimes necessary to explain a complicated concept so that in case you need to understand a subtlety about the system, you re armed with a grasp of how Cablecast sees, and then in turn, rocks your world. With that disclaimer aside, let s talk about the fantastic world of shows, reels and media records: As you know from previous sections, a show record describes a program that you intend to track and eventually air on your channel. A show is always on something, like a DVD, tape, live input or MPEG file. The key is that, according to Cablecast, your show is stored or comes from some kind of media or input. The system tracks that media on a media record. This is all well and good in a world where one show is on one tape or one DVD. But sadly, sometimes this is not the case. That is where we get into reels and media records. Reels relate very closely to media records, but technically they describe slightly different things. A reel describes the part of a show that exists on a single piece of media. Specifically, it stores the length and cuing information for your show as it relates to one media record. Media records describe the what and where of a piece of media. They track the format, disposition (section 10.3 on page 95, Dispositions) and any autopilot assignment preferences that you have. Like shows, media records can be searched for and the show records that are attached to them are revealed through the link that the reel record provides. A media record describes a DVD, tape, MPEG-2 file, live event or some other type of media and a reel describes a recorded segment of a show on that piece of media. Please review these three examples: One Show on One MPEG-2 File : In figure 26.1 on the next page, we have one program that has one reel on one file. When you have shows like this, it is difficult to see the difference between a show, reel and media record because if all shows were like this, Shows, Projects and Media Records

207 Title: School Board 1236 ID: Show Length: 01:36:27 Cue Info: 00:02:23 Cue Info: Title 1, Chapter 1, Chapter 1, 00:01:55 Assignment: Auto 1/5/2005 Date: Disposition Assignment: Auto 1/2/2005 Date: Disposition ShowID 1236 Reel 2... Assignment: Auto 1/2/2005 Date: Disposition there would be no need to have separate records for each 1. In reality, there is rarely a need to see the difference in this scenario because Cablecast automatically links them together for you. That is, when you create a show record, the reel and media record are created automatically. FIGURE 26.1: One show on one reel. Show Record Show ID: 1237 Title: Basketball Game... All of the other info... Reel Record Order Number: 1 Show ID Link: 1237 Length: 01:36:27 Cue Info: 00:02:23 Media Record Name: ShowID 1237 Reel1... Format: MPEG-2 Disposition: In House Disposition Date: 1/5/2005 Assignment: Auto other info... Disposition: In House... All the of Show ID Link: 1237 MPEG-2 Format: Game One Show on Two DVDs : The show ran past the capacity of the media it was on, so we had to add a Basketball Title: 1 Number: Order Reel second reel on a second DVD, illustrated in figure When you schedule Show ID: 1237 Name: ShowID Reel Record Media Record Show Record and automate this show, Cablecast will automatically pull up both reel and media records for you. Notice how the links are represented. One show has two reels and these reels are linked to separate media records. Also, notice how the reel records have an order. This is so Cablecast knows which reel to play first when it automates this show on your channel. FIGURE 26.2: One show on many reels. Show Record Show ID: 1236 Title: School Board Meeting... All of the other info... Reel Record Order Number: 1 Show ID Link: 1236 Length: 01:55:32 Cue Info: Title 1, Chapter 1, 00:01:55 Reel Record Order Number: 2 Show ID Link: 1236 Length: 00:47:16 Cue Info: Title 1, Chapter 1, 00:00:18 Media Record Name: ShowID 1236 Reel1... Format: DVD Disposition: In House Disposition Date: 1/2/2005 Assignment: Auto Media Record Name: ShowID 1236 Reel 2... Format: DVD Disposition: In House Disposition Date: 1/2/2005 Assignment: Auto 00:00:18 Disposition: In House DVD 00:47:16 Format: Length: Two Shows on One DVD : In figure 26.3 on the next page, we have two shows on one DVD. Notice 1236 Link: ID Show how the shows are each linked to their own reel, and each reel is pointing to Name: other info... Order Number: 2 the Reel Record... All of the same media record. Also notice how the order for each reel is set to 1. Media Record Meeting As we saw in the previous example, this field is the order of reels within a show. Notice that in the media record of this example, we have the Assignment field set to a specific DVD changer and slot number. We are highlighting that we can force the autopilot system within Cablecast to always pick a device and slot (if applicable) for a media record. This comes in handy when you have media that you do not want to reload and is more common in DVDs that hold multiple programs. Cue Info: 1 In fact, that s how older versions of Cablecast worked Shows, Reels and Media Records 207

208 Title: TOOL #81... All of the Show Record Show ID: 1235 Cue Info: Title 2, Chapter 1, Finally, notice the cuing information within each reel record. See how the second reel for the second show is pointing to Title 2? This is significant. Because of this, Cablecast can cue to the shows correctly, even though they are on the same DVD. FIGURE 26.3: Many shows on one reel. Show Record Show ID: 1234 Title: TOOL #80... All of the other info... Show Record Show ID: 1235 Title: TOOL #81... All of the other info... Reel Record Order Number: 1 Show ID Link: 1234 Length: 00:29:12 Cue Info: Title 1, Chapter 1, 00:00:05 Reel Record Order Number: 1 Show ID Link: 1235 Length: 00:31:30 Cue Info: Title 2, Chapter 1, 00:00:12 Media Record Name: TOOL DVD #04 Format: DVD Disposition: In House Disposition Date: 1/2/2005 Assignment: DVD 2, Slot :00:12 info... other 00:31:30 Length: 1235 Is this all that important to your understanding of Cablecast? Not really Link: ID Show Cablecast makes it all work so that for most people, reels are just Order Number: 1 Assignment: DVD 2, Slot 231 Reel Record Disposition Date: 1/2/2005 a section within a show record where they enter the show information House In Disposition: related to the length, format and cue time. Every now and then they Format: DVD 00:00:05 Chapter 1, Name: TOOL DVD #04 click on the hyperlink that gives them more options related to the media record. If you re the kind of person that will get more out of the system by fully understanding how things really work with show, reel and media records, then this section is important to master. If not, then forget about it until the need arises and you need to re-visit this topic Preparing your Location for Show Information When you (or someone you love) set up your Cablecast system, the categories and dispositions should have been entered. However, this may not have happened, especially if the person setting the system up isn t familiar with your station. If these have not been established, then you need to follow the steps in chapter 10 on page 89, Location Settings: Shows. If you have multiple locations, remember that what you do in Location Settings: Shows affects only the location that is selected at the top of the user interface! Each location has its own settings under the Location Settings menu and they all need to be set up individually Shows, Projects and Media Records

209 26.4 Projects Projects help you organize shows into groups. If you have a series of programs that run together, you may find it useful to put them in a project Creating a Project Show Management Navigate to Show Management and select the Projects tab. Here, we can either find a project or make a new one. Click on New Project, where you will see the form illustrated in figure Fill out the form, describing and naming the project as you see fit. FIGURE 26.4: The Projects Form. You can choose a producer from the Producer pop-down list. If you would like to do this and have yet to add a producer to your Cablecast system, skip over to chapter 28 on page 273 and add one. Creating a Podcast FIGURE 26.5: Users can select podcasts from your web site Projects 209

210 If your system has a Cablecast SX-VOD or Cablecast Pro with VOD, you can create a podcast of a project. When you do this, your viewers will be able to select the podcast (figure 26.5 on the previous page) link from your public web site and then browse for this in the list of other podcasts that have video for downloads (figure 26.6). FIGURE 26.6: Users can select their podcast from a list. itunes will open automatically.! Podcasts only work when a show is on a Tightrope video server, such as a VS4 or SX video server. They do not work for shows that originate from tape, DVD or third party video servers. Once the show appears on the video server, the video on demand server will automatically copy it and transcode it into an MPEG-4 file that is compatible with ipods Finding a Project Show Management: Projects Finding a project is simple! Navigate to Show Management: Projects, and then select Find Project. Just type all or part of the project name in the Project Name field and/or select a producer from the Producer pop-down list, as shown in figure 26.7 on the next page. If you search with both the Project name and producer fields blank, Cablecast will return all project records. After you click search, Cablecast returns the results. Clicking the checkbox to the left of an item selects it. If you click the delete button, the selected projects will be deleted. Clicking subset returns the same list, with only the items selected showing. This is helpful if you want to print a specific list of projects and some Shows, Projects and Media Records

211 FIGURE 26.7: The Project Search Form. undesired projects crept into your search results Linking Shows to Projects FIGURE 26.8: A Project with Show Records. See section on page 213 for how to link a show to a project. Once you successfully do so, calling up a project will display information that includes the shows that it is tied to. This is illustrated in figure Clicking on the show s ID number will call up that show record Show Records If you keep track of nothing else within Cablecast, you will track shows. Almost nothing happens without a show record because this is the starting point from which Cablecast extracts the important information it needs to automate your programming Show Records 211

212 When you create a show record, you automatically create a media record to go with it, as we mentioned in section 26.2 on page 206. You can add more media records to your show record, which is useful when your show goes beyond your DVD s capacity. Also, you can reassign your show to an existing media record, useful for when your show is on a tape or DVD with other shows. Show Management: Shows Navigate to Show Management: Shows menu, as shown in figure FIGURE 26.9: The Show Management menu. Let s take a quick tour of this menu: Find Show : Search for existing programs in this menu. New Show : Create a new show record. Free Show IDs : Look for existing show records whose contents have been cleared. Saved Searches : Look for show records using searches that have been saved for later use. Saved Shows Bin : Look for shows that have been collected in a bin. Much like a shopping cart in an online store, the Saved Shows Bin is a place to temporarily collect Shows, Projects and Media Records

213 show records for use within other parts of Cablecast, primarily the schedule. As of version 4.7, the Saved Shows Bin and Saved Searches options have become very important. You can use these features to drag collected shows into your schedule in an extremely efficient manner. If you ve ignored these features in past versions of Cablecast, ignore them no more! Adding and Editing Shows Show Management: Shows To add a new show, click the New Show button from the Show Management: Shows menu. This will produce a blank show record. If you want to edit an existing show instead of creating a new one, use the search facility, discussed in section on page 224, Finding Show Records. You can also use the Quick Search filed in the green bar at the top of the interface The Show Record Figures and illustrate an example show record. FIGURE 26.10: An example of the top half of a show record. Notice that the show record is broken into segments that are labeled ShowID, Reels, Bibliographic Info, IP Video and Runs. Each section organizes the information in the show record, making it easier to find the information you are looking for Show Records 213

214 FIGURE 26.11: An example of the bottom half of a show record. Show Record: ShowID The first section in the show record handles the identification of the show, including its title, identification number, and other information. FIGURE 26.12: The ShowID section of the show form.! Show ID : This is filled in for you. It is the one thing (besides the title) that you should associate with your show because it is the only thing guaranteed to be unique about it. Cablecast generates this number when the show is created and it cannot be changed Shows, Projects and Media Records

215 The Quick Search field in the upper right of the user interface used to be called Jump to ShowID. Now that you can enter all or part of a title, as well as a ShowID number, we renamed it. Local ID : The Local ID is a number you can enter if you have an existing database that has an identifier you would like to track. This field is not guaranteed to be unique between show records and is therefore less reliable than the show ID. If you use the Facile import feature, described in section 32.2 on page 328, FacilImport, Cablecast uses this field to track Facile s ID number. When integrating Facile with Cablecast, do not mess with the Local ID field. Title : The Title is used for internal representation of your program. If nothing is entered into the CG Title field, then this field is copied into it so that both internal and external representation of this show is covered by what you type here. Example: TOOL might be the way that you refer to a show called Time of Our Lives. If you wish to be able to search on the show as TOOL, enter it that way into the Title field. CG Title : CG Titles are public titles. They are used when Carousel needs to display a title for a show that it is advertising or when Cablecast is showing information on its public web site. Example: Time of Our Lives: Episode 12 By using a different title for the Title and CG Title field, Cablecast gives you a way to represent your shows for you and your viewers differently. My favorite example is the hockey game where the announcers didn t show up. The station put Kennedy Jefferson Hockey -- NO TALENT!!!! in the Title field and a more appropriate title in CG Title. Imagine the comments they d have gotten without this feature in play? Project : If you would like, you can link this show record to a project. Click the Link Project button to search for the project this show belongs to. This will bring up the project search form, where selecting a show will link the project to this show record. To unlink a project that you accidentally associated with this show record, click the Unlink Project link. See section 26.4 on page 209, Projects for information about projects. Show Files : You can add files to a show record. This is a nice way to organize information with a show record, like release documents, crew lists, meeting agendas, etc. Click the Manage Files link and you will see the form illustrated in figure on the next page Show Records 215

216 FIGURE 26.13: Files can be added to show records. This is the Manage Files form. Click the Browse... button to select a file from your computer. Click the Upload button to upload that file. You may click the the file s link under the File heading. To delete a file, click the Delete link. CG Exempt : When you check this box, you are setting a default for this show when it is scheduled. This means that whenever this show is scheduled the little E will appear, designating that the show will not be advertised on the web site, Carousel s Cable Display Plug-in, ical, RSS or any other public output. It also means that Cablecast will not add the the interstitial time to the end of a program when it is scheduled. We talked about interstitial lengths in section 16.6 on page 140. This checkbox is only specifying a default. You can override this setting for an individual run of this show by clicking on the Details button within the schedule. This check box is especially handy for public service announcements, station bumpers and other programming that should run, but not be advertised. Show Record: Reels The reels define the media and cueing information of the show. We described the structure of reels back in section 26.2 on page 206, Shows, Reels and Media Records. This is where we put that information to use. Almost all of your shows will probably have one reel. Any time you make a show record, Cablecast creates the reel for you. Unless you have a show that goes across more than one tape or DVD, you don t need to worry about dealing with multiples. Add a reel by clicking New. Study figure on the facing page. This example includes a show that has two reels on two DVDs. We added the second reel by clicking the New Shows, Projects and Media Records

217 FIGURE 26.14: This is the reel section of a show record. If you click the save button, Cablecast will reformat your length and cueing information to match its standard format (HH:MM:SS). link at the bottom of the Reels section. To delete the last reel in your show record, click the Delete button. Thumbnail : Each reel will show a thumbnail based on the Primitive Format of the selected format which is detailed in figure If the format is a digital file located on a Tightrope Media Systems video server, the thumbnail will be a frame capture from that particular file. FIGURE 26.15: The default icon for the thumbnail will be decided by the Primitive Format of the currently selected format. Don t like the thumbnail? You can click on Manage Files in the show record to upload one of your own! It needs to be named thumbnail Show Records for the first reel, thumbnail-2 for the second, etc. Just make sure the 217 image is a PNG, JPG, or GIF. See figure on the facing page for an example of this form.

218 Format : The format is the format of the reel. This is what Cablecast will use to determine the methods that it uses to cue the media and which devices are able to play it back. When you re working with reel information, it s best to enter the format first, if you know what it is. Do that in the Format field. Also, if you don t know what the format is, just leave it blank. You can fill it in after the show is posted. Length : The Length is the length of the show on this reel. The Length field represents time on the air. If a show is on the air for one hour, six minutes and five seconds, then the Length field should read 01:06:05. Do not add any cue time into the length. Cablecast takes care of that automatically. Cue : The Cue is the either the time code of the start of the show or the amount of time that needs to pass before the show begins on this reel, depending on the type of media that you are playing. Example: A DVD player will play from the beginning of a title and chapter; you cannot jump to a timecode number and play from a specific spot. Because of this, media with a format of DVD will ask for the Title and Chapter. Example: A time coded tape will fast-forward to the exact point in the tape that it needs to play from. Example: An SX series video server will start playing from the cue time. For serial controlled DVD playback, you will see the Title, Chapter fields. This is where you can enter the show s title and chapter information. Link Media : To associate a reel with an existing media record, as in when you have a DVD with more than one show on it, click the Link Media button on the right. This will open the Media Search form, where you ll enter your search criteria, shown in figure on the next page. The Link Media area of a show record is not how you associate an mpeg video file with this show for playback on a video server. For information on setting up the content on your particular video server, please see the Cablecast Hardware and Control Modules guide.! Once you find the media record, click on its title. This will bring you back to the show record with the updated media record. Make sure that the cue information for this show is correct! On DVDs, this usually means changing the Title and Chapter fields Shows, Projects and Media Records

219 FIGURE 26.16: Finding a media record for your show. FIGURE 26.17: The Edit Media Form. You cannot directly create media records. They are only created when you make a show record. Reel s Name : You can edit the properties of the media record by clicking on its name. This opens the Edit Media form, shown in figure We explore this form s magic in section 26.6 on page 233, Media Show Records 219

220 If the media is a digital file that has already been indexed on a Tightrope Media Systems video server, a clock icon will appear next to the Length field. You can click on the clock icon to automatically enter the run time of the file into the Length field. You will also see a link in the media record for Digital File Info. If you click on this link, you ll be shown information about the file as seen in figure FIGURE 26.18: This is the Digital File Info section of a reel. Here you can see important information about the file on the video server, including whether or not it is valid for playback. File Name : The name of the video file as it is saved on the server. Path : The path of the video file on the server. FrameRate : The frame rate of the file. Aspect Ratio : The aspect ratio of the file. Size : The size in pixels of the video file. Sample Rate : The audio sample rate of the file. Show Record: Bibliographic Info Bit Rate : The detected bit rate of the file. Codec : The detected video codec of the file. Length : The length of the file. Created : Date and time the file was created or copied to the server. Modified : Date and time the file was last modified or renamed. File Size : Size of the video file on disc. VBI Exists : Detects whether the video file has an accompanying VBI file for closed captioning. Bibliographic information in a show record is for you. It s the information that helps you create reports, search for programs and otherwise organize your life. Cablecast, generally, could care less about the information that you store here. It does not affect playback and automation Shows, Projects and Media Records

221 FIGURE 26.19: The Bibliographic information in a show form. Note that the fields below Comments are custom fields that were created for this particular access station. The fields in this section of the show record, displayed in figure 26.19, are explained below: Event Date : Generally, this field describes when the program was shot. That is, when the meeting took place or when the football game was played. Click the to reveal a helpful calender. Category : If a category fits this show record, select it from this pop-down list. If not, then review section 10.2 on page 93, Categories on how to add another one. Producer : Select the producer of this show here. If you need to add one, see chapter 28 on page 273, Producers. Comments : Comments go here. Custom Fields : If you have any custom fields, they will appear here. We defined custom fields in section 10.4 on page 97, Custom Fields. The custom fields are public information, they can be seen by default on the Cablecast Public Website Show Records 221

222 Show Record: DSK Settings FIGURE 26.20: The DSK Settings section of the shows form. In the DSK Settings section of the show s form, shown in figure 26.20, you can set the default values for a scheduled run s DSK settings. Crawl and Bug text require using a compatible DSK device. For a list of compatible devices and how to set them up check out chapter 21 on page 169, CablecastDSK Setup. Show Record: IP Video Values entered in the DSK Settings section are default values. Enter values here that are good for the majority of a show s runs. DSK values can always be changed in Run Details. Bug Text : A short piece of text placed on the screen. Useful for displaying a stations call letters. Crawl Text : A larger piece of text than the bug text, this text will scroll along the screen like a stock ticker. Useful for displaying information about the show such as This show was recorded earlier - Please do not call in. Crawl Length : Amount of time the crawl is displayed. For example if the Crawl Length is set to 00:45:00 - The crawl text will only appear for the first 45 minutes of the program. In the IP Video section of the show s form, shown in figure on the next page, you can set the rules for how this show is treated for video on demand and live streaming. Live IP streaming requires the SX Live. Podcasting and video on demand require the SX VOD or the Cablecast Pro with VOD server. Live IP Exempt : If you do not want to stream this show on your live streaming server, you can have Cablecast turn your live streaming server s stream off during the Shows, Projects and Media Records

223 FIGURE 26.21: The IP Video section of the shows form. playback of this show. When a Live IP Exempt show is on the air, the live stream will simply be black. Podcast Exempt : If this show is part of a project that has a podcast, you will see the Podcast Exempt check box. Checking this box instructs Cablecast to forgo making a podcast of this individual show. The rest of the shows in this project will be available for download, provided their Podcast Exempt checkbox is not checked. On Demand : If you wish to make this file available via WindowsMedia streaming, then check the On Demand checkbox. This will only be available if the format of the show is set to a digital file format, such as MPEG. This is because the show must be on a Tightrope video server in order for the VOD server to copy the file over for transcoding. The SX VOD does not support encoding of files that are not on the video server. Transcoding Quality : If you ve checked the On Demand checkbox, then the Transcoding Quality pop-down list appears. You can specify a quality setting or use the Category Default option, which uses the settings associated with the current category. We talk about the significance of these settings in section on page 93, Default Transcode Quality Settings. Show Record: Runs When this show is entered into a schedule within Cablecast, it will appear here. If the airing of a show is happening in the future, it will appear with a 26.5 Show Records 223

224 plus in front of it. FIGURE 26.22: The plus symbol next to these runs denotes that the run will happen in the future. Clicking on the date of a run will bring you to that day s schedule on that channel. Show Record: Show Form Buttons FIGURE 26.23: These buttons are located at the bottom of a show record when you add a new one or edit an existing one. Only Save and Cancel will appear if you get here from the schedule The buttons at the bottom act on the entire form. Save : You must click save to save your settings. Duplicate : Creates a new show record using the data in this form as a template. You can then modify the duplicate to make a unique show. If you are making duplicates for the purpose of creating a series, you may want to visit chapter 30 on page 301, Batch Functions. Batch functions are designed to make series creations easier by automatically dating them correctly and putting the series information into the title, if desired. Clear : Clears all of the data in the show record out. To Bin : Stores the show in Cablecast s temporary holding bin where you can later retrieve the show for use in the schedule. Transfer : Moves this show record to another location. Make sure that the format is selected correctly in the new location Finding Show Records Show Management: Shows To search for a show: Step 1: Navigate to the Show Management: Shows menu. Then click on Find Show Shows, Projects and Media Records

225 FIGURE 26.24: This is a search which has returned some results. Notice that the first show s green arrow has been selected and the media record has been revealed. Step 2: The Title Contains field is where you may enter all or part of the title of your show. This search does not pick anything up from the CG Title (section on page 214) field. Step 3: Enter a date into the Date field and select a filter criteria from the pop-down on the left to filter out shows that you do not want returned as part of your search. Use the button on the right to display a calender for selecting a date. The most popular selection here is to filter out older shows. That is why the Greater Than selection is the default. Step 4: The Search All Locations checkbox box will expand your search to other locations. This is for those of you who have Cablecast systems with multiple locations. Normally, you only get search results that match the location that you are currently viewing. Step 5: When your search criteria is ready click the search button to begin your search. Displaying All Shows: Show Show All Button You can display all shows in the Cablecast database by clicking the show all button to have Cablecast return all show records. Only use the show all button if you have less than 200 show records. Otherwise you will be in for quite a wait! 26.5 Show Records 225

226 Advanced Searching In addition to searching on the title, you can narrow, or expand your search by using the more advanced features of the show search form, which we show in figure To reveal more options, click the plus button, which is located just below the Search All Locations checkbox. You will see additional options for searching appear. You can click this button multiple times, allowing you to hone in on just the shows that you want to find. By using the plus button, you are building a sentence. You re saying something like, Give me all of the shows after 1/1/2004 that were produced by BEC and were of the Sports category. This example is illustrated in figure FIGURE 26.25: Using advanced search criteria. When you are building a complex search, the first option to decide is whether you want to expand your search by selecting selecting from the And/Or pop-down list. When you select And, you re telling Cablecast to restrict your search to fewer shows. Example: All shows that are of category PSA and less than 00:00:31. This would return any show that was 30 seconds or shorter that is categorized as a Shows, Projects and Media Records

227 PSA. When you select Or, you re telling Cablecast to expand the results. Example: All of the shows of disposition Erased or of disposition Returned to Producer. This would return all shows that had reels where the disposition was set to Erased or Return to Producer. If you have 20 shows in your database, refining your search will not be a priority. Once you reach a good number of shows, like the 25,000 shows that one station in Minnesota has, then this feature becomes very important. To build a filter: Step 1: Pick a field from the Field pop-down list. Step 2: The field to the right of the Field pop-down list contains the verb for your search sentence. It tests the field contents to whatever you select or type in the next field. Equals : Exactly equals what comes next in the sentence. Not Equals : Contains anything but what comes next. Greater Than : The result is greater than the value entered. Less Than : The result is less than the value entered. Less Than is not Less Than or Equal To. That is, if you want something that is 30 seconds or shorter, you ll enter 00:00:31. Contains : The value entered in the next field is somewhere in the show record s field. Not Contains : The value entered in the next field is not in the show record s field. Some of the selections will make sense and some won t, depending on the field. Example: Choosing the Title field and selecting Grater Than from the next field will not make any sense. Also Choosing Reel Length and Not Contains is probably pretty worthless, as well. Step 3: Type in the value that you want to match/exclude. Example: If you pick Category as the field and Equals as your verb, then you may choose Sports, if you want to get only records that match the Sports category. Step 4: If you want to add more definition to your search, click the plus button and repeat the above steps. Step 5: When you re finished, click the search button Show Records 227

228 When using the advanced functions of search, remember that you do not need a title. If you want all of the shows from a specific producer, don t enter anything into the Title Contains field. Just click the plus button build the filter. The Search Results List After you have decided what you want to search for, and click the search button, the results of your search will be displayed. These results show limited information about the show. You can re-sort this list by clicking on the column headings at the top of the list. Click on a show s hyperlink to reveal the show record. Want to find the show by a producer that has not yet aired? click the Runs column head to sort by the number of times that show has played. FIGURE 26.26: The search results table. If you select the arrow next to the show s title, Cablecast will reveal the show s media information and some details about that media, as we can see from figure If you select the media record s hyperlink, Cablecast will open that media record. When you enter this menu from the Show Management: Shows: Find Show menu, clicking on a result opens that record. If you entered this menu from a schedule by selecting the show s title, clicking on the show will send you back to the schedule, with that show entered into the run record that you clicked on. Subsetting a Search When you have completed your search, you can check some of the results displayed and click the subset button to return only the shows you ve se Shows, Projects and Media Records

229 FIGURE 26.27: Subsetting three shows. FIGURE 26.28: The list that was subset. lected. This is helpful when you want to print a list of shows and filter out a few results that crept into your list. Example: In figure 26.27, we select the first three shows of a search result. Clicking the subset button will result in the list being reduced to only the three selected shows, shown in figure Saved Searches If you have generated a complicated search and would like to later re-use it: Step 1: Create a search using the steps that we learned in section on page 224 and section on page 226. Step 2: Select the Save button (figure on the following page). Step 3: Name the search in the Search Name field. Example: PSAs Under 60 Seconds or 2007 Council Meetings 26.5 Show Records 229

230 FIGURE 26.29: Saving a Search. Step 4: Click the save button. Later you can recall a saved search, as we see in section on the next page and in section on page 242, Searching from the Schedule, where we put saved searches to use in the schedule. To Bin To copy a set of shows into a temporary bin, which you can use later to recall a collection of shows while you re scheduling programs: Step 1: Search for a set of shows. Step 2: Select the shows that you want to place into the bin from your search results. Step 3: Click the to bin button. We ll explore the Saved Shows Bin in section on page 232 and in section on page 232, Saved Shows Bin Free Show ID Menu You can never fully erase a show record in Cablecast, you can only clear it. When Cablecast sees a show record with no information in it, it considers that show id free. In short, free show IDs are show ID numbers that are associated with show records that have a blank title. Navigating to the Show Management: Shows: Free Show IDs menu will bring up a list of free show IDs, where you can click on them and re-edit the record (figure on the next page) Shows, Projects and Media Records

231 FIGURE 26.30: The Free Show ID list Saved Searches Back in section on page 224, Finding Show Records and figure on the preceding page we saw that we could save searches. Show Management: Shows: Saved Searches You can see a list of all of the saved searches that have been created by navigating to the Show Management: Shows: Saved Searches menu, shown in figure FIGURE 26.31: The Saved Searches menu Show Records 231

232 Clicking on any searches within this menu will bring us to the Show Management: Shows: Find Show form with the results from the selected search. These saved searches are active in that they will return shows that match the search criteria at the time of the search. So, if you save a search on Monday, add some shows that match the search criteria on Tuesday, then re-run the saved search on Wednesday, the results will now also include the results from Tuesday. This is handy for creating searches for series programming that might not be completed yet (think: All hockey games in the 2009 season ). To delete a search: Step 1: Check the box found to the left of the doomed search. Step 2: Click the delete button Saved Shows Bin Show Management: Shows: Saved Shows bin When you move a show into the bin, it goes into a list that you can find in Show Management: Shows: Saved Shows bin. To add shows to this list, follow the directions found in section on page 230, To Bin. FIGURE 26.32: The Show Management: Shows: Saved Shows Bin list Shows, Projects and Media Records

233 To edit the show record from this list, click on its hyperlink. Click the green arrow to the left of the show record record s information. To delete a show from the list: Step 1: Check the box next to the doomed show s show ID number. Step 2: Click the delete button. to reveal the media Deleting a show from this list only deletes it from the bin; it doesn t delete the actual show record Media Ways to Find a Media Record We discussed the definition of media records in section 26.2 on page 206, Shows, Reels and Media Records. In this section, we ll explore the Media Search form and a media record. Show Management: Media Search We can access them by searching in the Show Management: Media Search menu and selecting one of the results from our search. We can also access them by searching for a show and revealing the media record by click the green arrow next to the show s title, as we see in figure FIGURE 26.33: Selecting a media record from a show search. Finally, we can access a media record by clicking on the media s name within a show record, as shown in figure on the following page Searching for Media Searching for media records is sometimes helpful, especially when the media that you are dealing with has more than one show on it Media 233

234 FIGURE 26.34: Selecting a media record from a show records reels. The fields at the top of the form act as filters for the media records that are returned when you click the search button. If you clicked search without entering anything into the fields on this form, every media record in the database will be returned to you. In general, never do that. It is not a good habit to get into, since one day you will have thousands of media records. From top to bottom, this is a description of each field in figure on the next page: Media Name : This can be all or part of the title given to the media record. Media Format : Limit the results to a specific format using this pop-down list. Disposition : Remembering our definition of dispositions from section 10.3 on page 95, Dispositions, you can limit the search only to shows that match what you select in this pop-down. Creation Date (x 2) : The creation date is the date that the media record was created. There are two Creation Date fields. You may enter an exact date by choosing the Equals option from the pop-down list in one of the fields and leaving the other blank. If you would like to get all records between a specified range of dates, make the first Creation Date field Greater than and the second one Less than, as shown in figure on the next page. If you choose Greater than or Less than in only one of the fields, you ll get all of the records that precede or follow the date that you enter. Disposition Date (x 2) : The disposition date is a field in the media record that the user may enter, which defines when the media was put into the current disposition. That is, When was the show erased? Just like with Creation Date, the Disposition Date field is duplicated to allow you to specify a date range. Preassigned only : As we ll discuss in section on page 236, we can force Cablecast to select a specific device when automating this media. If we only want to see media records that have been pre-assigned to specific devices, we can check this box Shows, Projects and Media Records

235 FIGURE 26.35: The Media Search Form Media 235

236 When we are finished editing our search criteria, we can select the search button. Once our search is complete, we can choose shows to eliminate from our results and select the subset button. This is helpful when we want to print a list of media records and our results included some strays. Once you click subset, Cablecast returns the same list, minus the unselected entries. If you wish to edit a media record, click its hyperlink Media Records In this section we explore all of the fields within a media record. FIGURE 26.36: A Media Record. Lets take the tour of a media record, illustrated in figure 26.36: Creation Date : This is the date that the media record was created and cannot be edited. Media Name : The media name is only a description of the media, such as My Show Season 1, Disc 1. When Cablecast creates a show record, it will automatically name the media record. Usually this name is not helpful for searching, so if you want a more descriptive name, enter it here. Format : This pop-down reveals all of the formats at this location. Every media record must have a format in order for Cablecast to automate it. Preassign Device : By default, Auto Assign is selected. This means that if Cablecast were to play this show on its channel, it would pick the most convenient device for playback, pursuant to factors that only clerics pretend to understand 2. 2 Such as how many times a device was used, whether or not the program that came before it is the same DVD changer, etc Shows, Projects and Media Records

237 You can override this by specifying a device and slot (if applicable) for Cablecast to use. When preassigning a DVD to a slot in a changer, use a very high slot, like 200 or higher. Cablecast uses slot 1, 2, 3, etc... when it populates a changer. If you preassign a DVD to a very high slot number, then Cablecast will never interfere with your DVD. That way you can leave the DVD in the changer without creating conflicts! Disposition : Select the disposition for this media record. Disposition Date : If you want to track the date that this media entered the last selected disposition type, enter it here. That is, when you select In House, you can enter a date that designates when the DVD went in house. Shows : This is the list of show records that are using this media record. You may select the show ID number to open that record. When you re finished editing the media record, click the save button Media 237

238 Shows, Projects and Media Records

239 27 The Schedule 27.1 Introduction 27.2 A Tour of the Scheduling Interface Depending on your prior experience, Cablecast s scheduling features might be something that takes some getting used to. In short, Cablecast schedules shows and each show that is in the schedule is called a run. What the scheduler in Cablecast does not do is schedule decks, video servers, DVD players or your routing switcher to play on your channel. That s autopilot s job, which we cover in section 29.1 on page 276, Sending Autopilot. If you must, you can schedule a manual event within the schedule, specifying the commands and the devices at will. Remember though, all of Cablecast s power resides in its ability to analyze show records and schedule them. Manual events side-step this magic. Cablecast schedules runs on a time and date, not on a day of the week. Therefore, what you schedule for Monday will not automatically repeat on the next Monday. There are tools for batch scheduling that we cover in chapter 30 on page 301, Batch Functions. In addition to scheduling runs of shows, Cablecast can also schedule record events. You can use Cablecast to record off-air programming from satellite or to batch record a bunch of analog programming to your video server while you re at home sleeping! You can also instruct Cablecast to record a run while it airs. Finally, you can schedule your down stream key device, if you have one. That means that you can tell Cablecast to place a crawl over your channel during an emergency or special event. In this chapter, we will go over all of the scheduling abilities of Cablecast. Schedule Navigate to the Schedule screen from the main menu. This chapter will focus on the activities within this part of Cablecast. Let s take a tour of the schedule, which you can see in figure 27.1 on the following page:

240 FIGURE 27.1: This is an example schedule in Cablecast. 1: Location Tabs : If your station has multiple locations, you can select the location that you want to work with from these tabs. We covered this in section on page 50, Locations, but it bares repeating here, because people often confuse the locations tabs with the channel tabs. 2: Channel Tabs : These are all of the channels within this location. Clicking on a tab changes the schedule to that channel. Directly proceeding the channel tabs is the Record tab. The Record tab is where record events are created, which we cover in section on page 265. After the Record tab, there may be one or more crawl schedules if you have a down stream key device configured on your system. In the example in figure 27.1, you can schedule a crawl to appear over the TRMS-TV channel, independently of any programming on those channels. We covered the setup of DSK in section 16.7 on page 143, Down Stream Key (DSK). We ll cover creating a crawl in these schedules in section on page 269, Scheduling Crawls. You can also schedule a crawl to appear over a specific show run, covered in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details The Schedule

241 3: Show Search : The Show Search area provides four ways to find shows from the scheduling screen. You can search by title, saved searches, pull shows from the show bin or find shows by their project. We go over the use of this feature in section on the next page, Searching from the Schedule. When you search for shows, they will show up in the results area. Clicking on a show reveals its details. If you click on the drag icon next to the title, you can drag a show into the schedule, which we show in section on the following page, Searching from the Schedule. 4: The Action Buttons : When you work with the schedule, you can modify selected entries with the control buttons that are above the top entry. We cover these buttons in section 27.4 on page 246, The Schedule s Action Buttons. 5: Date Entry : Here, you control the date that you are viewing in the schedule. Entering a date into the field and hitting return jumps to that day. The button opens a calendar. The and jump forward and back by a single day, while button jumps to the current date. 6: The Schedule : This is the main schedule where the day is laid out before you with all of its warts, format icons, conflicts, show runs, gaps and, ultimately, its promise Adding Shows To the Schedule Add A Run By Selecting the Start Time FIGURE 27.2: Clicking No Show Data opens the search menu where you can find a show. There are many ways to add shows to the schedule in Cablecast. This section covers them all. Adding a run to the schedule is as easy as moving your mouse pointer over the start time of the show. Clicking on the time creates a blank run, where you can either enter the show s ID number into the Show ID field, or click the No Show Data link, figure 27.2, which presents you with several options for finding your show. When you use this option for adding a show, you are limited to selecting start times in one half hour increments, except when a show ends on an odd time, where you can chain a show to start directly after that show ends, shown in figure 27.3 on the next page Adding Shows To the Schedule 241

242 FIGURE 27.3: Scheduling a show to start after the previous show. Remember, if your channel has an interstitial length, then any show that is not CG Exempt will go to your channels default input before it goes to the next show, even if you chain the show to the previous, as shown in figure Example: Your channel has an interstitial length set to 45 seconds, which was done System Settings: Channels: <Your Channel covered in section 16.6 on page 140, Interstitial Length. After the first show in System Settings: Channels: <Your Channel Name>: Interstitial Length, Name>: Interstitial airs, Cablecast switches to the CG for 45 seconds and then runs the next Length show, and so on Add A Run By Clicking the New Button Searching from the Schedule FIGURE 27.4: Searching from the schedule. After creating a blank run, you can edit the time of the run by changing it in the Start Time field. If you click the New button at the top of the schedule, you will be given the option of creating multiple shows. Learn all about this option in section on page 246. We covered searching for shows in section on page 224, Finding Show Records, but we can also search for shows from the schedule The Schedule

243 Search Results You can search by one of four methods: Show Titles : Selecting this option gives you the option of typing all or a portion of the show s title into the for field. You may also type a show ID number of any show. Show Bin : In section on page 232, Saved Shows Bin, we learned about how to add shows to a bin. Remember that a bin is only a group of shows that you collect. This can be handy if the shows that you are looking for are found using multiple searches and you want to collect them so that you can make your schedule. Once you select the Show Bin option, the List Shows in Bin button appears. Click it and it will reveal all of the shows in your bin. Saved Searches : Saved searches are a very powerful tool and we learned about them in section on page 231, Saved Searches. Adding a Search Result to the Schedule With a saved search, you can recall advanced searches that provide you with all of the PSA s that are less than 30 seconds, all sports programming by a producer in the last 2 years or any other example that you can dream up. The nice thing about a saved search is that once it is created, any new shows that are added to your database that match the criteria will appear when you execute the search. Once you pick Saved Searches, choose one from the list pop-down. Projects : To find all of the shows that belong to a project, choose this option. Once you ve performed your search, you ll see your search results listed. If you click on the title of one of the results, the show s details will be revealed, as you can see in figure 27.5 on the following page. To move one of your search results to the schedule, move your mouse to the left of the show s title. You ll see the drag icon. Click and drag the show into the schedule, as we show in figure 27.6 on the next page. If you drag a show over a spot that does not have enough room for it, Cablecast will turn the box red, as in figure 27.7 on the following page You may still drop the show into this spot. Cablecast will allow you to bump the next show on the schedule to eliminate the conflict, or you could just let 27.3 Adding Shows To the Schedule 243

244 FIGURE 27.5: Search results with details. FIGURE 27.6: Dragging a show onto the schedule. FIGURE 27.7: Dragging a show into a spot too small. Notice the overrun information The Schedule

245 Autopilot take care of it for you Adding Shows To the Schedule 245

246 27.4 The Schedule s Action Buttons FIGURE 27.8: The schedule s control buttons. At the top of the schedule, you ll see the schedule s action buttons, shown in figure Selecting a Run in the Schedule FIGURE 27.9: Selecting a run in the schedule. These buttons act on runs that you select within the schedule. To select a run, click the checkbox on the left of the run, shown in figure Once you select a run, Cablecast will highlight it in yellow. You can Shift-click to select all runs between the shows selected, or Ctrl-click to select specific shows one by one. Try it out! Update The Update button updates any changes that you have made to a run in the schedule, including the show ID number or the start time. The Update button does not require you to select any records. Any and all updates will post when you click this button. Any time you hit the return key in a Start Time or Show ID field, you are hitting Update New When you click the New button, you are presented with the form shown in figure on the next page The Schedule

247 Enter the number of runs that you want to add to the schedule in the Add a total of field. The default is to add show runs, which is a reference to a show in the Cablecast database. If you want to schedule a manual control event, you can select Manual Event from the pop-down list. See more about manual runs in section 27.9 on page 261. FIGURE 27.10: You can add more than one run by inserting a number into the Add field. Also, you can add manual runs by selecting Manual Runs from the new pop-down list. Manual events are actions like, Switch the routing switcher to input 5 or Send the play command to deck 6. Once you fill this form out, you will be returned to the schedule, with the blank run entries at the top with a time of 12:00am Delete To delete runs, select one or more runs from the schedule and click the Delete button Copy The Copy button copies any selected show or shows into a buffer. You can paste them on the schedule in the same day or into another day and/or channel. If you want to move a show, copy it with the Copy button, then paste it into the target with the Paste button. Then delete the original with the Delete button. Deleting the original show must happen last, or Cablecast will loose the show and pasting it will not work The Schedule s Action Buttons 247

248 You cannot paste a show run into another location Paste Pastes a show that was copied with the Copy button. FIGURE 27.11: Shows that are pasted give you the option to place them at the original times, or place them starting at a specific time. When you paste a show or shows, you ve given the option to place them at the original times or starting at a specific time. If you paste to a specific time, the first show will have its run created at the specified time with all other shows being separated by their originally copied gaps. You can move the pasted shows by dragging one of the new runs or by using the ripple feature, covered in section on the next page, Ripple Block Block copying is an enormous time saver for those who make predictable repeats of their programming. Instead of manually copying and pasting shows, you can make multiple copies of one or more programs into specified slots by creating and using blocks. We learned how to create blocks and ideas on how to use them in section 11.2 on page 103, Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask). Select the shows you would like to block copy and click the Block button. Then select the desired block or blocks from the list, as seen in the example The Schedule

249 shown in figure When you click Block Copy, the copies will be made. If you want to ripple a show to a specific time and you don t want to create a block, you can use the ripple feature to ripple to a specific time. See the next section for details. FIGURE 27.12: The Block Select Form Ripple Rippling a run means to shift the start time by a positive or negative value. See figure on the following page. If you have more than one show selected, they will all be rippled by the same amount. Ripple selected runs up to the previous run To chain a run to the previous run, select this option. Your run will start after the previous run is over. If the previous run is not CG exempt, then there will still be a gap between the programs where Cablecast will switch to the default input. The gap will be the size of the interstitial length for this channel. We covered interstitial lengths in section 16.6 on page 140, Interstitial Length The Schedule s Action Buttons 249

250 FIGURE 27.13: In this example, the show would be rippled by forward until it was scheduled just prior to the next show in the schedule. Ripple selected runs down to the next run Rippling shows down to the next run is like the previous option, with the same thoughts given to the interstitial length. If the show that you are rippling is not CG exempt, then there will be a gap between the show being rippled and the next show, if there is an interstitial length set for this channel. Again, see section 16.6 on page 140, Interstitial Length for more information on interstitial lengths. Ripple selected runs by... To ripple a run by an amount of time, use this option. You can enter positive or negative numbers into this field. Ripple selected runs to... You can move the shows to a specified time of day by entering the time into this field. All of the selected shows will be moved by the same amount The Schedule

251 Unbump When shows are bumped, it s often because the autopilot system in Cablecast bumped them. If this was a mistake, you can select the show and click the Unbump button. Often it s easiest to click the check box to the left of the Start Time column header to select all shows, then click the Unbump button. This will un-bump all of the programming in this day Bin You can copy shows to your show bin from the schedule by selecting the desired shows and clicking the Bin button. You can then use the Show Bin selection from the Show Search menu on the left side of the schedule. We showed this is Shows, Projects and Media Records Print This brings up a printable version of this form. Once the new view appears in your web browser, choose print from your browser s File menu Runs in the Schedule FIGURE 27.14: A run in the Cablecast schedule. A run in the schedule has quite a few features that you will want to be familiar with. Refer to figure as you read this section Runs in the Schedule 251

252 FIGURE 27.15: The checkboxes determine the runs that the control buttons will act upon. 1: Checkbox : The checkbox on the left selects the record. Once selected, you can use the control buttons at the top of the schedule to affect the record, an example of which is in figure There is a checkbox to the left of the Start Time column heading. This check box selects all of the runs for this day. 2: Format Icon : Digital files from a video server will show if the file is valid, invalid, or missing. Other media will show an icon for that format. : (Good Digital File) This digital file has been indexed by the server and confirmed to be compatible, thus allowing events to be created for it. : (Invalid Digital File) This digital file has been indexed by the server and found to be invalid. Click on the Show Title and then Digital File Info under the Reels pane for more information on why the file is invalid. : (Missing Digital File) Cablecast was unable to find the digital file for this ShowID on any available video server content drives. Confirm that the digital file exists! : (DVD Based Media) This show is aired from a piece of DVD media. : (Tape Based Media) This show is aired from a piece of tape based media. : (Live Source) This show is aired from a live source. The Format Status only shows the first reel of a ShowID. If you have more than one reel, you will need to click on the Show Title for more information. 3: Run Status : The run status glows grey, yellow or green. : (grey) Shows in the past. : (yellow) Shows in the future, but autopilot has not been sent for them yet. That is, even though they are in the schedule, Cablecast will not automate them because you have not sent autopilot since this run was added/changed The Schedule

253 If any show on the currently displayed schedule is set to this status, you will see a warning at the top of the schedule, illustrated in figure FIGURE 27.16: If the schedule has not been sent, you will see a warning message at the top of the schedule. : (green) Shows in the future and autopilot has been sent for them. When it comes time to air this show, autopilot will air it. 4: Start Time : The start time may be edited using the Start Time field. Cablecast is flexible in interpreting your input. If you type 13:00, it assumes that you mean 1:00 pm mean 2:30 pm, which is nice, because all of those keys are on your numeric keypad. 5: Show ID field : Each run is assigned to a show and each show has a show ID number. You can manually enter that show here, if you like. 6: Run Information : Run information refers to any of five icons that may be activated, which will be shown by the icon being in blue. If the icon is in grey or not present, then the feature or status is false. When it s shown in grey, you can click on it to activate the feature. The five icons are: Lock : The lock icon designates this show as locked. That means that Cablecast will not bump the show when it sends autopilot, even if there is a conflict. Instead, it will cut the previous show off. Two common reasons to lock a show are for live programs and for bumpers. Example: You have a live meeting and a repeat of a low-priority show preceding it. You lock the live meeting and cut the repeat off. Example: You have a looping logo saved as a 15 minute show, which is CG exempt. You place it 10 seconds before your main program and lock the main program in place. Cablecast plays the logo for 10 seconds and starts the show on time. Bump : The bump icon designates that this show has been bumped. If you hover the icon, Cablecast will tell you the amount that the show is bumped by, as shown in figure on the following page. If the icon is present but greyed out, shown in figure on the next page, that means that you can click the icon to have Cablecast bump the show automatically and prior to sending autopilot. If you do not click this button 27.5 Runs in the Schedule 253

254 FIGURE 27.17: Hovering over the bump icon. FIGURE 27.18: Bumping in the schedule. CG Exempt Record and you send autopilot, Cablecast will automatically bump the show during the autopilot send. You can directly enter a bump value for a run in the details form, which we cover in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details. : This indicates a CG Exempt program. As we mentioned earlier, these programs will not be advertised on Carousel or on any public web interface. Also, the interstitial length is not added to the length of the run, as Cablecast will not force a break to the CG after the program. As of version 4.7 of Cablecast, you can click on the CG exempt icon to exempt the show from the schedule, without navigating to the details menu. : When you air a program, you can have Cablecast automatically record it. This is done in the details form of the run and we cover that in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details. Clicking on the record icon brings up the details menu. DSK : When a Schedule Event has DSK information associated with it a will appear. Hovering over the will display the Crawl and Bug Text. Clicking on the DSK icon brings up the details menu where the DSK information can be edited as explained in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details. 7: Show Title : The show s title is shown next. You can mouse over the show s title, which reveals the formats in use for The Schedule

255 that show. If more than one reel makes up the show, then Cablecast will display the formats separated by a comma. When a show is preassigned to a section on page 236, Media Records device, the device information is displayed, as well. Clicking on the show s title will open the show record. 8: Run Length : A show length is calculated by adding the lengths of all reels in a show record and then adding the interstitial time to the end of that. section 16.6 on page 140, Interstitial The Length length of a show accounts for the end time and the interstitial length, illustrated in figure 27.19, unless CG Exempt is checked. FIGURE 27.19: When you mouse over the length of a show, Cablecast will reveal the combination of the show s length and the interstitial that has been added to it. When a show is CG exempt, the interstitial is not added. Shows that are CG Exempt are not advertised in Carousel. Therefore, Cablecast will not add the interstitial length to the end of the show s length, because there is no need to make room for the show s advertisements. To put it another way, when you CG exempt a run, there will be no forced break after the run. This means that you can run a station bumper with CG Exempt, chain a run to appear immediately after it and Cablecast will run those two shows without going to the default input in between. Example: You have a station bumper followed by a PSA. You CG exempt the PSAs and the bumper so that they play back to back. If you didn t CG exempt the bumper, Cablecast would play the it and then advertise it in Carousel then go to the PSAs. 9: End Time : The show s end time is displayed next. If a show conflicts with the next run, the end time will be in red, as we see in figure on the following page. If we leave the show in conflict, Cablecast will bump the next show, unless that show is locked. If the next show is locked, Cablecast will cut this show off. You can bump a show in the details menu of a run, which we cover in section 27.7 on page 258. You can also bump a show by clicking on the bump icon next to the Show ID field Runs in the Schedule 255

256 FIGURE 27.20: When two shows overlap, the first show s end time will appear in red. FIGURE 27.21: Clicking the bump button of a show record. 10: Details : The details button on the right side of every show record reveals more information about this show record. We can adjust the bump value, and other details related to this run. We ll cover the form behind this button in section 27.7 on page Runs from the Previous Day FIGURE 27.22: A show that overlaps into the current day s schedule. If a show from the prior day overlaps into the currently viewed day, you will see that show appear at the top of the schedule, highlighted by a yellow background, illustrated in figure You cannot edit this show from the current day. You can only edit a show from the day that it starts on, you must navigate backward one day and edit the last show The Schedule

257 Gaps in the Schedule If you click on a gap on the schedule, or select New from the command buttons at the top, you can create an empty run, which will not have a show id number. This is illustrated in figure You may click on the No Show Data... link to search for a show or enter a show ID number. FIGURE 27.23: A run entry with no show. Remember, gaps in the schedule will be filled automatically by Cablecast. The system will switch to the default input for the channel. We configured the default input in section 12.4 on page 121, Outputs. Generally, this default input will be Carousel Schedule Keyboard Shortcuts FIGURE 27.24: You can see here that Hackers is currently selected with the keyboard shortcuts. You can navigate and manipulate both the schedule and search frames using keyboard shortcuts, which are listed below. You can pull up this list at any time in the schedule by typing?. While navigating with keyboard shortcuts you will see two small arrows next to your selected entry, as can be seen in figure Schedule / Search Navigation j : Move down to next run k : Move up to previous run x : Select run i : Insert search result into schedule (Search Mode) s : Toggle between search and schedule mode Schedule Actions shift+d : Deletes selected runs 27.6 Schedule Keyboard Shortcuts 257

258 n then r : Inserts a new run r then u : Ripple selected runs up to previous run r then d : Ripple selected runs down to next run r then t : Ripple selected runs to a specific time r then m : Ripple selected runs by a specific duration b : Block copy selected runs a : Select/deselect all runs Schedule Date Navigation - : Navigate to previous schedule day t : Navigate to today + : Navigate to next schedule day Copy and Paste c : Copy checked runs p then o : Paste runs to original scheduled time p then t : Paste runs to specific time 27.7 Run Details Each run has a detail button on the right. Clicking this button reveals the form in figure on the next page. CG Exempt : You can exempt this run from public display using this checkbox. This will hide the run from both the public web display interface in Cablecast and the Cable Display plug-in within Carousel. Run Bump : This is the value of the offset for the start time. Shows that are said to be bumped have a value that is not zero. Also, bumps may not be less than zero. Run Lock : If you lock this program, Cablecast will not be able to move it if there is a conflict during autopilot s calculations. Instead, autopilot will cut the previous program short. This is handy for runs that are live. Run Type : You can track the type of runs that you perform on your channel. Types may include Live, Studio or Remote. To learn how to add new run types, see section 11.1 on page 101, Location Settings: Schedule: Run Types The Schedule

259 FIGURE 27.25: Details Form. You can set attributes for this run of the program. Bug Text : This is part of the DSK feature. When this run is active and there is a station bug overlayed on the program, the text in this field will be displayed, System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: DSK. See section 16.7 on page 143 for more information. according to the settings System Settings: Channels: <Channel Name>: DSK Crawl Text : This text will be overlayed during this run, according to the length established in the Length field. The Length field is automatically filled out with the show s TRT. You can manually modify this field if you want the text to only run for he first few minutes of a show. Record Run : When Cablecast plays your show, it can also record it to your video server or other record device. To use this feature: Step 1: Click the Record Run check box. Step 2: Select the record device from the Device pop-down list. Step 3: Enter a cue time in the Cue field. This will start the record before the start of the show. If your show has a cue length that is shorter than the value that you enter here, you ll record the dead input on your routing switcher. Generally, you ll want to make sure that this is less than your cue on the show and no more than one or two seconds Run Details 259

260 Step 4: Cablecast will automatically enter a file name in the File Key field. This file! name must start with the show ID number for this show, which Cablecast does for you. If you d like, you can enter a different name after the show ID number. You cannot record multi-reel shows using this feature. To record multireel shows, see section on page 267, Recording Multi-Reel Shows. Click the save button when you are finished Schedules With Multiple Locations A special mention needs to be made regarding channels that exist at multiple locations and their schedule. This is a rare configuration, but a powerful feature in Cablecast. FIGURE 27.26: This is a multi-location schedule. You can not edit the shows that do not originate from this location. The schedule for these channels behave in the same way as those that originate from a single location. The only difference is that you cannot edit, delete or add shows or runs from other locations. Those runs do not have the edit fields or link to the show record that the runs from the selected location have. You can see an example of this in figure 27.26, where the run of the award winning show Tomorrow s Voices Today TVT #17 is editable, whereas the run for the non-award winning show Commission Updates: October is not, because it is at another location. If you need to edit shows from another location, then the account with which The Schedule

261 you logged into Cablecast needs to have permission to view and edit the schedule at the remote location. When you switch to the remote location in the Cablecast interface, the channel will be listed as it was in the first locations. However, the shows that you can edit will be changed to those shows that are at that location Manual Runs FIGURE 27.27: This form is where you define the action for this event. Unlike everything else in the schedule, you specify a device and action directly within this form. This requires you to know something about your head end equipment and the control modules that operate that equipment. Manual runs go against everything that is good and right about Cablecast. Instead of letting the system manage conflicts and devices, you re overriding its good decisions with your own and therefore limiting the power of the system. There are good reasons to use manual run/events, but they are few and far between. Up until version 4.0, they didn t even exist and their absence wasn t noticed by the vast majority of people. Use them with care! Manual runs are runs that are not attached to show records. In theory, you could program your entire Cablecast system using manual runs, but then much of the benefits of the system would evaporate. To add a manual event: Step 1: Click the New button from the Schedule form. Step 2: If you want more than one manual run, enter the desired number into the A a total of field. Step 3: Once you click New, select Manual Run(s) from the New pop-down list. Step 4: Click add. When you return to the schedule, you ll see a run with a title of New Event. Click on the title. You will be presented with the form illustrated in 27.9 Manual Runs 261

262 figure on the preceding page. Name : This is the name of the event. It doesn t matter to Cablecast what you name it, as this only appears in the schedule within Cablecast. Length : At the end of the length, Cablecast will switch to the next program or to the default input, whichever is the right thing to do. The length determines how long to wait before doing that. Device : This is the device that you want to perform the action on. Action : This is the action that you want to perform. Other Things : Depending on what you select in the Action pop-down list and the type of device that is selected, you may end up with additional options. Example: If you select Jump and a device that is a DVD Changer, you will see Title and Chapter fields. Example: If you select a video server, a File Key field will appear, where you can enter the show s file name. There are a couple of very important points to make about manual runs. First, depending on what you are trying to accomplish, you may need at least two runs to accomplish it. Specifically, if you want to play a tape, wait 10 seconds, switch to it, switch away from it and then rewind it that s three runs: 1. Issue a play command to the desired deck. The length of this manual event would be zero. 2. Issue a take command to the same deck with a length (in the Length field) that equals the amount of time you want to wait before Cablecast switches back to the default input or the next show. 3. Issue a rewind command to that deck. If all of this seems like a pain, that is because it is 1. The second important point to make is that manual runs never appear in Carousel s Cable Display plug-in and they never appear in the public web interface of Cablecast. They also do not show up in any reports. Also, Cablecast will try to work around your manual runs. If it sees an event with a length specified, Cablecast will steer clear of the device selected in that event for that duration. Chances are, however, that using manual runs could interfere with regular programming, so be careful. 1 Incidently, this is what many automation systems ask of you because they do not have a built-in concept of a show; that s where the noun event controller came from. These systems merely perform events that you specify The Schedule

263 Why use manual runs? Some stations only own part of the programming day, switching away to another head end with its own automation system when it is not their turn. Instead of creating a 12-hour show record and scheduling that for their switch, they create a manual event that does the same thing, thereby keeping their show records clean for programming that they actually create Using Block Copies FIGURE 27.28: Selecting shows for block copy. The block copy feature of Cablecast is a powerful tool that gives you the ability to schedule a show once and have Cablecast automatically program the repeats. To use the block copy feature, you must first create blocks that Cablecast can use. The blocks have a source time and day of the week, which references the first run of your show. You add as many targets to the block as you like, where each target is a time within seven days of the first run of the program. Example: You can have show run on Monday at 9:00 am and later that same day at noon and then tomorrow at 3:00 pm... When you use block copy, you can select any number of shows and Cablecast will automatically ripple them by the same amount. That way you can take a block of shows and ripple copy them into multiple time slots within the week. We go into great detail about block copies in section 11.2 on page 103, Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask). In this section, we explain how to use the feature in your channel s schedule. To use a block and copy a selection of shows: Step 1: Select the shows in your schedule that you want to copy, illustrated in figure Typically, the first show in your selection will match the source time of the block that you are using, but this is not necessary Using Block Copies 263

264 FIGURE 27.29: The copies from a block copy are selected when they are first copied. It is necessary that your shows are on the same target day. Cablecast will only let you select blocks that are on the same day of the week. Step 2: Select one or more blocks from the list. If you select more than one, Cablecast will make all of the copies in both blocks. Step 3: Click the Block Copy button. When you execute the block copy, you will see that the selected shows have been copied to the days and times that were entered into each target for that block copy 2. If any of the targets are on the same day as the source for that block, you ll see them appear in the schedule selected, shown in figure This makes it easy for you to manipulate these shows further, if needed Blocks and Bumping When you use blocks, you often create conflicts because the target days do not necessarily have to match the source day. That is, the programming that surrounds the copies may be different. This is the reason Cablecast uses bumping. By default, Cablecast does not factor a bump when it makes a block copy. In that way, Cablecast understands your intended runtime and will use that to calculate when the program should be repeated. Location Settings: Schedule: Blocking Settings We can change this behavior in Location Settings: Schedule: Blocking Settings, covered in section 11.3 on page 107, Location Settings: Blocking Settings. 2 If that sounded like gibberish, you need to visit section 11.2 on page 103, Location Settings: Schedule: Modify Blocks (and Everything About You Wanted To Know About Blocks But Were Afraid to Ask) The Schedule

265 27.11 The Record Schedule FIGURE 27.30: This is the Record Schedule. Notice how it is very similar to the regular schedule within Cablecast, just with fewer options. Within the Schedule menu, you will see a special channel listed that is called Record. The record channel is not a channel in the strictest sense because it is not tied to an output on your routing switcher. Instead it is a list of record events, sorted by time and listed by individual days of the week. The record schedule uses the same equipment as your channels. Cablecast automatically checks for device conflicts, so generally this is not a problem unless you ask for the impossible. Cablecast will automatically throw an error during an autopilot send if such a circumstance arises. You can use the record schedule to encode tapes and DVDs into your video server when you are not around. Referencing figure 27.30, notice that the buttons and fields are very similar to a regular channel schedule within Cablecast. The New, Delete, Copy and Paste buttons all behave as they do in section 27.4 on page 246, The Schedule s Action Buttons. The one exception is that clicking the New button creates one new record event with the title No Name Specified. If you do this and click on that title, you may follow along with the form illustrated in figure on the following page: Name : This is where you may name this record event. A name is not mandatory, but if you want it to say something other than No Name Specified, this is where you accomplish that. Media : Clicking on the Find link opens the Find Shows form that we explored in section on page 224. Find the show that you are recording, then click on that show s media record, shown infigure on the following page. Select the media record that this record event is being performed for. Selecting a media record is not necessary, but it is very helpful as Cablecast will enter the cue and length for the record session. For recording to a video The Record Schedule 265

266 FIGURE 27.31: The Record Event Form FIGURE 27.32: Selecting a media record for recording. server, the file must be named after the show ID and reel number. This is done automatically when you link a media record. Time : This is the start time of the record event. Length : This is the length of the record, not including any cuing. If link a media record, this value is entered for you. Source : This heading has two fields: Device : This is the source device. Cablecast will use its control module and device setup information to correctly play the device. If the device is a live input, Cablecast will take to that device using the routing switcher. Cue : This is the cuing information required for this device. For DVD s, it may include a title and chapter. For tapes, either a time code number or a cue time, where the device plays N seconds before the record start time so that the beginning is being played at the correct moment. It is always good to enter a cue time, even for a live device. This is because it is more likely that the sync will be stable if the routing switcher switched to the input ahead of time. Destination : This heading has two fields: The Schedule

267 Device : This is the record device. You will notice that only record capable devices appear within this pop-down list. Cue : This is the amount of time to record before the record time Making the Show Record Point to the New Files FIGURE 27.33: Changing the format to point to the new files on the video server. It may be useful to cut back the cue time on the source and add that number to the cue time on the destination. That way whatever cueing video you had on the source will be recorded on the destination. In the reel record for this program, you will enter this cue value into the reel record for the program that you are recording. When you are finished with these settings, click the save button. After your show has been recorded, be sure to change the format to the video server s format in the show s record, as shown in figure Recording Multi-Reel Shows For multi-reel shows, be sure to change to format of all of the reels. We show how to record multi-reel shows in the next section. You may have some shows on tapes or DVD that you d like to transfer to your video server where the show is on more than one reel. You can record these shows, but you have to schedule the record separately. Follow these steps: Schedule: Record Step 1: Navigate to the Schedule: Record tab. Step 2: Create new record entries by clicking the New button for as many reels as you have in the show The Record Schedule 267

268 FIGURE 27.34: Selecting the second reel for a multi-reel record. Step 3: Select the first new entry to bring up the Record Event form. Step 4: Create the record event as you normally would, making sure to select the reel when you locate the media by clicking the Find button. If this is for the first reel, you ll select the first reel listed for the show. If it s the second, choose the second reel listed, and so on. Step 5: If you are recording to a video server, select the encoder that you would like to use. Notice that the file key will have the the show ID number with the reel number appended to it. Step 6: Be sure that you select a compatible playback device for this reel and that your cue times are set for both source and destination. Step 7: Click the Save button when you are finished. Step 8: Repeat the above steps for each reel, making sure to select the correct reel for each event. You will notice that the destination File Key field will have the reel appended to it with the same show ID number. REEL1Record REEL2Record FIGURE 27.35: On the left is a record entry for reel one. On the right is reel two The Schedule

269 Take a look at figure on the facing page. Some key elements are highlighted with arrows. Notice that the two blue arrows point to the start time of the record. In this example, both reels are recorded at the same time! This is possible because, if you look at the source and destination devices highlighted by the red and green arrows, different devices are used so Cablecast can record both reels at the same time. If they were using the same devices, we d have to record them at different times. Also, notice that the black arrows point to the File Key field, which ends with the reel s reel number. FIGURE 27.36: A view of the record schedule with a Multi-reel show. A peek at figure shows that the two reels are being recorded at the same time. Again, this is ok because different devices are being used for playback and recording. Be sure to remember to change the show s record to the new format when the recording is complete, as we explained in section on page Scheduling Crawls If you have a down stream key device (DSK), you can schedule crawls to appear over your channels programming. There are two ways to do this. The first is to schedule a crawl in a show s run, which we explained in section 27.7 on page 258, Run Details. The other way to schedule a crawl is from the Crawl schedule for your channel. We showed how to enable this schedule and configure the settings in section?? on page??,. Schedule: <Channel Name>: Crawls To create a new crawl: Step 1: Navigate to Schedule: <Channel Name>: Crawls. You ll see an empty version of what you see in figure on the next page. Step 2: Click the New button. You will see the form shown in figure on the following page. Step 3: Enter the text for the crawl in the Crawl Text field Scheduling Crawls 269

270 FIGURE 27.37: The Crawls Schedule FIGURE 27.38: The crawl form Some Notes about Crawls Step 4: Enter the start time for the crawl in the Start Time field. The crawl will start appearing on the channel at this time. It will appear even when there is no programming running. Step 5: Enter the duration for the crawl in the Length field. The crawl will repeat on the air for this amount of time. Step 6: Click the save button. You can schedule multiple crawls to appear on the same channel at the same time. Cablecast will string each crawl together, showing them one after another. Remember, the crawl will appear over any programming that is on your channel and over the on-air CG (the default input for that channel). The crawl in Cablecast is not the same crawl that you have on your Carousel system. That crawl only appears when Carousel is on display. This one goes over your programming, as well. If you want a crawl to be attached to a show s run, do it in the show s The Schedule

271 detail form, as we showed in section 27.7 on page 258. The crawl schedule for your channel is better for crawls that have nothing to do with your programming. Example: You want to alert viewers of a snow emergency, which is a big deal because Schedule: <Channel you live in Florida. This would be best to do from the Schedule: <Channel Name> Crawls Name> Crawls schedule. FrontDoor: User Management: Role Setup: Cablecast Roles FIGURE 27.39: Creating a role for creating crawls. Example: You want to tell viewers that they are watching an encore performance of a live call-in show and you don t want them to call in. That is better handled through the show run s Detail form. Finally, remember that you can give your staff, or emergency workers, access to these crawl schedules, without granting them access to your show records, autopilot or any other schedules. You can do this from the from the FrontDoor: User Management: Role Setup: Cablecast Roles form, where you can make a new role for making crawls. FIGURE 27.40: Assigning the Crawl Access role to a user. You can then assign that role to any users that you wish, either for specific channels or to all the channels at one or more locations. We went in depth about Cablecast roles in chapter 20 on page 165, Permissions for Cablecast in FrontDoor Scheduling Crawls 271

272 The Schedule

273 28 Producers Producers are people who make shows. They are associated with projects and show records. You may even associate a producer with a project and a different producer with a show record that is associated with that project. Producers To see the current list of producers, navigate to the Producers from the main menu, shown in figure FIGURE 28.1: The Producers form Creating a New Producer To create a new producer: Step 1: Click the new button at the bottom of the form.

274 28.2 Producer Properties Step 2: A new entry labeled New Producer will appear. Click on the entry to reveal the fields for the producer. Producers To edit the properties of a producer record, click on the producer s hyperlink in the Producers form. As you can see in figure 28.1 on the preceding page, the producer s properties are then revealed. Fill the form out as required, saving as much or as little information as you wish. Producers do not have to be people. Many users find that it s more useful to track organizations, such as Saint Edwards Church. Others find their needs met by tracking just Inside Producer or City Resident Active Checkbox: Stopping a Producer s Shows from Running The Active checkbox is especially important. If a producer does not have this marked, their shows will not be able to run on any channels in your system Saving Changes Deleting a Producer Whenever you make edits to a producer, be sure to click on the save button at the bottom of the form. To delete a producer: Producers Step 1: Click on the name of the producer from the Producers form. Step 2: Click on the delete button below its properties. If you delete a producer, they will be removed from all of the show records they are associated with! So even if someone falls of the face of the earth, you need to leave their entry in place if you still want to track what they produced in the past Producers

275 29 Autopilot Autopilot Autopilot The Autopilot section of Cablecast is all about controlling the hardware that makes your station run. In here you can tell Cablecast to execute your schedule, force something to happen on your channel and manage files on your video server. Here is a brief description of the menu options that you will find in Autopilot: FIGURE 29.1: The Autopilot menu. Send Autopilot : Remembering from section 3.5 on page 30, Autopilot, Cablecast s schedule does not affect playback until you send autopilot. This is where Cablecast matches show records (and their formats) to the schedule and to the devices that it will use to play/record those shows. Event Table : This is where all of the commands that are created during an autopilot send are listed. You may review or edit existing commands. Device Assignments : After an autopilot send, Cablecast generates a list of media and which devices will play/record that media. Force (Matrix) : You may force devices into action or your routing switcher to switch with this menu. The matrix version of the force menu is rather large when you

276 have many devices or outputs. If it is too large for your screen, then try the... Force (Small) : This menu has the same ability as the Force (Matrix) menu, only it is smaller and does not provide a matrix view of the routing switcher. Also, some find this version of the force menu to be easier to use when recording. Digital File Management : Files found on video servers and video on demand servers are listed here. Servers from Tightrope Media Systems will validate files for playback, flag invalid files, and give valuable details about the video file itself. Additionally, you can see the available storage capacity of attached devices and delete unneeded files. Live IP Video : If you have a Cablecast SX-LIVE streaming encoder, you can control the stream and view the number of connected clients on each of your streaming channels Sending Autopilot Autopilot: Send Autopilot Within the Autopilot: Send Autopilot menu, you will instruct Cablecast to turn your schedule into commands that your devices and routing switcher will execute. To skip the back story and go directly to sending autopilot, skip ahead to section on page 278, How to Send Autopilot. On its face, assigning shows to devices seems easy. In fact, while not easy, it s done every single day by people all across the world who automate their head end for channel playback. The trouble is in creating a program that is able to anticipate every what-if scenario, every installation type, every device that may be used in the head end and every user s personal preference on how a channel should operate. Cablecast s autopilot system accomplishes just that. When Tightrope shills this system to potential end users, we like to say, Autopilot is why you pay all that money for Cablecast. In software development terms, it is the ten percent of the system that took ninety percent of the development time 1. Reduced down to the basics, autopilot:... takes the schedules at any given location,... looks up the show, reel and media records that are used within those schedules,... checks the device setup for this location, 1 The other ninety percent of the program took the other ninety percent of the development time. ;) Autopilot

277 ... then works an incredible amount of magic to figure out the best possible way to make every thing work. The end result of this magic is an event table (section 29.2 on page 281) and a device assignment list (section 29.3 on page 284). The event table is the aggregate list of commands that are sent to all of the control modules. By executing these commands on a precise schedule, your channel(s) are automated. The device assignment list is the list of times, devices and media that the operator uses to prepare the head end. There are some things to consider when automating a live television program. Check out section on page 291, Overriding a Channel for Live Programming and Automating Live Programs for information on how that is done When To Send Autopilot: Send Autopilot How Much to Send Sending autopilot is the act of programming your head end. If this isn t clear to you, then think of Cablecast as a batch-automation system. Remembering back to figure 4.1 on page 39 in section 4.1 on page 37, Introduction, you program the show information and schedule within Cablecast as early as you can. Once everything is set in place with run times, formats and the schedule then you automate within the Autopilot: Send Autopilot form. Nothing you do in Cablecast happens on your channel until you send autopilot! That is why it is a batch automation system. Most people find a semi-predictable schedule by which they perform their autopilot sends. They get all of their scheduling and show information set perfectly for the next 24 or 48 hours and they send for that period of time. Every time they go to send autopilot, their event table is just about to run out of show information. We cover sending autopilot in section on the following page, How to Send Autopilot. Typically, autopilot sends are not done beyond the point in the schedule where everything is set. This is because if something is going to change, autopilot will have to be resent and there is little point in re-sending the same information. There are exceptions, however. When only one show will be updated in the middle of a send, some stations will go ahead and send autopilot past the un-posted show, re-sending autopilot once the show record is updated. Cablecast has an elegant way to deal with these situations with a feature called sticky devices. When a send is 29.1 Sending Autopilot 277

278 done with sticky devices selected, Cablecast always assigns shows to the same device as the last send. The sticky devices algorithm can handle one or two device changes in the second send, but generally the sends have to be very similar in order for that feature to work. When the re-send is successful, the operator can leave most, if not all, of the programming in place. We cover sticky devices in section Swapping: When you Run Out of Devices When a send has so many shows that the system runs out of devices to play them, Cablecast starts re-using devices. Reloading a device during a send is called a swap. Cablecast does its absolute best to make swapping as efficient as possible so that the fewest number or most logical swap pattern is achieved. Any time a swap is required, the operator will see it on the device assignment list, which we cover in section 29.3 on page How to Send Autopilot Autpilot: Send Autopilot Navigate to the Autpilot: Send Autopilot menu. There you will see the form shown in figure FIGURE 29.2: The Autopilot: Send Autopilot form. The default settings for Cablecast s Autopilot may be set in Location Settings: Autopilot, which we covered in section 13.2 on page 127, Adjusting Autopilot Defaults and Settings. The Calculate to fields include the time and date of the last show that Cablecast should automate Autopilot

279 Sending Autopilot Results Remember, only send information that is complete. Don t send shows to autopilot that have fake lengths or no format or for days that don t have complete schedules. You ll just have to resend autopilot later. If you would like repeat the last send that you did, click the Last sent link, which simply copies the last date and time entered into the... to and... at fields. The Use Sticky Devices check box is checked when you want Cablecast to use the same device for a show as it did during the last send. This is only applicable when you the last time you sent autopilot overlaps with the current time. Cablecast has to compromise more when you select the Use Sticky Devices option. Only use it when necessary. If you want to send autopilot without sending the events to the hardware, thereby giving you a chance to check things over before your channel is affected, uncheck the Send the events to the hardware checkbox. Below these two checkboxes is a list of channels and locations that are effected by this send. In the example illustrated in figure 29.2 on the preceding page, three channels are affected at the BEC location. For those that have multi-location channels (channels on more than one routing switcher), as of Cablecast Version 4.8, the system automatically sends autopilot for all locations that have any of the channels that are at the current location. That is, if you have a channel that is a feeder on another location, Cablecast will send autopilot for the selected location and the feeder location for that channel. When everything is set to your liking, click the go button and Cablecast will begin to calculate your channel s automation! When Cablecast is finished sending autopilot, it generates a report. Sometimes the report says that it was successful and often there is a warning or an error that needs to be corrected. If all goes well, you ll get a report like the one that we see in figure 29.3 on the following page. As you can see, we have an error in this example but the send was still successful. This error is one of the most common and harmless, just note that your channel won t take to the server for this event until the file is is loaded and autopilot is re-sent. We also have a bump message, likely due to a schedule conflict. We note the bump and it isn t severe enough to require a re-schedule Sending Autopilot 279

280 FIGURE 29.3: Autopilot warnings. A very common error in a show record, which could creep up here, is where someone enters 30 hours for a length on a reel instead of 30 minutes. This would result in an incredible amount of bumping if your station is busy with programming within the 30 hours this program would walk over. If you see anything like this, you ll have to re-send autopilot, after you un-bump your programming. We learn about the un-bump feature in section on page 251. If you accidently forget to set a format in one of the show records of your send, Cablecast will generate the error that you see in figure You can click on the show or media record in the error message to correct the error. FIGURE 29.4: No Format. It may be easiest to click on the show record, as this will reveal the reel record as well. In this way, you can correct any missing cue and length information in addition to the format information that Cablecast is complaining about. If Cablecast cannot find a device for a show that you are automating, then it will generate an error like the one we see in figure 29.5 on the next page. This type of error is very common when you have more than one channel and too few devices of a certain type. For example, you might have video servers Autopilot

281 FIGURE 29.5: Cablecast runs out of devices and cannot resolve the shortage, it will generate an error that looks much like this. FIGURE 29.6: Disposition doesn t allow playback. that do not share storage across channels 2 and you ve assigned a show to the wrong server. Since Cablecast can t play two shows from one single-channel video server and it can t access the file from the other server, it throws the error. Or, you may have only one DVD changer and you attempt to play two shows at the same time on it. Unlike most errors, Cablecast will program your head end, leaving these programs out. You can always correct the error and resend, if you want to run these programs. Someone using Cablecast can also set the disposition of a media record to a setting that does not allow the show to be automated on the channel. Example: Someone could set a show to a disposition of Erased or Returned to Producer. When a show with media that has these dispositions is automated, we get an error like the one shown in figure You will have to delete those shows from the schedule or change their disposition before you can automate your channels. To add, edit or delete dispositions, see section 10.3 on page 95, Dispositions The Event Table The event table within Cablecast is generated for you when you send autopilot. There is no way within this system to create it by hand like a Leightronix TCD/RP The Event Table 281

282 FIGURE 29.7: The Autopilot Event Table. The event table shown in figure 29.7 is a very short example of what you might see when you send autopilot. Each event may have a device action and/or a switch with the routing switcher that happens at a single, specific time and date. This is different than what some of you may be use to with Leightronix or Tech Electronics event controllers, where an event was fired on a day of the week. With those systems, an event on Monday would fire every Monday until you changed the event table. In Cablecast, events happen on their time and date and they only happen once. Reviewing figure 29.7: Date and Time : This column provides the date and time of the event and a link that opens that event, which we cover later in this section. Show ID : This is the show ID that generated this event. Often a single run will generate up to seven events! Input : If this event includes a switch on your routing switcher, it will be listed in this column. If not, there will be a -. Device : If a device is used, it will be listed here. Slot : When a device has more than one slot, such as a DVD changer, the slot that is being requested is listed here Autopilot

283 Actions : The action that the device or router is taking is listed here. Every event has an action. Output : When the event has a switch, its output is listed here. You ll notice that at the bottom of the list the total number of events is listed. You may check any combination of events and click the delete button at the bottom. You should be really smart about Cablecast, the event table and the consequences of hitting delete within this menu. In fact, if you run into problems after deleting events, resend Autopilot before contacting tech support. :) If you did not send the events to hardware when you sent autopilot or you made changes that you want the hardware to pick up, click the send button Editing an Event FIGURE 29.8: Editing an Event in Autopilot: Event Table: Edit Event The Event Table 283

284 To see an event, click on its time and date. You will see a similar form to the one in figure 29.8 on the preceding page. While referencing this form, review the following descriptions: Date : The date of the event. Time : The time of the event. Input : If there is a switch associated with this event, this will be the input for that switch. Device : If there is a device action associated with this event, this is the device. Slot : The slot number for the device. This will only appear when a multi-slot device is selected. Title : For DVD s, this field will appear to select the title from which to cue. Chapter : The DVD chapter to cue to. Cue : The timecode or cue time for the device. Action : The action to take for this event. Output : If there is a switch with this event, this will be the output. Take Delay : When there is a switch, this is the number of seconds to wait after the device command is issued before the switch happens. Example: Play the DVD player and wait 2 seconds before switching to it. CG Action : This is the hook with Carousel that tells the Cable Display plug-in the appropriate slide to show. This field along with the show ID number is all that Cable Display needs to advertise the program. Editing an event is an extremely advanced activity and is almost never done. Chances are, you ll be on the phone with technical support if you re in this menu. It s usually enough to know that this form is here so do not bother memorize each field Device Assignments Once you ve sent Autopilot, it s time to review the device assignment list, Pictured in figure 29.9 on the next page. This example has some of the typical things you might encounter in your device assignments. Notice that we can view all channels at one time, or filter down to individual channels. Sometimes it is useful to see only the programming for a specific program. If so, use the Channel pop-down list at the top of the form Autopilot

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