User Guide for Cisco Digital Media Manager 5.2.x

Overview

To simplify management, you can organize your assets for Cisco Digital Signs and Cisco Cast.

We recommend that you create categories for sets of characteristics that your assets have in common — such as their file type, intended audience, or genre.

Restrictions

• User Permission Restrictions
• Media Restrictions
• File Size Restrictions

User Permission Restrictions

To see and use the Media Library, you must belogged in with at least read-only permissions for at least one category.

Media Restrictions

• SDP Support and Restrictions
• Shockwave Flash Support and Restrictions
• MPEG-4 Support and Restrictions
• PNG Support and Restrictions

SDP Support and Restrictions

NEW IN CISCO DMS 5.2.3 — We support ECDS live streams for digital signage, through the use of SDP files. However, our support for SDP is limited.

• We can play MPEG-TS/RTP/UDP multicast streams over Cisco ECDS networks when the multicast host is a Cisco MDE 1100.
• Alternatively, we can play other MPEG-TS/RTP/UDP multicast streams whose protocol is HTTP.
• The SDP file must be generated by Cisco ECDS.

We do not support SDP optional values e, k, p, r, u, or z. Nor do we support SAP.

Note When you tell DMM the location of an SDP file on an ECDS server, you must enter the ECDS Delivery Service “Service Routing Domain Name.” Do not enter the real host FQDN or the real host IP address.

Also, you must specify the TCP port.

Shockwave Flash Support and Restrictions

Note This release does not support audio in Shockwave Flash media. If your media library contains any Shockwave Flash files that use audio, their playback will be silent.

The filename extension must be SWF and you must enter the estimated duration.

MPEG-4 Support and Restrictions

Our support for MPEG-4 requires that you use the MPEG-4 Part 2 or Part 10 (H.264) codec and that you multiplex audio and video in an MPEG-2 Transport Stream.

• When your DMP is a 4400G, we support MPEG-4 Part 10/H.264 video in MPEG-2 TS.
• Neither the 4300G nor the 4305G supports MPEG-4 Part 10/H.264.

The filename extension must be MPG or MPEG and you must enter the estimated duration.

PNG Support and Restrictions

A DMP 4305G in this release does not support use of PNG images.

File Size Restrictions

• Before you add any asset, confirm that its file size is not more than 1.9 GB, which is the maximum stream size for any asset that you include in the layout for a DMD presentation.
• For purposes of stage-one failover, the combined size of all assets cannot exceed the capacity of the SD card in a DMP.

Local Storage Restrictions

Locally Stored Presentations Should Not Include Remote Assets

We recommend as a best practice that you avoid calling upon any remote assets from a playlist or presentation to you store locally to a DMP. Otherwise, any network disruptions will interfere with playback of media that should be impervious to all such disruptions.

Local Storage Restrictions for DMP 4310G

A DMP 4310G that uses an attached USB storage volume might corrupt or erase data on this attached volume. Likewise, a DMP 4310G might lose its ability to mount this attached volume. After the DMP reaches this general state, it sometimes reports incorrectly that the attached volume is still mounted and working.

These problems can occur when you disconnect the external volume from the upper USB interface on a DMP 4310G and then, without any delay, plug it immediately into the lower USB interface on the same DMP. However, these problems do not occur in every such case. In our tests, they occurred approximately 1 percent of the time.

To reduce your possible exposure to these problems, wait no less than 3 seconds after you connect or disconnect an attached volume, before you do the reverse. In our tests, this best practice eliminated the risk.

Restart the DMP if it merely unmounts its attached volume.

There is no workaround after the attached volume is erased or its data becomes corrupted. All that you can do after the fact is reformat the volume and restore its data from a recent backup.

Work with Assets and Categories in Your Media Library

Procedure

Step 1 Click the Media Library tab.

A tree on the left side of the Media Library page names the types of media that are supported and shows the hierarchy of categories that you have created to organize assets without regard for their media type.

Step 2 Click the name of a media type or of a category.

An untitled table on the right side of the page is updated automatically to describe assets of the relevant type that your library contains.

Step 3 Enter the values and choose the options that meet your requirements.

Step 4 Stop. You have completed this procedure.

Related Topics

• Elements to Manage Assets and Categories

Add One Asset at a Time to Your Media Library

Note ● After you start to import an asset, do not click any browser button or navigate away from this page until the import is finished. When you do, the import will not finish successfully.

• We recommend that you do not use your DMM appliance as if it is a storage server. It has limited capacity to store files and DMM might not function as designed when space runs low.

Procedure

Step 1 Click the Single tab.

Step 2 Do one of the following in the Source area to specify the full local pathname or remote HTTP URL of the asset.

• Click URL, enter the URL, and then check or uncheck the Download URL check box to control whether you download a local copy of the asset or use the version of it that is stored remotely.

Note The URL must be encoded properly (using “%20” instead of spaces, for example), according to the principles set forth in RFC 2396.

• Click Local File, and then click Browse or enter the full local pathname.

Step 3 Choose the option in the File Type area that best describes the asset.

Step 4 Enter a title for the asset.

Step 5 Enter the estimated duration for playback.

Caution NEW IN CISCO DMS 5.2.3 — Before a DMP 4305G or 4400G will render any video asset for playback, make sure that the video duration is at least 3 seconds. Otherwise, the extreme brevity triggers DMP failover, which unloads the current playlist or presentation and causes your DMP to render its failover URL instead.

• To avoid this behavior altogether, use only video clips whose full duration is 3 seconds or more.
• To prevent this behavior temporarily when extremely brief video is somehow essential, disable video failover.
• To recover from this behavior, restart the application.

A DMP 4310G does not exhibit this behavior.

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Note The user interface in Cisco Digital Signs sometimes shows a mistaken estimate of 0 (zero) seconds as the full duration of a video playlist. Even though the estimate is wrong, the error does not have any practical consequences. Playback starts and stops as scheduled, without disruption.

This occurs after you set any video asset in the playlist to use 0 seconds as its planned duration. A video asset whose planned duration is 0 (zero) seconds will play from beginning to end.

When you want to skip a video instead of playing it, you must remove it from the playlist. Any playlist’s constituent nonvideo assets must have a planned duration of at least 1 second.

Step 6 Choose at least one category.

Step 7 (Optional) Enter a description.

Step 8 (Optional) Enter an owner for the asset.

Step 9 Click Save.

OR

Click Cancel.

Step 10 Stop. You have completed this procedure.

Add Multiple Assets Simultaneously to Your Media Library

The amount of time that a batch download operation requires depends on the speed of your connection, the number of directory levels that you search for downloadable files, and the total combined file size of all files that you transfer.

Note ● After you start to import an asset, do not click any browser button or navigate away from this page until the import is finished. When you do, the import will not finish successfully.

• We recommend that you do not use your DMM appliance as if it is a storage server. It has limited capacity to store files and DMM might not function as designed when space runs low.

Procedure

Step 1 Click the Batch tab.

Step 2 Enter, in the Base URL area, the root-level URL for the batch download operation.

We do not support any use of spaces in URLs.

Step 3 Enter, in the Pattern area, a filename pattern that identifies which files to download.

For example, to download every file that uses the three-letter MPG filename extension, the pattern is *.MPG.

Note Do not enter the filename pattern to use any unsupported file type.

Step 4 Make choices and enter values to add assets to your library.

Step 5 Click Save.

OR

Click Cancel to discard your work.

Step 6 Stop. You have completed this procedure.

Software UI and Field Reference Tables

• Elements to Manage Assets and Categories
• Elements to Add Categories and Rename Them
• Elements to Add Assets and Edit Their Attributes
• Elements To Describe and Preview One Asset

Elements to Manage Assets and Categories

Navigation Path

Digital Signage > Media Library

Table 18-1 Elements for Managing a Media Library

Element	Icon and Description
Media Types	A complete list of the types of assets that are supported. The supported assets are: DMP Firmware1 ( ) Audio ( ) HTML ( ) Images ( ) Shockwave Flash ( ) UDP ( ) Video ( ) RTSP ( ) NEW IN CISCO DMS 5.2.2 — RTP ( ) NEW IN CISCO DMS 5.2.3 — SDP ( ) When you click the name of a media type, an untitled table on the right side of the page is updated automatically to describe assets of the relevant type that your library contains.
Categories	A hierarchical list of categories in your media library. A category can contain assets or it might be empty. You can create new categories, edit existing categories, delete categories, or click a category whose assets the untitled table should describe. You can add almost any number of nested categories to your media library.
	Options — A menu from which you can choose among these options: Create Category — Opens the Add Category dialog box. Rename Category — Opens the Edit Category dialog box. Delete Category — Deletes the category that you highlighted.
	Create Category — Opens the Add Category dialog box.
Filter by
Methods by which you can cause the untitled table to describe only the assets from your media library that match parameters you have specified. Choose the filtering method, specify the parameters, and then click Go. You can use only one filter per query. You cannot apply a second filter to results that are already filtered.
Title	Enter at least one word that the title contains.
Filename	Enter a string of characters that the filename contains.
Description	Enter at least one word that the description contains.
File Type	Enter the file type to be matched.
Estimated Duration	Enter in hours, minutes, and seconds, the duration to be matched.
Date Modified	Click the first calendar icon () to choose the start date for the range of modification dates to be matched, and then click the second calendar icon to choose the end date for the range.
Owner	Enter the DMM username for the asset owner to be matched.
Source	Choose whether the asset is stored locally (File) or remotely (URL).
Path	Enter a string of characters that the path contains.
untitled table
Describes all assets contained in the category, or of the media type, that you clicked in the list. The table sorts information into columns.
Asset Title	A unique and human-readable title that you entered.
Filename	The filename for this asset.
File Type	Identifies the format of the asset that the corresponding row describes.
Size	The file size in bytes.
Estimated Duration	Caution NEW IN CISCO DMS 5.2.3 — Before a DMP 4305G or 4400G will render any video asset for playback, make sure that the video duration is at least 3 seconds. Otherwise, the extreme brevity triggers DMP failover, which unloads the current playlist or presentation and causes your DMP to render its failover URL instead. • To avoid this behavior altogether, use only video clips whose full duration is 3 seconds or more. • To prevent this behavior temporarily when extremely brief video is somehow essential, disable video failover. • To recover from this behavior, restart the application. A DMP 4310G does not exhibit this behavior. The duration value that you entered when you added this asset to your media library, or when you edited attributes of this asset.
Date Last Modified	Time stamp (in the format DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss) that says when the file was last modified.
pagination controls
Buttons and fields clustered under a table, by which you: Set how many rows a table should show per page before it starts to span multiple pages. Move from one page to another in a table that spans multiple pages. Cause the table to show refreshed data.
Options
Choose the option, if any, that meets your requirements
Add Media Asset	Opens the Add Asset dialog box.
View Media Asset	Opens the View Asset dialog box.
Edit Media Asset	Opens the Edit Asset dialog box.
Remove Media Asset	Deletes the asset that you highlighted.
Add Media Asset	Opens the Add Asset dialog box.
Create Playlist	Opens the New Playlist dialog box in a popup window.

Related Topics

• Elements to Add Categories and Rename Them
• Elements to Add Assets and Edit Their Attributes

Elements to Add Categories and Rename Them

The Add Category and Rename Category dialog boxes help you to manage the categories for organizing assets in your media library.

Navigation Path

• Digital Signage > Media Library > Create Category
• Digital Signage > Media Library > Options > Create Category
• Digital Signage > Media Library > Options > Rename Category

Elements to Add Assets and Edit Their Attributes

Features of the Add Media Asset and Edit Media Asset dialog boxes help you to populate and manage your media library. Options are sorted under two tabs, Single and Batch, which help you to manage either one asset or multiple assets, respectively.

Navigation Path

• Digital Signage > Media Library > Add Media Asset
• Digital Signage > Media Library > Options > Add Media Asset
• Digital Signage > Media Library > Options > Edit Media Asset

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Elements To Describe and Preview One Asset

The View Asset dialog box describes the attributes of one asset in your Media Library and, in some cases, shows a preview. Attribute information is sorted under two tabs, Overview and Usage. Click a tab to see the asset attributes that it describes. To close the View Asset dialog box, click Close.

Navigation Path

Digital Signage > Media Library > Options > View Media Asset