Table Of Contents
Creating and Managing Playlists for Video Playback
About Playlists
Enabling the TV-Out Feature
Configuring TV-Out Devices
Supported MPEG File Specifications
Disabling the TV-Out Feature
Enabling the Set Top Box Feature
Creating Playlists
Adding Media and Overlay Images to Playlists
Adding Media Files to a Playlist
Adding an Overlay Image to a Playlist
Assigning an Overlay Image to a Media File
Setting Playback Schedules for TV-Out Playlists
Assigning Content Engines to Playlists
Assigning Device Groups to Playlists
Viewing the Playback Guide
Creating an Export Channel for Set Top Box Playback
Assigning Content Engines to an Export Channel
Assigning Device Groups to an Export Channel
Viewing Export Playlist Settings
Creating and Managing Playlists for Video Playback
This chapter explains how to create and manage playlists for video playback. It contains the following sections:
•
About Playlists
•Creating Playlists
•Assigning Content Engines to Playlists
•Assigning Device Groups to Playlists
•Viewing the Playback Guide
•Creating an Export Channel for Set Top Box Playback
About Playlists
A playlist is a list of media files and their associated attributes that defines when and how the files are played back. A playtime is a schedule set up for a playlist. You can set up between one and ten playtime schedules for a playlist. Playback is the playing of the playlist as specified by a playtime.
Playlists are created and managed by the Content Distribution Manager and then played across one or more TV-out devices or set top boxes (STBs).
Enabling the TV-Out Feature
In order to create and manage playlists using the Content Distribution Manager, you must first enable and then configure the TV-out feature on the Content Engine. Enabling the TV-out feature will succeed only if supported audio and video hardware can be detected on the Content Engine. This is done automatically when you enable the TV-out feature.
To enable TV-out, enter the following ACNS software command from the CLI:
Console(config)# tvout enable
Configuring TV-Out Devices
Content Engines that are equipped with an integrated Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) decoder are TV-out enabled devices. These devices play media files using National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) or Phase Alternation Line (PAL) video signals. The Content Engine can thus play video directly to a TV monitor in applications such as kiosks, cable TV systems, and video walls.
You need to designate the TV signal output format that is used when delivering content from a TV-out enabled device to a TV monitor. To configure a Content Engine for video output, make sure that TV-out is enabled and then enter the following ACNS software command from the CLI:
Console(config)# tvout signal {ntsc | pal}
where ntsc is the NTSC standard and pal is the PAL standard. NTSC is the default.
Supported MPEG File Specifications
Table 11-1 lists the supported MPEG file specifications for TV-out enabled devices.
Table 11-1 MPEG File Specifications
Specification
|
Description
|
MPEG stream type
|
MPEG-1 system stream
MPEG-2 program stream
MPEG-2 transport stream
|
MPEG video
|
MPEG-1—4:2:0 Constrained Parameter Bitstream
MPEG-2—4:2:0 Main Profile (MP) at Main Level (ML)
|
MPEG audio
|
Layers 1 and 2 at 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 49 kHz
|
Data rate
|
Up to 15 Mbps
|
Video resolution
|
NTSC
352 x 240 at 30 frames per second (fps)
352 x 480 at 30 fps
480 x 480 at 30 fps
544 x 480 at 30 fps
704 x 480 at 30 fps
720 x 480 at 30 fps
PAL
352 x 288 at 24 fps
352 x 576 at 24 fps
480 x 576 at 24 fps
544 x 576 at 24 fps
704 x 576 at 24 fps
720 x 576 at 24 fps
|
Disabling the TV-Out Feature
Disabling TV-out unloads the TV-out driver and stops all associated software. To disable TV-out, enter the following ACNS software command from the CLI:
Console(config)# no tvout enable
Enabling the Set Top Box Feature
Set top box (STB) support is included in the ACNS 5.1 software release. An STB is a device capable of taking information from a network interface using IP and displaying it on a monitor attached to a video interface (digital-to-analog conversion).
To play video over an STB, you must first create a playlist for export and then configure an export channel to export the playlist to the STB.
Creating Playlists
From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, you can configure and schedule playlists for playing across TV-out enabled devices such as Content Engines, or you can create an export-type playlist for playing across STBs. The Content Distribution Manager additionally provides the storage of playlist information as needed for data recovery on individual Content Engines.
The schedules of playlists may overlap on a particular device, causing playback of one playlist to be preempted by another playlist. Preemption is handled based on the start time of the playlist. Playlists with later start times preempt playlists with earlier start times.
All playlists initially have a default name that you can change, along with a set of attributes. To create and manage playlists, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. All playlists are displayed and are configured from this window. Click the Create a New Playlist icon. The Adding New Playlist window appears. (See Figure 11-1.)
Figure 11-1 Adding a New Playlist Window
Step 2 Enter a name for the playlist in the Name field.
Step 3 If you want the playlist to be played across a TV-out device, click the TV Out radio button. If you want the playlist to exported to and then played across a set top box, click the Export radio button.
Note For information about setting up playlists to be played across STBs, see the "Creating an Export Channel for Set Top Box Playback" section.
Step 4 Enter a description of the playlist in the Description field. This step is optional.
Step 5 Enter search keywords, separated by commas, in the Key Words field. This step is optional.
Step 6 Check the Shuffle check box if you want the media files to be played in random order. The default is unchecked.
Step 7 Check the Graceful Exit check box if you want the playlist to stop and close only after its current media file has finished playing. The default is unchecked.
Step 8 Click Submit. The Playlists window appears with the new playlist added to the top of the list.
Note If the Graceful Exit feature is enabled in playlist that is being launched, then the launch window size of a second playlist must have the same or larger launch window size as the first playlist, or else the second playlist will not play.
Adding Media and Overlay Images to Playlists
Playlists let you assemble a series of media files from different channels and play them in a defined order on any video-out enabled device. You can associate one overlay image with each playlist. The user sees this image displayed in a determinable screen location when the playlist it is associated with is playing. Overlay images are useful for displaying logos.
Adding Media Files to a Playlist
To add media files to a playlist, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the playlist to which you want to add media files.
Step 3 Choose Media and overlays from the Contents pane. The Assigning Media Files to Playlist window appears. (See Figure 11-2.) The left pane displays channels and the right pane displays media files currently in the playlist. You can add more media files to the playlist.
Figure 11-2 Assigning Media Files to Playlist Window
Step 4 In the left pane, choose the channel whose media files you want to display. Click Use Selected Channel.
Step 5 Search for the channel's media files by entering the search criteria in the Criteria field. Use an asterisk (*) to match zero or more characters, or a question mark (?) to match exactly one character. For example, use "*.mpg" for all files with the suffix "mpg," and "file?.mpg" to match file1.mpg, file2.mpg, and so on. Click Use Criteria. All media files in the selected channel that match the criteria appear.
Step 6 Check the check box next to each media file that you want to add to the playlist. Click Add. The media file appears in the right pane at the bottom of the list.
Step 7 In the right pane, you can use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move a media file up or down one position in the list. Unless you check the Shuffle check box in the Playlist Information window, files are played in the order in which they are listed.
Note that the Up Arrow and Down Arrow are only displayed if the list of media files in the playlist is sorted by position. If you sort the media files alphabetically, for example, then the arrows do not appear.
Adding an Overlay Image to a Playlist
Note For CE-507AV and CE-560AV models, overlay images must be Windows bitmap files with 16 colors. They must have 4 bits per pixel and must be less than 64 KB in size. The width of the image (in pixels) must be divisible by 8. Before associating an overlay image, open the image file in an image editor and view its properties to make sure that it meets the above requirements.
Note For CE-510 and CE-565 models, overlay images must be bitmap files with either 16 or 256 colors. They must have 4 or 16 bits per pixel, and must be less than 128 KB in size. The width of the image (in pixels) must be divisible by 8. Before associating an overlay image, open the image file in an image editor and view its properties to make sure that it meets the above requirements.
To add an overlay image to a playlist, follow these steps:
Step 1 In the Assigning Media Files to Playlist window, display a channel's media files.
Step 2 Check the check box next to the media file that you want to use as an overlay image.
Step 3 Click Edit Playlist Overlay. A list of overlay images for the selected media file appears in the Overlay Images in Playlist pane.
Step 4 In the Overlays Images in Playlist pane, click the Edit icon next to the overlay image that you want to edit. The Overlay Settings pane appears and contains the image name and the channel from which it was obtained.
Step 5 You can edit the parameters of the overlay image by specifying and adjusting its location on the TV-out or STB monitor, specifying the overall opacity of the image, and choosing whether you want one color to be transparent. If desired, you can remove the entire overlay by clicking Remove Overlay.
For a description of overlay image parameters, see Table 11-2.
Table 11-2 Overlay Image Parameters
Image Parameter
|
Description
|
Name
|
Name of the overlay. A default name is given to each overlay. You can change the default name, but you cannot remove the name. The name must be a valid XML name; that is, it can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores and must be unique.
|
Set as Default Overlay
|
Specifies whether this overlay is the default overlay for this playlist. Each playlist can have only one default overlay.
|
Placement
|
Specifies where the overlay image should appear on the TV-out or STB monitor. Your options are upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right, and center.
|
Height Offset
|
Adjusts placement along the vertical axis. The valid range is from -40 to 40 pixels.
-40 = Moves the image to the lowest possible position on the display.
40 = Moves the image to the uppermost position on the display.
|
Width Offset
|
Adjusts placement along the horizontal axis. The valid range is from -60 to 60 pixels.
-60 = Moves the image to the left-most possible position on the display.
60 = Moves the image to the right-most possible position on the display.
|
Opacity
|
Adjusts the opacity of the overlay image. The valid range is from 0 to 15.
0 = Renders the image completely opaque.
15 = Renders the image nearly transparent.
|
Transparent Color
|
Enables or disables the use of transparent color. When checked, the color of the pixel in the lower left corner of the image is transparent over the entire image. When a transparency-enabled image is placed over a video, the background color of the overlay image is not visible against the video playing behind it. This is useful if you want to use a nonrectangular image as your overlay.
|
Step 6 Click Submit.
Assigning an Overlay Image to a Media File
To assign an overlay image to a media file, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the playlist to which you want to add media files. The Modifying Playlist window appears.
Step 3 Choose Assign overlays from the Contents pane. The Assigning Overlay to Media window appears. (See Figure 11-3.)
The left pane displays a list of overlay images in the playlist and the right pane displays media files in the playlist. The default overlay in the left pane is highlighted. Note that you cannot remove the default overlay.
Figure 11-3 Assigning Overlay to Media Window
Step 4 Click the radio button next to the overlay that you want to associate with the media files in the playlist. The media files associated with the selected overlay appear in the Media Files in Playlist pane.
Step 5 Click Submit.
Setting Playback Schedules for TV-Out Playlists
Note You can only set playback schedules for playlists that are played over TV-out enabled devices.
To set automatic playback schedules for playlists, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the TV-out type playlist for which you want to set playback schedules.
Step 3 Choose Schedule from the Contents pane. The Scheduling Playlist window appears.
Step 4 Click the Loop Playback Continuously radio button if you want the playlist to play in a continuous loop and click Submit. Alternatively, click the Do Not Schedule Playback radio button (the default) if you do not want to set a playback schedule for the playlist.
Step 5 If you want to schedule up to ten playback times per playlist, then click the Schedule Playback radio button. The Playtimes control tool appears.
Note No two playback times for a single playlist can have the same start time.
Step 6 To add a playtime (that is, the time a playback is scheduled to play), click the Add a New Play Time icon, which is in the Play Times header. A new playtime selection is added to the list, and the Playtime Editor pane appears. Configure the playtime by entering the necessary information in the appropriate fields. To save the playtime, click Submit.
Step 7 To remove an existing playtime, check the check box in the Remove column that is next to the playtime selection you want to remove and click Submit.
Step 8 To edit an existing playtime, click the Edit icon next to the scheduled playtime that you want to change. Change the schedule and playback options as necessary. Table 11-3 explains the fields under the Editing Play Time heading.
Note The dates and times that are entered and displayed are honored according to the local times on the device.
Table 11-3 Playlist Schedule Settings
Schedule Setting
|
Description
|
Start Playback on
|
Local time that the playlist starts playing. This field is required.
|
Playback Once and Stop
|
Playlist is played only once and is stopped.
|
Loop for
|
Playlist repeats for the specified duration.
|
Do Not Repeat
|
Playback occurs only once and does not repeat.
|
Repeat Every
|
Playback repeats every minute, hour, or day at the specified interval (for example, every 10 minutes).
|
Repeat Weekly at <start time> on selected days
|
Playback repeats weekly at the local time indicated the Start Playback on option.
|
Repeat Forever
|
Playback schedule runs indefinitely.
|
Repeat Until
|
Playback schedule runs until the date and time that you set.
|
Step 9 Click Submit.
Assigning Content Engines to Playlists
Note You can only assign TV-out enabled Content Engines to playlists in the Content Distribution Manager.
To assign a TV-out enabled Content Engine or a group of Content Engines to a playlist, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the TV-out type playlist to which you want to assign a Content Engine. The Modifying Playlist window appears.
Step 3 In the Contents pane, choose Assign content engines. The Content Engine assignment to Playlist window appears. (See Figure 11-4.)
Figure 11-4 Content Engine Assignment to Playlist Window
Step 4 Click the Assign icon (blue cross mark) next to as many Content Engines as you want to assign to the playlist and click Submit. A green tick mark appears next to the assigned Content Engine.
Step 5 To unassign a Content Engine that has been assigned to the playlist, click the Unassign icon (green tick mark) next to the assigned Content Engine and click Submit.
Assigning Device Groups to Playlists
You can assign one or more device groups to a playlist. A device group is a set of devices that share common qualities and capabilities and can be assigned to one or more channels. Some common qualities might include disk capacity, distribution minimum bandwidth, or routing properties. One channel can have many device groups assigned to it.
Device groups are assigned through the Content Distribution Manager GUI. When a channel is created, additional groups are added, or a device group assignment changes, devices in the group are notified of their assignment to the associated channel. Each device can subscribe to more than one channel.
To assign a device group to a playlist, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the playlist to which you want to assign a device group. The Modifying Playlist window appears.
Step 3 In the Contents pane, choose Assign device groups. The Device Group assignment to Playlist window appears. (See Figure 11-5.)
Figure 11-5 Assigning Device Groups to Playlists Window
Step 4 Click the Assign icon next to as many device groups as you want to assign to the current playlist and click Submit. A green tick mark replaces the blue cross mark.
Step 5 To remove device groups from the playlist, click the Unassign icon (green tick mark) next to the device groups that you want to remove and click Submit.
Viewing the Playback Guide
You can view a playback guide that displays playlists by date for a selected Content Engine. Playback schedules can be viewed by day, week, month, or year.
To view the playback guide, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose Devices > Content Engines. The Content Engines window appears with a current list of
Content Engines.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the Content Engine whose playback guide you want to view.
Step 3 Choose Content Services > TV-out Playback Guide from the Contents pane. The Playback Guide for Content Engine window appears. (See Figure 11-6.)
Figure 11-6 Playback Guide for Content Engine Window
Step 4 Choose the Day, Week, Month, or Year tab to view the playback schedules. Scheduled playlists are listed by start time (initial start time plus any repeat intervals). Times begin with the current device time (current system time plus device time zone offset).
Creating an Export Channel for Set Top Box Playback
Note You can only create and use export channels for playlists that are played over STBs.
To create an export channel for a playlist to be played over an STB, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the export type playlist for which you want to create an export channel. The Modifying Playlists window appears.
Note You must choose a playlist listed as Export in the Type column for the Select export channel link to appear as a choice in the Contents pane.
Step 3 Choose Select export channel from the Contents pane. The Export Channels window appears. All current export channels already in the system are listed. (See Figure 11-7.) If a channel has already been associated with the current playlist, it appears at the top of the channel column and its radio button is checked.
Figure 11-7 Export Channels Window
Step 4 To add a new export channel, click the Create a new Export Channel icon. The Adding New Export Channel window appears. (See Figure 11-8.)
Figure 11-8 Adding New Export Channel Window
Step 5 Enter the export channel name in the Name field or use the default channel that is displayed. The export name must follow the following convention: export_playlist name.
Step 6 Select a Content Provider from the Content Provider drop-down list. (Required.) All previously configured content providers in the system will be displayed.
Step 7 Select a website, which contains the playlist file you want to export, from the Website drop-down list. All websites mapped to the content provider selected in the previous step are displayed.
The playlist file URL needs to follow the following format: http://<website_fqdn>/playlists/<playlistName>.xml.
The playlist file does not exist on the origin server and only maps to the routed FQDN.
Step 8 Enter the disk quota that the export channel will use in the Channel Quota field. The default is 5 megabytes.
Step 9 Click Submit. The Export Channels window appears.
Step 10 Check the radio button next to the new export channel to associate it with the current playlist.
Step 11 To disassociate an export channel with the current playlist, check the radio button next to an associated channel and click the Disassociate button. This causes the current playlist to no longer be distributed with the selected export channel.
Assigning Content Engines to an Export Channel
You can assign Content Engines to export channels using the Content Distribution Manager GUI.
To assign Content Engines to an export channel (which has been associated with export type playlists), follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the name of the export type playlist for which you want to assign a Content Engine. The Modifying Playlist window appears.
Step 3 In the Contents pane, choose Assign Content Engines. The Content Engine assignment to Export Channel window appears, displaying the unreserved and total disk space in the cdnfs partition. Content Engines can be added to the channel from more than one location. A list of the Content Engines in all locations to which they have been assigned appears.
Step 4 Click the Assign icon (blue cross mark) next to the name of the Content Engine that you wish to associate with the export channel. Alternatively, you can click the Assign all Content Engines icon in the taskbar to perform a bulk addition of all Content Engines in various locations to the export channel.
Step 5 Click Submit to add the Content Engines to the export channel. A green tick mark appears next to the assigned Content Engine on submission.
Step 6 To remove Content Engines, click the Unassign icon (green tick mark) next to the name of the Content Engine that you want to remove from the export channel. Alternatively, you can click the Unassign all Content Engines icon in the taskbar to perform a bulk removal of all Content Engines from the selected export channel.
Step 7 To designate a root Content Engine for an export channel, choose a Content Engine from the Root CE drop-down list in the taskbar. A list of Content Engines currently marked for assignment to the export channel (before submission) in which you are working is displayed. If there are no Content Engines assigned to the channel, no choices appear in the Root CE drop-down list.
Step 8 Click Submit to remove the Content Engines from the export channel. The list of Content Engines in the export channel shows a blue cross mark next to the name of the removed Content Engine.
Assigning Device Groups to an Export Channel
You can assign device groups to an export channel with which export type playlists have been previously associated. To assign device groups to an export channel, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose System > Playlists. The Playlists window appears with existing playlists listed.
Step 2 Choose the playlist to which you want to assign a device group. The Modifying Playlist window appears.
Step 3 In the Contents pane, choose Assign device groups. The Device Group assignment to Export Channel window appears, displaying the minimum unreserved disk space in the cdnfs partition.
An asterisk (*) under the Note column denotes that there is no free space available to be assigned to this channel. A double asterisk (**) under the Note column denotes that Content Engines associated with this device group have been already assigned to this channel.
Step 4 Click the Assign icon (blue cross mark) next to the name of the device group that you wish to associate with the export channel. A green tick mark appears next to the assigned device group on submission. Alternatively, you can click the Assign all Device Groups icon in the taskbar to perform a bulk addition of all device groups in various locations to the export channel.
Step 5 Click Submit to add the device groups to the export channel.
Step 6 To remove device groups, click the Unassign icon (green tick mark) next to the name of the device group that you want to remove from the export channel. Alternatively, you can click the Unassign all Device Groups icon in the taskbar to perform a bulk removal of all device groups from the selected export channel.
Step 7 To designate a root Content Engine for an export channel, choose a Content Engine from the Root CE drop-down list in the taskbar. A list of Content Engines that have been marked for assignment to the export channel (before submission) in which you are working is displayed. If there are no Content Engines assigned to the export channel, no choices appear in the Root CE drop-down list.
Step 8 Click Submit to remove the device groups from the export channel. The browser window refreshes, listing the updated export channels with a blue cross mark next to the unassigned device groups.
Viewing Export Playlist Settings
You can view the export type playlists configured on a Content Engine. The set top boxes (STBs) directly connect to these Content Engines to download the playlists and play the media files added to the playlist. For the STBs to function properly, both the playlist file and the playlist content (media files and overlay images) must be available on the particular Content Engine. The STBs download the playlist file using the URL, http://<website_fqdn>playlists/<playlistName>.xml.
Export type playlists will be displayed for a Content Engine only if the export channel, associated with an export playlist, has been assigned Content Engines.
To view the export playlists configured on a Content Engine, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose Devices > Content Engines. The Content Engines window appears.
Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the Content Engine for which you want to view the associated export playlists. The Modifying Content Engines window appears.
Step 3 In the Contents pane, choose Content Services > Export Playlists. The Export Playlists for Content Engine window appears.
The playlist name, number of media files, number of overlay images in the playlist, length of the playlists, and playlist file URLs are displayed. See Table 11-4 for a description of the fields that are displayed in this window.
Table 11-4 Export Playlists for Content Engine—Field Descriptions
Field Name
|
Description
|
Playlist
|
Name of the export type playlist associated with the export channel associated with this Content Engine
|
Titles
|
Number of media files added to the playlist
|
Overlays
|
Total playtime of the playlist in hh:mm:ss
|
Length
|
Number of overlay images assigned to the media files in the playlist
|
Playlist File URL
|
URL of the playlist file, which is of the syntax http://<website_fqdn>/playlists/<playlistName>.xml
|
