Concepts
• Overview
• Restrictions
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.
User Permission Restrictions
• To see and use the Media Library, you must be logged in with at least read-only permissions for at least one category.
-
The “ftp” user account on a DMP has limited access to the DMP file directory structure. It cannot navigate to any higher level than /tmp/ftproot. This is by design (
CSCsq49612
).
Audio-Video Sync on a DMP 4305G
• In some cases, after a DMP 4305G plays a multicast video stream for 24 hours, audio and video from the stream are no longer perfectly synchronized. (
CSCsy37539
;
CSCty77956
)
-
When a DMP 4305G is restarted, video playback might begin even before the DMP has cleared its splash screen (
CSCtb48195
). Although audio plays correctly in this case, the lingering splash screen hides a video temporarily.
Tip You can use DMPDM to shorten the splash screen duration.
Misidentified Codecs Can Trigger a Gray Screen, and Then Restart a DMP 4310G
A misconfigured or malfunctioning encoder might output video in which the PMT table names a different codec than was used. When you then try to play this asset through a DMP 4310G, the DMP might restart suddenly after rendering only a gray screen on your digital sign (
CSCth61274
).
Tip You can use free or open source software — such as MediaInfo (see http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) — to check if the PMT table is wrong. If so, you can use other tools to re-encode or transcode the video properly for playback.
A DMP 4400G Might Not Output Audio After Finishing the Playback of a WMV File
After a DMP 4400G renders a Windows Media video asset for playback, you might find that subsequent assets play without any audible sound (
CSCtb09480
). Our testing suggests that this behavior can occur only when encoding of the WMV asset’s audio track has combined lossy compression with the following attributes.
• Format: WMA
• Codec ID: 162
• Codec Info: Windows Media Audio 3
Tip You can use free or open source software — such as MediaInfo (see http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) — to check if the audio track is encoded like this. If so, you can use other tools to re-encode or transcode the audio properly for playback.
Component Signal Cables Prevent DMP 4310G Playback of 1080p60 Video
When a Component Video signal cable connects your DMP 4310G to its presentation system, the DMP cannot render 1080p60 (progressive-scan) video for playback (
CSCtf01345
). However, the DMP 4310G in this case can render 1080i60 (interlaced-scan) video correctly.
SDP Support and Restrictions
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 (SWF) 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.
-
On a DMP 4305G, avoid playing MP3 audio at the same time as a SWF. Otherwise, the SWF plays approximately 50 percent slower than it should. The cause is a hardware limitation. (
CSCty77918
;
CSCtg15314
)
-
When a SWF asset has a memory leak that depletes DMP memory, the DMP will not necessarily reboot automatically, as it is designed to do in some other low-memory scenarios. Instead, if you have enabled DMP failover (content substitution) and if the alternative content is loadable, your DMP will load it. But if this attempt fails, your DMP will restart itself automatically, as it does in those other low-memory scenarios. (
CSCty84687
;
CSCtt29360
;
CSCtw90991
)
MP3 Support and Restrictions
-
This release does not support DMP playback of any MP3 file that contains embedded cover art (
CSCtw78806
).
-
This release does not support DMP 4305G playback of any MP3 file with a 24000 sample rate (
CSCtb79824
).
-
On a DMP 4305G, avoid playing MP3 audio at the same time as a SWF. Otherwise, the SWF plays approximately 50 percent slower than it should. The cause is a hardware limitation. (
CSCty77918
;
CSCtg15314
)
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.
Bitmapped/Raster Image (JPG, GIF, PNG) Support and Restrictions
-
A DMP 4305G in this release does not support use of PNG images.
-
The maximum supported file size per bitmapped image asset is 450 KB on a DMP 4305G and 1 MB on a DMP 4400G.
-
When your designs for digital signage call for an image with fixed dimensions, such as 640 x 480, import a bitmap asset of exactly these dimensions. Do not import a larger or smaller version. Otherwise, your DMP must resize the wrong-sized bitmap on-the-fly for rendering. This work is computationally expensive, and degrades DMP performance over time. (
CSCtx99460
;
CSCty83930
)
URL and Website Support and Restrictions
• The URL for a media asset cannot be any more than 128 characters long. (
CSCts62766
)
• To render a Twitter page correctly on your digital sign, do not add the Twitter page URL to your media library. Instead, use the Go To URL system task. Otherwise, the dynamic center column on the Twitter page, which is coded to refresh itself every 2 seconds, is blank. (
CSCtw78817
)
• DMPs cannot render webpages from servers that use self-signed certificates (
CSCtt01371
).
-
Some webpages with embedded SWF content use JavaScript code that includes multiple
getElementById()
calls or multiple timers, such as
setDuration
or
setInterval
. After a DMP 4305G renders such pages continuously for as little as 12 hours, the DMP can run out of memory and reboot automatically, or it might render only a white screen instead of the SWF. Such cases are the combined result of a Flash 7 memory leak and an over-reliance on JavaScript. (
CSCsy01098
;
CSCty77900
)
File Size and Storage Restrictions
-
The media library can store assets for your digital signs temporarily on the same disk partition that DMM uses for webserver swap space (
CSCsi66683; CSCtt27032
). If this entire partition becomes filled before your media library can move its assets to their permanent location:
–
License verification might fail
, preventing any access to UI pages for licensed features.
–
License installations might fail
with a spurious message that a license is not valid.
–
Upload of additional assets might fail.
–
Charting services might fail
.
–
Any other server operation might fail
that requires swap or temp space.
Tip So, before you bulk-import assets, use the DMS-Admin dashboard to check available space!
• 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.
Procedures
• Work with Assets and Categories in Your Media Library
• Add One Asset at a Time to Your Media Library
• Add Multiple Assets Simultaneously to Your Media Library
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
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 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.
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.
Before You Begin
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.
Reference
• Software UI and Field Reference Tables
Elements to Manage Assets and Categories
Navigation Path
Digital Signage > Media Library
Table 19-1 Elements for Managing a Media Library
|
|
Media Types
|
A complete list of the types of assets that are supported. The supported assets are:
-
DMP Firmware (
)
-
Audio (
)
-
HTML (
)
-
Images (
)
-
Shockwave Flash (
)
-
UDP (
)
-
Video (
)
-
RTSP (
)
-
RTP (
)
-
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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
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
Table 19-2 Elements for Managing Media Library Categories
|
|
Name
|
A unique and human-readable name for a category.
|
Description
|
A brief description of the category and its purpose.
|
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
.
Table 19-3 Elements for Adding and Editing Assets
|
|
Single tab
|
Elements to add or edit one asset.
|
Source
|
The full local pathname or remote HTTP URL of the asset. We do not support any use of spaces in filenames or URLs.
|
File Type
|
Choose the type that best describes the asset:
-
Video
— A video file in MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or MPEG-4 format.
-
Shockwave Flash
— An Adobe Shockwave Flash 6, or 7 file if your DMP is a 4300G or a 4305G. Alternatively, if your DMP is a 4400G, and then a file in the format of Shockwave Flash 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10.
-
Images
— A standard image file, such as a nonprogressive JPEG image. The filename extension must be JPG, JPEG, GIF, or PNG.
-
HTML
— A web page. The filename extension must be HTM or HTML.
-
Firmware
— A firmware or kernel image for the DMP. The filename extension must be FWIMG or BIN for firmware, or TIVELLA for kernels.
-
UDP
— The routable IP address and UDP port for a streaming server.
|
Title
|
A unique and human-readable name for the asset.
|
Estimated Duration
|
The estimated duration for playback, counted in hours, minutes, and seconds.
|
Category
|
Describes each of the categories that should contain this asset. To add a category to the list, click
Select Category
.
|
Description
|
Optional, brief description of the asset.
|
Owner
|
Your name or the name of the person who added the asset.
|
|
Elements to add or edit multiple assets simultaneously.
|
Base URL
|
An HTTP URL that points to a directory on a server. The directory that you point to serves as the root-level URL for the batch download operation; every file that you download is retrieved from this directory or from one of its children at a lower level. We do not support any use of spaces in URLs.
|
Pattern
|
The filename pattern that identifies which files to download. We do not support any use of spaces in filenames.
|
File Type
|
Choose the type that best describes these assets:
-
Video
— A video file in MPEG-1, MPEG-2, or MPEG-4 format.
-
Shockwave Flash
— Any Adobe Shockwave Flash 6, or 7 file if your DMP is a 4300G or a 4305G. Alternatively, if your DMP is a 4400G, any Adobe Shockwave Flash 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 file.
-
Images
— Any standard image file, such as a nonprogressive JPEG image. The filename extension must be JPG, JPEG, GIF, or PNG.
-
HTML
— Any web page. The filename extension must be HTM or HTML.
-
Firmware
— Any firmware image for the DMP. The filename extension must be FWIMG or BIN for firmware, or TIVELLA for kernels.
-
UDP
— The routable IP address and UDP port for a streaming server.
|
Levels
|
The number of levels below the specified base URL to search for (and download) files with filenames that match the specified pattern.
|
Category
|
Click the name of the one category that should contain these assets.
|
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
Table 19-4 Elements for Viewing Asset Attributes
|
|
|
Attributes that are derived from information in your media library include the elements with these field labels: Title, Description, File Type, Estimated Duration, Owner, Category Names, and Source. To understand these elements, see Elements to Add Assets and Edit Their Attributes. Other elements on the Overview tab are as follows.
|
Preview
|
Either a generic icon that represents the asset type or a thumbnail that you can click to view this asset, assuming that its file type is viewable in your browser.
|
Path
|
The full HTTP pathname for this asset.
|
Size
|
The file size.
|
Playlist Count
|
The total count of playlists that contain and are dependent upon this asset. To learn more about these playlists, click the
Usage
tab.
|
Presentation Count
|
The total count of presentations that contain and are dependent upon this asset. To learn more about these presentations, click the
Usage
tab.
|
Date Modified
|
Time stamp (in the format
DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss
) that says when the file was last modified.
|
|
Shows either the Playlists for Asset table or the Presentations for Asset table, depending on whether you click
Playlist
or
Presentation
, respectively. The table sorts information into the following columns.
|
Name
|
The name of the presentation or the playlist that is dependent upon this asset.
|
Time Referenced
|
The total count of instances when the described presentation or playlist includes this asset.
|
Date Modified
|
Time stamp (in the format
DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss
) that says when the described presentation or playlist was last modified.
|