NEXUS TELEVISION AUTOMATION OPERATIONS (DR-P036)

Transcription

1 1.0 SCOPE: 1.1 This procedure outlines the process used to enable unattended operation of GCSTV 2 by scheduling and updating programming in advance. Users may also take manual control of GCSTV 2 via on-the-fly commands as detailed below. Note: This procedure is lengthy and detailed; it is suggested the user prints it for easy reference 2.0 RESPONSIBILITY 2.1 Broadcast Production Manager The online version of this procedure is official. Therefore, all printed versions of this document are unofficial copies. 2.2 Executive Producer 2.3 Associate Producer 3.0 APPROVAL AUTHORITY 3.1 Chief of Staff 4.0 DEFINITIONS: Signature Date 4.1 NB or NBU Newsbreak or Newsbreak Update; e.g. NBU DC Double Click 4.3 SC Single Click 4.4 Is identical to 4.5 Is approximately equal to, is approximately, approximately, or is almost equal to 4.6 > Execute next step 4.7 Sked Schedule(r) 4.8 TRT Total Runtime 4.9 Television Automation Using a Nexus video server, a rack-mounted control unit, and associated software, all programs that will appear on GCSTV 2 are ingested into the Nexus hard drives, then pre-programmed to start and end at specific times continuously from midnight to midnight for the seven days of the week. Thus, video/audio is selected & aired via Nexus hardware/software, not mechanical timing and switching, greatly increasing reliability. Instead of pre-ingestion, user may also schedule direct tape/dvd handling and on-air insertion/de-insertion of videotaped, DVD, live & satellite programs at start/end times specific. Manual (unscheduled) control is also available; this is usually employed in cases of technical difficulty 4.10 Nexus The hardware/software system used for television automation; a/k/a WinNexus, Leightronix WinNexus, LGX Nexus, WinLGX, and a related application: Web Nexus. All are Leightronix, Inc. copyrighted names 4.11 In-Point The point, location, mark or time designation usually at/near the start of a video/audio passage or program Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 1 of 14

2 4.12 Out-Point The point, location, mark or time designation usually at/near the end of a video/audio passage or program 4.13 Ingestion The process of recording audio/video material onto a Nexus hard drive 4.14 HDD Hard Disc Drive(s); on the GCSTV 2 system there are two, HDD 02 and HDD 03 with capacities of GB each (approximately 1TB total) 4.15 Ctrl The control key on the PC s keyboard, labeled Ctrl 4.16 Ctrl+[letter key] Press the Ctrl key and the specified letter simultaneously and briefly; e.g. Ctrl+A pressing Ctrl and A together and briefly 4.17 Dark In television parlance, no picture (usually accompanied with no sound) is on the TV channel; a/k/a dead air 4.18 Out 1 In the GCSTV 2 Nexus system, Out 1 is a dedicated audio/video output containing the continuous series of GCSTV 2 programs 24/7/365. Thus, Out 1 is GCSTV 2. Out 1 is sent to Time Warner Cable via fiber optic cable where it is routed to cable channel 2 for distribution countywide to approximately 100,000+ homes 4.19 Out 3 In the GCSTV 2 Nexus system, Out 3 is an output that is used to preview or screen audio/video material. (Incidentally, Out 2 exists, but is not used in our system at present.) 5.0 PROCEDURE: 5.1 Recording to HDD: Ingestion (from DVD, tape, other) and Live (from camera[s]) Load the source media; e.g. DVD, into its drive Audition the program to determine the In-point and Out-point Cue the program to a few seconds before the In-point Open the WinLGX application SC the Control Panel icon Control Panel appears: Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 2 of 14

3 SC the red MPEG Recorder icon (blue oval) SC File field (pink oval) to obtain cursor > enter a filename (no spaces). Remember or write down this filename exactly (case sensitive) in case a re-do is required ( 5.2) Note the active Storage Device specified above the File field, ending in -02. This is HDD 02 where most programs are recorded. For Board of Education meetings, select and record on HDD In Record Preset, SC the radio button Best for most recordings. Use Better or Good to save disk space SC MPEG Ingest (green oval) If the source material is less than MPEG-2 quality: e.g. VHS tape, Better may be selected with imperceptible loss of quality MPEG Ingest panel appears: Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 3 of 14

4 SC the Input/Source dropdown arrow SC the desired source; e.g. TASCAM DVD (or Live for Board of Education meetings and the like) In addition to recording, if the live meeting is also to be aired live, the Stop Schedule tile must be clicked (SC) a few minutes before the meeting starts. Click this tile again to resume schedule after the meeting ends Stop/Resume Schedule tile in lower left of Control Panel Continuing with ingestion procedure: Start (play) the source program Approximately ½ second before the In-point is reached, SC red dot Record icon (see illustration) When the Out-point is reached, immediately SC blue square Stop icon (see ) The program autosaves under the filename entered in Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 4 of 14

5 5.2 If incorrect In/Out points were ingested, exit the Control Panel ( ), and begin the process again at In step , reenter the filename exactly as before; new ingestion will overwrite the old (if Record Overwrite radio button Always is selected as usual). Exit the Control Panel 5.3 Checking the ingestion (or checking any file previously recorded) SC the Control Panel icon Control Panel appears: If not already pale green, SC the Out 3 MPEG 2 tile (green circle). (Tile toggles from gray to the pale green shown above.) SC the MPEG Player 2 orange icon (yellow circle). Do not use MPEG Player 1 for previewing. Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 5 of 14

6 Note: Out 1 uses MPEG Player 1 on-air; Out 3 uses MPEG Player 2 for previewing audio/video Note: The terms used in the Nexus system, MPEG Player 1 & 2, (yellow circle) and MPEG 1 & 2 (green circle) are not to be confused with the worldwide video/audio standards MPEG-1 and MPEG SC the ellipsis tile (red oval) > list appears > select HDD 02 or Select the desired file with SC Power-on the Sony DSR-11 tape deck in control room rack Press button 4 on preview switcher in rack SC play Audio/Video ; observe playback on preview monitor Manual operation: In the Out 1 row of eight buttons, SC the desired source. Careful! the selected source will display immediately on-air. This may be useful if, say, the schedule has failed (e.g. due to a channel gap) and the station is dark; user can manually SC the MediaX tile to run slides until the problem is fixed 5.4 Scheduling (updating the existing schedule) Remember: Sunday comes first. SC the Sun tab > locate the program that needs to be replaced; e.g. NBU015 at 07:26:00 pm. As a point of reference, remember that the program on the next line is NASA RC the line at 7:26:00 > SC delete > confirm the deletion with SC OK Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 6 of 14

7 Observe that NBU015 has now disappeared and a 3:47 gap appears several lines below. This was the runtime of NBU015 which was deleted, hence the gap. Note the Channel gap count at the bottom of the page has incremented from 0 to SC the Devices folder icon > Drag the MPEG Player 1* icon down onto the NASA 360 line and release. The selected file will insert above the NASA 360 line as soon as the Event Properties OK tile is clicked. *Do not use MPEG Player 2 for scheduling Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 7 of 14

8 Event Properties window appears: Before clicking OK, four actions must be completed. SC the ellipsis tile (in red oval) > List of resource filenames appear > Select HDD 02 or HDD 03 to view filenames on those drives > locate the file (the program) for insertion into the schedule; e.g. NBU SC MPEG Player 1 (orange oval). Replace the slug MPEG Player 1 with NBU SC 6-Live > replace it with 5-MediaX from the dropdown list (blue oval) Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 8 of 14

9 If the NBU020 program is to appear in the Nexus-generated Program Guide (purple oval), SC No and change it to Yes. In the field to the right of Comment, enter GCS Newsbreak Update (in this particular example). A maximum of 31 characters are allowed Completed Event Properties window Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 9 of 14

10 SC OK > NBU020 inserts at 07:26:00 (the line above NASA 360) and calculates a 1:14 gap remaining which must be filled DC the MEDIA XTREME line at 07:17:24 > Event Properties window for MEDIA XTREME appears: Media Xtreme (TV Slides) Displayed in the Event Properties Window The 00:08:36 Length must be increased by the amount of the gap which is 1:14 in this example. Calculate 8:36 + 1:14 = 9:50. Hence, change the Length to 9:50. (DC the 08 and 36 fields to access/edit them) Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 10 of 14

11 SC OK. The gap disappears. Note the Channel gap count is again zero: 5.5 Save and send the schedule. First, ensure that the Channel gap count is zero. If gap(s) exist in any of the seven days, the count will be above zero. All gaps should be filled before sending the schedule to the server SC File > Save as > Enter the filename as today s date in the MMDDYY format; e.g (for April 16, 2009) > SC OK > Filename appears in header: Note that Save icon is dimmed after save is performed To send the schedule to the Nexus control unit, SC the Send image icon Send Icon Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 11 of 14

12 Sending occurs; confirmation window appears as below > SC OK 5.6 Copying and Pasting Days Note: Days Fri through Mon usually run the same schedule; likewise Tue through Thu run the same, so copying and pasting entire days is a very efficient method to update the weekly schedule. Any given day may be updated with desired programming, copied, and then pasted to any other day within a given file. Keep in mind that Sunday came first ( 5.4.1); hence it can act as a master that can be copied and pasted. (Note: Days cannot be copied/pasted between different filenames; only works within one file.) Typically, here are the required actions: In the Out 1 schedule (pictured, in part, in 5.4.1), SC the Sun tab > update the sked as desired per steps in This will generate a channel gap. Fill it per SC File > Save as > enter today s date in the MMDDYY format SC any line in the sked to highlight it > Press Ctrl+A to select the whole day s programs Press Ctrl+C to copy the page SC the Mon tab > Press Ctrl+A > Press Delete key > SC OK to delete all events When the page clears (after 15 secs.), press Ctrl+V > SC OK to All When the process finishes repopulating all the time slots (takes 30 to 50 secs.), the Mon programming will be the same as Sun > SC the Save tile, or press Ctrl+S. (This is an interim save, just for safety) To update the entire week, repeat , substituting Tue, Fri and Sat in place of Mon (in ) Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 12 of 14

13 The difference in Tue-Thu from Fri-Mon is the two (English & Spanish) Active Parenting programs that run in the 5pm-6pm slot Tue-Wed-Thu. Hence, as a first step, the Tue page must be modified to reflect this SC the Tue tab > Locate the 5pm-6pm time slot By deleting shows, and/or shortening Media Xtreme segments, clear enough programming to accommodate the two Active Parenting shows, usually approximately minutes. Clear by clicking a line and pressing delete > Confirm delete with SC. To shorten Media Xtreme, DC its line, then enter a shorter run time. Avoid run times less than one minute One at a time, drag the two shows into the 5pm- 6pm slot per (above), dragging the English show as close to 5pm as possible, followed by the Spanish show If enough space was cleared in , there was a channel gap large enough to accommodate the two shows with additional time remaining. Fill it per (Naturally the gap time will be different from the example given in ) Press Ctrl+A to select everything on the Tue page > Press Ctrl+C to copy the page SC the Wed tab > Press Ctrl+A > Press Delete key > SC OK to delete all events When the page clears, Press Ctrl+V > SC OK to All When the process finishes repopulating all the Wed time slots, the Wed programming will be the same as Tue SC the Thu tab. Repeat steps through (using the Thu tab this time) When the process finishes repopulating all the Thu time slots, the Thu programming will be the same as Tue and Wed Now the whole week is updated: the Fri-Mon sked is identical, and the Tue-Thu sked is identical (with Active Parenting added) Ensure that the channel gap count is zero > SC the Save tile and send the schedule per Tip: Schedules can be built in advance for future use. Just build the sked (or modify an existing sked), save it under a new filename, and don t send it until it s needed. The technique in 5.8 (below) is an example of this 5.8 Tip: For the weeks when BOE re-runs are aired, be sure to update (if necessary) and save the current sked before the BOEs are added. Remember or write down the Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 13 of 14

14 filename. Then it s a simple matter to revert to normal programming the next week by opening and sending that file 5.9 For additional operations, consult the Nexus Manual located in the control room bookshelf 6.0 ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTS 6.1 Nexus Manual 7.0 RECORD RETENTION TABLE: Identification Storage Retention Disposition Protection 8.0 REVISION HISTORY: Date: Rev. Description of Revision: 02-Nov-09 Draft 16 April 10 Initial Release ***End of Procedure*** Date: 16 April 10 Initial Release DR-P036 Page 14 of 14