Programing Items
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In broadcast programming, playlist items are scheduled with specific rules to ensure smooth transitions and seamless playout. The specific triggers are applied to playlist items defining the rules of playout. Playlist items can also be skipped or forced to play in a loop. Cinegy Air control interface provides various time controls for managing and controlling the scheduling during your broadcast.
Setting Trigger Types
The following trigger types are available for applying to a playlist item:
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follow |
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manual end |
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clocked |
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join-in-progress |
Select an item and press the respective button to specify its trigger type.
The corresponding icon is shown in the "Start" or "End" column of the item depending on the trigger type.
These trigger icons are also displayed on the timeline.
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Note
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Please note that in the "Start" and "End" columns, where trigger icons are displayed, gray triangles can also be present, depicting the configured fade in or fade out effects. |
Follow
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The selected item will start automatically upon completion of the previous item. The Shift+F keyboard shortcut, assigned by default, sets follow play mode. |
Manual End
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The selected item will end when initiated manually. The Shift+M keyboard shortcut, assigned by default, sets manual end play mode. |
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Note
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When a manual end item is copied, the trigger type remains unchanged. |
The manual end trigger can be set to the currently played item, but only if there are more than 0.5 seconds left until its end.
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Note
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A manual end trigger cannot be added to the on-air item if it has the fade-out effect enabled. |
Clocked
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The selected item will start at the specified time. The Shift+C keyboard shortcut, assigned by default, sets clocked play mode. |
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Note
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When a clocked item is copied, the trigger type changes to follow. |
When the clocked item trigger type and start time are set correctly, the following items will fill the corresponding blocks one after another with no gaps.
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Note
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You can set the fixed start time for any item by changing its trigger type to the clocked type. The start time of the following items will be recalculated automatically according to the time defined. |
Join-in-Progress
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The selected item will shorten if the previous item is longer than expected (e.g. live item). The Shift+J keyboard shortcut, assigned by default, sets join-in-progress play mode. |
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Note
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If the previous item overrun is longer than the duration of the "join-in-progress" item, it will be skipped. |
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Important
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It is possible to reassign the default shortcut used to set follow, manual end, or clocked mode for the item and to add new combinations via the keyboard customizer. Refer to the Keyboard article for more information about keyboard customization. |
Loop
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You can force items to play in a loop until you manually start the next item or until the next clocked item is automatically activated. To set the item as the first element of the loop, select the "Set loop start" command from the item context menu or use the "Loop" button on the item editor panel. To set the item as the last element of the loop, select the "Set loop end" command or use the "L. End" button on the item editor panel. The respective icons will be displayed in the "End" column. |
To manually start the item outside the loop, cue it and then use the "Start Cued" button or the corresponding command from the "Playout" main menu.
If there is a clocked item outside the loop, it will be started on its defined start time and the loop will exit.
Start Time
To set the specific start time for the selected item, set its trigger type to clocked and enter the new start time to the start indicator on the item editor panel:
The start time can also be changed in the "Start Time" playlist column.
The start time for each non-clocked item is calculated automatically, based on the previous clocked item start time and duration of the preceding items.
If the start time is not properly set and there are gaps between timecodes of the items in the playlist (e.g. when the item start time has been set manually), the incorrect timecode and the previous item duration are displayed in red.
The time value in the "Variance" column indicates the schedule disruptions ("+" indicates a "gap" in the schedule, while "–" indicates the item overlaps with the next item).
If the gap between two items is more than 24 hours, it will be displayed as ">24" in the "Variance" column. The exact value of the time gap is specified in the item properties.
When the selected item start time is set, its countdown time starts. The countdown "Time to Start" timer is located on the item editor panel:
Start Time Auto-Calculation
Cinegy Air performs automatic start time recalculation if the start time or duration of one or more items is changed. This happens if an item is added, removed, or skipped; or if In and Out points are shifted. If you set the fixed start time for a clocked item and time gaps appear, you can change the trigger type to follow and the start time will automatically be recalculated.
Time Controls
There are fields on the item editor panel representing information about the start time, duration, and date of the selected item.
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Note
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Item duration can be changed directly from the item editor panel using double-clicking. |
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Note
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The duration field shows the total duration if several items are selected in the playlist. The variance value is taken into account when calculating the total duration. To display the duration of blocks and programs as a sum of the items comprising them, enable the "Show actual duration of blocks and programs" option in the "Preferences" dialog. |
It is easy to control the time left before the start, with the help of the countdown timer on the item editor panel.
Skip
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To set or cancel the skip status for the selected Cinegy Air playlist items or the whole program, use the "Skip" button on the item editor panel. |
To set or cancel the skip status for the selected block(s), use the "Skip block" command from the cascaded "Block" menu in the right-click menu. Alternatively, select the block in the playlist and press the "Skip" button.
The overall time and duration calculations are not affected by the skipped item duration and secondary events. The items in the skipped program or block are also excluded from calculations.