BXF Input File Format

Reading time ~4 minutes

The BXF messages can be transformed into MCRLists used by Cinegy Air and added to an existing playlist.

Schedule

Cinegy Traffic Gateway parses Channel and ScheduledEvents attributes from the Schedule value.

Channel

From Channel attribute Cinegy Traffic Gateway parses only Nameand TV format attributes.

The example of Channel attribute:

<xml>
 <Channel
	type="digital_television"
	channelNumber="1"
	status="active"
	ca="false"
	shortName="378">
	<Name>History</Name>
</Channel>
</xml>

The example above illustrates in what way Cinegy Traffic Gateway gets channel type and name. The type attribute is predefined in BXF file and conveys one of the following values: analog_television, digital_television, digital_radio, data_broadcast.

ScheduledEvent

The ScheduledEvent attribute can be of two types: Primary and NonPrimary. Primary events are Cinegy Air playlist items. NonPrimary events define additional secondary events associated with playlist item, for example CG. Primary and NonPrimary events in BXF have similar structure, but NonPrimary events are used as supplements of the corresponding Primary events.

Primary scheduled event

The full syntax of supported attributes by scheduled PrimaryEvent is:

EventData, EventId, EventTitle, BroadcastDate, StartDateTime, SmpteDateTime, SmpteTimeCode, LengthOption, Duration, SmpteDuration, SmpteTimeCode, StartMode, Content, HouseNumber, Description, SOM.

Where:

EventData – defines the type of Cinegy Air playlist item to be created: Placeholder, Live, Clip, etc.
EventData/EventId – a unique event ID used for defining each processing event.
EventData/EventTitle – defines Cinegy Air playlist item name.
EventData/StartDateTime/SmpteDate/TimeBroadcastDate – defines Cinegy Air playlist item start date and will be used for clocked items in further releases.
EventData/StartDateTime, SmpteDateTime, SmpteTimeCode – defines Cinegy Air playlist item start time parameters, the Date attribute will be supported in further releases.
EventData/LengthOption, Duration, SmpteDuration, SmpteTimeCode – defines Cinegy Air playlist item duration.

EventData/StartMode – defines Cinegy Air playlist item start mode, the value of this attribute is predefined:

BXF file attributes	Cinegy Air attributes
Follow	Follow
Fixed	Clocked Flag
Manual	Previous item will have "Manual End" flag
External	The item that precedes the BXF item with "External" start type will get the "Manual end" flag. The start type of the first item in the list with the "External" type will be changed to "Follow"

BXF file attributes

Cinegy Air attributes

Fixed

Clocked Flag

Manual

Previous item will have "Manual End" flag

External

The item that precedes the BXF item with "External" start type will get the "Manual end" flag. The start type of the first item in the list with the "External" type will be changed to "Follow"

Content/ContentId/HouseNumber – defines the TrafficID used by Cinegy traffic Gateway for finding media files.
Content/Description – defines Cinegy Air playlist item description (optional).
Content/Media/MediaLocation/SOM/SmpteTimeCode – the SOM (Start Of Material) attribute defines the Cinegy Air playlist item "IN" point.

<Ac3Audio> tag processing for primary events

Cinegy Traffic Gateway supports AC-3 audio tag Ac3Audio while parsing BXF playlists. The following conditions are analyzed when parsing the Ac3Audio tag:

AC3Audio tag processing is only expected for items marked as primary events:
```
<xml>
  <EventData eventType="Primary" action="add">
</xml>
```

If the audio mapping profile contains BXF events with num_channels="3/2" values, the AC-3 5.1 profile will be applied:

The BXF event:

<xml>
<DigitalAudio>
     <Ac3Audio surround="true" num_channels="3/2" serviceType="complete_main" lang="eng" audioId="1"/>
</DigitalAudio>
</xml>

The profile to be applied:

<xml>
  <AudioEncoderProfile name="AC-3 5.1 Standard" description="AC-3 5.1">
</xml>

If audio mapping profile contains BXF events with num_channels="2/0" values, the AC-3 2.0 profile will be applied:

<AudioEncoderProfile name="AC-3 2.0 Standard" description="AC-3 2.0"> audio mapping profile should be set for the BXF events with num_channels="2/0":

The BXF event:

<xml>
 <DigitalAudio>
  <Ac3Audio surround="false" num_channels="2/0" serviceType="complete_main" lang="eng" audioId="1"/>
 </DigitalAudio>
</xml>

The profile to be applied:

<xml>
  <DigitalAudio>
   <Ac3Audio surround="true" num_channels="2/0" serviceType="complete_main" lang="eng" audioId="1"/>
 </DigitalAudio>
</xml>

A sample BXF file with Ac3Audio tags can be downloaded from GitHub repos.

NonPrimary scheduled event (optional)

The full syntax of supported attributes by scheduled NonPrimaryEvent is:

EventData, EventId, EventTitle, PrimaryEventId, Offset, OffsetFrom, OffsetTime, SmpteTimeCode, LengthOption, Duration, SmpteDuration, FrameRate, SmpteTimeCode, Content, HouseNumber, Description.

EventData/EventType – defines the additional information about Cinegy Air playlist item, for instance, CG.
EventData/EventId – defines the unique event ID used for defining each processing event.
EventData/NonPrimaryEvent/PrimaryEventId – defines the corresponding event.
EventData/NonPrimaryEvent/Offset – defines item event offset.
EventData/NonPrimaryEvent/Offset/OffsetFrom – defines the offset point and conveys one of the following values: BeginningofEvent, EndofEvent.
EventData/NonPrimaryEvent/Offset/OffsetTime/SmpteTimeCode – defines the offset from start of Cinegy Air playlist item for CG.
EventData/LengthOption/Duration/SmpteDuration/FrameRate – defines CG frame rate (optional).
EventData/LengthOption/Duration/SmpteDuration/SmpteTimeCode – defines CG duration.
Content/ContentId/HouseNumber – defines the TraficID used by Cinegy Traffic Gateway for finding media files.
Content/Description – defines CG description.