Media Players: Basics

Product(s)

TriCaster 40

Search Tags

Scrubbar, control, play, playlists, file, transport, speed, cut, copy, paste, context, menu

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

TriCaster’s Media Players permit you to use clips, stills, title pages and sound files in your live presentations. You can display files sequentially as a playlist, or singly on demand. Media Players can even play, stop and advance automatically in response to your Switcher operations.

Three different Media Players – the DDR, Graphics 1 and Graphics 2 – are located in tabbed panes at the bottom of the Live Desktop. The main difference between Media Players is the file formats they play. Supported media types include:

• Video clips (including animations)
• Still images – photos, graphics, etc.
• Title Pages – ‘live editable’ CG pages from TriCaster’s integrated title system
• Audio files – standard .wav or .mp3 files, and other common audio file types

The DDR (Digital Disk Recorder) can play all four of the file types listed in the previous section. It is unique in being the only Media Player to play video clips. Graphics 1 and 2 can play all supported file types except video clips. The only other significant difference between the DDR and Graphics modules is that the latter do not have a Speed control.

SOLUTION AND WORKAROUND

Playlists

The dominant feature of all of TriCaster’s Media Players is a storyboard-style playlist that is used to organize content for use during your live productions. The playlist displays large thumbnail icons for each entry. A scrollbar at right accommodates long playlists. Icons can quickly and easily be re-ordered using the familiar drag and drop workflow.

The playlist can even be altered during playback (if the currently playing item is removed. The filename of each item is displayed above its thumbnail, and its playback duration is shown below.

Clicking an item select it, and sets the play position to its In Point. Shift + click and Ctrl + click multi-selection operations are supported. Double-click an icon or click the Play button to begin playback. Note that still images and static title pages added to the playlist are given a duration (the default is 15 seconds). This can be adjusted singly or en masse (for multi-selected icons).

File Operations

• Click Add to open a custom Media Browser.
• Drag (appropriate type) file(s) from one module’s playlist to another module.
• Right-click in the playlist pane to show a context menu with relevant items from the following list:

Scrub Bar

Just beneath the playlist pane is a full-width Scrub Bar. Its width represents the full run time of the selected item. Drag the knob left or right to change position in the file.

Initially, In and Out Point handles at opposite ends of the Scrub-Bar mark the full limits of the file on disk. Dragging these handles edits the In and Out points (multi-selections are ignored). The (trimmed) duration is displayed in a timecode field just to the right.

Controls

Transport controls and related features are located directly below the Scrub Bar.

Time Display

A timecode field displays the Current Time for the item. Right-click the timecode to choose current time or remaining time (Reverse Direction), enable Warning Colors, or Playlist Duration. Or click the timecode type a value, and then press Enter to jump to it.

Transport Controls

• A simple set of controls beneath the playlist pane provides all playback-related functions:
• Previous button – go to previous playlist entry
• Stop (clicking Stop when already stopped goes to the first frame)
• Play
• Next button – go to next playlist entry
• (Not shown) – Double-click an entry in the playlist pane to begin playback at the start of that playlist entry
• Loop – repeat playback continuously (respecting the Single switch state)

Single

Media Player playback is normally playlist style, each item playing back in succession until all are played. In Single mode, playback stops when the Out Point of the current playlist item is reached (unless Loop is also enabled).

Autoplay

The Autoplay switch has several important effects. First, it automatically initiates playback when the associated Media Player is placed on Program Out by a Switcher operation (or by displaying the Media Player in a DSK channel or Virtual Input). The reverse transition occurs automatically as the end of play approaches. (In similar fashion, for a media player with Autoplay enabled, performing an Overlay Effect automatically begins playback.)

Finally, if the media player is in Single mode, the play position advances to the next playlist item when playback stops.

Speed

The Speed control is only found in the DDR, which supports playback at speeds from 25% to 400% (certain highly compressed video formats cannot successfully be played back faster than 200%).

Speed can even be adjusted during playback. Drag left or right to adjust the Speed value, or click the slider to type a new value using the keyboard.

Add (The Media Browser)

Click Add or double-click in an empty part of the Playlist pane to open the Media Browser.

This tool is available anywhere in the Live Desktop that you can select content, transitions or effects.

The Media Browser layout is comprised of left and right panes we’ll refer to as the Location List and File Pane respectively.

Location List

The Location List (at left) is a column of favorite “locations”, grouped under headings such as Clips, Titles, Stills, and so on. (The Media Browser is context sensitive, so the headings shown are appropriate for the current task.) A list of sub-headings under each main heading in the Location List corresponds to sessions, or groups of content. Select a sub-heading to populate the right hand window – the File Pane.

Add Media Location & Browse

Clicking Add Media Location opens a standard system selector. The folder you choose is added to the Media Browser’s Location List under the heading My Media Locations.

Click Browse to substitute open a system file explorer rather than the custom Media Browser.

File Pane

Icons appear in the File Pane for content inside the sub-heading selected in the Locations List. (Files are grouped under dividers named for sub-folders.)

File Filters

The File Pane is automatically filtered to show only relevant content. For example, when selecting LiveSets, the browser only shows LiveSet files (.vsfx). An editable filter appears above the File Pane. Only files matching criteria you enter are shown. For example, if you enter “wav”, the File Pane would display any file with the filename extension “.wav” (WAVE audio file format), but also “wavingman.jpg” or “lightwave_render.avi”.

Context Menus

Right-click a Location listed under My Media Locations to show a context menu with just one item in it. Remove de-lists the location (but does not delete the folder and its contents from the hard drive).

Right-click a file icon to open a menu providing Rename and Delete options (Delete really does remove content from your hard drive).

Click below to watch a video on this topic: