JJ Parker's dashboard

A comment on the update "Announcing Carousel 5.2.5" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Yup, we actually released that feature in 5.2.0:
http://blog.trms.com/jj/2008/09/carou... – JJ Parker, on June 22, 2009 14:12

JJ Parker replied on May 29, 2009 15:48 to the question "45 Seconds of black being added to all programs" in Tightrope Media Systems:

that is strange. the link is actually the manual from our website www.trms.com/community

Did you check the interstitial for all your channels? Also, do you have a Cablecast Pro with an SX server. Check the clock on both machines, they may be 45 seconds off from each other. This would cause the router to switch early or late in relation to teh video server.

JJ Parker replied on May 29, 2009 15:11 to the question "45 Seconds of black being added to all programs" in Tightrope Media Systems:

The interstitial is probably turned on.

http://www.trms.com.s3.amazonaws.com/...

Chapter 8.10.3 page 83

JJ Parker replied on May 15, 2009 15:40 to the question "Cable Display Bulletin not showing 3 records." in Tightrope Media Systems:

Tim, John,

CableDisplay will view that 'footer' text block as part of the set of blocks that it needs to repeat. So it will think that only 1 'block set' will fit per page.



Since CableDisplay is older code. It does not use the cool new stuff that EDS or RSS bulletins use for determining blocks that are named with 'footer' or 'header' in them. Without this special treatment, CableDisplay assumes that all the blocks on the page are part of 1 show record. So when it goes to add the next show, it doesn't fit and puts it onto the next page.

I think your best bet is to put that web site text into the background.

CableDisplay is due for a re-write one of these days so we can leverage our newer rendering code.

JJ Parker replied on April 17, 2009 15:10 to the question "Trying to get an RSS Buellitin to format correctly..." in Tightrope Media Systems:

I think you should try option 2. Can you also export and email me your bulletin. And maybe a copy of the RSS feed. Then I can teke a look. Or post a screenshot of the bulletin.

JJ Parker replied on April 17, 2009 14:44 to the question "Trying to get an RSS Buellitin to format correctly..." in Tightrope Media Systems:

Sean, Carousel does not loop through the RSS categories fields like you want. It only loops through the <item> tags. It will display the category that an item belongs too, just as you describe.

*Possible Solution 1*
If you are making the RSS feed yourself, you might remove the category tag and put your 'category' as the first <item>. Then put the rest of the 10 <item>s. So you will have 11 per set. Then tell Carousel to display 11 items per page.

*Possible solution 2*
If it is OK to have 1 Carousel page per set of 10 items, then leave your feed the same. If you don't want the #ChannelCategories# field to repeat in the list, set the block's name to 'HeaderCategories'. Carousel will not repeat blocks that start with 'Header'. Then tell Carousel to display 10 items per page.

I hope this helps! Let me know.</item></item></item>

JJ Parker replied on April 09, 2009 11:10 to the question "Displaying Upcoming Events from iCal" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Paul, that is how EDS works. It always does a page break on a new day.

JJ Parker replied on April 02, 2009 15:53 to the question "Final Cut export settings for Cablecast compatibility" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Karen, you need to see what server you have. We have had 3 video servers:

VS4, VSX and SX servers

If you have Cablecast 4.2, you probably have a VS4 server. If that is the case, the VS4 plays MPEG2 files only. You will need to export from Final Cut as MPEG2 with PCM audio.

JJ Parker replied on April 02, 2009 11:20 to the question "Why does the RSS bulletin take so long to update?" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Megan,

When you first create an RSS bulletin does it show up quickly? But then changes to the layout do not? I think I *might* know what is happening.

We actually cache the RSS data to improve network performance. When the data in the RSS bulletin does not change, we do not re-render the bulletin. I wonder if this is having an adverse affect on changes made the the template.

We'll look into is ASAP.

JJ Parker replied on April 02, 2009 11:15 to the question "Cabling question." in Tightrope Media Systems:

John, I think you should open a support ticket and have one of our tech's take a look. I think:

1.) Your Display Engine might be tuned to a channel that does not exist
2.) You need to set your Carousel's graphics card to 'clone mode'
3.) Maybe your Carousel's graphics card is bad
4.) You can use VNC (vnc.trms.com) to view Carousel over the network. It's already on Carousel, put it on your desktop and run the VNC viewer. Same password as the default password for FrontDoor.

Our support guys can help you figure it out!

JJ Parker replied on March 30, 2009 14:24 to the problem "Adtec Server Problem" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Yasin, we don't make the mediaControl software. Our Cablecast servers controlled the Soloist2 units, but that was 4 or 5 years ago. I suggest contacting Adtec directly.

JJ Parker replied on March 27, 2009 12:11 to the idea "Bulk image bulletin uploader idea" in Tightrope Media Systems:

There is actually a way to do this with the 'Bulletin Package' option under the 'Uploaded' tab. I'll post on my blog how to do it and let you know when it's done.

JJ Parker replied on March 27, 2009 12:07 to the question "Display Spacing of Items in Carousel Schedule" in Tightrope Media Systems:

The EDS bulletins actually 'compress' the items in your template. It does this because it tries to auto-fit everything. Have you tried the 'Item Spacing' option?



If that doesn't work, post an example. And maybe our tester can re-create the issue!

JJ Parker replied on March 27, 2009 12:01 to the question "Can Video Be Embedded within a Template?" in Tightrope Media Systems:

It can be done. All you need to do is add a 'Video Block' to your template in the template editor. Check out the manual for more details.

You need to have a video uploaded into the Videos section of the Media before the option will become available in the template editor.

JJ Parker replied on March 27, 2009 11:57 to the question "What is the preferred format for a bug when using a Compix DSK?" in Tightrope Media Systems:

.jpg files are what is used.

JJ Parker replied on March 27, 2009 11:56 to the question "Can Carousel display 2 different Channels at once on 2 different monitors?" in Tightrope Media Systems:

The answer is 'kinda'. The Display Engine can't tune in 2 separate channels. However, you can run the 220's graphics card in in 'span' mode so the display is like 1600 x 600 (twice as wide). Then make a channel in Carousel with the same dimensions. Now you can place 2 zones (or whatever layout you want) on each side of the channel.

Videos and full screen alert bulletins will not work properly in this configuration. But if you can live with that, you can get a second monitor running off one unit.

We don't officially support this configuration. But, I know that other customers run Carousel like this.

Good luck!

JJ Parker replied on March 27, 2009 11:45 to the question "How do I download the dvd import software" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Just drop us an email at support@trms.com with your name, organization, and serial number of your Cablecast or SX server. Then we will send you the download!

JJ Parker replied on March 19, 2009 01:24 to the question "No audio for H.264 files" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Check out this post:

http://gsfn.us/t/32cq

JJ Parker replied on March 18, 2009 19:46 to the question "Interactive bulletin formatting?" in Tightrope Media Systems:

That is pretty tricky business because we would need to capture, and replace sections of the HTML, and since all web pages are different, it would be pretty hard :) I'll let the devel team know what you are trying to do incase they have any good ideas!

JJ Parker replied on March 18, 2009 19:24 to the question "Interactive bulletin formatting?" in Tightrope Media Systems:

Megan, since we just embed the web page without any processing, you can only change those things in the HTML/CSS of the original website.