PlayIt Manager User Guidedocs.playitsoftware.com/PlayItManager/110/PlayItManager.pdf · Advert Campaigns: Manage advert campaigns Advert Log: Manage advert log Users: Manage users

PlayIt Manager

User guideVersion 1.10

https://www.playitsoftware.com/Support

https://www.playitsoftware.com/Support

Table of ContentsGetting Started ...........................................................................................................................................4

Installation ............................................................................................................................................5Activation ..............................................................................................................................................7

Activating Online ............................................................................................................................8Activating Offline ..........................................................................................................................10Renewing Licence .......................................................................................................................12

Upgrading versions ............................................................................................................................13Uninstallation ......................................................................................................................................14

Overview ..................................................................................................................................................15Common Page Elements ..................................................................................................................16

Track Management ..................................................................................................................................18Listing Tracks .....................................................................................................................................19Adding New Tracks ...........................................................................................................................21Editing Tracks ....................................................................................................................................23

Track Group Management .......................................................................................................................28Listing Track Groups .........................................................................................................................29Listed Track Groups ..........................................................................................................................31Filtered Track Groups ........................................................................................................................34Grouped Track Groups ......................................................................................................................37Move Tracks Between Listed Track Groups .....................................................................................39

Multiple Artist Split Management .............................................................................................................41Listing Multiple Artist Splits ...............................................................................................................42Editing Multiple Artist Splits ...............................................................................................................43

Related Artist Management .....................................................................................................................44Listing Related Artists ........................................................................................................................45Editing Related Artists .......................................................................................................................46

Monitored Folders ....................................................................................................................................47Listing Monitored Folders ..................................................................................................................48Editing Monitored Folders .................................................................................................................49

Playout Policy Management ....................................................................................................................51Listing Playout Policies ......................................................................................................................52Editing Playout Policies .....................................................................................................................53

Playout Pattern Management ..................................................................................................................55Editing Playout Pattern ......................................................................................................................56

Clock Management ..................................................................................................................................57Listing Clocks .....................................................................................................................................58Editing Clock ......................................................................................................................................59Scheduling Clocks .............................................................................................................................64Editing Clock Schedule Item .............................................................................................................65

Playout Log Management .......................................................................................................................67Selecting Date Range .......................................................................................................................68Editing Playout Log ...........................................................................................................................69

Advert Scheduling ....................................................................................................................................71Advert Campaigns .............................................................................................................................72

Editing Advert Campaigns ...........................................................................................................73Editing Adverts .............................................................................................................................75

Advert Log .........................................................................................................................................77User Management ...................................................................................................................................78

Listing Users ......................................................................................................................................79Editing Users .....................................................................................................................................80

Connect PlayIt Live .................................................................................................................................83

Remote Voice Tracking ...........................................................................................................................84Settings ....................................................................................................................................................85

General Settings ................................................................................................................................86Scheduling Settings ...........................................................................................................................89Licence Settings ................................................................................................................................90Security Settings ................................................................................................................................91

Getting Started PlayIt Manager is a browser based server application enabling the remote management and data synchronisationof PlayIt Live data. This section includes details on installing, activating, upgrading and uninstalling PlayIt Manager.

InstallationTo install PlayIt Manager, download the latest version from http://www.playitsoftware.com/Products/Manager.

Once the download is complete, run the downloaded .exe file.

You will first be presented with the software licence agreement. Once you have read and agree to these terms,click I Agree. Choose the components to install. Here you can select whether to install Start Menu shortcuts. No shortcuts willbe created on the desktop. Click Next to continue. Next, choose the location to install the software. By default, this is in Program Files, but can be changed toyour preference. Click Install to begin installation. Tick Start PlayIt Manager to launch PlayIt Manager when you click finish. If PlayIt Manager does not launch typePlayIt Manager from the Start Menu.

On first run, PlayIt Manager will require elevated privileges (i.e. Administrator mode) in order to manage theHTTP configuration for the application. For advanced users, the scripts it will run are:

netsh http add urlacl url=http://localhost:25432/netsh http add urlacl url=http://+:25432/

The window will look like this:

http://www.playitsoftware.com/Products/Manager

Click Yes to continue. You will see the window again, click Yes again. PlayIt Manager will start up and launch a browser window to start using PlayIt Manager. When PlayIt Manageris running it can be found in the Notification Area (System Tray). Double click the icon to launch a browser andstart using PlayIt Manager. Right click the icon and click Exit to close down PlayIt Manager.

The next required step is Activation.

Activation

The first time you run PlayIt Manager you will be prompted to activate the software. The simplest way to activate the software is to activate online by logging in to your PlayIt Software account.Alternatively you can activate offline if your PlayIt Manager server machine is not connected to the internet.

Activating Online Activating online is the simplest way to start using PlayIt Manager. From the Settings > Licence page, click the Log in to your PlayIt Software account button.

You will be prompted to enter your PlayIt Software account username and password. If you do not have anaccount, click Create an account and a new window will open for you to create an account. Return to the login window once you have created an account.

Click the Log In button to get your PlayIt Manager licence. The window will close and the licence informationwill be populated after a short period of time.

You are now ready to use PlayIt Manager. Click Get started with PlayIt Manager to start. PlayIt Manager will attempt to automatically keep your licence up to date based on your PlayIt Managersubscription.

Activating Offline If the computer on which you have installed PlayIt Manager is not connected to the internet is it possible toactivate offline. From the Settings > Licence page, click the Server not connected to the Internet? link.

A new section will be displayed with instructions to activate offline. Follow these instructions to generate alicence for PlayIt Manager.

Once you have generated a licence from the PlayIt Software website, paste the licence text in the box and clickApply. Alternatively, if you have downloaded the licence file from the website, click the box to select the licencefile and then click the Apply Licence File button. The page will be updated with the licence information populated.

You are now ready to use PlayIt Manager. Click Get started with PlayIt Manager to start.

Renewing Licence

When a licence has expired, synchronising with PlayIt Live instances will cease to function until a new validlicence has been applied. With an active subscription you can apply a licence with the previous activation steps.

Upgrading versions New versions of PlayIt Manager are regularly available from http://www.playitsoftware.com. It is importantto back up your data before you install any new versions. Data and logs for PlayIt Manager are stored in theWindows 'ProgramData' folder.

C:\ProgramData\PlayIt Manager To back up your data, simply copy this folder to an alternative location, such as an external hard drive. When a new version is installed, or an old version is uninstalled, the data in the location above will not beremoved. NOTE: If you receive an error saying "Error opening file for writing" when installing, ensure you have stoppedPlayIt Manager.

http://www.playitsoftware.com

Uninstallation When installed, PlayIt Manager will include an Uninstall shortcut in the Start Menu.

If you chose not to add Start Menu shortcuts, the Uninstaller can be found at (by default):

C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayIt Manager\uninstall.exe orC:\Program Files\PlayIt Manager\uninstall.exe

Please ensure you have stopped PlayIt Manager before attempting to uninstall. Double click the icon to start the uninstall process. Click Uninstall to remove PlayIt Manager.

Note that you can choose whether PlayIt Manager data is removed when you uninstall.

Overview PlayIt Manager is a browser based server application enabling the remote management and data synchronisationof PlayIt Live data. It is possible to manage Track and Track Group data as well as schedule data such as Clocksand Playout Log for synchronisation with PlayIt Live. The software is designed to run as a separate application storing a single source of data. PlayIt Live instances ondifferent computers can connect to PlayIt Manager via a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and receive updatesfrom the server. The URL to use is the base URL found in the address bar when using PlayIt Manager from abrowser, such as http://server:25432/. PlayIt Live 1.11 is required in order to synchronise all types of datawith PlayIt Manager. For more information, see the Connect PlayIt Live page on PlayIt Manager. The PlayIt Manager server application has been tested on Windows 10 but should work on Windows 7 SP1 andWindows 8.1. PlayIt Manager in the browser is supported with the latest versions of modern browsers, such as Microsoft Edge,Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari.

Common Page Elements

Menu

Navigate to different sections of PlayIt Manager:

Tracks: Manage tracksTrack Groups: Manage track groupsMultiple Artist Splits: Manage multiple artist aplitsRelated Arists: Manage related artistsPlayout Policies: Manage playout policiesPlayout Pattern: Manage the playout patternClocks: Manage clocksPlayout Log: Manage the playout logAdvert Campaigns: Manage advert campaignsAdvert Log: Manage advert logUsers: Manage users Connect PlayIt Live: Information on how to connect PlayIt Live to PlayIt ManagerSettings: Configure PlayIt Manager, including track path substitutions

Log out button

Log out the current user to allow another user to log in. This button is not shown if login is not required.

Breadcrumbs

Provides a trail of links to previous pages navigated to get to the current page.

Track Management Tracks are references to audio files that can be uploaded to PlayIt Manager. When synchronised to PlayIt Livethey appear on the Track List on the right hand side of the interface and are used for playing audio content.

Listing Tracks

Search

Filter the track list to the artist or title entered into the text box.

Add New Tracks button

Add new tracks to PlayIt Manager by uploading audio files.

Track list

Lists tracks added to PlayIt Manager. It shows the Artist and Title of the track with the following actionbuttons:

- Drop down a list of all available options

- Edit the track

- Delete the track. A confirmation window will be shown.

Adding New Tracks

Tracks can be uploaded to PlayIt Manager from this page. When tracks finish uploading they are stored inthe AudioStore folder within the PlayIt Manager ProgramData folder. By default this is: C:\ProgramData\PlayItManager\AudioStore\

Drag and drop box

Drop and drop files into this box to add them to the queue list to upload to PlayIt Manager. Alternatively,click in this box to select the audio files to upload.

Upload queue

Lists the files that are ready to upload. Click the icon to remove the file from the list.

Number of files to upload

Displays the number of files that have been added to upload list.

Analyse tracks

Check this box to analyse tracks for silence and set cue in and cue out points automatically

Clear list link

Clears all the files from the list to start again.

Total size of files to upload

Displays the total size of all the files to upload.

Progress is displayed while files are uploading. Click the Stop button to stop uploading any more files.

Upload button

Starts uploading all the files that been added to the upload list. Progress will be shown as the files areuploading.

Editing Tracks

Track properties can be edited from the Edit page.

Server Path

The path of the track audio file on the PlayIt Manager server machine.

Client Path

The path of the track audio file from the PlayIt Live client perspective. The client path is created by applyingtrack path substitutions on the server path.

Artist

The artist of the track. This is displayed on the track list and players on PlayIt Live.

Title

The title of the track. This is displayed on the track list and players on PlayIt Live.

Out Cue

The style of the outro of the track. Used to indicate to operators how the track will end.

Album

The album the track belongs to.

Genre

The type of music the track represents. Can be used in track group filters.

Year

The year the track was released. Can be used in track group filters.

Tags

Keywords or terms used to describe the track. Can be used in track group filters.

Comments

A free-text field used as a description of the track. This text is displayed on the main playout log when an item isexpanded on PlayIt Live.

Sweeper?

Whether the track is a sweeper. A sweeper is a track that can be played over the start of the intro ofanother song. It is typical dry (no background music) so it does not clash with the track it is playing over.

No Fade?

Tracks marked with No Fade will not be faded when the Cue Out point of the track is reached. This istypically used if the track is already fading.

Disabled

Disabled tracks will not be considered by the scheduler when scheduling track group items.

Valid From

This track will not be considered by the scheduler when scheduling track group items if the schedulingtime is before the Valid From date.

Expires

This track will not be considered by the scheduler when scheduling track group items if the schedulingtime is after midnight on the Expires date.

Player controls

Use these buttons to play, stop and analyse the track in the embedded player. Use the Analyse buttonto automatically find the Cue In and Out points based on silence at the start and end of the track.

Player cue points

Use these buttons to set the relevant cue points. Use the Set button to set the point and the Test button tostart playing from the position of the point.

Player waveform

Displays the track audio as a waveform. Click anywhere in the waveform to play from that point.

Track operations

Use the Save button to save the track to the database.Use the Cancel button to discard all changes.Use the Delete button to remove the track from the database - a confirmation box will be shown.

Track Group Management As the name suggests, Track Groups group tracks based on certain criteria. There are three different types oftrack group: Listed, Filtered and Grouped.

Listed: Manually group tracks by selecting them from a list.Filtered: Group tracks based on properties on tracks, such as artist, title, genre or year.Grouped: Combine multiple tracks groups into another track group.

Listing Track Groups

Search

Filter track groups to the name entered in the text box.

Add New Track Group button

Add a new track group to PlayIt Manager. A popup will be displayed to choose the type of track group:

Move Tracks button

Move tracks between listed track groups.

Track group list

Lists tracks added to PlayIt Manager. It shows the Name of track group, the Type of the track group and thenumber of tracks in the track group. The following action buttons are available:


- Edit the track group

- Delete the track group. A confirmation window will be shown.

Listed Track Groups

Listed Track Groups are used to group manually chosen tracks together. This is useful if you have simplecategories of tracks you wish to group together.

Track Group Name

The name of the track group. This is shown in the dropdown box in PlayIt Live to filter by track group.

Track group tracks

Shows the list of tracks chosen for this track group. Use the icon to remove a track from the track group.

Add More Tracks button

Use this button to add more tracks to this track group. This will show a popup to choose more tracks.Simply select the tracks with the checkboxes and click Add Selected Tracks.

Hide track group

Check this box to hide the track group from the track group selector on the PlayIt Live main window.

Colour

Tick the Colour box to show a colour for any tracks in this track group when they are shown on theplayout log on the main interface on PlayIt Live. Click in the colour dropdown to change the colour.

Icon

Tick the Icon box to show an icon for any tracks in this track group when they are shown on the playoutlog on the main interface. Click in the icon dropdown to change the icon.

Priority

The priority is used to determine which track group is used when displaying a track on the playout log onthe main interface on PlayIt Live that appears in multiple track groups. The track group with the highestpriority will be used when displaying the colour or icon.

Track group operations

Use the Save button to save the track group to the database.Use the Cancel button to discard all changes.Use the Delete button to remove the track group from the database - a confirmation box will be shown.

Filtered Track Groups

Filtered Track Groups are used to filter tracks by specific properties of the track. In the example above, we canfilter the tracks for ones that have an entered year of 2010.

Track Group Name


Filter Query

The filter query to be used to filter to the appropriate set of tracks. In this example, Year is a field, = is an operation and 2010 is a value. Simple queries are made up ofthese three components. Queries can be combined with AND and OR logic to create more complex queries.For example:

(Year = 2010) AND (Artist = "The Killers") would filter tracks by The Killers that were released in the year 2010. Text values with a space should besurrounded by double quotes ("). Fields that can be used are:

Artist - The artist of the trackTitle - The title of the trackPath - The server file path of the trackIntro - The intro of the track in secondsActiveDuration - The active duration of the track in seconds. The active duration is the totalduration of the track minus the cue in and out points. Note: ActiveDuration does not have a space.Genre - The genre of the trackYear - The year of the track

The following operations can be used and the fields they can be used with:

Operation Description Artist Title Path Intro ActiveDuration Genre Year

= Equals

!= Does not equal

< Less than

<= Less than or equals

> Greater than

>= Greater than or equals

CONTAINS Contains

STARTS WITH Starts with

ENDS WITH Ends with

Hide track group


Colour, Icon and Priority

See Listed Track Groups.



Grouped Track Groups

Grouped Track Groups are used to combine multiple track groups together.

Track Group Name


Invert group list

Check this box to exclude the selected track groups from this track group

Track group group list

Shows the list of track groups in this track group. Tick the check box beside the track groups you wish toinclude.

Hide track group


Colour, Icon and Priority

See Listed Track Groups.



Move Tracks Between Listed Track Groups

The Move Tracks page to used to easy move tracks between listed track groups. This operation can only be donewith listed track groups. This is commonly done if you are regularly moving tracks between sets of playlists,for example.

Track group A

Use the dropdown to select a listed track group to move tracks between. The list of tracks in that trackgroup will be displayed.

Track group B

Use the dropdown to select a second listed track group to move tracks between. The list of tracks in thattrack group will be displayed.

Move track group

Drop and drop tracks from one list to the other with the mouse.

Operation buttons

Click Apply Changes to save both track groups with the new set of tracks. Click Cancel to discard anychanges.

Multiple Artist Split Management Multiple Artist Splits are used to define text that is used separate multiple artists that might appear in the Artistfield of a track. For example, an artist of a track might be Take That feat. Lulu. By using a Split with the text feat. this willseparate Take That and Lulu as separate artists. When scheduling against Playout Policies, PlayIt Manager can prevent tracks from Take That or Lulu beingplayed too close to Take That feat. Lulu.

Listing Multiple Artist Splits

Use the search box to filter multiple artist splits by Split Text. Click the Add New Multiple Artist Split button to create a new multiple artist split. On each item in the list:

- Use the drop down for a list of all available options

- Use the pencil icon to edit the multiple artist split

- Use the X icon to delete the multiple artist split. A confirmation window will be shown.

Editing Multiple Artist Splits

Split Text

The text used to separate a Track Artist into multiple artists. Please note that you should include spaces either side ofthe text if you intend to split by a word. For example, with on its ownn could match George Michael with Elton Johnbut also Bill Withers.

Matched Artists

This table shows all the artists that are matched given the entered split text. Here you can see if the split text isachieve the desired outcome.

Disabled

Use this checkbox to disable this Multiple Artist Split so it is not considered by the scheduler.

Related Artist Management Related Artists are used to associate artists with each other so they are considered as the same artist whenscheduling with playout policies. For example, you may not want a solo singer in a band to be played close asong by that band, e.g. Robbie Williams and Take That.

Listing Related Artists

Use the search box to filter related artists by name. Click the Add New Related Artist button to create a new pair of related artists. On each item in the list:


- Use the pencil icon to edit the related artist.

- Use the X icon to delete the related artist. A confirmation window will be shown.

Editing Related Artists

Artist 1

The first artist in the Related Artist. It does not matter in which order artists are entered.

Artist 2

The second artist in the Related Artist. It does not matter in which order artists are entered.

Disabled

Use this checkbox to disable this Related Artist so it is not considered by the scheduler.

Monitored Folders Monitored Folders can watch the state of a folder (and optionally its sub-folders) for new, updated or deletedtrack files. When a file is added to the folder, it will be added to the PlayIt Manager database if it is a valid track file. Thetrack file can also be automatically analysed for cue points and added to a track group. When a file is updated in the folder, it will be updated in the PlayIt Manager database, updating the duration, cuepoints and any file metadata contained within the file if desired. When a file is deleted from the folder, it will be deleted from the PlayIt Manager database. Monitored folders work by periodically scanning for changes in the folder. Folders with a large number of files orsub-folders will take longer to scan. For this reason, do not use C:\ as the folder to scan for changes to every fileon your computer. This will likely never complete. Choose a folder where you know where audio files are. Use Monitored Folders if you have dynamic content, e.g. news or weather, from a folder such as Dropbox. Createa Monitored Folder with a Path to the shared Dropbox folder to pick up changes from the Dropbox folder.

Listing Monitored Folders

Use the search box to filter monitored folders by Path. Click the Add New Monitored Folder button to create a new monitored folder. On each item in the list:


- Use the pencil icon to edit the monitored folder

- Use the X icon to delete the monitored folder. A confirmation window will be shown.

Editing Monitored Folders

Path

The path to the folder you want to monitor. If the Include sub-folders checkbox is checked, sub-folders of thefolder will also be scanned. Avoid folders with a large number of sub-folders as this will take a long time to scan.

Analyse cue points

If checked, when a track file is added the cue points of the track will be analysed.

Re-analyse cue points

If checked, when a track file is updated the cue points of the track will be re-analysed. Do not use thisoption if you manually set cue points as these will be overwritten.

Update track fields

If checked, when a track file is updated the fields of the track will be updated from the file. Do not usethis option if you manually change the track fields as these will be overwritten.

Add new tracks to track group

If checked, new tracks will be added to the selected track group. Tracks will not be re-added to this trackgroup if they are subsequently removed from the group.

Disabled

If checked, the monitored folder will be disabled and will not be monitored.

Playout Policy Management Playout policies define a set of rules to ensure the correct tracks are played. Playout policies restrict artists andtracks from being repeated too often. They can also be filtered by track group. For example, it is possible to ensure a tracks in a track group of Songs are not repeated for at least 2 hours whileensuring tracks in a track group of Jingles are not repeated for only at last 10 minutes.

Listing Playout Policies

Search

Filter playout policies to the name entered in the text box.

Add New Playout Policy button

Add a new playout policy to PlayIt Manager.

Playout policy list

Lists playout policies added to PlayIt Manager. It shows the Name of playout policy. The following actionbuttons are available:


- Edit the playout policy

- Delete the playout policy. A confirmation window will be shown.

Editing Playout Policies

Playout policy name

The name of the playout policy. This is used for your reference.

Track separation

The minimum amount of time to wait before playing a track again.

Artist separation

The minimum amount of time to wait before playing a track by the same artist again.

Apply to specific track groups checkbox

Check this checkbox to apply this playout policy to only tracks in the selected track groups below.

Playout policy operations

Use the Save button to save the playout policy to the database.Use the Cancel button to discard all changes.Use the Delete button to remove the playout policy from the database - a confirmation box will be shown.

Playout Pattern Management The playout pattern is the repeated pattern of track groups that are used as a basis for the playout log.

Editing Playout Pattern

Track Group list

Use the buttons on this list to apply the selected track group to the end of the playout pattern.You can add the track group multiple times as desired.

Playout Pattern list

Use the buttons on this list to remove track groups from the playout pattern.

Playout pattern operations

Use the Save button to save the playout pattern to the database.Use the Revert button to revert the playout pattern to the last saved state.

Clock Management Clocks are hour templates used to define how an hour of playout content should sound. When a clock isscheduled, the playout log will generate items to schedule based on the clock item. The clock can have a numberof clock item types:

Track: The playout log scheduler will always insert the selected track in this position in the playout log.Track Group: The playout log scheduler will randomly choose a track from the selected track group toinsert in this position in the playout log. When scheduling the playout log, any playout policies will betaken into account.Fixed Time Marker: The playout log scheduler will insert a fixed time marker in this position in theplayout log.Break Note: The playout log scheduler will insert a break note to include in this position in the playoutlog.

Listing Clocks

Search

Filter clocks to the name entered in the text box.

Add New Clock button

Add a new clock to PlayIt Manager.

Schedule Clocks button

Opens the clock scheduler to schedule clocks to hours in the schedule to be used by the playout log.

Clock list

Lists clocks added to PlayIt Manager. It shows the Name of clock. The following action buttons are available:


- Edit the clock

- Clone the clock

- Delete the clock. A confirmation window will be shown.

Editing Clock

Clocks are used as hour long templates to generate events in the playout log.

Clock Name

The name of the clock. This is for your reference.

Clock item list

The clock item list shows each of the event items that belong to the clock in order. There are four columns:

Play Time:The approximate play time of a clock item is determine from the sum of the all the previous item durations. The duration ofeach item varies on the choice of settings - the duration of a track group item is determined from the average duration of all thetracks in the group. A fixed time marker will cause the play time to reset to the fixed time.

Type:The clock item type. To change the clock item type, click the text and you will be presented with a dropdown. Choose fromTrack, Track Group, Fixed Time Marker, Voice Track or Break Note.

Settings:The settings of the clock item. This is dependent on the type you have selected. Click the settings text to change the settings. Track: Choose the fixed track that you wish to play:

Track Group: Choose the track group you wish to play. The PlayIt Manager scheduler will choose a random track that adheresto the playout policies you have configured:

Fixed Time Marker: A fixed time marker ensures time keeping within the hour. If you want a particular event to happen at acertain time within the hour, please a fixed timer marker before that event. There are 3 types of fixed time markers:

Hard: The item immediately following this fixed time marker will start at the selected time. The preceded item will fadeout and stop at this time.Soft: The item immediately following this fixed time marker will start only once the preceding item has finished afterthe selected time.Not Before: This type of fixed time marker ensures that items following the fixed time marker will not play until at leastthe selected time has passed.

Tolerance: Tracks that start within the tolerance time but cannot finish before the fixed time is reached with not be played.Tolerance can be used to prevent very long tracks from being played close to a fixed time marker and causing large overruns.With tolerance, it is possible for tracks after the fixed time marker to start early.

Break Note: A 'silent' track used to signify a block of time when something happens. This could be used to play commercialspots from the cart wall on PlayIt Live.

Voice Track: A voice recording track used to play between tracks in order to give the impression that the radio show is live.Voice tracks can be recorded via PlayIt Live.

Remote URL: A remote URL item is used to play a remote file or live stream in PlayIt Live.

A File URL typically refers to a static file located on a server which is downloaded by PlayIt Live when it is loaded into a player.Remote files are intended to be a fixed length duration and this must be provided in order to ensure the item is scheduled withthe correct length (as this is not known until load time). A Live Stream URL typically refers to an audio stream provided by a streaming media server such as Icecast or Shoutcast andcould be an internet radio station or a remote DJ stream. PlayIt Live assumes the live stream will run forever so will attempt torestart the stream if the connection is dropped. PlayIt Live will play the live stream until the specified duration has elapsed. Livestreams can also be stopped manually, or by using a hard fixed time marker. Advert Block: An advert block is used to schedule a block of adverts in PlayIt Live. The Start Time indicates the correspondingblock in the advert log to schedule the adverts. Duration indicates the maximum length of all the adverts in the advert block.Slots indicates the maximum number of adverts that will play in the advert block.

Segue?

Signals if the scheduled item will segue into the next item.

Segue styleThe segue style to use for the log item. See PlayIt Live documentation for how segue style is used.

Clone button

Clones the selected item to the next row. This is useful if you want to easily duplicate an item. Delete button

Deletes the item row from the clock.

Use the icon to reorder the clock items.

Add Clock Item button

Adds a blank clock item to the end of the clock.

Clock operations

Use the Save button to save the clock to the database.Use the Cancel button to discard all changes.Use the Delete button to remove the clock from the database - a confirmation box will be shown.

Scheduling Clocks

Clocks must be scheduled in the schedule grid to be considered by the playout log scheduler.

Date selector

Select the date range you wish to schedule clocks for. Click Today to go to the week or day for today.Use the arrows advance weeks or days depending on the view. Click the calendar icon to select aspecific date range.

View selector

Select how you wish to view the schedule. Choose Day if Week does not fit your screen.

New schedule entry

Double click an empty space in the schedule grid to create a new schedule entry.

Existing schedule entry

Double click an existing schedule entry in the schedule grid to edit it. Click the X to delete the scheduleentry.

Editing Clock Schedule Item

Scheduled Clock

The clock you wish to schedule in this time slot.

Start date and time

The scheduled date and time of the clock schedule entry. The End time will automatically update, clocksare always scheduled for one hour.

Repeat checkbox

Check this box to repeat the schedule entry to more regular times in the future.

Repeats dropdown

Select how often the schedule entry should repeat. Options here are Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly.

Repeats every

Select how regularly the schedule entry should repeat. For example, if a clock repeats fortnightly chooseRepeats Weekly every 2 weeks.

Repeat days

If Weekly is selected, it is possible to select the days of the week the clock should repeat.

Repeat hours

If Daily is selected, it is possible to select the hours in the day the clock should repeat.

Repeats until

Select the date and time the clock schedule entry should repeat until. Selecting Forever will repeatthe clock schedule entry indefinitely. Selecting This Time will repeat the clock schedule entry until theselected time (inclusive).

Operations

Use the Delete button to remove the clock schedule entry from the database - a confirmation box willbe shown.Use the Save Changes button to save the schedule entry to the database.Use the Cancel button to discard all changes.

Playout Log Management The playout log indicates past and future events that are scheduled to take place from hour to hour. Based onthe clocks that are scheduled via the Schedule Clocks page the playout log scheduler will generate playout logitems matching the clock items. If a clock has not been scheduled for an hour, the playout pattern will be used togenerate the playout log items.

Selecting Date Range

Select a date range to view the scheduled playout log for the selected range.

Start date and time

The start date and time to view. Use the -1h, +1h and Now buttons to easily adjust the start time orjump to the current hour.

End date and time

The end date and time to view. Use the -1h and +1h buttons to easily adjust the end time.

Start Editing Log button

To start editing the playout log click this button. The playout log below will enter editing mode wherechanges must be saved to be applied to the database. Date ranges cannot be changed while editing thelog.

Note: Selecting a large time range will take longer to schedule

Editing Playout Log

Editing playout log notification

This message is shown while you are editing the log.

This warning is shown if you are editing the current hour of the playout log. If you make changes in thecurrent hour, this could be disruptive to the operator of PlayIt Live during a live broadcast.

Schedule button

Schedules the playout log for the selected time range based on the scheduled clocks, playout pattern,and playout policies.

Unschedule button

Clears the playout log for the selected time range. Use this if you want to clear the log to reschedule thetime range from scratch. Changes are not applied until the log is saved below.

Playout log item list

The playout log item list shows all the items scheduled for the selected time range. Use the icon to reorder theplayout log items. Items are grouped by the hour they belong. Play Time: The scheduled time the item will play.Hour Pos: The position the item is in the hour.Type: The type of the playout log item. Possible options here are Track, Fixed Time Marker, Break Note,Voice Track, Remote URL, Aux Input and Advert Block. In editing mode, click the type text to change thetype.Settings: The settings of the playout log item. This is dependent on the type you have selected. In editing mode,click the settings text to change the settings. See clock item list settings for more information.Segue?: Signals if the playout log item will segue into the next item.Clone button:

Clones the selected item to the next row. This is useful if you want to easily duplicate an item. Delete button:

Deletes the item row from the playout log.

Add Item button

Adds a blank playout log item to the end of the playout log time range. Use the to move it to thedesired position.

Playout log operations

Use the Save button to save the playout log to the database.Use the Revert button to discard all changes and exit editing mode.

Advert SchedulingPLEASE NOTE: Advert scheduling is a premium feature of PlayIt Manager and requires a valid AdvancedScheduling module applied to the PlayIt Manager licence to enable full functionality. Without avalid Advanced Scheduling module applied it is not possible to schedule the advert log or playadvert blocks in PlayIt Live. To use advert scheduling in PlayIt Manager, purchase the AdvancedScheduling module and refresh your PlayIt Manager licence. You can try out the module by going toSettings > Licence and selecting to 'Enable the Advanced Scheduling module'. Advert scheduling allows the scheduling of adverts (also called spots, commercials or traffic). This isaccomplished by setting up Advert Campaigns with Adverts, then adding an Advert Block to the Playout Log andscheduling the Advert Log for that hour. Advert CampaignAn advert campaign represents an advert sales order, a request from a customer to play a set of adverts aspecified number of times, during certain times of the day for a period of time. Advert campaigns in the samecategory will never be scheduled in the same block. AdvertAn advert represents a cut of audio to play as part of an advert campaign. An Advert also stores at what times ofthe day the audio will play up to a maximum number of plays. Adverts feature a 'duration' field which is used toschedule the advert. This is best kept to a multiple of 5, e.g. 10, 15, 30 seconds, to ensure that adverts can befitted into advert blocks of 1 minute, 2 minutes, etc. Advert BlockAn advert block is a sequence of adverts that are played together as part of the advert log. Advert LogThe historical log and future log of the adverts that have played and will play. Advert Block ItemAn Advert Block item can be added to a Clock or the Playout Log in order to actually play out the adverts. Adding an Advert Block item to the playout log instructs the playout engine to look up the adverts from theAdvert Log for the specified hour and start time and load them into a player. Despite being multiple tracks, advertblock items only take up one player - the same player is reused for each advert track. Adding an Advert Block item to a clock will add the equivalent item to Playout Log for any hour the clock isscheduled into.

https://www.playitsoftware.com/Products/Live#pricing

Advert Campaigns

The advert campaigns page lists the advert campaigns currently in the system. Click Add NewAdvert Campaign to create a new one, or click the pencil icon to edit an existing campaign.

Editing Advert Campaigns

Name

The name of the campaign. This is displayed in the Campaign List.

Company

The name of the company/customer.

Date range

The range of dates between which the advert schedule will schedule this campaign. It is still possible tomanually schedule the campaign outside these dates.

Categories

The categories (semi-colon ; separated) for which the advert campaign belongs. Categories can be usedto prevent adverts of the same kind being played in the same advert block. For example, you wouldnot want two competing fast food restaurants to be played in the same advert block. Adverts in advertcampaigns with the same category will never be played in the same advert block.

Adverts

The adverts that belong to this campaign. An advert represents a cut of audio that can be played at specified times ofthe day or week up to a maximum number of plays for the campaign.

Save / Cancel / Delete

Click Save to save changes and return to the list page. Click Cancel to discard any changes and return to the listpage. Click Delete to delete the campaign.

Editing Adverts

Advert audio

The audio cut to play for the advert. Choose from an existing track already added to PlayIt Manager orenter a path to the file on the server.

Duration

This is the duration of the advert track. This is expressed in whole seconds and is used by the advertschedule to ensure an advert block does not over duration. This field is automatically populated whenyou choose a track or audio file. This duration is usually best kept at a multiple of 5 (e.g. 5, 10, 15, 30seconds) in order to help the scheduler fit adverts into whole minutes, such as 1 minute, 2 minutes.

Plays

The Plays section shows how many times the advert should be played on certain times of the day orweek. To change the number of plays for a day and hour, click the cell, type in the number of plays and pressEnter.To change every day for a specific hour, click the column heading, type in the number of plays and pressEnter.To change every hour for a specific day, click the row heading, type in the number of plays and pressEnter.

Max plays

This is the maximum number of times the advert will play during the campaign dates.

Save / Cancel

Click the Save button to save the changes. Click the Cancel button to discard the changes.

Advert Log

Click Start Editing Log to being editing the Advert Log

Click Schedule to populate the Advert Log with adverts. If the advert log is not populated then ensure there areAdvert Block items in the playout log for the hour you are trying to schedule. Use the Add Item button to manually add an advert to a block in the advert log. Click Save to persist the changes or Revert to discard the changes.

User ManagementUsers can be managed within PlayIt Manager to allow different people to log in and restrict them to certainpermissions. For example, an administrator can log in and have the ability to manage all types of entities, suchas tracks and clocks. Alternatively, a presenter can be restricted preventing them from editing clocks, etc.

Listing Users

Search

Filter users to the name entered in the text box.

Add New User button

Add a new user

User list

Lists all users added to the system. It shows the Display Name and the Username of user. The following action buttons are available:


- Edit the user

- Delete the user. A confirmation window will be shown.

Editing Users

Display name

The real name of the user. This is displayed on PlayIt Live on the main interface to display who iscurrently logged in.

Username

The username used by the user to log in. This must be unique and cannot be used by any other user.

Password

The password used by the user to log in. The password must be at least 6 characters long. If editing auser, you can leave this blank to keep the existing password. Tick the User must change password at next login box to require the user to change the passwordto something they can remember. Note that passwords are cryptographically hashed and stored in the database. The actual password isnot stored, therefore cannot be retrieved if forgotten. Please take care not to lock yourself out of thesystem.

Permissions

This section allows you to select what features the user is allowed to do. Ticking Is Admin? will allowthe user to use any feature and perform any action. Where the user does not have permission toperform a particular action that section will be disabled or hidden on the user interface.

Remote Voice Tracking Hours

Add hours here to give this user access to remotely voice track into the playout log at these hours. Clickthe Add/Edit/Delete Hour buttons to change the list.

Disabled

Tick this box to disable the user, preventing them from logging in.

Operations

Click Save to save the changes. Click Cancel to discard the changes. Click Delete the delete the user.

Connect PlayIt Live This page shows the instructions for how to connect PlayIt Live to PlayIt Manager:

Remote Voice Tracking PlayIt Manager is automatically configured for remote voice tracking to allow users to upload voice tracks fromPlayIt VoiceTrack. Remote voice tracking users can connect using the PlayIt Manager Server URL using their userUsername and Password. Uploaded audio is stored in the usual Audio Store location.

Settings General settings, scheduling, licensing, and security settings can be configured from the Settings section.

General Settings

HTTP port number

Configure the HTTP port number used to access the PlayIt Manager web application via a browser. Thisshould only be changed if a different port is required. Once saved, a restart of PlayIt Manager is requiredfor the change to take place.

Track path substitutions

When PlayIt Live is connected to PlayIt Manager it will be using tracks that have been added to PlayItManager. If PlayIt Manager is installed on a different machine to PlayIt Live, the track files added to PlayItManager will not be present on the PlayIt Live machine. In order to resolve this problem, PlayIt Managerhas track path substitutions which can be configured from this page. These are designed to substituteparts of the file path on the PlayIt Manager server with a file path that can be accessed by the PlayIt Livemachine. In the example above, the path to the audio store C:\ProgramData\PlayIt Manager\AudioStore\ issubstituted for \\SERVER\AudioStore$\ This assumes that a network share has been created for the AudioStore folder called AudioStore$

Save button

Save the settings.

Scheduling Settings

The scheduling settings are used to configure the defaults to use for segue type and the segue style forsweepers.

Licence Settings

Details on licences can be found on the Getting Started Activation page.

Security Settings

It is possible to restrict use of PlayIt Manager from unauthorised personnel. Currently there is only one user(Administrator) with one password.

Direct access password option

If you are accessing PlayIt Manager from the same machine as the application is installed on you may wish torequire a password.

Remote access password option

If you are allowing access to PlayIt Manager remotely it is recommended that you check this box. Thisprevents unauthorised access from users connecting externally.

When attempting to connect to PlayIt Manager when a password isrequired you will be presented with this screen to enter a password.

Documents

PlayIt Manager User Guidedocs.playitsoftware.com/PlayItManager/110/PlayItManager.pdf · Advert Campaigns: Manage advert campaigns Advert Log: Manage advert log Users: Manage users