4.1 Control Area & Timeline (v.4.x)

Owned by Georg Deisting
Last updated: Nov 08, 2022 by Manuel Grund
4 min read

Control Area

The Control Area allows you to preview the item which is currently selected in the Workbench/Timeline (shown in the PREVIEW window) and it shows the final output signal (shown in the ON AIR window) which is sent to the Video output device. Overlay buttons are shown depending on the playout status, once the mouse is over the Preview or On Air window. At the bottom of the Control Area system relevant information is shown, like the Engine Buffer Status and the Channel Status.

Tab view (not shown on screenshot): Shows the Multi Viewer as well as all the opened Channels you are currently working with, which allows you to switch to a different Channel.

  1. Preview: Shows the selected Video, Audio or GFX element. Click the play button in the viewer to start the preview of the element, or to release the stop frame of a graphics element. Click the speaker symbol to toggle the ability to preview the audio.

  2. On Air: Shows the On Air signal including video and graphics and the relevant control buttons as overlays, in case the mouse is over the window. In the upper right corner there are two elements to control the Audio Bars and Timecode overlays shown on top of the On Air window and which allows you to turn the Audio Monitor on/off. In case CC or OP-47 VANC data is inserted into the SDI signal, a corresponding label is shown here.

  3. Status: Shows the engine buffer level and the Channel status.

Buffer

  • Green: Good buffer status.

  • Yellow If the buffer status is below 50% it must recover to green in time, otherwise the Playout will stagger.

  • Red: The engine's buffer is completely empty and the output will drop frames or even stall completely.

Timeline

The Timeline shows all elements which are loaded in one of the available layers of the Channel, but also those elements which are already playing out. This includes the element names, the elapsed/remaining time info and the "Play" button. The visibility of the final output is defined from top to bottom.

  1. Layers: Depending on the configuration of the Channel you will see Audio, Event, FX- and Video-Layers. The names of the Layers may differ from the ones seen in the figure above, as they have been defined by your system administrator while setting up the Channels. It is also possible that your Channel has more or fewer Layers than shown in this figure or that certain Layers do not exist at all. 

  2. Elapsed Timecode: Displays the elapsed time for each actual playing element. If a Layer does not contain any elements the timecode is 00:00:00:00.

  3. Current Item Name: Displays the name of the current item in the particular Layer.

  4. Poster Frame: Shows (if available) the poster frame of the current item in the particular Layer.

  5. Current Time Indicator (CTI): Shows the current Playout position.

  • Yellow: The Just Out engine is not started.

  • Green: The Just Out engine is started.

  • Red: The Just Out engine is started, but there is an FX element waiting at a stop frame.

6. Content of the Timeline:

  • Audio Element: Audio elements are represented by gray bars (or slices, depending on the Timeline scale). Audio items can only be placed on Audio Layers.

  • Graphic Element: Graphic elements are represented by gray bars (or slices, depending on the Timeline scale) with a gray triangle in case it has at least one stop frame in it. Only FX Layer compatible files can be placed on FX Layers.

  • Event Element: Event elements are represented by a yellow triangle. Event items can only be placed on Event Layers.

  • Simple FX Layer: In case a Simple Graphics (SFX) Channel Bug has been defined, it will be on air by default and can be turned off for each element going on air in the video track. In case a Simple Graphics (SFX) Live Bug has been defined for a channel using “Live Pass-Through by default”, the Live Bug will be on air by default and can be turned off for each element going on air in the video track. In case “No In” or “Default Black” has been used for this channel, the Live Bug will not be on air by default, but can be turned on for each element going on air in the video track.

  • Video Element: Video elements are represented by gray bars (or slices, depending on the Timeline scale) in the Video Layer. The bright blue part represents a finished action or loop.

7. Remaining Timecode: Displays the remaining time for each actually playing element.

8. Hide/Show Buttons: Toggle the visibility of the currently playing element(s) on the specific FX Layer. The visibility of hidden Layers can be changed in the menu View → Hidden Timeline Layers.

9. Timeline Scrub & Scale: The scale of the Timeline ruler can be changed by using your mouse wheel while hovering above the Timeline's ruler. The Timeline can either be static or rolling (View → Static Timeline). In static mode the Timeline ruler description starts with zero, in rolling mode the description equals the engine time.

→ Use the sidebar to navigate.