8. Just Out (v.5.x)

Owned by Georg Deisting
Last updated: Oct 19, 2023 by Manuel Grund
5 min read

  • Please verify that Just Out is not started automatically using the “Login Items” functionality of the system preference pane “Users & Groups” or “General → Login Items”. Instead, use “Stay Alive” to start the application automatically after a restart of the Mac or a crash.

The Just Out application provides the final output (Virtual, SDI, or NDI®). It renders the frames in realtime either on the host GPU (Graphics) or CPU (video file decoding) and should never be quit during playout operations.

Key Features

  • Minimal User Interface & Preferences: Just Out allows for an effortless Channel setup while being configured and maintained from within Just Control. Just Out itself provides only a minimal user interface and the preferences needed to configure the basic properties of the engine.

  • Diagnostic Window: Displays engine statistics like the buffer status, master time, reference time, and the name of the clip that is currently playing in the first Video layer. Three buttons provide access to the log files, allow you to save the current status of Just Out, and reset the values shown in the diagnostic window.

  • Quit-Safe: You can quit the Just Connect and Just Control applications without stopping the actual playout. When quitting Just Out, the playout stops immediately. Therefore, Just Out does not allow to be closed using a keyboard shortcut. To quit Just Out, you have to explicitly confirm the termination of the current playout operation.

Preferences

After the installation, there are a few settings that can be changed in the preferences of Just Out.

Accessing the Just Out Preferences

  1. Start Just Out.

  2. Open to the “Just Out” menu.

  3. Select “Settings…”

  4. The “Just Out Preferences” window will appear.

Preferences Window

Network TCP Port: This is the network TCP port used by Just Out when publishing its service over the network to Just Connect. By default, this is set to “5509” and must correspond to the port defined in the Channel it belongs to. It is possible to use any unused port between “1” and “65535” if port “5509” is already used on this machine.

A port is a unique identifier for a service running on a computer. If you are not sure whether a port is available on your network or not, please consult your network administrator.

As-Run Log Folder: If desired, Just Out can write a log file from the playout to a predefined location.

Timecode Source: Here you can define where Just Out takes the Master Timecode from. You can choose between Computer (NTP) and LTC Audio sources.

When changing the preferences, you must restart Just Out for any changes to take effect. Restarting Just Out will stop the final output for the time of the restart. 

Minimal User Interface

Just Out has no actual user interface, but only a Diagnostics window.

Diagnostics Window

Select the menu Window → Diagnostics. The “Just Out Diagnostics” window shows:

  • The Status of the Activation and the Mode

  • The Channel Name

  • All Timecode relevant information such as the Master Timecode source, the Master Timecode (with the difference to the Timecode source) as well as the amount of rundown information (in hours, minutes, and seconds) Just Out stores up to 4 hours of playlist information (“Playlist Buffer”).

  • Playout Statistics such as the current Video on air and the Output Device and Format

  • GPU Vendor, Model, and Driver.

  • And information about the Buffer, the Decoding, and the Render Time

  • Skipped frames

  • Resync frames

The buttons at the bottom can be used to show Engine Logs, Save Diagnostics (for support purposes), and Reset the Statistics shown in the diagnostics window.

Just Out Engine Buffer

Usually Just Out buffers between 0.5 and 10 seconds of the uncompressed final output in the RAM to make sure the playout can continue without dropping frames even under bad conditions. Because Buffer values above 6 seconds can put some additional pressure on the system, the predefined values should only be changed after contacting your local ToolsOnAir partner, or the ToolsOnAir Support System.

Bad Conditions

Bad Condition 1

Bad Condition 2

Bad Condition 1

Bad Condition 2

The storage system is not fast enough to deliver the required data. This could happen because…

  • The disk is getting full.

  • Heavy copying of files in progress.

  • Many users access the same storage system at the same time.

  • The file system is highly fragmented.

The GPU isn't able to render the content fast enough because the current Graphic is too complex.

In both cases, a buffer under run may occur and eventually Just Out will begin to drop Video frames.

Auto Eject (Render Guard)

If the Just Out buffer reaches a critical low state of 50% or less and stays there for more than 0.5 seconds, Just Out will automatically eject the most recently started Graphic. If this does not result in the buffer recovering to a non-critical state, then all non-infinite Graphics will be automatically ejected.

Visual Representation of the Buffer

Just Out Diagnostic Window

The buffer status is shown in Just Out's Diagnostics window. Before the buffer status reaches a critical level, the Auto Eject function steps in.

Buffer Display in the User Interface

The buffer status is also shown in Just Connect.

and in Just Control.

The buffer status is shown in the control area, where 0% means an empty buffer and 100% is a full buffer. The higher the value, the better.

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