Sync (Synchronized) Playback definition
Synchronized Playback allows you to create an impressive multi-screen presentation across all screens inside a video wall.
How sync playback works
Synchronized playback works by sending and receiving UDP messages via (wired) Ethernet. In the video wall that is playing a synchronized content, one player acts as the lead while the other players are taking the role of guests. The lead informs the guests when to start playing.
In order to stream synchronized content across an entire video wall the following steps must be completed. For the sake of simplicity, the following guide will contain a three screen video wall example.
Content creation - video format recommendations
We recommend the use of mp4 videos with resolution of 1920x1080, frame rate 30 or 60, bitrate maximum 20000 kb/s.
Other formats and resolutions can be used (e.g. 4K UHD 3840x2160 resolution or 1280x720 resolution), but SYNC configuration with videos of these formats should be tested before publishing.
It is very important that all videos used in a SYNC configuration have the same format (resolution, frame rate, bitrate).
All mp4 video files that are used in SYNC must be uploaded with .mp4noencode extension so MVision application will not re-encode them.
Configuring the playlist in MVision
Step 1. Define the lead and guest playlists
The first thing to do when creating a synchronized video wall is to define each playlist that will stream the content. This is done by creating individual playlists for every player, each having a special prefix:
The lead player’s playlist must have the prefix: [SYNC_X_LEAD]
The guest player’s playlist must have the prefix: [SYNC_X_GUEST]
Note: “X” is the sync ID and it must be the same on each playlist from the video wall.
Example:
[SYNC_1_LEAD]_A is the lead playlist and it is added to player A channel (loop or event)
[SYNC_1_GUEST]_B is the first guest playlist and it is added to player B event channel
[SYNC_1_GUEST]_C is the second guest playlist and it is added to player C event channel
Rules:
LEAD PLAYLIST | The lead sync playlist name must match [SYNC_X_LEAD] playlist_name, where X is the sync ID, and ID being a number greater than zero. |
| The lead playlist can be a loop playlist or an event playlist | |
| The lead playlist can be scheduled like any ordinary media | |
| The lead loop playlist can be placed anywhere in the loop channel; it can be added in another playlist, tag, or design | |
| A lead loop playlist can be also added inside another lead loop or lead event playlist | |
| A lead playlist can contain any type of media, event playlist, tag, or design | |
| Shuffling is ignored | |
| Max number of items property is ignored |
| GUEST PLAYLIST | The guest sync playlist name must match [SYNC_X_GUEST]playlist_name, where X is the sync ID |
| The guest playlist can only be an event playlist | |
| Scheduling conditions (dates, times, days of the week) are ignored for guest playlists | |
| A guest event playlist will always be exact time, no matter what the value is set to | |
| A guest playlist can contain any type of media, event playlist, tag, or design | |
| Shuffling is ignored | |
| Max number of items property is ignored | |
| Media in a guest playlists is played when a matching lead playlist is played on another player inside the sync network | |
| If a loop playlist is named as [SYNC_X_GUEST]playlist_name and placed into loop channel, then it is played normally and synchronization is ignored. |
Step 2. Add each playlist to its corresponding channel
After creating the playlists both for the lead and for the guest players, the following step is to drag them into their corresponding channels:
Step 3. Add the sync playback content
After each playlist is added to its channel, the next step is to add the content for sync playback.
INFO | Make sure that the video or the image file that will be played is properly split into sections according to how many players are part of the video wall |
Each media section must be placed in the same position inside the playlist. For example, if media section 1.1 is on the first position in the lead playlist, then media section 1.2 must be on the first position in the guest playlists 1.
Playback Rules:
IF | THEN |
| If an element at index I in the lead playlist is not valid | Then the element at index I from from the lead playlist is skipped and the next one is played |
| If an element at index I in the guest playlist is not valid and it is triggered by the lead player | Then the normal loop playback is resumed on the guest player |
If the guest playlist has fewer items than the lead playlist. For example, the lead playlist has 4 items while the guest playlists only have 3 items | The guest players resume their normal loop playback when the lead player plays the 4th item of its lead playlist. |
| If the guest playlist has more items than the lead playlist: For example, the lead playlist has 3 items while the guest playlists have 4 items. | The 4th item on the guest playlists will not play. |