Event playlist definition
The Event Playlist is a playlist type that an MVision Advanced user (not available in Express) can use to trigger a special playlist to start at a given time. An event playlist interrupts the current loop of content at that given time and plays full screen, regardless of the current layout. The event playlist only plays once - after which the normal loop resumes at the next channel level item.
Glossary
Loop playlist: standard (non event) playlist;
Event playlist: a playlist that is scheduled to be played at a specific time;
Play mode:
After current media finishes: the event playlist waits for current media (content) file in the main zone to end before starting playback: this prevents the event playlist from interrupting the content in the main zone.
Interrupt media: if the event playlist is set to Interrupt media, it will start playing precisely at the indicated time, therefore interrupting the currently playing content; after the event playlist finishes, the normal playback resumes on the following media content
Overlay: the event will play over the currently playing media. The overlay mode is designed to work only for audio events.
Play frequency:
Play only once: the event will play only one time, at the given date and time
Repeat daily: the event will repeat for each selected day and it will start at the given date and time
Time interval: the event will repeat playing after a defined time interval, for each selected day
Playback interval: the event will repeat playing after a defined number of media have played
Step by step instructions for using an event playlist
Step 1. Create an event playlist
INFO | Make sure you have the MVision Advanced application open |
| Make sure you have the playlist library visible |
1. Click on “Add new media” from the playlist library panel
2. Set up the event playlist properties
In order to set an event, the playback mode and playback frequency must be defined
- Play modes:
- After current media finishes: the event playlist waits for current media (content) file in main zone to end and only after that it will start playback
- Interrupt media: if the event playlist is set to Interrupt media, it will start playing precisely at the indicated time, therefore interrupting the currently playing content; after the event playlist finishes, the normal playback resumes on the following media content
- Overlay: the event will play over the currently playing media. The overlay mode is designed to work only for audio events
- Play frequency:
- Play only once: the event will play only one time, at the given date and time
- Repeat daily: the event will repeat for each selected day and it will start at the given date and time
- Time interval: the event will repeat playing after a defined time interval, for each selected day
- Playback interval: the event will repeat playing after “X” number of media have played, where “X” is defined; it also has start date, end date, start time, end time and the option to select the weekdays
- Play modes:
Example: If I want to set up an event to be played every 15 minutes, each Monday starting from 1st of January 2018 until 10th January 2019 from 1:00PM to 6:00PM and it must start exactly at 1:00 PM, then I will set up the following:
Play mode: Interrupt media
Play frequency: Time interval
Play every: 15 minutes
Start date: 01/01/2018
End date: 01/10/2019
Start time: 1:00 PM
End time: 6:00 PM
Weekdays: Monday
WARNING | Playlist types are not swappable, meaning that once you have created a playlist, you cannot change its type (eg. change a loop playlist into an event playlist) |
RECAP | If it’s important that the event must be triggered at the scheduled time, then use the “interrupt media” event type. |
| If the event can wait until the currently playing media finishes, then use the “after current media finishes” event type. | |
| If you want the event to cycle after a certain amount of played media or after a certain amount of time, use “Playback interval” or “Time interval”. | |
| You cannot change the type of an existing playlist (eg. from event to loop). |
Step 2. Working with an event playlist
1. Adding content: there is no difference between an event playlist and a loop playlist when it comes to adding content, but the following restrictions are in place:
- An event playlist cannot be added inside another playlist
- An event playlist cannot be added inside a zone
- An event playlist cannot be tagged
- An event playlist cannot be added more than once into a channel
- An event playlist cannot contain a local input playlist
2. Modifying the playlist properties: clicking on an event playlist will show its properties in the properties panel, just like for the loop playlist.
3. Adding an event into a channel: with the introduction of events, the channel editor has been modified in order to work with both types of playlists and to make the process faster and more intuitive.
WARNING | The events from inside a channel are not played based on how they are added into the “Channel events” tab. They are played based on their trigger properties (start date, start time, days of the week, etc). Therefore because the visual order is not relevant, the events cannot be moved or re-ordered inside the channel. |
the channel editor has two tabs: one contains only the standard channel content (loop content) and the other contains only the channel events.
when adding a media or a playlist into a channel, the channel editor automatically selects the side based on the media/playlist type (eg. dropping an event into a channel will automatically put it into the “Channel events” tab)
clicking on a tab button will show its corresponding items
4. Events can be addressed: just like a standard loop playlist, event playlist can also be added into a local input channel.
Step 3. Event playback
1. How the events are played:
- “After current media finishes” event: when the event is triggered, the currently playing media is stopped and the event is played.
- “Interrupt media” event: when the event is triggered, it waits until the currently playing media (in the main zone) item finishes and then it starts playing.
- “Overlay” event: when the event is triggered, it will start playing over the currently playing media. For example if a picture is playing on the screen and an overlay song is triggered, then the song will be heard in the background.
2. All non-messaging (music) events are played full screen (except on a multi-stream setup).
3. Playback rules:
- Two or more events are scheduled at the exact same time: only one of the event playlists will be triggered based on the creation date (the newest will be played);
- Event 2 is triggered while Event 1 is playing (Event 2 = “interrupt media”): event 1 is interrupted and event 2 starts playing. The looping channel will resume after Event 2 has ended;
- Event 2 is triggered while Event 1 is playing (Event 2 = “after current media finishes”): Event 1 will be interrupted after the current media from the playlist is played and the looping channel will resume after Event 2 has ended;
- The device is playing a loop media and there are two “after current media finishes” events scheduled closely to each other: if Event2 was triggered while Event 1 is still waiting for the loop media to finish playing, then Event1 will be skipped from playback;
Example: if 2 “after current media finishes” events are scheduled very close to each other, (e.g. 02:00:00 and 02:00:10) and the current “looping” media does not end before the 1st event starts, only the 2nd event will be played.
- Event 1 at 02:00:00 and Event 2 at 02:00:10 - Current media ends at 2:00:01 - plays event 1 and then 2
- Event 1 at 02:00:00 and Event 2 at 02:00:10 - Current media ends at 02:00:11 - plays only event 2
- an event will be skipped if its playlist is empty
- multizone layout - resume after event: a multizone layout will resume after the event playlist has finished playing and each zone will resume with the “next valid item”
- proof of play: interrupted items will not be logged in the proof of play
- opening hours: event is not triggered outside opening hours if sleep mode is SCREEN-OFF or SCREENSAVER but it will triggered if sleep mode is PLAYBACK
- multi-stream: event is not fullscreen in multi-stream
RECAP | There are limitations and restrictions when working with events (check step 2.1) |
| The channel editor has two tabs that will automatically select the side based on the media/playlist type dropped. | |
| You cannot re-arrange the events from inside the channel | |
| Events are always played full screen except on multi-stream playback | |
An “interrupt media” event will always have a higher priority than an “after current media finishes” event. |