Content creation tool

This page is about the content creation feature of the player web interface present on DiVA, HMP350, and HMP300 devices.

Introduction

The content creation tool allows the user to upload media content (images, videos, and audio files) on the player, and to create and edit Playouts and Playlists. These are commonly referred to as assets. The next step after having uploaded or created some assets on the player, is to schedule them to be displayed during certain periods of time using the content scheduling tool.

To access the content creation tool, click on the "CREATE" link on the top bar menu of the player web interface.

To get familiar with the content scheduling tool, see the how to section or watch the video tutorial below.

Video tutorial

For full screen, see this video on Vimeo.

Create page

Create

The page is composed of the following elements:

1. Top bar menu
2. New items buttons

   The 3 new items button let the user upload media, create a new Playout or new Playlist.

3. Actions buttons

   The 2 actions buttons let the user perform action on the selected asset(s) in the asset view (#6).

   • Remove will delete the selected asset(s).
   • Backup will create a downloadable backup file containing all selected asset(s). When selecting a Playout (Playlist), all assets used by the Playout (Playlist) are automatically included in the backup file.

4. View selection icons

   Those icons let the user select the size of the assets previews, and switch between horizontal and vertical assets.

5. Select and search

   The drop-down box can be used to select the type of assets (Media/Playout/Playlist) to be displayed. The search can be used to reduce the number of assets shown in the view (#6)

6. Assets view

   Display all available assets. The following actions are possible using the assets view:

   • Select an asset using the top right check box
   • Drag and drop new media from explorer to upload them in the list of available assets
   • Click on a particular asset to edit it.

7. Help button

   The help button is available on all pages and provide an inline help on all the functionality of the page.

How to

Upload media

To upload media on the player from the content creation tool, follow these steps:

1. Open Explorer (Windows) or the finder (MAC), and select the file(s) to be uploaded.
2. Drag and drop the file onto the list of assets.
   • Alternatively, click the "Upload Media" button and select the file(s) to be uploaded.
3. Your media will be automatically added at the end of the existing list of assets. A progress bar will be shown indicating the upload progress.

Notes:

• Horizontal and vertical files are automatically put in the corresponding asset views.
• The following media file formats are accepted by the interface:
  • Video: MPG, MP4, M4V, MOV, and WMV.
  • Images: JPEG and PNG.
  • Additional formats supported by HMP300 and HMP350 devices: jpe, jif, jfif, jfi, avi, vob, ts, m2p, mkv.
  • Audio formats are not supported.
• Videos outside the player specifications or larger than 2GB are rejected by the interface.
• JPEG images are resized, if width or height is above 3072.
• PNG images larger than 3072, or 2048 x 2048 pixels, or 2 MB in size, are rejected by the interface; these would need to be downsized before uploading them on the player.
• See also: Video decoding, Image decoding, and DiVA pages.

Upload Elementi projects

Applies to HMP300 and HMP350.

Starting with firmware 4.2.0, the content creation tool allows uploading archived Elementi projects as media elements on HMP300 and HMP350. This allows to easily add richer and more powerful content in playouts. Furthermore, user editable text properties can be modified directly in the content creation tool interface.

Create new Playout

1. Click on the "New Playout" button

   The New Playout dialog is shown with a set of predefined templates.

2. Select the Playout you want to start with.

   All Playouts can be fully customized as explained in Edit Playout.

3. Start editing your Playout as explained in Use Playout

Note:

The same process can be used to create a new Playlist.

Edit Playout

1. Use the assets view to select the Playout you want to edit.
2. Click on the Playout

   The Playout edit page is opened and you can start editing your Playout as explained in Use Playout

Note:

The same process can be used to edit an existing Playlist.

Create a backup of the player content

You can backup your assets (Media/Playout/Playlist) to your PC. A backup can be used to restore previously created content on a player or to copy content to another player.

1. Select the asset(s) you want to backup

   To select an asset, use the top right check box on the asset preview.

   If you select a Playout or a Playlist, all media needed by the selected asset will be automatically included into the backup.

2. Click on the "Backup" button.

   When the backup is ready, you will be prompted to save the file to your PC.

Upload a backup

To restore a backup from your PC to a player, proceed as follow:

1. Open Explorer (Windows) or the finder (MAC), and select the backup to be uploaded
2. Drag and drop the backup onto the list of assets

   A progress bar will be shown indicating the upload progress.

3. All the assets present in the backup will be added to your existing list of assets.

Note:

You can also use the "Upload Media" button to upload a backup.

Troubleshooting

• The maximum file size allowed for upload is 2GB, thus video files larger than this need to be cut down or split into smaller chunks.
• The content creation tool does not have access to the permanent USB storage (this is a known limitation).
• Internet Explorer 10 or later is required to be able to upload media.