Grass Valley Aurora Playout User Manual v.6.3

Aurora Playout

PLAYBACK CONTROL SYSTEM

User Guide

SOFTWARE VERSION 6.3

071-8516-03
SEPTEMBER 2007

Copyright Copyright © 2007 Grass Valley, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

Portions of software © 2000 – 2007, Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This document may not be copied in whole or in part, or otherwise r eproduced except as

specifically permitted under U.S. copyright law, without the prior written consent of Grass
Valley, Inc., P.O. Box 59900, Nevada City, California 95959-7900

This product may be covered by one or more U.S. and foreign patents.

Trademarks Grass Valley, K2, Aurora, Turbo, M-Series, Profile, Profile XP, NewsBrowse, NewsEdit,

NewsQ, NewsShare, NewsQ Pro, Aurora, and Media Manager are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Grass Valley, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other trademarks used in this document are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the
manufacturers or vendors of the associated products. QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., used under license therefrom.
Grass Valley, Inc. products are covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending.
Additional information regarding Grass Valley, Inc. trademarks and other proprietary rights may
be found at www.thomsongrassvalley.com.

Disclaimer Product options and specifications subject to change without notice. The information in this

manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should
not be construed as a commitment by Grass Valley, Inc. Grass Valley, Inc. assumes no
responsibility or liability for any errors or inacc uracies that may appear in this publication.

U.S. Government
Restricted Rights
Legend

Use, duplication, or disclosure by the United States Government is subject to restrictions as set
forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause
at DFARS 252.277-7013 or in subparagraph c(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer
Software Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52.227-19, as applicable. Manufacturer is Grass
Valley, Inc., P.O. Box 59900, Nevada City, California 95959-7900 U.S.A.

Revision Status

Rev Date Description

September 21,
2006

January 18, 2007 Release 071-8516-01 for Software Version 6.0b.
May 23, 2007 Release 071-8516-02 for Software Version 6.1.
September 19,

2007

Release 071-8516-00 for Software Version 6.0. Initial release of
Aurora Playout User Guide.

Release 071-8516-03 for Software Version 6.3.

2 Aurora Playout User Guide September 19, 2007

Contents

Grass Valley Product Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Safety Summaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Safety Terms and Symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Service Safety Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Certifications and Compliances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Environmental Criteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 1 Introducing Aurora Playout

What is Aurora Playout? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Terms You Should Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Using Aurora Playout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Linking to a Newsroom Computer System (NCS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Creating a Playlist Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Tour of Aurora Playout and Plug-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The Aurora Playout Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

The Assignment List Plug-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

The Assignment List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Housekeeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Simple Database (SDB) Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Thumbnail Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

XMOS Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 2 Setting Up Your NCS for Aurora Playout

Setting Up ENPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Sending scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

MOS Ready to Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting Up iNEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Configuring status translations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting Up Octopus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Registering the MOSWrapper File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Creating an ActiveX Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Configuring the MOS Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Adding Breaks in Your Rundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 3 Installing Aurora Playou t

Cabling the Aurora Playout Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Installing Aurora Playout Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Installing the Assignment List Plug-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Using the Installer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Using a Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Using a Batch File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Connecting the RDU 1510 Under Monitor Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Connecting the X-keys Jog/Shuttle Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 4 Configuring Aurora Playout

Configuring the Aurora Playout Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Setting General Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Setting Playback Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Setting Channel Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Configuring GPI Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Configuring GPI Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Defining Function Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Configuring the X-Keys Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Using the X-keys Jog/Shuttle Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 3

Contents

Defining Status Colors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Configuring the Remote Display Unit (RDU). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Setting Cue and Chain Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Configuring Archive Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Configuring the Simple Database (SDB) Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Setting General Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Setting Media Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Reinitializing Media Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Repopulating Rundown Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Restoring Backup Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Configuring the Thumbnail Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Creating a Thumbnail Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Setting Up the Thumbnail Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Configuring the XMOS Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Refreshing Rundowns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Configuring Housekeeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Setting General Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Setting Media Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Configuring the Standalone Assignment List Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Chapter 5 NCS Rundowns and Aurora Playout

Using the Assignment List Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Creating Placeholders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Sorting Placeholders by Category. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Viewing Placeholder Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Searching Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Viewing a Video Thumbnail for a Placeholder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Using ENPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Creating Placeholders Automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Inserting Clips to ENPS Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Assigning Playout Channels to Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Using iNEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Creating Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Assigning Playout Channels to Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Using Octopus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Creating Placeholders Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Linking Clips to Octopus Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Inserting Clips with the Assignment List Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Assigning Playout Channels to Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Chapter 6 Editing and Aurora Playout

Tour of the Assignment List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Receiving Editing Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Linking Sequences to Aurora Playout Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Sending Completed Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Additional Assignment List Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Creating New Placeholders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Deleting Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Changing a Clip Category. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Viewing the Assignment List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Identifying Missing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Chapter 7 Playing Clips to Air

Tour of the Aurora Playout Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

4 Aurora Playou t User Guide September 2007

Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Understanding Playlist Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Rundowns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Clip Browser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Playlist Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Creating a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Opening an NCS Rundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Appending Rundowns to a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Previewing Other Rundowns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Manually Creating a New Playlist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Saving Local Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Opening Saved Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Appending a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Exporting a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chaining Clips in a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Cueing and Playing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Cueing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Using the Jog Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Playing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Archiving Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Recording a Black Clip for Archive Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Using Aurora Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Using a Media Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Additional Playlist Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Rearranging the Layout of a Playlist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Viewing Clip Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Assigning Clips to Channels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Rearranging a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Adding New Clips to a Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Using the Context-Sensitive Playlist Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Chapter 8 Managing Clips

Tour of Housekeeper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

The Housekeeping Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

The Clip Import Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

The Archive Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Deleting Clips From the Clip Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Deleting Placeholders/Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Moving Files to the Recycle Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Emptying the Recycle Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Unprotecting a Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Refreshing the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Deleting Clips from a media server only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Importing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Importing Clips from a media server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Changing Clip Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Creating New Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Archiving Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Resynchronizing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Appendix A Sample of iNEWS configuration file

Sample of MOS Gateway configuration file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Index....................................................................................................127

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 5

Contents

6 Aurora Playou t User Guide September 2007

Grass Valley Product Support

T o get technica l assistance, che ck on the status of a question, or to repo rt new issue, contac t
Grass Valley Product Support via e-mail, the Web, or by phone or fax. Contact Grass Valley
first regarding problems with third party software on Grass Valley products, such as the

®

Microsoft
internet browser, SQL Server™ and QuickTime™.

Web Technical Support

Phone Support

Windows® operating system, Windows Media® player, Internet Explorer

To access support infor mation on the Web, v isit the pro duct support Web p age on the
Grass Valley Web site. Yo u ca n down loa d software or find solutions to problems by
searching our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database.

World Wide Web: http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/support/
Technical Support E-mail Address: [e-mail] .

Use the following information to contact product support by phone during business
hours. Afterhours phone support is available for warranty and contract customers.

Grass Valley Product Support

®

International
(France)

International
(United States,
Canada)

Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Korea,
Macau

Australia, New
Zealand

Central, South
America

China [phone] Netherlands [phone]
Belgium [phone] Northern Europe [phone]
Japan [phone] Singapore [phone]
Malaysia [phone] Spain [phone]
Middle East [phone] UK, Ireland, Israel [phone]

[phone]
[phone]

[phone]
[phone]

[phone] Indian

[phone] Germany, Austria,

[phone] Near East, Africa [phone]

Italy [phone]

[phone]

Belarus, Russia,
Tadzikistan,
Ukraine,
Uzbekistan

Subcontinent

Eastern Europe

[phone]
[phone]

[phone]
[phone]

[phone]

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 7

Authorized Support Representative

A local authoriz ed support repres entative may be av ailable in you r country. To locat e the
support represent ative for your c ountry, visit the product support Web p age on the Grass
Valley Web site.

Safety Summaries

General Safety Summary

Review the following safety precautions to avoid injury and prevent damage to this
product or any products connected to it.

Only qualified personnel should perform service procedures.

While using this product , you may need t o acces s other parts of the sy stem. Read t he
General Safety Summary in other system manuals for warn ings a nd cau ti ons re late d
to operating the system.

Review all system operator manuals, including manuals in electronic format on the
system hard drive.

Injury Precautions

Use Proper Power

Cord

Ground the Product This product is grounded t hrou gh the grounding conductor of the power

Do Not Operate
Without Covers

Do Not Operate in

Wet/Damp

Conditions

Do Not Operate in

an Explosive

Atmosphere

Avoid Expo sed

Circuitry

To avoid fire hazard, use only the power cord specified for this product.

cord. To avoid electric shock, the grounding conductor must be
connected to earth ground. Before making connections to the input or
output terminals of the product, ensure that the product is properly
grounded.

To avoid electric shock or fire hazard, do not operate this product with
covers or panels removed.

To avoid electric shock, do not operate this product in wet or damp
conditions.

To avoid injury or fire ha zard, do not operate this pr oduct in an explosive
atmosphere.

To avoid injury, remove jewelry such as rings, watches, and other
metallic objects. Do not touch exposed connections and components
when power is present.

Product Damage Precautions

Use Proper Power

Source

8 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Do not operate this product from a power source that applies more than
the voltage specified.

Safety Terms and Symbols

!

!

Provide Proper

Ventilation

Do Not Operate With

Suspected Failures

Battery

Replacement

To prevent product overheating, provide proper ventilation.

If you suspect there is damage to this product, have it inspected by
qualified service personnel.

To avoid damage, replace only with the same or equivalent type
recommended by the circu it board manufactu rer. Dispose of used bat tery
according to the circuit board manufacturer’s instructions.

Safety Terms and Symbols

Terms in This

Manual

Terms on the

Product

These terms may appear in this and other product manuals:
WARNING: Warning stat ements ide ntify con ditio ns or prac tices t hat ca n

result in personal injury or loss of life.
CAUTION: Caution statements identify conditions or practices that can

result in damage to the equipment or other property.
These terms may appear on the product:
DANGER indicates a personal injury hazard immediately accessible as

one reads the marking.
WARNING indicates a persona l injury hazard no t immediately acces sible as

you read the marking.

CAUTION indicates a hazard to property including the product.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 9

!

Symbols on the

Product

The following symbols may appear on the product:
DANGER high voltage
Protective ground (earth) terminal
ATTENTION – refer to manual

Service Safety Summary

Do Not Service

Alone

No Power Switch To avoid electric shock, disconnect the main power by means of the

Use Care When

Servicing With

Power On

Do not perform internal service or adjustment of this product unless
another person capab le of rendering first a id a nd re sus citation is present.

power cord. The power cord is the main power disconnect. Ensure that
the power cord is easily accessible at the rear of the product or at the
power receptacle.

Dangerous voltages or currents may exist in this product. Disco nnect power
and remove battery (if applicable) before removing protective panels,
soldering, or replacing components.

To avoid electric shock, do not touch exposed connections.

Certifications and Compliances

Canadian Certified

Power Cords

Canadian approval includes the products and power cords appropriate for
use in the North America power network. All other power co rds supplied are
approved for the country of use.

FCC Emission

Control

Canadian EMC

Notice of

Compliance

This equipment has been te sted and fou nd to comply with the limits for a
Class A digital d evice, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits
are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful
interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial
environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio
frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is
likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be
required to correct the interference at his own expense. Changes or
modifications not expressly approved by Grass Valley can affect
emission compliance and could void the user’s authority to operate this
equipment.

This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class A limits for radi o noi se
emissions from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference
Regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications.

Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques
dépassant les l imites appl icables a ux apparei ls numérique s de la cl asse A
préscrites dans le Règlement sur le brouillage radioélectrique édicté par
le ministère des Communications du Canada.

10 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Certifications and Compliances

Canadian Certified

AC Adapter

EN55022 Class A

Warning

Laser Compliance

Laser Safety

Requirements

Laser Safety Laser safety in the United States is regulated by the Center for Devices

Canadian approval includes the AC adapters appropriate for use in the
North America power network. All other AC adapters supplied are
approved for the country of use.

For products that comply with Class A. In a domestic environment this
product may cause r adio interference i n which case the use r may be required
to take adequate measures.

The device used in this product is a Class 1 certified laser product.
Operating this product outside specifications or altering its original
design may result in hazardous radiation exposure, and may be
considered an act of modifying or new manufa ctu ri ng of a la ser product
under U.S. regulations contained in 21CFR Chapter 1, subchapter J or
CENELEC regulations in HD 482 S1. People performing such an ac t are
required by law to recertify and reidentify this product in accordance with
provisions of 21CFR subchapter J for distribut ion wit hin the U.S.A., and
in accordance with CENELEC HD 482 S1 for distribution within
countries using the IEC 825 standard.

and Radiological Health (CDRH). The laser safety regulations are
published in the “Laser Product Performance Sta ndard,” Code of Federa l
Regulation (CFR), Title 21, Subchapter J.

FCC Emission

Limits

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 825,
“Radiation of Laser Products, Equipment Classification, Requirements
and User’s Guide,” governs laser products outside the United States.
Europe and member nations of the Europe an Free Tra de Associat ion fall
under the jurisdiction of the Comité Européen de Normalization
Electrotechnique (CENELEC).

This device complies with Pa rt 15 of the FCC Rules. Opera tion is subject
to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful
interference, and (2) this device must accep t any interf erence rece ived,
including interference that may cause undesirable operation.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 11

Certification

Environmental Criteria

Category Standard

Safety Designed/tested for compliance with:

ANSI/UL60950-2000 - Safety of Information Technology Equipment
IEC 60950 - Safety of Information Technology Equipment (3rd edition, 1999)
CAN/CSA C22.2, No. 60950-00 - Safety of Information Technology Equipment
EN60950:2000 - Safety of Information Technology Equipment (3rd edition)

The following table lists the environmental criteria for Aurora Playout.

Characteristics Description

Operating Temperature Requirement: 10° to 40°C
Storage Temperature Requirement: -40° to 65°C
Operating Altitude Requirement: To 10,000 feet

Supplemental Data: IEC 60950 compli ant to

2000 meters
Storage Altitude Requirement: To 40,000 feet
Mechanical Shock Supplemental Data: Class 5 (30G) Grass Valley

001131500
Random Vibration Requirement: Operational: Class 6 Grass

Valley 001131500

Requirement: Non-Operational: Class 5

Grass Valley 001131500
Transportation Requirement: Grass Valley 001131500
Equipment Type Supplemental Data: Information Technology
Equipment Class Supplemental Data: Class 1
Installation Category Requirement: Category II Local level

mains, appliances,

portable equipment, etc.

Pollution Degree Requirement: Level 2 operating

environment, indoor use only.
Relative Humidity Requirement: Operating 80% from +30° to

+40°C

Non-Operating 90% from

+30° to +60°C

Do not operate with visible

moisture on the circuit boards.

12 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Chapter 1

Introducing Aurora Playout

Aurora Playout is a playout contro l syste m that li nks a nonl inear editi ng syste m with
an electronic news production system and a media server for a complete digital
solution that works with Grass Valley’s media servers, Aurora Edit, and a
MOS-compatible newsroom computer system.

This manual shows yo u how t o ins tall, confi gure, and us e Auror a Play out ef fect ively
and efficientl y to play o ut clips to air us ing el ectronic news clip s create d with Auro ra
Edit.

This chapter discusses:

• What Aurora Playout is

• Terms you should know

• How to use Aurora Playout in your newsroom, and the roles of newsroom staff

• The Aurora Playout software components

What is Aurora Playout?

Aurora Playout is a playback control system that controls media servers for live
playback. It includes tools to integrate the program production workflow between a
media server, Aurora Edit, and optionally a newsroom computer system.

Aurora Play out is compatible with these systems:

Media Server Profile Video S erver

K2

M-Series iVDR
Editing Application Aurora Edit
Newsroom Computer

System

See the Aurora Playout Release No tes for supported versions of media servers and
Newsroom Computer Systems.

By using Aurora Pl ayout with a media serve r for ser ver pl ayou t in live progr ams you
can effectively replace four to six tape machines, depending on your media server.
Aurora Playout displays each channel simultaneously and you can control playout
with a keyboard and mouse, or with GPI buttons.

Associated Press Electronic News Production System (ENPS)

Avid Technology iNEWS

Octopus Newsroom

Aurora Playout consists of seven software components:

• Main Aurora Playout application

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 13

Chapter 1 Introducing Aurora Playout

• Assignment List Plug-in

• Assignment List Manager

• Housekeeper utility

• SDB Server

• XMOS Server

• Thumbnail Server
Each component plays a different role in the newsroom workflow and is introduced

later in this chapter.

Terms You Should Know

To use Aurora Playout effectively and efficiently, you should become familiar with
these terms:

Term Definition

Clip A piece of media you can edit, containing video, audio , or both.

Once a sequence is sent from a Aurora Edit workstati on to a media server it
becomes a clip again. All clip s and subclips merge into one clip.

Placeholde r An item (in the Aurora Pl ayout Assign ment List Plug -in or the Assi gnment Lis t

Manager) reserved for a clip that doesn’t yet exist or is not c omplete. Clips are
linked in the playlist and played to air.

Script The textual information for a news story in the newsroom computer system

(NCS) rundown. Scripts can also reference electronic media, such as clips from
a media server.

Sequence Edited med ia, consisting of different clips and sub clips edited u sing the Auro ra

Edit editing system.

Story The story — a collection of clips, sequences, an d scripts — is the complete

news segment that plays to air.

Using Aurora Playout

You can use Aurora Playout in two ways:

• To create playlists by linking to a newsroom computer system (NCS)

• To create playlists manually in Aurora Playout

14 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Linking to a Newsroom Computer System (NCS)

On-Air

Transmission

Video/Audio Routing System

Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Ethernet LAN

Playout K2

ENPS Client with

Aurora Playout Plug-in

ENPS Server and

MOS Gateway

RS422

Incoming

Feeds

!

Ingest K2

Aurora Edit with

Assignment List

!

Aurora Playout

Linking to a Newsroom Computer System (NCS)

The most efficient way to use Aurora Playout is with a MOS-compatible newsroom
computer system. The producer uses the newsroom computer system to create
rundowns for news shows, and links clips creat ed in Auro ra Edit to rundown scr ipts .
After the clips are complete, control room personnel use Aurora Playout to play out
the clips to air.

A typical newsroom workflow using a newsroom computer system (NCS) is:

• The news producer creates a rundown using NCS

• The news producer uses the Aurora Playout Assignment List Plug-in to:

• Create placeholders for scripts that require clips

• Assign placeholders to editors

• Link placeholders to scripts in the rundown

• The news producer assigns playback channels within the NCS rundown

• The news editor creates sequences for assignments using Aurora Edit

• The news editor uses the Aurora Playout Assignment List Manager to:

• Receive assignments from the producer

• Create additional clip placeholders

• Reassign placeholders to other editors

• Control room personnel use the main Aurora Playout application to:

• Open the producer’s rundown playlist

• Assign clips to specific channels for playback

• Rearran ge, insert, or delete clips prior to broadcast if necessary

• Play back clips during the news broadcast

Creating a Playlist Manually

When a MOS-compatible NCS is not available, you can manually create rundowns
and playlists.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 15

Chapter 1 Introducing Aurora Playout

on

After creating playli sts, using placeholde rs to link to clips creat ed in Aurora Edit, you
can cue and play the clips for broadcast.

Incoming

Feeds

Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Video/Audio Routing System

Aurora Playout

Playout K2

RS422

!

On-Air

Transmissi

Ethernet LAN

Ingest K2

!

Aurora Edit with
Assignment List

A typical newsroom workflow using Aurora Playout to create playlists is:

• The news producer creates a rundown

• The news editor creates sequences for assignments using Aurora Edit

• The news producer uses the Aurora Playout Assignment List Manager to:

• Create placeholders for clips

• Assign placeholders to editors

• The news editor uses the Aurora Playout Assignment List Manager to:

• Create placeholders for clips

• Reassign placeholders to other editors

• Control room personnel use the main Aurora Playout application to:

• Create a new playlist and rundown using the scripts from the producer and the
clip database

• Assign clips to specific channels for playback

• Rearran ge, insert, or delete clips prior to broadcast if necessary

• Play back clips during the news broadcast

Tour of Aurora Playout and Plug-ins

Aurora Playout consists of several components to allow newsrooms to coordinate
news playback with a media server and an Aurora Edit workstation.

16 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

The Aurora Playout Application

Toolbar

Playlist

Channels

Clip
Browser

Rundowns

Playlist
Overview

Playback operators use the main Aurora Playout application to control playlists before
and during news broadcasts and to create new playlists.

The Aurora Playout Application

Chapter 4, “Playing Clips to Air,” describes the Aurora Playout application.

The Assignment List Plug-in

Producers use the Aurora Pla yout Ass ignment List Pl ug-in t o crea te pla ceh olders for
clips and to coordina te electronic news st ories with rundown scrip ts. The Assignment
List Plug-in integrates with the ENPS, iNEWS, and Octopus newsroom computer
systems.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 17

Chapter 1 Introducing Aurora Playout

Chapter 2, “NCS Rundowns and Aurora Playout,” describes the Assignment List
Plug-in.

The Assignment List

The Assignment List comes i n two forms: standalone an d embedded into the Aurora
Edit application.

Producers (or other station personnel) use the standalone Assignment List to
determine how many clips are missing for a given news show. Editors use the
embedded Assignment List to re ceive assign ments from the produ cer. Bot h forms of
the Assignment List are used to create additional placeholders for clips and to reassign
placeholders to other categories.

The standalone Assignment List runs on any comput er on the network—an ic on in the
task bar flashes red when items in the selected category or rundown are missing.

18 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Housekeeper

The embedded Assignment List runs on the Aurora Edit workstation and integrates
with Aurora Edit — the Aurora Edit toolbar displays part of th e Assignment List so
editors can see at a g lance how many stories ne ed video. Opening the Ass ignment List
provides more detail on specific stories.

Chapter 3, “Editing and Aurora Playout,” describes the Assignment List Manager.

Housekeeper

Playback operators use Housekeeper to remove files from the clip database, import
files from media servers, and to archive clips. Housekeeper typically runs on the
computer with the Main Aurora Playout application, though it can be installed on
multiple computers if necessary.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 19

Chapter 1 Introducing Aurora Playout

Due to differences in media server channeless connection limit, not all computers
within your broadcas t operat ion can run Hous ekeeper application at th e same t ime. If
your media server is K2 version 3.2, you can run up to seven Housekeeper
applications simultaneously. While for M-Series, Profile and K2 version 3.1 and
lower; only three Housekeeper applications can be run at the same time.

Chapter 5, “Managing Clips,” describes Housekeeper.

20 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Simple Database (SDB) Server

Activity within rundowns

Activity within the
Aurora Playout database

Media
Server
status

The SDB Server runs in the background to keep clip status current. When the status
of a clip changes, the SDB Server updates available status and clip duration in the
Aurora Playout database, which in turn updates the Aurora Playout application. In
addition, when a clip sent from Aurora Edit is associated with a Aurora Playout
placeholder, the SDB Ser ver up dates the nu mber of miss ing i tems in the As sig nment
List Manager and Assignment List Plug-in.

The SDB Server runs on the same computer as th e XMOS Ser ver , and opt io nal ly on
a second system as a hot standby backup database.

Simple Database (SDB) Server

Thumbnail Server

The Thumbnail Server displays connection status to the Profile media server(s) and
creates thumbnails for MPEG clips. The K2 system or the M-Seri es iVDR does not
use the Thumbnail Server.

The Thumbnail Server typically runs on the Aurora Playout machine for flexibility,
but it can run on the same computer as the other Aurora Playout Ser ver Compone nts.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 21

Chapter 1 Introducing Aurora Playout

XMOS Server

The XMOS Server displays the communication between the Newsroom Computer
System and Aurora Playout. I t runs on the same computer as the pri mary SDB Server.

22 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Chapter 2

Setting Up Your NCS for Aurora Playout

With Aurora Playout, you can use your Newsroom Computer System (NCS) to create
rundowns and link clips to rundown scripts. The MOS-compatible NCS needs to be
configured for use with Aurora Playout.

This chapter discusses how to configure the following newsroom computer systems:

• ENPS

•iNEWS

• Octopus

This chapter also describes how to add breaks to your rundown.

Setting Up ENPS

To set up ENPS for use with Aurora Playout, you need to modify your ENPS
configuration:

1. On the ENPS servers, find the nom.ini file and add the following section:

[MOS]
Inport=10540
Outport=10541
LogIn=1
LogOut=1
Version=2.6
NumberROConstruction=0

2. Close the News Object Manager (NOM); it should restart automatically.

3. On an ENPS client, log in as the administrator and start up ENPS.

4. From the NEWS folder (e.g. KXYZ NEWS), select

Groups | New

ID KXYZGVG
Description GV Clips
Server Select the name of your ENPS server from the dropdown list

5. Click

6. At both ENPS Servers, choose

7. Close the News Object Manager and it should restart automatically. After the

8. From the NEWS folder (e.g. KXYZ NEWS), select

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 23

Save and close ENPS on the workstation.

NOM has started, restart the ENPS client.

and create a new group with these parameters:

Resync (if using an ENPS Buddy Server).

System Maintenance |

System Maintenance | MOS

Chapter 2 Setting Up Your NCS for Aurora Playout

Configuration | New and create a ne w MOS entry with these pa rameters:

ID The MOS ID; this value is case sensitive and must match the MOS ID

configured in the XMOS Server Options.
The recommended format is
<family>.<machine>.<location>.<enterprise>.mos. Standard practice is
to use station call letters for location and station group abbreviation for

enterprise.
Description GV Assignment List
IP The IP address or host name of the machine hosting the SDB Server and

the XMOS Server.
ActiveX GVG.XMOSCtrl.1
Default Settings Leave blank. These settings are configured when you install the

Assignment List Plug-in.
Program The group ID you configured in step 4.
MOS Versio n 2.6
Local DragDrop Off
Auto Create On
Story Send On

9. From the NEWS folder (e.g. KXYZ NEWS), sel ect

Configuration Options

its value to

10. On the ENPS server, close the NOM one last time and let it restart automatically.

11.Restart the ENPS client application.

12.Refer to “Installing the Assignment List Plug-in” on page 34 and install the
Assignment List Plug-in on all ENPS clients where this functionality is needed.

Sending scripts

The ENPS MOS Story Send feature allows Aurora Edit systems to view scripts.
To configure your system to send scripts:

1. For an existing rundown or template in ENPS, go to

2. Temporarily toggle the

3. Click in the
for Aurora Playout.

System Ma intenance | G lobal

, add a new property named AddMOSObjDuration and set

1.

Properties.

MOS Control Active field to OFF.

MOS Story Send field and turn on the c heckbox for the MOS ID used

4. Toggle the

MOS Control Active to ON to make the rundown available to Aurora

Playout.

5. Refer to “Configuring the XMOS Server” on page 62 and configure the XMOS
Server to write scripts.

24 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Aurora Edit systems will then be able to use the "Link to Story" and "Story View"
features described in Chapter 6, “Editing and Aurora Playout”.

MOS Ready to Air

If you want producers to have the ability to indicate to the Aurora Playout operation
when a rundown is rea dy, use the ENPS MOS Ready to Air fe ature. When you set this
ENPS rundown property to ON, a corresponding READY flag is set to ON in the
Aurora Playout Rundown window Status column.

Setting Up iNEWS

To set up iNEWS for us e with Aur ora Play out, you n eed to a dd a new MOS d evice to
the iNEWS configuration file:

1. On the MOS gateway machine, open the file C:\Program

Files\Avid\MOSGateway\mosconfig.xml.

2. Modify the following lines of the file, adding values for your location:

Value Description

MOS Ready to Air

ncs id Your Newsroom Compu ter System name; this value is case sensitive and

must match the NCS ID configuration in the XMOS Server options (see

“Configuring the XMOS Server” on page 62).

host The hostname of the iNEWS serve r.
mos Your MOS ID; this value is case sensitive and must match the MOS ID

configuration in the XMOS Server options (see “Configuring the XMOS

Server” on page 62).

amcp T he tag displayed in iNEWS scripts for placeholders embedded in scripts.

This value should match th e device name that appears in the iNEWS

SYSTEM.MAP file.
network The hostname of the machine running the XMOS Server.

NOTE: With iNEWS,

<handlesRoItemLevelCommands> default setting could cause

stories to drop to the bottom of the playlist when they are newly inserted, or when
their channel assignment is changed. Therefore,
value should be set to

NO in the mosconfig.xml file.

Configuring status translations

To ensure correct status reporting between Aurora Playout and iNEWS server, you
need to edit the status translation table in the iNEWS configuration file.

The status translation table within the mosconfig.xml file should appear as below:

<statusTranslations>

<statusUnavailable>NOT READY</statusUnavailable>
<statusCueing>CUEING</statusCueing>
<statusAvailable>READY</statusAvailable>
<statusCued>STAND BY</statusCued>
<statusPlaying>PLAY</statusPlaying>
<statusPaused>STOPPED</statusPaused>

<handlesRoItemLevelCommands>

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 25

Chapter 2 Setting Up Your NCS for Aurora Playout

<statusStopped>END</statusStopped>

</statusTranslations>

On the iNEWS server, your MCS dictionary (located at /site/dict/mcs) would
typically contain these lines:

A_EVERR /5ERROR
A_CAFRZ /END
A_CATREL /2STANDBY
A_CATHRD /THREAD
A_CACUING /2CUEING
A_CACUED /2CUED
A_CANOTAPE /4NOT READY
A_CABIN /READY
A_CAPLAY /3PLAY
A_CAPAUSE /3STOPPED
A_CAREW /REWIND
A_CAEJECT /EJECT
A_CAINCMPLT /TRANSFER

NOTE: Since the statuses tha t appear in this dictionary can be cust omized, the values
shown in the right column of your MCS dictionary may vary slightly from the ones
shown here.

To ensure correct configuration with iNEWS, a sample of the mosconfig.xml file is
provided in the appendix section. See Appendix A, Sample of iNEWS configuration

file on page 123.

Setting Up Octopus

To configure Octopus for Aurora Playout, you need to register a file on the Octopus
server, create an ActiveX device, and modify the MOS Devices configuration.

Registering the MOSWrapper File

1. Find the file MOSWrapper.ocx on the Octopus server machine.

2. Put the file on the Octopus server in the following location:

• On a Windows 2000 machine, put the file in C:/WINNT

• On a Windows XP machine, put the file in C:/WINDOWS

3. Double-click on the file to register it.

4. If necessary, specify the program to register it as REGSVR32.exe.

26 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Creating an ActiveX Device

1. In the Octopus application, go to Admin | MOS | Devices.

2. Highlig ht the MOS ID for Aurora Playout.

Creating an ActiveX Device

3. Click the

4. Click

Option Setting
Name User preference (e.g., ALP)
Long Name User preference (e.g., Assignment List)
Size
Type browser
Version 1.0 iNews
Insert ActiveX using GUID
Enter GUID of ActiveX control 4A7EA76A-62A5-11D4-BAE8-005 0048C80CA

5. Click

ActiveX button in the toolbar.

New and configure the device as follows:

800 width x 600 height

OK.

Configuring the MOS Device

1. In the Octopus appli cati on, go t o Admin | MOS | Devices and double-c lick on the
device you want to use with Aurora Playout.

2. Configure the Basic tab as follows:

mosID These values must match those set for the XMOS Server. See
ncsID
Disabled Unchecked
MOS protocol version 2.6
Media server host Name of machine hosting the SDB Server
Media server port SDB Server port (normally won’t change from default setting)
Rundown server host Name of machine hosting the XMOS Server
Rundown server port XMOS Server port (normally won’t change from default setting)

“Configuring the XMOS Server” on page 62.

3. Configure the Advanced tab as follows:

Option Setting
Send all objects
Send empty elements
Send empty stories ✔

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 27

Chapter 2 Setting Up Your NCS for Aurora Playout

Option Setting
Editable times
Supports more than one show ✔
Replace rundowns after connect ion roReplace
Content synchronisation allowed ✔
Send rundown metadata ✔
Send story texts ✔
Send story text elements User Preference
Prompt story element labels
Keep sending roStoryReplace ✔
Log heartbeats
Send roEl em e n tAction
Uses UTC time ✔
Receive feedback for all shows ✔
Allow mosListAll ✔
Use name instead of JobID
Delete lowres files

4. Configure the Object creation tab as follows:

Default MOS object creation device ✔
Allow automatic MOS object creation ✔
Default MOS object duration 00:00:00:00
MOS object naming pat tern

%n (where n = the name of the slug)

5. Configure the Statuses tab as follows:

Controls story status ✔ (needed to provide status information on Aurora Playout)

28 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007

Configuring the MOS Device

Create thes e status categories (these are the suggested names and order):

6. Configure the Extra tab as follows:

Send channel info: ✔
Other settings based on user preference

7. On the Times tab, use the default settings.

8. Click

OK.

September 2007 Aurora Playout User Guide 29

Chapter 2 Setting Up Your NCS for Aurora Playout

Break

Adding Breaks in Your Rundown

With Aurora Playout, you can add breaks to your rundown. The Aurora Playout
Assignment List Plug-in has a placeholder call ed BREAK that you use to link to a line
in your rundown.

To add a break:

1. In the newsroom computer syst em (NCS) appli cation, i nsert a new line which will
be used as the break.

2. Open this story of the rundown.

3. From the Aurora Playout Assignment List Plug-in, drag the BREAK placeholder
into the story.

4. Save the story.

The break appears in the Aurora Playout playlist as a blue break line.

NOTE: With the current version of iNEWS and Octopus newsr oom computer systems,
setting BREAK as the stor y property or story type in t he rundown of bot h systems wil l
not show the break in Aurora Playout. To avoid this problem, iNEWS and Octopus
users should not mark the story as a break item. Please refer to your NCS
documentation on ways to create customized rundown templates that could readily
include BREAK placeholder from the Assignment List Plug-in.

30 Aurora Playout User Guide September 2007