Pinnacle Systems MediaCentral UX Desktop Instruction Manual

Avid MediaCentral | UX Desktop

Understanding the Desktop Application

System Requirements

This document covers the introduction of the Avid MediaCentral UX Desktop application for
Windows. The following topics are included in this guide:

 System requirements
 Software installation
 Differences between MediaCentral UX Desktop and the MediaCentral UX web browser

experience

 Troubleshooting

In January of 2014, Google retired the Chrome Frame plugin for Microsoft Internet Explorer
which consequently retired support for MediaCentral UX on Internet Explorer. In September of
2015, version 45 of the Google Chrome browser will depreciate support for Netscape Plugin
Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) in favor of a newer architecture called Pepper
(PPAPI). This essentially eliminates support in Chrome for software such as Java, Microsoft
Silverlight and many MOS plug-ins which depend on NPAPI.

MOS (Media Object Server) is an XML based communications protocol often used with
newsroom production systems such as closed-caption generators and teleprompters. MOS plug­ins create a bridge between production systems and popular newsroom management systems
like Avid iNEWS, adding functionality and streamlined workflows.

MediaCentral UX Desktop is a client application incorporating an embedded version of Chrome
v43 capable of replacing a traditional web browser as an access portal for MediaCentral UX
users. This application allows clients that rely on MOS plug-ins for MediaCentral UX / iNEWS
workflows to continue to operate as normal.

MediaCentral UX Desktop has minimal requirements and in most cases matches the
requirements for a web browser.

 Operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows 7, 32 bit or 64 bit

• Microsoft Windows 8.1, 32 bit or 64 bit

 Flash Player

• Adobe Flash Player v18 (NPAPI) or higher

 Network

The application uses the same network ports to connect to the MCS servers as a web
browser. For additional network port information, see Avid MediaCentral Platform
Services Security Architecture and Analysis on the Avid Knowledge Base

.

 Screen Resolution

A minimum screen resolution of 1280x1024 is required. If the size of the application
window is smaller than 1280x1024, some UI elements might not be displayed.

MediaCentral | UX Desktop Installation Guide

Installing Adobe Flash Player

The client software requires Flash Player to enable playback of assets in the Media pane. Ensure
that you have the correct version of Flash Player and install or update if necessary.

1. Open the Windows Control Panel and select “Programs and Features”.

2. Verify your current version of Flash Player:

As pictured above, multiple versions of Flash Player could be installed on your client.
MediaCentral UX Desktop requires the “NPAPI” version of Flash Player. If you do not have
this version installed, complete the remaining steps in this process to obtain the required
software.

3. Open the web browser of your choice and navigate to:

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

4. Select the appropriate operating system from the first pull-down menu.

5. Select the option for “FP 18 for Firefox – NPAPI” from the second pull-down menu.

Note: Mozilla Firefox does not need to be installed on your client to install this version of
Flash Player.

6. Click the “Download Now” button and follow the prompts to complete the installation.

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MediaCentral | UX Desktop Installation Guide

Installing MediaCentral UX Desktop

Single Client Installation

Installing the Client Software

Editing the Configuration File

Value

Example

Value Description

This is a “friendly” name of the MCS system. This name will

within the configuration file.

The software can be installed locally on a single client or installed remotely on multiple clients
through Domain Group Policy. Review the information below and select the process that best
meets your installation requirements.

 Single Client Installation
 Domain Group Deployment

Installing the software on a single client is accomplished through a standard Windows-based
installer and a manual edit of a configuration file. The software installation and configuration
requires administrator-level access to the Windows client.

1. Log into the Windows client as a user with administrator-level access.

2. Download MediaCentral UX Desktop from the Avid Download Center:

https://www.avid.com/US/Account/Orientation?ReturnUrl=http://esd.avid.com/Login.aspx

3. Unzip the installer to a new folder.

4. Launch MediaCentral_UX_<version>_Win.exe and follow the prompts to install the

application.

The client application can connect to one or more MediaCentral Platform Services (MCS)
systems within your network through a local configuration file (config.txt) that defines MCS
system descriptions and hosts. While there is no limit to the number of systems that can be
added to the configuration file, it must contain at least one system for the application to
operate.

The following table lists the content of the configuration file:

Description “WAVD Central”

Host address http://<host>

1. Navigate to the location of the configuration file:

C:\ProgramData\Avid\MediaCentralUX

2. Open the config.txt file in a basic text-editing program such as Notepad.

If a configuration file does not exist, you can manually create one.

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appear in the System pull-down menu within the user interface.

The description has no character limit. It can contain spaces and
other special characters. Two exceptions to this rule are the
equals sign “=” and the comma “,” which have special meaning

<host> is the IP address, hostname or FQDN of the MCS server or
cluster.