Overlay stops too early

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prometheus
Posts: 17
Joined: 04 Nov 2017 19:28
Overlay stops too early

Post by prometheus »

Hello,
since the last update I have a strange problem. The overlay quits too early and starts the playlist. The overlay disappears only visually, but plays the files in the background.
The debuglog says one of three files in the overlay is 1:54 minutes long, but in reality the file is 2:01 minutes long. Exactly this difference starts the playlist too early.
Any ideas?

In this case the overlay is a Newsblock.
---
Opener (local file)
News (network share, not tagged) <-- This file is the problem?
weather (network share)
---

Greetings
Tobi
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radio42
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Re: Overlay stops too early

Post by radio42 »

I cannot reproduce this issue here.
Maybe you have saved a .pfmd meta data file with the news file? Or is the news file may be replaced by another file in between?
Hard to say without any further details, please provide:
a) your exact Overlay entry setting (eg. a screenshot of its settings)
b) the related audio files (and/or your news folder in question)
c) the related News Category settings
d) please explain where you defined the Opener, News and Weather
e) what license you are using (cannot assign your forum name to any license)

Thanks in advance.
prometheus
Posts: 17
Joined: 04 Nov 2017 19:28
Re: Overlay stops too early

Post by prometheus »

Hi Bernd,

we use the ProppFrexx v4.0.3.79 x64 Enterprise Edition. My E-Mail in this forum is not the same as the license.
For "topnews.mp3" there is no .pmfd meta data. The file is updated hourly by an agency over FTP.

Just now the file in the overlay was displayed too short again. If I preview and close the file with PFL directly in the overlay player, the player takes the correct length.

Screenshots:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l84r1bg07fhan ... tegory.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jniomd4c0oxfs ... editor.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3556jgc596skqfa/overlay.jpg
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radio42
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Re: Overlay stops too early

Post by radio42 »

Can you please provide me with ALL related audio files in this post:
news folder, opener, soundbed, weather etc.
You might PM this to me with your registered email address...

When exactly is the news file 'refreshed' on your local share?
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radio42
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Re: Overlay stops too early

Post by radio42 »

I guess you might have updated from a quite older version.
In the newer version(s), the Overlay contains a new Mixing Time In and Out setting

Mixing Time In:
Is the segue time in milliseconds between the current program and this overlay.
A positive value calculates the segue time from the end (cue-out) of the current track of the current playlist.
Set to 0 to start the overlay with the 'Next' cue-point of the current track of the current playlist.
Use a negative value to define a fixed fade-out time (for the overlay's mix-in), in this case the segue time is 40% of this fade-out time.

Out: (Mixing Time Out)
Is the segue time in milliseconds between this overlay and the subsequent program.
A positive value calculates the segue time from the end (cue-out) of the last overlay track.
Set to 0 to resume the overlay with the 'Next' cue-point of the last overlay track.
Use a negative value to define a fixed fade-out time (for the overlay's mix-out), in this case the segue time is 40% of this fade-out time.

In the screenshot you have send me both values have been set to 0. Which means, the NEXT cue-points are used.
So what you experience might actually be due to your Mixing setting (per Media Type 'News').
Ie. they might not be perfectly set for your News media entry type and thus, each time ProppFrexx ONAIR plays out a new News tracks, its cue-points might be automatically calculated (see ACPD). Thus a NEXT cue-point is determined according to your settings and might segue your tracks 'too early'.
Adjusting the mixing settings OR adjusting the Overlay's Mixing Time In/Out options will solve the situation.

Note, that you can define the Mixing Settings within ProppFrexx ONAIR as well as within the Advert & News Management.
For regular Overlay/Advert/News playout ONLY the mixing settings of ProppFrexx ONAIR are relevant.
But in case you or your team does pre-define the cue-points from within the Advert & News Management module (e.g. via the Advert's PFL Player and then persistently storing these cue points to the audio files TAG data) then the mixing settings of the Advert & News Management module are of course used.
So it is always a good idea to keep them aligned.

Just make a quick try and adjust your Overlay entries Mixing Time Out settings to e.g. a value of -300 (ms).

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