4 questions about Overlays

[claudius06]

I have a few questions about Overlays:

1/ Does an Overlay impact the timing of a playlist? More precisely: does the system recalculate the duration of a playlist based on the duration of an Overlay?
2/ Is there a risk that the EndsAt mode might, in some cases, cut the track preceding the Overlay?
3/ By using Overlays, is it possible to trigger an event (such as an automated time announcement or a TOTH) at a precise time without ever cutting a track?
4/ If a song is present in an Overlay, is the system capable of not reintroducing the same song into the playlist (for example, not before 2 hours)?

Thank you for your help.
Claude.

[radio42]

First, I moved your topics to the intended Q&A section, as the general section is unmoderated and it seems, you indeed have questions regarding ProppFrexx.

1) Yes, it has an impact (eg. when an overlay pauses the underlying playlist).
And yes, PF recalculates the duration. But not in advance, as the overlay content and total length of the overlay might not be known (eg. News or Advets might be updated just a minute before the overlay starts).
But once the overlay ends, the playlist is of course recalculated.

2) Yes. The EndsAt start type option doesn’t ensure, that the last track isn’t cut off. How should this logically be the case?
There is a ‘TryEnsureExactLength’ program option. See the documentation (press on the ? Icon at the top right of the dialog to get the help info). But this option monitors the end of the program and tries to pick a last track with a proper length. This uses the program end time.

3) No. When you start an overlays at a fixed time, it might cut a current playing track. This is even logically not possible. But see my above comment regarding the TryEnsureExactLength option.
Also see here: viewtopic.php?p=18800
Or
viewtopic.php?p=6424#p6424

4) Why do you play songs via an overlay? But yes, they might also be placed in the global history (depends on your options and how you select it).

[claudius06]

Thank you Bernd for these very clear responses (sorry for the wrong place on the forum).
Regarding point 3:
I understand your remarks about the logic! I believe that with the "TryEnsureExactLength" option, you have answered the question I was secretly wondering about in my mind. But I also understand that there is a choice to be made between this option and the other 'Soft' Start Type options, along with the 'Allow Start Early' and 'Max. Early/Max. Late' and 'Max. Start Delay' options.
What is your advice on this subject?
Furthermore, still regarding the question "how to start an event at a fixed time without interrupting a track," I see there's the "Bridge" option, which we can liken to the BBC's (TV) filler, the famous Countdown. It could also be a medley of very short excerpts of tracks representative of the radio format that can still be interrupted at any time. Is that correct?
Regarding point 4:
I was thinking of a short program to talk about the history of a cult song, for example. So, is that feasible?

[radio42]

Yes, that bridge track option is probably the best option.
The TryEnsureExactLength option requires quite some tracks to choose from. So a combo of both options is probably the best.

And sure 4) is feasible.

[claudius06]

Alright, I'm currently testing these different solutions.
What about the time announcement? I can see "Time Signal" in Overlay type. Is there an option to automate hourly announcements through a voiceover?

[radio42]

For the Time Announcement, see here for examples - the solution might be very similar:
viewtopic.php?p=8764
viewtopic.php?p=9095#p9095

A FTE (as in the posts is not needed) - just use the time macros and pre-recorded time announcement files...