Channels, working with

Overview

A channel is an area of the display, which can be seen as either (or both):

a layer stacked on top of other layers

a bounded zone on the screen.

Channels are setup in DISE Bridge.

DISE supports an endless number of different channels during playback. By default all channels in a destination will be playing at the same time (if the scheduling does not tell otherwise).

Channels contain their own playlist. A channel is independent from other channels playing, while still using the same screen - you can update one part of the display without affecting the other parts. This allows for a multitude of scenarios - for instance:

• Splitting the screen into several smaller channels and create DISE Movie files for each channel.
• Using each channel as its own layer to be able to add tickers, logotypes, etc. on top of the other channels.
• A channel on top of everything with a transparent image that adds for example some Christmas decorations.
• A common scenario is a news ticker that is running in a small part of the screen, independently of what is shown elsewhere. This is an ideal candidate for a channel.
• Using scheduling to sense if a fire alarm has gone off and show a channel on top of everything showing an alert message.

I recommend to put everything that will not change (such as logos, contact information) in a top channel which is not touched.

Read more: Good content practices

Note: Channels are being played from the top of the list in Bridge, so the first channel will be drawn first, and the next channel on top of that. All transparency will be preserved, so each channel will be transparent the the channels underneath.

Channel synchronization

In a DISE NoBorders system, the master will send out a sync message for each channel independently, guaranteeing synchronized playback of each individual playlist in your display scheme.

Channel effects and alignment

Channels, when they are scheduled or triggered to play, may use an effect to make the transition smoother. This is called channel effects. For instance a channel may slide in when it is its turn to show.

In addition, channels may be aligned to the screen, leaving room and taking place when they are displayed. For instance, we have two channels: A is fullscreen while B is covering only a part of the screen and is aligned to bottom. The A channel is set to leave room for the B channel should it appear. This has the effect of “shrinking” the A channel to leave room for the B channel. For example:

Read more: Important information channel, other channels have to resize to fit

Properties

The channel properties are set in DISE Bridge. Add a new channel in a destination by clicking the Add button in the ribbon and select Add channel. You can reach the properties later by right-clicking the channel in the channel list in the bottom left and select Properties in the context menu.

General tab

Name

Specify a name for the channel, for example, "News".

Exclusive channel

Lets you specify that this channel can override other channels, by combining it with the option below. When you have more complex channel scheduling, use channel logic instead.

Do not show at the same time as an Exclusive channel

Lets you specify that this channel can be overriden by other channels, by combining it with the option above.

Limit the number of playback loops

The channel will only play its playlist a fixed number of times before stopping and becoming idle.

Ignore NoBorders sync for this channel

Lets you specify that when using DISE NoBorders slave players should not adjust this channel according to the master.

Keep all scenes loaded (uses more memory)

By default, when a channel is started the first scenes will be loaded into memory and reversely when it is stopped all content will be unloaded. This option will always keep scenes loaded - so when the channel is started there is no wait time.

Size and position

By default, this channel will use the complete screen size and play as a transparent layer over and under the other channels. If you want the channel to play on only a part of the screen you can here specify the channels position and size in display pixels.

Align

Lets you specify that the channel should align itself to one of the borders, in which case you will not have to explicitly state a position.

If a channel should dynamically resize to leave room for other channels when they appear, select Client (fill remaining area)

Effects tab

Effects are displayed when a channel is triggered/scheduled to appear, and when it is about to disappear.

Show effect

• No effect (default)

The channel will simply appear.

• Scale in

The channel will resize from 0 to its determined size.

• Slide in

The channel will slide from the edge it is aligned to.

• Fade in

The channel will perform a uniform fade transition in.

• Fade and zoom in

The channel will combine the fade and zoom effect.

Effect direction

Hide effect

The hide effect will be applied when the channel is about to disappear. The available effects mirror those of the Show effect drop-down list.

Advanced tab

Events

Edit the events for this channel.

Add these variables when the channel is visible

Will create the variables specified (one per line) when the channel is started and delete them when it stops, for example to influence other scheduling.

Execute the following command(s) when channel begins

Playback commands (one per line) to perform before the channel is started, for example to send network messages.

Execute the following command(s) when channel ends

Playback commands (one per line) to perform after the channel is stopped.

Pausing and resuming channel playback

When an exclusive channel is played on top of everything else you may want to be able to pause playback of the other channels and to resume when playback returns to its "normal" state, for example advertisements that are not to be shown during a highlight reel. The solution is to execute certain commands in the beginning and end of a channel's playback. Playback commands are specified in the Advanced tab in the channel settings.

Note: For more help on how to use this feature, please contact support.

Example setups

News ticker

You would like to have a news ticker in its own channel on top of all your existing content, which is created in 1920 x 1080 resolution.

1. Create a new 1920 x 1080 DISE Movie in DISE Composer.
2. Create a ticker object on the first (and only) scene and add the news text.
3. Save the file.
4. Open DISE Bridge and open the destination where you want to add the news ticker.
5. Create a new channel called "Ticker".
6. Add the news ticker DISE Movie to this channel.
7. When you send this destination to the Player(s) it will automatically add this channel topmost and play the ticker over the already existing content.

Important information channel, resize other channels

A channel with important realtime information is supposed to come in topside, with the current playing material having to resize to fit.