TelVue is excited to announce the release of HyperCaster version 7.0 that adds powerful, automatic series scheduling. Automatic series scheduling saves you time and makes it easier to expand programming on your channels. The Series feature now supports rules-based scheduling for episodic and regularly occurring programming including, live, recordings, playout, and replays.
Simply select the Source, whether file-based or any of your live sources including available SDI Inputs, IP Streams, and Switch Ports, and define scheduling rules when to air live, record, replay, or playout on one or more channel. The HyperCaster takes care of the rest, automatically managing all required signal path routes and related events. Recorded live programming as part of a Series automatically gets added to the Episodes list, and is scheduled for replay based on any replay rules. You can also add new Episodes directly in the interface for pre-produced file-based programming or live programming recorded remotely and then imported. Content, Schedule and As Run reports can all be searched by Series.
Common Use Cases for Series Scheduling include:
- Schedule a series of pre-recorded programs for which new episodes will be uploaded on either a regular interval, in batches, or whenever
- Schedule a series of pre-recorded programs for which new episodes will be coming in from TelVue Connect, such as subscribing to daily Democracy Now! Episodes, or programming available on the Media Exchange.
- Schedule a series of live programming that will not be recorded, but just air live
- Schedule a series of live programming that will also be recorded, with or without replays
- Schedule a series of live programming that does not air live, but is recorded, with or without replays
- Schedule a series of live programming that is recorded remotely, and subsequently uploaded, with or without replays
For live sources, the Series Scheduling feature supports defining the ingest/record scheduling pattern independent from the replay playout schedule for flexibility. Scheduling rules support Daily, Weekly, and Monthly selections and can be chained to support sophisticated time slot patterns, such as “Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1pm and 8pm, Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm, and Sunday at 10am.”
For file-based sources and live replays, you can define how episodes automatically fill series time slots by selecting one of the available rule types including “Most Recent”, “Closest (Ingest vs. Airtime)”, and “Pattern”.
For example, let’s say you have a producer who submits new episodes throughout the year, but not always on a regular schedule. You always want the latest episode submitted to play in the schedule. Simply schedule as a series with the Most Recent rule. When new episodes are added, the schedule automatically updates to fill future time slots with the most recent episode.
Perhaps you have another producer who submits new episodes in batches, such as a bunch at the beginning of the year, and then other episodes come in after that. You may want to spread those episodes through your schedule to give the feel that they are being produced on a more regular pattern. Schedule as a series with the Pattern rule, and you can flexibly define how episodes automatically map to time slots, such as “repeat each episode for a week before moving on to the next”, or “group 5 episodes at a time, cycle through those, before moving on the next group.” The Pattern rule is extremely flexible.
Series can be configured to automatically generate content placeholders and corresponding episodes in advance based on when programming is expected to be received or recorded. The Closest rule then automatically fills schedule time slots with the episode that will be ingested or recorded closest to a given time slot. Closest is usually the best option for recorded replays from Live sources, or for File sources with a regular ingest pattern. For series time slots scheduled with a placeholder, if an episode is about to air but has not yet been ingested, the HyperCaster will automatically fill the time slot with the most recent available episode as a failsafe.
What if you have special programming that needs to air in a time slot normally used for one of your series? No problem – series scheduling supports time slot Exclusions. You can delete scheduled time slots from your series or override with other programming. The HyperCaster keeps track of exclusions for each series, and you can always undo and place the timeslot back in your schedule.
For scheduling series from live sources, the HyperCaster supports automatic, intelligent signal routing to schedule all required events for airing live and/or recording. For example, let’s say you use an SDI video routing switcher upstream of a HyperCaster AIO so live switch events normally play through the AIO to take advantage of the AIO’s processing (up/down-conversion, graphic overlays, CALM audio processing etc…). The AIO configuration allows you to define which video routing switcher outputs are connected to which AIO inputs for pass-through routing. Scheduling a series from a live switch source will then automatically schedule the switch route to send the switch source into the AIO, the input route to send the AIO input to the channel output for live, and the record event to record that AIO input. If you use a video routing switcher down-stream of the HyperCaster so live switches do not pass through, scheduling a live, recorded series from a switch source will automatically schedule the on-air switch route, a 2nd switch route to route into the AIO, and finally the record event. Whether live sources are from your video routing switcher, directly plugged into an AIO SDI input, or an IP source, the HyperCaster automatically manages all routes and events, including resource conflict checking.
HyperCaster version 7.0 automatic series scheduling takes broadcast automation to a whole new level. Simply set up your series and programming rules, and the HyperCaster completely automates all scheduling saving you valuable time.
HyperCaster version 7.0 also adds:
- Enhanced Recurring Scheduling with flexible rules including Daily, Weekly, Monthly and chaining multiple rules.
- Configurable, default time slot size on Calendar scheduling view.
For more information, check out the full HyperCaster 7.0 Release Notes and the Series Scheduling Knowledge Base article. Email support@telvue.com to schedule your upgrade to HyperCaster version 7.0.