Month: June 2021

Sometimes the SYNC feature isn’t enough to have simultaneous playback and the operator wants to setup more complex ways of automation between the playlists. This can be done by setting PLAYDECK to remote control itself.

Sending Commands to anywhere in PLAYDECK via Overlays

To send a Command, you want to create a new “Remote Control” Overlay. You can now add one of the Custom Commands, that will be recognized by PLAYDECK. Basically you can CUE and PLAY clips, start Actions, show Overlays, etc..

Example: <cueandplay|2|1|1>
This will instantly play Playlist 2, Block 1, Clip 1.

A complete list of all commands can be found within PLAYDECK via “Show Commands”
Your overlay will look something like this:

Setup PLAYDECK events for automation

You add events to the playlist by adding the overlay with the commands to the clip. For example, if you want to start Playlist 2 (first clip) as soon as Playlist 1 starts playing, you would add the above Overlay to Clip 1 like this:

PLAYDECK supports most Amazon EC2 server instances and the NVidia GPU Power they provide. This allows you to setup a cloud based infrastructure for NDI transport or other purposes.

Quick start instruction

1. There is a quick start guide by Amazon, where you can also select your instance:
   https://docs.nvidia.com/grid/qvws/latest/qvws-quick-start-guide-amazon-web-services-ec2/index.html
2. A typical instance would be “Windows 2019 / g4dn.xlarge” – It has a Tesla Virtual NVidia GPU and enough specs to run PLAYDECK: 16 vCPUs (Intel Xeon), 64GB RAM, 1 vGPU (NVidia T4) with 16GB GPU RAM.
3. Install the Instance, which will conclude in running it within Amazons EC2 instance manager.
4. To connect to the instance via RDP you first have to open Port 3389 in the Instance Security Settings.
5. Once connected, you find yourself unable to download anything via the Browser. Therefore enable Downloads like this: START Menu > Server Manager > Local Server > IE Enhanced Security Configuration > Off
6. Now download and install PLAYDECK as usual:
   https://playdeck.tv/download/
7. Since NVidia driver are pre-installed, the GPU support in PLAYDECK will be enabled by default

Additional information

PLAYDECK can be installed on any Windows EC2 instance. Allthough GPU support isnt a requirement with PLAYDECK, it still is recommended for best performance. A list of all EC2 instances:
https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/

If you decide to go with a clean installation of an instance (without a preselected windows image), you need to install the NVidia driver manually like this:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/install-nvidia-driver.html

PLAYDECK also supports a multi-user environment and saves licensed for the whole server instance.

This can be achieved via any supported output card, which supports internal keying.
For this example we use the “Decklink Duo 2”. In PLAYDECK this sample will look like this:

Configure Decklink for Internal Keying

Open the Decklink setup utility “Desktop Video Setup” and set SDI 1+2 like this. This will be used for internal keying, where SDI 1 will receive the video signal from Playlist 1 and will key Playlist 2 over it and output the combined video via SDI 2.

Now you setup SDI 3 as standalone without keying. This will be used to send the video signal from Playlist 1 to Playlist 2 via SDI Loop.

Decklink SDI connections (Loop Cable and Output)

Use a short SDI cable and connect SDI 3 directly with SDI 1. We use this to feed the Playlist 1 signal via SDI 3 into the keying input SDI 1. Connect your final mixed output to SDI 2.

Setup PLAYDECK für Internal Keying

Channel 1 will send the video signal via SDI 3 to SDI 1 for mixing. Therefore you output Channel 1 like normal:

Channel 2 will receive the video layer on SDI 1. Now let PLAYDECK tell the Decklink to use Internal Keying to mix the Channel 2 signal over the one coming via SDI 1. Your final mixed output will be send to SDI 2.