A Play List is a container that allows you to assemble any number of Play List Items in a sequence and according to a schedule defined by you. Play Lists can be named, saved and assigned to one or more Placeholders for display in the Placeholder area of a Presentation. Play Lists are a great way to control the display custom content – you can build as many different Play Lists as you want – create them for different departments within your organization, for different product or service promotions, seasons, or for different time periods.
There are four types of Play Lists that can be created, two of which are only available to Network Operators:
| Play List Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Video Play List | Used in conjunction with video-type displays (LCD, Plasma, LED video) Can be created and modified by Content Administrators and Content Editors for their own company Creator can add Play List Items to the Play List |
| Video Client Controlled Play List (available to Network Operators onnly) | Used in conjunction with video-type displays (LCD, Plasma, LED video) Can be only be created and modified by Content Administrators and Content Editors of Network Operator companies for use by their client companies The Network Operator Content Administrator or Content Editor can create the Client Controlled Play List but they cannot add items to it. Only a Content Administrator or Content Editor of the client companies whose displays were selected to show the Client Controlled Play List can add and remove Play List Items |
| Ticker Play List | Used in conjunction with LED ticker displays Can be created and modified by Content Administrators and Content Editors for their own company |
| Ticker Client Controlled Play List (available to Network Operators only) | Used in conjunction with LED ticker displays Can be only be created and modified by Content Administrators and Content Editors of Network Operator companies for use by their client companies The Network Operator Content Administrator or Content Editor can create the Client Controlled Play List but they cannot add items to it. Only a Content Administrator or Content Editor of the client companies whose displays were selected to show the Client Controlled Play List can add and remove Play List Items |
The type of content items that a Play List can play and the options available are dependent upon the type of Play List being created – video or ticker.
All users, regardless of their assigned user roles, can view available Play Lists, however, only a Content Administrator or a Content Editor can create a new Play List or modify an existing one. A Content Editor can only modify those Play Lists to which they have been assigned as “Editor”.
All Play Lists – video and ticker, non-client controlled and client controlled – are accessed from the Play Lists page.
The Play Lists page gives you access to the following information for all existing Play Lists (video and ticker):
- Name: This is the name assigned to a Play List. It is used to search for a particular Play List in the Find Play List field.
- Description: This is an optional field that allows you to attach a description, a word or phrase, to a Play List.
- Type: This indicates the Play List type – video or ticker.
- Resolution: This column displays the resolution of the Play List. For a video Play List, the resolution is displayed in pixels as width x height – e.g., 640 x 480. For a ticker Play List, the resolution displayed is made up of more than just pixel size information. It contains the pixel height of the ticker display (e.g., 24 high, 16 high) x color (e.g., RGB, Tri-color), x scrolling direction (R > L is right to left, T > B is top to bottom). The resolution of a Play List should match the resolution of the Placeholder(s) in which it is played. Please note that the system will not warn the user of a Play List with an undefined resolution – that is, a resolution of 0 x 0. A Play List with this resolution will still be displayed, however, it will display incorrectly and will not be able to display any of the Play List Item content it contains.
- Distribution: This lists the display or number of displays to which the Play List has been assigned. If all displays have been selected for the Play List it will display “ALL DISPLAYS”, if only one display has been selected it will display the name of the display selected, e.g., “Lobby Display”, if two or more displays have been selected it will display the number of displays selected “3 Displays”.
- Items: This column contains the number of content items in the Play List and the total duration (in seconds) of all the items it contains. For example the following “14/00:03:00″ means there are 14 separate items in the Play List and the total duration of all 14 items combined is 3 minutes.
- Status: This is the review status of the Play List. Possible options include – Draft, Ready, Rejected, Approved. Only Approved Play Lists can be assigned to Placeholders for display. For more information about the review process for Play Lists, click here.
Play List Item Types
The content types that can be used as Play List Items are provided in the charts below.
| Item Type | Extension |
|---|---|
| Bulletins | A Display Network content type |
| Images | .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, .gif |
| Macromedia Flash files | .swf |
| Media files | Recommended: .MPEG (Encoded as .MPEG1) Supported: .mp3, .wmv, .avi, .mpg, .mpeg |
| Web pages | URLs |
| Financial quotes | n/a |
| News headlines | n/a |
| Sports scores | n/a |
| Item Type | Extension |
|---|---|
| Text | n/a |
| Bitmap image files | .bmp |
| Financial quotes | n/a |
| News headlines | n/a |
| Sports scores | n/a |
Related Topics
- About Video Play Lists
- About Ticker Play Lists
- Find a Play List
- Open the Manage Video Play List page
- Open the Manage Ticker Play List page