Board index ‹ DMB Media Player ‹ Concepts
Digital Media Bridge Player Basic Concepts
Digital Media Player Concepts
by Cilutions Support » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:11 pm
The Digital Media Bridge Player is a portable software application with digital signage and video-on-demand features offering an abstraction layer above the native API of the target platform. It runs on Amino STBs, general Linux and Windows and includes:
Screen Layout Controls: Supporting pixel size and location values to designate asset positioning on a TV.
Video and Image Rendering: Supporting HD/SD video and static images in multiple screen zones.
Image Asset Transitions: For a more seamlesss display of images scrolling through a playlist.
Scrolling Text and RSS Feed Support: Supporting RSS from a file or an external URL.
Built-in Assets: Support for clock, emergency video and paging announcements, touch screen button and grid assets.
Time-of-Day Controls: Screens, video assets and image assets can be assigned time-of-day attributes to control their display schedule.
Conditional Constructs: Multiple screen layouts can be "played", from top to bottom, in a controlled flow; that is, one screen after the other based on run-time conditions. For example, once after boot-up (typically used to show player configuration to support personnel), for a configured number of seconds or based on time-of-day rules (e.g., only on weekdays).
Playlist Support: These reference lists of videos or images to play in a corresponding screen zone. Spreadsheet tables to display can also be designated using a playlist.
Independent Screen Zone Updates: The multiple and various screen zones (e.g., video, images, RSS, spreadsheets) can be independently updated without impacting the other zones. For example, if an image playlist changes its corresponding screen zone will reflect the change while all other screen zones continue to play without interruption.
TV Controls: Local TVs can be turned on/off, volume set, etc. also based on time-of-day rules.
Playing Video From Files or a Live Stream, Multicast or Unicast: A screen's video zone can be any of these sources.
Local User Input: Can be an IR Remote Control or touch screen input.
PVR recording on Supported Target Platforms: Initiated on-demand from a local user.
The DMB Player takes the following sources to control its operation:
XML Screenlist File: The master layout file designating a screen's display. Each screenlist file can contain multiple screen layouts to be played, conditionally, from top to bottom. Each screenlist file corresponds to a unique channel (1, 2, 3, ...,98) selectable by a local or remote user (e.g., a remote manager setting the active channel through an SNMP command).
Playlist Files: Text files containing a sequential list of videos or images to play, with optional (e.g., time-of-day) attributes. Playlist files can also reference one or more spreadsheets to play in a corresponding "grid" screen zone.
Database Files: Text files containing video-on-demand menu values to display (e.g., movie descriptions, thumbnails and movie playlists) for selection by a local user. The database files can also contain signage records used to populate screen zones with dynamic data (e.g., weather conditions and forecasts).
Scheduler Files: Text files containing time-of-day rules (e.g., Mon, Wed, Fri from noon-2PM) referenced in screenlist and playlist files as needed.
Asset Files: These are the video, image and spreadsheet files used to populate the various zones on a screen.
Return to Concepts