Automate 24/7 Stream for a scheduled Playlist

bcoyle

Member
too expensive for me ($ 250 BRL)
It all depends on what you are trying to do and why. If you have a real project in mind that you feel a passion for and want to just "get" on with it, then bite the bullet, try their free trail and is if it fits. instaplayout looks reasonable but tedious if you wish to do 24/7. If you want to "play" or use it for "education", maybe the $49 version would work. i saw you were asking for a master control software in you resource request. Share with us what you may want to do, maybe someone can help.
 

poly_effervescent

New Member
Hi everyone, I've been perusing this thread and it sounds like I'm in the right place... Forgive me for being that guy but in the interest of efficiency not just for myself but others who will stumble in here looking for a solution, is anyone able to distill where things stand with this problem? It's not easy to find a definitive solution online and at 25 pages over 5 years this thread's become a bit unwieldy. For my case specifically I'm on Mac, looking for an approach to achieve a simple automated playback schedule that looks something like this:

Screenshot 2024-12-04 at 2.21.45 PM.png


The more idiot-user friendly and inexpensive the solution the better! Any guidance would be appreciated!
 

bcoyle

Member
Hi everyone, I've been perusing this thread and it sounds like I'm in the right place... Forgive me for being that guy but in the interest of efficiency not just for myself but others who will stumble in here looking for a solution, is anyone able to distill where things stand with this problem? It's not easy to find a definitive solution online and at 25 pages over 5 years this thread's become a bit unwieldy. For my case specifically I'm on Mac, looking for an approach to achieve a simple automated playback schedule that looks something like this:

View attachment 109696

The more idiot-user friendly and inexpensive the solution the better! Any guidance would be appreciated!
easy for casttor. here is a sample video when scheduling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDrO9oioNIY

It's in beta test, so no cost if you want to be a beta tester.

OH,OH, SORRY, This is a windows solution only, not mac. Don't know if this would work on mac bootcamp. But this is exactly what you want. no plans to port to maC or Linux.
 
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AaronD

Active Member
For my case specifically I'm on Mac, looking for an approach to achieve a simple automated playback schedule that looks something like this:

View attachment 109696
It would take a bit of setup, but if you had a scene for each, and macro for each in the Advanced Scene Switcher plugin:
Then you could do this:
1733374067188.png

(doesn't do anything on its own, but provides something to reuse a lot)
1733374148456.png

First reuse. Also keep track of where we are in the overall sequence (the Current State variable), and run a random macro from the list of Short Videos. You'll see one of those at the end.
1733374287160.png

The Current State has gotten all the way down to zero, so do the first other thing now, which is the first ID bumper, and continue to count down. It'll be negative from here on, which makes it a little bit easier to just read off where it is just by looking at that variable.
1733374466088.png

If you understood the previous two, then you probably have this one too. :-)
1733374513912.png

Last one in the sequence, so reset the Current State instead of decrementing. The value here is the only thing that sets the number of short videos, so tweak it accordingly.
1733374596838.png

This is the one you need to copy, and have a separate one for every video. Also have a separate scene for every video, with only that video in it. Each of these macros has no conditions, and switches to its own scene.

The Transition Duration works with the Time Remaining Shorter all the way up top, to make a nice transition while both videos are playing. Adjust the times as needed, but keep them all equal, or the Time Remaining slightly longer.

What ends up happening, in terms of the Current State:
6: Short Video, decrement Current State
5: Short Video, decrement Current State
4: Short Video, decrement Current State
3: Short Video, decrement Current State
2: Short Video, decrement Current State
1: Short Video, decrement Current State
0: Station ID, decrement Current State
-1: Long Video, decrement Current State
-2: Station ID, set Current State to 6
 

bcoyle

Member
easy for casttor. here is a sample video when scheduling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDrO9oioNIY

It's in beta test, so no cost if you want to be a beta tester.

OH,OH, SORRY, This is a windows solution only, not mac. Don't know if this would work on mac bootcamp. But this is exactly what you want. no plans to port to maC or Linux.
For efficiency, you asked a question and 2 people answered with possible solutions. If you were serious about an actual project, what did you decide to do?
 
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bcoyle

Member
Hi everyone, I've been perusing this thread and it sounds like I'm in the right place... Forgive me for being that guy but in the interest of efficiency not just for myself but others who will stumble in here looking for a solution, is anyone able to distill where things stand with this problem? It's not easy to find a definitive solution online and at 25 pages over 5 years this thread's become a bit unwieldy. For my case specifically I'm on Mac, looking for an approach to achieve a simple automated playback schedule that looks something like this:

View attachment 109696

The more idiot-user friendly and inexpensive the solution the better! Any guidance would be appreciated!
Here is a a sample printout of a casttor scheduled program/template REPORT that easily does want you want. This one is setup for 30 minutes so has only 2-3 short videos in the fill block. It also includes an end graphic and various overlays Casttors scheduler can then schedule and repeat this all day long or mix it in with other programs, think barney miller and hogan's hero's. It can pick out different files in either random or shuffle mode. The second report shows what happens when the template is run twice, i.e. the first one would be a 1pm, lets say and the second a 1:30. You will see, same source folders, but completely different contents, a new show every time. I don't know if you were just be helpful in suggesting what we need or have a real project in mind. So lets us know.

1734213454922.png


1734212929600.png
 

Ericj

New Member
Hi Bill,
I am a technician for O'Maine Studios in Portland, Maine. We are a video production facility in the process of starting a streaming service called StreamState (URL: streamstate.tv), which consists of an automated playout channel and a pay per view library, both containing programming featuring aspects of our state - tourism, food, live events, locally produced productions, etc.

What brought me to this forum topic (CASTTOR) was our search for a playout solution that can handle live webcam RTMP feeds - scenic vistas from around the state, which is one of the unique attributes of our channel.

We started with trying out some of the expensive playout options, none of which seemed to handle a sequence of looping live webcam inputs without shortly crashing. The clear winner for pulling this off turned out to be OBS, using the sequencer in Advanced Scene Switcher. It will run 12 consecutive inputs (and hopefully more) in a loop for well over 24 hours (with dissolves!) without crashing. But OBS is a switcher, not an easy to program playout solution. So I ended up on this OBS forum thread, reading with great interest your development of CASTTOR.

I really like how CASTTOR can handle blocks of prerecorded clips and programs, which can easily be moved to different time slots - a rmajor time saver it seems. This could also be great if it can handle a sequence of live webcams as well. I'm hoping that since our live webcam sequences work so well in OBS, they would carry this capability over to CASTTOR.

It was fun to see that you have a beta tester for Saco Valley. I worked at Maine Video Systems (for 40 years - now closed), and they were one of our customers.

A few weeks ago we produced a live event described in this article:
https://www.penbaypilot.com/article...-movies-tv-live-video-everything-maine/254843

Since this event was at a remote area without internet, we used a StarLink antenna, which worked great, getting our signal to our CDN. We had viewers from as far away as Oregon and Hawaii.

We are interested in the free trial, and becoming a beta tester and user.

My contact info:
Eric Jurgenson
O'Maine Studios
https://https://streamstate.tv
ericj@gwi.net
(207) 232-8043
 

bcoyle

Member
Hi Bill,
I am a technician for O'Maine Studios in Portland, Maine. We are a video production facility in the process of starting a streaming service called StreamState (URL: streamstate.tv), which consists of an automated playout channel and a pay per view library, both containing programming featuring aspects of our state - tourism, food, live events, locally produced productions, etc.

What brought me to this forum topic (CASTTOR) was our search for a playout solution that can handle live webcam RTMP feeds - scenic vistas from around the state, which is one of the unique attributes of our channel.

We started with trying out some of the expensive playout options, none of which seemed to handle a sequence of looping live webcam inputs without shortly crashing. The clear winner for pulling this off turned out to be OBS, using the sequencer in Advanced Scene Switcher. It will run 12 consecutive inputs (and hopefully more) in a loop for well over 24 hours (with dissolves!) without crashing. But OBS is a switcher, not an easy to program playout solution. So I ended up on this OBS forum thread, reading with great interest your development of CASTTOR.

I really like how CASTTOR can handle blocks of prerecorded clips and programs, which can easily be moved to different time slots - a rmajor time saver it seems. This could also be great if it can handle a sequence of live webcams as well. I'm hoping that since our live webcam sequences work so well in OBS, they would carry this capability over to CASTTOR.

It was fun to see that you have a beta tester for Saco Valley. I worked at Maine Video Systems (for 40 years - now closed), and they were one of our customers.

A few weeks ago we produced a live event described in this article:
https://www.penbaypilot.com/article...-movies-tv-live-video-everything-maine/254843

Since this event was at a remote area without internet, we used a StarLink antenna, which worked great, getting our signal to our CDN. We had viewers from as far away as Oregon and Hawaii.

We are interested in the free trial, and becoming a beta tester and user.

My contact info:
Eric Jurgenson
O'Maine Studios
https://https://streamstate.tv
ericj@gwi.net
(207) 232-8043
If you get a 408 call, it's me and not a spam risk.
 

bcoyle

Member
Hi Bill,
I am a technician for O'Maine Studios in Portland, Maine. We are a video production facility in the process of starting a streaming service called StreamState (URL: streamstate.tv), which consists of an automated playout channel and a pay per view library, both containing programming featuring aspects of our state - tourism, food, live events, locally produced productions, etc.

What brought me to this forum topic (CASTTOR) was our search for a playout solution that can handle live webcam RTMP feeds - scenic vistas from around the state, which is one of the unique attributes of our channel.

We started with trying out some of the expensive playout options, none of which seemed to handle a sequence of looping live webcam inputs without shortly crashing. The clear winner for pulling this off turned out to be OBS, using the sequencer in Advanced Scene Switcher. It will run 12 consecutive inputs (and hopefully more) in a loop for well over 24 hours (with dissolves!) without crashing. But OBS is a switcher, not an easy to program playout solution. So I ended up on this OBS forum thread, reading with great interest your development of CASTTOR.

I really like how CASTTOR can handle blocks of prerecorded clips and programs, which can easily be moved to different time slots - a rmajor time saver it seems. This could also be great if it can handle a sequence of live webcams as well. I'm hoping that since our live webcam sequences work so well in OBS, they would carry this capability over to CASTTOR.

It was fun to see that you have a beta tester for Saco Valley. I worked at Maine Video Systems (for 40 years - now closed), and they were one of our customers.

A few weeks ago we produced a live event described in this article:
https://www.penbaypilot.com/article...-movies-tv-live-video-everything-maine/254843

Since this event was at a remote area without internet, we used a StarLink antenna, which worked great, getting our signal to our CDN. We had viewers from as far away as Oregon and Hawaii.

We are interested in the free trial, and becoming a beta tester and user.

My contact info:
Eric Jurgenson
O'Maine Studios
https://https://streamstate.tv
ericj@gwi.net
(207) 232-8043
Hi Eric

Here is a link to the schedule in 15 minutes.
 
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