Automate 24/7 Stream for a scheduled Playlist

Well, Good Morning. Haven't heard from any of you 24/7s lately. Thats what I am calling ourselves lately, great nick name, LOL. Anything new? I've been thinking about dynamic programming. So far, I've talked about static or handling pre-recorded material, i.e. braodcast tv, public access. But what about time sensitive material?

Like what: Maybe adult commerials at late night or a different type of program based on time. So how would you do this?? The answer is meta data. What pray-tell is metadata. If you have a video file, such as "my dawd.mp4", what does that name tell a computer program? Well nothing. But what if the name is "[title=my Dawg,subject=pets].mp4.

Well, right away, the computer program knows what the title and subject is. A sort of poor man's database. Many commerial programs do have database bases and a means of creating metadata. But this way, the info is carried with the video file.

So back to time sensitive videos. We add the metadata token "TOD" or time of day. So our file becomes "[TITLE=My Dawg,SUBJECT=pets,TOD=1800]. That tells the computer to only play this video after 1800 or 6PM.

I've talked about metadata before and asked for suggestions. So what are your suggestions?

Mine so far are:

Artist - Tex Ritter
Author -
Song - Paint it black
Loc (Location)
TITLE - My Dawg
GENRE - ie Western
Who
What
DATE - 20210102 = jan 2, 2021
TOD - Time of Day - 0900,1800 etc
DOW - Day of week, - SUNDAY etc.
SERIES - John Wayne - Westerns
TYPE - Commerial
EP - Episode #
The metadata has [ and ] surrounding them and each pair of metadata names and value are separated by commas.

[TITLE = My Dawg , DATE = 20210206 ]

You can see with DOW, that you might only select church videos,
but with TOD of 0100 (1am), it might be horror films. All based on when your program is scheduled to run.

So here's your chance to standardize on video file metadata names. This also gives you a chance to search for 'tags'.

So think about this. Also the metadata does not have to be in the filename, but can be part of the folder structure.

Example. G:\Shows\[TYPE=Commerials]\[DOW=SUNDAY]\[TITLE=Local Church Service,DATE=20210206,TOD=900].mp4

Time to Suggest is NOW.
 
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In the above example, I could have put the [ARTIST= in the preceding folder name, but decided to duplicate it many times to make sure if the video ever got separated from the folder name, you would know what it was about.
 
Weird to see this thread more or less trying to reinvent the wheel, definitely not what obs was designed to do, the term for what you're looking to do is 'playout' or more specifically, playout software. Playout software / systems exist and are already designed to do exactly what this thread started around. Nebula Broadcast being one such example that utilizes other existing more technical playout systems (like casparcg for example, which also can use obs for it's encoding if you wish).
 
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RockNRollGeek said:
Weird to see this thread more or less trying to reinvent the wheel, definitely not what obs was designed to do, the term for what you're looking to do is 'playout' or more specifically, playout software. Playout software / systems exist and are already designed to do exactly what this thread started around. Nebula Broadcast being one such example that utilizes other existing more technical playout systems (like casparcg for example, which also can use obs for it's encoding if you wish).
Click to expand...
Interesting. I didn't actually start this thread, but joined later. I was part of a public access station here (nevada) that got defunded. I inherited all their old programming and wanted preserve some of the heritage here. OBS in terms of playout does a fair job just with a VLC scene and a directory with a bunch of videos in it set to shuffle and loop. But to get anyone to watch it, people need to know when their favorite program will happen, i.e. hogans heros at 9pm. so 24/7 scheduling. Yes, there are commercial programs available that aren't horrible expensive and if I hired myself even at minimum wages , I could have payed for a few copies.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that OBS is a good compositing program. So picture this. You're a gamer and have gamer friends and you want to start a 24/7 broadcast tv channel, whether on youtube or your own IPTV channel. Ok, So you either do some editing and stick on a bumper on the front and back or each video and render it out. You could use obs and hot keys or a decklink to help you. You then use your playout software to schedule it. You put in a lot of time each week do this. (48 different 30 minute shows per day). So what if you could take 100 such files and run a compositing scheduling system to create 100 30 minutes segments with ads, PSAs, filler material, handling in-out point and meta data based on the file name in 5 seconds, paying attention to day of week etc and then have it play out.. Please read my past posts on meta data.

Here is an example of the project I am working on. See attached youtube links.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

This is a lucy show composite automatically created.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

This is a test case with a bunch of trailers, also automatically created.

The titling comes from the file name using a metadata format. (see previous posts)

What do you think

Best Regards, Bill
 
From my previous post, you can see it isn't live and uses pre-recorded clips. I'm not trying to re-invent a live tv station, but more of a public access station with minimum daily work. This is sort of a niche project that I'm doing for myself. I'm an ex programmer, with plenty of time during covid to work on this. Think of this as a clip scheduler/ program creator and also overlay scheduler.
 
Yep, (I mean this well and am not trying to sound like a jerk, but..) sounds like you're trying to spend more work making OBS do something that CasparCG, RedCast, Opencaster, etc have done easily out of the box for free for years with less work :) Like you said, OBS is built to be a simple compositer (but a switcher first and foremost), where as various playout systems have existed for years built around exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

Not to say there isn't benefit to some sort of scheduler that is a little more powerful than a simple 24x7 VLC playlist, but even then, playout systems can be set up to also account for render delays to keep everything on schedule rather than it slowly slipping off-time over time due to render delays that may happen on occasion.
 
RockNRollGeek said:
Yep, (I mean this well and am not trying to sound like a jerk, but..) sounds like you're trying to spend more work making OBS do something that CasparCG, RedCast, Opencaster, etc have done easily out of the box for free for years with less work :) Like you said, OBS is built to be a simple compositer (but a switcher first and foremost), where as various playout systems have existed for years built around exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

Not to say there isn't benefit to some sort of scheduler that is a little more powerful than a simple 24x7 VLC playlist, but even then, playout systems can be set up to also account for render delays to keep everything on schedule rather than it slowly slipping off-time over time due to render delays that may happen on occasion.
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No, you are not a jerk. You haven't said anything that I have thought about before. I did look at redcast and they themselves said they are not ready. I did find that I am a coder addict even after being 5 years away from it. As all programmers do, you underestimate the work required. I do enjoy the work and with covid, had plenty of time to work on this. I originally entered this forum to see if there were any other people that were interested in either this type of program or just making standalone apps, talking about solutions to problems. A lot of the people that were interested talked about their efforts and desire to set up 24/7, which eventually became my interest in this forum. A big problem is that most people do not have enough material to actually want or need 24/7.

So basically, I'm doing this for myself and enjoying the coding and conversation with people that do want to set up a channel.

I have found that my app is specially good for compositing. I don't have a graphics design in the program, I just use whatever OBS can do. In a way, the program is very much switcher driven. When working with youtube, the rules for live stream are different than just uploading. When uploading, YT just forgives you for copyright claims (LOL) but with streaming they don't. They block your stream with a shaming message, so you have to be very clean about coyrights. So I can composite/render/record the programs if I want , upload to test them for Copyright and then even play those files if I want or do straight to stream if my fillers are safe. I'm learning alot.

Anyway, again, you are not a jerk. I actually welcome your comments. A few of the earlier people have already gone to "easy on air" and found it works fine for their application. Part of the forum is "what would you want if you could custom design a 24/7 "full blown application" and also, how you actually run a station, YT or IPTV, servers etc.. A niche but for a small group of people, interesting.
 
bcoyle said:
No, you are not a jerk. You haven't said anything that I have thought about before. I did look at redcast and they themselves said they are not ready. I did find that I am a coder addict even after being 5 years away from it. As all programmers do, you underestimate the work required. I do enjoy the work and with covid, had plenty of time to work on this. I originally entered this forum to see if there were any other people that were interested in either this type of program or just making standalone apps, talking about solutions to problems. A lot of the people that were interested talked about their efforts and desire to set up 24/7, which eventually became my interest in this forum. A big problem is that most people do not have enough material to actually want or need 24/7.

So basically, I'm doing this for myself and enjoying the coding and conversation with people that do want to set up a channel.

I have found that my app is specially good for compositing. I don't have a graphics design in the program, I just use whatever OBS can do. In a way, the program is very much switcher driven. When working with youtube, the rules for live stream are different than just uploading. When uploading, YT just forgives you for copyright claims (LOL) but with streaming they don't. They block your stream with a shaming message, so you have to be very clean about coyrights. So I can composite/render/record the programs if I want , upload to test them for Copyright and then even play those files if I want or do straight to stream if my fillers are safe. I'm learning alot.

Anyway, again, you are not a jerk. I actually welcome your comments. A few of the earlier people have already gone to "easy on air" and found it works fine for their application. Part of the forum is "what would you want if you could custom design a 24/7 "full blown application" and also, how you actually run a station, YT or IPTV, servers etc.. A niche but for a small group of people, interesting.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you checked it out when I previously mentioned it, but look in to Nebula Broadcast - https://nebulabroadcast.com/ , they even have a demo channel that is up as a 24x7 scheduled tv station demo complete with 24 hrs of content, a demo ticker running on top, etc, at https://nxtv.cz/
 
Yes, I looked at it. seems complicated but needs more research. I've spent a lot of time on my own stuff and will probable stick with it. But you never know. My app does a lot of different stuff.

Did you look at my youtube examples? These are completely automated.
 
benubikim said:
Hello,
I am also a radio steamer. I have started streaming one year ago and last month I have started YouTube stream by using OBS. Old radio station powered by radioking.com platform. It is still working. My Youtube live stream link is

Cihan Radyo - Youtube

Now, in my stream I use "browser vlc source" for audio input and a "vlc video source" for backround filler. I organize my playlist and schedule them in radioking.com platform and this platform sen my audio data to my website which is "cihanradyo.com". I use same audio data to "browser vlc source".

Radioking platform is only for audio files. I want to add also videos for my stream.

What I need;

1) Automation
2) Scheduling

I want to play my playlist in an order. Every playlist should play only one file and switch to another. If the all playlists are ended, second files will play for each playlist one by one. I need to schedule each playlist. For eg;

1. Playlist - Time 00.00
2. Playlist - Time 01.00
3. Playlist - Time 02.00
.
.
24. Playlist - Time 23.00


All time durations of my files are different but less than one hour. When the selected video file of scheduled playlist ended, a filler playlist will begin to play untill next scheduled time. I have different filler playlists, For eg;

1. Filler Playlist - Artist Name 1
2. Filler Playlist - Artist Name 2
3. Filler Playlist - Artist Name 3
.
.
8. Filler Playlist - Artist Name 8

Filler playlists should play in order too. (sequential)
Filler Playlist 1 -> Filler Playlist 2 -> ... -> Filler Playlist 8 -> Filler Playlist 1

I thing what I want is similar with @bcoyle. My English is poor, forgive me please. I have read all thread. I have tried to use CasparCG, Redcast, Insta Playout, Easy on Air but.... they are uncapable of these basic futures. If I miss something, please inform me.

I am not a expert programmer but if I can not find a solution, will try to create my own :)
I appreciate your efforts they look very promising.
Click to expand...
Hi. So glad you decided to join the conversation. Was a little unclear as what you mean by a playlist. Are you referring to directories filled with video files or an actual file with a list of things to play. I'm not a radio guy, but know that the playlist concept usually involves a database or a file of things to play. You can then choose a friday playlist. So It would help me to understand if you explained this a little more. Maybe a screen shot of some of your playlists/directories.
 
benubikim said:
I have lots of directories. Each directory for a specific radio program. For example, "Poem" is a program name. There is directory named "Poem" and all of its episodes are located inside of it.

As I said, I am using Radioking.com platform. I upload my files there and It gives me its own playlist solution. I put all playlist in an order and they play. If I have enough time, I can individually schedule each playlist. But it takes very long time.

In my disk, all my files located in the directories.
Click to expand...
Hi Again. Are these files(episodes) in these directories playlists like m3u or are they mp3 audio files. So in your example, what kind of file is DIRLIS_KERVAN-11.
 
benubikim said:
Hi again. They are ".mp3" audio files.
Later I want to make this radio station to TV station :) There will be also ".mp4" files.
Click to expand...
So you basically want to go thru a directory of mp3's or mp4's and when finished with playing each entry once, go on to another directory and continue until you have finished the hour. The names in your example don't have any info about what they are about, like "the bee gees sing the blues". So you would would be blindly be playing a song with maybe some slide show as background? The mp4's would not need a slide show so you would just be playing them. The automation part would just play your mixes on the hour with pop at 9am and jazz at 10am! Is this what you need?
 
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RockNRollGeek said:
Not sure if you checked it out when I previously mentioned it, but look in to Nebula Broadcast - https://nebulabroadcast.com/ , they even have a demo channel that is up as a 24x7 scheduled tv station demo complete with 24 hrs of content, a demo ticker running on top, etc, at https://nxtv.cz/
Click to expand...
Many of the apps that people work on can be done in stream labs or vmix. Some are one-off app's that don't have the expense or overhead or complexity of these large programs. My project is different. I asked if you looked at my demo and you didn't answer so I don't know if you understand what I'm trying to do.
 
benubikim said:
View attachment 69139
View attachment 69140

Goes like this...

View attachment 69141

All files are unique.

Some of my scheduled audio files are 20 minutes, some of them 50 minutes. I also have filler folders. Large amount of data. If a scheduled file ends, untill the next scheduled hour, I want to use fillers. "One by One".

I dont want to share my archieve data pictures for long time :) When you read, please inform. I am gonna delete.
Click to expand...

OK, i SAW THEM. You can delete if you want. Are your main mp3 files really 20 to 50 minutes in a single file? Also you were talking about video mp4. Are these standard short 2-5 minutes video? Also for these mp3s, what do you plan to show video wise while playing?
 
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