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KeyWest Technology Media Pod Operation Manual

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SYSTEM OPERATIONS MANUAL
KEYWEST TECHNOLOGY
th
14563 W. 96
TERRACE
LENEXA, KANSAS 66215
www.keywesttechnology.com
800-331-2019

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Summary of Contents for KeyWest Technology Media Pod

  • Page 1 SYSTEM OPERATIONS MANUAL KEYWEST TECHNOLOGY 14563 W. 96 TERRACE LENEXA, KANSAS 66215 www.keywesttechnology.com 800-331-2019...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Table of Contents Standard PC Connections ................5 Media POD Operation..................6 Control Software Installation................. 7 Warranty Registration.................. 10 Setup IP......................11 Dynamic IP ....................14 Virus Protection .................... 16 Creation and Scheduling ................19 Pages, Playlists, and Schedules..............
  • Page 3 Media POD delivers composite, Y/C, and RGBHV (Progressive) NTSC or PAL video to your system. Stereo audio output rounds out the display offerings. Media POD is controllable stand-alone or via serial or even the Internet through a stand-alone interface or an integrated web interface (MX-Live).
  • Page 4 Appropriately trained and authorized personnel only should attempt any internal modifications, repairs, or service. CONNECTIONS Media POD Mini-Chassis Rear Panel Overview Keyboard & Mouse if Required Y/C Video Output Composite &...

  • Page 5: Standard Pc Connections

    Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Standard PC Connections (* = required connection for Media POD normal operation; ** = required for setup or troubleshooting but not for day to day operation—all other connections not marked with ‘*’ or ‘**’ are optional. Note that while Composite Video, Y/C Video and RGBHV video are not “required”...

  • Page 6: Media Pod Operation

    Media POD may take up to 60 seconds to complete initialization and begin video playback. Please be patient during this process. There are three methods of operation with the Media POD: 1.) The first method is to control the device, including creating pages, importing graphics and video, adding audio, creating schedules and managing inventories, directly on the player itself.

  • Page 7: Control Software Installation

    --Network connection capable of reaching the Media POD (see IT if necessary) Control Software Installation Insert the CD that came with your Media POD, or your demo CD into your PC (this is your “creation” station, where you will be able to create and schedule your display—DO NOT INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE DIRECTLY ON YOUR MEDIA POD).
  • Page 8 The progress bar will show you the status of the installation. You may cancel installation at any time, and reinstall later if necessary. After installation is complete, you’ll find the Media POD Scheduler shortcut icon on your desktop (figure 4).
  • Page 9 If you are not ready to register your software and hardware click OK. You have 30 days from the point of software installation to register. If not registered after 30 days, the software will cease to function—you will have to contact your dealer or Keywest Technology to change registration status.

  • Page 10: Warranty Registration

    TotalCare engineer that you need to register via telephone. Enter that Key into the Security Key window (which appears if you click YES, or ENTER) The next step is to setup the Media POD player itself. Keywest Technology 14563 W. 96 Terrace...

  • Page 11: Setup Ip

    CLEAN network. If you do not have an IT department, contact Keywest Technology for further assistance in safe connections. The best connection to make is network. There are several settings and precautions to take.
  • Page 12 (no password, no domain if available). Note: You may change user passwords, but ensure you remember those changes—Keywest Technology TotalCare will have no way to determine any passwords you may have set. Click OK to proceed to the player desktop.
  • Page 13 Dynamic—this method means the IP address will change each time your system’s router resets or possibly every time the Media POD is power cycled. The danger in this method is that you may not know from day to day the Keywest Technology 14563 W.

  • Page 14: Dynamic Ip

    A static IP forces you to enter the IP Address and the Subnet Mask (numbers provided to you by those in charge of your network). Gateways and DNS servers are not completely necessary, but would have to be added to facilitate remote troubleshooting from Keywest Technology as well as efficient FTP data transfers from remote sites.
  • Page 15 The command window should respond with some important data The IP address of your Media POD will be displayed along with the subnet mask and the gateway. Write down this IP address, as we will need it to connect to the player remotely.

  • Page 16: Virus Protection

    Keywest Technology Information Systems VIRUS PROTECTION A word about virus protection here…safe computing…the Media POD runs on a Windows XP Embedded platform. This is already safer than other Operating Systems but still any device on an open network needs to be adequately protected by a firewall—a software firewall can potentially interfere with the graphics and transitions, but hardware firewalls have proven to be extremely efficient if properly setup.
  • Page 17 The LOG ON dialogue will appear. Enter USER NAME “mediaPOD” (no quotes, one word, no spaces) and click OK. The Media POD ID screen will appear as your last valid schedule is loaded into memory. The schedule will begin playing automatically.
  • Page 18 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Keywest Technology 14563 W. 96 Terrace Lenexa, Kansas 66215 KWT TM 2-1-MEDIAPOD 800.331.2019 24 July 2006 www.keywesttechnology.com Change 01...

  • Page 19: Creation And Scheduling

    CREATION and SCHEDULING Pages, Playlists, and Schedules Earlier in the manual, we installed the Media POD Scheduler software on the computer of your choice (given some minimum requirements). That software is the same software that runs the player, giving you the ability to remotely control or locally control the function of the CG.

  • Page 20: Clip Board (Import

    The Open Media File file manager window will appear. On the drop down box, you can see the different formats of pages the Media POD supports. Browse to the location of your page or image and double-click it, or click OPEN on the file manager window.
  • Page 21 Files can be imported from any connected drive (network drives, local drives, external drives, etc…) allowing for easy file sharing. The third right-click option is ADD HTML ADDRESS. The Media POD is capable of playing back active web pages as well as any other HTML content. This clip board option allows us to Keywest Technology 14563 W.
  • Page 22 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems place a virtual website thumbnail in the clip board for use within a time line. Click on ADD HTML ADDRESS Use the NEW HTML FILE dialogue box to enter a name for the HTML element (this name is of...
  • Page 23 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems The fourth right-click option on the clip board is ADD VIDEO IN. Media POD features live Composite or Y/C video inputs. These inputs can be used as PiP windows on other pages or as stand alone live video pages.

  • Page 24: Timelines & Playlists

    The Timeline is “filled” by dragging and dropping media from the clip board. The Media POD is a multi-layer device, and therefore features multiple timelines. Each timeline is specific to the type of content that is allowed in that layer. Each layer has its own unique set of attributes and functions.
  • Page 25 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems When you drag a page to the Timeline, it will “rest” on any open space you drop it on by releasing the left mouse button Don’t worry about the open space before the media (if any). That will be compacted by the GUI when the save or play buttons are used…you can drop sloppy!
  • Page 26 Keywest Technology Information Systems .evt: event file created by Media POD .cgs: character generator pages created by Media POD .vin: Composite or S-Video windows A Timeline is a PLAYLIST. When you complete a timeline, and save it, it becomes a PLAYLIST that you can include in a schedule, or can simply play by clicking the blue play arrow at the top of the GUI.
  • Page 27 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems To select either page for Media Attributes settings, simply click on the thumbnail or information flag. You will then see your page appear in the Attributes window. There are three tabs we can work with to tweak up the clip—Date/Time Validity, Dwell/Transition,...

  • Page 28: Dwell/Transition

    To make the page valid 24 hours a day, select a start time of 00:00:00 and end time of 23:59:00. The MEDIA POD does use the 24-hour clock to keep AM and PM confusion out of the mix. You can use the CHECK SCHEDULE VALIDITY “button” to ensure the attribute selections are indeed valid.

  • Page 29: Audio/Video

    Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems The Dwell window also has provisions for setting the page transition. The transition is the “style” the page uses to enter the screen during playback. Click SELECT TRANSITION to select the style. You will see a new window, the TRANSITION window.
  • Page 30 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Note when no clip (audio or video) is attached, the path text boxes will indicate NULL and duration times are zeroed. To choose an audio clip to attach click SELECT and browse all connected drives to locate your audio selection.
  • Page 31 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Audio may also be added to multiple pages simultaneously. For example, a multi-page advertisement may include two or more images, but one sound track. Or, you wish to create a simple page montage with audio background. Simply multi-select the CONSECUTIVE pages you wish to add your audio clip to by holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard while left- clicking with the mouse on each page to include.
  • Page 32 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Media POD software automatically equally distributes the audio clip over the selected pages. In our example, the 76 second audio file is distributed over two pages at 38 seconds each. Also, notice the RED BOX in the bottom left corner of each attached audio page, indicating the link.
  • Page 33 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems There are special considerations. Media POD makes the assumption that an audio clip was intended to play for its total duration…in our example that is 76 seconds. If you then reduce the dwell time of one page, you will have to increase the dwell time of other pages to balance the 76 second audio duration.
  • Page 34 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems rectangular window—the window will be filled with the video you select regardless of odd sizes and dimensions. Also as with audio, Video can be added to multiple pages. Select the pages you wish to add video to (must be consecutive pages) by holding the SHIFT key on the keyboard and LEFT- CLICK the pages you wish to link with video.
  • Page 35 RUNNING TIME TOTAL AVAILABLE text box at the bottom right of this attributes window. Media POD will give you a reminder message if the total duration and page dwell times are not balanced. Another important facet of adding video to multiple pages is the size and position of that video.

  • Page 36: Crawls, Logos, Variables

    Besides simply playing pages, audio, and video, the Media POD is capable of overlaying a crawl on the display. Media POD Crawl layers are unique in that they are not simple text lines that move from right to left at a constant rate. Keywest Technology has discovered, as have a lot of users, that constant motion crawls are not always desirable especially in a digital signage application utilizing flat panel displays.
  • Page 37 The work left to do amounts to typing text. Once you have your crawl message typed out, click the SAVE CRAWL icon. Note, to segment the slide, use the “|” bar symbol—this will serve as the delimiter in your crawl. Alternately, you can allow Media POD to automatically delimit your crawls based on screen width.
  • Page 38 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems You will now find that your crawl is available as a thumbnail in the clip board. You may now drag it to the CRAWL timeline (and only the crawl timeline). For practice, create a crawl and drag it to the CRAWL TIMELINE (remember to use the “|”...
  • Page 39 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Crawl attributes differ somewhat from page attributes—there are simply different functions to perform as a text slide crawl. Date/Time/Day Tab allows you to program the crawl, just as with a page, to be valid only on certain dates and/or times, regardless of the entire schedule’s settings.
  • Page 40 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems D&U: Down and Up Start Finish DWELL Start indicates how the text enters the screen. Dwell indicates where the text pauses on the screen. Finish indicates how the text exits the screen. The speed of START and FINISH is set by CRAWL SPEED SLOW, MEDIUM, and FAST.
  • Page 41 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Click Gradient to set the banner as a gradient. Note that you can change the number of color bars in the gradient and the direction of the bars with the provided drop down boxes.

  • Page 42: Variable Layer

    The third layer available for use is the Variable layer. This is a very unique layer that allows you to create dynamic elements for your Media POD system. Dynamic elements include various configurations of Time, Date, and Day of the Week. Click the red V in the editor window to create a variable.
  • Page 43 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Drag your new variable into the VARIABLE TIMELINE and drop it there. Next click on the Variable’s thumbnail on the timeline to activate the attributes window. Notice that the Attributes windows are following a pattern. The first tab allows you to set the day, date, and time validity so variables are as easily programmed as a page.

  • Page 44: Logo Layer

    Drag any suitable graphic file into the LOGO LAYER (bmp, jpg, tiff, gif, pcx, png). NOTE: The Media POD software does not allow you to resize the LOGO…whatever size the image is imported is the size it will playback. Set the logo size in a graphics program such at Photoshop or Ulead, etc…...
  • Page 45 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems As in the previous layers, the Date/Time/Day tab is used to set time based validity for the Logo. The next tab, DWELL is used to set the duration of the Logo (it is important to remember that if a timeline has only one entry, it will continue to loop that entry until the schedule/playlist is replaced by something else).

  • Page 46: Playing The Show

    (the software will prompt you to do so). CREATING A SCHEDULE If you are not running the Media POD in a stand-alone configuration, you will no doubt wish to send your playlists and schedules to the remote device.
  • Page 47 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems On the MENU BAR, click the COMMUNICATION item. The Scheduler Window will open. This scheduler has three tabs. Set Master Schedule, Events, and Network Connection. The first step to creating a show based on playlists is to use the first tab.
  • Page 48 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems The first time you do this, you will find the schedule window blank. Click SELECT ITEM to add one of your playlists. Select the playlist you wish to add from the OPEN dialog window—double-click the playlist name or click OPEN after you’ve selected it.
  • Page 49 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Now, just so we can see the possibilities, let’s add a second playlist to the schedule This time we set the attributes as the same 11 day window, but this time set the time to as noon to midnight.
  • Page 50 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems This tab will allow you to transmit your schedule to a remote player—all you need to know is the player’s IP address or network name. If you’ve set things up so, you could even transmit your schedules and content to a player in Juneau while you’re relaxing in New Zealand.

  • Page 51: External Device Control Events

    The Events tab we skipped earlier while talking about schedules is a very unique function that allows you to control RS-232 controllable devices directly from the Media POD. The first thing you must do to use an event is to create one...
  • Page 52 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems This will open the EVENT CREATOR window. Here you can create custom RS-232 output. Enter your command string in the COMMAND text box and click ADD COMMAND (for ASCII Commands). Use the HEX VALUE controls to control devices that utilize true hexadecimal commands.

  • Page 53: Character Generator

    Keywest Technology Information Systems Character Generator The Media POD stands apart in many ways…one of those is the inclusion of a simple CG module. Click the NEW PAGE icon in the CG module to begin creating from scratch. Using the same functions we used with the crawls and variables, you can create content from scratch….add text, draw lines, make boxes, add color background fills, etc….
  • Page 54 To which you can add text or drawing elements, or simply leave it be. After you have created your page/page, save it by clicking the disk/save image Note the file format of Media POD created pages is .cgs…these are proprietary formats used only in this application.

  • Page 55: Valid Video Formats

    Keywest Technology Information Systems APPENDIX A Valid Video Formats Output: Media POD can play back in various formats depending upon the output connector being used. Composite Out NTSC or PAL composite base-band video S-Video Out NTSC or PAL base-band Y/C video...
  • Page 56 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems APPENDIX B System Configuration Affected S/N Hardware Config Operating System Initial Software Version Date Released POD00001 to Windows XP 1.0.0 1 May 2006 POD00024 Professional SP2 POD00025 to Windows XP 1.1.5 1 July 2006...

  • Page 57: Limited Warranty

    KEYWEST TECHNOLOGY LIMITED WARRANTY KEYWEST TECHNOLOGY does hereby declare that the said product be covered under limited warranty for defective materials and workmanship. This warranty is extended to the original purchaser only, for the amount of time indicated below, effective from the...
  • Page 58 Media POD Keywest Technology Information Systems Cut and return the following page to register your product PRODUCT WARRANTY REGISTRATION Complete and mail within 10 days of purchase or Register On-Line Purchaser's Name Title: Phone: Company Name: Address: City: State: Zip:...

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