Media Playback

Overview

The Media Player provides control over the media files playback, as well as playlist management, timecode operations, color correction, and sound volume adjustment. Media Players are managed in the Media Player tab of the Screenberry Panel.

Media Player View

The Media Player view. 1 – the playlists tree; 2 – current playlist contents; 3 – Media Player playback controls.

Creating a Media Player

Adding the MediaPlayer node in the Node Graph Editor tab will create a corresponding Media Player window in the Media Player tab.

Media Player Controls

  1. The Playback Bar displays the playback progress and provides additional media item playback controls and settings.
  2. Play Selected Item starts playback of a selected media item.
  3. Play starts playback from the current playhead position.
  4. Pause freezes playback at the current playhead position.
  5. Stop ends playback.
  6. Step One Frame Back moves the playhead one frame back.
  7. Step One Frame Forward advances the playhead one frame forward.
  8. Thumbnail Size Sliders adjust scale and width of the current playlist media item thumbnails.
  9. Color Correction controls global color correction for the Media Player’s output (see Color Correction).
  10. Volume Control adjusts the global audio volume for the Media Player’s output.

Playback Bar

  1. Name of the media item.
  2. Duration display shows the current time (or frame) information in relation to the duration of a media item.
  3. Playhead shows the playback progress.
  4. In Point slider position defines the first frame of the playback.
  5. Out Point slider position defines the last frame of the playback.

Playback Bar Context Menu

Right-clicking on the playback bar area opens the related context menu:

  • Jump to Frame allows entering the frame number for positioning of the playhead.
  • Mark In Point sets the first frame of playback at the current cursor position.
  • Mark Out Point sets the last frame of playback at the current cursor position.
  • Reset In/Out Points resets the In and Out Points to their default state.
  • Tag Frame allows assigning a tag to the frame at the current cursor position.
  • Jump to Tagged Frame displays a list of currently tagged frames and allows moving the playhead to a selected tagged frame.
  • Split at Frame (frame#) allows splitting the media item at the current playhead position frame by creating two instances of the media item where the first will be played from the beginning to the selected frame, and the second from the selected frame to the end.

Duration Display

Right-clicking on the Duration Display allows switching between the three different display modes:

  1. Current playback time/total media item duration (hh:mm:ss)  
  2. Current frame count/total media item frame count
  3. Remaining playback time of the media item (hh:mm:ss)

If Out Point is set the } symbol is added to the Duration Display in all three display modes and the duration (or frame count) is calculated according to the Out Point instead of to the end of the media item .

Playlists, Timelines and Groups

Media items can be organized into Playlists or placed on Timelines

When the Media Player window is created it has one empty Playlist by default.

To simplify work with numerous playlists and timelines, they can be additionally combined into Groups.

Adding a Playlist

  1. Click the Add Playlist button at the bottom of the playlist tree area in the Media Player window.
  2. Enter the playlist name.
  3. Click OK.

Adding a Timeline

  1. Click the Add Timeline button at the bottom of the playlist tree area in the Media Player window.
  2. Enter the timeline name.
  3. Click OK.

Adding a Group

  1. Click the Add Group button at the bottom of the playlist tree area in the Media Player window.
  2. Enter the group name.
  3. Click OK.

Adding a Playlist or Timeline to the Group

To add a new playlist or timeline to an existing group, right-click on the group name and select Add Playlist (Add Timeline) in the drop-down menu, or select the group name and press the Add Playlist (Add Timeline) button at the bottom of the playlist tree area. Similarly, selecting Add Group in the drop-down menu or pressing the Add Group button will create a nested group.

Note:
To show/hide group contents, press the +/- icons next to the group icon.

Deleting a Playlist, Timeline or Group

Right-clicking on the playlist, timeline, or group name and selecting Delete in the drop-down menu will delete the playlist, timeline, or group.

Renaming a Playlist, Timeline or Group

  1. Right-click on the playlist, timeline, or group name and select Rename in the drop-down menu
  2. Enter a new name in the Enter Playlist/Timeline/Group name dialog box
  3. Click OK.

Arranging Playlists, Timelines and Groups

  • Use Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the playlists tree.
  • To change playlists, timelines, or the sequential order of groups, drag and drop them into the playlists tree, or right-click on the name and select Move up (Ctrl+Up) or Move down (Ctrl+Down) in the drop-down menu.
  • To move a playlist, timeline, or group into a playlist group, drag and drop it over a group name or its contents.

Playlist and Timeline Playback Indication

If a media item in the playlist or the timeline is currently being played, paused, or stopped, the corresponding indicators will appear next to the playlist/timeline name (or group name if contents of the current group are hidden).

Number of Playlist or Timeline Media Items

The number next to the playlist or timeline name in the playlist tree and playlist/timeline contents header corresponds to the number of media items currently contained in the playlist or used in the timeline composition.

Locking and Unlocking Playlists and Timelines

A playlist/timeline can be locked to prevent accidental modification. Locking and unlocking of a specific playlist/timeline are toggled by clicking the padlock icon next to a playlist name. A locked playlist/timeline (red padlock icon) cannot be modified. An unlocked playlist/timeline (grey padlock icon) is open for modification.

Making Playlists Available for Playback Control with a Presentation Clicker

Logitech® presentation clicker (remote control)

A presentation clicker may be used to control the playback of playlists in Screenberry.

To turn on the functionality of playback control with a presentation clicker, open Preferences > General and check the Presentation Clicker checkbox.

The playlist’s availability for presentation clicker-controlled playback is toggled by clicking the P icon next to a playlist name (green – available, grey – hidden from such playback control).

Refer to your presentation clicker device manual to find more information about its functionality.

Enabling Mapping for Playlists and Timelines

Toggling the M icon next to a playlist/timeline name switches between states of listening to (blue) and ignoring (grey) MIDI/Keyboard events for a playlist/timeline (media items).

Adding Media Item(s) to the Playlist

To add a media item(s) from the Media Library:

  1. Select the Playlist in the Media Player window to open this playlist;
  2. Drag and drop the media item(s) from the Media Library to the playlist contents section of the Media Player, or select media item(s) in the Media Library and use Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations to perform this action.

Media items can be also added to the playlist directly (i.e. from the Windows File Explorer folder):

  1. Select the Playlist in the Media Player window to open this playlist;
  2. Drag and drop the file(s), or use Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations to perform this action.
  3. In the opened Adding File(s) dialog box resize or change the quality of media item(s) if needed, then press the Add button.

A media item and all subsequent media items directly added to the playlist on the same date are uploaded to the automatically created Media Library uploads folder for this date (named Uploaded_on_YYYY-MM-DD).

If a media item(s) with the same name already already exist, the user will be given the option to add new media item(s) or overwrite existing one(s).

List of currently supported file formats:

Videomov, avi, mp4, flv, mkv, vob, ogv, wmv, mpg, m2v, 3gp, m4v, ts, gif, m2t, m2ts, mxf
Imagejpg, tga, png, bmp, tif
Audiowav, mp3, aif, wma, ogg, ac3, aac, m4a, flac, ape
Subtitlessrt
Internal formatsRVA, EDVA, EDV, EDVI, ERVA, license

Media Item(s) Playback

There are a few options available to start Media Item(s) playback:

  1. Press the Play button to start playback from the current playhead position.
  2. Select the Media Item in the playlist contents section and press the Play Selected button.
  3. Hold the Alt key (the mouse pointer will turn into an orange Play symbol) and click on the media item in the playlist .

The last two options are often used when there is a need to switch playback to the particular media item on the fly.

Arranging Media Items in a Playlist

A user can transfer or copy media item(s) using drag and drop or Copy (Ctrl+C), Cut (Ctrl+X) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations

  • in the single playlist of the Media Player window to change the order of the media items playback,
  • between different playlists in the same Media Player window, or
  • between playlists of different Media Player windows.

When media item(s) are transferred or copied between playlists, they retain their playback settings.

Also, the media item information and its playback settings can be copied to and from the text editor using Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations.

Deleting Media Item(s)

Right-clicking on a media item and selecting Delete from the drop-down menu (or pressing the Del button) will delete the media item from the Media Player playlist.

Removing Media Item(s) from the Media Library

Right-clicking on a media item and selecting Remove Item from Media Library from the drop-down menu (or pressing Shift+Del buttons) will remove the media item from the Media Library.

Note: When a media item is removed from the Media Library, the thumbnails of its instances in all Media Player playlists will be crossed off to indicate that a media item is not available for playback. 

If a media item with the same name is later added to the Media Library, the thumbnails of its instances in all Media Player playlists will resume active state, and it will become available for playback.

Renaming or Labeling of a Media Item

Right-clicking on a media item and selecting Rename from the drop-down menu will rename the media item in the Media Player playlist.

Note:
Using the Rename function changes the name of all media item instances in the Media Library and Media Player playlists where it is present.

Note:
The media item cannot be renamed if it’s currently playing in any of the existing Media Players.

The user can also assign a label to a media item by right-clicking on a media item, selecting Settings from the drop-down menu, and entering a label name in the Label field of the Settings dialog box. The label name will replace the media item name in the Media Player playlist. It affects only the current media item and playlist.

Sorting Media Items

Right-clicking in the Media Player playlist and using the Sort by submenu allows the user to sort media items in the Media Player playlist by Frame Count, Name, Label, Color Tags, or Shuffle them.

Previewing a Media Item

Selecting a media item in the Media Library or Media Player playlist and pressing the spacebar (or right-clicking on a media item and selecting Item Preview in the drop-down menu) will open the Item Preview window.

Note:
Media items are previewed in a lower resolution.

Note:
Previewing a media element does not affect the current playback

Note:
The link between nodes can be created both ways. You can drag the link line from the output pin to the input pin or from the input pin to the output pin.

Note:
If a media item has more than one audio track, the first audio track will be selected for the preview.

Setting a Poster Frame for a Media Item

When previewing a media item in the Media Item Preview window, select a frame by moving the playhead, or by playing the media item, and press the Set Poster Frame button to change the thumbnail image for all media item instances in the Media Library and playlists and timelines.

Broadcasting Media Item from the Preview Window

Advanced settings in the Media Item Preview window allow the user to synchronize media server playback with the media item preview by

  • pressing the Broadcast Current Frame button, which will start playback from the current frame of the media item (all following actions in the Media Item Preview window would not be reflected in the playback), or
  • checking the Broadcast Live box, which will mirror all playback actions (Play, Stop, Pause, or positioning of the playhead) performed in the Media Item Preview window. In this case, the On Air notice will be displayed in the Media Item Preview window.

Revealing Currently Playing Media Item

The user can quickly find the currently playing item by right-clicking in the playlists tree or Media Player playlist and selecting Reveal Active Item in the drop-down menu, or pressing A key.

Setting Loop Mode for Media Item(s)

To play a media item in the loop, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and 

  • enter the number of the loops in the Loops field, or
  • check the Infinite Loop box if you want a media item to be played in the loop continuously.

To create a playback loop group of a few media items, select media items to be played in the loop, right-click on them, and select Loop Through Selected Items from the drop-down menu (or press Shift+L).

Setting In and Out Points for a Media Item

To set In Point and Out Point for a media item

  • move In Point slider to set the first frame of playback (and Out Point slider to set the last frame of playback) in the Media Player playback bar, or
  • right-click on the Media Player playback bar and select Mark In Point (Mark Out Point) in the drop-down menu for a particular frame, or
  • right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and enter the exact frame number in In Point (Out Point) fields.

Setting Media Item Playback to Pause at the Start or End

To pause a media item playback at the start or end, right-click on a media item and

  • select Pause on First Frame  (or press [ key) / select Pause on Last Frame (or press ] key) in the drop-down menu, or
  • select Settings in the drop-down menu, check the Pause on First Frame / Pause on Last Frame boxes.

Setting Fade In for a Media Item

To set fade in for a media item playback, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and enter time or a number of frames in the Fade In field.

Mapping Media Item to MIDI/Keyboard Event

For mapping a media item to keyboard (or mouse) events:

  1. Right-click on a media item in the Media Player playlist and select Map Item to MIDI/Keyboard Event in the drop-down menu (a yellow overlay is added to the media item indicating that it has resumed the state of waiting for the mapping input).
  2. Switch to the Node Graph tab and add a Keyboard (or Mouse) node.
  3. Connect the created Keyboard (or Mouse) node to the Media Player node via the Messages pins.
  4. Switch to the Screenberry Server (output) window.
  5. Press the key you want to map to, i.e. Z (or make a mouse click you want to map to, i.e. a left-click)
  6. Switch back to the Media Player tab, and see that the media item mapping is completed, indicated by the letter Z (or M Left) in the top left corner of the media item thumbnail.

To see detailed information on the current mapping of a media item, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and review the MIDI/Key Mappings section. There you can unmap individual events by pressing the Unmap button next to the event description.

You can also remove all mapping of a media item by right-clicking on a media item, and selecting Unmap Item in the drop-down menu.

Media Item Audio Track(s)

Each media item can have a number of audio tracks. To select an audio track for a media item playback, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and use the Audio Track (N) select option.

To add an audio track to a media item, drag and drop the audio file over a media item thumbnail in the Media Player playlist contents section (or the Media Library) and press the Add Audio button in the pop-up dialog window.

Changing Media Item Frame Rate (FPS)

To change a media item playback frame rate, right-click on a media item, select Reveal Item in Media Library in the drop-down menu, right-click on a media item in the Media Library window, select Change FPS for Selected Item in the drop-down menu, and enter the number in Set FPS field in the opened dialog box.

Setting Multiply by Alpha for Media Item

To set Multiply by Alpha for a media item playback, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and check the Multiply by Alpha box.

Sending and Receiving Timecode

Playback of media items, playlists and timelines can be controlled by sending and receiving timecode. 

Media Items

A media item playback can be initiated at a particular timecode. To set a media item playback, start at the timecode, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, check the Play on Timecode box and enter time or frame values in the Play on Timecode field.

Additionally, a media item can send a timecode to control consequent processes, including triggering external software and hardware events. To set a media item to send a timecode, right-click on the media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, check the Send Timecode box, and enter time or frame values in the Send Timecode field.

Playlists

A playlist playback can be initiated at a particular timecode. To set a playlist to listen to a timecode, click on the clock icon next to a playlist name (blue – accepts a timecode, grey – ignores a timecode), or right-click on a playlist name, select Preferences in the drop-down menu, and check the Accept Timecode box.

Timelines

A timeline playback can be initiated at a particular timecode. To set a timeline to listen to a timecode, click on the clock icon next to a timeline name (blue – accepts a timecode, grey – ignores a timecode), or right-click on a timeline name, select Preferences in the drop-down menu, and check the Accept Timecode box.

A timeline can also send a timecode. To enable a timeline to send a timecode, click on the T icon next to a timeline name (green – enables a timecode output, grey – disables a timecode output), or right-click on a timeline name, select Preferences in the drop-down menu, and check the Output Timecode box.

A timeline playback start can be delayed by setting a timecode offset. To set a timecode offset, right-click on a timeline name, select Preferences in the drop-down menu, and enter time or frame values in the Timecode Offset field.

Note:
As the Media Player playback can only be started once, only a single playlist or timeline included in the Media Player can be set to listen to a timecode input. When a playlist or timeline is selected to listen to timecode by clicking the icon, the previous selection will be removed.

Disabling Video Output of a Media Item

To disable video output for a media item, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and check the Disable Video Track box.

Note: When video output of a media item is disabled, the audio track is still being played during playback.

Adding Subtitles to a Media Item

Screenberry can display subtitles and captions in SRT format.

To add subtitles to a media item playback:

  1. Drag and drop the .srt file over a media item thumbnail in the Media Player playlist contents section (or the Media Library), and press the Add subtitles button in the pop-up dialog window to add subtitles to a media item. 
  2. Switch to the Node Graph tab, and (assuming you have already set up the MediaPlayer node to Display node playback)
    • add TextImage and BezierPatch nodes to create subtitles output to playback (the combination of the nodes could be different depending on your output goals), 
    • connect the MediaPlayer node Subtitles output pin to the TextImage node Text input pin,
    • connect the TextImage node Image output pin to the BezierPatch node Source input pin,
    • connect the BezierPatch node Patch output pin to the Display node Patches input pin.
  3. Switch to the Media Player tab to start a media item playback, and see in the Screenberry Server (output) window that subtitles have been added to the playback.
  4. Switch to the Node Graph tab, and adjust the look and feel of the subtitles output in the Settings of the TextImage node (size, font, font size, color, etc.) and the BezierPatch node (opacity, scaling algorithm, blend mode, etc.)

Adding User Comments to Media Item

To add comments to a media item playback, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and enter comments in the Comments text area. The comments tooltip will be displayed when the mouse cursor is over the icon in the playlist contents area.

Media Item Indicators

Media item indicators are displayed over a media item thumbnail and provide information about its current settings and status.

Media Item Type Indicator

 – image file
– video file

Playback Indicator displays the playback state of the current media item.

– the item is playing
– the item is paused
– the item is stopped

Sound Indicator displays the playback state of the current media item.

– a media item has an audio track
– audio output is muted

Duration information displays the media item duration (in seconds). If an In Point and/or Out Point are set, brackets are added to signify as much and duration is calculated from In Point (to Out Point).

Playback / Fade In Indicators

– the number of Fade In frames
– the number of playback loops
– infinite playback loop
– play the next media item after playing this one
– pause the media item playback at the start
– pause the media item playback at the end

Color Correction Indicator

– color correction has been applied to the media item

Mapping Information

 – a list of keyboard and mouse events the media item playback is mapped to

Comments Indicator

– comments added to the media item and displayed on the mouse cursor over the indicator icon

Changing playback speed of Media Item with the Slider

To change the playback speed of a media item:

  1. switch to the Node Graph tab, and add a Slider node, 
  2. connect the Slider node Out output pin to the MediaPlayer node Playback Speed input pin,
  3. set the range of the possible speed adjustments by changing the values of the Minimum and Maximum text fields in the Slider node Settings window,
  4. switch to the Media Player tab and adjust the playback speed of a media item using the slider in User Controls window,
  5. restart the playback of a media item.

Timeline View

  1. Timeline name and information.
  2. Duration display shows the time of the current playhead position in relation to the total timeline playback duration.
  3. Cursor position time display shows the time corresponding to the current cursor position.
  4. Tracks area.
  5. General Timeline Settings (Add New Track, Snapping Toggle, Timeline Preferences).
  6. Track Settings drop-down menu.
  7. Playback Controls Play Selected Item, Play, Pause, and Stop buttons.
  8. Media Items placed on the timeline.
  9. Time Scale bar.
  10. Position Guide.
  11. Playhead Marker.
  12. Current Cursor Position Marker.
  13. End of Playback Marker.
  14. Color Correction allows color correction for the timeline output.
  15. Volume Control adjusts the audio volume for the timeline output.

Adding New Tracks

To add a new track to the timeline:

  • Press the button in the Timeline Settings panel, or
  • Right-click on the Tracks area and select Insert Track in the drop-down menu.
  • Drag and drop media item(s) from the Media Library or another Media Player playlist or timeline to the Tracks area or over the timeline name will automatically create a timeline track with placed media item(s).

Note:
The tracks in the timeline are stacked bottom up, which means that top tracks overlay lower ones.

Renaming Tracks

To rename a timeline track press the button on the Track panel, select Rename in the drop-down menu, and enter a new name for the track.

Deleting Tracks

To delete a timeline track press the button on the Track panel, and select Delete in the drop-down menu.

Setting Color Tags for Tracks

To sat a color tag for a timeline track press the button on the Track panel, select Set Color Tag in the drop-down menu, and choose color to be assigned for the track.

Adding Media Item(s) to Timeline

To add a media item(s) from the Media Library or another Media Player playlist or timeline, drag and drop the media item(s) to the Track Area, or select media item(s) and use Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations.

Media items can be also added to the playlist directly (i.e. from the Windows File Explorer folder):

  1. Drag and drop the file(s) to the Track Area, or select the Track and use Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations to perform this action.
  2. In the opened Adding File(s) dialog box, select a media item(s) to resize or change its quality if needed, then press the Add button.

Arranging Media Item(s) on the Timeline

Select media item(s) and drag and drop, or use Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) operations to position media item(s) anywhere on the track or move between the tracks. Paste (Ctrl+V) will copy media item(s) to the selected track starting at the current Position Guide location.

The exact position for a media item on the track can be also set by right-clicking on a media item, selecting Item Settings from the drop-down menu, and entering the desired value in the Position field of the Item Settings dialog box.

Note:
When more than one media item is selected and then moved or copied between tracks the time gaps between them will remain the same.

Note:
Media item(s) cannot be copied or moved into a place on the track currently occupied by other media items.

Positioning Media Item(s) Using Snap

For precise positioning of the media item(s), turn on Snapping by pressing the toggle in the Timeline Settings panel. It will allow the media item to snap to the nearest marker or other media items.

Deleting a Media Item

Right-clicking on a media item and selecting Delete from the drop-down menu (or pressing the Del button) will delete the media item from the track.

Zooming In and Out on a Timeline

To zoom in and out on a timeline, position the cursor on the Track Area and use the mouse scroll wheel.

Timeline Playback

There are a few options available to start timeline playback:

  1. Press the Play button to start playback from the current Playhead Marker position.
  2. Select the media item in the Track Area and press the Play Selected button.

Hold the Alt key (the mouse cursor will turn into an orange Play symbol) and click on the media item in the Track Area.

Trimming a Media Item

Hold and drag the white square handles on the sides of a media item thumbnail to change its starting time (left handle) and duration (right handle), or right-click on a media item, select Item Settings from the drop-down menu, and enter values in the Start from and Duration fields of the Item Settings dialog box. The square handles will change to triangles to indicate that the media item has been trimmed.

Setting Fade In and Fade Out for a Media Item

Hold and drag the yellow triangular handles in the top corners of a media item thumbnail to set fade in and fade out time for a media item, or right-click on a media item, select Item Settings from the drop-down menu, and enter the required values in the Fade In and Fade Out fields of the Item Settings dialog box.

Setting Control Points

To set a control point, right-click on the Time Scale bar, select Control Point from the drop-down menu, and enter its name in the opened dialog box.

Setting Action Points

To set an action point, right-click on the Time Scale bar, select Action Point > Type of Action Point from the drop-down menu.

Color Correction

There two levels of color correction that are cumulative and applied sequentially:

  • first, color correction of an individual media item;
  • second, general color correction of the Media Player playback output.

Media Item Color Correction

To access the color correction controls of a media item, right-click on a media item, select Settings in the drop-down menu, and press the Color Correction button in the Image Adjustment field.

Media Player Playback Output Color Correction

To access the Media Player playback output color correction controls press the Color Correction button in the Media Player window.

Color Correction Controls

Channel Selector

Color Correction can be applied to Red, Green, Blue color channels separately or to all channels at the same time. Select the channel you want to adjust with the Channel Selector.

Contrast & Brightness Sliders

Drag the sliders or enter a value in the corresponding text fields to adjust the Contrast and Brightness settings.

Adjustment with Curves

To adjust image settings with curves

  • Click on the curve line to create a control point;
  • Drag the control point or enter values in the X and Y text fields to change its coordinates.

Double-click the control point to remove it.

Hue, Saturation, and Lightness Sliders

Drag the sliders or enter a value in the corresponding text fields to adjust the Hue (H), Saturation (S), and Lightness (L) settings.

Restoring Default Correction Color Settings

Press the Reset button to restore default color settings.

Saving Color Correction Settings

Press the Save button to save color correction settings to a Json file with a .cc extension.

Applying Saved Color Correction Settings

Press the Load button to load a previously saved Json (*.cc) file with color correction settings.