compiling a "news feed" playlist

[dave-t]

I will shortly be running a news feed at the top of the hour.

I think, I have worked out how to do this by running a number of schedules one after the other but was wondering if there is an easier way - via a "playlist" created using PLG Pro ?

1. Play News Intro (at the end...)
2. Play News Bed (3 minutes long...)
3. Play news feed from external file source over the top of the news bed (At end of feed)
4. Play news outro - terminating the news bed before the outro starts

Creating a single playlist would be easier to schedule rather than 4 schedules one after the other

 

[radiodungog]

Dace,

What we have done is create a mini playlist for our news with this inside:

1. News intro
2. News (same name every time so new news can overwrite old news file)
3. News outro

Then our scheduler just calls up the news playlist


Jamie C.

 

[dave-t]

Dace,

What we have done is create a mini playlist for our news with this inside:

1. News intro
2. News (same name every time so new news can overwrite old news file)
3. News outro

Then our scheduler just calls up the news playlist


Jamie C.

Yep that is easy to do but what I am looking to do is overlay the new bulletin on top of a bed.

I can see how to do that within a schecdule event but not how to compile that into a playlist

See image below

 

[djsoft]

I'm afraid it's not possible... When you play a playlist all tracks are played in sequence, one after another.

You can try this approach (untested):
1. copy News Bed file to Voice Tracks folder
2. for News file in the Track Tool set "Intro" to the end of the file
3. the plylist will look like:
- Intro
- News Bed (from VT folder)
- News
- Outro

There's a limitation that News bed and news should have same duration.

I think you should prepare a news file (mix news file with bed) and play it as usual.

 

[dave-t]

I'm afraid it's not possible... When you play a playlist all tracks are played in sequence, one after another.

I don't give that easily  I will have a play 

I think you should prepare a news file (mix news file with bed) and play it as usual.

That is what is not possible as the new bulletin is from an external source

If I create the intro + Bed + outtro as a single file and run that as a schedule then - a few seconds later - call the news bulletin and "overlay it" ? that would work ? - I think ?

 

[djsoft]

If I create the intro + Bed + outtro as a single file and run that as a schedule then - a few seconds later - call the news bulletin and "overlay it" ? that would work ? - I think ?

It will work, but there's a synchronization problem. The news file duration have to be the same as bed duration, so when news track ends, the "intro+bed+outro" playback should reach a point when Outro is started.

How do you get this news file by the way? It's possible to process audio files (eg. mix news with bed, append intro/outro) using command line tools like SOX: http://sox.sourceforge.net/ - you can use run scheduler command  to prepare a news file. But as you see all this will take some time to setup...

 

[dave-t]

If I create the intro + Bed + outtro as a single file and run that as a schedule then - a few seconds later - call the news bulletin and "overlay it" ? that would work ? - I think ?

It will work, but there's a synchronization problem. The news file duration have to be the same as bed duration, so when news track ends, the "intro+bed+outro" playback should reach a point when Outro is started.

How do you get this news file by the way? It's possible to process audio files (eg. mix news with bed, append intro/outro) using command line tools like SOX: http://sox.sourceforge.net/ - you can use run scheduler command  to prepare a news file. But as you see all this will take some time to setup...

Once my subscription starts to the news feed I will have to test it properly. The news bulletin is exactly 3 minutes long so I would have the bed length say 3:05 to allow for buffering. the news bulletin is simply called from a permalink so a simple http request

I do have the option to download the file by FTP and process it but that would mean setting up other schedules and running other processes in the background - more things to go wrong !

 

[dave-t]

If anyone is looking for an English language news feed here is one which cost US$15 per month

http://www.lpfmnews.net/

 

[djsoft]

Once my subscription starts to the news feed I will have to test it properly. The news bulletin is exactly 3 minutes long so I would have the bed length say 3:05 to allow for buffering. the news bulletin is simply called from a permalink so a simple http request

If news is exactly 3 minutes that makes things easier. The approach with two events will work.

I was checking request list and found a similar one: add bed for file type. This will be useful for news, automatic weather/time announcements and maybe something else.
Expect this feature in one of the 4.9.x updates

 

[dave-t]

Just done a test and when I call the news from the external source it does not run in the AUX player on 4.9 Beta

The log shows the event with 09:00:03 [A] Schedule ..//www. but nothing happens ??

The event runs fine if NOT set to run as an overlay

 

[djsoft]

Looks like a bug. Will be fixed in the next 4.9 update.

 

[dave-t]

I was coming to that conclusion myself - thanks for spotting it 

 

[radiodungog]

Dave,

That price of $15 per month is amazing.  Our Australian news + sports insert costs about $280 per month and includes about 16 bulletins per day.  We consider it very good but expensive for a little community radio station ... but it's essential to have.


Jamie C.

 

[dave-t]

The news feed is very generic.

In the UK we would pay UK?2,000 per year for a UK news feed as an "internet" radio station 

 

[radiodungog]

Dave,

I listened to the news samples - outstanding !  Well done ...


Jamie C.