Operator's Manual

OPERATOR’S MANUAL www.multiscreen.biz [email protected] MultiScree

TRADEMARKS

"MultiScreen" and the MultiScreen logo are registered trademarks of MultiScreen Pty. Ltd.. All other trademarked names used herein are used for the purposes of identification and for the benefit of the trademark holder. No infringe- ment of trademarks is intended. Trademarks remain the property of the trademark holder.

LICENSE

You have purchased the right to use the MultiScreen software registered in your name on MultiScreen hardware (also registered in your name) only and not on any other computer. No part of this documentation nor the hardware or software described within may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, scanned, stored mechanically or electronically, or translated into any language without the prior written permission of MultiScreen Pty. Ltd.. You may not transfer or duplicate the software from the media that it was provided on for anything other than your own back-up purposes, and copyright and registered user information must be transferred to each back-up copy made. You may not distribute copies of the software or accompanying documentation to others. You may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or modify the hardware or software, nor attempt to unlock, decode or bypass any copy protection methods that have been utilised.

MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. reserves the right to make improvements and modifications at any time to the products described in this manual, and to the contents of this manual and other related documentation. While every effort is made to ensure the correctness of the manual‟s content, MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. cannot guarantee its accuracy after publication and dis- claims liability for any changes, errors and omissions, or damages resulting there from.

WARRANTY

The MultiScreen system is fully guaranteed against any manufacturing defects or faulty workmanship for one full year from the date of purchase. MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. warrants that it will repair (or at its option replace) any part of a Mul- tiScreen system which in the opinion of MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. or its authorised service agent, is defective by reason of faulty workmanship or materials during this period for parts and/or labour providing the MultiScreen unit has been installed and used in accordance with the MultiScreen Operator‟s Manual. Please take note of the following conditions : (a) This warranty is issued only at the time of original purchase; it is non-transferable. (b) MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. will not accept freight charges or insurance responsibility for any MultiScreen units returned unless prior approval has been granted by MultiScreen Pty. Ltd.. (c) This warranty will be void if in the opinion of MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. the cause of the defect is, or includes, misuse, accident, service or repair by any unauthorised person or company, or alterations made or damage occurring in any other way. (d) This warranty will be rendered void if any third party software not authorised by MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. is loaded onto the MultiScreen system. (e) A service fee will be charged for service only where the fault is found not to be in the MultiScreen unit.

MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. shall not in any case be liable for damages or loss of anticipated profits or benefits or other inci- dental or consequential expenses or damages, including without limitation any data or information which may be lost or rendered inaccurate, arising from the use or misuse of its products, even if MultiScreen has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

2 MultiScree

Contents

Dear Customer 9

Specifications 10

Setting Up the Production Unit 11 Unpacking Your Production Unit...... 11 Where to put the Production Unit ...... 12 Connections ...... 13 Front Panel 13 Rear Panel 13 Connecting the Power Cable 14 Connecting an Operating Monitor 14 Connection to a Television Monitor 14 Connecting the Keyboard and Mouse 15 Connection to Public Display TV‟s 15 Connection to Network (Internet) 15 Other Connections 15 Caring for Your Production Unit ...... 16 Care of the Production Unit 16 Shock Precautions 17 Transporting the System 18 Cleaning the System 18

General Operation 19 Using the Keyboard and Mouse ...... 21 Using On-Screen Controls ...... 23 Using the Sequence Editor ...... 24 Sequence Preview Mode and Display Mode 27 Preview Mode 27 Display Mode 28 Keyboard Lock 28 Inserting a New Screen 29 Moving a Screen 30 Cloning a Screen 31 Deleting a Screen 32 Copy, Cut and Paste 33 Using the Screen Editor ...... 34 Adding a Graphic to a Screen 36 Selecting a Transition for a Screen 39 Setting the Display Times for a Screen 40 Adding Text to a Screen 43 Text Appearance 44 Alignment 45

3 MultiScree

Tab Stops 46 Adding Tab Stops 46 Deleting Tab Stops 48 Cut, Copy and Paste 49 Undo 49 Save & Exit 49 Text Appearance 50 Adding a Scroller to a Screen 52 Adding a News Feed to a Scroller 55 Configuring News Feeds 57 Subscribe to a Recommended News Feed 58 Manually Add a News Feed 59 Modify a Subscribed News Feed 62 Test a Subscribed News Feed 62 Delete a Subscribed News Feed 64 More Information About News Feeds 64 Adding a Clock to a Screen 67 Adding a Sound to a Screen 71 Changing an Element on a Standard Screen 72 Removing an Element from a Standard Screen 73 Creating Multiple Screens 74 Inserting a DVD Title into a Sequence 76 Inserting a Video into a Sequence 79 Linking Sequences 83 Deleting a Linked Sequence Screen, PlayVideo Screen or Play DVD Screen 86 Freezing a Sequence on the Screen 87 Print Screen 88 Installation of the MCS_PrintScreen Application 88 Paper Orientation 90 Using the PrintScreen feature 91 Advanced Options 93 Selecting a Screen 93 Deleting a Screen 93 Deleting All Screens 93 Using the Sequence Scheduler ...... 94 The Master Sequence 95 Scheduling a Sequence 96 Using the DVD Scheduler ...... 98 Scheduling a DVD 98 Scheduling Multiple DVD Titles 101 DVD Format 101 Shutting down the Production Unit ...... 103

4 MultiScree

Advanced Operation 104 Setting Defaults ...... 105 Setting the Time and Date ...... 107 Changing the System Settings ...... 109 Positioning the Screen 109 Setting the Output Frequency 111 Automatic System Reboot 112 Network Folders 113 Adding Network Folders 113 Changing Network Folders 118 Removing Network Folders 119 Backup and Restore ...... 120 The USB Flash Disk 120 Automatic Backup 120 Scheduled Backups 122 StartUp Backups 123 Manual Backup 124 Manual Restore 126 Save Sequences 128 Load Sequences 133 The Graphic Manager ...... 136 Graphic Categories 137 Loading a Graphic 138 Renaming a Graphic 140 Moving a Graphic 141 Deleting a Graphic 142 Digital Camera Initialisation 143 The Sound Manager ...... 145 Loading a Sound 146 Renaming a Sound 148 Deleting a Sound 149 The Video Manager ...... 150 Video Categories 151 Loading a Video 152 About Video Codecs 154 Renaming a Video 155 Moving a Video 156 Deleting a Video 157 Transfer Sequences ...... 158 Transfer Sequences Set-up 158 Transferring Sequences 161 Displaying External Video ...... 164 Creating Your Own Graphics ...... 165 Creating Your Own Videos ...... 166

5 MultiScree

Network & Internet Configuration ...... 168

Additional Options 172 Random Number Generator ...... 173 The External Keypad 173 Overview of Operation 174 Setting the Random Number Generator Options 175 Setting the Random Number Limits in Display Mode 180 Drawing a Random Number 181 The Summary Screen 184 The Countdown Timer 186 Resuming a Draw 187 Viewing the RNG Draw History 188 Playing a Bingo! Draw 189 Configuring the Bingo Draw 190 Meal Number Control ...... 193 The External Keypad 193 Keypad Operation 194 Adding a Meal Number 194 Deleting a Meal Number 195 Meal Number Display Screens 196 New Meal Number Display Screen 196 Meal Number Reminder Screens 196 Configuration 198 Setting the Meal Number Control Options 198 Meal Number Display Screen Settings 201 Meal Number Appearance Settings 203 Meal Number Size & Position 205 Advanced Settings 206 Instant Message Activator ...... 208 The External Keypad 208 Overview of Operation 209 Activating an Instant Message 210 Cancelling an Instant Message 211 Setting up Instant Messages 213 Setting up a Sequence as an Instant Message 214 Setting up a Sound as an Instant Message 216 Instant Message Configuration 218 Portrait Orientation ...... 220 Monitor & TV Orientation 221 Editing Mode 222 Graphic Dimensions 222 Display of Videos 223 Sequence Compatibility 223

6 MultiScree

Key Command Summary 224 Display Mode 224 Preview Mode 224 Sequence Editor 224 Screen Editor 225 Graphic Selector 225 Text Editor 225 Text Appearance Selector 226

Glossary 227

Warranty 229

Index 230

7 MultiScree

8 MultiScree

Dear Customer

Welcome,

The MultiScreen In House TV Production Unit has been designed to satisfy the growing demand for effective information display equip- ment.

After many years of research and development we have manufactured this unit to maximise your point-of-sale advertising and/or information distribution. Incorporated into this machine is the latest technology that will ensure simple, trouble-free operation. Various optional features are available to help customise the TV Production Unit to suit your particular installation.

Should you have any further enquiries regarding this machine, whether it be for service or maximising its potential for your business, please contact us.

We wish you every success.

9 MultiScree

Specifications

 The MultiScreen In House TV Production Unit has the capacity to generate any number of information screens comprising any combination of graphics, text, sound and other elements.

 Can output to any television or group of televisions via AV output or RF output. Can also connect to a computer monitor via VGA output.

 A choice of 16 background and text colours, and a wide range of fonts that may be expanded.

 The ability to display the current time on screen using a virtual analogue or digital clock.

 Can generate scrolling text messages over any standard information screen in a range of colours, speeds and styles.

 Animated transitions between standard information screens.

 Video content can be played from a wide range of video file formats or directly from a DVD video disc.

 Scheduling software allows individual screens or whole sequences to be displayed at specific times.

 Optional Random Number Generator and Bingo function.

 Optional Meal Number Control.

 Optional Instant Message Activator.

 The Production Unit comes complete with a 12-month warranty.

10 MultiScree

Setting Up the Production Unit Unpacking Your Production Unit

When unpacking your MultiScreen In House TV Communication Sys- tem, you should find the following items included in the container:

 MultiScreen TV Production Unit  MultiScreen Keyboard  MultiScreen Mouse  MultiScreen Operator‟s Manual (this book)  2 USB Flash Disks  Powerboard  Cables and Connectors

11 MultiScree

Where to put the Production Unit

A cleared-off desk or table is a perfect location. Look out for the proximity of a power outlet and a local area network Ethernet cable or wall socket.

You should try to avoid dirt, dust and smoke, since these might cause system failure. Also, keep your Production Unit away from strong magnetic fields. This includes fans, air conditioners, radios, large speaker systems, and other electric motors.

Do not set up your system in a room with extreme conditions of temperature and humidity. Temperatures in a room too hot or too cold could cause your Produc- tion Unit to misbehave. Dampness causes oxidation, and dryness causes static electricity.

Heat is probably the single most damaging environmental element to the Produc- tion Unit. Because of this, never push the rear of the unit against a bookcase, wall, or anything that restricts the air from circulating freely around the entire case. Do not place a TV or monitor directly on top of the unit. If the fan outlet on the back of the Production Unit or any of the ventilation holes are blocked, heat builds up inside the computer. A marginal heat problem can be exacerbated by accumulated filth from dirt, dust and smoke.

Do not place the Production Unit in direct sunlight, near a radiator, lamp, or a heat vent. Remember that heat causes electronic circuitry to behave in strange ways. When electronic components heat up, they tend to fail. If this happens, it may not be a permanent failure, but could lead to one.

12 MultiScree

Connections

7 1

12 22 13 2 17 1 18 5 6 14 19 16 21 5 3 4 20 11 8 15 9 23 10

Front Panel Rear Panel 1. CD/DVD ROM Drive 7. POWER [IEC] 100-240V 50-60Hz AC Input. 2. POWER SWITCH Used to switch the unit on. (Note: 8. MOUSE [USB] Connection for the USB mouse. (Any Always shut down the Production Unit as described on available USB port may be used.) page 103 of this manual rather than using this switch to 9. KEYBOARD [USB] Connection for the USB keyboard. (Any available USB port may be used.) turn it off.) 10. BACKUP FLASH DISK [USB] Connection of USB 3. USB PORTS Flash Disk for automatic backups. (Any available USB 4. POWER LED Indicates that the unit is switched on. port may be used.) 5. HDD LED Indicates Hard Disk Drive activity. 11. AUDIO OUT (PC) [Green 3.5mm STEREO] Raw 6. RESET SWITCH Used to restart the unit without turn- audio output from PC mainboard for Local Monitor. ing it off. (Note: Do NOT reset the unit unless instructed 12. VGA OUT [D15HD] Connect to Local VGA Monitor. to by MultiScreen staff.) 13. UHF OUT [PAL MALE] Modulated RF output for connection via TV Antenna Distribution System. Nomi- nal output level 70dBmV (3mV), adjustable over range 470-859 MHz. 5.5MHz Audio carrier (PAL B/G). Set at factory to channel 25, 506 MHz. 14. VIDEO OUT (MAIN) [Yellow RCA] Main Video output. PAL, 1V p-p into 75Ω. 15. AUDIO OUT (MAIN) [White RCA] Main Audio output. Nominal output 0.7V RMS, impedance 1 kΩ. 16. KEYPAD [RJ45 x 2] Power and data communication for accessory keypads. Can connect to multiple devices. 17. VIDEO IN [Yellow RCA] External Video input. 18. AUDIO IN [White RCA] External Audio input. 19. VIDEO OUT (MONITOR) [Yellow RCA] Secondary Video output for Local TV Monitor. PAL, 1V p-p into 75Ω. 20. AUDIO OUT (MONITOR) [White RCA] Secondary Audio output for Local TV Monitor. Nominal output 0.7V RMS, impedance 1k Ω. 21. NETWORK [RJ45] 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet connection to computer network and for internet access. 22. S-VIDEO & COMPONENT VIDEO OUT [9 Pin Note: Due to continual improvements, some features Mini Din] S-Video (Y/C) and Component Video may be in different locations than as depicted. (YCrCb) output. Special adapter cable required. 23. DVI OUT Digital Video output to local DVI Monitor.

13 MultiScree

Connecting the Power Cable

Plug the smaller end of the power cable into the power socket (7) on the rear of the Production Unit, and ensure that the switch next to the socket is set to 1. Next, plug the larger power connector into any mains power point, firstly ensuring that the power point is switched off prior to plugging in. Only turn the mains power switch on after all of the other rear panel connections have been also been plugged in.

Connecting an Operating Monitor

You can use a standard VGA computer display, or a TV set (or both) as your operating monitor.

If using a VGA computer monitor, connect the monitor‟s video lead to the blue VGA OUT socket (12). There may be a second VGA socket on the mainboard near the bottom centre of the back panel – do not connect to this socket. If the monitor includes speakers, connect the monitor‟s audio input lead to the green mainboard audio out socket (11). If the system has been started up previously without a monitor connected, you may need to activate the monitor output by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F2 after the system has finished starting up.

If using a TV monitor, connect the A/V OUT MONITOR sockets to the A/V inputs of the TV, using a twin RCA Male-Male lead. The lowest socket is the Au- dio output, with the Video output just above it. Select the A/V input on the TV.

Connection to a Television Monitor

If you have a monitor style television equipped with VIDEO IN and AUDIO IN sockets, then connect these sockets to the MONITOR VIDEO OUT (19) and MONITOR AUDIO OUT (20) sockets respectively on the rear of the Production Unit using an audio/video cable with a pair of male RCA connectors on each end. Ensure that your television is set to receive the external video signal in order to display the Production Unit‟s output. Refer to your television‟s manual if you are unsure about how to do this.

14 MultiScree

Connecting the Keyboard and Mouse

The MultiScreen unit is operated by using a keyboard and a mouse. Connect each of the USB plugs from the mouse & keyboard cables into any two of the available USB sockets on the MultiScreen unit‟s rear panel.

Connection to Public Display TV’s

There are two sets of outputs for connecting to public displays, UHF OUT (14) and A/V OUT MAIN (15 & 16). The UHF OUT allows simple connection to an MATV (Master Antenna TV) distribution system. The MultiScreen signal will appear as one more (analogue) TV channel, and may be combined with free-to- air channels and modulated Pay-TV decoders etc. The UHF channel frequency can be set by the installation technician, to ensure it does not clash with any existing stations.

The A/V OUT MAIN sockets provide a standard composite video and line level audio signal for connection to devices which require A/V inputs, such as external RF modulators, video matrix switchers, video distribution amplifiers, & PA systems.

Both of these outputs will display an “Updating system, please wait” message whenever the system is not running in Display mode, during editing for example. The audio signal is muted.

The S-VIDEO output (22) may also be used. This output will not mask the editing process however. An adapter may be required if the connector is not the standard S-Video type (4 pin Mini-DIN).

Connection to Network (Internet)

Using a CAT-5 Ethernet cable, plug one end into the NETWORK socket (21) on the rear of the MultiScreen unit and the other end into a spare socket on a network switch or router connected to your local area network. Also see page 168 for further information regarding configuration of network & internet connectivity.

Other Connections

Some of the other sockets on the back panel are for options described elsewhere in the manual, while others are provided for future functionality.

15 MultiScree

Caring for Your Production Unit

Follow the suggestions below to keep your valuable system in good condition. Care of the Production Unit

 Never turn the power button off or move the system while the hard disk drive is reading or writing, as indicated by the hard disk activity light. Doing so may cause damage to the information stored on the hard disk. The system should always be properly shut down as described on page 103 before being switched off.

 Whenever you turn off the Production Unit, always wait at least ten seconds before turning it back on again. If you don‟t observe this precaution, you may damage the Production Unit‟s circuitry.

 Avoid dropping or jarring your Production Unit. This loosens memory chips and expansion cards, and can severely damage the hard disk drive. Always shut down the Production Unit prior to moving it, even if it‟s only to the other side of the desk.

 Do not set up your system in a room with extreme conditions of temperature and/or humidity.

 Do not allow heat to build up inside of the system unit. Ensure that the vents on the top, sides and rear of the Production Unit are never blocked.

 Do not spray any kind of cleaning liquid directly on the case or keyboard. In- stead apply it onto a soft cloth. Always turn the power off and unplug each power cable from its power source before cleaning.

 Use the Production Unit in as clean & dust-free an environment as possible.

 Do not eat or drink while operating the Production Unit.

16 MultiScree

Shock Precautions

Electrical surges and spikes can cause serious damage to your system. Use a power filter/surge protector on the system unit and everything connected to it (Televisions, for example). If just one device is not protected, damaging surges can enter the system through unprotected peripherals and damage everything connected to it.

A power strip/surge protector provides protection against many types of voltage spikes that can travel on the power line and damage your system, but it isn‟t much help against lightning. If severe weather or an electrical storm threatens, it‟s a good idea to unplug the entire system from the power outlets before the storm starts.

This list is important to protect yourself from electrical shock and your system from damage.

 Be sure all cables are free from table or desk legs resting on them. Arrange cables out of traffic areas.

 Unplug all power cords from their power sources if severe weather threatens. When you disconnect a cable, always pull on the plug or connector, not on the cable itself.

 Know the static electricity precautions.

 Do not open the Production Unit case. The components inside the Production Unit can easily be damaged if the case is open. If it is ever necessary to open the case, then this work should be performed by a technician. Note that unauthorised opening of the Production Unit‟s case will void your warranty.

 Plug all three-prong cables into properly grounded power sources. The Pro- duction Unit works better with steady and reliable electricity. Use a power filter/surge protector for protection against electrical surges. Do not use adapter plugs or remove the grounding prong. Try to connect everything without the use an extension cord. If you must use one, use a three-wire cable with grounded plugs.

17 MultiScree

Transporting the System

Dropping or jarring the system can damage the hard disk drive, particularly if the drive is reading or writing when it is dropped. Hard disk drives are less vulnera- ble to shock when they are shut off. Consequently, you should always power down the system unit as described on page 103 before moving it.

During transport, pack the system unit in its original packing boxes and cushion- ing materials.

Cleaning the System

Use a damp, lint-free cloth to clean the Production Unit and monitor (if present). Avoid abrasives or solvents, as they can permanently damage the finish. Use a soft cloth and window cleaner to clean the monitor. Turn off the monitor, then squirt a little cleaner on the cloth and apply it to the screen.

Subjecting a system to a dusty or smoky environment significantly shortens its life and increases the probability of failure.

If you spill liquid inside the keyboard, unplug the keyboard immediately and turn it upside down to allow the liquid to drain out. Let the keyboard dry overnight before attempting to use it again.

18 MultiScree

General Operation

To switch on the Production Unit, first ensure that the unit is plugged in and switched on at the power outlet. Next, press the Power On button located on the front of the unit.

The Production Unit has two main modes of operation: Display Mode and Editing Mode. When the Production Unit is first switched on, it will be running in Display Mode. This is the mode of operation the Production Unit will normally be left in when unattended. Whilst in Display Mode, the Production Unit will cycle through a sequence of different screens. This sequence can be displayed on any in-house televisions the Production Unit is hooked up to. Screens can contain graphics, static or scrolling text entered by the operator, sounds, clocks showing the current time, or a combination of these things.

Once the Production Unit is up and running it will be operating in its Display Mode, where it will continually cycle through a sequence of information screens. To switch from Display Mode to Editing Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break or alternately click both mouse buttons simultaneously.

Editing Mode is used to create and alter screens and sequences, schedule sequences, adjust the time and date, and change the Produc- tion Unit‟s settings. Whilst the system is in Editing Mode, your local monitor is used to edit the system, and the message “UPDATING SYSTEM, PLEASE WAIT” is displayed over the main TV output. (Note: This message does not appear on MultiScreen Mini systems.)

Each sequence consists of a series of screens displayed in a defined order. Each screen is shown for a specified amount of time before the next is displayed. Every time the whole sequence has been shown, it will start again from the beginning.

19 MultiScree

Each standard screen in the sequence can contain any of the following elements :-

 A graphic, a static picture that may be chosen from the graphics library.

 Text, information that may be typed in by the user.

 A scroller, text that scrolls across the screen at a speed specified by the user.

 A sound, a single sound effect that will play when the graphic appears. This is chosen from the sound library.

 A clock, either analogue or digital, showing the current time. A clock cannot be used on a screen that contains text or a scroller.

In addition a sequence may contain special screens which are used to either link to another sequence, or to display a video title from the video library or from a DVD video disc.

Screens may be created, altered or deleted as necessary, and you can individually set the amount of time for each screen to be displayed. You may also scan through the sequence for a particular screen, arrange the screens into a specific order, or hide a screen (ie. prevent it from being displayed without deleting it). Each of these functions will be described in detail in the pages to follow.

20 MultiScree

Using the Keyboard and Mouse

A keyboard and mouse are used to operate the MultiScreen TV Pro- duction Unit. Basic operation of the keyboard and mouse is described below. For a full listing of all commands available on the Production Unit, see Key Command Summary, page 224.

  

 



(Note: The supplied keyboard and mouse may differ slightly from those pictured here.) XXXX  The main section of the keyboard contains all the letters of the alphabet, plus the numbers 0-9, various characters required for punctuation and several other keys with specific functions. Most of these keys are used when editing text, and will insert a character similar to that displayed on the key itself.

The Shift, Ctrl (Control) and Alt keys are different from the other keys on the keyboard. They change the functions of other keys. In this manual, it may say to press, for example, Ctrl + C. In this case, you would press and hold down the Ctrl key and then press the C key.

You will notice several keys have two symbols on them - for example, the key with the number 4 also has the dollar symbol $. To access the higher character, hold down the Shift key in the manner described above.

The Tab key has two purposes. When editing text, it inserts a large space about 8 regular spaces wide. When not editing text, the Tab key allows you to move between buttons on the screen without using the mouse. Pressing Tab will move forward to the next button, whilst Shift + Tab will move backward to the previous button.

21 MultiScree

The Backspace key is used when editing text to erase one character at a time. You can use it to correct mistakes.

 The Numeric Keypad can be used to enter numbers instead of the row of numbers along the top of the main section. This will only work if the Num Lock light is on - press the Num Lock key to toggle the light on or off.

 The Cursor Keys are used to move around the screen. Pressing any one of the keys will move the cursor in the direction indicated. These keys also have additional functions, which are described as necessary.

Cursor Keys  The special row of keys along the top denoted F1 to F12 are referred to as Function Keys, and are used to perform the operations shown on the labels above them. See page 224, Key Command Summary, for details.

 The Esc key (or Escape key) is used to exit from screens or abort the current operation. For example, pressing Esc in Preview Mode will return you to the Sequence Editor.

 The mouse is used to move a pointer around the monitor screen. There are two buttons on the mouse. The mouse is used as follows: . To move the pointer, simply put your hand over the mouse and move. The pointer will move around on the screen in the same direction that you move your hand. . Pressing the left-hand button once is referred to as a "Left Click", or simply a "Click". Pressing the right hand button is referred to as a "Right Click". . Pressing the left button twice in quick succession is referred to as a "Double Click". . In some cases, you can also use the mouse to "Drag and Drop" items, such as screens in the Sequence Editor. To drag and drop an item, first use the mouse to move the pointer over the item you wish to drag. Next, press and hold down the left mouse button. With the left mouse button still held down, move the mouse. When the item has reached its new location, release the left mouse button.

22 MultiScree

Using On-Screen Controls

The Production Unit uses a variety of on-screen buttons, scroll- bars, checkboxes and other controls. These on-screen controls are Pointer generally operated by moving the pointer (shown left) over them, and left clicking. A summary of the different controls is provided below:

The simplest on-screen control is a button (example shown left). A button will be marked with a label, describing what it does. For example, the but- Button ton shown here is labelled Display. Clicking it would put the Production Unit into Display Mode. To operate a button, use the mouse to move the pointer so that it is over the button, then left click.

A scrollbar (shown left) is used to move up and down within a list of items. To use the scrollbar, click in the white area either above or below the Handle handle to move up or down by one page of items at a time.

Alternately, to move up or down one row of items, left click on the up or down buttons on the scrollbar.

Down

A checkbox (shown left) is used to turn certain options on and off. For ex- On ample, checkboxes are used to set screens to display or not display on particular days. If the option is turned on, the checkbox will appear as a green Off tick. If the option is turned off, the checkbox will appear as a red cross. To change the checkbox, point to it and click.

A slider (shown left) is similar to a scrollbar. It is used to adjust settings like volume of sounds, or the speed of a scroller. To adjust it, click and drag Handle the handle. Left is lower volume/speed, right is higher.

A text box (example shown left) is used to enter information into the Pro- duction Unit. This includes names of sequences or screens, etc. Click on the text box, then enter your text using the keyboard. A flashing cursor marks where the next letter pressed will appear. Use the cursor keys to move the cursor around within a text box.

23 MultiScree

Using the Sequence Editor

The Sequence Editor is the TV Production Unit‟s main hub of operation. From here you can create and alter sequences and their constituent screens. You can also perform other functions such as previewing sequences or shutting down the Production Unit. To access the Sequence Editor when the Production Unit is running in Display Mode, either press Esc+Pause/Break, or both mouse buttons.

Sequence Sequence Preview Display Sequence Configuration Shutdown Menu Selector Mode Mode Scheduler Editor System

Selected Screen

Scroll Bar

Screen In- Clipboard

formation Information

A Screen can contain a graphic, text, scroller, clock, sound, or a combination of these elements, which are displayed together at the same time. Screens are grouped together in a sequential list to form a Sequence. When a sequence is displayed it will show each screen in order from the first screen to the last. When the sequence is finished, it will restart from the beginning, continuously looping.

24 MultiScree

You can create numerous sequences with varying content to display at different times. To select a particular sequence to work with, click the Sequence Selector. All the names of the existing sequences will appear in a drop-down list in alpha- betical order. Click on the name of the sequence that you want to select.

You will see a group of small images known as Thumbnails. These are small representations of what the selected sequence‟s screens look like. Up to 24 thumbnails can be displayed on the monitor at once, but a sequence can actually contain any number of screens. To view the thumbnails beyond the 24 that are displayed, click in the white area below or above the Scrollbar handle.

The Sequence Editor can be used to create screens, move screens around within a sequence, and also to copy, modify & delete sequence screens. See pages 29-33 for more information.

In addition, the Sequence Editor provides a number of functions to allow you to manage entire sequences. Click the button labelled Seq to bring up the Sequence Menu (as shown to the left). Click on the option you want to select. Otherwise, to exit the menu without selecting an option, press Esc. The various options are explained below:-

Create New Sequence Creates a brand new sequence. Type the name for the new sequence into the box provided, and click OK. If you decide you don‟t want to create a sequence, click Cancel. The new sequence is initially empty and will only contain a single blank screen known as the End- marker. This non-displaying screen will always mark the end of the sequence, and may be used to add new screens to the sequence. See page 29, Inserting a New Screen, for details.

Clone Sequence Creates a duplicate copy of the current sequence with a different name. Type a name for the cloned sequence into the box provided, then click OK. If you decide you don‟t want to copy the sequence, click Cancel. You may want to clone a sequence to create a slightly altered version of the sequence, for example, a version that contains additional Christmas graphics inserted in- to the regular sequence for use around the festive sea- son. Cloning a sequence could also just be used to cre-

25 MultiScree

ate a back-up copy of the sequence, in case the original is accidentally deleted.

Copy Sequence Copies all screens in the current sequence onto the clipboard, leaving all of the existing screens in place. This then allows you to use the Paste Screens function (see page 33) to paste a copy of this entire sequence into another sequence.

Cut Sequence This is similar to the Copy Sequence function, as it also copies all screens in the current sequence onto the clipboard, but then it removes all those screens from the sequence, leaving it empty with just an end-marker screen. Once all of the sequence‟s screens have been cut onto the clipboard, then you may use the Paste Screens function (see page 33) to paste them all into another sequence.

Rename Sequence Renames the current sequence to a name that you specify. Type the new name into the box provided and click OK. If you decide you don‟t want to rename the sequence, click Cancel.

Delete Sequence Permanently deletes the current sequence and all of its constituent screens from the Production Unit‟s hard disk. Once deleted, a sequence and its screens cannot be restored - therefore, only delete the sequence if you are absolutely sure you won‟t need it again. If you just want to stop the sequence from displaying, then you should use the Sequence Scheduler (page 94) instead. It should be noted that when a sequence is deleted, any graphics, sounds or videos that were used in that sequence will NOT be deleted. Instead they remain available in the graphics, sound & video libraries ready for reuse at a later stage.

26 MultiScree

Sequence Preview Mode and Display Mode

Preview Mode

Preview Mode displays a preview of the current sequence only on your local monitor & not on the public TVs. You would use this mode while you are adding or modifying screens within a sequence to preview how the changes will look. It displays the sequence exactly as it would in Display Mode, complete with transitions, scrollers & sounds, however the Sequence Scheduler & DVD Scheduler will be disabled. In Preview Mode, display will start from the currently selected screen, whereas Display Mode would always start from the first screen in a sequence. To enter Preview Mode, ensure the Sequence Editor screen is showing, then click on the button labelled Preview. Alternately, press the PREVIEW (F12) key on the keyboard.

While in Preview Mode you can freeze a sequence on the screen by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock keys all together. To unfreeze the screen and continue running the current sequence, press Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock again. (For more information see page 87).

In Preview Mode, you can quickly skip forwards or backwards through the screens by pressing NEXT (F2) or PREV (F1). This will abort the current screen and immediately cut to the next (or previous) screen with no transition.

To exit Preview Mode, press Enter or Spacebar, or left click. This will return you to the Sequence Editor. The selected screen in the Sequence Editor will be the screen most recently displayed in Preview Mode.

Alternately, press Esc or right click to exit Preview Mode. This will return to the Sequence Editor without changing the selected screen. ie. The screen selected will be whatever screen was previously selected before entering Preview Mode.

Preview Mode is intended for use only while editing sequences, as the previewed screens are not seen on the public TVs. Preview Mode should not be left running for extended periods of time while the Production Unit is unattended, as it may be exited accidentally. Also, Preview Mode has no Sequence Scheduling or DVD Scheduling functionality. To display a sequence for long periods of time on the public TVs, use Display Mode instead. The Production Unit has been designed to run primarily in Display Mode.

Note: On systems using the optional Random Number Generator, the RNG keypads are disabled during Preview Mode.

27 MultiScree

Display Mode

Display Mode is the Production Unit‟s primary mode of operation, used when the Production Unit is left running unattended. In this mode, your sequences will display on both the public TVs as well as your operating monitor. To enter Dis- play Mode, ensure that the Sequence Editor screen is showing, then click on the button labelled Display. Alternately, press Shift + DISPLAY (F12) on the keyboard.

When running in Display Mode, the Sequence Scheduler controls which sequence is shown at any given time. By default, the Production Unit will display the sequence that has been assigned as the Master Sequence. However if sequence scheduling is active, and there are entries in the Sequence Scheduler, then at the times and dates specified in the scheduler‟s entries, other sequences will be + shown instead the Master Sequence. At all other times, the Master Sequence will be shown. See page 94, Using the Sequence Scheduler, for more details.

To leave Display Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break, or alternately click both mouse buttons together at the same time. This will return you to the Sequence Editor.

Note: On systems using the optional Random Number Generator, Display Mode must be running in order for the RNG keypads to be operational.

Keyboard Lock

Your MultiScreen unit‟s keyboard can be disabled, or “locked” out of operation by pressing the Shift + Ctrl + Alt + L keys together at the same time while the unit is running in Display Mode. The MultiScreen unit will not respond to + any other key presses or mouse clicks until the Shift + Ctrl + Alt + L key combination is pressed once again. When the keyboard lock is in place, a small “locked” icon will appear briefly in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. When the lock is removed, an “unlocked” icon will appear instead. This function may be useful in situations where management wants to control who + has access to the MultiScreen unit, or to prevent Display Mode from being accidentally disrupted.

28 MultiScree

Inserting a New Screen

A screen is a collection of elements that are displayed together on the television, as part of a sequence. A new screen can be inserted into a sequence by using the Sequence Editor. The Screen Editor is then used to add elements to the screen, such as graphics, text, sounds, scrolling messages, and clocks.

Whilst the Production Unit is running in Display Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break to open the Sequence Editor. +

Select a screen by left clicking on it. Press Insert on the keyboard. Alternately, right click and a menu of options will appear :-

Select Insert New Screen. The newly created screen will be inserted immediately before the previously selected screen.

To add graphics, text, or other elements to the new screen, please refer to page 34, Using the Screen Editor.

Another way to insert a new screen is to double click the End-marker screen. This will insert a new screen at the end of the sequence, and will also open the Screen Editor automatically.

A new screen can also be inserted by using the Screen Editor. See page 35 for more details.

29 MultiScree

Moving a Screen

A sequence contains a number of screens that will be displayed in a specific order. The Sequence Editor is used to alter the order in which screens appear. To move a screen, the Production Unit must be operating in Editing Mode. If the Production Unit is running in Display Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break to open the Sequence Editor.

You can move screens around within a sequence, changing the order in which they are displayed. Point to the thumbnail of the screen you want to move, hold down the left mouse button and while keeping it held down, drag the screen to the new position. Move the pointer over the top of the thumbnail of the screen you want to drop it onto, then release the mouse button. The screen will be moved to the position immediately prior to the screen it is dropped onto. Refer to page 21, Using the Keyboard and Mouse, for more information on using Drag and Drop.

You can also move screens within a sequence and between sequences by using the Cut Screen & Paste Screen functions. These are described on page 33.

30 MultiScree

Cloning a Screen

The Sequence Editor can be used to duplicate a screen. A cloned screen will be identical to the original, but can be altered to produce multiple versions of a screen. For example, one screen could have a graphic with text over it, whilst another could have the same graphic with a clock. Cloning a screen can also be used if you want to make a particular screen appear multiple times during a sequence. If the Production Unit is running in Display Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break to open the Sequence Editor. +

Right click on the screen you wish to clone. A menu of options will appear :-

Select Clone Screen. The new screen created will be identical, and can be altered in any way independently of the original screen. The cloned screen is inserted immediately after the original screen, but may be moved to a different location in the sequence as described on page 30, Moving a Screen.

31 MultiScree

Deleting a Screen

The Sequence Editor can be used to delete a screen. A deleted screen is permanently removed and cannot be brought back. If you think you may need the screen again in the future, you may want to hide the screen instead. (See page 40, Setting the Display Times for a Screen for more details.) If the Production Unit is running in Display Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break to open the Se- quence Editor. +

Select the screen/s you want to delete. Press the Delete key. Alternately, right click on the screen. A menu of options will appear:

Select Delete Screen. You will be asked if you really want to delete the screen. If you are sure you want to delete the screen, click Yes. Otherwise, click No.

A screen can also be deleted by using the Screen Editor. (See page 35.)

When a screen is deleted, any text, scroller or clock attached to the graphic is deleted and cannot be brought back without manually re-entering it. The graphic will remain in the graphic library, and can still be attached to other screens. Simi- larly, if a sound is attached to the graphic it will remain in the sound library.

32 MultiScree

Copy, Cut and Paste

The Sequence Editor can be used to Copy, Cut and Paste one or more screens from one location to another within the same sequence, or between different sequences. If the unit is running in Display Mode, press Esc + Pause/Break to access the Sequence Editor.

To copy a screen, first select the screen or screens you wish to copy. To select more than one screen, hold down the Ctrl key as you click each screen. Then press the Copy (F7) key. Alternately, right click the screen and a menu of options will appear :-

Select Copy Screen.

Alternately, you may select Cut Screen. This is not generally recommended, as it will remove the original screen/s after it copies them onto the clipboard.

The screens that are copied (or cut) will be placed on the clipboard. The number of screens in the clipboard is displayed at the bottom right hand corner of the Se- quence Editor.

Now that you have copied (or cut) the screen/s, you can paste them into a different part of the same sequence, or into a difference sequence altogether.

Right click on the thumbnail where you want to paste the screen/s in front of, and then select Paste Screen, or alternately press the Paste (F8) key. A copy of all of the screens currently on the clipboard will be inserted into the current sequence immediately prior to the selected screen.

33 MultiScree

Using the Screen Editor

The Screen Editor is used to add elements to a screen, such as Graphics, Clocks, Text, Sounds and Scrollers. The Screen Editor is also used to alter a screen‟s background colour & display time, and to schedule a screen. To open the Screen Editor, double left click on the screen you wish to edit in the Sequence Editor.

The current screen is shown in the top left-hand corner. You can name the screen by clicking in the Screen Name box and typing the name you want on the keyboard. When you are satisfied with the name, press Enter. Alternately if the screen has a graphic attached, then right-clicking on the screen name box will make the screen‟s name the same as the graphic‟s name.

Previous Next Screen Sequence Screen Screen Screen Number Name Name

Graphic Settings

Screen Usage

Scroller Settings

Sound Settings

34 MultiScree

To select the background colour of the screen, either click the coloured rectangle labelled Bg Colour or press B on the keyboard. You will be given a selection of 16 colours to choose from. Click the colour you want to use as the background. This colour will be displayed if you do not select a graphic, or if the graphic does not fill the entire screen.

Elements can now be added to the screen, or modified, as described over the following pages.

Click Preview or press PREVIEW (F12) to see what the screen will look like when displayed as part of a sequence. Press the Spacebar or Esc to exit from Preview Mode.

When you are satisfied with the screen‟s settings, click Save or press SAVE (F6) to save the screen to hard disk and return to the Master Sequence. Otherwise, click Cancel or press Esc to quit without saving changes.

Additional functions can be carried out from the Screen Editor. You can move backward and forward through screens in the sequence by clicking the Previous Screen and Next Screen buttons. Alternately, press PREV (F1) for the previous screen, or NEXT (F2) for the next screen.

Pressing CREATE (F3) will insert a new screen before the current screen. Shift + CLONE (F3) will create a clone of the current screen. Pressing Delete will delete the current screen.

Pressing Home will skip backward to the first screen in the sequence, whilst pressing End will skip forward to the end-marker screen.

More functions are explained on the following pages.

35 MultiScree

Adding a Graphic to a Screen

All the graphics stored on your Production Unit‟s hard disk drive are kept in a Graphic Library. Any graphic may be selected from the Graphic Library and used on a screen as part of a sequence. Each graphic may be used on multiple screens. The procedure to add a graphic to a screen is as follows:

[a] In Sequence Editor view, first double-click the screen you wish to add the graphic to. Next, click Add (or Change) under the header Graphics. Al- ternately, press G on the keyboard. This will bring up the Graphic Selector.

Graphic Category Scrollbar Selector

Selected Graphic

Graphic Name

Graphic Graphic Width Height

[b] Clicking the Graphic Category selector will bring up a list of categories. Each category contains a number of graphics. For example, the category “Animals” would contain pictures of cats, dogs, rabbits etc. Choose the appropriate category by clicking it.

36 MultiScree

[c] You should now see a screen of thumbnails. Thumbnails are small versions of the graphics that they represent. To view a graphic full screen, right click on its thumbnail. Alternately, you can use the cursor keys to move through the thumbnails, and press the Spacebar to preview the graphic full screen. Press the Esc key or right click to exit from the preview.

Cursor Keys Spacebar

[d] If the graphic category contains more than 24 images, then they will not all be visible. You can click and drag the scroll bar at the right side of the screen up or down to reveal more thumbnails.

[e] You can use the keyboard to search through the list. For example, pressing C will skip to the first graphic in the current library that has a filename beginning with the letter C (such as cat.bmp). The Graphic Selector displays the name of the selected graphic just below all the thumbnails.

[f] Once you find the graphic you want, you can select it by either double clicking it, or left clicking it and then clicking on the Select button, or by pressing Enter. Once you select the graphic you will return to the Screen Editor.

[g] If you decide you don‟t wish to change the graphic, click Close.

While the Graphic Selector screen is showing, it also displays the dimensions of the selected graphic (labelled W & H) at the bottom of the screen. The Width and Height of a graphic are given in pixels. The Production Unit‟s display area on a landscape system is 1067 pixels wide and 600 pixels high in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. (On a portrait system the display area is 768 pixels wide by 1366 pixels high in a 9:16 aspect ratio). If the selected graphic‟s dimensions do not exactly match this, then it may need to be resized to fill the screen area. To resize a graphic, simply click the words Fit Screen in the Screen Editor and the image will be resized so as to best fit the full screen area without distorting the aspect ratio of the picture. If the graphic is too tall or wide (ie. not in the 16:9 aspect ratio) then it may leave "bars" of blank colour at the sides or top and bottom. The colour of these bars is determined by the background colour.

37 MultiScree

When working on a landscape MultiScreen unit, if the selected graphic was originally designed in a 4:3 aspect ratio (suited to older non-widescreen CRT televisions) then you may stretch that image widthways to fill the 16:9 display area by clicking on the 16:9 button in the Screen Editor to make it change to 4:3. When the image is stretched like this, you may notice that circular objects will look more ovular & people in the image may look fatter than usual! Clicking the 4:3 button to change it back to 16:9 will return the image to its original unstretched proportions. (Note that this button is not available on portrait MultiScreen systems.)

From the Screen Editor, you can also remove the graphic from the screen by clicking the Remove button. This will leave a blank background in the selected background colour - any text, scroller, clock or sound attached to the screen will remain.

38 MultiScree

Selecting a Transition for a Screen

A transition defines the visual method by which a screen appears on the TV. A screen‟s transition is selected from the Screen Editor. To open the Screen Editor, first double click the screen in the Sequence Editor. Next, click the box labelled Transition to bring up the Transition Selector (pictured below). Alternately, press T on the keyboard. Choose a transition by clicking on its icon. The transition will be previewed in the top right corner of the screen. If you are not satisfied with the transition, try choosing another. Once you are satisfied with the chosen transition, click Select. If you decide you don‟t want to change the transition, click Cancel.

Selecting the question mark ? will result in a random transition being used each time the screen is displayed. The transition will change every time the screen is used.

The CUT transition cuts straight from one screen to the next without any special effects.

39 MultiScree

Setting the Display Times for a Screen

A screen can be set to display for a specific number of seconds during each cycle. It can also be set so that it will only be used on certain times of the day, days of the week, or parts of the year. To alter for how long and/or when a screen will display, double click the screen to bring up the Screen Editor. You should see a section of the screen that looks similar to that shown below :-

Time Range

To set the display time, click the Display Time text box. Press BACKSPACE or DELETE to erase the number there, then enter the number of seconds you wish the screen to display. This is the number of seconds the screen will display each time it appears in a sequence. If you want the screen to display for several minutes, remember that 60 seconds = one minute. Therefore, to display a screen for two minutes, you could enter 120 seconds.

The boxes containing the letters SMTWTFS are used to display the screen on certain days of the week. Clicking a weekday box will toggle it from green to red and vice versa. A screen will only display on a day that is shown in green and not on days shown in red.

Holding down Shift whilst clicking any weekday box will select or deselect all weekday boxes. In this way, a screen can be hidden. Whilst hidden, a screen will not display at all. To bring back a hidden screen, hold down Shift and click any weekday box again.

40 MultiScree

Clicking the clock icon (shown left) will bring up the Schedule dialog. This can be used to set up a time and date range over which the screen should be used.

The top control is used to set a range of hours during the day over which the screen should be used. If the checkbox has a red cross, the screen will display at all times. If a time range is set up, the screen will only display when it is part of the active sequence, and the time is within the hour range. Outside these hours, the screen will not display. To adjust the time range, use the following procedure :-

[a] First click the checkbox so that it changes from a red cross to a green tick. The grey boxes will turn white, allowing the times to be edited.

[b] Click on the hours, minutes or seconds value that you wish to change. There are several ways to change the value. You can type a new number on the keypad. You can also increase or decrease the number by one by pressing + or - on the keyboard, or pressing the up and down arrows at the right side of the entry box.

[c] Continue changing numbers until the start time and finish time are set as you want them. The screen will only display between these times.

The bottom control can be used to set a range of dates. This is similar to setting a time range. To change the date ranges, use the following procedure:

[a] First click the checkbox next to the date so that it changes from a red cross to a green tick. The grey boxes will turn white, allowing the dates to be edited.

[b] Click on the day, month or year value that you wish to change. There are several ways to change the value. You can type a new number on the keypad. You can also increase or decrease the number by one by pressing + or - on the keyboard, or pressing the up and down arrows at the right side of the entry box.

41 MultiScree

Alternately, you may prefer to use a calendar to change the date. The calendar is useful if you need to see which day of the week a particular date falls on.

[a] To select a start or stop time using the calendar, double click the start or stop date. The calendar below will appear:

[b] The current date is circled in red, and the currently selected date is highlighted in light blue.

[c] The month and year are shown at the top of the calendar. You can click the small buttons to the left and right of the month and year to cycle forward or backward one month.

[d] To select a specific month, click the current month and select the month you want from the drop down list.

[e] To select a specific year, click the current year. Two buttons will appear to the left of the date. Click the top button to increase the year by one, and the bottom button to decrease the year by one.

[f] Finally, select the date from the list available.

[g] Repeat steps [b] to [f] for the finishing date.

[h] The screen will only display between these dates. Ensure that the end date is actually later than the start date.

42 MultiScree

Adding Text to a Screen

Text can be added to a screen either over a background colour, or over a graphic. You can type in text on the keyboard, which will be displayed whenever the screen comes up in the sequence in Display Mode. Note that Text cannot be used on the same screen as a clock, but can be combined with a scroller and/or sound.

To add text to a screen, first select the screen by double-clicking it in the Se- quence Editor. Next, click the button labelled Add Text in the Screen Editor. Alternately, press X. This will bring up the Text Editor.

Use the keyboard to type in the text as you want it to appear. You can use the Backspace or Delete key to help correct mistakes. A flashing cursor will be displayed on screen. The cursor marks the position that any new text will appear. If there is text on the screen, you may move the cursor around. Left click the position where you wish to enter text. Alternately, use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor.

You may need to select text, in order to alter its appearance, or move it around. To select the text, you can either use the mouse, or the keyboard. To use the mouse, first move the pointer to the start of the text you want to select, and click and hold down the left mouse button. Then, move the pointer to the end of the text you want to select and release the left button. The background colour of text will change to highlight the text when it is selected.

Alternately, to select text using the keyboard, use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the start of the text you wish to select. Hold down the Shift key, and move the cursor to the end of the text. Again, the selected text will be highlighted.

The Text Editor menu is used when editing text to perform a number of functions, including changing the appearance of the text, cutting and pasting text, and saving changes.

43 MultiScree

Whilst editing text, click the right mouse button. The following menu will appear:

Text Appearance

The text‟s appearance includes its colour, size, font, and possibly a shadow or highlight. A small window in the corner of the screen will display the current Text Appearance. This is what newly entered text will look like. To change the current text appearance press TEXT (F9). Alternately, right click to bring up the Text Editor Menu, then select the option Text Appearance. This will open the Text Appearance Editor. For information on using the Text Appearance menu, see page 50.

Do not move the cursor immediately after changing the Text Appearance. If you move the cursor, then the new text‟s appearance will match that of the text around it, rather than using the new text appearance that you have just selected.

You may also alter the appearance of existing text. First select the text as described previously, then open the Text Appearance Editor as above.

44 MultiScree

Alignment

The text‟s alignment defines where a line of text appears on the screen. Left alignment makes the left edge of the line of text appear at the left side of the screen, right alignment makes the right edge of the text appear at the right, and centre alignment makes the line of text appear centred on the screen. Justified alignment makes the line of text line up with both the left and right side of the screen; for example, this paragraph of text has justified alignment.

To change the position of a line of text on the screen, position the cursor on that line, then right click and select Alignment. Alternately, press Shift + ALIGN (F8) to cycle through alignments. Examples of the four different alignments are shown below. You may also change the alignment of multiple lines of text at once, by highlighting those lines, then right clicking on the highlighted area and choosing the desired alignment option.

Preview Window

45 MultiScree

Tab Stops

Tab stops can be used to format text into columns for the purpose of menus or timetables. To add tab stops to a screen use the following procedure :-

Adding Tab Stops

[a] In the Text Editor, make sure that the text alignment is set to Left Aligned.

[b] Right-click and select Tab Stops or else press Ctrl + Tab. The following Tab Cursor Positioning bar will appear :- Arrows

Tab Cursor

Tab Stop Selectors

[c] The bar can be moved up and down the screen by dragging with the left mouse button to enable tab stop points to be set using other items on the screen as reference points.

[d] In the picture above the first tab stop point would need to be to the right of the cherry stick at the top.

[e] To move the bar, left click on the blue area around the buttons then, without letting go of the mouse button, drag the bar up (or down) the screen until it is positioned below (or above) the reference point.

46 MultiScree

[f] To add a tab stop, first position the white tab cursor by either using the left and right cursor keys on the keyboard or clicking on the left and right arrow buttons on the tab bar.

[g] When the tab cursor is in the correct position click on Add Tab. The tab cursor will now appear yellow as below. This indicates that the tab stop has been set.

[h] In this example we will type a heading on the first line and then add further tab stops on the second. Left click on the screen anywhere outside of the tab bar. This will exit out of the tab stop mode and enable addition of text.

[i] Press the Tab key which will move the cursor to the previously set tab stop and type a heading.

[j] Press Enter to start a new line and then bring up the tab bar by right- clicking and selecting Tab Stops or pressing Ctrl + Tab.

[k] The previously set tab stop will now appear in black, indicating that it is an existing tab stop.

47 MultiScree

[l] Add in additional tab stops as needed following the procedure outlined in steps [f] and [g]. As tab stops are added they will appear in yellow then change to black.

[m] When the necessary amount of tab stops have been added click outside of the tab stop bar to continue adding text.

[n] To move the text cursor to the following tab stop, press the Tab button on the keyboard.

[o] To start a new line, press Enter.

Deleting Tab Stops

To delete tab stops use the following procedure :-

[a] In the Screen Editor, click on the Change Text button.

[b] Right-click and select Tab Stops or press Ctrl + Tab.

[c] The tab stops that have already been set will appear in black. To delete all set tab stops, click on the button Delete All Tabs. Deleting all tab stops will left align all text.

[d] To delete one tab stop, click on the left or right Tab Stop Selectors (as shown on page 46), or press Tab to move to the right or Shift + Tab to move to the left and select the tab stop that you wish to delete.

[e] Once you have selected the desired tab stop, click on Delete Tab.

[f] After deleting a tab stop, all the text positioned at that tab stop will move to the following tab stop.

48 MultiScree

Cut, Copy and Paste

You can use the Cut, Copy and Paste functions to move text around on the screen. Copying text will leave the selected text in place, but allow you to place a copy of that text elsewhere. Cutting text will remove the selected text, but still allow you to paste it elsewhere.

[a] Select the text you want to cut or copy, using the procedure described previously.

[b] Press COPY (F7) or Shift + CUT (F7). Alternately, right click and select Copy or Cut.

[c] To paste, position the cursor where you want the text to appear, and press PASTE (F8). Alternately, right click and select Paste.

Undo

If you make a mistake, you may be able to use the Undo function to correct it. Undo will reverse the most recent change you have made. To Undo, right click and select Undo.

Save & Exit

When you are satisfied with the text, press SAVE (F6). Alternately, right click and select Save. If you decide you don‟t want to save your changes to the text, select Exit instead, or press Esc. Either way you will be returned to the Screen Editor.

49 MultiScree

Text Appearance

The Text Appearance screen is used to alter the appearance of text in a text message. For details on how to invoke the Text Appearance menu, see page 43, Adding Text to a Screen.

Increase Decrease Increase Decrease Colour Highlight Shadow Shadow Highlight Palette

[a] Select a font style from the font list by clicking on its name. A sample of the text style is shown to the right of the font list. You can also move up and down the list with the up and down cursor keys.

[b] Click the appropriate checkboxes to make the text Bold or Italic. Alter- nately, press B to toggle Bold text and I to toggle Italic.

50 MultiScree

[c] Select the text size you want by clicking the box of the desired size. The selected box will be highlighted. Note that a small text size will not display well on some televisions, whilst a large text size will not allow you to type as much text. You can also use the left and right cursor keys to increase or decrease the text size.

[d] Click the checkbox labelled Colour, or alternately press C. Next, select the colour you want by clicking the corresponding colour on the palette.

[e] Click the Highlight checkbox (or press H) to choose what colour the top left edge of the text should be using the procedure above, and similarly chose the colour for the Shadow, S, the bottom right edge of the text. Using the highlight and shadow colours allows you to create drop shadows or the appearance of raised text.

[f] To create a drop shadow, select any colour for the text colour, then select black as the text shadow colour. Click the right hand arrow on the text shadow selection box to increase the size of the shadow until it is an appropriate size. Note that a black shadow won‟t show up on a black background.

[g] To create a raised text effect, select a colour a shade lighter than the text colour for the highlight colour. For example, if you have bright green text, you might select bright yellow for the highlight. Click the right hand arrow on the text highlight colour box to increase the size of the highlight slightly. Next select a shade slightly darker for the text shadow - dark green, for example - and increase the shadow size slightly.

[h] When you are satisfied with the font, the size and the colour effect, click Select. If you decide you don‟t want to change the font, the size or the colour effect, then click Cancel instead.

51 MultiScree

Adding a Scroller to a Screen

A scrolling text message may be placed on any screen. Known as a scroller, this will appear as a single line of text moving along from the right side of the screen towards the left. The text in a scroller may either be manually typed in, or else it can automatically come from an internet news feed. To add a scroller to a screen, follow these steps:

[a] In the Sequence Editor, first double-click the screen you wish to add the scroller to. Next, click on Add under the header Scroller. This will bring up the Scroller Editor, pictured below.

[b] If you want to manually type in the scroller‟s text then click the text entry box in the top right part of the screen & use the keyboard to enter the text you wish to appear on the scroller. Otherwise if you want the scroller‟s text to automatically come from an internet news feed then perform the steps in the following section Adding a News Feed to a Scroller on page 55, then continue on here from step [c].

52 MultiScree

[c] You can choose the font that you would like the scrolling text to be displayed in from the list of fonts in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Simply click the name of the font you wish to use. Click and drag the scroll bar to move up and down the list of fonts.

[d] You can choose to make the text Bold and/or Italic by clicking the appropriate boxes at the top of the screen. A green arrow indicates the effect has been selected, whilst a red cross indicates the effect is turned off.

[e] Select the size of the scrolling text you want by clicking on the letters "Aa" in the size required.

[f] The scroller background colour and text colour can be changed. To change the text colour, Click Text Colour and select the colour you want at the bottom right of the screen. Similarly, to change the Background Colour, click Bg Colour and select the desired colour. If you do not wish the scroller to be displayed with a coloured background, turn off the Bg Colour checkbox (click it so that it displays a red cross). If the Bg Colour is turned off, the text will scroll directly over the graphic.

[g] The text can be displayed in one of three styles: It can be plain, flat text (Plain Text); it can drop a shadow (Shadowed); or it can have a highlight at the top left corner (Raised Text). Simply click the name of the display style you want. Though the text in the text entry box will not show the selected style, you may click the "Preview" button to see how the scroller looks in the chosen style.

[h] The scroller can be set to scroll across the screen multiple times. Click the Repeat Times box, then enter the new number of repeat times. You can also press + to increase the number by 1, or - to decrease it.

[i] To change the scroller‟s speed, adjust the Speed Slider by clicking and dragging the slider. The further to the right the slider is, the faster the scroller will be.

[j] If you have chosen to use a background colour behind your scroller, then the transition defines how the scroller‟s background appears on the screen, and how it disappears once it has finished. Click the box labelled Transi- tion to bring up the Transition Selector. Choose a transition by clicking on it. The transition will be previewed in the top right corner of the screen. If you are not satisfied with the transition, try choosing another. When you are satisfied with the chosen transition, click Select. If you decide you don‟t want to select a different transition, click Cancel instead.

53 MultiScree

[k] The scroller‟s position on the screen is altered by clicking the Scroller Po- sition button. This will bring up a preview of the screen background and scroller. Use the mouse to move the scroller up and down the screen. Note that while the Scroller Position function is in use, the scroller’s background will be always be shown in a solid colour even if the scroller has been set to use a transparent background.

[l] You can also adjust the width of the scroller. Move the cursor to either the left or right edge of the scroller. The edge of the scroller will be highlighted. Click and drag the highlighted edge of the scroller to change the width of the scroller. Once you are satisfied with the position and width, press En- ter or left click within the scroller.

[m] Click Preview to see what the scroller will look like on the screen. If you are satisfied with it, click Save. Otherwise, you can change the text or other settings by following the previous steps. If you decide you don‟t want a scroller at all, click Cancel.

54 MultiScree

Adding a News Feed to a Scroller

The text from an internet news feed can be automatically added to a scroller on any standard screen. In the Sequence Editor, first double-click the screen you wish to add the news feed scroller to. Next, click on Add under the header Scroller. This will bring up the Scroller Editor, pictured below.

[a] In the Scroller Editor, click on the checkmark immediately to the left of the News Feed button so that it becomes a green tick. The text entry area will change (similar to that shown below) to allow you to select & configure a news feed.

[b] From the drop-down list, select the subscribed news feed that you would like to be shown on this scroller.  If the list of subscribed news feeds is either empty or does not include the one that you wish to select, perform the steps in the following section Configuring News Feeds on page 57, then return and continue on here from step [b].

[c] Immediately below the drop down list some of the current content from the selected new feed will be shown, to assist you in ensuring that the correct news feed has been selected.

55 MultiScree

[d] Set the number of news items from the selected feed that you would like to be displayed on this scroller.  An average news feed may contain anything from about 10 to 40 news items in total, and it is not usually a good idea to display them all at once on a single scroller as this would take a considerable amount of time. Thus we would recommend you display about 2 to 5 news items at a time (depending on the amount of text in each news feed) per scroller.

[e] If you like, you can click the Preview button to view how long the selected number of news items will take to be displayed. Either click the left mouse button or press the Esc key to exit from the preview.

[f] Once you are satisfied with your selections, click the Font button to show the font size & colour sample that the scroller will be displayed with.  If you need to return to change the news feed selection or settings, then click on the News Feed button.

[g] Continue from step [c] in the previous section (Adding a Scroller to a Screen on page 53) to modify the font size, colour and position attributes that the news feed scroller will be displayed with.

56 MultiScree

Configuring News Feeds

Before a news feed can be selected for inclusion on a scroller, it firstly needs to be „subscribed‟ to and have certain options configured regarding the way content from the news feed will be displayed. MultiScreen provides a list of recommended news feeds which have been preconfigured with the optimal display options, and this list can be updated from time to time online. You can choose to subscribe to any of these recommended news feeds, or else you can set up any suitable text based news feed that you know the internet address for. The options to configure news feeds can be accessed in either of two ways :-

[a] In the Scroller Editor, ensure the checkmark to the left of the News Feed button is ticked then click on the Config button. Or else, from the Sequence Editor click on the Config button then the News Feeds button. This will display the Configure News Feeds screen, similar to that shown below :-

[b] The Configure News Feeds screen allows you to manage the subscribed news feeds. When a news feed has been “subscribed” to then it becomes available for you to use on a scroller and its content is updated from the internet on a regular basis. The News Feed drop-down list will display all of the news feeds that you are currently subscribed to. It is recommended that you only subscribe to the number of news feeds that you will be actually be using in your sequences, to minimise the amount of information being accessed from the internet. The Configure News Feeds screen allows you to :-

57 MultiScree

(1) subscribe to a news feed by selecting one from the Recommended list of news feeds, (2) subscribe to a news feed by manually adding the news feed internet address and configuration settings, (3) modify the configuration settings for any news feed that has already been subscribed to, (4) test whether a subscribed news feed is still available online (or has become defunct), & (5) delete a subscribed news feed that is no longer required.

Each of these functions will be described below.

Subscribe to a Recommended News Feed

The easiest way to subscribe to a news feed is to choose from a list of preconfigured news feeds recommended by MultiScreen. From time to time, this list of news feeds is updated and made available via the internet, and you can download the latest version of the list to keep up to date.

[a] On the Configure News Feeds screen, click on the Recommended button. The list of recommended news feeds which have been preconfigured will appear, similar to the following :-

58 MultiScree

[b] From time to time, the list of recommended news feeds is updated by Mul- tiScreen. If you want to ensure you have the latest version of the list loaded, click on the Update List button. You will be informed whether you already have the most recent list or not. Click on the Yes button to download the latest updated list from the internet.

[c] From the list, click on the name of the news feed that you would like to subscribe to, then click on the Subscribe button. You will be returned to the Configure News Feeds page and the selected news feed will now be available in the drop-down list of subscribed news feeds.

[d] To exit from the Recommended News Feeds page without subscribing to a news feed, then click on the Cancel button instead. You will be returned to the Configure News Feeds page.

Manually Add a News Feed

If the news feed that you would like to subscribe to is not included in the Rec- ommended list, then so long as you know internet address (or URL) of the news feed (and that news feed is supplied in either RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 format) then it can be manually configured & subscribed to so that its content can then be displayed on scrollers. (The section further below titled More Information About News Feeds on page 64 describes how to go about determining the URL of a news feed.) To manually add a news feed, do the following :-

[a] On the Configure News Feeds screen, click on the Add A Feed button.

[b] In the Address: box, type the internet address (URL) of the news feed that you‟d like to subscribe to. Then click on the Subscribe button.

[c] If you receive a message saying “The data at this address is in an incompat- ible format. Unable to subscribe to this news feed” then this could mean a number of things :-  If the URL has been typed correctly, then the news feed content may not be in the RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 format, and so is not compatible for use on your MultiScreen unit. Try to find a similar feed that is in the correct format.  Maybe a typing error was made when entering the internet address. Re- check your spelling and try again.  Maybe the website hosting the news feed is temporarily unavailable. Try subscribing to it again later. If you receive a message titled “No Internet Connection” then this could mean a number of things :-

59 MultiScree

 The network cable has become unattached from your MultiScreen unit. Check the connection on the rear panel. If it is attached, try removing it and reattaching it, then try subscribing again.  Maybe there is a problem at the other end of the network cable. Check that it is correctly attached to the wall socket, router or network switch, then try subscribing again.  If the cabling is correct then maybe your internet service is temporarily unavailable. Check with your network administrator or internet service provider to see if a problem exists. Try subscribing again when the internet service is back online.

[d] If all goes well, you will receive a message saying “Successfully subscribed to this news feed.” Click on the OK button. The screen should appear similar to the following :-

[e] The Name: box will display the default name of the news feed. Feel free to modify this if you wish. This is the name that will appear in the list of subscribed news feeds to describe this feed.

[f] By default, a newly added news feed is set to have its content automatically updated from the internet every 30 minutes. This update interval can be changed to any number of minutes or hours (depending on how often you expect the content in the news feed to be updated by its publisher) by changing the values following the words Update Every.

60 MultiScree

[g] By default, all news items available in a news feed at the time it was last updated are remembered. The number of articles provided in any given news feed can vary greatly depending on what the publisher of the news feed deems is suitable. If instead you would prefer that a fixed number of news items are to be remembered, then ensure that the checkmark labelled Remember the latest X news items is ticked, then set the number of news items as desired.  If the number that you choose is less than the number of articles available in the news feed, then only the selected number of most recent news items will be remembered, with the remainder discarded.  If the number that you choose is greater than the number of articles available in the news feed, then all of the most current updated news items are remembered with the remainder made up of the most recent news items left over from the previous updates.

[h] By default, all remembered news items from a news feed are stored regard- less of when those items were each first published. If you would prefer that any news items older than a certain time period be discarded, then ensure that the checkmark labelled No items older than … is ticked. Then set the number of minutes, hours or days after which you would like news items of that age to expire. This option can be used to ensure that only the most current news feed content be displayed.  If this option is used at the same time that the Remember the latest X news items option us used, then the No items older than … option will override the Remember the latest X news items option. eg. If set to remember 30 news items, with no items older than 1 hour, and if 5 of those 30 items were published more than an hour ago, then only the 25 most recent of the news items will be stored.

[i] In general, each news item can consist of (a) a timestamp of when it was first published, (b) a brief headline succinctly describing the item, & (c) a more comprehensive summary providing more specific details. By default, a newly added news feed will display the Time & Headline only of each news item. You can choose your own combination of Time, Headline & Summary information as appropriate to the selected news feed by enabling or disabling the checkmarks next to each option. The only proviso is that at least one of the Headline or Summary options must be enabled.  Immediately below these options will be a scrolling preview of the content of news items from the current news feed, shown with the currently selected options. This should help you decide which combination of Time, Headline & Summary would best suit the news feed.

[j] When you are satisfied with your settings, then click on the Save Feed button to complete the subscription of the news feed. The newly added news

61 MultiScree

feed will now be saved & available in the drop-down list of subscribed news feeds. After completing the configuration of your news feeds click on the Save button which will then exit this screen, saving all changes you have made.

[k] Alternately, if you need to discard the changes you have made to the added news feed, then click Cancel instead. In this case, the new news feed will no longer be subscribed to and thus will not be added to the list of subscribed news feeds.

Modify a Subscribed News Feed

On occasion you may find it necessary to modify the settings governing how the content of a subscribed news feed is displayed, or how often its content is updated, or how many or how old the news items are that are stored.

[a] On the Configure News Feeds screen, select the news feed you wish to modify from the drop-down list then click on the Modify Feed button.

[b] In the lower half of the screen all the settings for the currently selected news feed will be shown and are available for editing.

[c] Make any changes that are required to the news feed‟s settings. You might want to refer to items [e] to [i] in the previous section (Manually Add A News Feed on page 60) for more information about what each setting is used for.

[d] When you are satisfied with your settings, click on the Save Feed button to store those modified settings. Any scrollers displaying this news feed will automatically have these changes applied. After completing the configuration of your news feeds click on the Save button which will then exit this screen, saving all changes you have made.

[e] Alternately, if you need to discard the changes you have made to the news feed‟s settings, then click Cancel instead. In this case, the original settings of the news feed will be restored.

Test a Subscribed News Feed

On rare occasions, you may find that a news feed stops functioning. This may be because the publisher of the feed has changed the internet address that it can be accessed from, or it may have become defunct with the publisher no longer providing content for it. Sometimes, there may simply be a temporary disruption

62 MultiScree

to your internet access. In these situations when no content for a news feed can be downloaded from the internet, a scroller will display the text “You are watching MultiScreen” instead. If you notice this message appear on a particular news feed scroller, you might want to test that news feed to see what the problem is. Do this as follows :-

[a] On the Configure News Feeds screen, select the news feed you want to test from the drop-down list then click on the Modify Feed button.

[b] Click on the Test Feed button.

[c] If there is nothing wrong with the selected news feed, then you will receive a message saying “This news feed is still available and its content has been updated”. Click on OK. The scrolling preview at the bottom of the screen will be showing the latest news items downloaded from the internet for this feed. Click Cancel to end the test.

[d] Otherwise if you receive a message saying “Unable to locate this news feed. This news feed may not be available” then this could mean a number of things :-  Maybe the website hosting the news feed is temporarily unavailable. Try subscribing to it again later.  Maybe the website that hosted the news feed has changed its web address or has deleted the news feed altogether. Go to the publisher‟s website or contact the publisher of the news feed to try to determine the status of that particular news feed. [e] If you receive a message titled “No Internet Connection” then this could mean a number of things :-  The network cable may have become unattached from your Multi- Screen unit. Check the connection on the rear panel. If it is attached, try removing it and reattaching it, then try testing again.  Maybe there is a problem at the other end of the network cable. Check that it is correctly attached to the wall socket, router or network switch, then try testing again.  If the cabling is correct then maybe your internet service is temporarily unavailable. Check with your network administrator or internet service provider to see if a problem exists. Try testing again when the internet service is back online. [f] If you receive a message saying “The data at this address is in an incompat- ible format. Testing failed.” then this may mean then the news feed content may no longer be in the RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 format, and so is not compatible for use on your MultiScreen unit. Try to find a similar feed that is in the correct format. [g] After receiving any error messages, click the OK button then Cancel to end the test.

63 MultiScree

Delete a Subscribed News Feed

If you find you no longer use a particular news feed on any of your screens (or a news feed has become defunct), then it is wise to delete that news feed so that the subscribed list only contains news feeds that are actually in use in your sequences. This helps minimise the amount of unnecessary data being downloaded from the internet.

[a] On the Configure News Feeds screen, select from the drop-down list of subscribed news feeds the name of the news feed that is no longer being used.

[b] Click on the Delete Feed button. When asked whether you are sure you want to delete the news feed, click on the Yes button.

The selected news feed will now be deleted from the subscribed news feed list. If this was a news feed selected from the Recommended list, then it will still be available for selection from that list should you choose to subscribe to it again at a later date.

More Information About News Feeds

News feeds (sometimes also known as Web feeds or RSS feeds) are documents accessible on the internet which are used for providing frequently updated content to users. The type of content provided in news feeds can vary greatly, ranging from the latest news, weather reports, sports results or even lists of updated webpages or blog entries. Many types of websites or “publishers” can provide news feeds containing information on a wide range of subject matter. Examples of some well-known publishers of news related news feeds are the BBC in the UK and the ABC in Australia. Also most major newspaper websites such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph or The Sun in the UK, or The Australian, The Syd- ney Morning Herald or The Age in Australia provide their news content as news feeds.

News feed documents are provided in a number of different data formats, however the two most widely used formats are known as RSS 2.0 & Atom 1.0, and both of these are compatible with your MultiScreen system. A news feed is composed of a number of news items. The amount of news items contained in a news feed and the rate at which the news items in a news feed are updated can vary considerably, depending on what the publisher deems suitable for the type of content being published. Although news feeds can sometimes contain images and other media in addition to text, your MultiScreen unit is only concerned about displaying the textual content of the news feeds.

64 MultiScree

So long as your MultiScreen system is connected to the internet, text based news feeds in either the RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 formats can be configured so that scrollers can display current up-to-date news items on them. A list of recommended news feeds covering a range of news topics have been preconfigured for you to select from. However if the news feed you would like to subscribe to is not available in that recommended list, then so long as you know the internet address (URL) of that news feed, you can manually configure the MultiScreen to access it (as per the section called Manually Add A News Feed on page 59 above).

To determine the internet address of the news feed you require, you should use an internet browser such as Internet Explorer on your regular computer. Browse to the website which hosts the news feed then search for the links to news feeds which are normally next to orange icons that usually look something like these :-

Once you find the news feed link you are after (eg. like the weather forecast link shown below), then either (a) hover your pointer over it and the news feed address (or URL) will appear in the status bar at the bottom left corner of the browser window (as shown below), or else (b) click on the link and then the

News feed URL

65 MultiScree

news feed will be displayed in the browser, with its internet address (URL) shown in the Address box at the top of the browser (as shown below, where the mouse pointer is).

Be sure to carefully write down this URL, as you will need to type it in to your MultiScreen unit in order to subscribe to that feed. (This is done at step [b] in the Manually Add a News Feed instructions on page 59 above.)

Handy tip: If the news feed URL begins with feed:// then when typing it into the MultiScreen replace the feed:// with http:// instead.

66 MultiScree

Adding a Clock to a Screen

A clock can be added to any standard screen in a sequence, provided that the screen does not contain text. A number of graphics designed specifically for use with clocks are included in the MultiScreen Graphics Library. The Production Unit can display both analogue and digital clocks. To add a clock to a screen, first open the Screen Editor by double-clicking the screen in the Sequence Editor. Then, click Add Clock. This will open the Clock Editor. You will not be able to add a clock if the screen already contains text.

The current time is shown at the top of the screen. If this time is incorrect, click it to adjust it. The full procedure to change the clock is given on page 107, Set- ting the Time and Date.

Analog Clock Checkbox

Clock Preview

67 MultiScree

To add an analogue clock to a screen :-

[a] Click the Analogue Clock Checkbox.

[b] The colours of the clock hands can be altered. Click the box labelled Hour/Min Hands Colour. A colour selection palette will appear. Click the colour you wish to use, then click OK.

[c] The colour of the seconds hand can also be changed. Click the box labelled Seconds Hand Colour, and select the colour you wish to use.

[d] There are twelve hour marks around the clock. The colour of these marks is changed by clicking the box labelled Marks Colour. The clock is not numbered - if you need a clock with numbers, there are graphics available on the Production Unit with numbers or roman numerals in the correct posi- tions.

[e] If you decide you don‟t want to use the marks at all, click the Use Clock Marks checkbox. If the box contains a green tick, marks will be used; if it contains a red cross, the marks will not be used. You should deselect this option if using a graphic that already contains marks.

[f] The current date can be displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. If you wish to display the date, click the Display Date checkbox.

[g] The colour of the date displayed can be changed. Click the box labelled Date Colour to change it.

[h] A small preview is displayed in the lower right part of the screen. For a full screen preview, click the Preview button.

68 MultiScree

To add a digital clock to a screen :-

[a] Click the Digital Clock checkbox. The screen will change to show the options for digital clocks.

Digital Clock Checkbox

Clock Preview

[b] The three buttons to the right of the Text Appearance button will allow you to change the clock format. HH:MM will only display the hours and minutes of the current time. HH:MM:SS will also display seconds. HH:MM:SS DD- MM-YY will display the current time including seconds, as well as the current date below.

[c] Clicking on the Text Appearance button will open a new window that contains various ways to change the text appearance.

69 MultiScree

[d] Choose a font from the list of fonts in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Click the name of the font you wish to use. Click and drag the scroll bar to move up and down the list of fonts.

[e] You can choose to make the text Bold and/or Italic by clicking the appropriate boxes at the top of the screen. A green arrow indicates the effect has been selected, whilst a red cross indicates the effect is turned off.

[f] Select the Text Size you want by clicking on the letters "Aa" in the size required.

[g] The clock text colour can be changed. To change the colour, Click Text Colour and select the colour you want at the bottom right of the screen.

[h] The text can be displayed three styles: It can be plain, flat text; it can drop a shadow; or it can have a highlight along the top and left. Simply click the name of the display style you want. You can preview what the style will look like in the box in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Once you are satisfied with the clock settings, click the button marked Save at the bottom of the screen. If you do not wish to save the clock, click Cancel.

70 MultiScree

Adding a Sound to a Screen

A sound can be added to a screen in addition to graphics, text, scrollers etc. The sound will play when the screen is displayed, after the transition has finished. To add a sound to screen, follow these steps:

[a] In the Sequence Editor, first double-click the screen you wish to add the sound to. Next, click Add under the header Sound. This will bring up the Sound Se- lector.

[b] To select the sound you wish to add to the screen, left click on its name from amongst the list of available sounds. Click the Preview button to listen to the sound. If you wish to select a different sound, simply click on its name. You can preview any number of sounds before making your selection.

[c] To adjust the sound‟s volume, click and drag the volume control slider to the right of the sound list. The higher the scroller, the louder the sound.

[d] Once you are satisfied with the sound and volume, click Select. If you decide you no longer want a sound, click Cancel.

71 MultiScree

Changing an Element on a Standard Screen

Graphics, Text, Clocks, Scrollers and Sounds are referred to as elements of a screen. Any elements can be changed at any time after the screen‟s initial crea- tion. In most cases, the process used to alter an element is identical to the procedure used to create it. To change a screen, first select it from the Sequence Editor (See page 24, Using the Sequence Editor). This will invoke the Screen Editor.

A Graphic can be swapped for any other graphic in the Graphic Library. Click Change under the header Graphic to alter the graphic. Refer to page 36, Add- ing a Graphic to a Screen for more details. The screen‟s background colour and transition can also be changed, by clicking the appropriate box and making your choice.

Text can be edited at any time by clicking Change Text. The process to edit text is described on page 43, Adding Text to a Screen.

A Clock can be changed by clicking Change Clock. If you alter the time of day, it will affect all clocks, not just the one you are changing. See Adding a Clock to a Screen, page 67.

If a Scroller is present, it can be altered by clicking Change under the Scroller heading. See page 52, Adding a Scroller to a Screen. In addition, the scroller‟s repeat times and speed can be altered without invoking the Scroller Ed- itor. Simply enter a new number of repeat times into the Repeat Times box, or adjust the Speed Slider by clicking and dragging the slider. The further to the right the slider is, the faster the slider will be. To Hide a scroller, set the repeat times to zero.

A Sound can be changed by clicking the button labelled Change at the bottom left corner of the screen. See page 71, Adding a Sound to a Screen. In addition, the sound‟s volume can be changed without invoking the Sound Selector. Use the slider next to the speaker button. The further right the slider is, the louder the sound will be. Click the speaker button to hear the sound at the selected volume. To mute a sound, drag the slider to the far left. Once muted, a sound will not play.

72 MultiScree

Removing an Element from a Standard Screen

When an element is no longer needed, it can be permanently removed or deleted from a screen. Once removed, some elements such as text cannot be recovered, so make sure you really don‟t need the element any more before removing it.

To remove a Graphic, click the button labelled Remove under the Graphic header. Once removed, a graphic can be added again by reselecting it from the Graphic Library. Removing a graphic from a screen does not delete it from the Graphic Library.

Text can be removed by clicking Remove Text. Removing text deletes all text from the screen; if you need the text at a later date, you will have to re-type it all by hand.

A Clock can be removed by clicking Remove Clock. Once removed, all settings for the clock will be forgotten. If you add a clock at a later date, it will revert to the default settings.

A Scroller can be removed by clicking the Remove button located under the Scroller section at the right hand side of the screen. Once removed, all settings for the scroller are forgotten; if you need to use it again, you will have to re-type it by hand. To Hide the scroller instead, see page 72, Changing an Element on a Standard Screen.

A Sound can be removed by clicking the Remove button at the bottom right corner of the screen. Once removed, a sound can be added again by using the Sound Selector. Removing a sound from a screen does not delete it from the Sound Library. If you wish to remove a sound temporarily, you can Mute it instead. A muted sound will not play until the volume is again increased. See page 72, Changing an Element on a Standard Screen.

73 MultiScree

Creating Multiple Screens

It is possible to create many standard screens at once by choosing a number of different graphics at once in the Graphic Selector. For example, you may have loaded many graphics from a digital camera, and wish to add them all to a sequence at one time.

To create multiple screens, first create one screen as described on page 29, In- serting a New Screen. This screen will be used as the basis for all the new screens. Select the background colour, transition and other attributes that you want to use for all the new screens, according to the procedure given in the previous section. Any text, scroller, sound or clock set at this point will be used on all screens.

Next, open the Graphic Selector as described on page 36, Adding a Graphic to a Screen. Select the category you want the graphics to come from. You may only add graphics from one category at a time.

Rather than selecting only one graphic, select all the graphics you wish to add. To select multiple graphics, press and hold down Ctrl on the keyboard whilst you click each graphic you wish to add. All selected graphics should be highlighted with a red border.

You may also use the Shift key to select a contiguous range of graphics. This is useful if all the graphics you wish to add have similar names, and are therefore next to each other in the graphic selector. Click the first graphic in the range. Then, holding down the Shift key, click the last graphic in the range. All selected graphics should be highlighted with a red border.

When you have selected all the graphics you wish to use, click Select. The following dialog will be displayed :-

74 MultiScree

If you want each new screen to use the same attributes of the screen you just created, click Current Screen.

If you click Defaults, each new screen will use the system‟s default attributes (as described on page 105) instead.

If you do not want to create the new screens after all, click Cancel.

Once the screens have been created, you can alter them individually as described on page 72, Changing an Element on a Standard Screen.

75 MultiScree

Inserting a DVD Title into a Sequence

The MultiScreen unit provides the ability to play a DVD title from within a sequence. This is achieved by inserting a special “PlayDVD” screen into the sequence, and the Screen Edi- tor is then used to specify which DVD title is to be played, together with when, how long & how often it is played. Thus when such a PlayDVD sequence screen is due to be displayed, the specified DVD title will be invoked and played according to the criteria specified on that screen, after which the sequence will continue on from the following screen.

To insert a DVD title into sequence, perform the following procedure :-

[a] Firstly ensure that the DVD disc containing the title that you want to program is loaded in the unit‟s DVD drive, shiny side down.

[b] In the Sequence Editor, select the thumbnail of the screen which you want the DVD title to appear before.

[c] Right click on that thumbnail and select Insert New Screen.

[d] Open the new screen in the Screen Editor by double clicking on it.

[e] From the Screen Type drop-down menu, select the PlayDVD option. The Screen Editor will now appear similar to that shown below.

76 MultiScree

[f] The number of titles on the disc, as well as the entire program length of the disc, is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Whenever you insert a new DVD disc into the drive, you must click on the Current DVD button to update this information.

[g] From the DVD Title drop-down list select the desired DVD title number that you want to attach to this screen. You can preview the chosen title by clicking the Preview button. Either left clicking or pressing the Esc key will exit from the preview.

[h] If you want the DVD title to play more than one time before continuing on with the sequence, then enter the required number of repeats into the Play Times box.

[i] If you want the DVD title to play for a shorter amount of time than its full play length, then click on the checkmark to the right of the Play Length box (so it changes to a green tick), and then enter the new play length into that box.

[j] If you only want the DVD title to be played during a certain daily time range then do the following :- 1. First click the checkbox to the right of the Start Time box so that it changes to a green tick. The grey time boxes will turn white, allowing the times to be edited. 2. Set the Start Time and End Time for the daily time range you require. To do this, click on the hours, minutes or seconds value that you wish to change. Then there are several ways to change the value. You can type a new number on the keyboard. Or you can increase or decrease the current value by one by either pressing the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box. 3. The DVD title will now only be started between these specified times each day.

[k] If you only want the DVD title to be played during a specified range of dates then do the following :- 1. First click the checkbox next to the Start Date or the Stop Date so that it changes to a green tick. The grey date box will turn white, allowing the dates to be edited. 2. Dates can be changed in a number of ways. You can double click on the date which brings up a calendar to allow you to select the appropriate date. Alternatively you can click on the day, month or year value you want to alter, then there are several ways to change that value. You can type a new number on the keyboard. Or you can increase or decrease the current value by one by either pressing the up or down arrow keys

77 MultiScree

on the keyboard or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box. 3. The Start Date & Stop Date can be set independently. If you only specify a Start Date, then the date range is valid for all dates after & including the Start Date. If you only specify an End Date, then the date range is valid for all dates prior to & including the End Date. Other- wise if both a Start & End Date are specified, then the date range is valid for all dates between & including the Start & End Dates. 4. If you specify an End Date, then you also have the option for the screen to be automatically deleted after this date has passed. By default this option (Auto Delete Screen) is turned off. To enable the Auto Delete Screen feature then click on the red cross next to it so it changes to a green tick.

[l] The boxes containing the letters SMTWTFS are used to display the DVD title on certain days of the week. Clicking on a weekday box will toggle it from green to red and vice versa. The DVD title will be shown on a weekday that is displayed in green and not on days shown in red.

[m] Holding down the Shift key whilst clicking any weekday box will either select or deselect all weekday boxes at once. In this way, the PlayDVD screen can be hidden if all weekdays are deselected. Whilst hidden, the DVD title specified on this screen will not display at all. To restore this screen once hidden, hold down Shift and click any weekday box again.

[n] Once all settings have been made on this screen to your satisfaction, click on the Save button. Otherwise, to abort without saving any changes click on the Cancel button.

78 MultiScree

Inserting a Video into a Sequence

The MultiScreen unit provides the ability to play video files from within a sequence. This is achieved by inserting a special “PlayVideo” screen into the sequence, and the Screen Editor is then used to specify which video from the video library is to be shown, together with when, how long & how often it is to be played. Thus when such a PlayVideo sequence screen is due to be displayed, the selected video will be invoked and played according to the criteria specified on that screen, after which the sequence will continue on from the following screen.

To insert a video into sequence, perform the following procedure :-

[a] In the Sequence Editor, select the thumbnail of the screen which you want the video to appear before.

[b] Right click on that thumbnail and select Insert New Screen.

[c] Open the new screen in the Screen Editor by double clicking on it.

[d] From the Screen Type drop-down menu, select the PlayVideo option. The Screen Editor will now appear similar to that shown below.

79 MultiScree

[e] Click on the Add button to display the Video Selector, which will look similar to that pictured here.

Video Category Scrollbar Selector

Selected Video

Video List

Video Video File Format Duration

[f] Using the Video Category Selector, click on the name of the category from the drop-down list that contains the video that you want to attach to the screen. A list of the names of all the videos available in this category will appear underneath.

[g] Select the desired video that you want to attach to this screen. You can preview the chosen video by clicking the Preview button. Either left clicking or pressing the Esc key will exit from the preview. Once your chosen video is highlighted then click on the Select button.

[h] If you want the video to play more than one time before continuing on with the sequence, then enter the required number of repeats into the Play Times box.

80 MultiScree

[i] If you want the video to play for a shorter amount of time than its full play length, then click on the checkmark to the right of the Play Length box (so it changes to a green tick), and then enter the new play length into that box.

[j] If you only want the video to be played during a certain daily time range then do the following :- 1. First click the checkbox to the right of the Start Time box so that it changes to a green tick. The grey time boxes will turn white, allowing the times to be edited. 2. Set the Start Time and End Time for the daily time range you require. To do this, click on the hours, minutes or seconds value that you wish to change. Then there are several ways to change the value. You can type a new number on the keyboard. Or you can increase or decrease the current value by one by either pressing the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box. 3. The video will now only be started between these specified times each day.

[k] If you only want the video to be played during a specified range of dates then do the following :- 1. First click the checkbox next to the Start Date or the Stop Date so that it changes to a green tick. The grey date box will turn white, allowing the dates to be edited. 2. Dates can be changed in a number of ways. You can double click on the date which brings up a calendar to allow you to select the appropriate date. Alternatively you can click on the day, month or year value you want to alter, then there are several ways to change that value. You can type a new number on the keyboard. Or you can increase or decrease the current value by one by either pressing the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box. 3. The Start Date & Stop Date can be set independently. If you only specify a Start Date, then the date range is valid for all dates after & including the Start Date. If you only specify an End Date, then the date range is valid for all dates prior to & including the End Date. Other- wise if both a Start & End Date are specified, then the date range is valid for all dates between & including the Start & End Dates. 4. If you specify an End Date, then you also have the option for the screen to be automatically deleted after this date has passed. By default this option (Auto Delete Screen) is turned off. To enable the Auto Delete Screen feature then click on the red cross next to it so it changes to a green tick.

81 MultiScree

[l] The boxes containing the letters SMTWTFS are used to display the video on certain days of the week. Clicking on a weekday box will toggle it from green to red and vice versa. The video will be shown on a weekday that is displayed in green and not on days shown in red.

[m] Holding down the Shift key whilst clicking any weekday box will either select or deselect all weekday boxes at once. In this way, the PlayVideo screen can be hidden if all weekdays are deselected. Whilst hidden, the video specified on this screen will not display at all. To restore this screen once hidden, hold down Shift and click any weekday box again.

[n] The volume level of the video can be set using the Volume slider. You can click on the Preview button to preview the video and its volume level. Ei- ther left click or press the Esc key to exit the preview.

[o] Once all settings have been made on this screen to your satisfaction, click on the Save button. Otherwise, to abort without saving any changes click on the Cancel button. Either way, you will be returned to the Sequence Editor.

82 MultiScree

Linking Sequences

The MultiScreen unit provides the ability to create a link to another sequence from within the current sequence. This is achieved by inserting a special “Link To Sequence” screen into the sequence, and the Screen Editor is then used to specify which other sequence is to be linked to, and when & how often it is played. Thus when a sequence containing such a linked sequence screen is displayed, as it comes time to “play” the link screen, the specified sequence will be invoked and displayed for the specified number of times during the specified hours, on the specified days between the specified dates (if applicable) before returning to the main sequence and then continuing on from where it left off.

To create a link to a sequence, perform the following procedure :-

[a] In the Sequence Editor, select the thumbnail of the screen which you want the linked sequence to appear before.

[b] Right click on that screen and select Insert New Screen.

[c] Open the new screen in the Screen Editor by double clicking on it.

[d] From the Screen Type drop-down menu, select the Link To Seq option as shown here.

[e] The Screen Editor screen will now appear similar to below :-

83 MultiScree

Indicates that the screen is a link to a sequence

Sequence Selector

[f] Select the name of the sequence that you want to link to from the Sequence Selector. Note that you will be unable to link to any sequence which already contains a link back to the current sequence.

[g] If you want the sequence to play more than one time before returning to the initial sequence, enter the required number of repeats into the Play Times box.

[h] If you only want the linked sequence to be activated during a certain daily time range then do the following :- 1. First click the checkbox to the right of the Start Time box so that it changes to a green tick. The grey time boxes will turn white, allowing the times to be edited. 2. Set the Start Time and End Time for the daily time range you require. To do this, click on the hours, minutes or seconds value that you wish to change. Then there are several ways to change the value. You can type a new number on the keyboard. Or you can increase or decrease the current value by one by either pressing the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box. 3. The linked sequence will now only be started between these specified times each day.

[i] If you only want the linked sequence to be activated during a specified range of dates then do the following :- 1. First click the checkbox next to the Start Date or the Stop Date so that it changes to a green tick. The grey date box will turn white, allowing the dates to be edited.

84 MultiScree

2. Dates can be changed in a number of ways. You can double click on the date which brings up a calendar to allow you to select the appropriate date. Alternatively you can click on the day, month or year value you want to alter, then there are several ways to change that value. You can type a new number on the keyboard. Or you can increase or decrease the current value by one by either pressing the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box. 3. The Start Date & Stop Date can be set independently. If you only specify a Start Date, then the date range is valid for all dates after & including the Start Date. If you only specify an End Date, then the date range is valid for all dates prior to & including the End Date. Other- wise if both a Start & End Date are specified, then the date range is valid for all dates between & including the Start & End Dates. 4. If you specify an End Date, then you also have the option for the screen to be automatically deleted after this date has passed. By default this option (Auto Delete Screen) is turned off. To enable the Auto Delete Screen feature then click on the red cross next to it so it changes to a green tick.

[j] The boxes containing the letters SMTWTFS are used to display the linked sequence on certain days of the week. Clicking on a weekday box will toggle it from green to red and vice versa. The linked sequence will only display on a weekday that is shown in green and not on days shown in red.

[k] Holding down the Shift key whilst clicking any weekday box will either select or deselect all weekday boxes. In this way, the linked sequence screen can be hidden if all weekdays are deselected. Whilst hidden, the linked sequence specified on this screen will not display at all. To restore this screen once hidden, hold down Shift and click any weekday box again.

[l] Once all settings have been made on this screen to your satisfaction, click on the Save button. Otherwise, to abort without saving any changes click on the Cancel button.

85 MultiScree

Deleting a Linked Sequence Screen, PlayVideo Screen or Play DVD Screen

A linked sequence screen, PlayVideo screen or a PlayDVD screen can be removed in one of two ways. In the Screen Editor, the Screen Type can be changed back to a Standard screen & then it can be reused for a different purpose. Alternatively the screen can be deleted from the Sequence Editor just like any standard screen, as follows :-

[a] To delete a screen from the Sequence Editor, right click on the screen‟s thumbnail and select Delete.

[b] A prompt will appear that says “Are you sure you want to delete the screen?”

[c] If you are sure, click Yes, if not, or you have changed your mind, click No.

86 MultiScree

Freezing a Sequence on the Screen

It is possible to “freeze” a sequence when the Production Unit is running in Pre- view Mode. When frozen, the currently displayed screen will remain on the television indefinitely. The sequence will not continue until it is unfrozen.

To freeze a sequence, ensure it is running in Preview Mode, then press the Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock keys all together. To unfreeze the screen and continue running the current sequence, press Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock again.

+ +

Whilst the sequence is frozen, you may use the Previous (F1) and Next (F2) buttons to skip to the previous or next screen in the sequence.

Note that if the frozen screen contains a clock, sound or scroller, the element will continue running while the screen is frozen.

87 MultiScree

Print Screen

When the MultiScreen unit is networked with a companion computer that has a printer available, it has the ability to send images of individual screens from sequences to that computer so that they can then be printed. Before you can use this feature though you will need to complete the Adding Network Folders section in this manual and then install and set-up a companion application (MCS_Print- Screen) on the network accessible computer.

Installation of the MCS_PrintScreen Application

[a] On your companion computer (that is connected via a network to your Mul- tiScreen unit) insert the CD disc titled “Install CD – PrintScreen Installer” into its CD drive. (This disc is located in a plastic pocket at the back of this manual.) Double click on the My Computer icon on the desktop. When the My Computer window appears, double click on the name of the CD (usually located on the D: Drive) to display its contents. Once the contents are displayed, double click on the installation file called MCS_Print- Screen_SetUp.exe. The following window will appear :-

[b] This is a setup program that will install the companion application onto your computer. The default settings do not need to be altered so continue to click on the “Next >” button until you reach this screen :-

88 MultiScree

Then click on the “Finish >” button.

[c] On the desktop of your computer a new icon will appear that looks similar to this :-

Double-click on this icon & a window similar to the following will appear :-

3. Location Folder

1. Screens 4. Screen panel Name

5. Screen Printing Options 2. Printer 6. Printer Options

[d] Next you will specify the folder where the screen images sent from your MultiScreen unit will be located. Click on the folder icon, labelled above as Location Folder (3). Navigate through the tree menu to the PrintScreen folder created in the Adding Networks Folder section of this manual as shown below.

89 MultiScree

[e] Select the PrintScreen folder then click on OK.

[f] The printer can be changed by clicking on the adjacent drop down arrow (2) and selecting the desired printer.

Paper Orientation

[a] To change whether the screen will print on the paper in landscape or portrait orientation, then click on the Printer Options (6) button. By default, it is set-up to print in landscape layout as this best suits the dimensions of the screen.

Paper Orientation

[b] To change to Portrait view, click on the round button next to Portrait. It should be noted that when the Portrait page orientation is selected, the image will be printed at full width exactly in the centre of the page, leaving large blank areas both above and below the image.

[c] Click on OK.

90 MultiScree

Using the PrintScreen feature

[a] On the MultiScreen unit enter the Sequence Editor and select the sequence containing the screen that you want to print.

[b] Double left click on the thumbnail of the screen that you want to print to load it into the Screen Editor. Click on the Preview button.

[c] On the keyboard there is a key labelled PrtSc (short for Print Screen). Press this key and a window similar to the following will appear :-

8. Refresh 7. Destinations

[d] Click on the drop-down arrow (7) to view the available destinations to save the screen. If there are no options available press the Refresh (8) button. Select the NET: PrintScreens option as shown below.

[e] Click on Save. This has now sent a copy of the screen image via the network across to the “PrintScreens” folder located on the companion computer.

[f] On the keyboard, press the Esc key twice to return you to the Sequence Edi- tor.

[g] Then on the network accessible computer, open the MCS_PrintScreen application by double clicking on its icon on the desktop. It should now look similar to the following window :-

91 MultiScree

[h] The width to height proportions of the screen size are 4:3, which is not quite as wide as a landscape A4 page. If the Not Stretched (5) option is selected, as above, then there will be a thin white margin at the left & right sides of the image when printed.

[i] To make the image fill an entire landscape A4 page, click on the Stretched (5) button.

As this stretches the image so that it becomes slightly wider, there will be some distortion which will be more noticeable on some screens than others.

[j] To print the screen, ensure that your printer is turned on and then click on the Print button.

92 MultiScree

Advanced Options

More advanced options can be used by right-clicking on images in the left Screens panel (1).

Selecting a Screen

When there is more than one screen available in the Screens panel there are two ways to select which screen you want to print.

[a] Left click on the desired image in the Screens panel.

[a] Right click on the image. [b] Left click on Select Image from the drop down menu.

Deleting a Screen

[a] Right click on the image in the Screens panel. [b] Select Delete Image from the drop down menu.

Deleting All Screens

[a] Right click on any of the images in the Screens panel. [b] Select Delete All Images from the drop down menu.

93 MultiScree

Using the Sequence Scheduler

The MultiScreen TV Production Unit is capable of managing multiple independent sequences of screens. Only one sequence can be active at any time, within a schedule maintained by the Sequence Scheduler. If no scheduled sequences are active, then the Master Sequence will be displayed.

From the Sequence Editor, left click the button labelled Sched (pictured at left). This will bring up a screen similar to the following :-

Each sequence in the scheduler has a priority; if two sequences are scheduled to be displayed at the same time, the sequence with the highest priority will be displayed. The sequence at the top of the list has highest priority; number two has second priority, and so on. To change the priority of a sequence, first select it by clicking it. Then use the two arrow buttons on screen to move the sequence up or down the list.

94 MultiScree

There are three ranges that can be set up. The date range specifies a range of dates during which the sequence will be displayed. For example, "Christmas Se- quence" will only be displayed between the 1st of November and the 25th of De- cember, 2010. Outside these times it will not be displayed. If the Date Range is set to N/A, the sequence will display at all times of the year when it meets the other conditions.

The daily time range can be used to display a sequence for a few hours of each day. For example, "Midday Madness" will display between midday and 1 PM every day. A single scheduling entry cannot be used to run a sequence overnight (ie. beyond midnight), as the finishing time must be later than the starting time. To run a sequence overnight, you would have to create two scheduling entries for the sequence you wish to run, and run it from the starting time until 11:59:59PM, then also run it from midnight until the finishing time the following day.

The weekday range (SMTWTFS) can be used to display the sequence on certain days of the week. The sequence will display only on the days enabled in green. For example, the sequence “Sunday Specials” will only display on Sundays. This is indicated with a green S for Sunday, and red letters for the other days of the week.

You can combine these conditions; for example, a sequence could be set to only display between 6 PM and midnight every Tuesday & Thursday in July.

The Master Sequence

When the Production Unit is operating in Display Mode, the sequence assigned as the Master Sequence is displayed when no other sequence is scheduled, or if sequence scheduling is inactive. To set the Master Sequence, first open the Se- quence Scheduler as described on the previous page.

Next, click the dropdown list labelled Master Sequence. Select the name of the sequence you wish to use as the Master Sequence.

The Master Sequence should be considered the default sequence. That is, when no other sequence is currently scheduled to appear, or if sequence scheduling is not active, then the Master Sequence is the one that will be shown when Display Mode is in operation.

95 MultiScree

Scheduling a Sequence

[a] Invoke the Sequence Scheduler as described on page 94.

[b] Turn on sequence scheduling by clicking the box labelled Scheduling Ac- tive ensuring it has a green tick. If this box is not checked (ie. if it is marked with a red cross) then the Master Sequence will display all the time. Next, from the drop-down list immediately below, select the name of the sequence that you want to schedule.

[c] Set up the range of weekdays you want the sequence to display on by clicking the corresponding weekday initials. The sequence will only display on days marked in green, and not on days shown in red. Holding Shift whilst clicking on a weekday letter allows you to enable or disable all the weekdays. If you want it to display on all days of the week, leave all the boxes marked green.

[d] If a time range is set up, the sequence will only display between the start and end times set. This is very similar to setting up a time range for a screen. To set a time range, use the following procedure :-

1) Click the time range checkbox. If you want the sequence to display at all times of the day, leave this box with a red cross. If you want the screen scheduled for a specific time, click the box so that it turns into a green tick. The grey boxes will turn white, allowing the times to be edited.

2) Click the number you wish to change. There are several ways to change the number. You can type a new number on the keypad. You can also increase or decrease the current number by 1 by pressing the cursor up or down keys on the keyboard, or by clicking on the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box.

3) Continue changing numbers until the start time and finish time are set as you want them. The sequence will only display between these times.

[e] The bottom control can be used to set a range of dates. This is similar to setting a time range. To change the date ranges, use the following procedure:

1) First click the checkbox next to the date so that it changes from a red cross to a green tick. The grey boxes will turn white, allowing the dates to be edited.

96 MultiScree

2) Double click on the start date to bring up a calendar. The current date is circled in red, and the currently selected date is highlighted in grey.

3) The month and year are shown at the top of the calendar. You can click the small grey buttons to the left and right of the month and year to cycle forward or backward one month.

4) To select a specific month, click the current month and select the month you want from the drop down list.

5) To select a specific year, click the current year. Two buttons will appear to the left of the date. Click the top button to increase the year by one, and the bottom button to decrease the year by one.

6) Finally, select the date from the list available by clicking on it.

7) Repeat these steps for the finishing date.

8) The sequence will only display between these dates. Ensure that the end date is actually later than the start date.

[f] Click Add Entry to add the sequence to the schedule.

[g] Move the sequence entry up or down the list using the on-screen arrow buttons until it is at the correct priority position. Number 1 (at the top of the list) is the entry with the highest priority.

[h] You can add another sequence to the schedule by repeating the above steps. Otherwise, click Save to save the changes you have made and return to the Sequence Editor.

97 MultiScree

Using the DVD Scheduler

A MultiScreen TV Production Unit is able to play DVD video footage interspersed with your standard sequences. Details on the types of ac- ceptable DVD formats are on page 102, DVD Format. Note that commercially available DVD titles are not suitable for use with the system, due to copyright, legal & security issues. Scheduling a DVD

Scheduling video titles from a DVD is similar to scheduling sequences to play throughout the day.

[a] To start with, insert your DVD disc into the Production Unit‟s DVD-ROM Drive. To access the DVD Scheduler, first open the Configuration Editor then click on the DVD Scheduler button. A screen similar to the following will be displayed :-

98 MultiScree

[b] The number of titles on the disc, as well as the entire program length of the disc, is displayed at the top of the screen. Whenever you insert a new DVD disc into the drive, you must click on the Current DVD button to update this information.

[c] Click the Title drop-down menu to select which video title from the DVD that you want to schedule. If you want to play the entire DVD, select Entire DVD.

[d] Click Preview to preview the title you have selected. The video will play full screen, for a maximum of 30 seconds. Press Esc to stop the preview early.

[e] You may set a title to play only once, or you may set it to play repeatedly throughout the day. Either way, set the Start Time to the first time you want the footage to appear.

[f] If you do not want to play the entire title, click the checkbox next to Play Length, so that it turns into a green tick. Enter the amount of time you want the title to play for.

[g] If you want the DVD title to repeat, click the checkbox marked Repeat Every. You can then set the length between activations of the DVD. This is the time between successive starts of the DVD title. Eg. If a 5 minute video is set to play every 15 minutes, the title will start once every 15 minutes, with a 10 minute gap in between.

[h] If you have set a repeat time, you must also set the time you want the title to stop repeating. By default, this is set at 11:59:59 PM, in which case the title will play until midnight.

[i] You can schedule the title to only play between a certain range of dates. To do this, click the checkmark next to the Start Date or End Date to set the date range. The title will not be played before the Start Date or after the End Date. This is useful if, say, you only want to run a promotional title over one week.

[j] When an End Date has been specified, the Auto Delete Entry option becomes available. If this option is ticked, then once the End Date has passed, the schedule entry will automatically be deleted. This is useful to prevent your schedule from clogging up. Note that this only deletes the entry from the schedule, not the video itself.

99 MultiScree

[k] The letters SMTWTFS are used to display the screen on certain days of the week. Clicking a letter will toggle it from green to red and vice versa. A title will only display on a day that has a green letter.

[l] Holding down Shift whilst clicking any weekday‟s letter will select or deselect all days. In this way, a title can be disabled. Whilst disabled, a title will not display at all. This is useful if you want to deschedule an entry temporarily.

[m] Once the settings are correct, click on the Add Entry button. Note that the new entry had been added to the bottom of the schedule.

[n] To modify any settings of an existing entry, left click on that entry in the schedule, make the necessary changes to the settings as above, then click on the Update Entry button.

[o] You can remove an entry you no longer need by left clicking on that entry in the schedule, then clicking the Remove Entry button. This will remove that selected entry from your schedule but will not delete the title from the DVD.

[p] Click on the Clear button to clear the entire schedule. All entries will be removed. You should use this if you change DVD discs and want to create a schedule for the new disc.

[q] The up and down arrows are used to change the priority of each entry in the schedule. The higher up in the list an entry is, the higher its priority. Click the entry you want to move, then click up or down to move it up or down the list. For example, if you have one title scheduled to play every fifteen minutes, and one scheduled to play every twenty minutes, then they will both be scheduled to play at the same time every hour. In the case of a clash such as this, the title with higher priority will play.

[r] When you are satisfied with all the DVD scheduler settings, click on the Save button to exit and keep all the new settings. Alternately you may click on the Cancel button if you wish to exit without saving any changes.

100 MultiScree

Scheduling Multiple DVD Titles

You may want to schedule multiple titles to play at regular intervals throughout the day. For example, you may have four different titles to play, and you want to play a different one every five minutes. The titles are only to be played between 9:00am and 5:00pm.

In this scenario, you should set the same Repeat Every time for each title but have a different Start Time for each. To determine the Repeat Every time interval to use, multiply the number of titles to play by the gap you want between titles. In this case, since you have four titles to play, each title will play every twenty minutes.

Set the Start Time for the first title. In this case, you want to play the titles from 9:00am until 5:00pm, so set this as 9:00am. The Start Time for the second title should be set a number of minutes later than the start time of the first title, equal to the gap you want between each title. In this case, it should be set five minutes later, ie. 9:05am. The Start Time for the third title should be five minutes later than the start time of the second title, and so on.

An example of four titles scheduled to play every five minutes is shown below:

101 MultiScree

DVD Format

The MultiScreen Unit will accept specially created DVDs produced in DVD- Video format on DVD-R discs. Other disc formats such as DVD-RW or DVD+R are not guaranteed to function properly. The unit is not designed to work with commercially available copyrighted discs, due to copyright, legal and security reasons.

The DVD should be created with a resolution of 24 bits, 720x576 pixels, at 25fps. The video data rate may be variable. It should use PAL DVD (MPEG2) compression. The disc should use LPCM audio, stereo, at 48kHz.

Each programme on the DVD must be a separate title, from 01 to 99, and should have one second of black at the end. There must be no introductory title (ie. first play or auto play).

Examples of some DVD video production software which can be used to create DVDs in the correct format are :-

 Sothink Movie DVD Maker (www.sothinkmedia.com) (Highly recommended!)  Ulead DVD MovieFactory (www.ulead.com/dmf)  Ulead DVD Workshop (www.ulead.com/dws)  Ulead VideoStudio (www.ulead.com/vs)  NeroVision Express (www.nero.com) (Note: Menus must not be created.)

102 MultiScree

Shutting down the Production Unit

The Production Unit should always be properly shut down. Switching off the Production Unit‟s power without first shutting down correctly may damage the hard drive, and cause improper operation.

The Production Unit should always be shut down before being moved. Also, it may be shut down when not in use for a period of time.

To shut down the Production Unit, press the Shutdown button in the top right corner of the Sequence Editor screen. This button is marked with a large X, as shown at left.

The prompt shown above will be displayed. Click Yes to shut down. The unit will shut down and automatically switch off. This may take a few minutes. If you have pressed the Shutdown button by mistake, or decide you do not wish to shut down, click No.

Once the Production Unit has shut down, it is safe to turn off the power at the power outlet.

103 MultiScree

Advanced Operation

The following section describes functions of the Production Unit not required for everyday operation. This includes altering Production Unit settings, and managing the Graphic, Sound & Video Libraries. It is suggested that you familiarise yourself with General operation before reading the Advanced section.

Many advanced operations are initiated from the Configuration Editor. To open the Configuration Editor, first open the Sequence Editor. Next, click the button labelled Config, as shown at left. The following screen will appear :-

104 MultiScree

Setting Defaults

Each time a screen is created, various settings such as the transition, background colour, display time, etc. will already be preset. These are called the "default" settings. You can change the default settings using the Set Defaults menu.

From the Sequence Editor, click the Config button (located near the top right hand corner) to enter the Configuration Editor. On the Configuration Editor screen, click Set Defaults to enter the Set Defaults screen.

A preview of the default Font Properties and Background Colour is shown at the bottom of the screen. An explanation of each setting is given on the following page. Once you are satisfied with the settings, click Save to save the settings and return to the Configuration Editor. Click Cancel to return to the Configuration Editor without making any changes.

105 MultiScree

Display Time The time in seconds each new screen will be displayed for.

Background Colour The background colour of each newly created screen. (The end marker screen of a sequence will also be shown in this colour.)

Transition The transition that is applied to all new screens created.

Fit Screen Whether new graphics should be stretched to fit the screen.

16:9 / 4:3 This button is only available on a landscape MultiScreen system (ie. it is absent on a portrait system) and is used to set the default aspect ratio for graphics attached to screens. The 16:9 setting maintains the original proportions of the graphics, and the 4:3 setting stretches graphics to become approximately one third wider (so that a 4:3 image fills out the complete 16:9 display area).

Text Alignment The alignment of text added to a new screen.

Volume The volume of sounds added to a new screen.

Clock Defaults Click the Clock Defaults button to alter the appearance of new clocks added to screens. The procedure for setting these defaults is similar to that of adding a clock to a screen (see page 67). First, set the defaults for any analogue clocks you create. Then, click the digital clock check button and set the defaults for new digital clocks. Finally, decide whether you want new clocks to be analogue or digital by default, and click the appropriate check button.

Scroller Defaults Click the Scroller Defaults button to alter the appearance of new scrollers added to screens. Here the Transition type, Re- peat Times, Colour, Speed, etc. can be set. The process is the same as for setting up a new scroller, see page 52, Adding a Scroller to a Screen for details. Note that there is no default text for a scroller - a new scroller will always be created blank, so that new text may be entered. The letters AaBbCc are shown only to preview the scroller‟s appearance.

Text Appearance Click the Text Appearance button to alter the appearance of new text added to screens. An explanation of the Text Ap- pearance screen is given on page 50, Text Appearance.

106 MultiScree

Setting the Time and Date

It is very important to have the current time and date set correctly on the Produc- tion Unit. It is used for scheduling, and also for clocks displayed as part of a sequence. To set the time and date, first open the Configuration Editor as described on page 104. Then, click the button labelled Set Current Time & Date. Follow the steps below to set the correct time and date.

[a] Click on the hours, minutes or seconds value that you wish to change. There are several ways to change the number. You can type a new number on the keypad. You can also increase or decrease the number by 1 by pressing the cursor up or down keys, or by clicking the up and down arrow icons at the right side of the entry box.

[b] Continue changing numbers until the time is correct. Also ensure that the AM or PM setting is appropriately set.

[c] Click the drop-down button next to the date to bring up the Calender. The month and year are shown at the top of the calendar. You can click the small grey buttons to the left and right of the month and year to cycle forward or backward one month.

[d] To select a specific month, click the current month and select the month you want from the drop-down list.

107 MultiScree

[f] Finally, select the date from the list available by clicking on it.

[g] Click Save when you are satisfied with the settings. Otherwise, click Can- cel to exit without changing the time or date.

108 MultiScree

Changing the System Settings

The System Settings editor is used to adjust technical aspects of the system, such as output settings and so on. In general, you should not need to change the Sys- tem Settings unless instructed to do so by MultiScreen staff. To open the System Settings form :-

[a] Open the Configuration Editor as described on page 104. Click the Sys- tem Settings button.

[b] The following screen will appear :-

109 MultiScree

Positioning the Screen

Not all televisions have the same viewable area, and therefore the Production Unit‟s output may require adjustment to fit your screen. The position of graphics on the screen can be set using the following procedure:

[a] Open the System Settings editor as described on page 109.

[b] Click the Position Screen button. The following panel will appear :-

[c] Click the Main TVs button to see the current screen on the main (public) televisions.

[d] Click the arrow on screen that points in the direction that you wish the screen to be moved. Alternately, use the cursor keys on the keyboard. Con- tinue to do so until the system‟s output is centred on your main (public) TV screen/s. When you are satisfied with the screen position, click Save.

Cursor Keys

110 MultiScree

Setting the Output Frequency

(Note: This feature in not available on MultiScreen Mini units.)

You may need to retune the Production Unit‟s RF output frequency, depending on what channels are available locally. The output frequency is factory preset to 506.25MHz (Australian Channel 25).

[a] Open the System Settings editor as described on page 109.

[b] Click the Set Output Frequency button. A screen similar to the one shown below will be displayed :-

[c] Ensure that the correct country is set by choosing it from the Location drop-down menu.

[d] Next, select the channel you wish to use from the Channel drop-down menu and then click the Set button (just below the Channel drop-down menu).

[e] Once you have tested the channel and are satisfied with it, click Current to ROM. The RF output frequency value stored in the ROM will be used each time that the system boots up. Click Exit when you have finished.

111 MultiScree

Automatic System Reboot

The Automatic System Reboot facility is used to reboot the system automatically at a certain time each day or week. This may increase system stability in some cases. It is recommended that you schedule automatic reboots if the system will be left switched on all the time.

[a] Open the System Settings editor as described on page 109.

[b] Click the Automatic System Reboot button. The following screen will be displayed :-

[c] Select the time that you wish the Automatic Reboot to occur at each day. (It is best to choose a time when not many viewers are likely to be watching your TVs.)

[d] Select the day/s on which you want the reboot to occur. The system will only reboot on days with a green letter, and not on days with a red letter.

[e] Click on the Save button when you have finished.

112 MultiScree

Network Folders

The MultiScreen unit has the ability to exchange graphics, sounds, & sequences to & from another computer over a network connection. This is achieved by specifying shared folders on that other computer (accessible over a network) which then become available as additional locations to load or save data from or to.

Adding Network Folders

[a] Firstly the folders must be created and/or shared on the network accessible computer. To do this, open My Computer on that computer and navigate to the C: drive.

[b] Open the C: drive by double clicking on it and ensure that the Windows Explorer title bar shows the following :-

Windows Explorer Title Bar

113 MultiScree

[c] Next you will need to create a new folder. To do this go to the File menu and select File>New>Folder as displayed below.

[d] This will create a new folder on the C: drive. Type in the name of the new folder as “MultiScreen” (without the quotation marks).

[e] Open the new folder called “MultiScreen” by double clicking on it and repeat step [c] and this time name the new folder “PrintScreens”.

[f] Repeat step [c] again and this time name the folder “Sequences” (again inside the MultiScreen folder).

[g] Now that the necessary folders have been created, in order to access them over the network they must be shared. To do this; first click on the Local Disk (C:) drive so that is it highlighted, then click on the “MultiScreen” folder on the right side of the window and select File>Sharing and Securi- ty…

114 MultiScree

[h] The next window that appears will depend on the operating system installed on the network accessible computer :-

XP HOME XP PROFESSIONAL

[i] If using XP HOME, click on the “Share this folder on the network” option and then click on the “Allow network users to change my files” option, then click on the Apply button.

[j] If using XP PROFESSIONAL, click on the “Share this folder” option, type in “MultiScreen” as the Share name, then click on the Apply button.

[k] Click on the General tab and untick Read-only if it is already ticked. If asked, click OK to “Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files”.

[l] Click on the OK button. This completes the necessary setup required on the network accessible computer.

[m] On the MultiScreen unit enter the Sequence Editor and left click on the Config button to open the Configuration screen. Click on the button labelled System Settings.

115 MultiScree

[n] A screen similar to the following will appear. Click on the button labelled Network Folders.

[o] The Network Folders screen will appear similar to the following :-

1. Folder Name

2. Folder Number

3. Choose Folder

[p] We will create a Network Folder to allow us to access the MultiScreen folder we have just created on the C: Drive on your network accessible computer. Click on the button labelled above as “Folder Number” (2).

[q] Next, type “MultiScreen” in the box labelled “Folder Name” (1) above.

[r] Click on the Folder Path button. A window similar to the following will appear. Please note that the names of your network workgroups, domains and computers will be different to what appear below. To view the network, computers on the network and folders on the computers click

116 MultiScree

on the plus sign next to the desired item. When an item is expanded the plus sign will turn into a minus sign. This is called a Tree Menu.

Minus Sign

Plus Sign

[s] Navigate through the tree menu to the previously created folder “Mul- tiScreen”. Select the folder and then click the OK button. Your screen should appear similar to below.

[t] Click on the Add Folder button.

[u] Repeat steps [n] to [r] to create Network Folder entries for the “Print- Screens” and “Sequences” folders.

117 MultiScree

Changing Network Folders

Once the Network Folders have been created you may wish to make a changes to the folders or change the order in which they appear in the list.

1. Up 3. Down

2. Update 4. Clear Folder 5. Remove Entry

[a] To make changes select the desired network folder in the list so that it is highlighted, as “PrintScreens” is above.

[b] To move the network folder up in the list click on the Up (1) button.

[c] To move the network folder down in the list click on the Down (3) button.

[d] To change the name of the network folder, put the cursor in the folder Name box, change name and then click on the Update Folder (2) button.

[e] Click on the Save button when you have finished.

118 MultiScree

Removing Network Folders

The following information instructs how to remove folders from the Network Folders. Please note that this only makes them unavailable from the Multi- Screen system and does not remove them from your network accessible computer.

[a] To remove the folder from the list of available Network Folders, click on the button Remove Entry (5). A warning message similar to below will appear.

If you are sure that you want to remove the folder click Yes, if not, or you change your mind, click No.

[b] The Clear (4) button removes all network folders from the list. As with Remove Entry, a warning message will appear. If you are sure that you want to remove the all the network folder entries then click Yes, if not, click No.

[c] Click on the Save button when you have finished.

119 MultiScree

Backup and Restore

The Backup and Restore facility is used to backup your system so that in the unlikely event of an irreparable fault with the TV Production Unit, a copy of all your data (such as your sequences, graphics, sound & video libraries and settings) can be maintained. You can set up your Unit to backup data automatically, for example, nightly, weekly, or every time you turn on the Unit. You can also use the Manual Backup facility to copy your data onto an external USB Flash Disk. This is useful as a method to store an off-site backup, which can later be used to restore your data onto a new unit in the event of fire or theft.

The USB Flash Disk

Backups are performed onto a USB Flash Disk. A USB Flash Disk for automatic backups is included with the system. If you wish to store a separate offsite backup, or need a larger USB Flash Disk to store a large amount of data, you can purchase a new USB Flash Disk or a USB Hard Disk Drive from any computer re- tailer. See page 124, Manual Backups for details on the size of drive required.

The USB Flash Disk is inserted into any USB Port on the TV Production Unit. There are two USB ports located on the left hand side panel towards the front of the unit. Note that only one USB Flash Disk should be inserted at any one time.

Never remove a USB Flash Disk while the Unit is performing a backup, as doing so may corrupt data on the disk.

USB Flash Disk

120 MultiScree

Automatic Backup

Your MultiScreen TV Production Unit can be set to automatically back up its data at an interval of your choosing. To access the Automatic Backup settings:

[a] Enter the Sequence Editor, and click on the Config button to open the Con- figuration Editor.

[b] Click the button labelled Backup & Restore. The Backup & Restore screen will appear, with three options.

[c] Click the button labelled Automatic Backup Settings. A screen similar to the following will appear :-

121 MultiScree

Scheduled Backups

Scheduled backups occur at the same time each day, on whatever days of the week you specify. Note that the Backup will cause Display Mode to be interrupted, so make sure that you set your backups to occur at a time when the TV‟s are unlikely to be watched, for example 4:00AM. Note that the Production Unit must be switched on at the scheduled time for the backup to be performed. To set up Scheduled Backups, use the following procedure :-

[a] Ensure that exactly one USB Flash Disk is inserted into a USB port at the front or rear of the unit.

[b] Click the checkbox labelled Scheduled Backups so that a green tick appears.

[c] Set the Backup At time. This time is given in AM/PM time.

[d] Choose which days of the week you wish backups to occur. Click each day to turn it on or off. A green letter indicates that a backup will occur on that day; a red letter indicates that a backup will not be performed.

[e] To include the entire Video Library in the backup, ensure that there is a tick next to this option. If you are short of space on your USB BackUp Disk then you may choose to exclude saving the Video Library by disabling this option. In this case though, be sure that you have access to the original copies of all the videos in your library, in case you should ever need to replace them after a system failure.

[f] When satisfied with the settings, click Save. Otherwise, click Cancel.

122 MultiScree

StartUp Backups

StartUp Backups are performed when you turn the TV Production Unit on. This is a better option than Scheduled Backups if you turn the unit off overnight or when not in use. You can set up the unit to perform a Backup after a given number of times that you turn the unit on – for example, if you turn on the unit every weekday morning, you could set the unit to backup every 5th time you switch it on, in order to perform a backup once per week.

[a] Ensure that exactly one USB Flash Disk is inserted into a USB port on the front or rear of the unit.

[b] Click the checkbox labelled Startup Backups so that a green tick appears.

[c] Set the Backup Every […] Startups number. For example, if you want the unit to backup every time you switch it on then set this value to 1, or if you want the unit to backup every 5th time you switch it on then set this value to 5.

[d] To include the entire Video Library in the backup, ensure that there is a tick next to this option. If you are short of space on your USB BackUp Disk then you may choose to exclude saving the Video Library by disabling this option. In this case though, be sure that you have access to the original copies of all the videos in your library, in case you should ever need to replace them after a system failure.

[e] When satisfied with the settings, click Save. Otherwise, click Cancel.

123 MultiScree

Manual Backup

You may perform a Manual Backup whenever you need to. This may be to take a separate offsite backup of your data, or because your last automatic backup failed for some reason, or simply because you do not use automatic backups.

To perform a manual backup:

[a] (Optional) If you perform automatic backups, and wish to perform a manual backup to a different USB Flash Disk, remove the old Flash Disk before you begin the Manual Backup process. Otherwise, the Manual Backup will be performed to the automatic backup Flash Disk.

[b] From the Sequence Editor click on the Config button to open the Configu- ration Editor.

[c] Click the button labelled Backup & Restore. The Backup & Restore screen will appear, with a number of options.

[d] Click the button labelled Manual BackUp.

[e] The Production Unit will then scan your data to see what size Flash Disk is required. Once it has determined the amount of space required, a prompt similar to the following will be displayed:

[f] Insert a Flash Disk large enough to hold the backup into any USB port, and click OK. You may need to purchase a Flash Disk large enough to hold all your data. In general, a 16 GB Flash Disk should be large enough for most units, but you should check the required space (as described above) first. If you do not have a large enough Flash Disk available, click Cancel.

124 MultiScree

[g] The system will display the message "Please wait while backing up", along with a progress meter. The backup procedure may take some time.

[h] When the backup procedure is finished, a dialog will appear:

[i] Click OK. You may now remove the flash disk.

[j] (Optional) If you removed your flash disk used for automatic backups, you may now replace it.

125 MultiScree

Manual Restore

This option allows all the files from a BackUp USB Flash Disk to be restored back onto your unit. Generally this will be performed by an Authorised Mul- tiScreen Service Provider and you should not carry out this procedure unless instructed to. Note that any changes you have made to your unit since the last backup will be lost when you perform the restoration.

[a] From the Sequence Editor click on the Config button to open the Configu- ration Editor.

[b] Click the button labelled Backup & Restore.

[c] You will be prompted to insert the USB Flash Disk you wish to restore from. Plug it into a USB slot on your unit, and also ensure that no other flash disk is plugged in. Click on the OK button.

[d] Click the button labelled Manual Restore. A message similar to the following will appear: "You are about to restore the BackUp information that was saved at hh:mm:ss on dd-mm-yyyy. This will destroy all of the information that is currently on this unit, and replace it with the BackUp information. Are you sure you want to do this?"

[e] If you do wish to continue with the backup, click OK. The following dialog will appear :-

126 MultiScree

[f] There are five options for performing the restoration. In general, they will only affect the amount of time taken to perform the restoration, and should not be changed unless you are instructed to do so.

[g] Click OK to perform the restoration.

[h] A message will appear saying "Please wait while restoring". The restoration may take some time.

[i] When the restoration process is complete, a message saying “The restoration has completed successfully. The USB Flash Disk may now be removed safely.” will appear. Remove the Flash Disk and click OK.

127 MultiScree

Save Sequences

The Save Sequences function enables you to save single or multiple sequences to be transferred to another computer by a network connection or USB Flash Disk. All of the graphics, text, videos, fonts & sounds from which the selected sequences are composed are all bundled together into one Sequence Transfer File, which can then be used to load those sequences onto another MultiScreen unit.

[a] From the Sequence Editor click on the Config button to open the Configu- ration Screen.

[b] Click on the BackUp & Restore button.

[c] Click on the Save Sequences button.

[d] This will bring up the labelled Save Sequences (Step 1 of 2) which will look similar to this :-

[e] Select the sequence you wish to save by clicking on it with the left mouse button. If you wish to save more than one, then use one of the following procedures:

1) To select all of the available sequences, click on the Select All button.

128 MultiScree

2) To select multiple sequences, hold the Ctrl key down while left clicking on the desired sequences.

3) Alternately, to select multiple sequences that are listed consecutively, left click on the first of the group ...

129 MultiScree

Then, while pressing the Shift key, select the last of the group.

[f] If you change your mind, click on the Select None button which will deselect all currently selected sequences.

[g] If any of the selected sequences contain links to any other sequences that have not yet been selected, you will be prompted whether you also want to automatically include these linked sequences in your selection. Click on the Yes button to ensure all linked sequences are selected. Be aware that if you choose No and then later load the saved sequences onto another unit, the screens from those unselected linked sequences may be missing.

[h] Once the desired sequences have been selected click on the “Next >” button. The following window will appear :-

[i] When the progress bar has completed the next screen shown is the Save Sequences (Step 2 of 2) as shown here :-

130 MultiScree

[j] A default name will be provided for the sequence transfer file which will end with today‟s date. To change the name simply select the text in that box and type in the desired sequence transfer file name instead.

[k] The next step is to specify the destination you want the sequence transfer file to be saved. Click on the drop down arrow next to the Refresh button to see what drives &/or network locations are available to save the sequence transfer file to.

Drop Down Arrow

131 MultiScree

[l] Select the destination location from the drop down box, and then the amount of available space on that destination device will be checked to see if there is sufficient room to store the sequence transfer file. The LED icon will be red if there is not enough room to save the file onto the selected device. If this is the case then you may either select a different destination which does have enough room, or else click on the Make more space on the drive button, which will list all the files and folders currently on the destination drive and allow you to delete some unneeded files to free up the space necessary to save the sequence transfer file.

[m] If the LED icon is green (indicating that there is sufficient space to store the file) then click on the Save button. When prompted that the sequence transfer file has successfully be saved, click on the OK button.

132 MultiScree

Load Sequences

The Load Sequences function enables you to load single or multiple sequences stored in a sequence transfer file (that was saved previously using the Save Se- quences function) from an external source, whether it be over a network or from a storage device.

[a] From the Sequence Editor click on the Config button.

[b] Click on the BackUp & Restore button.

[c] Click on the Load Sequences button. This will bring up the following screen labelled Load Sequences :-

1. Source 3. Parent Folder Up

2. Sequences Available

4. File Types

3. Parent Folder returns you to the parent folder if you have navi- gated into a sub-folder.

4. File Types allows you to view all the files from the source folder or drive, not just the sequence transfer files. By default this is off, which is indicated by a red cross. To view all the files on the source folder or drive click on the button with the red cross and it will change to a green tick.

[d] Select where to load the sequences from by clicking on the drop down arrow next to the box labelled above as Source (1). The source can be either an external storage device or one of the Network Folders that has been set up previously.

[e] Once a source has been selected your screen should look similar to below.

133 MultiScree

5. Load Button

[f] Select a sequence transfer file from the list of Sequences Available (2).

[g] Click on the Load (5) button.

[h] A screen similar to the following will appear, summarising what is contained in the sequence transfer file that was selected.

1. Sequence 2. Sequence File File Information Contents

3. Update Sequence

4. Backup Sequence

1. Sequence File Information details how many sequences, graphics, sounds and fonts are in the sequence transfer file.

2. Sequence File Contents lists what sequences are in the sequence file.

In the instance where a sequence of the same name already exists on the machine, then that sequence will appear in green text as shown in the example above. When this occurs, the “Update existing sequences?” and “Backup existing sequences?” options will become available.

134 MultiScree

3. Update existing sequences? replaces the existing sequence with the sequence from the loaded sequence transfer file. If this option is disabled (by clicking on the button changing the green tick to a red cross), then the existing sequence will remain with the same name while the sequence being loaded will be renamed adding “_01” on- to the end.

4. Backup existing sequences? is available when the option to “Update existing sequences?” (3) is selected. If the option to “Backup existing sequences?” is disabled (by clicking on the button changing it to a red cross) then the existing sequence will be overwritten and unable to be retrieved. If the “Backup existing sequences?” option is selected then the existing sequence will be renamed by adding “_01” onto the end of its current name.

[i] If you want to load the sequence transfer file then click Yes. If you don‟t want to load it click on No. If you click on No it will return you to the Back-Up and Restore screen without having loaded on any new sequences.

[j] A progress meter will appear while the data in the sequence transfer file is being loaded. Once the sequence data has completed loading then the following window will appear :-

[k] Click on OK. You will be returned to the Back-Up and Restore screen.

135 MultiScree

The Graphic Manager

The Graphic Manager is used to load new graphics onto the MultiScreen system, to rename or delete graphics, and to manage graphic categories. To open the Graphic Manager, first open the Configuration Editor as described on page 104. Next, click the Graphic Manager button. A screen similar to the one shown below will appear :-

Category Category Drop-down Button List Button

Selected Graphic

To preview a graphic, right-click on its thumbnail. The graphic will be previewed full screen. To return to the Graphic Manager, press Esc.

To select a graphic, left click on its thumbnail. The selected graphic will be highlighted with a red outline. You can also select multiple graphics, in order to rename or delete a group of graphics simultaneously. Hold down the Ctrl key, then click each graphic you wish to select.

136 MultiScree

Graphic Categories

Graphic categories provide a way of organising graphics on the Production Unit. It is often faster to find a particular graphic when they‟re grouped in categories.

To select a graphic category, first click the Category Drop-down List. A list will appear containing the names of all Graphic Categories on the system. Click the graphic category you wish to select. To move up and down the dropdown list, use the small scrollbar as shown left.

To create a new category, rename the current category, or delete the current category, first press the button labelled Cat (short for Category). The menu shown at left will appear.

Create New Category You may create a new graphic category to load new graphics into. Enter the name for the new graphic category when prompted.

Rename Category Selecting this option will prompt you to enter a new name for the currently selected graphic category.

Delete Category Selecting this option will permanently delete the entire category and all graphics contained within. Once the category has been deleted, it cannot be recovered. Any screens containing a graphic from the deleted category will have the graphic replaced with a blank background colour. This is potentially a very destructive function and thus should be used with extreme caution. Do not select this option unless you are certain that none of the graphics in the category will ever be needed again.

137 MultiScree

Loading a Graphic

New graphics can be loaded into your MultiScreen unit‟s graphics library from CD-ROM, a USB flash disk, a network folder or from a digital camera* via a USB cable. Note that graphics must in one of the following file formats in order to be loaded into the MultiScreen unit :- JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF or BMP.

(* Before a particular digital camera can be used with the system, a once-off initialisation procedure should be performed, as described in the chapter called Digital Camera Initialisation.)

[a] To load graphics, firstly either select an existing category that you want to load them into from the graphics category selector on the Graphics Manager screen, as described on the previous page. Next, click on the Load button. A screen similar to the following will appear :-

Close Folder

Sub Folder

Selected Graphic

Preview

138 MultiScree

[b] Depending on where you want to load your graphics from, you may need to do one of the following :- 1. Insert your CD-ROM disc containing graphics into the CD-ROM drive. 2. Insert your USB flash disk containing graphics into a USB port. 3. Connect the USB cable supplied with your digital camera to a USB port and ensure that the camera‟s power is turned on. Make sure that the camera is set to either USB mode, MEMORY mode, REPLAY mode or PLAYBACK mode (as usually indicated by a icon) depending on the brand of your camera. (You may need to refer to your camera’s manual to find out how to do this.)

[c] Using the Load from: drop-down list, select the location that you want to load your graphics from, then shortly the names of the graphics available for loading will appear in a list on screen.

[d] If your graphics are contained within folders, then double click on the name of the folder that you want to display the contents of. To return to the parent folder, left click on the folder icon (with an up arrow) located just to the right of the filename list.

[e] Left clicking on the name of a graphic will select that image for loading & will also display a small preview version of the graphic. Left clicking the Preview button beneath the small image will display that image full screen. Left click again or press the Esc key to exit the full screen preview.

[f] In order to select multiple graphics for loading, hold down the Ctrl key while left clicking on each of the required graphic names. Alternately, to select a group graphics listed consecutively, left click on the first graphic name, hold the Shift key down then left click on the last graphic name. This will select all graphics between & including the first and the last chosen. A quick way to select all of the available graphics is to left click the Select All button. To deselect all currently selected graphics, click on the Select None button.

[g] Once you have selected the names of the graphics that you want to load, left click on the Load button. You‟ll be asked to confirm the loading of these graphics which you can do by left clicking on the Yes button, or by pressing Enter.

[h] The graphics will be transferred from your chosen device into the selected category, and you‟ll be informed when this has been completed.

[i] You may now safely remove your USB flash disk, digital camera or CD- ROM disc from the MultiScreen unit.

[j] Left click the Exit button to return to the Graphics Manager.

139 MultiScree

Renaming a Graphic

A graphic‟s name is used on the Production Unit to describe the graphic. An appropriate name can make finding the graphic in the Graphic Selector much easier. You may wish to rename a graphic loaded from a digital camera, in order to give it an appropriate name. Also, if two graphics have very similar names, you may wish to rename one of them.

To rename a graphic, first open the Graphic Manager and select the graphics you wish to rename, as described on page 136, The Graphic Manager.

Click the Rename button. A dialog similar to that below will appear.

Use the keyboard to enter the new name for the graphic. The Backspace key can be used to correct mistakes. Once you are satisfied with the new name, click OK. If you decide you do not wish to rename the graphic, click Cancel. If you are renaming multiple graphics, but decide you do not wish to rename one particular graphic, click the button marked Skip this graphic.

140 MultiScree

Moving a Graphic

Graphic categories are used to sort related graphics into groups on the Production Unit. You may wish to move a graphic to a different category that is more appropriate than the one it is currently in, to make it easier to find.

To move a graphic, first open the Graphic Manager and select the graphics you wish to move, as described on page 136, The Graphic Manager.

Click the Move button. A dialog similar to that below will appear.

Use the drop down menu to select the category you wish to move the graphic to, then click OK. If you decide you do not wish to move the graphics, click Cancel instead.

141 MultiScree

Deleting a Graphic

When a graphic has outlived its usefulness or is no longer relevant, it can be permanently deleted. This is potentially a very destructive function and thus should be used with extreme caution. Once a graphic is deleted, it will be removed from all screens that use it. In addition, it will never be able to be added to a screen again. If you simply wish to stop a graphic from being displayed, but may need to reuse it in the future, then you should remove it from the screen on which it is being used instead. See page 73, Removing an Element from a Screen, for more details.

To delete a graphic, first open the Graphic Manager and select the graphics you wish to delete, as described on page 136, The Graphic Manager.

Click the Delete button. The Production Unit will scan all sequences to ensure that the graphic is not in use by any screen. Clicking Abort at this time will stop the scan, cancel the delete operation, and return to the Graphic Manager without deleting any selected graphics.

If the graphic is found to be used by a screen, then a warning will be displayed, similar to that shown here. It is strongly recommended that you do not delete a graphic that is attached to a screen, as this may result in a blank screen being displayed during a sequence.

If you really want to delete all the selected graphics, click Yes. If you decide you do not wish to delete the graphics after all, click No.

142 MultiScree

Digital Camera Initialisation

Before any particular model of digital camera can be used reliably with a Multi- Screen Channel system, a once-off initialisation procedure must be performed. This procedure only ever needs to be done once before any specific model of camera is used with your MultiScreen unit. However if a different model of camera is ever used with the system then this procedure will need to be performed again.

[a] Ensure that the digital camera‟s USB cable is unplugged from the Multi- Screen Channel unit‟s USB port.

[b] While the Sequence Editor screen is showing, press the Shift+Ctrl+At+X keys altogether.

[c] Left click on the Desktop button. The Windows desktop should now be showing.

[d] If you cannot see the Windows desktop, then an unwanted program trig- gered by Windows may be showing. If this is the case then close that program down so that just the Windows desktop can be seen. If you do not know how to close down the program, try pressing Alt+F4.

[e] Unplug the USB cable from the MultiScreen unit, if the digital camera is currently connected.

[f] Ensure that the power to the digital camera is on, and that it is set to either USB mode, MEMORY mode, REPLAY mode or PLAYBACK mode (as usually indicated by a icon) depending on the brand of your camera. (You may need to refer to your camera’s manual to find out how to do this.) Then plug its USB cable into the MultiScreen unit.

[g] If an application program automatically starts up, then close it down so that the Windows desktop can again be seen. If you do not know how to close down the application, try pressing Alt+F4.

[h] Press the Windows logo key, then point to Settings on the menu that pops up, then left click on Control Panel.

[i] Double left click on the Scanners & Cameras icon.

[j] Right click on the icon that relates to your brand & model of digital camera, then left click on Properties.

143 MultiScree

[k] Left click on the Events tab, and ensure that Device connected appears after the words Select an event:

[l] Left click on the Take no action option, then left click on the Apply button followed by the OK button.

[m] Either left click on the small X icon in the top right corner or else press Alt+F4 to exit the Scanners & Cameras window.

[n] Unplug and then reinsert the digital camera‟s USB cable back into the unit, and confirm that no application program automatically starts up this time.

[o] Double left click on the MultiScreen icon to restart the program.

144 MultiScree

The Sound Manager

The Sound Manager is used to load new sounds onto the Production Unit system, to rename sounds and to delete sounds. To open the Sound Manager, first open the Configuration Editor (as described on page 104) then click on the Sound Manager button. A screen similar to that below will appear :-

To preview a sound, either right-click on its name, or left click on the load- speaker icon. The selected sound will then be played at the current volume setting.

To select a sound, left click on its name. The selected sound will be highlighted in blue. You can also select multiple sounds, in order to rename or delete a group of sounds simultaneously. Hold down the Ctrl key, then click each sound you wish to select.

145 MultiScree

Loading a Sound

The Production Unit can play sounds in stored either WAV, WMA or MP3 file formats. To load sounds from a USB disk, CD-ROM or network folder, click on the Load button. The screen similar to the following will appear :-

Close Folder

Sub Folder

Selected Graphic

Preview

Volume

[a] If loading sounds from a CD-ROM or USB disk then firstly insert the CD-ROM disc into the drive or the USB stick into an available USB port.

[b] From the Load from: drop-down list, select the appropriate location that you want to load sounds from.

[c] After a short while, a list of the names of all the sounds found in the root folder of the USB disk or CD-ROM will be shown. A sound may be selected by clicking on its name.

[d] To listen to the currently selected sound, click the Preview button. Use the volume slider to change the preview volume.

146 MultiScree

[e] To access sounds in sub-folders, double-click on the folder name. To return from a folder, press the Close Folder button.

[f] To select more than one sound to load, hold down the Ctrl key then click on the name of each sound you wish to select. To select all of the sounds, click the Select All button.

[g] Click on the Load button to load all of the selected sounds into the Mul- tiScreen unit‟s sound library.

[h] If you decide you do not wish to load any sounds, click Cancel instead.

147 MultiScree

Renaming a Sound

A sound‟s name is used on the Production Unit to describe the sound. An appropriate name can make finding and recognising the sound in the Sound Selector much easier. You may wish to rename a sound, in order to give it an appropriate name. Also, if two sounds have very similar names, you may wish to rename one of them.

To rename a sound, first open the Sound Manager and select the sounds you wish to rename, as described on page 145, The Sound Manager.

Click on the Rename button. A dialog similar to that below will appear :-

To check the sound you are renaming, click the Preview button (shown left). Use the keyboard to enter the new name for the sound. The Backspace key can be used to correct mistakes. Once you are satisfied with the new name, click OK. If you decide you do not wish to rename the sound, click Cancel. If you are renaming multiple sounds, but decide you do not wish to rename one particular sound, click the button marked Skip This Sound.

148 MultiScree

Deleting a Sound

When a sound has outlived its usefulness or is no longer relevant, it can be permanently deleted. This is potentially a very destructive function and thus should be used with extreme caution. Once a sound is deleted, it will be removed from all screens that use it. In addition, it will never be able to be added to a screen again. If you simply wish to stop a sound from being played, but may need to use it in future, then you should remove it from the screen on which it is being used instead. See page 73, Removing an Element from a Screen, for more details.

To delete a sound, first open the Sound Manager and select the sounds you wish to delete, as described on page 145, The Sound Manager.

Click the Delete button. The Production Unit will scan all sequences to ensure that the sound is not in use by any screen. Clicking Abort at this time will stop the scan, cancel the delete operation, and return to the Sound Manager without deleting any selected sounds.

If the sound is found to be used by a screen, then a warning will be displayed, similar to that shown left. It is strongly recommended that you do not delete a sound that is attached to a screen.

If you really want to delete all the selected sounds, click Yes. If you decide you do not wish to delete the sounds after all, click No.

149 MultiScree

The Video Manager

The Video Manager is used to load new video files onto the MultiScreen system, to rename or delete videos, and to manage video categories. To open the Video Manager, first open the Configuration Editor as described on page 104. Next, click the Video Manager button. A screen similar to the one shown below will appear :-

Category Category Button Selector

Selected Video

List of videos in the currently selected category

To preview a video, click on its name then on the Preview button. The video will be previewed full screen. To return to the Video Manager, press Esc or left click.

To select a video, click on its name. The selected video will be highlighted with a blue background. You can also select multiple videos, in order to rename or delete a group of videos simultaneously. To do this, keep the Ctrl key held down while you click each on video that you want to select.

150 MultiScree

Video Categories

Video categories provide a way of organising the videos on your MultiScreen unit into convenient categories within which the content is all of related subject matter. It is often faster to find a particular video when they‟re grouped into well organised categories.

To select a video category, first click the Category drop-down menu. A list will appear containing the names of all of the Vid- eo Categories on the system. Click the video category you wish to select. To move up and down the dropdown list, use the small scrollbar as shown here.

To create a new category, rename the current category, or delete the current category, first click the button labelled Cat (short for Category). The menu shown at left will appear.

Create New Category You may create a new video category to load new videos into. Enter the name for the new video category when prompted.

Rename Category Selecting this option will prompt you to enter a new name for the currently selected video category.

Delete Category Selecting this option will permanently delete the entire category and all videos contained within. Once the category has been deleted, it cannot be recovered. Any screens containing a video from the deleted category will be removed from the sequences. This is potentially a very destructive function and thus should be used with extreme caution. Do not select this option unless you are certain that none of the videos in the category will ever be needed again.

151 MultiScree

Loading a Video

New video files that are stored in compatible formats can be loaded into your MultiScreen unit‟s video library from a USB flash disk, a data DVD or CD-ROM disc, a Network Folder, or from a digital video camera* via a USB cable. Note that videos must in one of the following file formats in order to be loaded into the MultiScreen unit :- MPG, MP4, AVI, WMV, ASF, MOV, FLV, MTS, MKV or DIVX.

(* Before a particular digital video camera can be used with the system, a once- off initialisation procedure should be performed, as described in the chapter called Digital Camera Initialisation.)

[a] To begin loading new videos, from the Video Manager screen firstly either (i) select an existing category that you want to load them into from the Video Category Selector, or (ii) create a new category to load them into, as described on the previous page. Next, click on the Load button. A screen similar to the following will appear :-

Parent Folder

Sub Folder

Selected Video

Preview

152 MultiScree

[b] Depending on where you want to load your videos from, you may need to do one of the following :- 1. Insert your CD-ROM or data DVD disc containing video files into the CD-ROM drive. 2. Insert your USB flash disk containing video files into a USB port. 3. Connect the USB cable supplied with your digital video camera to a USB port and ensure that the camera‟s power is turned on. Make sure that the camera is set to either USB mode, MEMORY mode, REPLAY mode or PLAYBACK mode (as usually indicated by a icon) depending on the brand of your camera. (You may need to refer to your camera’s manual to find out how to do this.)

[c] Using the Load from: drop-down list, select the location that you want to load your videos from, then shortly the names of the videos available for loading will appear in a list on screen.

[d] If your videos are contained within folders, then double click on the name of the folder that you want to display the contents of. To return to the parent folder, left click on the folder icon (with an up arrow) located just to the right of the filename list.

[e] Left clicking on the name of a video will select that video for loading & will also display a small preview version of one of the first frames of the video. Left clicking the Preview button beneath the small image will display that video full screen. Left click again, or press the Esc key, to exit the full screen preview.

[f] In order to select multiple videos for loading, hold down the Ctrl key while left clicking on each of the required video names. Alternately, to select a group of videos listed consecutively, left click on the first video name, hold the Shift key down then left click on the last video name. This will select all videos between & including the first and the last chosen. A quick way to select all of the available videos is to left click the Select All button. To deselect all currently selected videos, click on the Select None button.

[g] Once you have selected the names of the videos that you want to load, left click on the Load button. You‟ll be asked to confirm the loading of these videos which you can do by left clicking on the Yes button, or by pressing Enter.

[h] The videos will be transferred from your chosen device into the selected category, and you‟ll be informed when this has been completed. As videos can often be quite large files, this may take a number of minutes so please be patient.

153 MultiScree

[i] You may now safely remove your USB flash disk, digital video camera or DVD/CD-ROM disc from the MultiScreen unit.

[j] Left click the Exit button to return to the Video Manager.

About Video Codecs

Sometimes, even though the video file that you want to load may be stored in one of the compatible file formats (MPG, MP4, AVI, WMV, ASF, MOV, FLV, MTS, MKV or DIVX) you may receive a message on the Load Video screen informing you that the “video file cannot be loaded as it has been encoded with a codec that is not available on this system.”

In general, most video files are stored with the digital video & audio information in them compressed so as to reduce their file size. There are a wide range of different methods of compression that can be used to achieve this, and files stored in the same basic file format (such as AVI) can utilise a number of these different compression methods within the same file format. In order for a computer to play a video file that has been encoded with a particular method of compression, a corresponding software component known as a codec is required to be installed on that computer so that it may decompress and play that video. A different codec is required for each different method of data compression.

The MultiScreen unit comes preinstalled with a large number of codecs which allows it to play a wide range of videos saved using the most popular methods of compression that are available at the moment. However new versions of compression are created all the time, and so if you attempt to load a video which uses one of these newer methods of compression which the MultiScreen unit does not yet have a codec installed for, then you will receive the warning message above.

If the particular codec that the problematic video has been encoded with can be determined, then it is possible to download the required codec from the internet & install it on your MultiScreen system. After this, the video should be able to be loaded & played. Contact MultiScreen for some assistance if you find yourself in this situation. Alternately, the problematic video file might be able converted into one that uses a more standard codec that is already available on the MultiScreen unit, using the procedure as described on page 166.

154 MultiScree

Renaming a Video

A video‟s name is used on the MultiScreen Unit to describe the video. An appropriate name can make finding the video in the Video Selector much easier. You may want to rename a video loaded from a digital video camera, in order to give it a more appropriate name. Also, if two videos have very similar names, you may want to rename one of them to assist distinguishing between the two.

To rename a video, first open the Video Manager and select the video/s you wish to rename, as described on page 150, The Video Manager.

Click the Rename button. A dialog similar to that below will appear.

Use the keyboard to enter the new name for the video. The Backspace key can be used to correct mistakes. Once you are satisfied with the new name, click OK. If you decide you do not wish to rename the video, click Cancel. If you are renaming multiple videos, but decide you do not wish to rename one particular video, click the button marked Skip this video.

155 MultiScree

Moving a Video

Video categories are used to store related videos together within groups. You may wish to move a video to a different category that is more appropriate than the one it is currently in, to make it easier to find.

To move a video, first open the Video Manager and select the video/s you wish to move, as described on page 150, The Video Manager.

Click the Move button. A dialog similar to that below will appear.

Use the drop-down menu to select the category you wish to move the video/s to, then click OK. If you decide you do not wish to move the video/s, click Cancel instead.

156 MultiScree

Deleting a Video

When a video has outlived its usefulness or is no longer relevant, it can be permanently deleted. This is potentially a very destructive function and thus should be used with extreme caution. Once a video is deleted, it will be removed from all screens that use it. In addition, it will never be able to be added to a screen again. If you simply wish to stop a video from being displayed, but may need to reuse it in the future, then you should remove it from the screen on which it is being used instead. See page 73, Removing an Element from a Screen, for more details.

To delete a video, first open the Video Manager and select the video/s you wish to delete, as described on page 150, The Video Manager.

Click the Delete button. The Production Unit will scan all sequences to ensure that the video is not in use by any screen. Clicking Abort at this time will stop the scan, cancel the delete operation, and return to the Vid- eo Manager without deleting any selected videos.

If the video is found to be used by a screen, then a warning will be displayed, similar to that shown here to the right. It is strongly recommended that you do not delete a video that is attached to a screen, as this may result in a blank screen being displayed during a sequence.

If you really want to delete all the selected videos, click Yes. If you decide you do not wish to delete the video/s after all, click No.

157 MultiScree

Transfer Sequences

When there is more than one MultiScreen unit connected on a network, then it is possible to transfer sequences between them directly across the network, thus avoiding the need to use an external storage device.

Transfer Sequences Set-up

Before the transfer of sequences to other units over the network can take place, your MultiScreen unit needs to be configured so that it is aware of each of the other MultiScreen units available on the network. This procedure only has to be done once each time a new MultiScreen unit is added to the network.

[a] On the MultiScreen unit that will be used for transferring sequences from, enter the Sequence Editor and then click on the Config button. Click on the Transfer Sequences button.

[b] A screen similar to the following will appear :-

158 MultiScree

3. Transfer

1. Sequences available

2. MC Units available

4. Configure MC Units

[c] Click on the Configure MC Units (4) button. A screen similar to the one below will display.

1. MC Unit Name

2. MC Unit Number 3. Choose MC Unit

[d] Click on the box labelled above as MC Unit Number (2).

[e] Type the desired name of the MultiScreen Unit in the box labelled above as MC Unit Name (1). It is best to use an obvious name. For example, if you have a unit in the Bistro then it is best to name it “Bistro Unit”.

[f] Next click on the button Choose MC Unit (3). A window similar to the following will appear. Please note that the names of your network workgroups, domains & and computers will be different to what appear below. To view the network, computers on the network and folders on the computers click on the plus sign next to the desired item. When an item is expanded the plus sign will turn into a minus sign. This is called a Tree Menu.

159 MultiScree

[g] Select the name of your other MultiScreen unit (that you want to transfer sequences to). The name will usually be MCS followed by a six digit number (the unit‟s serial number).

[h] Click on OK.

[i] Click on Add Unit.

[j] Click Save.

[k] The Transfer Sequences screen should now appear similar to below :-

160 MultiScree

Transferring Sequences

[a] On the MultiScreen unit that will be used for transferring sequences from, enter the Sequence Editor and then click on the Config button. Click on the Transfer Sequences button.

[b] Select the sequence you wish to transfer by clicking on it with the left mouse button. If you wish to transfer more than one, use one of the following procedures:

1) To select all of the available sequences click on the Select All button.

2) To select multiple sequences, keep the Ctrl key held down while left clicking on each of the desired sequences.

3) Alternately to select multiple sequences listed consecutively in a group, left click on the name of the first sequence of the group ...

161 MultiScree

Then, while pressing the Shift key, select the name of the last sequence of the group.

[c] If you change your mind, click on the Select None button to deselect all currently selected sequences.

[d] If any of the selected sequences contain links to any other sequences that have not yet been selected, you will be prompted whether you also want to automatically include these linked sequences in your selection. Select the Yes button to ensure all linked sequences are selected. Be aware that if you choose No then the screens from those unselected linked sequences may be missing on the destination unit.

[e] After selecting the desired sequences, select name of the MC Unit that you want to transfer the selected sequences to. If you have more than one other MC Unit available, you can transfer the sequences to more than one unit at a time by selecting multiple MC Unit names in the same way as you select multiple sequence names.

[f] Click on the Transfer (3) button. The selected sequences will now be transferred via the network to the selected MC Units.

[g] When the sequences have been transferred, a window similar to the following will appear :-

Bistro Unit

162 MultiScree

[h] Click on OK.

[i] This will return you to the Transfer Sequences screen. If you want to transfer more sequences then repeat steps [a] to [f]. When you have finished transferring sequences, click on Exit.

163 MultiScree

Displaying External Video

(Note that this feature is not available on MultiScreen Mini systems.)

The MultiScreen TV Production Unit accepts audio/video input from external sources. Instructions on connecting these sources are given on page 13, Con- nections. Suitable sources include VCRs, DVD players, TV tuners and video cameras. You can display this external source over the MultiScreen, allowing you to show (for example) videos and TV programs without retuning all of your TV sets.

Before you output the external source, the system must be running in Display Mode. Next, press MAIN (F11). This will preview the external source on your local TV monitor, if connected. (Note that the preview does not display on a VGA, DVI or HDMI monitor.) If an external video signal is not present, then by default, the normal display sequence will continue to show.

If you are satisfied with the preview, press MAIN (F11) again to switch it over to your main screens. If you don‟t want to output the video or it is not present, press SHIFT + MAIN (F11) to return your TV monitor to Display Mode.

Once the main output is displaying the external source, your TV monitor will return to Display Mode. This gives you the opportunity to make changes to your sequences etc. whilst the external video is playing. To toggle the external video onto the preview TV monitor, press MAIN (F11).

To stop displaying the external output on the main output and return to Display Mode, press SHIFT + MAIN (F11).

Note that if the external output drops out for some reason (eg. the tape or DVD ends, or a cable is unplugged), then the normal display sequence will show.

The system can optionally dis- MULTISCREEN play a "No External Video Input" CHANNEL message (as pictured here) over the A/V monitor and/or main NO EXTERNAL outputs, if a video signal is not VIDEO INPUT present. REEN CHECK SOURCES To enable this option, please & CONNECTIONS contact MultiScreen.

164 MultiScree

Creating Your Own Graphics

You can create your own graphics for use on the MultiScreen by using most PC paint programs, such as Adobe® Photoshop®, or Corel® Paint Shop Pro™. Please refer to the relevant help files or manuals for your chosen paint program for instructions on how to use it for scanning and editing your images.

A graphic will display at its best on the MultiScreen on a landscape unit if it is exactly 1067 pixels wide and 600 pixels high (in a 16:9 aspect ratio), or on a portrait unit if it is exactly 768 pixels wide and 1366 pixels high (in a 9:16 aspect ratio). It is recommended that you use your paint program to change the image to these dimensions before using it on the Production Unit. However, the Produc- tion Unit can still show non-standard sized images, and if necessary, the “Fit Screen” option in the Screen Editor can be used to automatically resize non- standard sized images to best fit the TV screen.

Once you have created a suitable graphic, you must save it in one of the following MultiScreen compatible file formats: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PCX, BMP or GIF. Unless graphics are saved in one of these formats, then they will be unable to be loaded into the Production Unit.

Large file sizes are unnecessary, and may be automatically scaled smaller when loaded onto the system. Therefore, it is wise to use a graphics file format that produces small file sizes. A high quality JPEG will generally be suitable. If using Photoshop, save the file as a JPEG with a quality of about 8. If using Paint Shop Pro, save using a JPEG compression value of no more than 20.

Once you have finished creating the graphics files, save them onto a USB disk or into a Network Folder. Then to load the graphics into the Production Unit‟s Graphics Library, follow the procedure described on page 138.

165 MultiScree

Creating Your Own Videos

You can create your own videos for use on the MultiScreen by using most video editing programs, such as Adobe® Premiere®, or Corel® VideoStudio®. Please refer to the relevant help files or manuals for your chosen video editing program for instructions on how to use it for creating and editing your videos.

Your MultiScreen system is compatible with video files saved in these file formats :- MPG, MP4, WMV, ASF, AVI, MOV, FLV, MTS, MKV & DIVX. Thus when you save your completed video from your video editing program, one of these file formats should be used.

A recommendation for a video file format to use for when fresh video content is prepared for your MultiScreen system is :-

File Format: AVI Video Codec: XVID Frame Size: 720x576 pixels Video Bitrate: 5000 bps Video Framerate: 25 frames/second Audio Codec: MP3 Audio Bitrate: 160 kbps Audio Sample Rate: 44100 Hz

If you are going to transfer video content from one MultiScreen unit to another via an internet connection, then you might consider reducing the Video Bitrate which will result in a smaller video filesize (thus reducing the amount of data & the time it takes to transfer over the internet) but this will come at the expense of a reduction in the video‟s image quality.

The aspect ratio of video source material should ideally be 16:9 for landscape systems, and 9:16 for portrait systems, so that it displays best on a plasma or LCD TV.

Existing video in a different file format can be converted into one that is compatible using a free video conversion program that can be downloaded from the internet, such Any Video Converter for a Windows PC. The program‟s installation file can be accessed from this website :-

http://www5.any-video-converter.com/avc-free.exe

166 MultiScree

1. Download, install and start up the Any Video Converter program on your Windows PC. 2. Click on the File menu, select Set Output Folder then navigate to & select the folder that you want the converted files to be created in. Click OK. 3. Click on the Add Video button, navigate to & highlight all the video files that you want to convert, then click Open. 4. If a prompt appears warning you about the video having no audio, click on the OK button. 5. From the Profile drop-down list select Customised AVI Movie (*.avi) from the Output Format: list. 6. Under Video Options set the Video Codec to xvid. 7. Set the Frame Size to 720x576. 8. Set the Video Bitrate to 5000. 9. Set the Video Framerate to 25. 10. Under Audio Options, if none of the videos have audio, then set Disable Audio to Yes. 11. Otherwise if the videos do have audio :- a. Set the Disable Audio to No. b. Set the Audio Codec to mp3. c. Set the Audio Bitrate to 160. d. Set the Sample Rate to 44100. e. Set the Audio Channel to 2. f. Set the A/V Sync to Basic. 12. Click on the Convert button. 13. When the conversion is complete, click on the No Thanks! button. 14. Your converted video file/s can be located by clicking on the Output Fold- er icon (in the bottom left of the program‟s window). 15. Now you may copy the converted video/s onto a USB flash disk or into a Network Folder so that it can be loaded into your MultiScreen‟s video library, using the Load function in the Video Manager. (See page 152, Loading a Video.)

167 MultiScree

Network & Internet Configuration

There are a number of features of your MultiScreen system which rely on it having internet or network connectivity to operate, such as displaying RSS news feeds, transferring sequences between two or more MultiScreen units, remote control of units & accessing media from shared folders on other network- connected computers. Your MultiScreen system must be both connected to your local area network as well as configured correctly in order for these particular features to work.

NOTE : This section contains some technical terminology and is provided so that your Network Administrator (or the person that installed or manages your local area network) can correctly configure your MultiScreen unit so that its features which rely on internet & network connectivity will work correctly.

Firstly the MultiScreen unit should be connected via a standard CAT-5 Ethernet cable to your local area network. The cable should be connected from the NETWORK socket on the unit‟s rear panel to a spare socket on a network switch or router that is connected to your local area network (LAN).

By default, the MultiScreen system is set up to use an automatically assigned IP address. Therefore if your LAN has a DHCP server which automatically allo- cates IP addresses to newly connected devices, and there is no firewall or proxy server inhibiting internet access, then generally there is nothing more that needs to be done for the MultiScreen system to have internet connectivity.

However, if your LAN does not use a DHCP server and hence requires each device connected to it to have a static IP address, then you will need to gather these pieces of information from your Network Administrator (or the person that installed or manages your local area network) :-

(a) Static IP Address (b) Subnet Mask (c) Default Gateway (d) Preferred DNS Server (e) Alternate DNS Server (optional)

Then perform the following steps on the MultiScreen system :-

1. If the system is operating in Display Mode (showing your sequences) then press either the Esc+Pause/Break keys or the two mouse buttons both together, which will bring up the Sequence Editor screen.

168 MultiScree

2. Press the Shift+Ctrl+Alt+X keys all together then left click on the Desktop button. The Windows desktop will be displayed.

3. Double left click on the Local Area Connection desktop icon, then left click on the Properties button. (If the Local Area Connection desktop icon is not available, then press the +R keys together, type ncpa.cpl and press Enter, then right click on the Local Area Connection icon and left click on the Properties option.)

4. In the list of items, locate & left click on either the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” or “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” item then left click on the Properties button.

5. Left click on the “Use the following IP address:” option and then fill in the 5 pieces of information you gathered above into the appropriates boxes on the Internet Protocol Properties window, as shown here :-

6. Then click on the OK button, and close all the other windows currently open.

7. In most instances, this should complete the configuration of the MultiScreen unit‟s network & internet connection.

169 MultiScree

8. You can double left click on the MultiScreen desktop icon to restart the MultiScreen display.

If your LAN has a more complicated setup, which may include the use of a firewall or proxy servers, then more than likely you will require the services of your Network Administrator (or the person that installed or manages your local area network) to install the network connectivity on your MultiScreen system. They can refer to some additional information to assist them with this process by downloading this document :-

www.multiscreen.biz/ts/Firewall_Proxy_LogMeIn_Hamachi_UltraVNC_MSC.pdf

On LAN‟s that operate with a domain, in most cases the MultiScreen system does NOT require to be logged into the domain to operate successfully. The re- sources in the shared folders on the MultiScreen unit can be accessed from other computers on the network by using the username MultiScreen and the password channel.

Successful installation of the MultiScreen unit‟s internet connectivity can be checked as follows :-

2. Press the Shift+Ctrl+Alt+X keys all together then left click on the Desktop button. The Windows desktop will be displayed.

3. Move the mouse pointer to the very bottom edge of the screen and the taskbar will pop up. Open the Internet Explorer browser by left clicking on its icon, just near the Start button.

4. If internet connectivity is working correctly, you should see the MultiScreen website‟s home page appear.

5. In the Address bar, delete the existing web address then type in www.google.com and press Enter. If internet connectivity is working correctly then this time you should promptly see Google‟s home page appear.

6. Close the Internet Explorer window, then move the mouse pointer to the very bottom edge of the screen to pop up the taskbar again. Your taskbar should look similar to one of the 2 pictures on the following page :-

170 MultiScree

7. If your taskbar looks more like the top picture, then left click on the ^ icon to pop up more system tray icons.

8. Hover your mouse pointer over the top of each of the two round blue circle icons (in the system tray with 3 white dots in them) and 2 little pop-up message should appear.

9. If internet connectivity is working correctly, then one of the pop-up messages should read “Hamachi -- ready” and the other should read “LogMeIn -- En- abled and Online”.

10. If all of these tests above in points 4, 5 & 9 are successful, then the Multi- Screen unit‟s internet connectivity is fully operation.

11. If any of the tests have failed, then please contact your Network Administra- tor (or the person that installed or manages your local area network) to diag- nose & resolve the connectivity issues. In all but the simplest of cases, it is unlikely that calling MultiScreen‟s technical support will be of assistance with diagnosing your internet connectivity problems, as they will have no knowledge of your particular networking infrastructure setup.

171 MultiScree

Additional Options

The following section describes the optional components that may be added to the MultiScreen TV Production Unit. These components include the Random Number Generator, Meal Number Controller and Instant Message Activator.

172 MultiScree

Random Number Generator

A MultiScreen system fitted with the Random Number Generator option allows random numbers to be selected and displayed on the Mul- tiScreen. The numbers will be selected randomly with equal odds from amongst a range of numbers specified by a lowest and highest limit. A Summary Screen showing all of the numbers selected may be shown at the end of each draw. The Random Number Generator can be used to draw raffles, lotteries, member draws etc. An optional upgrade allows the Random Number Generator to perform Bingo draws.

The External Keypad

LCD Numeric Display The Random Number Generator is operated using an external keypad connected to the Production Unit via a cable that can be up to 200 metres in length. The keypad is shown left.

The cable from the external keypad should be connected to either of the KEYPAD sockets on the back of the TV Production Unit. (Do not plug into the NETWORK socket by mistake.)

Keypad for data entry

Socket for cable to connect to Pro- Power supply socket duction Unit (7.5-12V DC) (Only required for cables over 100m)

173 MultiScree

Overview of Operation

A number of different RNG Games are available to use on the MultiScreen unit, each with their own different look. An RNG Game is composed of four screens – the Stand By Screen, Winning Number Screen, Summary Screen, and Time Is Up Screen.

The optional Stand By Screen is used to inform patrons that a random number draw is about to begin. You may choose to display it immediately before beginning a draw. The Stand By Screen may contain any combination of text, a graphic, a scroller, and a sound.

When you press the DRAW button, the Winning Number Screen will be displayed. The Random Number Generator will select a number randomly from within a range of numbers specified. The reels of numbers on screen will spin until the number had been generated. You may continue to select numbers, or end the draw.

When you end the draw, a Summary Screen can be displayed. The Summary Screen contains a summary of all the numbers drawn. If you want the prize of the draw to be available for a limited time, you can add a countdown timer to this screen. The countdown timer will count down to zero.

If the countdown timer reaches zero, the Time Is Up Screen will be displayed. The Time Is Up Screen typically informs patrons that time is up to claim their prize. This screen can contain any combination of text, a graphic, a scroller and a sound.

174 MultiScree

Setting the Random Number Generator Options

The Random Number Generator has a few options that allow you to customise its operation to suit your situation. The options are described over the following pages. To access the Random Number Generator options, first open the Configu- ration Editor, then click on the Random Number Generator button. A screen similar to the following will be displayed :-

[a] There are several default Games included with the MultiScreen. Each Game will have a different Winning Number and Summary Screen. You can set up the options for each Game separately - so, for example, you could have a nightly members draw using the numbers 100-300, and a weekly chook raf- fle using the numbers 1-50, with a different winning numbers screen and other settings. Choose the name of the Game that you want to modify from the Game dropdown list.

[b] If you choose to display a Stand By Screen, then this screen may be displayed before any draw. If you want the Stand By Screen, ensure that the checkbox contains a green tick. If you do not want the Stand By Screen, click the checkbox so that it contains a red cross.

175 MultiScree

[c] The number of digits affects the way that generated numbers are input and displayed. This value should reflect the maximum number of digits ex- pected to be used by the high limit for this game. To change the number of digits, click the box labelled Number of Digits. Next, use the up and down cursor keys to increase or decrease the number. The Number of Digits can be set between 1 and 5.

[d] Numbers generated will be between the specified lowest number and highest number. The low and high numbers may either be set on the RNG setup screen, or immediately before the draw using the RNG keypad. To change the numbers, click the appropriate box and type in the new number. The low number cannot be greater than the high number, and the high number may not contain more digits than "Number of Digits" is set to (for example, if "Number of Digits" is set to 3, then 1000 would be an unacceptable high number.)

[e] Select whether you want leading zeroes shown on the random numbers. For example, if the "Show Leading Zeroes" checkbox is selected, then if the random number 6 is chosen while the maximum digits is set to 3, the number would be displayed as "006". Without leading zeroes, the number would simply be displayed as "6".

[f] Similarly, click the checkbox to select whether you want to allow repeated numbers during the course of a draw. For example, if this option is active, then the same number has a chance of being drawn more than once during the course of a draw. However if this option is off, all numbers within the specified range must be drawn before the same number can be chosen again during the same draw.

[g] When you draw a random number, the reels of numbers on screen will spin until each digit is selected. To control the number of times each reel of numbers spin, change the Initial Spins and Digit Spins values. The Initial Spins defines how many times all reels spin before the first digit is selected. The Digit Spins value defines how many times the reels spin after selecting each digit of the number. Note that changing these values will not affect the random number generated.

176 MultiScree

[h] The graphic, transition, text, sound, and scroller for the Stand By Screen may be chosen. Click on Change next to the Stand By Screen to alter the screen. The procedure to edit the Stand By Screen is exactly the same as that for editing any other screen. A Stand By Screen cannot be scheduled, and cannot contain a clock. The screen editor is slightly modified, as shown below. Once you are satisfied with the Stand By Screen, click Save.

[i] After all the random numbers have been chosen, a Summary Screen can be displayed. The Summary Screen displays all the numbers that were selected during the course of the draw. If you wish to display a Summary Screen, ensure that the checkbox labelled Summary Screen is a green tick. If you do not wish to display a Summary Screen, skip forward to step [o].

177 MultiScree

[j] To alter the properties of the Summary Screen, click Change. The following screen will appear :-

[k] Select whether you want the chosen numbers displayed on the Summary Screen to appear in numerical order or the order in which they were randomly chosen. When this option is active (ie. the green tick is showing), the numbers will be displayed in sorted numerical order. Click the checkbox labelled Summary in Numerical Order to change this option.

[l] If you want to use a countdown timer at the end of the draw, click the checkbox next to Use Countdown Timer, such that a green tick is displayed. See page 186 for more information on the operation of the countdown timer.

[m] If you have chosen to use a countdown timer, then click the Countdown Time box. Enter the number of minutes that you wish the countdown timer to run, using the keyboard.

[n] Once the countdown timer reaches zero, a “Time Is Up” Screen will be displayed. Click Change to modify this screen. The procedure is the very similar to that for editing a standard screen. Click Save when you have fin-

178 MultiScree

ished editing the “Time Is Up” Screen. This screen will be shown to let customers know that their time to collect their prize is up.

[o] Click Save to save changes to the Summary Screen and return to the Ran- dom Number Generator Options Screen. Clicking Cancel will return without saving changes.

[p] When you are satisfied with all the RNG game settings, click Save to finish and return to the Configuration Editor. Otherwise, click Cancel to return without saving any changes.

179 MultiScree

Setting the Random Number Limits in Display Mode

Before a random number can be selected, the Production Unit needs to know the limits of the range that it can choose numbers from, ie. the highest and lowest possible numbers that can be drawn. This can be done whilst the Production Unit is running in Display Mode by entering the lowest and highest numbers of the range using the remote keypad.

[a] The limits for the current game are remembered from the last time it was used. To query what high and low number limits are currently set to, press SHIFT + LOW or SHIFT + HIGH. The current limits will be displayed on the RNG keypad‟s LCD screen.

[b] To change the lowest number of the range, enter the new value using the Production Unit‟s remote RNG keypad. The LCD display will show the number as it is being entered.

[c] Press the LOW key on remote keypad to enter this number into the system. The LCD display will display the new low and high number limits.

[d] Similarly, to change the highest number of the range, enter the new value on the RNG keypad. The LCD display will show the number as it is being entered.

[e] Press the HIGH key on remote keypad to enter this number into the system. The LCD display will again display the new low and high number limits.

[f] The  key on the remote keypad may be used to correct errors while entering numbers by deleting the last digit entered. Pressing the CLEAR key will blank out the entire display.

[g] The Production Unit is now ready for random numbers to be selected from within the range specified, inclusive of the lowest & highest numbers.

180 MultiScree

Drawing a Random Number

Prior to the selection of random numbers, ensure that the lowest and highest numbers of the selection range have been entered as explained on the previous page. Numbers will be selected at random with equal probability from amongst this range (including the lowest and highest numbers).

[a] If you have multiple RNG Games available, you should first select the Game you wish to use. Press SHIFT + 0 on the RNG keypad. This will display the name of the current RNG Game on the keypad‟s screen. Press SHIFT + 0 again to cycle through all available games. +

[b] If you have created a Stand By Screen, you may show it before the draw begins. If you don‟t want to display the Stand By Screen, or have not created one, skip forward to the next step. To show the Stand By Screen, hold down SHIFT on the RNG keypad, and press the DRAW key. The Game‟s Stand By Screen will be displayed. The name of the current Game will be displayed on the keypad‟s LCD. You may then begin the draw at any time as described below. If you decide you do not wish to begin the draw at this time, press END DRAW. This will return the system to Display Mode.

181 MultiScree

[c] While the Production Unit is operating in Display Mode, or when the Stand By Screen is showing, press the DRAW key on the remote keypad to start the draw of random numbers. The Winning Number screen, similar to that shown below, will appear (interrupting normal operation). The winning number is also displayed on the keypad‟s LCD screen.



  

[d] The most recently generated random number  is displayed in the centre. At the bottom left and right corners of this screen, the range‟s lowest  and highest  numbers are shown, displayed at a smaller size. In between the range‟s low and high limits is a number indicating how many random numbers have been chosen in the current draw . To clarify the example above, 230 is the 29th random number chosen in the current draw, from numbers ranging from 100 to 800 inclusively.

182 MultiScree

[e] If additional random numbers are to be selected in the same draw, succes- sively pressing the DRAW key will cause new numbers to be displayed. If the repeated numbers option is active, each number within the range has an equal probability of being chosen each time the DRAW key is pressed. This means that the same number has a chance of appearing more than once during the course of the draw. Otherwise, if the repeated numbers option is off, any numbers already selected in this draw will not be reselected until all of the numbers in the range have been chosen. Each number selected will be displayed until the next number is drawn, or until the END DRAW key has been pressed.

[f] You may need to know which numbers have been drawn previously during the current game, without displaying the Summary Screen. Previously drawn numbers can be displayed on the keypad‟s LCD. Press the  key whilst the winning number screen is displayed. The previously drawn number will appear on the keypad screen. Press  to cycle backwards through drawn numbers, and SHIFT +  to cycle forward.

[g] To return to normal operation at the end of a draw, press the END DRAW key on the remote keypad. If the Summary Screen option is active, the Summary Screen will be shown. Refer to The Summary Screen on the following page.

[h] The next time that the DRAW key is pressed to start a new draw, the same low and high limits will apply if they have not been altered in the interim, and all numbers in that range will once again be available for selection with equal probability.

183 MultiScree

The Summary Screen

One of the optional features of the Random Number Generator is the use of a Summary Screen to display all of the numbers that have been chosen in the current draw. This screen can be selected to appear automatically at the end of each draw by activating the Summary Screen parameter as described in Setting the Random Number Generator Options on page 175. In this case, when the END DRAW key is pressed to mark the end of a draw, the Summary Screen will automatically appear, and will remain on the screen until the END DRAW key is pressed once more.

If there have been more random numbers selected than will comfortably fit on the Summary Screen, pressing the END DRAW key after the first screenful of numbers will display the next screenful of numbers, and so on until all of the selected numbers have been shown.

Pressing the  key while a subsequent screenful of random numbers is showing will return you to the previous screenful of selected numbers.

Pressing the END DRAW key while the last screenful of random numbers is showing will return the Production Unit back to normal operation.

184 MultiScree

Displayed in the top left and right corners of the Summary Screen are small characters to assist you in recognising when you are showing the first or last screenful of numbers. The characters and their meanings are:

 Displayed in the top left corner means that this is the first screenful of random numbers. Displayed in the top right corner means that this is the last screenful of random numbers, and so pressing END DRAW will return you to normal operation.

 Displayed in the top right corner means that there is at least one more screenful of random numbers to display. (ie. Pressing END DRAW will show the next screenful of selected numbers.)

 Displayed in the top left corner means that there is at least one previous screenful of random numbers that may be redisplayed. (ie. Pressing  will show the previous screenful of selected numbers.)

When no symbols are shown in the left and right corners then this is the only screenful of random numbers. The RNG keypad will report which page is currently displayed, and which numbers are currently displayed. For example, if the second page out of three was on screen, then the keypad would display :-

PAGE 2 OF 3 NUMS 19 TO 36

If the DRAW button is pressed while the Summary Screen is still showing, then the numbers subsequently selected will continue to be part of that same draw.

If the END DRAW key is pressed after the completion of a draw when the Pro- duction Unit is back in Display Mode, then the Summary Screen will appear showing the numbers selected during the most recently held draw of the current Game. If the DRAW button is then pressed while the Summary Screen is still displayed, then subsequent numbers will be selected as a continuation of that draw.

185 MultiScree

The Countdown Timer

An optional feature of standard Random Number Generator games is the use of a Countdown Timer, which may be displayed on the Summary Screen at the end of a draw. The timer is used to display the numbers chosen in the draw while count- ing down a specified number of minutes which is the amount of time a customer has to register as a winner or to collect their prize. When the countdown period has expired, the “Time Is Up” Screen will be displayed, and when it has finished showing the current draw is ended and the Production Unit will automatically return to Display Mode. See page 178 for information on creating a “Time Is Up” Screen.

The number of minutes that the timer will count down is specified by a parameter entered as described on page 178 in the Setting the Random Number Gen- erator Options section. Please note that if the Summary Screen is not active, then the countdown timer will not be utilised. In addition, the countdown timer will not come into operation if a value of zero minutes is specified for the countdown period, or if a red cross appears in the Use Countdown Timer checkbox.

If the DRAW button is pressed while the Summary Screen is still showing and/or the countdown timer is still in operation, then the random numbers subsequently selected will continue to be part of that same draw.

If the END DRAW key is pressed after the completion of a draw when the Pro- duction Unit is back in Display Mode, then the Summary Screen will reappear showing the numbers selected during the most recently held draw and the countdown timer will recommence. If the DRAW button is then pressed while the Summary Screen and timer are still active, then subsequent random numbers will be selected as a continuation of that draw.

186 MultiScree

Resuming a Draw

You can resume a draw of random numbers, even after returning to Display Mode. There are two ways to resume a draw. You can display the Summary Screen first, or silently resume the draw without redisplaying the Summary Screen. You may not resume a draw if you have changed the high and low number limits. The draw resumed will be the last draw of the currently selected Game.

To redisplay the Summary Screen from the last draw, press END DRAW on the keypad. Press the DRAW button to resume the draw. Subsequent random numbers will be selected as a continuation of the draw.

To silently resume the last draw, press SHIFT + END DRAW on the keypad. The keypad will display the draw to be resumed. For example, if the current Game were "Bingo", the keypad would display :- + DRAW TO RESUME: Bingo

If you wish to resume the draw, press DRAW on the keypad. Subsequent random numbers will be selected as a continuation of the draw. If you do not wish to resume the draw, press END DRAW.

187 MultiScree

Viewing the RNG Draw History

The results of every draw are saved on the Production Unit for future reference. Open the RNG Editor, as described on page 175. Click the button labelled Draw History. The following screen will appear :-

Select the draw type that you wish to query from the Game drop down menu. A list of dates and times will appear, corresponding to when each draw was started. Click on the draw that you want to review. A list of the numbers drawn will be displayed, along with the settings that were in place for that draw. You can view the numbers in the order they were drawn, or in numerical order.

The history information shown on screen can be saved onto a USB disk. To do this, insert the USB disk into a spare USB port & wait 10 seconds. Click Save. A text file will be saved onto the USB disk containing the draw history for the currently selected draw. You can open this text file on any regular computer. You may also save the history files of all draws for the current Game. To do this click Save All. All history files for the current game will be saved onto the USB disk as separate text files.

188 MultiScree

Playing a Bingo! Draw

On units fitted with the optional Bingo! accessory, a specialised Bingo Draw can be performed, complete with a summary screen of all numbers drawn. The specialised Bingo! game is operated using the standard RNG keypad, and the procedure to play a round of Bingo is similar to performing a regular random number draw. Note however that the low limit is fixed at 1 and the high limit is fixed at 90, and these cannot be changed.

[a] During Display Mode, press SHIFT+0 on the RNG keypad until the Bingo! game is selected as the current game.

[b] Press SHIFT+DRAW to display the Stand By Screen.

[c] Press DRAW to display the Bingo Playing Screen, ready to play a new game.

[d] If the Game Number is incorrect, then enter the correct Game Number on the keypad then press either HIGH or LOW to enter it.

[e] Now press DRAW to select the first random number & continue pressing DRAW to select additional random numbers.

[f] If you want to review the previously selected numbers, press the  button to traverse backwards in the list (displayed on the LCD only) or SHIFT+ buttons to move forwards.

[g] When a player calls BINGO, then press the END DRAW button.

[h] Then if you want to start another game of Bingo, press the DRAW button and go back to step [d] above.

[i] Otherwise if you want to stop playing Bingo and resume the display of the sequence, press the END DRAW button again.

[j] To resume the last played game of Bingo, press the END DRAW button while in Display Mode and the Bingo Playing Screen will reappear showing all the previously selected numbers in the last played game. Pressing DRAW now will continue to select numbers in that same game.

189 MultiScree

Configuring the Bingo Draw

[a] If the system is in Display Mode, then press Esc+Pause/Break to bring up the Sequence Editor.

[b] Left click on the Config button, then on the Random Number Generator button.

[c] From the Game drop-down list, select the Bingo! game.

[d] On this RNG Configuration screen, the Number of Digits, Lowest & Highest Number & Allow Repeated Numbers settings are all displayed, but they are unable to be modified.

[e] To modify the Stand By Screen, click on the Change button next to its thumbnail, in the same manner as with a standard RNG game.

[f] Whether a leading zero is displayed in front of the single digit numbers (1- 9) on the Bingo Playing Screen can be selected by clicking on the Show Leading Zeros checkmark.

190 MultiScree

[g] The numbers filling the Bingo grid can be displayed either across-wards or down-wards, by selecting from the Grid Direction drop-down menu.

[h] Whether the Game Number counter is utilised on the Bingo Playing Screen is selected by clicking on the Use Game Number checkmark.

[i] If the Game Number counter is used, then its value can be set by typing into the Next Game Number box. This provides an alternative to using the keypad to set the Game Number.

[j] To review the Draw History of previously played Bingo games, click on the Draw History button, in the same manner as with a standard RNG game.

[k] The checkmark to the right of the Game Name that is labelled Use allows you to select whether or not the currently selected game will be available to play on the RNG keypad. If this checkmark is crossed, then the game is disabled and cannot be selected by using SHIFT+0 on the RNG keypad. Note that any disabled games appear in the Game drop-down list with < brackets > around their name, and active game‟s names appear as per normal without the brackets.

[l] The speed at which the rolling random numbers appear on the Bingo Play- ing Screen can be set by using the Initial Spins, Digit Spins & Speed slider settings.  Initial Spins can be set from 0 to 5 and this specifies how many cycles that all the digits in the number will spin through, before the first digit settles on its final value.  Digit Spins can also be set from 0 to 5 and this specifies how many cycles that each individual digit will spin through before settling on its final value. (If Digit Spins is set to 0 then the digits will not spin at all, rather they will just appear without any animation, one after the other from left to right.)  The Speed slider specifies how fast or slow the rolling effect of the cy- cling numbers will appear. The further the knob of the slider is to the right, the faster the numbers will spin. (Note that if Digit Spins is set to 0 then the Speed slider will instead specify the speed at which the non- animated digits will appear one after the other.)

[m] Clicking on the Speed button allows you to preview the current Initial Spins, Digits Spins & Speed slider settings by showing an example Bingo Playing Screen. While the preview screen is showing, clicking the left button or pressing the Enter or Spacebar keys will “draw” another “random” number. Click on the Exit button when you are finished previewing.

191 MultiScree

[n] Once you have made all the necessary changes to the settings, click on the Save button to exit from the RNG Configuration screen.

[o] Then click on the Exit button to return to the Sequence Editor.

[p] Before operating the RNG keypad, be sure to click on the Display button to put the system into Display Mode.

The specialised Bingo! playing screen

192 MultiScree

Meal Number Control

A MultiScreen system fitted with the Meal Number Control option is utilised in restaurants and bistros where customers who have ordered a meal are provided with a numbered ticket and are asked to wait until their ticket number is displayed on TV before collecting their meal. Once a customer’s meal is ready, the corresponding ticket number is entered on the Production Unit’s external keypad. This causes a prompt to appear on the TV screen informing the customer with that ticket number that their meal is ready. If desired, a tone will sound the first time a new meal ticket number is displayed. Reminder screens will LCD Numeric Display display intermittently until that customer collects their meal. The ticket number is then removed from the system.

The External Keypad

The Meal Number Controller is operated using an external keypad (as pictured left) that is connected to the MultiScreen TV Keypad for Production Unit via a cable that can be up data entry to 200 metres in length.

The cable from the external keypad should be connected to either of the KEYPAD sockets on the rear panel of the Production Unit. (Do not plug into the NETWORK socket by mistake.)

Socket for cable to connect to Power supply socket Production Unit (7.5-12V DC) (Only required for cables over 100m)

193 MultiScree

Keypad Operation

Adding a Meal Number

When a customer‟s meal is ready, the corresponding meal ticket number needs to be entered into the Production Unit so that it may be displayed on the TVs for the customer to see.

[a] Using the Production Unit‟s external keypad, enter the meal ticket number. The LCD will show the number as it is being entered.

[b] Use the  key on the keypad to correct errors while entering the number. Pressing CLEAR will cause an incorrectly entered number to be blanked out, allowing the number to be re-entered.

[c] Press ADD on the keypad to add the number to the system. The LCD will change to show that the number has been added.

[d] The Production Unit will now show a prompt screen displaying the number just entered. If configured, a sound may accompany this screen. Then the Production Unit will intermittently show reminder screens including the meal number just entered, until that number has been deleted from the system.

194 MultiScree

Deleting a Meal Number

When a customer has collected their meal, the corresponding meal ticket number needs to be deleted from the Production Unit so that it is no longer displayed on the TVs.

[a] Pressing the ▼ or ▲ keys on the external keypad will cause each of the active meal numbers in the system to be shown one at a time on the LCD in either ascending (▼) or descending (▲) order. Keep pressing these keys until the number you wish to delete appears on the LCD.

[b] Alternately, you can simply enter the number to delete by using the numeric keypad.

[c] While the number you want to delete is showing on the LCD, press the DELETE key on the external keypad. The LCD will change to indicate that the number has been deleted from the system.

[d] The Production Unit will now no longer display this number on its reminder screens.

195 MultiScree

Meal Number Display Screens

The Meal Number Control uses two types of screens on which to display meal numbers to the customers. Both of these types of screens are based on the same background imagery, but they use the lower portion of the screen in different ways. Most facets of the appearance of these Display Screens may be altered by using the Meal Number Display Screen Editor, as described on page 201.

New Meal Number Display Screen

When a customer‟s meal is ready, the corresponding meal ticket number is entered on the Production Unit‟s keypad and as soon as the ADD button is pressed, the New Meal Number Dis- play Screen instantly interrupts sequence display. The meal number just entered is prominently displayed on the screen in large blinking numbers, and, if configured, this screen is accompanied by a sound to attract the customer‟s attention to the screen. An example of a New Meal Number The amount of time that this screen is Display Screen. displayed for is set on the Meal Number Control Configuration screen, as described on page 199.

Meal Number Reminder Screens

Whenever there are any meal ticket numbers entered into the system for meals waiting to be collected, the Meal Number Reminder Screen will be shown intermittently. It will display the ticket numbers of the waiting meals, with up to 6 numbers per screen displayed in a grid. If there are more than 6 meals waiting, then as many pages of reminder screens as necessary will be displayed one after the other until all meal numbers have An example Meal Number Reminder Screen.

196 MultiScree

been shown. Then, if configured, the standard display of sequence screens will resume for a specified number of seconds before the Meal Number Reminder Screens will be reshown. The amount of time that each page of reminder screens is shown for, as well as how many seconds of standard sequence display that will appear between each block of reminder screens is set via the Meal Number Con- trol Configuration screen, as described on page 199.

197 MultiScree

Configuration

Setting the Meal Number Control Options

The Meal Number Control has a number of options that allow you to customise its appearance & operation to suit your situation. The options are described over the following pages. To access the Meal Number Control options, first open the Configuration Editor, then click on the Meal Number Control button. A screen similar to the following will be displayed :-

[a] At the top of the screen, you may type in the name of your restaurant. (There is a 16 character limit.)

[b] It is necessary to enter the maximum number of digits that are used in the numbers on your meal tickets. For example, if your meal tickets range from 0 to 99, then the number of digits should be set to 2. Click in the box labelled Number of Digits, then either type in this number, or use the up and down cursor keys to increase or decrease the current number. This value can be set between 1 and 5.

198 MultiScree

[c] Select whether you want leading zeros shown on the meal numbers when they are displayed on the TVs. For example, if the Show Leading Zeros checkbox is ticked (active) and the maximum number of digits is set to 3, then the meal number 6 would be displayed as "006". Without leading zeros, the meal number would simply be displayed as "6".

[d] Select whether you want the active meal numbers when they are displayed to appear in numerical order or in the same order in which they were entered. Click the checkbox labelled Summary in Numerical Order to change this option. When this option is active (ie. the green tick is showing), the meal numbers will be displayed in sorted numerical order, otherwise they will be shown in the same order that they were entered on the keypad. The selected order is used both when displaying the active number list on the TV screens as well as when the ▼ & ▲ keys are used on the keypad to scan through the list.

[e] To set the number of seconds that newly added numbers are first displayed on the TV screen for, click in the box labelled New Number Display Time. Then either type in the required number of seconds, or use the up and down cursor keys to increase or decrease the current number. This value can range from 1 to 99 seconds.

[f] To set the numbers of seconds that each page of the meal number reminder screens are displayed on the TV screen for, click in the box labelled Num- ber List Display Time. Then either type in the required number of seconds, or use the up and down cursor keys to increase or decrease the current number. This value can range from 1 to 99 seconds.

[g] Regular sequence screens may be interspersed between the meal number reminder screens. The minimum time that the regular sequence will display for between blocks of meal number screens can be set by clicking in the box labelled New Number Display Time. Then either type in the required number of seconds, or use the up and down cursor keys to increase or decrease the current number. This value can range from 0 to 99 seconds. Note that by setting this value to 0, then regular sequence screens will not ever be shown while there are numbers still in the active meal number list. However the regular sequence screens will still display as per normal once the list is empty.

[h] To change the appearance of the Meal Number Display Screen and the numbers that appear on it, click the Change button below the screen‟s thumbnail. For more information, see page 201, Meal Number Display Screen’s Settings.

199 MultiScree

[i] There are a number of advanced settings which allow you to fine tune the Meal Number Control which may be accessed by clicking on the Ad- vanced Settings button. Refer to page 206, Advanced Settings for further information about these options.

[j] Once you are satisfied with all the settings, click Save to finish and return to the Configuration Editor. Click Cancel to return without saving any changes.

200 MultiScree

Meal Number Display Screen Settings

You may change the appearance of the screen that is used to display the meal numbers on the TV. To do this, first open the Meal Number Control settings as described on page 198, then click on the Change button (below the Meal Num- ber Display Screen thumbnail). A screen similar to the following will be displayed :-

[a] Most elements of the Meal Number Display Screen‟s appearance can be altered in much the same way as any standard sequence screen. The Graphic, Background Colour, Transition, Text and Sound can all be altered in the regular manner, as described in the main section of this manual. It should be noted however that meal numbers will appear over the top of the lower two- thirds of the Meal Number Display Screen and so graphic imagery and text should best be constrained to the top third of the screen.

[b] When the Meal Number Display Screen is used as a reminder screen, the waiting meal numbers are shown in a grid. You may alter the thickness of the grid lines by adjusting the Grid Thickness slider. The leftmost position of the slider will remove the grid lines altogether.

201 MultiScree

[c] The colour used to display the grid can be changed by clicking on the Grid Colour sample, then selecting a colour.

[d] Clicking on the Grid Preview button will show a full screen example of how a Meal Number Reminder Screen will look with the current settings. Press Esc or Enter to exit the preview.

[e] Clicking on the Preview button towards the top of the screen will show a full screen example of how a New Meal Number Display Screen will look with the current settings. Press Esc or Enter to exit the preview.

[f] To alter the appearance of the meal numbers that are displayed on the Meal Number Display Screen, click Meal Number Appearance. Refer to Meal Number Appearance Settings on page 203 for more details.

[g] Once you are satisfied with the Meal Number Display Screen settings, click Save to finish and return to the Meal Number Control Editor. Click Cancel to return without saving any changes.

202 MultiScree

Meal Number Appearance Settings

To alter the Meal Number‟s Appearance, first open the Meal Number Display Screen settings screen, as described on page 201. Next, click Meal Number Appearance. A screen similar to the following will appear :-

[a] Select the name of the font you wish to use from the font list. Click the Bold or Italic checkbox if you wish the numbers to be Bold or Italic. You‟ll see an example what of your selected text style looks in the sample area.

[b] To set the colour of the numbers, click Number Colour, then select the colour you want. The Bg Colour option is only used to change the background colour for the sample area. You may wish to select a colour similar to that of the background graphic used.

[c] If you wish to alter the numbers size or position on the screen, click Set Meal Number Size & Position. See page 205, Meal Number Size & Position, for more details.

203 MultiScree

[d] Once you are satisfied with the meal number‟s appearance, click Save to finish and return to the Meal Number Display Screen Editor. Click Cancel to return without saving any changes.

204 MultiScree

Meal Number Size & Position

To change the size & position of the newly added meal numbers when they first appear on the Meal Number Display Screen, open the Meal Number Appear- ance settings, as described on page 203, then click on the Size and Position button. A screen similar to the following will be displayed :-

[a] To change the size of the meal number, click on the  or  buttons, or use the left and right cursor keys. Holding the Shift key down while you do this allows the size to change in larger amounts.

[b] To move the meal number up or down the screen, click on the  or  or use the up and down cursor keys. Holding the Shift key down while you do this allows the number to move in larger amounts.

[c] Once you are satisfied with the size and position of the meal number, click on the Save button to finish and return to the Meal Number Appearance Editor. Click Cancel to return without saving any changes.

205 MultiScree

Advanced Settings

There are several advanced settings, controlling how meal numbers are displayed, how the meal number reminder screens interact with the rest of the sequence, and also the assignment of keypads to restaurants. To access these advanced settings, first open the Meal Number Control Settings screen, as described on page 198, then click on the Advanced Settings button. A panel similar to the following will appear:-

[a] New Meal Number Blink Rate – New meal numbers will flash at this speed when they first appear on the Meal Number Display Screen. Note that 1000 milliseconds equals one second, therefore in the example above, the numbers will blink on and off once a second. A preview of the rate of the blinking number is displayed in the upper left corner. This value may be set between 0 & 2000 milliseconds. A value of 0 will prevent the number from blinking.

[b] Interrupted Screen Minimum Display Time – When a Meal Number Reminder Screen is due to display (while a regular sequence screen is showing), it will first ensure that the currently displayed sequence screen has been displayed for a minimum amount of time. This prevents a screen being displayed for a very short amount of time before being interrupted. A screen will display for at least the number of seconds that this value is set to, before the Meal Number Reminder Screen is shown. This value may be set from 0 to 60 seconds. If you want the meal number reminder screens to display instantly when they are due, then set the both the Interrupted Screen Minimum & Maxi- mum Display Times to 0.

206 MultiScree

[c] Interrupted Screen Maximum Display Time – When a Meal Num- ber Reminder Screen is due to display (while a regular sequence screen is showing), the currently displayed screen is also checked to see if it has less than this maximum amount of time left to display. If it has, then the current screen is allowed to display for its fully allotted display time before the meal number reminder screen is shown. If it hasn‟t, then if the current screen is checked to ensure it has displayed for at least the Interrupted Screen Minimum Display Time, before it is interrupted to display the Meal Number Reminder Screen. This value may be set from 0 to 60 seconds. If you want the Meal Number Re- minder Screens to display instantly when they are due, then set both the Interrupted Screen Maximum & Minimum Display Times to 0.

[d] Keypads – If you have more than one Meal Number Control keypads, you will need to set up each keypad to work with the current restaurant. Each keypad must have an independent address number from 1 to 4. (This is set via a switch inside the keypad). A green light means the keypad of the corresponding address is currently connected to the Pro- duction Unit. A green tick must be selected for each connected keypad that is to operate with the current restaurant.

[e] Once you are satisfied with the advanced settings, click on the Save button to finish and return to the Meal Number Control Editor. Click Cancel to return without saving any changes.

207 MultiScree

Instant Message Activator

The Instant Message Activator option for the MultiScreen enables you to either instantly activate a special sequence that overrides the standard Display Mode sequence, or to instantly play an audio announce- ment at any time.

The External Keypad

LCD Numeric Display The Instant Message Activator is operated using an external keypad connected to the MultiScreen TV Production Unit via a cable that can be up to 200 metres in length. The keypad is shown left.

The cable from the external keypad should be connected to either of the KEYPAD sockets on the back of the TV Production Unit. (Do not plug into the NETWORK socket by mistake.)

Keypad for data entry

Socket for cable to connect to Power supply socket Production Unit (7.5-12V DC) (Only required for cables over 100m)

208 MultiScree

Overview of Operation

Up to 100 instant messages may be created on the system, using message numbers from 0 to 99. The ten instant messages using the single digit numbers from 0 to 9 may be activated with one touch, by simply pressing the corresponding digit on the Instant Message Activator keypad. The remaining 90 two digit messages require 4 presses to be activated. The basic operation of the Instant Message Ac- tivator is described below :-

[a] In the Config section, you can assign instant message sequences or sounds to Instant Message slots with numbers which can range from 0 to 99. Single digit message numbers (0-9) should be assigned to the most often used messages, as single digit message numbers are able be “more instantly” activated than 2 digit message numbers. Each instant message may be given a name as well as a number. The name can be used to identify the message before activating it.

[b] When the Production Unit is running in Display Mode and you want to activate an instant message, you may do so via one of the following methods:

[c] If "one touch activation" is enabled, a one digit message can be activated simply by pressing that digit. The assigned sequence or sound will start right away.

[d] If "one touch activation" is not enabled, you must press the ACTIVATE key after entering the one digit message number.

[e] A two digit message is invoked by pressing the double-digit □□ key, followed by the two digits, then the ACTIVATE button is pressed to actually start the message.

[f] To abort an instant message, press the CANCEL button.

209 MultiScree

Activating an Instant Message

There are two types of instant messages – Sequence and Audio messages. Audio Instant Messages can be activated at any time the Production Unit is running, however Sequence Instant Messages can only be activated when the system is running in Display Mode. If you activate a Sequence Instant Message when a sequence message is already running, it will replace the existing message. Before you can activate an instant message however, you must set it up as described on page 213.

To activate a message stored in slots 0-9:

[a] Press the corresponding number‟s key on the IMA keypad. For example, to activate message number 4, press key 4 as shown below:

[b] If one-touch activation is enabled, then the message will be displayed immediately.

[c] If one touch activation is disabled, the message number and name will be displayed on the IMA keypad‟s LCD screen, as shown below:

MSG 1 Taxi has Arrived

[d] Then press the ACTIVATE key on the IMA keypad (shown below) to activate the message. If you decide you do not want to activate that message, press CLEAR instead.

210 MultiScree

To activate a message stored in slots 10-99:

[a] Press the Double Digit □□ key (shown below) on the IMA keypad.

[b] Enter the two digits of the number of the message you wish to display. The number and name of the message will be displayed on the keypad‟s LCD screen, as shown below:

MSG 14 Jackpot Won

[c] Press the ACTIVATE key on the IMA keypad to activate the message. If you decide you do not want to activate that message, press CLEAR instead.

To activate a message using the up and down keys:

[a] Press  or  (shown below) to cycle through the instant messages stored in the Instant Message Activator. You may do this before pressing any numbers, or after entering a number as above and before pressing the ACTIVATE key. The currently selected message will be displayed on the keypad‟s LCD screen.

[b] When you find the message you wish to activate, press the ACTIVATE key on the IMA keypad to activate the selected message. If you decide you do not want to activate that message, press CLEAR instead.

211 MultiScree

Cancelling an Instant Message

You may wish to cancel an instant message before it has finished running. This may be because the instant message was activated by mistake, or because the message is no longer relevant.

[a] To cancel a message, first press the CANCEL button on the keypad (shown below).

[b] If more than one message is currently active, use the  and  keys (shown below) to select the message that you want to cancel.

[c] Finally, press the CANCEL button again.

212 MultiScree

Setting up Instant Messages

There are two types of instant messages – Sequence and Audio messages. To set up an instant message, you use the Instant Message Set Up screen.

[a] Enter the Sequence Editor. (Press Esc+Pause/Break or left+right click while the TV Production Unit is operating in Display Mode).

[b] Click the Config button. The Configuration Editor will appear.

[c] Click the Instant Message Activator button. The following screen will appear :-

[d] The Instant Message Activator has 100 "slots" that you can assign instant messages to. The slots 0-9 are able to be activated with one press. It‟s a good idea to put messages you will use frequently in these slots. Select the slot you wish to use by clicking it. Alternately, click the button labelled Msg to automatically select the next available slot.

[e] Follow the instructions given over the next few pages to create the instant message.

213 MultiScree

Setting up a Sequence as an Instant Message

You can use an existing sequence as an Instant Message, or you can create a new sequence. Create the sequence for the instant message as you would any other sequence. For more information on creating sequences, refer to the main section of this manual. Once you have a sequence ready to use, you can set it up as an instant message by using the following procedure.

[a] Open the Instant Message Set-Up Screen and select a message slot, as described on page 213.

[b] Select Sequence from the type drop-down menu. The screen will now look similar to the following :-

[c] Select the sequence you wish to use from the Sequence drop-down menu.

[d] You may choose to have the sequence play through a certain number of times, or to play for a certain number of seconds. Enter the number of times or seconds you wish the sequence to run for into the Play Sequence text box.

214 MultiScree

[e] If you want the sequence to display that number of times, select Times from the drop-down menu.

[f] Alternately, if you wish the sequence to display for a certain number of seconds, select Secs from the drop-down menu.

[g] Enter a name for the instant message into the Name box at the top of the screen. This name can be up to 16 letters long, and is displayed on the IMA keypad when you are selecting a sequence to activate.

[h] Click the Add Msg button to add the newly created message to the Instant Message list.

[i] Click Save to save your changes to the Instant Message Activator.

[j] If you make a mistake and don‟t want to save your changes to the Instant Message Activator, click Cancel instead.

215 MultiScree

Setting up a Sound as an Instant Message

You can use any sound in the TV Production Unit‟s Sound Library as an instant message. For more information on loading new sounds onto the system, refer to the main section of this manual. Once you have a sound ready to use, you can set it up as an instant message by using the following procedure.

[a] Open the Instant Message Set-Up Screen and select a message slot, as described on page 213.

[b] Select Audio from the type drop-down menu. The screen will now look similar to the following.

[c] Select the sound you wish to use from the Sound drop-down menu. Alter- nately, click the Sound button and the Sound Selector will appear. Select a sound from the Sound Selector and click OK.

[d] If you want the sound to play more than once, enter the number of times you wish the sound to play into the Play Sound […] Times text box.

216 MultiScree

[e] If you have set the sound to play more than once, you may set how often it should repeat. Enter the number of seconds into the Repeating Every […] Seconds text box.

[f] Set the volume of the sound using the Volume slider. The further to the right the slider is, the louder the sound will play.

[g] If you wish, you can press the Sound Preview button (shown below) to preview the sound.

[h] If you have sounds as part of your Master Sequence, you may wish for them to continue playing when an instant message is activated, or you may wish for them to be muted. If the Mute Seq (Mute Sequence) checkbox is checked with a green tick, then the sequence will be muted when the instant message plays. Otherwise, both sounds will play simultaneously.

[i] Enter a name for the instant message into the Name box at the top of the screen. This name can be up to 16 letters long, and is displayed on the IMA keypad when you are selecting a message to activate.

[j] Click the Add Msg button to add the newly created message to the Instant Message list.

[k] Click Save to save your changes to the Instant Message Activator.

[l] If you make a mistake and don‟t want to save your changes to the Instant Message Activator, click Cancel instead.

217 MultiScree

Instant Message Configuration

You can configure the Instant Message Activator‟s settings by using the Instant Message Configuration editor. Generally, you will not need to alter these settings as they will have been set in advance as appropriate for your venue. The configuration options mostly concern how the Instant Message Activator interacts with the Random Number Generator and Meal Number Control options. To set the Instant Message Configuration:

[a] Enter the Sequence Editor. (Press Esc+Pause/Break or left+right click while the Production Unit is operating in Display Mode).

[b] Click the Config button. The Configuration Editor will appear.

[c] Click the Instant Message Activator button. The Instant Message Set Up screen will appear.

[d] Click the Config button. The following screen will appear :-

Each option is turned on and off by clicking the checkbox next to the option. A description of each option follows on the next page :-

218 MultiScree

Activate key required for Messages 0-9

If this option is enabled, you must press the Activate key after pressing one of the numbers 0-9 to activate the message. If this option is not selected, the message will display as soon as you press the button. Use this option if you are wor- ried that messages may be activated accidentally with one-touch activation.

Allow RNG Screens to be interrupted

If you have a Random Number Generator, you may not want instant messages to interrupt Random Number draws. You may set this option independently for sequence messages (Seq) and audio messages (Aud). If the option is set, then RNG screens can be interrupted by instant messages. Note that instant messages are always able to be interrupted by new Random Number draws.

Allow new meal num screens to be interrupted

If you have a Meal Number Control, you may not want instant messages to interrupt New Meal Number screens. You may set this option independently for sequence messages (Seq) and audio messages (Aud). If the option is set, then New Meal Number screens can be interrupted by instant messages.

Allow new meal num screens to interrupt

If you have a Meal Number Control, you may not want New Meal Number screens to interrupt instant messages. If this option is selected, New Meal Num- ber screens will interrupt both sequence messages and audio messages. If the Mute option is selected, then the instant message will be muted and the New Meal Num sound will play. Otherwise, the sound of the instant message will continue to play.

Allow meal num reminder screens to interrupt

Similarly, if you have a Meal Number Control, you may not want Meal Number Reminder screens to interrupt instant messages. If this option is selected, Meal Number Reminder screens will interrupt both sequence messages and audio messages. Meal Number Reminder screens do not contain sounds and will therefore never mute an instant message.

219 MultiScree

Portrait Orientation

MultiScreen units now come in the choice of landscape or portrait orientation. Units operating in landscape orientation display the picture wider than it is high, and are viewed on televisions mounted in the standard way. However, units operating in portrait orientation display their picture taller than it is wide and are intended to be viewed on televisions that are mounted in a 90 degrees clockwise rotation from the standard landscape position. The tallness of the portrait orientation units make them ideal for the display of imagery that would otherwise be displayed on posters, and they also lend themselves well to displaying menus and the like. 90º

 Landscape Orientation

Portrait Orientation 

For the main part, portrait MultiScreen units have practically all of the same functionality as landscape MultiScreen units and generally operate in much the same way, with the obvious exception that both the Editing & Display Modes require that the monitors & TVs be utilised in portrait orientation. Nevertheless there are a few minor differences distinctly unique to portrait systems, and they will be explained in this addendum to the MultiScreen Operator‟s Manual.

220 MultiScree

Monitor & TV Orientation

The most obvious difference with a portrait system is that both the Display Mode & the Editing Mode require that the TVs as well as the operating monitor be in portrait orientation. A standard landscape TV or monitor may be turned into a portrait one simply by rotating it 90 degrees in the clockwise direction.

90º

 Editing Mode in Landscape Orientation

Editing Mode in Portrait Orientation 

The operating monitor provided with your portrait MultiScreen unit has a special pivoting mechanism which allows the monitor to be easily rotated from the landscape position to the portrait position. For exclusive use with your portrait system, the monitor will generally remain set in its portrait position. However, if you plan on sharing use of the monitor with another landscape orientation computer or MultiScreen unit (via a KVM switch) then it may be easily rotated as required. In this latter scenario however, it is especially important that all the cables connected to the rear panel of the monitor are very securely connected to their respective sockets, and that all cords are gathered together & looped through the circular cable holder at the rear of the monitor. This will minimise the possibility of cables working loose during the rotational movement, which could result in a loss of the image from the monitor.

221 MultiScree

Editing Mode

On a portrait system, there are a couple of visual differences in the Editing Mode user interface when compared to a landscape system.

[a] The Editing Mode user interface is displayed only in the upper half of the screen, with the lower half remaining blank (as depicted on the previous page).

[b] Portrait screen thumbnails appear within a larger square area, with black padding along the left and right sides to fill out the spare space within the thumbnail area.

 Landscape Thumbnail  Portrait Thumbnail

[c] Most text on a portrait system appears slightly taller & narrower than on a landscape system, to allow for more information to be displayed across the relatively narrower width of the portrait screen.

[d] In the Screen Editor there is no 4:3/16:9 aspect ratio stretching button. This button is also absent on the Set Defaults screen. (Refer to pages 38 & 105 of the Operator’s Manual for further info.)

Graphic Dimensions

When creating your graphics for use on a portrait MultiScreen unit, a graphic will display at its best if it is exactly 768 pixels wide and 1366 pixels high. It is recommended that you use your paint program to change the image to these dimensions before loading it into the MultiScreen unit. However, the system can still show non-standard sized images, and if necessary, the “Fit Screen” option in the Screen Editor can be used to automatically resize non-standard sized images to best fit the TV screen. (Also refer to page 165 of the Operator’s Manual.)

222 MultiScree

Display of Videos

Videos will display best on a portrait MultiScreen system if they are specifically designed to be viewed in the 9:16 portrait orientation. Otherwise, if a regular landscape oriented video is loaded and displayed, it will appear centred in the middle of the portrait screen, stretched full width but still in its landscape aspect ratio. The remaining blank area on the screen above & below the landscape video will always appear in black.

A standard 16:9 digital video camera can be used to take video suitable for a portrait system by turning the camera sideways 90 degrees in a clockwise direction before recording. Then the recorded video can be loaded into a video editing program and rotated 90 degrees, before saving it in a compatible file format (as mentioned on page 166 of the Operator‟s Manual). The saved video file can then be loaded into the MultiScreen unit‟s video library.

One example of a Windows PC program to rotate video 90 degrees is called X2X Free Video Flip and Rotate which can be downloaded from here :- http://www.x2xsoft.com/downloads/fliprotatesetup.exe

Sequence Compatibility

While it is actually possible to load or transfer a sequence created on a portrait unit onto a landscape unit (or to a sequence created on a landscape unit onto a portrait unit) it is not recommended to do so. This is because the size and layout of the graphics, text & scrollers attached to screens created in portrait orientation will inevitably appear in different sizes and locations when displayed on a landscape unit instead (or vice versa). The result is that the sequence will no longer look anything like it was originally intended when designed on the original unit. Thus if you attempt to use the Load Sequences function (as described on page 133 of the Operator‟s Manual) to load a sequence of the opposite orientation, then a warning message will appear on-screen alerting you to that fact, and it provides you with the option to proceed or not. Note that if you use the Transfer Sequences function (as described on page 161 of the Operator‟s Manual) to transfer a sequence onto a unit of the opposite orientation then no such warning message will appear. Therefore care should be taken to only transfer portrait sequences to other portrait units, and landscape sequences only to other landscape units.

223 MultiScree

Key Command Summary Display Mode Esc + Pause/Break Break out of Display Mode into Sequence Editor Left + Right mouse button Break out of Display Mode into Sequence Editor Shift + Ctrl + Alt + L Enable or disable the Keyboard Lock Preview Mode Space / Enter / Left click Break out of Preview Mode back into the Sequence Editor (Last screen shown becomes current screen thumbnail) Esc / Right click Break out of Preview Mode back into the Sequence Editor (Previously selected thumbnail remains selected) PREV (F1) Cut straight to the previous screen NEXT (F2) Cut straight to the next screen Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock Freeze/unfreeze the sequence Sequence Editor PREV (F1) Move current screen cursor to previous screen NEXT (F2) Move current screen cursor to next screen CREATE (F3) Create new sequence Shift + CLONE (F3) Create new sequence by cloning current sequence MODIFY (F4) Edit current screen (invoke Screen Editor) PREVIEW (F12) Preview current sequence Shift + DISPLAY (F12) Invoke Display Mode Arrow Keys Move current screen cursor in appropriate direction Home Move current screen cursor to first screen in sequence End Move current screen cursor to last screen in sequence Page Down Display next screenful of thumbnails Page Up Display previous screenful of thumbnails Insert Insert a new screen at the current cursor position Shift + Insert Insert a cloned copy of the current screen Delete Delete the screen at the current cursor position Enter Edit current screen (invoke Screen Editor) Single left click Move the cursor to selected screen Double left click Edit the selected screen Drag with left mouse button Move the selected screen to a new location Right click on screen Pop-up menu with following options: Edit Screen Insert New Screen Clone Screen Delete Screen

224 MultiScree

Screen Editor PREV (F1) Edit the previous screen in the sequence NEXT (F2) Edit the next screen in the sequence CREATE (F3) Insert a new screen before the current screen Shift + CLONE (F3) Create a clone of the current screen SAVE (F6) Save changes made to screen & exit back to Sequence Editor PREVIEW (F12) Preview the current screen B Select a Background colour C Add/Change Clock G Add/Change Graphic O Add/Change Sound S Add/Change Scroller T Select a Transition X Add/Change Text Insert Insert a new screen before the current screen Shift + Insert Insert a new screen after the current screen Delete Delete the current screen Home Jump to the first screen in the sequence End Jump to the end-marker screen for the sequence ? Preview sound at current volume setting (if one is attached) Graphic Selector Arrow Keys Move the current graphic cursor in the chosen direction Enter Select the current graphic & return to the Screen Editor A, B, C … X, Y, Z Move the current graphic cursor to the first graphic whose name begins with the selected letter Spacebar Preview the current graphic full screen  Spacebar / Esc Return to Graphic Selector from preview  Enter Select the previewed graphic & return to the Screen Editor Text Editor SAVE (F6) Save changes and exit Text Editor back to Screen Editor COPY (F7) Copy marked text to clipboard Shift + CUT (F7) Cut marked text and store in clipboard PASTE (F8) Paste text stored in clipboard at current cursor location Shift + ALIGN (F8) Change text alignment TEXT (F9) Invoke Text Appearance form Cursor keys Move cursor through text Shift + cursor keys Mark off text Ctrl + cursor keys left/right Move cursor to start/end of line Esc Abort from Text Editor without saving changes Delete Delete marked text or character just in front of the cursor

225 MultiScree

Backspace Delete marked text or character just before the cursor Home Move cursor to start of text End Move cursor to end of text Text Appearance Selector Cursor up/down Move cursor up/down in font name selector Cursor left/right Move cursor left/right in font size selector Shift + cursor keys Move cursor around in text colour palette Shift+Ctrl+cursor up/down Text highlight offset up/down Shift+Alt+cursor up/down Text shadow offset up/down B Toggle Bold setting on/off I Toggle Italic setting on/off Enter / SAVE (F6) Accept chosen text attributes and return to Text Editor Esc Abort from Font Selector leaving text attributes unchanged

226 MultiScree

Glossary

Button An on-screen control that may be clicked with the mouse to perform a function. See page 23, Using On Screen Controls.

Checkbox A special button that allows an option to be switched on or off, as indicated by a tick or cross.

Clock A screen can contain a clock, either analogue or digital, showing the current time. A clock cannot be used on a screen that contains text or a scroller.

Default Each time a screen is created, various settings such as the transition, background colour, display time, etc. will already be preset. These are called the default settings

Delete Permanently remove a screen, graphic, sound, or graphic category from the Production Unit‟s hard disk. Once deleted, recovery is not possible. Use this function with extreme caution.

Display Mode Whilst in Display Mode, the Production Unit will cycle through a sequence of different screens.

Editing Mode Used to create and alter screens and sequences, schedule sequences, adjust the time and date, and change the Production Unit‟s settings.

Elements A screen is composed of a number of elements. Screen elements include graphics, text, sounds, clocks, scrollers, transitions and background colours.

End-marker This screen will always remain at the end of the sequence, and is used to add new screens. The End-marker screen is never displayed in Display Mode.

Font A font defines the style in which text is shown. For example, this paragraph uses the Times font. Other fonts include Verdana, Forte and Eurostile.

Function Keys The row of special keys along the top of the keyboard. These keys perform special functions in editing mode, as described in the Key Command Summary, page 224.

Graphic A static picture that will be displayed as the background of a screen. Clocks, Text, Scrollers etc. will be displayed in front of this graphic.

227 MultiScree

Hide Temporarily prevents a screen or screen element from being displayed. A hidden screen or element can be easily recovered.

Master Sequence The Master Sequence displays when no other sequence is scheduled.

Preview Mode Displays a preview of the current sequence. It displays the sequence exactly as it would in Display Mode, complete with transitions, scrollers and sounds, but ignores the Sequence Scheduler.

RNG Random Number Generator. An optional upgrade, capable of generating random numbers for bingo draws, raffles, etc. See the RNG Addenda for details.

Screen Can contain a graphic, text, scroller, clock, sound, or a combination of these elements.

Scrollbar A scrollbar is used to move up and down a screenful of thumbnails, or a list of choices on a dropdown list. See page 23, Using On Screen Controls.

Scroller Text that scrolls across the screen, right to left, at a speed specified by the user.

Sequence A series of screens displayed in a defined order. Each screen is shown for a specified amount of time before the next is displayed. Every time the whole sequence has been shown, it will start again from the beginning.

Slider Used to adjust the volume of a sound, or speed of a scroller. See page 23, Using On Screen Controls.

Sound An audio sound effect that will play when a screen appears.

Text Words that may be typed in by the user.

Thumbnail A small sized version of a graphic or screen.

Transition A transition defines how the old screen disappears and the new one appears.

228 MultiScree

Warranty

The MultiScreen In House TV Production Unit is fully guaranteed against any manufacturing defects or faulty workmanship for one full year from the date of purchase. MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. warrants that it will repair (or at its option replace) any part of a MultiScreen In House TV Production Unit which in the opinion of MultiScreen Pty Ltd. or its authorised service agent, is defective by reason of faulty workmanship or materials during this period for parts and/or labour providing the Production Unit has been installed and used in accordance with the MultiScreen Operator‟s Manual.

Please take note of the following conditions :-

This warranty is issued only at the time of original purchase; it is non-transferable.

 MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. will not accept freight charges or insurance responsibility for any Production Units returned unless prior approval has been granted by MultiScreen Pty. Ltd.

 This warranty will be void if in the opinion of MultiScreen Pty. Ltd. the cause of the defect is, or includes, misuse, accident, service or repair by any unauthorised person or company, or alterations made or damage occurring in any other way.

A service fee will be charged for service only where the fault is found not to be in the Mul- tiScreen TV Production Unit.

229 MultiScree

Index mouse ...... 15 Add network ...... 15 clock ...... 67 operating monitor ...... 14 graphic ...... 36 other ...... 15 news feed...... 55 power cable ...... 14 scroller ...... 52 television monitor ...... 14 sound ...... 71 televisions ...... 15 text ...... 43 Copy Additional Options ...... 172 screens ...... 33 Advanced Operation ...... 104 sequence ...... 26 Alter a screen element ...... 72, 75 text ...... 49 Automatic System Reboot ...... 112 Create Background colour ...... 35 graphics ...... 165 default...... 106 screen ...... 34 Backup...... 120 sequence ...... 25 automatic ...... 121 videos ...... 166 manual ...... 124 Cut restoring ...... 126 screens ...... 33 Bingo! option ...... 189 sequence ...... 26 Button ...... 23 text ...... 49

CD-ROM ...... 146, 152 Defaults ...... 105 Change a screen element ...... 72, 75 Delete Checkbox...... 23 graphics ...... 142 Cleaning the system ...... 18 news feed ...... 64 Clock screen ...... 32 adding to a screen ...... 67 sequence ...... 26 analog ...... 68 sound ...... 149 change ...... 72 videos ...... 157 default...... 106 Digital camera ...... 138, 152 digital ...... 69 initialisation ...... 143 remove ...... 73 Display Mode ...... 19, 28, 224 Clone Display time screen ...... 31 default ...... 106 sequence ...... 25 setting ...... 40 Colour Drag and drop ...... 22 background ...... 35 DVD text ...... 51 format ...... 102 Command Summary ...... 224 insert a title into a sequence ...... 76 Connections ...... 13 PlayDVD screen ...... 76 keyboard ...... 15 PlayVideo screen ...... 79

230 MultiScree

scheduling a title ...... 98 Linking sequences ...... 83 scheduling multiple titles ...... 101 Load Editing Mode ...... 19 graphics ...... 138 External Video ...... 164 sequences ...... 133 sounds ...... 146 Freezing a sequence ...... 27, 87 videos ...... 152 General Operation...... 19 Master Sequence ...... 28, 95 Glossary ...... 227 Meal Number Control ...... 193 Graphic adding meal number ...... 194 adding to a screen ...... 36 advanced settings ...... 206 change ...... 72 appearance settings ...... 203 creating your own ...... 165 configuration ...... 198 deleting ...... 142 deleting meal number ...... 195 fitting to the screen ...... 37 display screens ...... 196 format ...... 37, 150, 165 display settings ...... 201 loading ...... 138 keypad ...... 193 moving ...... 141 new meal screen ...... 196 remove ...... 73 options ...... 198 removing from a screen ...... 38 reminder screen ...... 196 renaming ...... 140 size & position ...... 205 size ...... 37 Mode Graphic category display ...... 19, 28, 224 creating ...... 137 editing ...... 19 deleting ...... 137 preview ...... 27, 224 renaming ...... 137 Mouse ...... 21 selecting ...... 137 Move Graphic manager...... 136, 150 graphics ...... 141 Hide screen ...... 30 screen ...... 40, 78, 82, 85, 100 videos ...... 156 scroller ...... 72 Network configuration ...... 168 Inserting a new screen ...... 29 Network Folders ...... 113 Instant Message Activator ...... 208 adding ...... 113 activating a message ...... 210 changing...... 118 cancelling a message ...... 212 removing ...... 119 configuration...... 218 News feeds keypad ...... 208 add ...... 59 overview ...... 209 adding to a scroller ...... 55 sequences ...... 214 configuring...... 57 setting up a message ...... 213 delete ...... 64 sounds ...... 216 modify ...... 62 Internet configuration ...... 168 more information ...... 64 recommended ...... 58 Keyboard ...... 21 subscribe ...... 58, 59 lock ...... 28

231 MultiScree

test ...... 62 sequences ...... 128 Scheduling On screen controls ...... 23 backups ...... 122 Output Frequency DVD (multiple titles) ...... 101 setting ...... 111 DVD title ...... 98 Paste screen ...... 40 screens ...... 33 sequence ...... 96 text ...... 49 Screen Portrait Orientation ...... 220 cloning ...... 31 editing mode ...... 222 copy ...... 33 graphic dimensions ...... 222 creating ...... 34 monitor & tv orientation ...... 221 cut ...... 33 sequence compatibility ...... 223 deleting ...... 32 video display ...... 223 hiding ...... 40, 78, 82, 85, 100 Positioning the screen ...... 110 inserting ...... 29 Preview Mode ...... 27, 224 moving ...... 30 paste ...... 33 Random Number Generator ...... 173 positioning ...... 110 Bingo! option ...... 189 scheduling ...... 40 countdown timer ...... 186 Screen Editor ...... 34, 225 draw history ...... 188 Scrollbar ...... 23 drawing...... 181 Scroller keypad ...... 173 adding to a screen ...... 52 options ...... 175 colour ...... 53 overview ...... 174 default ...... 106 resuming a draw ...... 187 hide ...... 72 setting limits ...... 180 remove ...... 73 summary ...... 184 setting repeat times ...... 53 Remove Sequence any screen element ...... 73 cloning ...... 25 clock ...... 73 copy ...... 26 graphic ...... 38, 73 creating ...... 25 scroller ...... 73 cut ...... 26 sound ...... 73 deleting ...... 26 text ...... 73 freezing ...... 27, 87 Rename linking ...... 83 graphics ...... 140 loading ...... 133 sequence ...... 26 master ...... 95 sounds...... 148 renaming ...... 26 videos ...... 155 saving ...... 128 Restore...... 120 scheduling ...... 96 manual ...... 126 transfer ...... 158 Safety precautions ...... 17 Sequence Editor ...... 24, 224 Save Sequence Scheduler ...... 94

232 MultiScree

Setting Time and Date ...... See also Clocks a screen's usage ...... 40 Setting ...... 107 background colour ...... 35 Transfer Sequences current time and date ...... 107 set-up ...... 158 defaults ...... 105 transferring sequences ...... 161 output frequency ...... 111 Transition ...... 39 system settings ...... 109 cut ...... 39 transition ...... 39 default ...... 106 up the Production Unit ...... 11 random ...... 39 Shutting down ...... 103 selecting ...... 39 Slider ...... 23 Transporting the system ...... 18 Sound USB...... 120, 138, 146, 152 adding to a screen ...... 71 change ...... 72 Video deleting ...... 149 categories ...... 151 loading ...... 146 codecs ...... 154 mute ...... 72 creating your own ...... 166 remove ...... 73 deleting ...... 157 renaming ...... 148 external ...... 164 volume ...... 71 format...... 166 Sound manager ...... 145 insert a video into a sequence ...... 79 Specifications...... 10 loading ...... 152 moving ...... 156 Text renaming ...... 155 adding ...... 43 Video category appearance ...... 50 creating ...... 151 change ...... 72 deleting ...... 151 colour ...... 51 renaming ...... 151 default ...... 106 selecting ...... 151 editing ...... 43, 225 Video Manager ...... 150 font ...... 50 remove ...... 73 Warranty ...... 229 Text box ...... 23

233 MultiScree

234