Using Myriad OCP v5 Carousel Files

Modified on Tue, 24 Sep at 12:56 PM

Introduction

Note: This is an excerpt from the full Myriad OCP v5 User guide which can be found at /en/support/solutions/articles/101000535015

Certain Myriad OCP v5 Pro Outputs include the ability to add Alternate Strings or Carousel files to allow OCP to Output alternative or additional information when certain criteria are met. The Output types that this applies to are:

DAB Outputs
IP/Serial Outputs
HTTP Outputs ( v5.29 and higher )

The main use for this when you are using an Output to send information to a dynamic receiver such as a DAB radio or Dynamic RDS radio. These devices have the ability to update the text displayed periodically so that different information is displayed.

A good example would be a DAB radio. When a new Song is played, OCP will always Output the main information first (usually Song Name by Artists) but with the correct setup, 10 seconds later the information may change to display the name of the show or presenter, then 10 seconds later it may display a promo for the breakfast show etc.

This type of effect can be achieved using the Alternate String or Carousel files. In this example we will use the DAB Output but the same process can also be used on the IP/Serial Output:

Triggering Alternate Strings

There are two things that can trigger the use of Alternate Strings (or Carousel files) in OCP 5 Pro.

The main Output text results in a totally empty string – i.e. if Alternate string is not used, nothing will display.
You set the Output to update periodically (every x seconds) in the Station Settings.

Empty Main Output

Let’s deal with the first scenario. Usually OCP will use the Output Format in the main section to build the text string that will form the Output. This will normally be a combination of text and OCP Tags which OCP replacing the OCP tags with ‘live’ information provided by Myriad Playout.

So in the example above, the main Output format text is:

[(=Song) by ... ][(!=Song)]

This is known as the main Output string and was built using the Format Creator.

So in this case, if Myriad Playout tells OCP that a Song called ‘Back in black’ is playing by AC/DC then (and there are no additional notes) then the Output sent from OCP would be:

‘Back in black by AC/DC…’

If however, Myriad Playout tells OCP that an Jingle is playing and the jingle title is ‘Sweeper 1’ then the Output would send:

‘Sweeper 1’

which would not be a lot of use!

You could of course change the main Output String to use something generic whenever a Song is not playing. So an example could be:

[(=Song) by ... ][(!=Song)More music soon!

In this case, whenever a Song is not playing (ie a jingle, advert etc is) then OCP will simply output the following text:

‘More music soon!’

This is fine could get repetitive so you could use the Alternate Strings section to add a few variations on this so that DAB radios display different messages between Songs. Consider the settings below:

We can see in the main Output String, there is nothing listed after the (!=Song) section which means the main Output String will be totally empty.

But we can also see that we have added some Alternate Strings and crucially we have ticked the 'Only Use these Alternative Strings when the script command is empty' option.

So in with this configuration, when a Song is playing, OCP will send the ‘Song by Artists’ but when an item other than a Songs is playing, it will randomly display one of the Alternate Strings listed.

Output Set To Update Periodically

The other scenario that will trigger the use of Alternate Strings is if you have set the Output to update periodically in the Station settings.

To view this settings click on the Station Settings ‘cog’ and select the Station Settings from the drop down menu.

Next switch to the Updates tab:

In this example, the DAB Output has been set to automatically update every 10 seconds. This setting changes the way that OCP deals with updates whenever Myriad Playout informs OCP that the currently playing item has changed. The sequence is:

When the currently playing item changes in Myriad Playout, it will send the details of the new current item to OCP.
OCP will always use the main Output Script on the first update after the current item has changes (so the first update may well be ‘Back in Black by AC/DC’).
Then 10 seconds later, OCP will perform another update on the DAB Output where it will randomly choose to use either the main Output Script or one of the Alternate Scripts (or something from the carousel file if configured).
This selection will continue to repeat every 10 seconds until the next update from Myriad Playout.

Adding Alternate Scripts

Now that we know the conditions under which Alternate Scripts should be used, we can review how to add them!

In the DAB, IP/Serial or HTTP Output Settings, click on the Alternate Scripts Settings Cog and select Add Text from the drop down menu.

Please note that you can use plain text, OCP tags or a combination of both (see Format Creator).

You then type in your script into the pop-up dialogue box and click on OK.

Your Alternate Script will be added to the list.

You can also remove an Alternate Script by highlighting it then clicking on the Remove Script button.

Carousel Files

An alternative to using the Alternate Scripts detailed above it to use a specially formatted Carousel file.

A Carousel file is a file that contains a number of Alternate scripts along with some additional information about when they are valid to use.

Alternate Scripts work well for generic messages but what if you wanted to display a message something like ‘Listen to Monday Madness today from 3pm’? This would not be possible with a Alternate Script (at least not having it only play on Mondays!) but a Carousel file contains information when scripts can be used as well as the scripts themselves.

Adding A Carousel File

To add a Carousel file, you need to click on the Alternate Strings Settings Cog and select Add Carousel File from the drop down list.

You can now browse to the location of your Carousel file.

As you can see, the Carousel file has been added to the Alternate String list which means that each time the Output updates (without the current item changing), it will randomly choose something from the Alternate Strings list including the Carousel file. If the Carousel file is selected then a valid entry is randomly selected from the list in the file.

It would be more common to have only Carousel file in the Alternate Script list as that way you can be assured your Carousel file scripts are being used.

You can remove a Carousel file by selecting it and then clicking on the Remove Alternate Script button.

Carousel File Format & Layout

A Carousel file should be a standard text (.txt) file with a suitable name and location.

Let’s take a look at the Carousel file we used in the previous example.

You can see the text that included in the file and replicated below:

MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23|  
MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Hot FM - The Best Music for a 
MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Hot FM - The Best Music for 
MoTuWeThFr |05-08| Have Breakfast with Hot FM
MoTuWeThFr |09-16| Workin' 9 to 5 with Hot FM
MoTuWeTh |17-19| Drive home with Hot FM
Fr |17-19| Drive home for the weekend with Hot FM
Fr |17-23| Spend the weekend with Hot FM
SaSu |00-23| Spend the weekend with Hot FM

Each line with the Carousel file is a separate Script and each Script is divided into three sections which are separated by the pipe or ‘|’ character (next to the z on a keyboard). The format of lines within a Carousel file is as follows:

Valid Days | Valid Times | Filler text or tags

Valid Days: Each day is represented by a short day code and you must include the code for each day on which you want the Filler to be valid.

So for example:

MoTuWeThFrSaSu – The Script would be valid on every day of the week.
MoTuWeTh – Script would only be valid on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Fr – Script would only be valid on a Friday

Valid Times: Allows you to create a single time band within which the Script is valid.

So for example:

00-23 – Script is valid 24 hours a day.
05-08 – Script is only valid from the 5am to 8am (inclusive) hours

Please note that you can only set a single time band per Scrip but of course you can add multiple Fillers to cover different time bands.

Text Filler or Tags: You can use straight text or OCP 5 tags in this section.
This is the information that OCP 5 will use to generate the DAB, IP/Serial or HTTP Output.

So by putting it all together you can control exactly when any script in the Carousel file can be used by OCP 5.

MoTuWeThFr |09-16| Workin' 9 to 5 with Hot FM

So the above Script can be used by OCP 5 from 09 to 16:59, Monday to Friday and when it is selected, Myriad OCP v5 will display "Workin’ 9 to 5 with Hot FM" on the DAB, IP/Serial or HTTP Outputs.

When Myriad OCP v5 is using a Carousel file to select the data for an output, it randomly selects a valid Script from the list but because you can add duplicates to the Carousel file, you can make important Scripts come around more often than others.

MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Now playing with MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Best music on Hot FM

MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Now playing with
MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Listen to Dave in the morning on Hot FM

MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| Now playing with
MoTuWeThFrSaSu |00-23| 99.9FM Hot FM – Hot hits all day

Consider the Carousel file example above. There are three identical Scripts that include OCP 5 tags for the Artists and Item Title.

These would result in something like:

‘Now Playing Owl City with Fireflies’

The other three Scripts are just random text information.

When using this Carousel file, Myriad OCP v5 would randomly select one of these six Scripts each time it is instructed to but because three are the same it means that statistically, every other Myriad OCP v5 update would be ‘Now Playing: Owl City with Fireflies’.

Carousel files are just plain text files so you can create them in Notepad or any other simple test editor.

Don’t forget you can also use the Format Creator to create more complex strings that include OCP tags.