Navigating Monitor

Created by Jason Carr, Modified on Thu, 14 Mar at 6:18 PM by Jason Carr

This guide will walk you through the options available in Monitor.

Main screen

The main screen in Monitor gives you a quick overview of the status of your radio station.

ALL OK	This means out of all of the checks that Monitor has performed, no issues have been found.
Problems X	This means that out of all of the checks that Monitor has performed, 1 or more of them have come back with a problem.
Maintenance Mode	When Maintenance Mode is active, alert emails are paused.

Application Status

Shows the status of the Applications Monitor is set to Monitor. Green means that the application is running. Red means the application is not running or that there was a problem. If the application shows as black, then it's not being actively monitored.

Station Status

Displays the number of stations within the installation and the status of each station

Station	The name of the Station
Status	The current status of the Station
Program Logs	When Program Logs have been scheduled up until.
Traffic Logs	When Traffic Logs have been scheduled up until (only in PlayoutONE Pro)
Now Playing	The current Playing item

Tool Bar

Main Settings	Displays Main Settings for Monitor
Station Settings	Displays Station Settings for the station highlighted in the Station Status grid. This can also be accessed by double-clicking on the station in the status grid.
Show Log	Shows the Monitor debug log
Run Ignition	Starts the Ignition process.
Maintenance	Puts Monitor in Maintenance Mode.

Main Settings

? Database

SQL Server

SQL Server	The SQL Server location. Default is localhost\p1sqlexpress
SQL Database	The SQL Server database. Default is playoutone_standard

Hard Drives

Monitor Hard Drive Space	Enables the checking of Hard Drives
Hard Drive List	Shows a list of Hard Drives detected within the PC that monitor is running on. Tick the hard drives you wish to Monitor.
Warning Threshold	Warn when disk space goes lower than the percentage value.

Data Backups

Audio & Data	Enables the Audio and Data backup routine.
SQL Database	Enables or Disables SQL Database backups. Default is switched on
Monitor Only	When this option is checked, Monitor will monitor the data and backup locations and alert if they differ but won't actually copy any files. This is to be used when you use another process to do the actual backing up of the data but you still wish to be alerted of problems.
Main Directory	The Main PlayoutONE Data location. This can be found within PlayoutONE Settings.
Backup Folder	The Directory or where you wish the backups to reside
Delete From Backups	Select in days for when items should be deleted from the backup. For example, if we delete a file on the 1st January, and we set this option to 14 days, it will remain in the backup until 14th January.
Alert Threshold	Alert when the main and backup directories become different by the set percentage.
IPG Gap	IPG (Inter Packet Gap) throttles bandwidth when backing up the main directory. A larger number uses less bandwidth whilst a lower number will use more bandwidth. Default is 0.8
Full Backup	When pressed, Monitor will perform a full backup manually.
Backup SQL	When pressed, Monitor will perform a SQL Backup only.
Maintenance	When pressed, Monitor will run its maintenance plan. Maintenance includes deleting old log files, audio and performing SQL optimisation.

WebVT

On	Turns on the WebVT® audio service. WebVT® Audio service is responsible for creating .opus and low quality .mp3 audio files for WebVT®.
Static IP Updater	Turns on the PlayoutONE WebVT® Static IP Updater. This is to be used in conjunction with your .webvt.net address. The WebVT® Static IP Updater runs every 3 hours and ensures your .webvt.net address points to your current IP Address.
Hostname	Your WebVT.net address
Username	<user>#PlayoutONE
Password	The password supplied by PlayoutONE
Update	Forces a manual update.

? License

The license tab can provide you with all the details of your PlayoutONE Pro license.

Name	The licensed Organisation Name
Email	The license email associated with the Organisation
Affiliate	The affiliate associated with the License

Current license connections

This table shows the current connected applications to Monitor. If you need to disconnect an application you can right-click on it within the table and choose to disconnect it.

You sometimes may need to do this if all of your concurrent connections have been used.

By default, Monitor will disconnect any applications that have not checked in with Monitor within 20 minutes.

License status

ID	The PlayoutONE License ID
Status	The current status of the license.
Count	The number of concurrent connections this license will permit. This is divided up into two sections. PlayoutONE: The number of PlayoutONE applications that can be open at the same time Apps: The number of PlayoutONE Applications (LiveStream, FileCopy, AutoImporter etc) that can be open at the same time.
Multi Station	The number of licensed Multi Stations this license permits.
Expiry	The expiry date of this license
Region	The region the license is licensed to
Last Check In	The Date/Time Monitor last checked in with the PlayoutONE License server. This is usually every 12 hours.
License PC	The current PC that is designated to run Monitor on.
Virtual Machine	Ticked if running in a virtual machine environment.
Satellite License	Ticked if this license is a Satellite License. Satellite licenses carry restrictions on what they can and can't import. They are designed to be listening to a Satellite Master, which feeds audio and Music / Traffic log files.

Licensed products

Shows which products are licensed.

? Ignition

Ignition is activated by Monitor automatically when

Monitor first launches
The PC running Monitor has been turned on for less than 15 minutes

Outside of these parameters, you can click the 'Run Ignition' button from the main toolbar to trigger the process.

Within the Ignition settings, you can choose which applications should be started by Monitor when Ignition is triggered.

There's also an option to make Monitor startup automatically with Windows (recommended).

? Applications

The applications tab within Monitor allows you to set up which applications you wish to check. Applications can also be restarted if Monitor detects they are not running.

Monitoring applications on other PCs

To monitor applications on other PCs, you will need to make sure Studio Monitor is running on the PC running the application you wish to monitor.

With Studio Monitor, select the application to monitor and then set the application number. This can be found in Monitor by hovering over the 'Monitor Remote' toggle buttons.

Switching on Monitor Remote allows Studio Monitor to update Monitor periodically.

✉️ Email

Email settings stored here can be shared with FileCopy, LiveStream and AutoImporter.

Enable Email	Enables Email
SMTP / Server API	Uses the SMTP Protocol or Synchronicity Server API to send an email.
SMTP Server & Port	The SMTP mail server. The SMTP Port. Whether the SMTP Server requires SSL
SMTP Username	The SMTP Username
SMTP Password	The SMTP password
SMTP From Name	The SMTP Name to display when sending the email. Recommended to be set to PlayoutONE Auto Importer
SMTP From Email	The SMTP From Email. This is usually the SMTP Username if an email address.
SMTP Recipients	Email recipients to send emails to. Separate multiple recipients with a comma
SMTP Logo Size	The Size of the Station Logo to show on the email. Default is 150

Troubleshooting

Sometimes you can run into difficulty when setting up Email. We always recommend testing your settings before saving by using the test button.

If using Gmail to send email, please contact our support for assistance.

? Multi-Station

The Multi-Station tab shows all stations that are part of the database. You can add or delete a station from here.

We recommend you speak to Support before altering the settings here.

⚙️ Options

Settings

Run Monitor Tasks Every	Amount of time in seconds that Monitor should perform it's task checks.
Keep Recycled Items For	Amount of time in days that Monitor should keep something in the Media Finder Recycle bin
Warn If Missing Audio Detected In Media Finder	When enabled, Monitor will periodically check the Media Finder for any missing audio. It will then email a list of items found without audio.
SQL Database Synchroniser	Allows you to synchronise certain SQL Tables within the database to another SQL Instance. Useful for a backup server
Minimise Monitor To System Tray	Minimises Monitor to the Windows system tray.

Station Settings

?️ Dashboard

The dashboard gives you quick information on the status of the station you are looking at.

Program Logs	Shows when Program Logs are scheduled up until
Traffic Logs	Shows when Traffic Logs are scheduled up until
Last SQL Backup	Shows the time of the last SQL Database Backup.
Database Log Size	Shows the SQL Database log file size.
Database File Size	Shows the SQL Database file size.
Warnings	Displays and Global or Station Warnings. Global warnings affect all stations. Station warnings affect just the station you are looking at.
Schedule Grid	Shows a visual representation of where Program and Traffic logs are scheduled up until. The number displayed when looking at the Traffic Log report denotes the number of commercials scheduled in that hour.
Multi Station Number	The Multi Station number. For reference only.

? Alerts

The alerts tab allows you to configure which alerts you wish to be notified about.

Notification time & recipients

Alert Check	The time each day to run the alert checks.
Email Recipients	The recipients that should be notified in the case of an alert. If this field is left blank, then the recipient's details in the Main Settings are alerted.

Program Log Notifications

Email If Program Logs Are Scheduled	Sends an email if Program Logs are scheduled when the daily check is run.
Email if Program Logs Are Not Scheduled	Sends an email if Program Logs are not scheduled when the daily check is run.
Include Expired Items In Gap Times Email Report	When you receive a Program log report, you'll also see a column showing the gap time for the hour. Enabling this setting will include any current expired items on the log within the gap time calculation. This is useful sometimes as expired items may not be expired when the hour comes to air.

Traffic Log Notifications

Email If Traffic Logs Are Scheduled	Send an email if Traffic Logs are scheduled when the daily check is ran.
Email If Traffic Logs Are Not Scheduled	Send an email if Traffic Logs are not scheduled when the daily check is ran.
Email If Traffic Doesn't Merge Properly	Sends an email if any Commercials scheduled do not fall between a TrafficMerge Start and End. This report is useful for spotting when the Program Log Commercial Break times do not match with the Traffic Log.
Email If Any Hours Do Not Contain Traffic	Send am email if any Program Logs scheduled do not contain any scheduled commercials.
Traffic Log Types To Monitor	Select the different Traffic Merge break types to Monitor for alerts. By default, TrafficMerge should be checked.

Silence Detection

Capture	Choose to capture audio levels from an Input or Output device connected to the PC.
Silene Detection On / Off	Turns on or off the silence detection within Monitor
Silence Threshold	The time in seconds to wait once audio falls below the audio level before triggering the silence alert. The audio level threshold can be altered by moving the fader underneath the level meter.
Audio Device	The actual audio device to monitor for audio. If Remote Monitor is selected then Monitor can receive audio levels from LiveStream or Studio Monitor via IP.
Accept Audio Levels From On-Air Machine Only	When Remote Monitor is selected, you can choose to only receive audio levels from the current On Air Machine. This ensures that if the On-Air machine falls silent, Monitor isn't fooled by other sources sending their audio levels.
Triggers	When silence is detected or audio returns, Monitor can trigger a number of FileCopy jobs. These in turn can be linked to PlayoutONE Commands or external triggers.

✅ Options

Social, weather, metadata and Audio Engine

Enable metadata outputs	Master switch for whether metadata is enabled for this station.
Enable Facebook	When enabled, Facebook posts may be sent from the Log within PlayoutONE and WebVT®
Enable weather	When enabled, Weather information will display at the top of PlayoutONE. Also used for Temperature announcements. To use the weather service, please sign up for a free openweathermap.orgaccount
Enable Audio Engine	When enabled, the PlayoutONE Audio Engine will be used instead of standard playback devices.

Isolation Mode

Replicate Audio	When enabled, you can choose to replicate 12 hours or the full audio database to the on-air machine. See Isolation Mode
Replicate Database	When enabled, the SQL Database will be replicated to the On-Air machine. See Isolation Mode
Email If Activated Automatically	If PlayoutONE is set to automatically enable Isolation Mode in the event of a communication failure with the server, then Monitor can email you to let you know that this has happened. This setting does rely on Monitor running and may not work if your server has decided to go offline in the first place!
Replicate Database Button	Replicates the current snapshot manually to the current On-Air machine.

Reconciliation

On / Off	Turns On or Off the currently selected reconciliation profile. The dropdown allows you to select the vendor format to reconcile in.
Format	Choose whether to reconcile just Music, Commercials or both.
Filename	The filename to save the reconcile as. This uses the standard Windows DateTime format.
Folder	The folder to save the reconcile format in.
Test	When editing a reconciliation profile, you can choose to manually run this profile on the selected date.
Reconcile Parent Rotator Instead Of Resolved Child	Reconciles the Parent Rotator UID rather than the cart that it resolved to.
Reconcile Automatically Everyday	Allows you to run this reconciliation profiles automatically every day at the specified time.
Clear Reconciliation Files	When checked, reconciliation files older than X days will be deleted.
Reconciliation Grid	Shows the different reconcile profiles setup for this station.

⚙️ Metadata Options

From the Metadata Options tab, you can add as many different metadata outputs as you like for this specific station.

Adding a metadata output	Click the metadata service you would like to add. Click 'Yes' to the popup and fill in the details for the service you've chosen.
Editing a metadata output	Double-click on the metadata service in the list of outputs.
Enabling or disabling a metadata output	Tick or untick the 'Enabled' tickbox in the list of outputs, or right-click and choose 'Start/Stop'.
Refreshing a metadata output	Right-click on the metadata service and choose 'Refresh'.
Deleting a metadata output	Right-click on the metadata service and choose 'Delete'.
Duplicating a metadata output	Right-click on the metadata service and choose 'Duplicate'.

?️ Metadata Schedule

PlayoutONE's metadata schedule allows you to set up a weekly schedule on where Monitor sources its metadata from.

The Grid

The Grid shows you which meta profile is assigned to each hour. The default is 'P1' and this tells Monitor to get its metadata from PlayoutONE.

Adding new profiles

Click the 'New Profile' button

Fill in the meta profile details:

Meta Profile Name	The name for the Meta Profile
Meta Profile ID	A unique two-digit ID
Meta Profile Colour	The colour to display the Meta Profile on the grid
On / Off	Whether the Meta Profile is enabled.
Source	The source of where to get the metadata from Meta From PlayoutONE: Takes the metadata from PlayoutONE Custom Meta Text: User-defined custom text Meta From Other Source File: Reads the metadata from a .txt file Meta From Other Multi Station: Gets the meta from another Multi Station within the Organisation

Click 'Save'

Assigning profiles to the grid

Highlight on the grid the profiles you wish to change
Right-click, choose 'Add'
Select the meta profile from the drop-down to add to the grid positions selected

Editing A Profile

Select the meta profile on the grid
Right-click, choose 'Edit'
Make the necessary changes
Click 'Save Profile'

Deleting A Profile

Select the meta profile on the grid
Right-click, choose 'Edit'
Click 'Delete Profile'

❓ Miscellaneous

Export Logs

This option allows you to export logs from PlayoutONE in their native .dpl text file format. The logs created are split into hourly files.

Delete Logs

The option allows you to delete a specific day or hour from the PlayoutONE Log.

Other

Commercial Type	Sets the commercial type for this station. This is used for certain reports.
Sync Categories From	Choose another station in a multi station database to synchronised category information from. The synchronisation happens every five minutes.
Stretch Filling	See Filling section under Streching
Hours To Look Ahead	Sets the number of hours ahead to look for Stretch Fill commands.
Artist Separation	The number of minutes that should pass before an item with the same Artist may be considered to be used as filler.
UID Separation	The number of minutes that should pass before an item with the same UID may be considered to be used as filler.