Outputs

The largest page, and the one that holds a playout completely. At the top the canvas and the number of playouts; underneath, a tab per playout with everything that belongs to that line.

The subjects themselves are covered in part 5 and part 6; this page is the map of where each setting sits.

Canvas

Shared by every playout, at the top of the page:

Setting	What it does
Canvas size	The size everything is composed in. Not in the list? Type it as 1920 x 1080.
Frame rate	The rate everything is built at.

A DeckLink output only starts when its mode runs at the same frame rate. When you change it, the program names the outputs whose mode you should check.

Stop the stream and the recording first: the program refuses to change the canvas while either is running, and says so. Everything else about it is on canvas and frame rate.

Playouts

Setting	What it does
Number of playouts	One to four. Each gets a tab below: Playout 1 to Playout 4.

A playout you switch on starts empty: no rundown, no output, nothing live. Give it an output and a name and it is ready — see more than one playout.

Each extra line renders and encodes its own picture, so two is roughly twice the work of one.

Video output

Setting	Applies to
Video output	None, Screen / projector, Stream / recording; DeckLink only when a card is in the machine, NDI only when DistroAV is installed
Device, Mode	DeckLink
Keyer	DeckLink — Off, External (fill + key) or Internal (over the input)
NDI name, NDI group(s)	NDI
Which screen	Screen / projector
Server, Stream key, Sign in to the server	Stream
User name, Password	Stream, once Sign in to the server is ticked
Output size, Total bitrate, Audio bitrate, Encoder	Stream
Recording folder, Recording format, Record while streaming	Recording
Also save as MP4 afterwards	Recording — hidden when the format is MP4
Output name	All kinds — shown in the log, the status bar and to a remote control
Show the next cue beside the picture	All kinds — the next cue’s picture beside the preview

Audio

Setting	What it does
Audio output	Which sound device this playout is heard on at the desk.
Audio track	Which of the six tracks this output carries.
Reserve this track for the playout	Takes every other source off that track.
Loudness and dynamics on the output	Levels the playout’s mix to a target loudness, with a gate, compressor and limiter. Set up… opens the controls.

Leave reserve on unless something outside the playout genuinely has to reach that output — audio tracks explains what it prevents.

Set up… works only while the loudness stage is running: tick it, press Apply, then set it up while you listen.

The whole Audio group disappears with Overlay output only: such a playout carries no sound.

Options

Setting	What it does
Image shown during a hold	This playout’s own hold image, or (same as the cue list).
Always live (start at launch)	The playout goes live by itself when the program starts, with the cue that was live when you closed it.
Standby picture while nothing is on air	The output shows the standby picture, or black, while nothing is on air here; the monitor in the window keeps showing the scene.
Overlay output only	This playout draws nothing but the output page. No cue list, no audio, not selectable.
Background colour instead of transparent	Only with Overlay output only ticked. For an output that carries no alpha.
Background colour	Once that is ticked: which colour to key on further down the chain.
Make this playout secondary (narrow)	Only with more than one playout. Gives this playout a narrow panel in the window.
Colour	The accent colour of this playout. Click to choose.

Always live is for a screen that must never be black: a foyer display, a hall screen. It changes only the start — the playout stays an ordinary line you can fire, stop and edit. See permanent playout.

Leave the standby picture off for an output whose graphics are keyed over a picture in a mixer: there a covering layer would turn that whole picture black.

With Overlay output only, the hold image and Always live disappear too — see overlay output.

The colour tints the playout’s list background, its panel and its block in the status bar. Pick colours that are clearly different in a dark room: blue and amber works; two shades of blue does not. See name and colour.

Shortcuts

Setting	What it does
GO (take), STOP (to black), Arm next cue, Arm previous cue, Cut to black	A key per action, for this playout only. Click the button, then press the key; Backspace clears it, Esc cancels.

A playout you have just added gets its shortcuts after Apply. More in hotkeys.