Who can help us figure out one problem keeping my sales and om guy from getting the ZARA automation to work right??.. We only have one hard break an hour, at this time, but need our other stop sets as spots are coming in. Fox Sports has floating breaks.... We even awoke this morning to hear dead air and found (we think) the program closed and muted the windows audio... Aurgh! [email protected] is John Zwengel's email (my sales, om, i.t. guy)... Closure problem... "Skipper T." Spence
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ZARA glitch.....
- Thread starter skippertthomas
- Start date
IIRC Zara used to have a user forum but that looks to have gone away now that it's morphed into a pay version.
You need to get John on here to give a little more detail on your setup - from what I could glean you're trying to run some kind of satellite automaton - what's receiving the closures? A switcher - a GPIO board, etc.?
You need to get John on here to give a little more detail on your setup - from what I could glean you're trying to run some kind of satellite automaton - what's receiving the closures? A switcher - a GPIO board, etc.?
John here ... I'll create a log-in in the morning ... in the interim I'll use Skip's log-in. We use a USB dongle that receives the closures from the XDS and transmits it to Zara. What I need is for Zara to hear the closure and disconnect the satellite and run the spots ... then reconnect the satellite. It seems the issue is in Zara not hearing the closure when Fox sends it. If we had hard breaks we'd be golden ... the only issue we have is getting Zara to hear the closure and discon the satellite. That's the one and only thing I need.
I'll create an account and log in in the morning. I have to give Skipper his compter back now. Thanks for the help ... hopefully, we'll get it handled in short order.
John
I'll create an account and log in in the morning. I have to give Skipper his compter back now. Thanks for the help ... hopefully, we'll get it handled in short order.
John
IIRC the only facility the free version of Zara has Zara has to fire satellite breaks is by using a DTMF tone. It monitors the line in channel and you can choose which tone to listen for. If you wanted to use that system then you'd get a DTMF encoder and connect the FSR closure to it.
If you want to use the USB GPI then you'll probably need to find/write a program that can fire Zara by simulating a keyboard press when the closure comes in. Check with whoever makes the USB dongle - they might have an app to read the closures then simulate the keyboard press.
If you want to use the USB GPI then you'll probably need to find/write a program that can fire Zara by simulating a keyboard press when the closure comes in. Check with whoever makes the USB dongle - they might have an app to read the closures then simulate the keyboard press.
SRP said:
I've written a Windows service that does this for StationPlaylist and Winamp with a Measurement Computing USB adapter. It's tied to a Sine Systems DAI-1 dial-up remote control for unattended sports broadcasts.
Shouldn't be hard to do the same for Zara, depending on the type of USB dongle you are using and how its driver works. You should be able to identify the WM_COMMAND messages that Zara uses for the various keypress commands using Winspector or a similar program. I can send the C source code for my program to get you started.
(Yes, I'm aware that StationPlaylist supports closures over the parallel port, but I needed more closures than the 5 that were supported, plus the ability to control Winamp.)
Hi again everybody. John here.
We have two basic issues - 1) We can't get Zara to recognize the closures from Fox when they fire, and 2) When we use Zara for hard breaks, it mutes the Line-In on the disconnect command, but it doesn't un-mute at the end of the list.
Our set-up: Fox is coming in on an XDS Pro. There are two outputs, one goes into the Line In of the computer, and the other is wired to a USB interface ( http://www.stackleydevices.com ... about 2/3 down the page ... CCTOUSB6). We're running Zara 1.6.2 and Windows XP Pro & Service Pack 3.
The USB Interface: This unit is wired into the XDS ... a local engineer did the work I don't remember who though ... It has wires going into contacts 1-5. The sixth contact (labeled "P" for "Play") has no wire. I can post pics of the unit if need be.
Our solution: Ultimately, we need Zara to recognize the closure when it fires, mute the Line In, run a play list, then un-mute the Line In. If we can get the muting issue resolved, we can cover Fox's hard breaks/bumper music on the clock. If we can get it to recognize the closure, we are fully automated, and can get on to the bigger business of running the station and fomenting a lasting world peace.
Thanks to everyone for all your help.
John
We have two basic issues - 1) We can't get Zara to recognize the closures from Fox when they fire, and 2) When we use Zara for hard breaks, it mutes the Line-In on the disconnect command, but it doesn't un-mute at the end of the list.
Our set-up: Fox is coming in on an XDS Pro. There are two outputs, one goes into the Line In of the computer, and the other is wired to a USB interface ( http://www.stackleydevices.com ... about 2/3 down the page ... CCTOUSB6). We're running Zara 1.6.2 and Windows XP Pro & Service Pack 3.
The USB Interface: This unit is wired into the XDS ... a local engineer did the work I don't remember who though ... It has wires going into contacts 1-5. The sixth contact (labeled "P" for "Play") has no wire. I can post pics of the unit if need be.
Our solution: Ultimately, we need Zara to recognize the closure when it fires, mute the Line In, run a play list, then un-mute the Line In. If we can get the muting issue resolved, we can cover Fox's hard breaks/bumper music on the clock. If we can get it to recognize the closure, we are fully automated, and can get on to the bigger business of running the station and fomenting a lasting world peace.
Thanks to everyone for all your help.
John
M
mattthepm
Guest
JohnZwengel said:
Question: Are you inserting a satellite command with the duration of the next segment to bring the line input back open after returning from your local break?
Of course, that doesn't solve the floating breaks issue. I think the contact closure to DTMF hardware mapping solution is your best bet.
We use Zararadio for our prerecorded shows, with playlists for each hour of the day. During live shows, the playlist for those respective hours are 'dummy' playlists with no files loaded, basically placeholders that are timed to fire on the hour. If for some reason a programmer can't make it on the air, we can pull an audio file from our archive and drop it in the playlist on the fly. Very handy in a pinch.
As far as the line input usage, we utilize that feature with a Barix box that grabs a live feed from our remote studio at a community development center once a week. Just insert a Satellite command for 59:59 during that hour and the system will switch over to the Barix feed with no local intervention.
Thanks,
Matt
Radio Free Nashville, WRFN-LP, Pasquo TN
John - Here's what you need to do:
First, add the commands necessary to turn on and turn off the line input to your playlists.
Zara uses "dummy" files to do these commands - they can be created with a text editor. You can also put them in using Zara's Playlist Editor.
The file to turn ON the line in has a ".satcon" extension and the one to turn it off has a ".satdis" extension. For the floating breaks, put the file with ".satdis" as the FIRST item in the break, and put the file with ".satcon" as the next to the LAST item in the break. The LAST item in the break should be a file with a ".stop" extension - that will stop Zara and make it wait for the next break.
For the fixed breaks ONLY put the file with ".satcon" as the next to the LAST item in the break. The LAST item in the break should be a file with a ".stop" extension - that will stop Zara and make it wait for the next break.
Now, for the closures: I took a look at the page for the closure-to-USB interface. It says it appears on the computer as a "USB keyboard" so you shouldn't need anything else to get the computer to recognize the closures.
Zara will start playing a break when the letter "P" on the keyboard is pressed. So what you need to do is make sure the USB closure interface thingy is sending the letter "P" when the network sends its closure to start the break. If it doesn't, get a hold of the company that makes the USB thingy and ask them how to make it do that.
This SHOULD solve your problem.
First, add the commands necessary to turn on and turn off the line input to your playlists.
Zara uses "dummy" files to do these commands - they can be created with a text editor. You can also put them in using Zara's Playlist Editor.
The file to turn ON the line in has a ".satcon" extension and the one to turn it off has a ".satdis" extension. For the floating breaks, put the file with ".satdis" as the FIRST item in the break, and put the file with ".satcon" as the next to the LAST item in the break. The LAST item in the break should be a file with a ".stop" extension - that will stop Zara and make it wait for the next break.
For the fixed breaks ONLY put the file with ".satcon" as the next to the LAST item in the break. The LAST item in the break should be a file with a ".stop" extension - that will stop Zara and make it wait for the next break.
Now, for the closures: I took a look at the page for the closure-to-USB interface. It says it appears on the computer as a "USB keyboard" so you shouldn't need anything else to get the computer to recognize the closures.
Zara will start playing a break when the letter "P" on the keyboard is pressed. So what you need to do is make sure the USB closure interface thingy is sending the letter "P" when the network sends its closure to start the break. If it doesn't, get a hold of the company that makes the USB thingy and ask them how to make it do that.
This SHOULD solve your problem.
Matt
Radio Free Nashville, WRFN-LP, Pasquo TN
[/quote]
Matt, Are you the 107.1 I enjoy at times? "Skip" 910/"TheDuck" owner in LMA...
Radio Free Nashville, WRFN-LP, Pasquo TN
[/quote]
Matt, Are you the 107.1 I enjoy at times? "Skip" 910/"TheDuck" owner in LMA...
M
mattthepm
Guest
skippertthomas said:
Yes, that would be us. You should be able to receive us quite well in your neck of the woods . . .
-M
Go get 'em Matt.... Nice to meet you....
Thanks for the help guys ... We've got the hard breaks covered now, but the closure issue still remains. I haven't had the chance to work with it today ... programming comes first ... I'll see if I can get it the rest of the way this evening. Ohh ... to leave the station after 8 hours or so ... a long sought after dream!
Hey Matt,mattthepm said:skippertthomas said:
Yes, that would be us. You should be able to receive us quite well in your neck of the woods . . .
-M
Did you get that Mix Minus module for the LPB working?
Bob
M
mattthepm
Guest
BobOnTheJob said:
Yup. . although it doesn't like to play nice with our VOIP ATA. . getting the 'null' set is next to impossible due to the audio delays of VOIP. I am planning to switch our hybrid over to our one remaining POTS line and just forward the VOIP lines over to that number.
Thanks,
-M
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