Dubber is Crispin’s media playback and record software. It can be used to make a crash recording and to QC media that has already been loaded into the Loading Dock or recorded in the Node.
The main Dubber screen consists of two panels: the left hand panel (source) can be used to segment media or build a dub list, while the right (destination) can be used to record media. Both can be used to play back a clip.
After opening Dubber, before using either panel, you must assign a playback or record device to that panel. To do so, select a device from the dropdown menu. Once you have selected the device to use, click the check box next to the drop down menu. This enables control of that device from Dubber.
Loading a Clip
To load a clip, double click on the left box in the top row. This will bring up Dubber’s open material screen.
From this screen, you may enter the media ID into the Material ID field, or click the drop down menu to choose from a list of all media on the Harmonic devices. Please note, that in many cases, the list of media to choose from will be quite long, and it will take a few seconds for Dubber to load this list in.
You may also drag a clip in from RPX or Crispin’s TurboBrowser software.
Quality Checking Media
Once a clip is loaded into Dubber, it can be played back to verify quality. The tools available at each Node will vary, so please check with your local engineering department for details.
Crash Records
To perform a crash record in Dubber, select the record device you wish to use in the dropdown menu on the right hand panel. Click the check box to take control of that device. Using the Utah router, route the source that you would like to the record device that you selected. Double click on the Material ID field and type in the name for the clip you want to record. File names can’t be updated once the file is recorded, so verify that you have the correct media ID. If the wrong media ID is used, the crash record will have to be done again, or the ProTrack entry updated to reflect the new name.
The record port will now be cued for record. If so desired, you may double click on the EOM field, and enter a duration. The default duration for a new clip is five hours.
You may now start recording. The device status will change from ‘REC CUED’ to ‘RECORD’, and the record button will no longer be clickable. You may press stop and any time to stop the record.
When the end of the duration is reached, or stop is pressed, the clip will cue up for QC.
Trimming Clips
Any clip that is crash recorded into the system will likely need to have new in and out points marked. Other local content may need to have new in/out marks applied as well.
- To mark a clip, load it into the right hand panel of Dubber.
- If there are existing marks that are wrong, click the Clear Marks button to remove those marks.
- Use the player controls to advance to the frame that you want to mark as the in point.
- Press the Set IN button to mark this point.
- Locate the frame that you want to be the out point.
- Press the Set Out button to mark this frame.
- Click on the save Marks button.
- Use the Verify function, or the View/Set Data button to verify that the clip has been correctly marked. If the item is scheduled for air, it’s duration in the playlist should reflect the new in/out points.
Verifying Clips
You can quickly verify the in and out points on a clip by using the Verify button on the right hand panel of Dubber. After cueing up the clip to be verified, each click of the button will result in the following behavior:
- Clip will cue up to the first frame of the clip.
- Clip will start playing from the IN frame.
- Clip will cue up 1 second before the Out frame.
- Clip will play from that point to the Out frame.
Adding/Updating Metadata
To add or update the metadata on a clip, load it into the right hand pane of Dubber. Then click on the ‘View/Set Information’ button. This will open a new window with the metadata for the clip.
To update the name that displays in a playlist, use the comment field. For a program, make sure that the FCC Type is set to PG otherwise segments won’t work.
Segmenting a multi-part clip
Segments made with Dubber are not actual files that have been broken up from a parent file and saved, they are a set of marks saved as metadata in AssetBase. This is why in order to segment a clip, you need to load it into the left-hand panel in Dubber, also known as the source side. Once it is loaded, click the ‘Segment List’ button in the ‘List to view’ section. The bottom section of Dubber will now display a list of all the segments for that clip.
To create a new segment, mark the In and Out frames, then click the ‘Segment Clip’ button. A window will appear where the segment ID and comment can be entered. It is recommended that the segment ID be the base clip ID followed by a ‘-#’, where # is the number of which segment this is in the clip. Letters should not be used after the dash, as it will disrupt the ability for Crispin to send segment updates to ProTrack. The clip FCC type must be set to PG for segment updates to be passed through to ProTrack.
TurboBrowser
TurboBrowser allows you to browse through the items on the Harmonic devices, or listed in the AssetBase database. You can chose which you are browsing through by choosing from the options in the Source dropdown menu.
Once a source has been selected, you may narrow the results by entering part of the Material ID into that field, or by entering the title in to the Comment field. Results from TurboBrowser can be dragged in to a RPX playlist, or Dubber