The General tab contains several groups of properties that control XStudio startup behavior, identify external devices that may be connected, adjust certain automation database settings and configure the application event logging. All property settings on this page have default settings, so you need change only those settings that are applicable to your use of XStudio and can leave the balance of the properties as-is.
General Properties
Program Start Options
This group of properties controls the behavior of XStudio when starting up.
Property |
Description |
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Mode at Startup |
When XStudio starts, the mode selected here will be the initial operating mode of the system. You might view this setting as the "default operating mode". For more information on XStudio operating modes, refer to the topic on Operating Modes. The default value for this property is Emergency mode.
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Load Today's Log at Startup |
This property controls whether or not XStudio attempts to load a log at startup. If checked, XStudio will load the current day's log for the defined "Default Station" when starting. Additionally, if a log for today is not found, a check will be made for the existence of an Emergency Log for the station. If the emergency log exists, it will be loaded. |
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Play Log on Startup |
If checked, when XStudio completes its startup initialization the audio element on the log closest to current time will be played automatically with no user intervention required. This setting will be ignored if the operating mode at startup is Satellite. If audio is already playing on the primary playback channel (channel 1) when XStudio is ready to begin playing, playback of the selected log item will occur when the currently playing item reaches EOM (Aux Mark). |
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Applicable in Automation mode only. If checked, when a user starts playing audio from the log on channel 1, the [Auto] button (auto-segue button) will automatically be enabled if the user had temporarily disabled auto-segue for some reason. If the mode of operation is anything other than Automation, this setting is ignored. |
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Not applicable in Satellite Mode. If this property is enabled (checked), [Auto] is enabled and Deck 1 is inactive, the [F10] keystroke starts play from the log.The default value is unchecked for backwards compatibility. |
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If an Action is selected, XStudio will execute the selected Action when starting up. The Action chosen here is executed after all program initialization is complete and a log (if applicable) has been loaded, but before attempting to play audio from the log (if enabled) and prior to checking for any scheduled events. The Startup Action is placed in the startup sequence so that if the executed Action changes the mode of operation, decisions about playing the log immediately on startup and whether or not a scheduled event gets executed are influenced by the results of the Startup Action. Use the adjacent [New] button to create a new Action and the [Remove] button to clear the Startup Action field. See the Actions topic for more information on creating an Action. |
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Emergency Action |
If XStudio is used as an emergency backup system for a DCS or Maestro, or you want to implement a special way of handling emergencies when XStudio is the primary on-air delivery system, you can assign an Action that will be performed in an emergency. If an Action is selected for this field, that Action will be performed when the "Emergency Relay" is triggered. This special relay exists so that users who do not have an audio switcher (and therefore no input relays) have a way to externally signal XStudio that an emergency has occurred. The Emergency Relay is a part of the remote start interface that uses a game port and as a default, Button 4 is used as the Emergency Relay - see the topic Remote Start Interface for more information, as you have the option to disable the Emergency Relay by assigning it to playback Deck 4. Use the adjacent [New] button to create a new Action and the [Remove] button to clear the Emergency Action field. See the Actions topic for more information on creating an Action. |
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If checked, XStudio will check to see if XEngine is running at start-up and if not, will prompt the user, asking if XEngine should be started. If the user answers "Yes", XStudio will attempt to start XEngine. If XStudio is starting unattended and this option is enabled, it will automatically attempt to start XEngine if there is no user response to the prompt.
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Audio Switcher Properties
If you will be using an audio switcher with XStudio, you select the device in this section. At present, XStudio supports just one switcher at a time and does not support "ganging" audio switchers together, a feature is available on some Broadcast Tools audio switchers.
Property |
Description |
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Select Switcher |
Select the audio switcher to be used from the drop-down list. Use the adjacent [New] button to create a new switcher resource and the [Remove] button to clear the field. See the External Resources topic for more information on creating a switcher resource. |
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If you change the selected audio switcher and apply (save) the settings, XStudio will update when the Preferences dialog is closed. This includes changing to the COM port that is used by the new switcher and retrieving the input relay map. If you change switchers, be sure the newly-selected device is connected to the PC on the correct COM port. |
External Control Port Properties
If you need to control an external device with serial data, you can optionally enable this feature set. This set of properties enables external control usage and allows you to assign a COM port and baud rate to be used. The External Control Port is used in conjunction with the Send Control Command task.
Property |
Description |
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Enable External Control Port |
If checked, processing of Send Control Command tasks is enabled. |
COM Port |
Select the COM port to be used for Send Control Command tasks. Valid port numbers are 1-8. Use the [Select COM Port] button to select the COM port from a list of ports available on the host PC. The default port number is 1. Note: If you are also using an audio switcher, the external control COM port must be a different port number. |
Baud Rate |
Select the baud rate to be used from the drop-down list of available speeds. The default baud rate is 9600. |
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COM port settings other than the port number and baud rate are not user-adjustable. Standard settings are used for parity, data bits and stop bits. These settings are: Parity: None |
Database Properties
By default, XStudio automatically creates and maintains a set of tables that contain automation data - resources, tasks, actions, and scheduled events - along with song titles and artists and log archive information. Under normal circumstances, no adjustments to the default database properties are needed to operate XStudio. See the Database Reference for more information.
However, XStudio offers some flexibilities that you may find useful, including the ability to allow remote access to the XStudio local database or to access a centralized database which may be physically located on another PC.
Database Properties (Expanded View)
There are two sets of properties in the database group, one for implementing connection to a remote database server and one for enabling access to the default local database controlled by XStudio. By nature, these two sets of properties are mutually exclusive - if you are using a remote database, local administration properties are ignored and vice versa.
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If you make changes to the database properties, the changes will not take effect until XStudio is restarted. |
Items with a check mark in the REQ column require user entry, while unchecked items have default values which can optionally be changed.
Property |
REQ |
Description |
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If checked, XStudio will use a remote database instead of the default local database. In order to use a remote database running as a stand-alone database server, you must have a database server application installed, configured and running. As a default, this option is disabled.
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If you are using a remote database server, the correct name and address of the server are entered in this field. Use the adjacent [Select] and [Maintain List] buttons to select a defined database server or create a list of available servers respectively. See the topic on Database Server List Maintenance for more information. |
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If you are using a remote database server, the port number must match the one the server is using. The default value is 16000. |
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As a default, when using a remote database server, data is transferred between the database server and XStudio uncompressed. If your LAN performance is slow, you can implement varying degrees of data compression, which causes the database server to compress the data before sending it to XStudio, thus reducing the required LAN bandwidth. However, this is at some cost as the database server must go through the extra step of compressing before sending the information and XStudio must decompress the data when it is received. If you wish to implement data compression, select one of the compression options from the drop-down list that appears when editing the property. See the topic on Implementing Data Compression for further information on data compression settings. |
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If you wish to allow remote administration of the local XStudio database with the XStudio Admin application, check this item to enable the feature. The default for this setting is that remote administration is disabled (unchecked). |
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If remote administration of the automation database is enabled, the identity entered here is how this instance of XStudio will be identified to remote users. The default value is "XStudio". |
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The port number to use when remote administration is allowed. The default value is 16000. This value must be different from the XStudio Inventory Manager local access port to avoid conflicts. |
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The necessary stand-alone database server software for implementing a centralized database is not included in the XStudio installation package. If you wish to use a centralized database, contact your vendor for information on obtaining the database server software, along with its requirements for use. |
Event Logging Properties
As XStudio runs, information relating to its performance and problems encountered is written to a group of application event logs. The event logs are text files maintained automatically by XStudio in the form of event logs for each day, with a default of 14 days (14 daily files) being available for review at all times. Event logs are generally used in troubleshooting problems or determining why XStudio behaved in a certain way. Review the topic on using application event logs for additional information.
This group of properties provides the means to control the number of days XStudio will retain daily event log files, and to adjust the amount of information that is stored to the file as XStudio runs - the so-called "detail level".
Event Log Properties (Expanded View)
Property |
Description |
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Daily Event Log Count |
The default is to keep daily event logs around for 14 days. Use the spin-edit control that appears when you begin editing the property to increase or decrease the number of days you wish to keep daily event logs. The minimum number of days is 7, the maximum number is 62. |
Event Log Detail Level |
The default detail level is "Normal". As you change the detail level to Medium, High, Debug, and Highest, XStudio logs more and more information to the daily event log. The higher the detail level, the larger the daily event log file size will be. For troubleshooting, you should set the detail level to "Debug" as a minimum. |
