User interface¶

Component overview¶

The UI consists of the following elements:

1. Makalu UI main navigation
2. User menu
3. Channel/system information
4. Preview area navigation
5. Channel preview
6. Time-related rundown information
7. Next clip preview
8. Channel rundown
9. Rundown and player controls
10. Collapse/expand toggle for the right side and navigation to the areas media, playlist, graphics, recordings, transfer, Asset Uploader, and playlist import
11. Media asset preview and information (content varies depending on the selected navigation tab/area)
12. Media asset list (content varies depending on the selected navigation tab)

View modes¶

The detailed channel view includes two basic view modes, the "default" and the "simple view", providing users/operators with different display options.

When you first open the detailed channel view, the default view is enabled. It divides the view in half, creating two equal-width sides. On the left side, it displays channel information, preview, and rundown. On the right side, it displays all other areas (for example, media, playlist, graphics, etc.).

The second view mode is referred to as the "simple view" and is more focused on the rundown. It uses all available space on the left side of the screen for the rundown and displays the preview and all other areas on the right side. To switch between the two views, click the User icon at the top right and select or deselect Show simple view.

In addition, you can collapse and expand the right side by clicking the Angle icon to the left of the Home tab. This display variant utilizes most of the screen space for the rundown on the left side. It minimizes the contents of the Home, Media, and Playlist tabs on the right side, creating more space for displaying additional columns in the rundown. It is therefore referred to as the "rundown-centric view".

Makalu UI main navigation¶

Via the main navigation, you can access all functional areas of Makalu at any time by clicking the corresponding tab.

User menu¶

The user menu provides the following options:

Channel/system information¶

This area includes the following elements/information:

1. Link to multichannel view (only available for redundant channels)
2. Channel name
3. Player used as time reference (only available for redundant channels)
4. On-Air Ctrl switch
5. Channel local time zone
6. Channel local time
7. System health status indicator
8. Channel actions menu

To open the multichannel view, click the Multichannel icon (1) on the left side.

The On-Air Ctrl switch (4) is disabled by default. It is only relevant if, optionally, a separate dashboard or an external hardware control panel is used (in addition to the detailed channel view) to trigger changes in the rundown. A typical change in this case would be, for example, switching from a currently running/on-air live source to the next clip. In this case, you must enable the On-Air Ctrl switch to give your instance of the detailed channel view primary control over the rundown regarding the correction of clip start times.

A correction of the start times is necessary if the change was triggered via an external component and if the change results in a time shift of rundown elements. This typically occurs when the switch from a running/on-air live source to the next clip is triggered manually, as it usually causes subsequent elements in the rundown to shift, resulting in different start times. By enabling the On-Air Ctrl switch, these start times are automatically corrected.

The System health status indicator (7) displays the current operating status of the most important internal system components (for example, connection to backend components and player status). The list of available components depends on the actual system configuration.

To display an expanded list of individual components, click the System status indicator.

A green icon indicates that the component is running normally, while a red icon indicates an error.

The menu button (8) to the right of the system health status provides access to the available channel actions, for example:

The list of available actions depends on the actual system configuration.

Preview area navigation¶

The icons in the preview area navigation enable you to switch between the preview ( ) and the search/replace view ( ). For more information about the search/replace view, see the section Searching for and replacing clips.

Channel preview¶

The channel preview consists of the following elements:

1. Source selector
2. Clip name display
3. Options menu
4. Recording indicator
5. Preview player
6. Peak audio meter

The source selector in the top left corner is only available for redundant channels. It enables you to select the source of the preview player below by switching between main ("M") and backup ("B"). For non-redundant channels, there is no source selector. Instead, the source display shows "PGM".

To the right of the source selector, the name of the clip currently playing is displayed.

Right beside the clip name, the following actions are available via the Options menu :

In the right upper corner, the recording indicator displays "REC" if a recording is currently in progress (for example, if the clip currently playing is a live source that is being recorded).

The preview player displays a low-res version of the current player output (backchannel) in real time. It also includes a peak audio meter that supports up to eight audio tracks and indicates the current audio signal level of the channel output.

Time-related rundown information¶

This area provides the following information:

Next clip preview¶

The preview player in this area can be used to display either a preview of the next clip to be played (the clip currently cued) or a preview of the backup player output/backchannel (available only for redundant channels). It is useful, for example, to preview and check a clip or a live source before it goes on-air. It also includes a peak audio meter that supports up to eight audio tracks and indicates the current audio signal level of the channel output.

Depending on the currently selected source, in the top left corner, either "PVW" (preview of the next cued clip) or "B" (preview of the backup player) is displayed. Using it to display the preview of the backup player allows you to preview both the main and backup players simultaneously.

To the right of the selected source, the name of the next cued clip is displayed.

Right beside the clip name display the following actions are available via the Options menu :

Channel rundown¶

This area contains the rundown of the current channel. The rundown list contains all playlists, shows, and clips scheduled for playout. If the display of playlists and shows is enabled for this list, they can be expanded and collapsed.

If a clip has assigned secondary events (for example, graphics), it can also be expanded and the corresponding secondary events are listed.

Depending on the type of the currently selected element in the rundown, the toolbar above contains the following elements:

Icon/Element	Description
	Reload the rundown and update all clip statuses
	Automatically expand the rundown and jump to the section of the rundown that includes the current on-air clip every 15 seconds Tip: Deactivate this function to make changes in the rundown undisturbed.
	Jump to and select the previous playlist
	Jump to and select the next playlist
	Search for clips based on their Title or Media ID and find their next (future) occurrence in the rundown Notice: This function is helpful, for example, if you want to quickly find out when a specific clip is scheduled. Tip: If you want to check the date a specific placeholder was first used in the rundown, search for the placeholder in the media asset list in the Media tab. If you select a placeholder in this list, its first occurrence in the rundown is displayed in column First Appearance.
	Group selected clips (for more information, see the section Using groups)
	Ungroup selected clips (for more information, see the section Using groups)
	Move the selected clip to the top (set it as first clip of the show) (for more information, see the section Moving clips)
	Move the selected clip one position up (for more information, see the section Moving clips)
	Move the selected clip one position down (for more information, see the section Moving clips)
	Move the selected clip to the bottom (set it as the last clip of the show) (for more information, see the section Moving clips)
	Remove fixed scheduled start time from selected element (for more information, see the section Deleting a fixed start time)
	Add the default graphic to the selected playlist, show, or clip (for more information, see the section Assigning or removing the default graphic)
	Remove the default graphic from the selected playlist, show, or clip (for more information, see the section Assigning or removing the default graphic)
	Remove the selected playlist or clip
	Create a new playlist (for more information, see the section Creating a new playlist)
	Open the options menu to access additional actions: Display playlists - Display/hide playlists (if enabled, playlists can be expanded and collapsed in the rundown) Display shows - Display/hide shows (if enabled, shows can be expanded and collapsed in the rundown) Display mediaId - Display/hide the Media ID column Display backup status - Display the Status column also for the backup player (only available for redundant channels - if disabled, the Status column is only displayed for the main player) Show missing assets - Open the Missing assets menu to search for missing assets (see the section Searching for and requesting missing media)

The actual rundown list includes the following information:

Column	Description
Clock icon	Configure a fixed start time of a show/first clip of a show Depending on whether a fixed time is set or not, the clock icon is displayed as follows: Small gray clock icon - show/first clip of a show does not have a fixed start time Large white clock icon - show/first clip of a show has a fixed start time Tip: To set a fixed start time click the clock icon.
Start Time	Scheduled/actual start date and time of a playlist, show, or clip Notice: Displays "Loop" if a clip is part of a group that is being looped.
Link	Distinguish playlists, shows, and clips, expand/collapse shows, display clip thumbnail The different types of elements are marked as follows: Playlist - No icon / Circle with arrow icon - Show collapsed/expanded Circle icon - Clip Warning icon - Gap (orange highlights a gap between shows, white between playlists) Tip: To expand/collapse a show, click the circle with arrow icon of the corresponding show.
Event Title	Name of the primary or secondary event (playlist, show, or clip), indicator for grouped clips, source selection for live sources Notice: Grouped clips are highlighted with an orange indicator (if multiple groups are used, each group is highlighted in a distinct color). Tip: For clips of type "Live", you can change the source to be used by clicking the Select source icon and selecting the corresponding live source.
Media ID (optional)	Clip Media ID (either a specific ID or, in the case of a live clip, the name of the selected live source) Tip: This column is hidden by default. You can display it by enabling it via the Options menu in the toolbar above the rundown.
Duration	Total playlist, show, clip duration, and remaining time of show/clip currently playing (incl. playback progress bar and countdown during the last 10 seconds before a clip change) Tip: To open the Edit clip menu, click the Duration field of the corresponding clip.
Status	Clip status, possible values: Ready (clip is ready to be played) Cue (next clip to be played, prepared by the player) On Air (clip currently playing) Placeholder (clip is a virtual placeholder) Pending (the file is currently being transferred from the ingest storage to the playout node storage) Cached (file is cached by the player to enable a seamless transition between clips, especially if a very long clip follows a very short clip) Error (file cannot be played)
Secondaries	Indicates if there are secondary events assigned to the show or clip The secondary event types are distinguished by the following icons: - Graphics - Recording - Script - Splicing - Subtitle - Routing - Audio Mapping Tip: To expand/collapse the list of assigned secondary events, click the corresponding secondaries icon of the clip or show. You can then also edit the properties of each secondary event (except subtitle secondary events) by clicking the Options icon on the right side and selecting Edit Secondary.
Flags	Clip flags that define how each clip should be played
	Open the options menu for accessing additional actions Depending on the selected element the available actions are: Playlist Save as - Save the playlist internally under the selected name to make it reusable (first opens a dialog for selecting the playlist name) Delete playlist - Remove the selected playlist from the rundown Show Add show - Create a new show Delete show - Remove the selected show from the rundown Clip Browse for clip - Open the selected clip in the preview in the Media tab and reveal it in the storage folder structure Clip info - Open the Clip info menu to display additional clip information Fix duration - Reset the clip length to the physical media length Edit clip - Open the Edit clip menu Reload clip - Update the statuses of the selected clip Delete clip - Remove the selected clip from the rundown

Secondary events assigned to a clip are listed with the following information:

Depending on the type of the primary event and/or the severity level, the following highlight (row background) colors and icons are used in the rundown:

Color	Icon	Primary event type/severity level
Yellow		Placeholder
Purple		Live
Red		Missing
Orange		Gap
Green		On air
Blue		Cued

The duration of a primary event is also highlighted in different colors, depending on whether the duration corresponds to the physical media length or is set shorter/longer. In this case, the following colors are used in the duration field:

Color	Duration
White	Set duration corresponds exactly to the physical media length
Yellow	Set duration is shorter than the physical media length
Red	Set duration is longer than the physical media length (also applies to live elements with activated Open End flag)

Below the rundown list, a dropzone is available for adding playlists to the rundown via drag and drop.

Rundown and player controls¶

Via the rundown and player controls, you can manually trigger actions to control the player(s) of the corresponding channel. By default, these actions are triggered immediately when you click the corresponding button. The behavior of the controls is customizable. There is an optional security feature, that, if enabled, highlights the selected action first and requires you to confirm the actual trigger with an additional click.

The rundown and player controls provide the following actions:

Media¶

The Media tab contains the following elements:

1. Media asset preview

2. Media asset metadata

3. List of available media assets

The preview player provides the following controls:

Icon	Description
	Fast rewind
	Previous frame
	Jump to mark in
	Set mark in
	Stop
	Play
	Set mark out
	Jump to mark out
	Next frame
	Fast forward
	Mute/unmute audio, set volume level
	Hide/show peak audio meter
	Change playback speed
	Enable/disable full-screen playback
	Mute/unmute audio channel

Below the player controls the following time-related information of the file currently being previewed is displayed:

Element/Icon	Description
Media/thumbnail with file name	Draggable element for adding the media asset to a show in the rundown, including the currently set mark in and mark out timecodes
Position	Current playback timecode
Remaining	Remaining playback duration
Mark In	Mark in timecode
Mark Out	Mark out timecode
Duration	Total media asset duration
	Create a reusable segment from the selected media asset by applying the currently set mark in and mark out timecodes (for more information, see the section Creating media segments and adding them to the rundown)
	Save changed mark in and mark out points of the selected segment
	Reset mark in and mark out points of the selected segment
	Load the parent asset of the selected segment into the preview player

To the right of the player window, the technical metadata of the file currently being previewed is listed. This section is divided into the tabs Common, Video, Audio, Subtitle/CC, and Segments.

Below the preview player and the time-related information, the media asset list is displayed. Depending on the selected entry in the Source dropdown menu at the top left, this section lists either all files available on the ingest storage or on the playout nodes that are assigned to the currently selected channel. By default, the "table view" is enabled for the media asset list.

Alternatively, the media asset list also provides the "grid view". It displays each media asset with a large thumbnail image and the duration as an overlay. You can switch between both modes via the view switch / at the top right above the media asset list.

The toolbar of the media asset list contains the following elements:

Icon/Element	Name	Description
	Select source	The source of the media assets to be displayed in the media asset list Available options are: Playoutdata - central ingest storage, for example, S3 (displayed name can be customized, usually named "Playoutdata") Local_Playout_Storage / Main / Backup - local playout node storage (name can be customized, usually named "Local_Playout_Storage" or "Main" or "Backup", depending on whether it is a redundant or non-redundant system) Notice: If the local playout storage is selected, the Aging Date is displayed as an additional column in the media asset list. This displays the time when a corresponding file is automatically deleted from the local playout node storage (if the file is no longer used in the rundown) by the housekeeping. It is used to prevent the local storage of the playout node from filling up. Notice: The status of file transfers from the central storage to the local storage of the playout nodes can be seen from the colored bar on the right-hand side of the Media Title column of the corresponding file. The colors correspond to the following statuses: Green - Transfer to playout node(s) successful Yellow - Transfer to playout node(s) in progress Green - Transfer to playout node(s) failed Current or recently completed transfers are listed in the Transfer tab.
	Title filter	Search media assets of the currently selected type (Live, Placeholder, Secondary Events, or Clips) based on their Title or Media ID
	Title filter folder toggle	Search for the term entered in the title filter either only in the currently selected folder (default, if the toggle is set to Folder) or in all available folders (if the toggle is set to All) (only available if asset type Clips is selected)
	Live source type filter	Filter the available live sources based on their type (only available if asset type Live is selected) Available options are: HLS Set - all available HLS live sources (red icon) SRT Set A - Set A of SRT live sources (blue icon) SRT Set B - Set B of SRT live sources (green icon) Backchannel - returned playout channel outputs (black icon)
	Live source channel toggle	Switch between all available live sources of the selected type (default) and channel-specific live sources of the selected type
	Live source connection status toggle	Switch between all available live sources of the selected type and connected live sources (default) of the selected type
	Time filter	Filter the displayed media assets based on the date they were imported into the system Available options are: All (default, no time filter applied) Today Yesterday Last week Last month
/	View switch	Switch between table view (enabled by default) and grid view Notice: The view switch is only available in the view modes "default" and "simple". It is not available in the "rundown-centric view".
	Reload assets	Refresh the media asset list

If you select a media asset, different columns and metadata are displayed in the list, depending on the selected type.

The Status column provides an aggregation of several statuses for each file, that includes checks of thumbnail, proxy file, metadata, checksum, video metadata, resolution, and framerate. It either displays a green checkmark or a red warning sign, depending on whether all checks were successful or if an error occurred.

Tip: Displaying a detailed status list

You can display a detailed status list, by hovering your mouse over the displayed Status icon.

The following actions are available via the Options menu on the right side of each row in the list:

If the rundown-centric view is enabled, the Media tab is minimized on the right side.

In this display variant, the media information displayed is reduced to a minimum, and the preview player provides basic preview functionality. Media type and folders can be selected via corresponding dropdown menus. Media items can be added to the rundown in the same way as in the default or simple view mode (for more information, see the section Adding media to the rundown). The same applies to replacing a clip in the rundown with another media item (for more information, see the section Replacing a clip with another media item).

Playlist¶

The Playlist tab contains all available playlists of the current channel. Each playlist can be expanded to list all included components (shows, clips, secondary events, and metadata). See the section Schedule for information about how to create playlists.

The toolbar at the top contains the following elements:

Element/Icon	Description
	Search for a playlist by title
	Number of playlists to display
	Filter the displayed playlists based on their scheduled airtime Available options: Today Tomorrow Next 7 days Next 14 days Next 30 days Past (default) All
	Add the selected playlist to the rundown The position/time where the playlist is added to the rundown depends on the following: if the playlist does not have a fixed start time, it is appended to the rundown as the last element (directly after the previous last playlist, without creating gaps) if the playlist does have a fixed start time, but you leave the Sched checkbox unchecked, it is appended to the rundown as the last element (directly after the previously last playlist, without creating gaps), ignoring the fixed start time if the playlist does have a fixed start time and you activate the Sched checkbox, it is appended to the rundown corresponding to the fixed start time (creating a gap if the start time is not set directly after the end of the previous playlist)
	Delete the selected playlist
	Reload the list of available playlists

The list of playlists includes the following information:

Column	Description
	Expand the playlist to display a list of included shows, and expand further to display a list of clips included in a show
Sched	If enabled, the playlist can be added to the rundown using its planned start time as a fixed time (for more information, see the description of the playlist toolbar)
Type	Icon of the corresponding type of rundown element: - Playlist - Show Thumbnail image - Clip
Title	Playlist/show title
Rev	Playlist revision Depending on whether a playlist is used in the rundown, the revision number is highlighted as follows: Not highlighted - the playlist is not used in the rundown Highlighted with gray background color - the latest version of the playlist is used in the rundown, and no update is available Highlighted with yellow background color - an older version of the playlist is used in the rundown, but can be updated to the latest version Tip: You can jump/scroll to the corresponding playlist in the rundown by clicking the highlighted revision number.
Scheduled time	Planned start time of the playlist
Duration	Playlist duration
Created	Playlist creation date and time
Pro	Indicates if the playlist is protected. If enabled (recognizable by the Protected icon ), the playlist cannot be automatically deleted by housekeeping.
Channel	Name of the playout channel for which the playlist was created or "Global" if the playlist is not assigned to a playout channel (for example, if the playlist was not created via Makalu Traffic but imported from a connected NRCS (Newsroom Computer System) and no channel is specified)

If the rundown-centric view is enabled, the Playlist tab is minimized on the right side.

In this display variant, the playlist information displayed in the list is reduced to a minimum. Details of a selected playlist are displayed below the list. Playlists can be added to the rundown in the same way as in the default or simple view mode (for more information, see the section Adding an existing playlist to the rundown). The same applies to updating a playlist (for more information, see the section Updating a playlist). As playlists cannot be expanded when the rundown-centric view is enabled, only entire playlists can be added to the rundown, but not selected individual elements/clips used in a playlist.

Graphics¶

The Graphics tab includes an embedded version of the Singular.Live composition dashboard, allowing you to manually trigger Singular.Live graphics for the current channel directly from within Makalu Automation.

For more information about how to use graphics, see the Graphics section.

Recordings¶

The Recordings tab provides a list of current recording jobs and enables you to create new recording jobs. For more information about how to create recordings, see the section Recording.

The tab contains the following areas:

1. Job list - List of current recording jobs

2. Job filter - Options for filtering the job list based on the job status and type

3. Job list controls - Controls for creating/deleting a recording job and refreshing the job list

4. Recording job - A single recording job, listed with job properties and controls

In the job list, the following information and controls are displayed for each job:

Element	Description
Title	Title of the recording job
Type	Type of the recording job (event, crash, schedule, or recurring); for more information, see the section Recording job types
Status	Status of the recording job
Start time	Start time of the recording job
Duration	Duration of the recording job Notice: A duration can only be displayed if the corresponding live primary event to be recorded has a scheduled end time. If the Open End flag is enabled for the event, there is no duration to be displayed.
Action	Available actions for the recording job (start, stop, cancel, and delete via the corresponding action button; info and delete via the Options menu )

While a recording job is being processed, which is indicated by the status Running, a progress bar is displayed in the background of the corresponding job list item.

When creating a recording job manually via the Create button above the job list, the Create recording jobs menu opens, which provides the following job properties:

Transfer¶

In the Transfer tab, all file transfers from the central ingest storage to playout nodes are listed, that are currently running or were recently finished. It also provides an overview of file processing jobs. When a file transfer or processing job is currently in progress or has ended with an error, the corresponding status icon is displayed to the right of the corresponding tab name (Main, Backup, File processing, and Transfer).

For redundant channels, two tabs at the top left of this area enable you to select either the Main or Backup playout node (for non-redundant channels, only one tab is displayed for the main channel). Depending on your selection, the corresponding file transfers are displayed. The number in brackets beside the playout node name indicates the number of file transfers to this node that are currently running. The columns of the list provide details about each file and the transfer progress.

The action column provides the following elements:

Icon/Element	Description
	Pause file transfer
	Cancel file transfer
	Retry/re-trigger file transfer

Below the transfer list, in the Disk space area, the available storage space of the selected playout node is displayed.

For information about how to trigger a file transfer manually, see the section File transfer.

The File processing tab at the top left of this area displays a list of file processing jobs that are currently running or were recently finished. When a file is uploaded to the central ingest storage, a corresponding file processing job is automatically created and added to the list.

Via the dropdown menu above the file processing list, you can filter the list by job status (created, completed, failed, and/or running). Right beside the dropdown menu, there is an options menu with additional display options for the file processing list. The columns of the list provide details about each file processing job.

During file processing, a progress bar is displayed for each job, showing the current processing phase (download, pre-processing, processing, or post-processing).

A file processing job can have one of the following statuses:

Icon	Description
	Processing successfully completed
	Processing is currently in progress
	Error during processing

The action column provides the following elements:

Icon/Element	Description
	Restart complete file processing
	Cancel file processing
	Restart file processing for selected files (available options: checksum, low-res proxy, and/or thumbnail)

Below the file processing list, additional statistics are displayed (running jobs, queued jobs, and failed jobs).

For information about how to trigger a file processing manually, see the section File processing.

At the bottom of the Transfer tab, the media asset list is displayed. This is the same list with the same functionality as in the Media tab.

Asset Uploader¶

The Asset Uploader tab integrates the functionality of the Asset Uploader into the Makalu Automation UI.

For information about how to use the Asset Uploader, see the section Ingest.

Playlist Import¶

The Playlist Import tab enables you to import XML-based playlists created by Makalu or by third-party traffic systems.

The list of imported playlists provides the following information:

For more information, see the section Importing a playlist.