HowTo Use XineNet Desktop

Using XineNet Desktop

XineNet Desktop should be installed on (when I last checked) edit1, edit2, VTPC and OffPC, along with a few laptops. It is designed to be very easy to use, when it starts up, look in the bottom right, it should say "Connected to ystvvidsrv". If it doesn't, go File->settings, change Host to ystvvidsrv, hit OK and restart the software. If it still won't connect, that PC probably has network issues. NB: On OBs this will be different. The main controls are File->Open Playlist, Play, and Stop. You can work out the rest.

Remember, VT Ops, after starting XineNet and opening the playlist, play the whole thing once. It will update the lengths for each video afterward so the countdown will be accurate next time round.

Creating Playlists

This is the more important part of this How To. Creating playlists requires some manual editing of XML files, but fear not, its really easy. Hopefully you have a sample playlist kicking around somewhere, if so right click it and select edit. Otherwise, open notepad and paste this in:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<playlist>
<item>
	<filename>Your_VT_Name.mp4</filename>
	<length>5</length>
</item>
</playlist>

Then save it as an XML file (after the filename put .xml then quotes around the whole thing as "filename.xml" To make videos available, stick them somewhere in playout_videos (it should be J:\ in My Computer). Ensure you don't include spaces in the file name.

For each file you want to add, you need to add this between the two playlist tags, in the correct order:

<item>
<filename>Your_VT_Name.mp4</filename>
<length>5</length>
</item>

Feel free to copy and paste this as many times as you need, changing the filename as needed. If your video is in a folder in playout_videos, you need to include this, for example:

<item>
<filename>Spotlight/S1E1/01_titles.mp4</filename>
<length>5</length>
</item>

Length should be set to something very short, if your VT is less than 5 seconds, make it lower.

A playlist file must start:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<playlist>

and end:

</playlist>

Below is the YSTV Spotlight S1E1 Playlist file, for reference:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<playlist>
<item>
	<filename>Spotlight/S1E1/01_titles.mp4</filename>
	<length>5</length>
</item>
<item>
	<filename>Spotlight/S1E1/02_walking_and_coming_up_vt.mp4</filename>
	<length>5</length>
</item>
<item>
	<filename>Spotlight/S1E1/03_rag_vt.mp4</filename>
	<length>5</length>
</item>
<item>
	<filename>Spotlight/S1E1/04_dazvt.mp4</filename>
	<length>5</length>
</item>
<item>
	<filename>Spotlight/S1E1/05_end_credits_finished_vt.mp4</filename>
	<length>5</length>
</item>
</playlist>