Viz Pilot User Guide

Version 8.7 | Published September 25, 2023 ©

Database Parameters

Use the Pilot Data Server to configure settings for the Viz Pilot system’s applications. The affected applications usually need to be restarted for changes to apply.

You can access all database parameters from the Pilot Data Server’s VCP Parameters page (http://<hostname>:8177/app/DataServerConfig/DataServerConfig.html).

Caution: Settings should only be changed by administrators.

Viz Pilot Database Parameters

  • activex_preview_timeout: Sets the time in milliseconds that Viz Pilot News waits for a remote preview Viz Engine connection before continuing. Default is 10000. Can be overridden by the local registry setting PreviewTimeOut.

  • activex_preview_socket_timeout: Sets the time in milliseconds that Viz Pilot News waits for a local preview Viz Engine connection before continuing. Default is 10000. Can be overridden by the local registry setting PreviewSocketTimeOut.

  • ActiveXShowClipsTab: Enables or disables the Clips tab for Viz Pilot News. Allowed parameters are 1 or 0. Default is On (1).

  • ActivexShowStillsTab: Enables or disables the Stills tab for Viz Pilot News. Allowed parameters are 1 or 0. Default is On (1).

  • ActivexShowTemplatesTab: Enables or disables the Templates tab for the Newsroom Allowed parameters are 1 or 0. Default is On (1).

  • allow_usage_data_collection: ​Indicates whether consent was given for usage data collection. By ticking this checkbox, you allow all Vizrt applications connected to this server to collect anonymous usage data, as described in http://telemetrics.vizrt.com/policy.html.

  • app_server: Sets the Pilot Data Server URI.

  • ax_add_dbdata_to_mosexternal: Adds extra information about the data in the element to the MOS item.

  • ax_add_itemchannel: Add default channel for data elements to the generated MOS xml.

  • ax_dataelement_timer_enabled: Sets the default behavior for showing or hiding the Graphic Event Timing options in Viz Pilot News when Saving an Element. When enabled (1) it will display the timing editor, and when disabled (0) it will hide the timing editor. This setting can be overridden by enabling the ShowGraphicEventTiming setting for the Template Information Component in Template Wizard on a template-by-template basis.

  • ax_disable_clear_layers: Setting to disable the clearing of all layers as the first commands sent when sending to preview

  • ax_disable_data_overwrite: When enabled (1) this disables the Save button in Viz Pilot News; hence, only the Save As button is active. When on, this also unchecks the Add to Library checkbox in the Template Save Dialog Box for all saved elements.

  • ax_disable_dragdrop: Disables drag and drop in Viz Pilot News. Useful when using a newsroom system that does not facilitate drag and drop interaction with plugins.

  • ax_disable_media_drag: When enabled (1), this disables the dragging of clips and stills from the media search tab to the rundown. Default (0), i.e. dragging from the media search tab is allowed.

  • ax_disable_overlay_saving: When enabled (1), this disables Viz Pilot News from creating overlay timelines, i.e. when a clip is opened from the media tab, there will not be any previously saved graphics on the timeline. Overlay saving is enabled by default (0).

  • ax_dont_fetch_thumbnails: If enabled, Viz Pilot News will not fetch thumbnails for templates and data elements when in list view mode, only in "show icons" view.

  • ax_enableMediaSendToRundown: Enables (1) the Add to Rundown context menu option when adding media elements to the rundown. This is only useful if the newsroom system does not support drag and drop operations.

  • ax_enable_refresh_button: Show the refresh button in the Viz Pilot News external preview form. Will refresh the preview without resending the data to the preview server.

  • ax_force_detached_pvw: Force detached snapshot-preview window in Viz Pilot News/Director.

  • ax_hide_data_elements: Enabling this will hide the data element list in Viz Pilot News.

  • ax_hide_media_tab: Setting to hide the media tab in Viz Pilot News.

  • ax_include_mosobj_tag: Will add a mosobj node to the generated MOS xml. Needed for some newsroom integrations, such as Dalet.

  • ax_mos_edit_save_returns: Enable this to automatically return to the template list after editing a MOS item.

  • ax_MOSID: Possible override of the MOSID given in the mositems produced by the Newsroom Component. Default is PILOT.

  • ax_preview_host: Hostname of the Viz Engine that generates snapshot-preview images and fetch icons of Viz resources (images/geoms/materials, etc.). Also used as fallback vizhost for the ThumbnailGenerator.

  • ax_preview_img_protocol: Lets you request snapshots in different image formats.

  • ax_preview_port: Viz Engine port (50008) used to generate snapshot-preview images, and fetch icons of Viz resources (images/geoms/materials etc). Also used as fallback vizhost for the ThumbnailGenerator.

  • ax_preview_tl_legacy_support: Preview will send values to legacy transition logic location ($other$object) in addition to normal behavior.

  • ax_preview_tl_show_next_sub: "Toggle*continue_noanim" command will be used when previewing transition logic.

  • ax_remove_continue_count: Setting to disable the sending of continueCount in mosExternalMetadata.

  • ax_remove_objSlug: Removes objSlug from the generated MOS xml. This is needed when Viz Pilot News is hosted in AvidCommand.

  • ax_required_version: Required version of Viz Pilot News. If the Viz Pilot News version is lower then this, a warning will be shown.

  • ax_saveas_cancels_edit: Default behavior is that when you edit an item already in a script and click "Save As New", the item in the script is replaced by the new item. Enabling this setting still creates a new graphic but does not replace the original item in the script.

  • ax_show_hints: Disable this setting to disable all tooltips in Viz Pilot News. Tooltips may cause the Dalet newsroom system to crash.

  • ax_show_savechanges_dlg: If enabled, users will be asked if they want to save the currently open data element or template when opening a new one.

  • ax_use_custom_gui_dlg: Enables (1) the Viz World Map Editor (WME) to be embedded within the user interface of Viz Pilot News. This parameter is by default not set in the database.

  • clip_default_itemchannel: If a value is set, it is used as the default channel for video clips. The value is used in the itemChannel element in the MOS XML, and will appear in the Viz Trio playlist and in the NCS. This parameter is empty by default.
    If a video or timeline element is reopened from the NCS rundown, the itemChannel chosen in the rundown will not be reset to the default again, even if the element is updated and overwritten.

  • crop_service_uri: The URL to the image crop service for example, http://:8178/).

  • croptool_max_image_area: Sets maximum size of a cropped image that will be served by the Pilot Data Server. Anything larger will be resized, while still respecting the aspect ratio of the crop. Maximum size applies even if no cropping is done. Image size = width x height in pixels. 0 = disabled.

  • country_language: Set the language to use for the country list. By default only English is supported.

  • data_server_url: Hosting URL of Vizrt Pilot Data Server (for example: http://exampleserver.com:8177) or the reverse proxy server pointing to Vizrt Pilot Data Server. May contain base path prefix in the end of the base URL (e.g.: http://exampleserver.com:8177/pds).

  • delete_data_from_activex: If set to Y (yes) it will enable the user to delete data elements using Viz Pilot News. Default is Y.

  • DELETE_DATA_PASSWORD: Password protection of data element deletion in the Director client. If empty, the delete data elements dialog will not be password protected.

  • disable_built_in_vos_search: Disable the built in VOS search. This should be used to prevent duplicate hits when moving to the new RESTVOS search.

  • graphic_hub_url: Host or reverse proxy URL of the Vizrt Graphic Hub API used to provide scenes (e.g: http://exampleserver.com:19398). May contain base path prefix in the end of the base URL (e.g: http://exampleserver.com:19398/pilot).

  • image_order_uri_template: Placeholder URL template for image orders.

  • image_share: Specifies the path the Resource Panel (for templates) should use when saving a cropped image (<UNC or Windows path>)

  • legacy_unicode_handling: When enabled, Pilot applications revert to pre-8.2 Unicode handling. In 8.2, Unicode support was extended some errors related to handling of more exotic characters, like smileys and other pictograms, were fixed. However, existing template scripts may rely on legacy functionality that stopped working with this update. Enable this option if this affects you. Note, however, that this will also reintroduce some of the issues that were fixed in version 8.2. If possible, the best thing to do is to update all template scripts so that they are compatible with the changes in 8.2. Most importantly this means removing all UTF8Text property usage in scripts and replacing them with code that reads and writes the Text property directly. Ask your support representative for more help if needed.

  • live_update_interval: Specifies the interval used by Template Wizard’s Update Script and the Media Sequencer, to periodically send updates to the update service while on air. The minimum value is 2 seconds. See Using the Update Script Editor.

  • MediaSearch_ItemPerPage: MediaSearch Items per page.

  • mos_legacy_template: If true, legacyTemplate element is added to MOS xml. This is a workaround used only if this information can not be retrieved from mosPluginId when a MOS Item is sent.

  • mos_plugin_url: URL of the Pilot MOS HTML plug-in. Director will use this to open elements and templates that don't have a proper legacy form. Will not work with URLs that use redirection (HTTP 302 answer). For example http://pds:8177/pilotedge will redirect to http://pds:8177/app/pilotedge/PilotEdge.html, so it is the latter that needs to be set directly.

  • mse_script_runner: This parameter can be used to set a different script runner for the MSE. Normally not needed. Default value is blank.

  • order_mgt_uri_template: Uri template used to invoke the order management order form.

  • preview_server_uri: Sets the URI of the Preview Server. This machine, with Viz Engine and Preview Server installed, is typically identified as your frame server.
    Director reads this setting during startup, and uses it to set the Preview Server to be used by the playlist to fetch thumbnails for the elements. The setting will be written to the /config/preview_server/host node in VDOM.

  • script_runner_uri: The URL to the script runner that will execute "update scripts" to data/payloads.

  • shared_curious_server: Sets the hostname or IP address of the Viz World Server. It is not configured when set to <server>. See also Director’s Viz World Preferences preferences.

  • show_playlist_element_index: If enabled, shows a column in the Director playlist that displays each items index in the list.

  • slim_mos_xml: Slim down MOS XML by removing optional tags.

  • spellcheck_dict_filename: Sets the filename for the dictionary file (.dic) and affixation file (.aff) for the spell checker. This parameter is mandatory and by defualt is en_US.
    For example, if spellcheck_dict_filename is set to my-special-en_US, then the spell checker will look for the two files my-special-en_US.dic and my-special-en_US.aff
    Several spell checking dictionaries have been included as part of the Viz Pilot system’s installation. The dictionaries are installed in the default location: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\vizrt\Common\dicts
    Other dictionaries can be downloaded from OpenOffice; however, these must be UTF-8 formatted. Contact your local Vizrt representative if there is a need to convert and use another dictionary for spell checking purposes.

  • spellcheck_dict_path: Sets the path to the dictionary files for the spell checker. By default this parameter is empty, which means the default location is used (%ProgramFiles(x86)%\vizrt\Common\dicts).
    If the files are not located under the default location, use a full path, mapped drive or UNC path.

    Note: In order to define a non-default location, the following conditions must be met: (1) spellcheck_dict_path must end in a path separator; (2) both the .aff and the .dic files must be present in the path; (3) spellcheck_dict_filename must be set. Otherwise, the default location is used.

  • template_format_binary: Saves the template's/data element's binary to database.

  • timeline_editor_proxy_port_range: Sets the port range (in the format "a-b;c-d;e;f-g") from which the internal HTTP proxy that deals with authentication for the Timeline Editor in Pilot News takes its listening port. If empty, or if this optional parameter is missing, then a random port will be chosen from the ephemeral range, otherwise from the range specified. Multiple ranges can be given, but the total number of ports to try is capped at one hundred.

  • timeline_update_service: The service document URL for the Timeline Update Service.

  • vcp_schema_name: for example, PILOT.

  • video_mode: Video mode for channel. PAL or NTSC.

  • vos_allow_edit_from_dll (optional): Enables or disables the toolbar in Object Store. When disabled it will disallow registering and editing of images and person information when Object Store is used with Viz Pilot News and Template Wizard. This option can be added to the database. Values are Y for allow edit and N for disallow edit.

  • VOS_PASSWORD: Shows the encrypted Object Store password that is used to enforce access control when using the Object Store Settings window. Is only visible if access control has previously been enabled. This setting can be used to reset the password by deleting it; however, it cannot be used to change the password. See Object Store Settings.

  • vtw_disable_unique_name_check: Enable this setting to allow two or more templates to have the same name.