Viz Pilot consists of multiple applications:
- Viz Pilot News
- Director
- Template Wizard
- Viz Pilot database
- Pilot Data Server
- Object Store (image database)
- Thumbnail Generator
Pilot Data Server
Pilot Data Server acts as a server for accessing Viz Pilot’s database and other services, and must be installed in order to use a number of features such as Crop Service, Template Tagging, Update Service, Person Search, search on Viz One, Thumbnail Generator and Timeline Editor. It is also required when using Graphic Hub as the Viz Pilot database, or for integrating with Viz Story.
Director
Director is dependent on several systems in order to work in a control room, the most important of which are Media Sequencer and the Viz Pilot database. The basic setup therefore consists of a connection to Media Sequencer and the Viz Pilot database. A Viz Engine with a connection to Graphic Hub is also required for playout. Any graphics or images added to a playlist must be available to Viz Engine.
A common setup is also to run Director with a newsroom system connection; this allows Director to retrieve playlists made available by the newsroom system. The Director operator will then only monitor and control playout of the playlist elements, and not create them.
A connection to Viz One for the search and transfer of video clips to Viz Engine can also be used for playout of video clips.
Note: Media Sequencer is used to configure sequencer connections to the Pilot system, see Media Sequencer Configuration. The Media Sequencer may be installed locally or on a separate server (see Command Line Startup Options).
Overview of Components
Type | Description |
|---|---|
Director | The main application for managing graphics and video playout of both MOS rundowns and any other playlist. The user has full control over templates, data elements and content. It is possible to manually edit and play out all media available in the Viz Pilot system, and play out scenes from Graphic Hub. Note: Although the director installer allows for a --migrate switch that copies the configuration from previously installed versions of director when upgrading, this process only works if the previous version is still installed. |
GPI drivers | General Purpose Input (GPI) drivers permit external control of Viz Pilot. |
Local preview plugin | Used for previewing scenes locally in Director and Viz Pilot News. Note that it is recommended to use the Remote Preview or Remote Snapshot Preview rather than this component. See Viz Engine Preview Configuration. |
Local documentation | Local documentation for the Viz Pilot system. |
Object Store | Helps store and retrieve images, sound and video clips to and from the file share (stills and person information), and the Viz Pilot database (thumbnails), for use in templates. |
Oracle Drivers | Oracle Instant Client is used for accessing an Oracle database, if applicable to your configuration. |
Quick CG | A system tray application for the quick creation of character generated (CG) data elements. |
Spellcheck plugin | Installs a set of default OpenOffice dictionaries that use the Hunspell spell checker. Includes Arabic (both North African and Middle Eastern), English (both UK and US), French, German, Norwegian (both Bokmaal and Nynorsk), Russian and Spanish. See OpenOffice.org. Dictionaries are UTF-8 formatted by Vizrt. |
Template Wizard | Creates templates to use within the Viz Pilot system. |
Viz Pilot News | Integrates into the newsroom system allowing journalists to add graphics to a story. |