Viz Mosart 5.8.0

Release Date: 2024-10-02

Introduction

Viz Mosart is Vizrt's powerful suite of tools for studio automation, production assistance, and advanced graphics control. It enhances consistency and efficiency in live and as-live production, so that even complex shows can be run error-free from a single operator position.

Viz Mosart controls devices flexibly according to templated sets of repeatable actions, automating that control according to stories prepared in a rundown and enabling creative manual interaction whenever needed.

In this document you will find listed all important changes in this latest release of Viz Mosart. 

Release Highlights

Version 5.8.0 introduces some long awaited features which underline Viz Mosart’s commitment to supporting workflow modernization. In particular, direct control of NDI PTZ cameras (opening up the viability of lower cost productions), control of GV AMPP’s clip player (enabling more cloud and hybrid architectures), and TCP/IP control of Sony video switchers over TCP/IP (removing reliance on baseband serial connections).

This release also brings further improvements and resolves a number of bugs, as documented in the lists of Improvements and Fixed Issues.

The feature set of Viz Mosart version 5.8.0 is largely backward compatible with versions 5.x and 4.x, and, for most operations even earlier Viz Mosart versions. Sometimes it is necessary to deprecate older functionality, as described here under Deprecations.

New Features

GV AMPP video server driver

This release of Viz Mosart introduces support for Grass Valley’s AMPP clip player. Common features such as fetch, cue, play, scrub and loop of clips is supported.

For details on how to set this up, refer to the Viz Mosart Administration Guide's documentation of Video Server connection, both for AV Automation and for Media Administrator.

TCP/IP support for Sony video switchers

Viz Mosart's Sony Serial Tally protocol support has been extended so that it is now possible to control Sony video switchers over TCP/IP as an alternative to serial connection, and enabling direct Ethernet control of the latest range of Sony video switchers. This feature is enabled by selecting the protocol "SONY SERIAL TALLY IP" in AV Automation's Vision Mixer setup. A prerequisite for this protocol to work is that the Sony Video Switcher supports Sony Serial Tally over TCP/IP. Refer to the latest Viz Mosart Administrator Guide for further details.

Support for NDI PTZ robotic camera controllers

The range of robotic camera controllers that Viz Mosart can control has now been extended to also include NDI PTZ to recall shots in preview and program. For Program mode, recall shots are supported with the option for delayed execution. Multiple NDI PTZ camera controllers can be configured in Av Automation. Refer to the latest Viz Mosart Administrator Guide for further details.

Support for ENCO DAD audio player

We have introduced support of the ENCO DAD audio player, that can be used to play out sound beds, voice overs or similar. The ENCO DAD player is configured in AV Automation’s Device Properties > Audio > Sound player. Refer to the corresponding section of the latest Viz Mosart Administrator Guide for further details.

Extended support for *cg commands in Avid iNEWS

Viz Mosart can now handle multiple *cg commands in one production cue in Avid iNEWS. In earlier versions, only the first *cg command in each production cue would be handled.

Improvements

Support for MOS Protocol 4.0

  • The support for MOS Protocol 4.0 introduced in Viz Mosart 5.7.0 had a limitation in that it did not support Secure Websocket (wss), only regular Websocket (ws). This limitation has now been removed, so it is possible to use Secure Websocket (wss) with Viz Mosart (MOSART-12407).

Template Database handling

  • Configurations for Template Database has historically been located both in Manus Administrator and AV Automation, and it has been necessary to configure them identically in both applications. From this version of Viz Mosart, the settings common for both applications will only be configurable from the Combined Manus Administrator, and AV Automation will pick these settings from Manus Administrator's settings. This means that it will no longer be needed to also configure them in AV Automation. Note however that AV Automation still has some Template Database settings (MOSART-12226).

  • The tool TemplateSetEditor in the Viz Mosart Test Suite has been extended to include an Import function. This can be used to import template sets and templates from one Template Database into another Template Database (MOSART-12667).

Vizrt Graphics Editing

  • For the Vizrt Graphics Editing which was introduced in Viz Mosart 5.4.0 we have now added support for HTTPS mode (MOSART-12769).

Lawo Ember+ Audio Mixer Driver

  • To improve performance, a change of behavior has been introduced in this driver, in that we will no longer wait for a response for each command sent to the audio mixer. In this way, controlling multiple audio faders in parallel is much smoother (MOSART-12760).

Video clip status handling

  • The Advanced Clip Status Display has gotten some further improvements for some specific video server types, VDCP, Quantel and EVS Xedio, where the advanced clip status would not work at all (MOSART-12793).
    The feature can be disabled through the Combined Manus Administrator setting Advanced Clip Status Display, by setting it to False. Then the system uses the original visualization method, showing clip statuses only with solid, blue color or a checkerboard pattern, depending on whether the clip is available or not.

TriCaster devices

  • To be in line with Vizrt naming we have changed the terms used for our drivers for TriCaster devices from ‘vizrt-ips' to ‘TRICASTER’. This applies to vision mixer, video server, audio mixer and sound player devices. The change is done automatically so there is no need to manually modify existing configurations (MOSART-12464).

Fixed Issues

GUI

  • Fixed an issue when having the timeline view as a floating window in the Viz Mosart GUI, where, if you activated Rehearsal mode, the timeline view would not have the expected yellow background (MOSART-12209).

  • An issue in the GUI's Workspace Manager was introduced in Viz Mosart 5.6.0, where the properties "TimingGrid Rundown" and "TimingGrid Story" were no longer available in the Control list, and could thus not be configured. This issue has now been resolved (MOSART-12660).

Audio Mixer handling

  • With the Lawo RMNOPL driver there were occasions when the connection to the audio mixer was not properly established, leaving Viz Mosart unable to control the audio mixer. The workaround would be to manually reconnect to the audio mixer from AV Automation. This issue has now been fixed (MOSART-12307).

Control Commands in Templates

  • In Viz Mosart 5.6.0 a seemingly unimportant improvement unfortunately introduced an issue when configuring control commands in templates. The issue is that if the template has control commands on continue points, and the Cue Next Item Index is empty (not used), the Cue Next Item Index may be unexpectedly set to 0. This will happen when creating or editing a template in the Template Editor; if you then add or modify control commands and press OK and Save. Once the Cue Next Item Index has been set to 0, it is not possible to set it back to empty, it can only be changed from 0 to another (valid) index. This issue has now been fixed, so that it is again possible to have Cue Next Item Index empty (MOSART-12507).

This issue will impact the shows where this template is used, in that the when this template is taken, the next item will be immediately cued, instead of it being cued after the last continue point control command has been taken. To correct this, after installing a Viz Mosart version with this fix, all templates that have been affected will have to be manually edited in the Template Editor, clearing the Cue Next Item Index. In Viz Mosart versions where this issue is present (i.e. 5.6 and 5.7), the only workaround is to change the Cue Next Item Index from 0 to the last valid index.

  • Fixed an issue concerning templates that have one or more Continue Control Commands and a non-empty Cue Next Item Index value. When such a template was on air, if the next template was skipped (for example by Skip Next, Set As Next to a different story, or the item was removed / floated by the NRCS), the new next item would not be cued, even though the Viz Mosart GUI indicated so. Then, when trying to take the new next item, Viz Mosart would instead take the original next item, i.e. it would take an unwanted (skipped) item to air (MOSART-12536).

Video Clip Handling

  • Fixed an issue with video clips where Viz Mosart would fail to cue the clip if the clip’s name included curly brackets (i.e. '{' or '}') (MOSART-12765).

Deprecations

Previous notable changes

  • 5.0.0: When using the Story Recorder feature (introduced in version 5.0.0), the created template set becomes incompatible with Viz Mosart version 4.x or earlier.

  • 5.1.0: With the introduction of the Engine Switcher feature (in version 5.1.0), a Viz Opus can not be upgraded to Viz Mosart 5.1 or newer. Previously it has been possible, to upgrade at own risk Viz Opus to a newer Viz Mosart version than the official 3.8.1 version This is no longer possible.

  • 5.4.0: The MMTrio graphics interface application is deprecated. Customers should ensure that overlay graphics are configured using the Overlay Graphics Interface application.

Changes in this version

  • None

Upcoming changes

  • In a future version of Viz Mosart (version TBC), both older iNews and MOS versions of Manus Administrator will be deprecated. Customers are encouraged to migrate to the new Combined Manus Administrator.

  • In a future version of Viz Mosart (version TBC), support for the ActiveX NRCS plugin will be deprecated. Customers are encouraged to migrate to the HTML-based plugin (Mosart Web App NRCS Plugin) wherever possible. Vizrt are continuing to strengthen the web-based architecture which serves this newer plugin, and to enhance its functionality where customer experience exposes use cases which are not yet fully satisfied.

Known Limitations

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Installation and Upgrade

Refer to the Viz Mosart Administrator Guide, section Installation. Latest updated documentation for Viz Mosart 5.8 is at https://documentation.vizrt.com/viz-mosart-5.8.html.

System Requirements

Recommendations

For further details, see the Installation > Prerequisites section in the Viz Mosart Administrator Guide.

General

  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8.

  • Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022 (both x86 and x64).

  • Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (x64).

Note: If WebView2 Runtime is not pre-installed, the Viz Mosart GUI and Server installers will try to install in on-line. If on-line installation is not possible, VewView2 Runtime has to be installed manually before running the Viz Mosart installers.

Viz Mosart Server

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2022.

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019.

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (only extended support from Microsoft).

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2 (only extended support from Microsoft).

Note: WebView2 Runtime version 109 is the last supported version on Windows Server 2012R2 (version 110 and later will be unavailable).

Viz Mosart client computers (GUI, Audio Panel, Timing Display, Audio Player)

  • Microsoft Windows 11.

  • Microsoft Windows 10.

  • Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2013 x86.

  • Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2013 x64.

Network Bandwidth

  • 1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet card is required on the Viz Mosart client computer if NDI is used for live preview in the Preview and Program windows.

Upgrade

As a standard procedure, always make backups before upgrading. The locations are all files in the following folders:

  • C:\channeltemplates

  • %localappdata%\Mosart_Medialab

  • %programdata%\Mosart Medialab\ConfigurationFiles

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mosart Medialab\<Mosart application>\ConfigurationFiles

  • All files with extension .exe.config in folders C:\Program Files (x86)\Mosart Medialab\<Mosart application>\ where <Mosart application> is the relevant Viz Mosart application (for example Mosart Server, Mosart GUI).

Windows registry settings for:

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\\[Wow6432Node\\]Mosart Medialab

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\\[Wow6432Node\\]Mosart Medialab

For the upgrade procedure, see the Viz Mosart Administrator Guide, section Installation.
You will always find the latest updated documentation for Viz Mosart 5.8 at https://documentation.vizrt.com/viz-mosart-5.8.html.

If you do not have Internet access to the above documentation, a quick guide for installation is given here:

  1. Download all relevant Viz Mosart installation files to the preferred location.

    1. The default location is C:\Mosart\Installers. You are advised to make a sub-directory for the installers for a particular version/build containing all the MSI installer-files and any other supplemental files.

    2. This directory should be named using the Release.Version.Patch.Build naming convention, for example: C:\Mosart\Installers\5.1.0.24523 for Mosart 5.1.0 build 24523.

  2. Stop all Viz Mosart Windows services.

  3. Double-click the installation file, and follow the prompts to complete installation. Note that after completing this step for the Viz Mosart Server and the Viz Mosart GUI, the documentation is available in the installation folder's Documentation sub folder.

  4. Repeat the above step for all relevant installation files.

  5. As the last steps you may need to start a set of Windows services to make Viz Mosart run properly (not needed after installing the Viz Mosart Server or the Viz Mosart GUI client, these services are then started by the installer). The services are configured to automatically start when the computer is started. The safest is to reboot the computer to verify that this automatic start of the services is working.

Installations with Viz Mosart in several galleries

If you have several galleries running an earlier Viz Mosart version, like Viz Mosart 3 or Viz Mosart 4, you can safely upgrade one of the galleries to Viz Mosart 5 while the others stay on their current version.

Documentation

Documentation for Viz Mosart is available at the Vizrt Documentation Center (https://documentation.vizrt.com/viz-mosart.html).

Support

Support is available at the Vizrt Support Portal.

Previous Versions

In accordance with the Vizrt Global Support Handbook section Software Lifecycle, support for older versions of Viz Mosart ends 24 months after a subsequent minor or major version is released.

With this release of Viz Mosart version 5.8, earlier versions will therefore no longer be supported after 2026-10-02.

At the date of this release, Viz Mosart versions earlier than 5.0 are no longer supported.