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Viz Pilot User Guide

Version 8.1 | Published August 16, 2017 ©

Software Requirements

This section describes the software requirements for the Viz Pilot system.

Note: This is an overview, so always check release notes for exact requirements.

See Also

System Requirements

Minimum client system requirements

  • Windows 7

  • 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

  • 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

  • 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

Supported client operating systems

  • Windows 10 Enterprise

  • Windows 10 Pro

  • Windows 8 Enterprise 64-bit

  • Windows 8 Pro 64-bit

  • Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (recommended)

  • Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit

  • Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Supported server operating systems

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Update

  • Windows Server 2012 R2

  • Windows Server 2012
    A specific version and service pack of an operating system will not be supported after the official Microsoft support end date. This is the latest date of support from Vizrt. Earlier support end dates will be announced in release notes for new versions of Viz Pilot.

Minimum supported versions of software components Viz Pilot depends on

  • Database, one of:

    • Graphic Hub 3.0 (with Graphic Hub REST 2.0), or

    • Oracle 11g

  • Media Sequencer 4.0

  • Viz Engine 3.3

Recommended server system requirements

This depends on the overall system configuration and should be worked out together with your local support.

Viz Pilot Database Requirements - Oracle

Viz Pilot Database Requirements

In this case the Viz Pilot database is an Oracle database server. Usually two database servers are installed where one is used for manual failover. Viz Engine graphics data is stored on the Graphic Hub.

Viz Pilot Database Administrator Requirements

The Pilot Database Administrator tool (Pilot DBA) is a small application used for installing, upgrading, exporting, importing, and setting various parameters for the Viz Pilot Database. It is purely a DBA tool, and should therefore only be used by database administrators.

Viz Pilot Database Requirements - Graphic Hub

In this case the Viz Pilot database is a Graphic Hub, accessed via a Graphic Hub REST server. For full installation and migration information, see the Graphic Hub User’s Guide.

Migration from Oracle to Graphic Hub

To move data from Oracle to Graphic Hub, the schema in the Oracle database must be Viz Pilot 6.x or later. To upgrade the schema use the Pilot DBA (see Database Administration). Once the schema is 6.x or later, import the data into Graphic Hub.

Once the data has been imported to Graphic Hub, the schema version will follow the Graphic Hub version. Any required schema updates will happen the first time the Graphic Hub is started after a version upgrade for the selected data directory.

The Pilot Database Administrator tool (Pilot DBA) is no longer required once you have migrated to Graphic Hub.

New Installations

For fresh installations, install Graphic Hub as described in the Graphic Hub User’s Guide.

Director Requirements

The table below lists the machine specifications for a typical newsroom system setup, where Director is the control application receiving the playlist.

Component

Requirement

Software

Viz Pilot

Media Sequencer

Optional: Viz World Client (32-bit), TimeCode Monitor, Viz PreCut.

Optional: If you are using a local Viz Engine to preview video clips from Viz One, Viz Engine must be installed with video codecs (e.g. MPEG-4 codec and Haali Media Splitter).

Optional: Windows Media Player 11 for video clip preview in Object Store.

Note: Local preview plugin supports 32 and 64bit versions of Viz Engine. If both 32 and 64 bit versions are installed, the 64 bit will be used regardless of which version is the newest.

Local drive access

Access to Oracle client files and folders, is using Oracle database.

Network access

Mapped drive to Object Store still store folder

Director gets its Viz One connection parameters from the Viz Pilot database.

Vizrt recommends the use of remote preview that has no need for a local Viz Engine or graphics cards on the client machine.

Viz Pilot News Requirements

The table below describes a basic setup of Viz Pilot News for journalists and editors.

Component

Requirement

Software

Viz Pilot

Optional: Object StoreViz World Client (32-bit) 12.0 or later

Newsroom system client

Optional: If you are using a local Viz Engine to preview video clips from Viz One, Viz Engine must be installed with video codecs (e.g. MPEG-4 codec and Haali Media Splitter)

Optional: Viz EasyCut or Viz PreCut for video clip editing.

Note: Local preview plugin supports 32 and 64bit versions of Viz Engine. If both 32 and 64 bit versions are installed, the 64 bit will be used regardless of which version is the newest.

Local drive access

Read access to Oracle client files and folders, if using Oracle.

Network access

Mapped drive to Object Store still store folder.

Vizrt recommends the use of remote preview that has no need for a local Viz Engine on the client machine; hence, local preview is not recommended.

Viz Pilot News gets its Viz One connection parameters from the Viz Pilot database.

Note: In Viz Pilot News, the timeline editor does not work on virtual machines.

Template Wizard Requirements

Template Wizard is an easy-to-use software wizard, visual template editor, design and scripting tool. It is used to create, manage and categorize templates for graphics, with images, maps and video. Template Wizard can also be used to create control templates for Viz Trio and Viz Ticker3D.

Template Wizard can be installed as a stand-alone product for editing and running Viz Pilot templates without a Viz Pilot Database server, for example for use with Viz Trio or Viz Ticker3D. In this case no Oracle Client is required, and the use_database setting in the ContentPilot.ini file (under the [TEMPLATE_WIZARD] section) must be set to ‘n’.

It is possible to install Template Wizard on the same machine as Viz Artist; however, it is recommended to install it on a separate design client for template designers.

Template Wizard specifications

Component

Requirement

Software

Media Sequencer

Optional: Windows Media Player 11 for video clip preview in Object Store

Optional: Viz World Client (32-bit)

Template Wizard connects to the Media Sequencer for testing and previewing of template graphics. The Media Sequencer connection defaults to localhost. To use a different host set the command line option -mse <host> in Template Wizard’s target path.

Pilot Data Server Requirements

Pilot Data Server

The Pilot Data Server is installed as an application layer on top of the Viz Pilot database. It acts as an application server for accessing the Viz Pilot database and other services. The Pilot Data Server may be asked to handle requests from scripts to provide information on data elements, or to provide Preview Servers the information needed to resolve which scene and data is to be rendered by the Preview Server.

The Script Runner Service comes packaged with the Pilot Data Server. Thumbnail Generator is an optional component, which is enabled by default.

Script Runner Service

The Script Runner Service provides users with a simple way to use the Update Service without needing to create their own service. See Update Script Editor.

Thumbnail Generator

The Thumbnail Generator is a Windows service. As data elements are created or changed, it automatically generates thumbnails of them. The thumbnails are stored in the Viz Pilot database.

Thumbnail Generator requires a Preview Server, which is used to serve the thumbnails in the data element feed.

Pilot Data Server specifications

Component

Requirement

Software

Pilot Data Server

Service(s)

Vizrt Pilot Data ServerVizrt Script RunnerVizrt Thumbnail Generator

Operating system

Refer to the Viz Pilot Release Notes

Crop Service Requirements

Crop Service

The Crop Service is a tool that allows for basic cutting and zooming of images, and allows users to quickly add new images to a data element.

Crop Service specifications

Component

Requirement

Software

Crop Service

Service(s)

Vizrt Crop Service

Operating system

Refer to the Viz Pilot Release Notes

Viz Engine Preview Server Requirements

The Preview Server is used in situations where one or more Viz Engines provide frames for snapshot or thumbnail generation. It is used by the Viz Trio client or Viz Pilot to fetch previews of overlay graphics, for example for the Timeline Editor or the Thumbnail Generator.

The Preview Server can run on the same machine as a Viz Engine, but it is also possible to specify additional Viz Engines in order to spread the load.

Preview Server can manage a pool of Viz Engines. Clients can query it for a Viz Engine that matches a specific video mode. It provides load balancing, video mode matching and can be used to create a redundant renderer pool. The pool of Viz Engines is configured on the Preview Server Web Interface.

For full information on requirements, see the Preview Server Administrator’s Guide.