Viz Pilot 8.9.3 Release Notes

Release Date: 2024-08-22

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot version 8.9.3. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 8.9.2.

Fixed Issues

• When using Graphic Hub and Pilot Data Server as backend, Live update templates did not receive new data on overwrite (VCP-7572).

• Fixed issue where it was not possible to open or take data elements that contained an ampersand (&) character in a control field (VCP-8447).

Viz Pilot 8.9.2 Release Notes

Release Date: 2024-04-12

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot version 8.9.2. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 8.9.1.

Changes and New Features

• Password is hidden in the Pilot Configuration UI (VCP-8423).

Fixed Issues

• The playlist in Director is no longer requesting preview server thumbnails if the thumbnails are hidden (VCP-8161).

• If an image control (TTWImageInf) in Template Wizard is wider than 200 pixels, and the image is loaded with the isFileOpen image source method, the full resolution image is loaded into the control (VCP-8134).

• Data Element Deleter now remembers selected concept between delete operations and close/reopen operations. A new button is added to refresh the info from the database (VCP-8191).

• Menu items Viz Engine > Clear > (layer) now works for the program channel of the current profile (VCP-8259).

• Update Scripts can now contain special characters from the locale of the OS, like special national characters. This is not a full Unicode support (VCP-8362).

• Fixed issue where the renaming of a concept in Template Manager (with Graphic Hub backend) created a new concept (VCP-8407).

• Fixed the Data Elements in the group that still had the error "timecode is missing" after switching to playout mode type "None" (VCP-8398).

• Fixed issue where dragging multiple data elements from Pilot News would not work if slim_mos_xml was enabled (VCP-8410).

• Fixed the description of groups in the playlist that was cropped if the font was increased (VCP-8414). 

• In TemplateManager, the Scene Name dropdown now contains all the scenes in the folder (VCP-8342).

• The macros playlist:get_item_property and playlist:set_item_property, now work correctly if the control fields have unicode characters (VCP-8374).

• The script variable MainMachine is now available in templates opened in Pilot News (VCP-8231).

• With an Oracle backend, it is now possible to save templates with a huge number of layers in Template Builder (VCP-8422).

• Upgraded the Oracle database schema to version 8.9. See below for changes (VCP-8422). 

• Template Wizard is now able to play out TL templates again (VCP-8424).

• Drag and drop in VTW templates now works in Director (VCP-8341).

• Command line parameters to Director is now correctly forwarded to Template Wizard (VCP-8427).

• Fixed the RichText fields that were double escaped when sent to Media Sequencer for playout (VCP-8426).

Known Issues

• The character "&" in a concept name, causes problems in some cases for TL scenes. This character should be avoided in names in general (VCP-8331).

• The Media Sequencer configuration in Director is displayed in a browser component that explicitly needs the 32 bit version of Visual Studio 2013 (VC++ 12.0) redistributable, installed on the target computer (VCP-8402).  

• Director runs out of memory if playlists are opened and closed frequently over a period of time. For normal operator driven workflow this is not a problem, but if Director is controlled by an automation system that sends commands opening and closing playlists frequently without restarting Director at least once per day, this may become a problem (VCP-8365).

Oracle Database Schema Changelog

Since version 8.8, only one change has been done:

• In package vcp_content a data type has changed from varchar2 to clob, to hold a longer description of default alternatives for a data element.  

Viz Pilot 8.9.1 Release Notes

Release Date: 2023-10-04

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot version 8.9.1. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 8.9.0.

Changes and New Features

• Support for Viz Pilot Edge version 3.0 has been added (VCP-8394).

Fixed Issues

• Director Macro opening, taking and closing of a template is not working the first time (VCP-8379).

• Importing Transition Logic background scenes is now possible again (VCP-8356).

• The Playlist XML Filler now creates groups with Playout Mode 'None' which prevents UI errors on the elements in the group (VCP-5156).

• The Finished column in the old playlist is now properly updated when data elements are saved with a new 'Finished' status (VCP-8297).

• Fixed issue when updating an item in the newsroom system could take the item directly on air when using the old playlist (VCP-8385).

• Increasing size of the font in the playlist will not crop the text (VCP-8391).

Viz Pilot 8.9.0 Release Notes

Release Date: 2023-03-31

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot version 8.9.0. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 8.8.0.

Changes and New Features

• The Pilot Configuration application now supports selecting HTTPS as a communication protocol (VCP-8225).

• The Pilot Data Server configuration in Media Sequencer now supports HTTPS as a communication protocol. This requires MSE version 5.5 (VCP-7336). 

• TLS protocol version 1.2 is now used when configured to use HTTPS in communication with GH REST (VCP-8349).

Fixed Issues

• Fixed installation failures linked to WebView2: no attempt to install another version will be made if an existing WebView2 version is already installed (cf. known issue on previous 8.8 version) (VCP-8309).

• Fixed the Spellcheck screen that was allowing users to ignore the maxlength value for text fields (VCP-8273).

• Fixed the thumbnail preview that wouldn't refresh when an element was updated in the playlist (VCP-8279).

• Fixed error handling for the script functions SendSingleCmd and QuerySingle (VCP-7326, VCP-8322).

• Fixed issue when opening a data element from Director in Pilot Edge that is a library element (VPE-3274).

• Fixed issue where the Variant dropdown menu in the Director's playlist was empty (VCP-8311).

• Fixed issue where the "Add Library" check box in the Save dialog does not present the correct status (VCP-8295).

• Fixed issue when the overwrite button was not disabled, when ax_disable_data_overwrite setting is used (VCP-8321).

• Fixed issue that when editing templates using the same scene, the "last modified" time was updated for all of them, even if the scene was not changed (VCP-8237).

• There is now a clear warning about the consequence of deleting a template in the Open Template dialog box (VCP-7274).

• The macros viz:reset_viz_by_channel and viz:clear_viz_layer correctly look up the program channel of the active profile if the first argument is empty (VCP-6786).

• The cursor position from Options > Preferences > Playlist is now respected. This means that the selected item will stay at this vertical position in the playlist window, if possible, while the elements are moving up and down (VCP-8200).

• The macros playlist:next, playlist:previous, playlist:select_element_after_last_locally_taken, playlist:next_ready and playlist:previous_ready, keep keyboard focus in the playlist for the selected item (VCP-8196).

• The thumbnail for a control image field in a template opened in Director, now loads images from HTTPS connections (VCP-8350).

• When saving a template with a shared script unit, TemplateWizard will not update the modified date on all the templates sharing the script unit. This will prevent unresponsiveness when a large number of templates share the updated script unit (VCP-8366).

Known Issues

• Moving and reordering playlists in the MSE Playlists window is no longer possible. A workaround is to use VdomConfig (see below) (VCP-7504).

• The DragDrop event for panels is not triggering. Please use OnEndDrag in the source panel instead (VCP-6573).

• The PageControl component in TemplateWizard does not have the context menu anymore, but it is still accessible by right clicking the property page (VCP-7582).

• If UI is scaled over 100%, the date picker may be invisible in "Delete Data Items". It can still be accessed by navigating to it with the TAB key and pressing ALT+ARROW_DOWN.

• Templates created in Template Builder can not be saved to file via Template Wizard (VCP-8184).

• The Oracle connection to the Media Sequencer will not work properly unless the schema name is added in uppercase letters. From Media Sequencer 4.1.1, the schema name entered in the Media Sequencer Configuration in Director is converted automatically, but for earlier versions you need to type it in uppercase letters yourself (VCP-6723).

• After upgrading from versions before Pilot 5.7, some customers have experienced a change in the default text in the templates. The text components in the templates start showing old text that was originally in the control text fields when the Template Wizard created the templates. There is a manual tool for fixing this on the database. Please contact Vizrt Support for more information (VCP-3273).

• On Windows 7, any application using the .NET 4.5.2 framework may cause a delay before showing the user interface after being launched. This includes the Pilot Configuration program (VCP-3649).

• The property editor in Template Wizard does not support Unicode directly. To edit properties like UTF8Text, the user needs to press the ellipsis button (...) (VCP-3123).

• In Director, it is not possible to drag and drop images to a control list component in a template if the new playlist is in use. To work around this go to Options > Preferences in the main menu, choose Playlist and check the Use playlist from <= 5.7 option (VCP-4193).

• Changing the value of the Imported property on the TStoryImporter or TDirectStoryImporter in the property editor in Template Wizard designer causes an error (VCP-4290).

• If you have more than one version of Pilot installed on a machine, and uninstall a version 7.0 or earlier, the other versions will not work anymore. To fix this, find them in Add or remove programs and select Repair (VCP-5091).

• There can only be one single version of Pilot News registered at a time. If you have multiple versions of Pilot installed on a machine, you can register the version you want to use by repairing the installation (VCP-6484).

• Connecting to a Graphic Hub with a user that requires a password is not supported (VCP-5585).

• Elements in playlist can have default concept with their old name after the concept has been renamed. The best way to work around the problem is to avoid renaming concepts already in use. If you still need to rename a concept, the only way to fix a corrupted data element that uses it is to open and save it again (VCP-4623).

• In the new playlist, the list of variants is not populated until a concept has been selected in the drop-down list (VCP-5776).

• The Viz Tab in Director only works if the Viz Engine in the preview channel is on port 6100 (VCP-5711, VCP-5791).

• Template Wizard does not detect conflicting field identifiers when scenes are added to or changed in a transition logic template after it has been created (VCP-5795).

• Payload sent using RunUpdateScript is not conforming to VDF specifications by not including the correct default namespace (VCP-4569).

• The following macros are not implemented for the new playlist: 

• • playlist:insert_playlist_template 

  • playlist:update_item_editor 

  • playlist:show_toolbar 

  • playlist:hide_toolbar 

  • playlist:add_selected_dataitems 

  • playlist:reload 

  • playlist:neutral_gfx 

  • playlist:set_active_on_air 

  • playlist:toggle_autocue 

  • playlist:clip 

  • playlist:toggle_ab 

  • playlist:set_channel_filter 

  • playlist:append_last_in_group 

  • playlist:jump_to_ncs_cursor 

  • playlist:reset_ncs_cursor 

  • playlist:follow_ncs_cursor 

  • playlist:set_ncs_cursor 

  • playlist:run_selected_with_custom_action 

  • playlist:toggle_tally 

  • script:run_playlistitem_script 

  • script:refresh_playlistitem_script 

  • playlist:environment:add 

  • playlist:environment:get 

  • playlist:environment:clear 

  • playlist:run_external 

  • playlist:gui_context:add 

  • playlist:gui_context:clear 

  • playlist:move_selected_down

• The macro playlist:copy_to_new does not copy the settings, only the elements of the playlist, if it is used with the new playlist (VCP-5531).

• The macro playlist:start_on_preview does not behave in the same way in the new and old playlists (VCP-5645).

• The macro playlist:set_filter does not take effect until the playlist is reopened if called after the macro playlist:open_playlist_by_name (VCP-4039).

• Template script functions used to send commands to Viz Engine (SendSingleCmd, buffer_put, buffer_put_unicode, etc) only work as expected if the Viz Engine is configured to use UTF-8 encoding (VCP-6005).

• Working with Expert mode controls in scenes is not supported in Pilot applications (VCP-5637).

• Accidentally taking a group in the new playlist can mark elements with an error symbol. This simply means that the elements were not taken with the group. The errors can be cleared by doing a Take Out on the group (VCP-5156).

• Director's Camera Controls feature is no longer supported and will be removed (VCP-5038).

• Triplet editor component has some issues with min-max values (VCP-6560).

• Drag and drop is never triggered for panel in templates (VCP-6573).

• Take out does not behave consistently on groups. Use Stop instead (VCP-7199).

• Order management doesn't work in Pilot News when hosted in Octopus Newsroom (VCP-7401).

• AX round-robin GH access is not checking if engines are actually active and ends up stalling (VCP-5471).

• When working with large images (over 4K) in the (new) Crop Tool, the process might run out of memory and stop working. To reduce the likelihood of this happening, avoid clicking the Preview button (VCP-7517).

• There might be a minimal risk of cutting wrong letters, especially when it comes to Unicode (such as Cyrillic, Arabic, and Japanese, among others), but it only happens if typing a larger text on the Spellchecker that does not respect the maximum size defined in the Template Wizard, otherwise, there will be no problem (VCP-8273).

Workaround for moving and reordering playlists in the MSE Playlists window

1. In Directory, go to Options > Preferences > General > Media Sequencer and find the host name of the Media Sequencer

2. Open a browser and go to  http://[mse_host]:8580/app/vdomconfig/vdomconfig.html

3. Navigate to directory/playlists

4. Now reorder and drag playlists in and out of groups and watch the change in Director instantly

5. The only difference is that the nodes in VdomConfig has internal names ("New Folder #2 etc) but the order is the same and by having Director and VdomConfig side by side - it should be possible to accomplish the same functionality.

System Requirements

Minimum Hardware Requirements

• Windows 10

• 1 GHz 64-bit (x64) processor

• 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

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

Supported Operating Systems

• Windows 10 Enterprise

• Windows 10 Pro

A specific version and service pack of an operating system will not be supported after the official Microsoft support end date, which is also the last date of support from Vizrt. Earlier support end dates will be announced in the release notes for new versions of Viz Pilot.

Minimum Software Requirements

• Pilot Database, either Graphic Hub 3.6.0 (with Graphic Hub REST 2.6.0) or Oracle 11g.

• Media Sequencer 5.4.0 (Media Sequencer 5.5.0 for communication over HTTPS with TLS 1.2).

• Viz Engine 4.4.1

• Viz World client 17.0.1. The integration might work with earlier versions as well, but not without issues.

• Pilot Data Server 8.9. The integration should work with earlier versions, but this has not been tested.

Other Requirements

• Windows Media Player needs to be installed on the system to use the Object Store application.

Newsroom Systems Used for Testing

• iNEWS 7.9.0.12

• ENPS 9.3.4172

• Octopus X

Documentation

Documentation for Viz Pilot Edge is available at the Vizrt Documentation Center:

• Viz Pilot User Guide

• Gateway Administrator Guide

• Preview Server Administrator Guide

• Pilot Data Server Administrator Guide

• Vizrt iNEWS Command Plugin Administrator Guide

Support

Support is available at the Vizrt Support Portal.