The Video on Demand scheduling application is an individual application within the ContentExplorer which can be started by selecting the option Tools > VOD Scheduling in the header:

On selecting the VOD scheduler the following window opens:

Selecting a Channel/Portal in the VOD Scheduler

Please select the channel which defines the respective portal in the VOD Scheduler to open the desired scheduling window.

Adjusting the Displayed Time

You can adjust the displayed time by adjusting the dates in the field Time. A click on the button Loads the plan with the parameters given  refreshes the table.

Selected months will be displayed in black, not selected months are be grey. Preceding months are displayed in dark green, coming months in light green. The table shows VoD events as bars. The length of a bar shows the length of the license window. This is adjusted automatically. Set the write protect to inactive with the button You have to unlock the VOD schedule to make changes  in order to change something. 

Preparing Licenses for VOD Scheduling 

The VOD-scheduling process is based on licenses. These licenses are entered and administered similar to conventional licenses by the license department.

The following preconditions are necessary in order to enable the scheduling of licenses in the VOD Scheduler:

• The respective VOD channel has to be assigned to all licenses that are to be scheduled in the VOD portal. You can assign the VOD channel to the licenses in the field Channel affiliation in the dialog Edit license, tab General.
• The license period has to be defined in the fields Start and End. The defined license period is used automatically as the default range of the scheduling time.
  
• Defining the licence right in the matrix of the tab Rights: Select the license right VoD in the matrix and activate the respective VoD-version/s (if the program has no available VoD-versions, please open the dialog Edit program and generate the required VoD version). On using the search dialog of the VoD Scheduler only the activated VoD-versions will be displayed!
  

→ All licenses that were edited according to these preconditions can be scheduled in the VOD scheduler.

Scheduling licenses in the VOD Scheduler

The following steps are necessary to schedule a license in the VOD Scheduler:

1. Field Filter: Please select the desired portal and the scheduling period (Time from/to) that is to be opened.

   Notice:

   As a precondition for displaying the channel in the field Portal it is necessary to define the respective channel as VOD Channel in the parameter settings of the ContentExplorer (see 8.1.3 Parameter Channel).

2. Selecting the Genre type: optional.

3. In order to load the plan for the selected scheduling period and channel please click on the button Loads the plan with the given parameters.

4. Write protection: Please mind to remove the write protection of the VOD Scheduler otherwise you can‘t carry out any changes in the plan. In order to remove the lock, please click on the button You have to unlock the VOD schedule to make changes. A read only access to the plan is displayed in the task menu of the VOD scheduler:
   

5. Zoom-setting: You can define via the zoom setting, whether the plan should display a week, a month or a year. The default setting is the week view.
6. Select the way of Sorting: In order to sort the scheduled licenses according to their start, end or name please select the respective way of sorting. The default setting is the license start.
7. Select the Coloring.

View

Sorting

Chose the way of sorting of the displayed plan in the pull down menu next to the Sorting field. You can determine whether the the planned licenses are displayed according to their start time, their end time or their name. The default setting is the start time. These sorting options (e.g. start time, end time, name etc.) may be configured and modified user specifically.

Coloring

The scheduled films can be displayed unicolored or optionally multicolored in red/yellow/green. The coloration indicates the scheduling progress of the planned films in the VOD scheduler on the basis of several user specific criteria and requirements.

The column Status in the VOD search dialog informs you of how complete the material of the planned license is. Here, too, the respective coloration can be assigned according to your requirements.

Display of the VOD scheduling in graphical or list form 

The VOD plan can be displayed either in graphical form or as a list. The default setting ist the graphical plan with depicting the planned films in colored bars. The line numbering on the left side of the plan informs you on how many programs are currently planned:

If required you can change to the plan list by clicking on the button Switch views between list and plan .

The list can be exported or printed. The items in the list can be sorted, filtered and multi selected just like in the graphical plan. The list view also shows the MAM State which provides information about the status of the material.

Information on the number of films and players in the VOD scheduler

In the field on the upper right side of the VOD Scheduler you will get the information on how many films and actors are planned/employed all in all in the currently opened VOD plan.

Search and Scheduling of VOD Licenses

The VOD Scheduler disposes of a search dialog for running searches for VOD licenses that are to be scheduled.

1. To run a search open the search dialog by clicking the button Show search dialog .
   

2. You can select a specific folder as the source for your VOD license search. In case you do not work with folders, you can leave this field empty. 

3. Edit the Date from/to for running your search: Only VOD licenses which lie within the selected time period will be listed in the result window.

4. Title: You can enter the title in case you search for specific VOD licenses who are listed under this name. If you leave the title field empty, all licenses with the selected time period are listed. 

For starting the search please click on the search button next to the title field.

All matching VOD licenses that are found on the basis of the search parameters will be listed in the search result window. The scheduling of the VOD licenses can be done by 

• drag and drop of a license out of the search result window into the plan
• selecting several licenses simultaneously (via STRG) and click on the button Places selected VOD licenses in the current plan 

The selected titles will be displayed as new lines in the VOD Scheduler. On scheduling the licenses into the portal the respective windows are created automatically for the VOD channel. Thereby all the program‘s VOD versions of the scheduled licenses are assigned to a VOD channel. Not the versions are scheduled but the licensed program. This means the scheduling of all VOD versions within a plan element (which can be "Soft" and "Hard" versions).

You can check and edit the license windows in the dialog Edit license . Open the dialog by selecting the license with the right mouse and clicking the option Edit license in the context menu (Note: A specific user right is needed for the right to edit licenses).

In addition you can edit the program or retrieve information on the plan element by selecting the respective option in the context menu, see the following figure:

This message window contains the following information of the plan element:

• Scheduling date
• Status
• DRM regulation
• Price

Using a search filter for the search result list:

 

The VOD search contains a filter which can be used for narrow the search, for example in order to search only for the genre type or the status.
For using the filter please make a right-click on any column head in the VOD search and select the option Use filter.

A filter line is included where you select the desired filter entry:

Editing Scheduled VOD Licenses

You have the possibility to edit the VOD licenses after their scheduling in the VOD scheduler. There are several options of editing the licenses:

Changing the Scheduling Time for Selected Movies

 

In order to change the scheduling time, e.g. the start or end time for films in the plan please select all the films you want to change (multiple selection is done by framing several movies). In the field Edit selection the calendar function fields from and to are highlighted in pink to indicate that the selected films differ in their scheduling time.

You can modify the start or end time as desired. The films, displayed as green lines below will then be adjusted according to your changes:

Setting the Highlight Flag

Individual or several marked films can be defined as highlight. Activate the flag for exporting this information.

Selecting the DRM Regulation

Please select the respective DRM regulation for the selected films.

Price

All prices are defined in the parameters (Admin > Edit parameter > VOD Price, see 8.1.11 Parameter VOD Price) and can be assigned via the field Price to the films. The price information is then exported in an export interface.

Parameters HD/SD for the Window

SD and HD are scheduled with the same version in the VoD scheduling. In order to identify which material has to be used it is now possible to activate HD or SD by setting the flag HD or SD. The information on SD or HD is exported, too.