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Providing VRA with Radio Automation Data really elevates the possibilities with functionalities like the Output Player Rundown Conditions, Automations and more places where conditional actions are important.
To use your radio automation data, go to the Set-Up for Link Radio Automation and link one of the following Automations with VRA:
  • Power Studio
  • AerOn
  • mAirList
  • Omniplayer
  • ZenonMedia
  • PlayIt Live
  • Audisi GML (HTTP / Realtime XML)
  • ProppFrexx
  • Caliope OnAir
  • RadioDJ
  • winMedia
  • Text Files
  • HTTP API
  • Dalet
  • RCS Sound Software
  • DAVID Systems
  • DABiS 800

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Read the automation rundown

Open AutomationLink to inspect the data received from your radio automation. The On air and Next panels show the current item with its remaining time, and the item that follows. The Rundown lists recent history, the on-air item and upcoming items in one log.
  • Start shows the supplied start time in your station’s time zone.
  • ~ marks a calculated start time. VRA adds the preceding item’s duration to its start, accounting for its playback offset. A supplied end time takes precedence. Each following item continues that calculation.
  • — means timing is unavailable. A missing duration stops subsequent estimates until an item supplies a start or end time.
  • Overrun shows time past the expected end while the item remains on air.
The log shows duration, type and matched item groups. When multiple automation sources are present, it also shows the source, and timing estimates stay separate for each source. Open an item’s details for its identifiers, file path, cue-in offset and additional metadata. AutomationLink is a read-only diagnostic view. Playback stays controlled by your radio automation.

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Music Track Meta

VisualRadioAssist Music Track Meta functionality automatically fetches Album Covers, Artist images and biographies and more information about the running Music Item in the configured and linked Radio Automations.

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Modes

BASIC
  • Basic Album cover for playing track
  • Correct Artist and Title data
  • Expand with basic Album title if available
FULL ALBUM Expand with more album information, like description and more available album-specific covers. FULL ARTIST Expand with more information about the artist, like description and an artist-specific picture. FULL All of the above

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Configure Item Groups

Item Groups are an important way for Visual Radio to differentiate between music, station, jingle, commercials and other types of audio you play within your Radio Automation software. With the powerful Item Group configurator you select one “base-category”; Music, Station, Track or Unknown and define the conditions that should be met to make the Item Group active on the linked Automation Data. When Radio Automation Data is parsed, all conditions will be checked to determine which item groups are active on the items from your radio automation. Conditions match on any field of an item, like type_identifier, title, artist or category, and on every key in the item’s meta. Every group that matches adds its identifier to the item and sets the item’s category to the group’s category. Items that arrive with item groups already set, through the AutomationLink ingest for example, skip this matching.

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Use Item Groups Conditionally

Item Groups are not limited to the 4 categories, you can define as many as you want, with different, unique identifiers to use them in your Conditions:
Changing your Item Group identifier afterwards will require you to relink conditions referencing this condition