Release Notes

Release notes for OnTheAir Video Express and OnTheAir Video

• Licenses: Green checkmark or Red cross were missing from the License window in version 4.1.3.

Release notes for OnTheAir Video only

• Remote: Added new mechanism for manual user actions that impact the entire playlist
• Media Browser: Stop validation when disabling Media Browser cataloging
• Media Browser: infinite loop error when opening an XPLS containing a live item coming from a Media Browser

Important changes!

1. New behaviours with some external triggers
With this version, we are changing the behaviour of some actions done via "external triggers", such as: GPICommander, Stream Deck, REST API, AppleScripts, MIDI, ATEM or Tricaster.
Some of the actions will now be done on the "playing" playlist instead of the "front" playlist. These are the playback actions that are "relative to" the playing clip:

• Stop
• Pause/Resume (release pause)
• Skip to next/previous clip
• Cue next/previous clip
• Re-cue current clip
• Re-play current clip
• Now playing (or go to playing)
• Play Next / Go to Next

Other controls will still be done on the "front" playlist, including some playback controls such as:

• Play
• Cue
• Cue Selected Clip
• Play Selected Clip
• Other requests are done on the font playlist.

2. New default resize mode behaviour
With this version, we are changing the behaviour of the "default" resize modes. Previously, the resize modes worked as follows: when you set a default mode in the settings, it would only apply to all clips added to the playlist from that moment on. It did not apply to all past clips. All clips added to the playlist had the resize mode selected in preferences.
We have now added a "default" resize mode in the clip inspector. When you select that mode, we will apply whatever resize mode is selected in the preferences. By default, all clips added to the playlist have the "Default" resize mode applied.

Release Notes for OnTheAir Video Express and OnTheAir Video 4.1.3

• Playlists: Added the ability to replace a clip's media file with a drag-and-drop. Hold the command key down while drag-and-dropping over a clip
• Playlists: Added the ability to select a "Hold to black", instead of "Hold last frame" (in defaults preferences)
• Playlists: Added the ability to set a color to comments (right-click on a comment in the playlist)
• Playlists: Added the ability to select more "Remaining times". Previously when right clicking on the remaining time in a playlist, you could select "Clip" or "Playlist". Now you can also have the remaining time until the next "Live", next "Comment", next "Selection", or the next item with an "Auto Start Date/time", or the "Auto" feature will be either a Live or an item with an "Auto Start Date/time", depending on which one is the most recent.
• Timing Windows: Added more countdowns: Next "live", next "clocked", next "comment", next "selection" to allow to display more information.
• GPICommander: Added the ability to trigger more actions types when status of inputs change. In the "Triggers" preference pane, select GPICommander, and at the top you can choose a new type "Multi-usage" where the logic is different: for each input, you can select an action to be triggered when status change from off to on (Control DGO projects, SCTE triggers, send AppleScript, Control playback, ...)
• Stream Deck/AppleScripts: Added the ability to do a "Play Next" on the selected clip
• Playlists: Auto-update of playlists saved on a NAS and edited by 2 users at the same time is now behaving better on Monterey and later
• Playlists: When adding a "Play next" clip, we now display at the top of the playlist an area showing which clip will play next.
• Blackmagic-Design: Added notifications when Blackmagic-Design devices profile changes, and improved how the devices are listed in the menu
• Resize Modes: There is now a "Default" resize mode for clips in playlists. This setting will use whatever resize mode is used in preferences. This is a behaviour change.
• Contact Support: When updating tickets, some tickets may have been missing
• Inspector: When using timecode, and using +- to add or subsctract time, it did not work anymore
• Stream Deck: Added support for Stream Deck Mini and Stream Deck XL MK2
• MXF: Playback issues of some MXF files with weird frame rates.

Release notes for OnTheAir Video only 4.1.3

• Traffic option: Added the ability to add a clip by ID. Works the same way as a "Replace by ID"
• REST API: Added the ability to get the thumbnail of the video output to get a preview of what is going out of OnTheAir Video remotely (GET /playback/thumbnail)
• REST API: (playback_timing_changed WebSocket): Added next live info to the playback WS: "next_live_unique_id", "next_live_display_name", "remaining_time_until_next_live
• REST API: Added the ability to "resynchronize" the schedule
• Clips Validation: Added a check if file is "truncated" (the file was not completely downloaded for example). If a file is truncated, we indicate it as invalid as it can create issues. Note that MovieRecorder growing files are still supported.
• Schedule: When the schedule file can not be found, or when dropping a playlist and there is no event, we now show an alert.
• Auto start date/time: Added the ability to set the auto start date/time (clocked) in the inspector
• Live Sources: Intermittent interlacing issues when starting live sources using interlaced formats
• Folder-based playlists: fixed an issue when copying files, with accents, via SMB
• Ross Ultrix: Issues with Ross Probel switching. (We now log correctly if the switch was done correctly or not, and we can wait with beforeStartActions that the switch has taken place before starting a live clip).

Release Notes for OnTheAir Video Express and OnTheAir Video

• Added compatibility with T-Tap Pro
• Changing the clip end behaviour on a playing clip will be applied immediately (previously it would only be applied the next time it played)
• Contact Support: We now send the playlists used by the scheduler
• The "Now Playing" will now also bring the playing playlist front, you do not need to be on the playlist itself anymoret
• Searching in playlists is not case sensitive anymore
• Behaviour with Locked/unlocked playlists. It is now possible again to edit playlists that are not playing.
• Issue with Stream Deck, when using the built-in integration, and switching from one Softron application to another Softron application
• Issues when doing skip to previous/next with next or previous clip offline
• Some black frames could be seen when starting a clip shorter than 8 seconds
• Field priority issues in SD PAL

Release notes for OnTheAir Video only

• Added the ability to run macros on ATEM using AppleScripts
• Scheduler: Event may not stop if there were manual stops, or if the same playlist is reused multiple times before an event
• The "color label" badge was shown at the same place as the "clocked" item icon
• Traffic Option: Media Browser: would sometimes not become ready in very specific cases (on a very fast computer such as the Mac Studio, with very few media items stored on the internal drive for example)
• Traffic Option: Skip to previous icon was disabled with traffic playlists
• Traffic Option: Discrepancies between playlist and media browser status

Important modifications

• OnTheAir Video 4.1 now requires macOS 10.14 or later.
• Some AppleScripts value types have been changed from 'number' to 'boolean' (is playing, is paused, loop, chain, cue more, is valid). If you are using AppleScripts, you should change them to test on 'true/false', instead of '1/0'.
• We have modified the preferences pane, and have grouped the GPI, MIDI, and ATEM/Tricaster integration preferences into one single menu item: "Triggers".

Release notes for OnTheAir Video Express and OnTheAir Video

• Added HyperDeck emulation, so you can control your playlists directly from the ATEM Software Control application. Note that the HyperDeck protocol only allows to control one channel per IP address, and thus this feature will not work for multiple channels on the same Mac
• Added support for SpeedHQ codec
• Added a way to relink multiple offline files at once. When a playlist is opened, hold the option key down, click on the File menu and select "Search and Relink Missing Clips"
• Added a "Include offline clips durations" preference to set if the offline files are counted in the playlist duration and start times when the playlist is playing. Previously it was automatic depending on whether the playlist was playing or not. Note that the change is only for the playlists that are currently playing.
• Added a "Disable direct Keyboard Shortcuts" preference. Will disable any keyboard shortcut that does not use a modifier key (control, option, command). This is to avoid user errors and a user inadvertently starting/stopping the playback when on air.
• Added options to the "Natural" resize mode so you can choose if you want the frame to position in the center of the frame, top left, top center, etc... Previously it was only center of the image.
• Added notifications when a "Critical Error" would happen.
• Added a menu to force the revalidation of a clip. Right-click on a clip and select “Force Revalidation”
• OnTheAir Video Express now supports MIDI triggers.
• Added an option for the output preview window to always remain on top. So no window will come above the output preview window.
• Added the support for more than just MIDI notes. When right clicking on a clip, you can now select the event type to either monitor or output: Note, After Touch, Control Change, Program Change, Channel Pressure, Pin Wheel, and set the channel and Parameters. When "learning" the input, you can manually set it up, or still just press the MIDI device button to automatically assign it to the clip.
• Added the ability to trigger MIDI events using AppleScripts
• Updated AJA SDK (16.2) and Deltacast SDK (6.19) to be able to run natively on Apple Silicon.
• Updated NDI SDK to version 5.0.10.
• Performances when downscaling ProRes files with the "Express" engine (so with OnTheAir Video Express or OnTheAir Video when "SMART Resize and Graphics" option is disabled)
• Added support for Stream Deck MK2
• Closed Captioning: Added support for more generic SEI NALU captioning types
• Now showing a warning when AJA or Blackmagic-Design device is used as a system audio input/output. Cf this help center article for more info about this.
• ATEM integration: now using the tally information in order to trigger clip start/stop instead of the various effects modules. This is more reliable and also works with super sources
• Potential crashes when asking for an item index but item is nil
• Issue where a clip could be skipped if a second play request was done
• Trigers: issues with Tricasters to automatically cue and start clips
• Output Preview window: when changing audio output settings, VU meters would freeze
• When validating, sometimes the modification date was nil
• Issues with some specific m2ts files with each field being separated.
• Transparency was ignored for ProRes 4444 clips when running on M1 Pro / M1 Max computers (with ProRes acceleration).

Release notes for OnTheAir Video only

• Added support for 10bit output. Supports Apple ProRes, DNxHR, H.264 and HEVC 10bit files. Files using 8bit can play as well but of course won't have the 10bit colors. This option requires to enable the SMART Resize and graphics option in OnTheAir Video and does not work in OnTheAir Video Express as we needed advanced color conversion to support as many codecs as possible.
• You can now set an out point on a clip that is currently playing (note that modifying the in point will be possible, but will only have an impact the next time the clip plays obviously)
• Traffic option: Added last modification date and Finder label in the Media Browser
• DGO option: playback and attributes of clips are updated even when clip is playing
• REST API: Added the ability to do "live subtitling": send text to be displayed on screen during a live.
• REST API: Added "Bypass authorisation" preference (in the General & HTTP Server pane) to disable password and token protection
• REST API: Added user rights to either read only, write, write and control, or full access.
• REST API: Added a log if we can't start the web server
• REST API: Added controls for the Scheduler
• REST API: Updated the api.html documentation with transitions, authorizations, JIP and DGO control
• Scheduler: When playlist is opened by scheduler it is not possible anymore to modify the playback attributes of the playlist (Chain, Loop, Shuffle, Cue). This is made to avoid confusion if the playlist automatically reloads with different attributes than what the schedule have set
• Ross router control: now handling better the possible errors when switching so we can show a warning in case the switching did not happen.
• Ross router control: communication could remain open, and after a period of time communication would not be possible with Ross router.
• Scheduler: Schedule will now correctly wait for Media Browser (related to traffic option) before starting up
• Scheduler: an issue where the scheduler was waiting indefinitely for the media browser (when the folder doesn’t exist)
• Scheduler: If the playback was on pause and a new event started, playback remained on pause. It now starts playing when the new event starts.
• Scheduler: Now properly restoring the window status when restarting OnTheAir Video.
• DGO: When using a folder based ticker CG project and saving from text edit to the folder directly, it would not trigger the start
• Secondary audio output: issue when selecting a start channel different than 1
• Live inputs: When scrubbing, live source would freeze
• Stream Clips: .sdp URLs were marked as invalid
• MIDI assign: playback buttons were not assignable anymore
• Fixed logo overlay was not working anymore on Live clips
• CC/Subtitling: Crash with some files with CC when using directLink
• CC/Subtitling: Closed Captioning on some mp4 files (using the SEI NALU type)
• CC/Subtitling: Live inputs: Some CC types (when there were multiple metadata per line) now pass through correctly
• CC/Subtitling: Possible wrong vertical position of OP47 subtitling when using .stl files
• Possible memory issue when using NDI Live sources
• Possible "conflict" when using both an Action and a DGO setting in inspector to start a DGO project

The wait is over, OnTheAir Video 4 and OnTheAir Video Express 4 are now available as release versions. Since we announced it, we have added many new features and improvements along the way, and it's not over. We are still working on some new nice features that we'll add in coming up releases, so stay tuned!

What's new in OnTheAir Video & OnTheAir Video Express 4?

• Full Compatibility with macOS Big Sur (11.0).
• Universal application for better performances on Apple Silicon computers. 
• Full compatibility of NDI with Apple Silicon computers. 
• New icon as the ones used for all our Universal applications.
• Video Preview + Audio Vu-Meters: A window allows you to preview what OnTheAir Video is playing out.
• Automatic Folder-based Playlist: Select a folder with media files, and OnTheAir Video will automatically populate the playlist with the content of the folder. Add a file, it will be added to the playlist automatically. Delete a file, the file will be removed from the playlist.
• Shuffle playback: As with music playlists, the next clip will be randomly played.
• Rename clips: Sometimes your file names are cryptic, now you can rename the clips in the playlists, so it says something more obvious. Also useful if you have split a clip in 2 with two different parts.
• Auto-update modified clips: If a media file has been modified (replaced or deleted in the Finder for example), it will automatically update in the playlist.
• New "Clip end behaviours": Cue next clip.
• Added the ability to select a clip to "Play next", so OnTheAir Video can chain to any clip in the playlist.
• Added an "auto-cue" feature. When using the cue mode, the next clip will be automatically cued after a specified duration.
• Added the ability to add "Comments" in a playlist.
• Added the ability to Disable Clips, so they don't play but remain in the playlist for later use.
• Added support for new codecs: DNxHR and AVC-Intra 200
• Added the audio countdown announcements. Get a voice telling you when the remaining time is 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2.
• New controls in inspector timeline (go to a specific Timecode, select if you want to display the file TC or the elapsed time)

What's new only in OnTheAir Video 4 (features not available in OnTheAir Video Express)?

• Built-in CG:  (Requires the Dynamic Graphics Overlay Option) Additionally to still images, you can now import CG Projects in OnTheAir Video to be overlaid on top of the video playback. 
• Secondary Audio Output: Additionally to the video output on the selected video device, you can now also output to another available audio output on your Mac. Works with CoreAudio, so supports the audio devices that are available for macOS (including Dante or MADI).
• Transitions:  You can use either built-in transitions such as cross-fades, or custom transitions (made with your own movies with an Alpha Channel)
• Scheduler has been completely revamped. Schedule editor is now in the application. With the ability to group playlists in "Events" that can be repeated.
• If the Schedule is modified by a third party application, it is automatically reloaded. There is no need to "Reload" the schedule manually anymore.
• Added the ability to "Loop" an event => you can loop multiple playlists.
• Added the ability to set a preset duration to a playlist, so you can know if you are having overrun and underrun
• Added the ability to add a timed start of a clip in a playlist directly. Set its auto-start date/time, and if the playlist is opened, it will start playing at the specified date/time. 
• Validation report: Generate a report for a playlist to print (with offline clips, offline actions, ...). This is very useful for long playlists, to have a quick overview of possible issues.
• Streaming input: Supports HTTP, RTMP and TCP video input to play a web stream easily. Just add a "stream clip" to your playlist, enter the HTTP, RTMP or TCP url and start playing it back. Stream clips can be previewed in the inspector. You can either use a "real" live signal, and even play a VOD file from a web server.
• Improved Actions (can now be relative to the start or end, and have a custom icon)
• Countdown until next Live event: In the "Timer" window, you can now show how long there is until the next live event
• Support for OP47 Subtiltling. (Requires the CC option). It is supported either in an MXF file with OP47, or using SRT or .STL sidecar files.
• Support for SRT sidecars files with Closed Captioning. (Requires the CC option)
• Support for SCTE-35 triggers. (Requires the CC option)
• Ability to control a VideoHub or a Ross video router without the need of OnTheAir Switch. This can be done using Actions.
• REST API:  OnTheAir Video is now coming with a full REST API that allows to control it remotely from a webpage:

Improvements in OnTheAir Video & OnTheAir Video Express 4

• There is no installer anymore. Just drag and drop the application to the Applications folder. See below for more info.
• Scrubbing in long GOP video clips in the inspector has been improved.
• 4K decoding performances improvement
• Improved remote editing of playlists. Now when you edit the xpls playlist document from another computer, OnTheAir Video will properly reload it, even if it is currently playing. If the currently playing clip is deleted from the playlist, it will stay in the playlist, keep on playing, and be removed from the playlist once done.

Important changes and warnings:

• Playlists will be incompatible with OnTheAir Video 3: Once you have saved your playlists with OnTheAir Video 4, if you try to open them with OnTheAir Video 3, a copy of it will be opened and you will have to save it again. The reason is that there are new "attributes" that don't work anymore (such as Comments, graphics items, transitions, etc...)
• The Schedule file is no longer a .txt file, it is now a XML file by default. The 'old' .txt file will automatically be converted to a XML. If you are using a third party tool to create your Schedules, .txt schedules can still be imported, but changes made to it in the user interface will only be saved to the XML. We advise you to change to the new XML format (JSON is also supported). Contact us for more info and help.
• The as-run-logs have been moved by default to the same location as the technical logs. The reason is we wanted to have one less window asking to get access to the "Documents" folder. If you had a different folder set than the default one, it will be maintained there, but if you did not modify the default location, they will be moved.
• Actions Folder has now moved to "/Library/Application Support/Softron/OnTheAir Video/OnTheAir Video/Actions/". It is not located next to the application anymore. We will copy your current actions to the new location, but we will not delete them from the current location so if you still use OnTheAir Video 3 this will still work. But remember this if you want to modify the Actions later to look in the correct location.
• OnTheAir Tools is not installed by default (it's not needed to create schedules anymore, only for the "Log analyser" tool, so it can still be downloaded from our website.
• AppleScript examples are not installed (the ones to be used as Actions, or to control OnTheAir Video). They can be downloaded from our website. 
• The playback preferences are different than the one of OnTheAir Video 3. So if you switch from one to the other, make sure to change them (which video device is used and the format) in both versions.
• When starting OnTheAir Video, it will now show a warning: "Full Disk Access is not enabled". This is not mandatory, but it helps to have less warnings when OnTheAir Video need to access video files in your storage.
• Changes in the playback start times in chain mode:
  • when the playlist is playing, and the "auto-update start times" option is enabled, the duration of the offline files will not be counted in the start times, so you will know exactly when the following clips will start.
  • after a clip was started, it will keep the time at which it started playing.

OnTheAir Video 4 is now available for everyone to download as a pre-release version. It is probably one of our biggest releases ever with a host of new features to enhance both the user experience and the performance. As an example, we are adding CG projets directly into OnTheAir Video through the “Dynamic Graphics Overlay” option.

Our development team probably got too excited about this release and decided to add even more exciting new features like a powerful HTTP/REST API, new playback behaviours and many other things. This is why  our release date has slipped "a bit". But, every new license purchased includes a free upgrade to version 4, and there are already TV channels that are using the pre-release version for their production and broadcast, so if you need the best playout software you can already order it now. You won’t need to purchase anything when the final version is released, and, as always, you will enjoy our free support and update.

There are many new features with OnTheAir Video 4. Too many to be listed all here. The best is that you download and try it out, but here are a few that we wanted to highlight:

1. Dynamic graphics overlay: OnTheAir Video now comes with a built-in Character Generator. Add animated logos, tickers, lower third very easily in your playlist.
2. Transitions: Use either built-in transitions such as cross-fades, or custom transitions (made with your own movies with an Alpha Channel) to add more dynamics to your playout
3. On screen video and audio preview. Preview directly on your computer screen what you are playing out.
4. Secondary Audio Output: Additionally to the video output on the selected video device, you can now also output to another available audio output on your Mac. Works with CoreAudio, so supports the audio devices that are available for macOS (including Dante or MADI).
5. Streaming input: Supports RTMP video input to play a web stream easily. Just add a "stream clip" to your playlist, enter the RTMP url and start playing it back.
6. Improved for 24/7 playout stations: We have improved the built-in scheduler of OnTheAir Video for easy broadcast scheduling. But we also have added features to be used by major broadcasters, such as a new integration with Wide Orbit Traffic software for advanced master control operation. OnTheAir Video can now be used as a playout automation solution with features that were until now available only with expensive solutions.
7. Improved for Live shows:  With audio countdown announcements, get a voice telling you automatically when the remaining time is 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2. No need to have someone look at the remaining time.
8. And many more improvements: such as Automatic Folder-based Playlist, shuffle playback, Comments, new REST API to control OnTheAir Video remotely, simply from a web page, etc...

• XDCAM: Issue when setting in point with XDCAM clips. (First frame would still be shown)
• Inspector: Resize issue of the inspector window when changing from the Timeline to the Attributes tab