Add video sources or a channel as a source

Applies to: Pearl-2, Pearl Mini, Pearl Nexus

You can add one or multiple video sources to any of the layouts for your channel using the custom layout editor. You can even add the output from another channel as a video input source.

When you add a channel as a video source in another channel, whatever is displaying live in that channel also displays in the other channel. This is useful when you need to stream the same switched program to multiple destinations that have different encoding settings. That's because the encoding settings are set at the channel level.

For example, to stream your switched program to YouTube at 1920×1080 and to Facebook at 1280×720, you could:

• Set up Channel 1 as your switched program channel. Add all your custom layouts to Channel 1 and stream this channel to YouTube at 1920×1080.
• Set up Channel 2 as your Facebook streaming channel. Configure Channel 2 with a single layout that uses Channel 1 as the video source, and then stream Channel 2 to Facebook at 1280×720.

If more than one video source is added to a channel, we recommend configuring the channel encoding to use a fixed resolution as the frame size instead of automatically using the resolution of the video source as the frame size (default). A fixed channel resolution ensures that your channel displays properly at a fixed resolution. Using a fixed channel resolution also avoids unintended resolution changes when switching between multiple layouts if the different layouts happen to have different video sources with different resolutions.

Add a video source using the Admin panel

• Log in to the Admin panel as admin.

• From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor opens.

• In the Layouts list that appears at the top of the page, click a layout's row to select that layout or click Add new layout.

• Below the Layout editing area, click Add new item and select Video Source. The Source settings appear.

• Under Source settings, select a video input or a channel in the Source drop-down menu. For best results, check Keep aspect ratio when scaling. The selected video source appears in the layout editing area.

  When adding an RTSP network source, a preview image may not display in the layout area until you Save the layout. The preview can also appear to have no signal if the RTSP source is not currently sending content.

• Click and drag the red and white handles on the corners of the source to re-size it in the layout editor area, or enter a value in the fields along the side and bottom of the layout editing area.

  To layer video sources over top of each other, like for picture in picture, you can click and drag the video sources that appear in the item list beneath Add new item and change their order. Items that are higher up the list appear over top items that are lower down the list.

• Select an audio source from the list of audio sources. If a channel is selected as the video source, the corresponding audio for that channel is selected automatically by default.

• Click Save.

A note about item positioning and sizing

There are multiple ways to position and size images, text overlays, and video sources in the layout area:

• Using the mouse.
• Using the keyboard.
• Using the manual positioning values with percents.
• Using the manual positioning values with pixels.

Using the mouse

Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Using this method you can make quick changes that are in increments of approximately 5% of the width or height of your layout area. For more refined movements, press the Ctrl key on your keyboard while dragging the item with the mouse.

Using the keyboard

Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the item up, down, left or right in the layout. Changes are in increments of approximately 5% of the height or width of the layout area. Press the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys to make more refined movements. To change the size of an image or video source, press the Shift key while using the arrow keys (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Press both Ctrl and Shift for fine-grained size control.

Using percents

Specify a whole number, followed by a percent sign (e.g. 4%) in any of the manual positioning fields.

Using pixels

If you need to specify an exact amount in pixels (rather than percent) you can type a pixel value in any of the positioning value squares followed by the characters px (e.g. 56px). You can mix and match pixels and percents changing only the boxes you want to use pixel values. At any time you can switch back to percents by typing a percent.

Device differences

• Pearl-2: Set up Auto A as Channel 1 and Auto B as Channel 2 to follow the example above (Pearl-2's two pre-configured channels).
• Pearl Mini, Pearl Nexus: Set up HDMI-A as Channel 1 and HDMI-B as Channel 2 to follow the example above (Pearl Mini's and Pearl Nexus's two pre-configured channels).
• None for the "A note about item positioning and sizing" content.