Video Card - you can start using the software with almost ANY middle class video card, but in order to receive interlaced signal with a good broadcast quality you must use video cards like Blackmagic DeckLink with SDI connection. Along with DeckLink you can use an ordinary VGA card like ATI Radeon 9550 PCIe or higher. If you use Matrox P650 or Matrox Parhelia APVe you will need a good sound card like Creative AUDIGY. When using DeckLink you do not need a sound card.

Logosys Playout software will work with ANY video card that guarantees the availability of the following functions:

• It supports dual screen mode and is able to display different picture on each monitor
• It is able to expand the image to fill the entire screen of the second PC or TV monitor
• It provides interlaced signal, because if the signal is not interlaced this will result in video tearing when the images on the screen change rapidly. This problem occurs only with TV screens. For IPTV you may probably skip this requirement because the user will use the PC monitor as a TV screen.

Most of the current video cards meet the first requirement, but fail with points 2 and 3. All these 3 features are functions of the driver and not functions of the Logosys Playout software. We recommend using these models of ATI video cards because they meet even the highest demands, work stable and are not expensive, compared to other hardware solutions.

* If you want to output broadcast signal through the SDI port we strongly recommend you to use only approved Blackmagic DeckLink cards and drivers.

Approved Blackmagic cards: ( Blackmagic's Decklink Boards )

• DeckLink Pro PCI or PCIe
• DeckLink Extreme PCI or PCIe
• DeckLink SP PCI or PCIe (part number BDLKSP)
• DeckLink HD Extreme PCIe x 16 (part number BDLKHDEXT)
• DeckLink HD Extreme 2 PCIe x 16 (part number BDLKHDEXT2)

Note: If you want to use Core 2 Duo processor it has to operate at least at 2.4 GHz.

Note: Even if you use a PC with the recommended parameters you may not be able to play files if other programs have been already run on the same PC because they would take a lot of the CPU power. For that reason you must keep an eye on the Power Indicator! The CPU Power Indicator becomes red when the CPU usage gets into high value range and continues that way for more than a few seconds because this may lead to playback interruptions. When only Logosys Playout 7 is run the normal CPU usage is in the 40-50 % range on a 3.00 GHz CPU.

Software

• Windows XP Professional 32 bit with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3
• Windows 7 Professional 32 bit

To discover what additional steps you must follow after the installation of Logosys Playout software on a localized version of Windows (translated from English into your native language)

Types of MPEG-2 files

Logosys Playout software is compatible with many types of MPEG-2 files. You can combine different types of such files in one playlist.

• MPEG-2
• Video - MPEG-2 (ISO 13818) - 720x576 (PAL) or 720x480 (NTSC), Constant or Variable Bit Rate between 3-15 MB/s
• Audio - MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or Uncompressed (PCM), 44,1 KHz or 48 KHz
• Microsoft AVI (DV25) - 720x576 (PAL) or 720x480 (NTSC). This is a natural movie export format for Premiere Pro 1.5 and Premiere Pro 2.0
• Windows media video 9 (WMV) - 720x576 (PAL) or 720x480 (NTSC)

* You can play files in these formats with custom size, for example 500x333, with the intention to keep the X and Y proportions when the output signal changes to 16:9 aspect ratio.