MORPHEUS AUTOMATION SYSTEM

MORPHEUS REFERENCE

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Introduction

1.1 This guide

1.2 Alphabetical list of terms

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Introduction
Morpheus is Pro-Bels flagship TV transmission automation product, and is a powerful, highly
sophisticated, stable, fully scaleable, feature-rich system offering facilities which satisfy the most
demanding TX requirement.
The fully featured product is known as Morpheus Enterprise. Morpheus Foundation is a scaleddown system aimed at simple transmission operations. This product has a reduced feature set,
and being based on Morpheus Enterprise it brings a maturity, sophistication and reliability which is
unique in this market segment.
Morpheus Automation has a large worldwide customer base. It is used by broadcasters of all
types; from single channel, fixed play-list operations, to large-scale, multi-channel systems with
live programming and events rich in secondary content. It can control virtually any broadcast
equipment, and its resilience can be fully tailored to suit any requirement.
Morpheus Enterprise has unlimited channel, device and secondary event structure, and provides
the user with tools for customising their configuration with complete flexibility.

1.1

This guide
The purpose of this book is to give the reader an overview of each topic either as a memory
jogger, or to give a quick insight into how a function relates to the rest of the system. If more
details are needed these will be found in the relevant operational or configuration handbook.
This reference guide is intended to be an encyclopaedia of terms likely to be encountered in the
Morpheus context, and forms part of the full engineering handbook set:

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Morpheus Reference

Morpheus Operators Handbook

Morpheus Configuration Guide

Morpheus Hardware & Interconnections

Morpheus Special Procedures

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1.2

Alphabetical list of terms

525/60 AND 625/50 SYSTEMS

The selection of the video standard in use by the system being controlled by Morpheus is made during
the Deploy process. There is only one option: the NTSC check box is checked for a 525/60 system
and not checked for a 625/50 system. There is no provision in Morpheus for a 525/60 system which
does not use drop-frame timecode.

ACQUISITION
An application within Morpheus which is used for acquiring material, usually from a tape on a standalone VTR to a video server.

ACTIVE FORMAT DESCRIPTOR (AFD)

A code sent along with a TV signal to indicate in what format the picture should be viewed. The
receiving equipment reads this data and switches the display to the correct aspect ratio, bearing in
mind the physical aspect ratio of the screen and the viewers preferences.

ADD EVENT
A button in Event Store Test which allows events to be added to the schedule. This would be used if
no editor were available, for example on the event store PC in an apparatus area.

ADMINISTRATION
A software tool for managing the Morpheus database which gives the user the capability to search and
edit any data in the item, instance or device tables. It can run on any PC on the Morpheus network. It
contains a Device Manager and Material Manager which are used respectively to search by device
or material. It can also be configured to contain Cache Request and Locks tabs.

ALARM GPI SERVICE

For future implementation

ALARMS
The status bar in the Editor may be double-clicked at any time to bring up the list of current alarms,
their times, severity, and statuses. The following table lists and explains those which are likely to be
displayed.

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Alarm

Severity

Description

Bridge default
resilience
Channel <N> auto

Mild

Reduced resilience

Severe

Automation is disabled

Bridge-Default
availability
Eventstore time

Moderate

Not available

Moderate

The system time has not been

advanced for a while

Further description

Automation has been switched

off, or a new current_system
has been imported

Has the kernel been rebooted?

Is the bridge running?

Alarms can be highlighted by left-clicking and acknowledged by right-clicking and then selecting
acknowledge from the pop-up menu.
Alarms can be configured to scroll horizontally across the bottom of the HUD if desired.
Double-clicking the status bar also displays the engineering log.

APPEND SCHEDULE
Function in the editor whereby a previously saved schedule can be added to the end of the active
schedule. Using this function, a schedule created in the offline editor can be saved and then added to
the end of the active schedule.
If the schedule being appended contains a fixed start event which is now in the past, that event and
subsequent events will be shifted 24 hours forward.

APPLICATION SERVER
A program which allows applications to communicate with a database, and handles functions such as
enabling and prioritising of database connections, and reporting failures. It makes use of a set of
logical connections known as a connection pool. The default number of connections available is 5.
Many of the applications making up the Morpheus suite need to extract data from the database and do
so by means of the application server. There are two application servers which could be required by
the Morpheus system. The Pro-Bel Application Server is used by Morpheus Transfer Agents to
manage transfer requests, and the Morpheus Application Server is used by the editor and the
Shell Services Host. The Morpheus Application Server usually runs on the same PC as the Morpheus
database.
In a system which involves transfer agents, note that transfer requests are passed transparently to
the Pro-Bel Application Server through the Morpheus Application Server.

APP SERVER TEST

An optional module within Morpheus used to test the connection between the Morpheus Application
Server and the Database. This is useful because the Application Server does not establish a
connection with the Database until one is requested, so it would normally only be at this point (for
example, when the palette is used) that a connection problem would manifest, and the App Server
Test provides a way of testing the database connection without using Morpheus itself. It is also useful
as a general search engine.

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Figure 1-1: Application Server Test, 'Select Material' tab

Figure 1-1 shows the select material tab being used to query the database. Any of the tables can be
queried with the appropriate tab, and a successful query indicates that the Morpheus Application
Server is connecting to the database.

ARCHIVE CONTROLLER
A Morpheus Transfer Agent which manages the backing-up and restoring of data between a thirdparty archiving device such as FlipFactory, Front Porch or SGL and a video server. Requests for this
service are received from the Pro-Bel Application Server.

ARCHIVE MANAGER
One of the Morpheus Transfer Agents. It restores and backs up material to and from tape, DVD or
disk-based archive systems. It is a legacy version of the Archive Controller specifically for Avalon
archive systems.

AS-RUN COLLECTOR
Service within the Shell Services Host whose purpose is to build up the as-run log. When an item
has finished playing, it is greyed out in the editor display and stays there for whatever dwell time has
been set for that channel in Event Store Test (the default is 1 minute). The item is then appended to
a temporary file and deleted from the schedule. Then once every 24 hours at a time configured in the

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Shell Services Host, this temporary file is converted to an as-run log which then serves as a record of
what was played out from each channel. The file name is derived from the publication date and
channel number and has the .sch extension. It is possible to view this in the offline editor if desired.
To configure the as-run collector, bring up the Shell Services Host and in the menu bar select Service
Settings.

AS-RUN DB SERVICE
A service within the Shell Services Host which has the same function as the as-run collector but the
data is written to a database table instead of a temporary file. This allows the operation of two as-run
collectors running as a dual redundant pair.

AS-RUN LOG
This is a .sch file generated by the as-run collector. It is an exact record of a channels output over a
24-hour period. Its file name is derived from the date in the format <Channel name>_yyyy-mm-ddnn.sch. The location can be changed from the Shell Services Host: settings > service settings >
collector service > detailed config. The as-run log, being a schedule file, is readily viewed using the
offline editor. Since the editors often run on a different machine from the shell host, it is useful to set
up the event store machine as a mapped drive on the workstation machine to allow the as-run log to
be accessed. If it is necessary to view the .tmp file before it is converted to the as-run log file, it should
be copied to another location and renamed *.sch. See also as-run collector.

ASSET MAIL
One of the Morpheus Transfer Agents which handles the transfer of material between video servers on
separate Morpheus systems with their own databases.

AUDIO LEAD AND LAG

Lead and Lag refer to the timing of the audio fade in or out relative to the video. The following table
gives the details of what each setting does:

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Parameter name
Audio lag

Audio lag out

Audio lag out
rate
Audio lag rate

Audio Lead

Audio Lead Rate

Definition
The amount by which the start of the
audio fade-out is delayed (late lag) or
advanced (early lag) at the end of the
item
The amount by which the fade-out of the
previous item is delayed
The duration of the fade-out of the
previous item
The time taken for the fade-out,
measured in ss:ff . Zero indicates a cut.
The maximum setting is 99 frames
The amount by which the start of the
audio fade-up is delayed (late lead) or
advanced (early lead) at the beginning of
the item
The time taken for the fade-up,
measured in ss:ff. Zero indicates a cut.
The maximum setting is 99 frames

Comments

Same as Audio Lag setting for

previous item
Same as Audio Lag Rate
setting for previous item
Increasing the time makes both
leads and lags end later. The
start time remains the same.

Increasing the time makes both

leads and lags end later. The
start time remains the same.

AURORA
Pro-Bel proprietary router control system.

AUTO DELETION
Process performed by Video Network Manager which automatically clears space on a video server
by deleting material according to the auto-deletion algorithm. It is initiated when the space reaches
the low water mark (typical setting 5 minutes remaining space) and attempts to get the space up to the
high water mark (typical setting 30 minutes remaining space)

AUTO FAILOVER see Resilience

AUTO IS OFF / AUTO IS ON

A toggling button in the MIP which disables or enables the
commands to the playout devices while leaving the schedule
running. The button text reports the state of the function, and
pressing it toggles its state. There is no are you sure? prompt.
If the automation is disabled over a period containing commands
to devices, when it is re-enabled the system will resynchronise
but it will discard any events now in the past.

BACK-TO-BACK SOURCES
Term used to describe the situation where two consecutive events have the same source. The editor
can be configured to highlight these.

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BACKGROUND DELETION
A process whereby Video Network Manager periodically queries the server to establish the amount
of free space remaining. If this has fallen below the low water mark level, it applies the background
deletion algorithm which queries the Morpheus Database to find material that satisfies these criteria:

Not listed in the locks table

AND with an expired or null delete after date

Results are returned in order of their last used date. VNM then determines how many of these
instances should be deleted in order to create space on the server at least equal to the high water
mark setting. Deletion begins with the oldest last used date. If the server is off line, no deletions are
performed.

BARREL see also Decorators

Commonly used term for the status indicators in the editors. For details of colours and exactly what
they indicate, see status indications

BREAK HEADER
A dummy event which acts as a parent item for events forming a commercial break. To enter a break
header into a schedule, drag and drop from the icon in the palette (see left) onto the item above which
you want the header to appear. Main events are added to a break header as children,
using right-click and drag from the palette. The duration mode of a break header would
normally be either use children (so that the break duration is equal to the total time of
all the commercials within it) or specified (when a break must have a specific duration,
and the scheduler must ensure that the chosen commercials fill it). If using specified
mode, + or indications appear in the editor duration field to indicate respectively that material must
be added or taken away from the break to give the proper duration.

BRIDGE
The full name of the Bridge is the PBAK (Pro-Bel Automation Kernel) Bridge. It normally runs on the
Event Store PC. It is an application which 'bridges' between the event store and the 2330 controller
card(s), constantly synchronising them with the events in the schedule(s). It passes events within a
look-ahead window (the execution window) to the controller card(s), so if the bridge is shut down, the
controller card(s) will continue to run the schedule for the duration of the execution window. This
allows changes to be made to the system (upgrades, reconfigurations etc) without affecting the station
output.

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Figure 1-2: The PBAK bridge, devices tab

Clicking the progress bar just to the left of the clock display loads all events in the execution window
into the kernel (i.e. without waiting for the next periodic fetch).
Any changes to the top few events in the schedule are applied to the kernel instantly. The Periodic
Fetch setting relates to events further down the schedule which are reloaded however frequently the
setting requires (the default is 60 seconds).
The clock display turns red when station timecode is the time source.
The five tabs in the bridge window are:
Exceptions

Software exceptions encountered by the bridge (blank under normal conditions)

Diagnostics

Click go to display a log of recent activity

Displays configured devices and their status. A green tick means a response
has been received from the device. Parameters of the highlighted device are
shown in the right-hand window.
(For future implementation)
Displays what controllers are configured, with their parameters and status.
Controllers can be restarted or updated from here

Devices
Transactions
Controller

Full details on configuring the bridge are given in the Morpheus Configuration manual

BROWSE
In a video server context, this is a function which allows the viewing of lowresolution copies of server files to enable checking of content, and the checking
and correction of in-points. In Morpheus, the creation of browse copies on a
dedicated browse server is controlled by the application server.
The creation of browse copies can be triggered manually from the editor by clicking
the browse button; if no browse copy is available, the button becomes a browse
request button

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Browse copies can also be generated by configuring the media management system to automatically
generate transfer requests, for example by using the replication tool.
The browse feature can be applied to events in the schedule using the MIP, or material in the palette
using the browse button within it. The format of the browse copies is Windows Media Player 9, and
the files are converted by a third party transcoder.

CACHE ENGINE
A media management application which manages the dubbing of material off tape from a cart machine
such as Flexicart or Odetics onto a video server. It also deals with the deletion of unwanted material
from a server to make room for the new; this is done according to parameters set in the configuration.
The current version is known as the Multi-Stream Cache Engine which controls up to 2 VTRs on up
to 2 server ports, thereby increasing the caching capacity.

CACHE ERROR TABLE

A table in the Morpheus database which lists all failed cache requests.
Column
Material_ID
File_ID
Status
Time required
Error notes
Process ID
Event ID
Make Event ID
ID

Description
As in item table
Indicates why the request
failed
Shows when the material
is due on air
Additional information
explaining the failure
As in cache request table.
Can also show a failed
request, 9 means failure

Format
20 bytes
8 bytes

Can be edited from

NA
NA

20 bytes

NA

Date/time

NA

Free text <= 254 chars

Optional

Int32

NA

20 bytes
20 bytes
Int32

NA
NA
NA

CACHE REQUEST TABLE

A table in the Morpheus database which lists all pending cache requests.

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Column
Material_ID
(primary key)
Device_ID
Status
Time required
Process ID
Event ID
Make Event ID
ID

Description

Format

Can be edited from

As in item table

<=128 characters

NA

As in device table
Shows whether the
request is being
processed
When the material is due
on air
Indicates which transfer
agent will process the
request

20 characters

NA

20 characters

Inserted automatically.
Cannot be edited

Date/time
4-byte integer

NA

20 characters
20 characters
Int32

NA
NA
NA

CENTURA
A database vendor whose database engine can be used by the Morpheus system. The company has
since rebranded itself as Gupta.

CHANNEL
In Morpheus, a channel corresponds to a schedule. The maximum capacity is 256 channels and up to
8 of these can be accessed from one editor PC, this being the maximum number of channels a single
operator can realistically control from one workstation.

CHECK MATERIAL
An function available in the Offline menu of the offline editor. It checks the status of every event in the
offline schedule and colours the barrels accordingly. It is not present in the on-line editor since that
function is performed automatically by the material decorator.

CHILD EVENT
An event which is associated with and dependent on another event, known as the parent event. The
child event can be configured to take some of its parameters from the parent event, such as its
duration. A child event can have its own child events, to any number of levels.

CLOCK CHANGE
This article gives an overview of what is necessary at the beginning and end of daylight saving time,
when station timecode is reset. Please see the accompanying manual, Morpheus Procedures, for full
details.
When station timecode is put forward 1 hour, if nothing else were done, an event timed to start during
the one hour jump would find itself instantly in the past and never play out. When station timecode is
put back one hour, the situation is more complex because times during the jump would repeat.

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Therefore at a clock change it is necessary to close down the bridge to isolate the device controller
card. This allows the kernel to run the channel for a time (up to the maximum set by the event lookahead), and also resynchronises the bridge with (new) incoming timecode. Events following the jump
have to be retimed from the edit workstation. This is done by adjusting the timing of a chosen fixed
event by one hour (subsequent events then retime automatically) then saving and reloading the
schedule.
Note that not all stations perform clock changes. Some prefer to leave timecode running and either
use uncorrected time during the daylight saving season, or use the channels UTC offset setting.

COMMAND QUEUE
One of the two queues in the Event Store. It is a first-in, first-out store of all transactions which have
been passed to the Event Store.

CONFIGURATOR
An optional module in the Morpheus suite which is a reduced version of the Event Store Test. As at
September 2006 it is not fully debugged. It contains the following functions:

Deleting, editing and cloning MediaBalls

Adding & Deleting categories (Palette pages)
Moving MediaBalls between pages
Adding new devices and sources to the system
Configuring the parameters visible in the Property Inspector
Configuring the secondary events visible in the main grid
Adding, deleting and configuring Channels
Configuring alarms
Kernel Registry editor
Transition editor

CRASH RECORD
Term used for the process of copying material by manually starting a record device and then starting
its record source, with no synchronisation between them. The resulting recording generally has to be
topped and tailed later (or have its inpoint and outpoint marked) because it will probably have black or
other unwanted material before and after it.
In Morpheus Acquisition, material cannot be ingested without an entry in the database. There is no
way of recording something and filling in the information later. However there is a Live Record
application which permits this, automatically creating a database entry which can be edited later. The
inpoint and outpoint of the recorded file are then marked rather than being physically topped and
tailed.

CURRENT_SYSTEM.XML
This file contains all configuration information for the whole system. It can be backed up, or exported
to another system if desired, by means of the Import And Export button in Event Store Test. This
brings up another dialogue box containing the following buttons:

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Button

Function

Export system

Creates a current_system.xml file in c:\EventStoreExport from the

data currently in the Event Store and simultaneously creates a datestamped file, whose filename is in the form yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mmss_system.xml. It is always OK to export the system, it merely
creates a backup of the current system configuration.

Import System from File

USE WITH CARE - warning message given: This will clear out all
devices, channels and event types from the event store. Used when a
previously saved system configuration is to be made active in the current
system.

Import MediaBall

Brings up an explorer window to browse to a MediaBall previously saved

as a .xml file to be imported into the Event Store.

A system can be created on a remote PC running a simulated Morpheus system, and all the devices,
channels, event types and sources can be configured there. The resulting current_system.xml
file can then be exported as above and transferred to another system by any convenient method, and
then imported.

DATABASE DECORATOR
A service in the Shell Services Host which can be configured to decorate, or populate, any fields from
the item, instance and presentation tables in the database into the Event Store.

DATABASE
The Morpheus material database is a relational database which consists of up to 75 tables. Some of
these are used only in special purposes. However there are three tables, known as core tables, which
are essential to the operation of the system. This diagram shows them with the columns that link them
and their more important columns:

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ITEM TABLE

INSTANCE TABLE

DEVICE TABLE

Contains only content data

Contains data relating only to the

individual instances or recordings

Contains only storage device

data

Material ID (primary key)

Instance label (Primary key)

Device number (primary key)

Title

Material ID (foreign key)

Location

On-air duration

Device ID (foreign key)

Device type

Reviewed by

Last used date

Format

Episode number

Timecode in

Aspect ratio

Timecode out

Material type

VITC/LTC

Owner ID

Delete after date

Purge date

Video compression

etc

Audio mode
Audio sample rate
Audio compression
Quality check date
Encoded?flag
Encoded
Long file ID

The relationship item instance device is key to understanding the Morpheus database. The
instance table is a list containing every instance or recording, and the data in it is that which relates
uniquely to the individual instances. For example, an instance can only be on one device and can
only have one type of video compression. It can only have one sample rate. Every instance must
have a unique identifier, for this purpose the system generates an Instance Label, which is also called
the file ID or filename.
The device table lists every storage device in the system along with all data which pertains uniquely
to each. In this context a tape is a device, not a VTR. A tape is equivalent to a server, since it is a
storage device which can store a large number of recordings; the difference is only one of scale (a
tape would be unlikely to carry more than a few dozen recordings, whereas a server can carry many
thousands).
The item table lists data relating to content - information which relates to the viewer experience.

DATABASE ENGINE
The component of a database system which communicates with the database itself, handling CRUD Creating, Retrieving, Updating or Deleting of data. It contains processes which modify the database
file at low level according to what requests have been made. It also deals with the locking of records
which are being modified, preventing them from being modified simultaneously by another user. Also
known as a Relational Database Management System.

DCOM
Distributed Component Object Model. An older Microsoft proprietary technology allowing software

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components on different machines to communicate with each other across a network. Used in
Morpheus for the Request Controller, Video Network Manager and Morpheus Application Server
to communicate with the Pro-Bel Application Server.

DECORATOR
Service which runs in the Shell Services Host whose purpose is to find material and report its status.
There are five decorators altogether, namely the material decorator, the locks decorator, the live
decorator, the database decorator and the transfer decorator.

DEPLOY
This is an application used during installation or upgrades to select which software modules are to be
installed, or at a later date to install additional modules. The system multicast address and TV
standard (625/50 or 525/60) are also set in this application. Executable: pbakdeploy.exe

DEVICE
A general term for a piece of equipment which is controlled by the Morpheus system, for example,
server, VTR, Flexicart, router, mixer, graphics box are all devices. In the Morpheus system all devices
are controlled from the 2330 controller card, regardless of whether they use a serial connection, a
GPI connection or a network connection.
From a control point of view, a VTR is a device, since it receives and acts on remote control signals;
however in the database, the tape, not the VTR, is termed a device - the name storage device table
(q.v.) is used for that table to avoid confusion.

DEVICE CONTROLLER
Alternative term for the 2330 Controller Card

DEVICE ID
The unique identifier in the Morpheus Database for a storage medium, commonly a tape (not a VTR),
a video server or archive. Examples are Profile1, Gandalf, Bulgaria (server names); ABC123 (tape
barcode). Not to be confused with Device Type ID

DEVICE MANAGER (Shell Services Host)

A service within the Shell Services Host which manages the allocation of devices to events in order
to eliminate resource conflicts in a multi channel environment. See also Device Manager Viewer

DEVICE MANAGER (Morpheus Administration)

Part of Morpheus Administration which allows searching based on media type, for example adding
tapes, listing tape contents, finding the content of video servers.

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DEVICE MANAGER VIEWER

A separate application associated with the Device Manager service in Shell Services Host which gives
a dynamic graphical representation of resource allocation against time.

Figure 3 - Device Manager Viewer

Each device has its own column, and usage is shown as a blue bar. Time flows downwards, and as
time elapses the display moves upwards, the red line shows the current time. The above screenshot
shows device allocation conflicts in red and maintenance periods in hatched brown. If the bars in the
device columns are shown in yellow, that device is not configured to be managed using the Device
Manager.

DEVICE TABLE
One of the core tables in the Morpheus Database. This is the commonly used name for a table whose
actual name in the database is the Storage Device Table. The following list shows the columns within
it:

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Column
Device no
(primary
key)
Location
Type
Format
Name
NDF

Description

Format

Notes

Unique identifier for one storage

medium such as a tape or server

Text up to 20 chars

Cannot be null

Library, room 101 etc

Tape, video server, archive etc
Tape format or other subformat
Not used
Non drop frame

Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Flag

Cannot be null
Cannot be null

DEVICE TYPE ID
The three digit code associated with a particular device type such as a server, VTR etc. which tells the
kernel what protocol is to be used to communicate with that device.
Here is an abbreviated list:
220

GpiControlledDevice

505

DVE

221

MIP

506

PixelPower

301

TestDevice

507

TxSwitcher

305

SimulatedMixer

601

Switcher

350

QuantelDecoder

802

Sonifex

402

SonyVtr

803

Aston Motif

403

PinnacleIOPort

807

LogoMotion

405

TektronixIOPort

810

Subtitler

406

OmneonIOPort

820

Vizrt

501

Mixer

844

Dalet

503

DSK

848

VistekArc

504

AudioOver

853

Publitronic

DISPLAY SUMMARY
A facility available in the editors which gives a statistical summary of a highlighted region, giving the
total times and percentages of each programme type. This is useful for determining how much of a
given period has been allocated to commercials. It is accessed by right-clicking anywhere in the
schedule pane.

DOTNET or .NET
Microsoft proprietary software component which is an optional part of Windows. It handles the
execution of software modules in a system and provides a framework for them to communicate with
each other. In Morpheus, the Editor, Shell Services Host and Morpheus Application Server run under
a .NET framework.

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DROP-FRAME TIMECODE
A variation on timecode used in countries whose television standard is NTSC and whose frame rate is
29.97 frames per second. Timecode by its very nature is intended to be a measure of elapsed time,
and it works in a straightforward way by counting frames, seconds, minutes and hours. In installations
where the duration of a frame is an exact fraction of a second, there is no problem - one second is
exactly 25 frames. However if one second is not an exact number of frames, the timecode still counts
frames but this cannot easily be equated to an exact time. In NTSC systems the frame rate is taken to
be 30 frames per second and a correction factor has to be periodically applied. Since the frame rate is
slightly less than 30 per second, it follows that the timecode clock runs more slowly than real time,
therefore the correction has to make it catch up again. This is done by disallowing certain timecodes.
The rule is as follows:
The first and second frame of each minute is dropped,
unless the minutes figure is divisible by 10.
A drop frame timecode generator would go through the following sequence at the 10-minute point 00:09:59;58
00:09:59;59
00:10:00;00
00:10:00;01
-

but at the 11-minute point the sequence would be

00:10:59;58
00:10:59;59
00:11:00;02
00:11:00;03
This also applies to event durations - for example an event cannot have a duration of 00:20:00;00, it
would have to be rounded up to 00:20:00;02.
As shown above, the distinction between drop-frame and non drop-frame timecode is indicated by
using a semicolon before the frames for drop-frame timecode:
10:13:30:00 (non drop-frame)

02:24:25;15 (drop-frame)

This convention is in general use and adopted in Morpheus. The timecode calculator provided within
the Morpheus editor takes full account of drop-frame timecode.
The configuration setting is to be found on the main page of the Deploy application. If drop-frame
timecode is in use, the NTSC box should be ticked before pressing Commit.
The decision to use an altered frame rate was taken when NTSC colour television was being
developed. The subcarrier frequency of 3.58MHz was an exact multiple of the line frequency and
would therefore give patterning on older monochrome receivers. The chosen solution was to change
the frame rate rather than the colour subcarrier frequency. (In PAL systems, an offset is applied to the
subcarrier frequency so that the line frequency can be kept at 15,625Hz.)

DUAL VAULT IMPLEMENTATION

Description of a system in which two servers work as a load sharing pair. In the event of one failing,
the other takes the full load. The two communicate via a crossover cable linking additional network
ports on the two machines.

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DURATION MODE
A parameter of secondary events and break headers which determines how the duration is derived.
Specified - in which the duration of a secondary event is fixed and independent of any other event.
The desired duration is entered in the property inspector in the Duration field.

Use owner - used when the duration of a child event is to be the same as its parent event:

Use children - used when the duration of a parent event is to be the total of those of its children, for
example break headers.

End with owner - Used when the secondary event has to end at the same time as the parent event.
The start mode of this type of event is set to Relative to Parents Beginning, and its start time is
determined by the value of the offset. A positive offset means the child event starts after the parent; a
negative offset (if allowed in the configuration) means that the child event starts before the parent.
The following diagram illustrates this:

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Relative To Owner - used when the start of the secondary event is to be offset from the start of the
parent event, and the end of the secondary event is offset from the end of the parent event. The two
offsets are independent. The Start Mode of the secondary event should be set to Relative to
Parents Beginning. In theory either offset can be negative (earlier) or positive (later). Negative
offsets have to be enabled in the event types configuration in the Event Store Test. Note that this is
the only mode which uses the End Time Offset.

DWELL TIME
The time which has been set for the as-run collector to leave items in a schedule before appending
them to its temporary file. The default is 1 minute. This can be changed in the Services Shell Host
under Settings > Service Settings

EDIT DURATION
A facility available in the editor to modify the duration of the on-air event. It is accessed by highlighting
the on-air event and right-clicking, then selecting edit duration in the pop-up menu. Either the
duration or the endpoint can be modified

EDITOR, OFF-LINE
A program within Morpheus which is used for creating and editing schedules off line. It has the same
appearance as the on-line editor but lacks some of its features such as the clock and the live event
countdown. It is useful for:

Preparation of schedules off-line with no danger of accidentally modifying the active schedule
in an undesirable way
Trying out a future schedule for timing or sequencing
Checking the summary of a future schedule for commercial or other content

A schedule prepared off line cannot be previewed except by saving it and then appending it to an
existing schedule where it can be previewed using the MIP. Since the off-line editor does not
communicate with the Event Store, it must be able to see current_system.xml and file whatever
schedule file the operator is using (which may be a file saved by him while trying things out). The
offline editor can be used to check the status of material in the databse using the check material
function.

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The off-line editor is run in the same way as the on-line editor but with a different switch parameter in
the command line of the shortcut. See Editor Shortcut Parameters for the full list.
Editor.exe /o
Editor.exe /of \\<drive>\path\<filename.xml>
- f means force - runs the offline
editor using a different file and path such as the one where current_system.xml is found. This
avoids the need for copying that file into C:\morpheus every time the offline editor is used.
e.g. editor.exe /of\\U:\schedules\offline\02dec06.xml

EDITOR, ON-LINE
The operational screen from which events in the schedule are managed, viewed, modified,
configured, moved, copied or deleted. It is the operators basic communication screen with Morpheus
and can run on any PC on the network. Some systems use a Centura database, in which case the
editor has to be told where the client configuration is located. If the system is running MSSQL, the
editor has to be told where the application server is:
Tools > configuration (password required) > common > database > hostname.
If the schedule pane is replaced by a large red X, this means the event store has been shut down
while the editor was running. If the schedule pane turns purple, this means the editor has been
started without an event store running.

EDITOR SHORTCUT PARAMETERS

This table shows the available parameters in the Windows shortcut used to start the editor. They are
specified either in the properties of the shortcut used to launch the editor, or set within the Deploy
application (this can be re-used after initial installation).
COMMAND LINE
Editor.exe /a <multicast_address>
Editor.exe /o
Editor.exe /o <path>
Editor.exe
Editor.exe
Editor.exe
Editor.exe
Editor.exe
Editor.exe
Editor.exe

/of <path\filename.xml>
/r rolename
/x
/t THISNAME
/hc 1
/c <filename.xml>
/i <name>

USED FOR
Sets multicast address
Runs editor as offline editor
Points offline editor at the location of
current_system.xml
Forces the use of a specific path and filename
Starts editor using role rolename
Bypasses configuration password
Sets name in title bar and taskbar shortcut
Starts editor as HUD for channel 1
Sets filename for local config file to be saved to
Allows a named instance to run

Switches can be used in combination, e.g. Editor.exe /a 239.0.0.100 /r operator

ENCODED FLAG
A flag which is set in the instance table of the database to indicate that a file has been completely
encoded, that is, it has been completely transferred or ingested and that a valid file exists. If this flag
is not set, the material could still be in the process of being encoded, or there could have been a
failure of some kind. It is visible in the palette for all server recordings. The term is used because

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servers store material in encoded form, with encoders on the inputs and decoders on the outputs.

ENCODING
The process of getting video from the incoming stream, which will probably be SDI, into a file of
whatever format is used on the server (MPEG, .mov, etc). See also unencoded instance

ENG LOG COLLECTOR

An optional service within the Shell Services Host which creates a log for diagnostic purposes. Its
parameters are set under Service Settings.

ENDPOINT OFFSET
This setting is only used when the Duration Mode is set to Relative To Owner. It sets the offset
between the end of the parent event ad the end of the child event. If the child event ends before the
parent event, this has a negative value (note that negative values have to be specifically enabled in
the Event Types configuration dialogue in the Event Store Test).

END WITH OWNER see Duration Mode

ENGINEERING LOG
Diagnostic log which is either visible as a list in the Shell Services Host, or can be appended to a file
by the Eng Log Collector.

EPG
Electronic Programme Guide. The on-screen timeline of programmes available in digital broadcast
systems which allows consumers to plan viewing or recordings. Morpheus can export events to a third
party EPG generator application by means of its MOS Interface.

EVENT
An object in a schedule whose minimum specification consists of a start time, a source and duration.
Any schedule is made up of a list of events which are intended to happen in a certain order. See
primary event, secondary event, media ball.

EVENT LOOK-AHEAD
In addition to the on-air event, the 2330 device controller card always stores in its RAM a portion of
the schedule looking ahead into the future. This is a vital means of ensuring output continuity during
upgrades or network failures. The playout devices are controlled by Pro-Bels proprietary hardware
and operating system. The amount by which the bridge looks ahead when passing event information
to the controller card is set in the bridge configuration, and the default setting is 1 hour or 10 events,
whichever equates to the most events. The following flow chart shows how the system uses the two
settings.

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Figure 4: Flowchart showing how the event look-ahead is determined

From this it is clear that the time setting is the minimum schedule time which will be uploaded into the
controller card. If this time window contains fewer events than the LookAheadEventCount setting, it
will be increased. Therefore the time should be set to a figure which is long enough to perform a
software upgrade - plus an overhead for abortive or unsuccessful attempts. It is not a good idea to
make this figure too large, however, since the resulting processing overhead can compromise kernel
performance.

Figure 5: The end of the event look-ahead as it appears in the editor

In the schedule,
events which are
outside the
execution window
will be shown
with green-grey
barrels in the
status column.
The green barrel
comes from the
database, but the
right-hand barrel
is shown as grey
because the
bridge can give
no information on
events outside
the execution
window. Those
events have not
yet been loaded
into the kernel
and no response
has been
received (or
requested) from
the device. The
screenshot in
Figure 5 shows
this.

The point at which the green barrels become green/grey signifies the end of the event look-ahead.
The settings for the Execution Window and the Look-Ahead Event Count are found in the Bridge
system > configuration.

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EVENT RULER
A pane in the Editor window immediately to the right of the Schedule pane (see
screenshot, right). It shows visually the timing relationship between parent and
child events by means of yellow and blue bars whose length represents the
event duration and whose position represents the relative timing. The
characteristics of the event ruler are:
Highlighting an event in the schedule displays it in the event ruler.
Time in the event ruler flows downwards, and the start and end times of
the display are shown in hh:mm:ss:ff format.
Parent events are shown in yellow, and child events in blue.
If a main event has nested child events, only one level is shown in the
event ruler.
If there is an overlap between two child events, the overlapping region is
shown in darker blue.
Hovering the mouse pointer over a bar in the event ruler displays the
event title, start time and duration in a pop-up.
Where secondary events overlap, right-clicking steps through the
overlapping events.
The units on the graduated scale to the left are arbitrary.

EVENT STORE
The heart, brain and soul of the Morpheus system. The term can refer either to
the software which consists of the Rescale Vault and Server and Snapshotter and
their queues, or the actual PC on which these programs run.
The Event Store consists of two applications, the Rescale Vault and Server, and
the Snapshotter. It holds and processes the data for all channels and their
schedules, and performs all timing calculations. Morpheus can use two event
stores to allow load sharing, but if one fails the other takes on the whole load.
This means they must communicate with each other constantly, and to make this
connection more robust, a direct network cross-over cable is used between the
two machines.

Event Ruler

The queues are regularly written to a hard drive (default is every 60 seconds).
This enables full recovery in the event of a server failure.
There are two ways to rebuild the Event Store. Either the saved queues can be reloaded by simply
restarting, or the latest current_system.xml file can be re-imported and the saved channel
schedules reloaded after pressing Re-Create Queues.
The contents of the event store are modified whenever:
An event goes into the past
A device, channel, event type or source is added
A change is made to the configuration of any of the above
A change is made to a channel schedule
The snapshotter takes its regular snapshot

EVENT STORE TEST

The configuration tool for the Event Store. Its primary functions are:

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To give access to all event store and configuration data:

to edit the number, icon and names of channels
to edit the router source names and numbers, and allocated device
to edit device names and properties
to edit main and sub-event type parameters, including mediaballs
To clone and delete events and move them between palette pages
To Import and Export the entire configuration to an XML file
To import Mediaballs as an XML file
To force the event store to read PC clock time, or any manually entered time, in the absence
of a bridge
To force-clear entire channels, and to collect or delete individual events.

Great care should be exercised when pressing the Import config and Force Clear channel buttons
since they will affect station output. Because of this, Event Store Test is usually only accessible on a
passworded machine in a secure area.
Event Store Test contains the following function buttons:

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Button
Force Clear Channel
Add event
Add child event
Delete Event
Collect event
Collect all
Engineering Log
Devices
Event Types
Sources
Channels
Application configurations
Visualise
Callbacks
Server Stats
Get size
Pbak Time
Profile
All auto on
All dev OK
Services
Alarms
Alarm Test
System Config
Import and Export
Create SuperDuo Slave
parameters
Code Gen
String Atoms
Operator Stations
Refresh
TPS
Take
Poll
Load
Save

Function
Totally clears all events from the highlighed channel, including the on-air event.
There is no are you sure? and no undo. Do not press this button
Allows adding an event to the schedule in case there is no editor accessible
As above for child event
Allows deleting of an event where there is no editor present
For manual collection of a past event not yet collected
For manual collection of all past events not yet collected
For adding, deleting, or configuring devices
For adding, deleting and setting parameters of all Event Types
For adding, deleting, or configuring sources, and allocating devices and event types
to sources
For adding new channels, and deleting or reconfiguring existing channels
Opens the live schedule view

Activates automation for all channels on this event store

Displays status of all current alarms

Contains miscellaneous event store settings
For importing and exporting current_system.xml, also MediaBalls

Loads a schedule from a file to the highlighted channel. Same as Load in the
editor
Saves a schedule from the highlighted channel to a filename. Same as Save As in
the editor

PGM
PST
Hold first channel
[Time dropdown]

To select the clock timing reference source. Do not set time = timecode received by
controller card. PC time = Event Store PC time (to simulate event store time, or to
stay on air if station timecode is lost)

Test timeout
Collect
Add Duration
Use Cached start times
Add Many Events
Test retract
Write Xa lock

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See also Configurator.

EVENT TYPE
A pre-defined template from which events may be generated. Defined in the event type configuration
are (a) the kind of event, such as main event, material event; (b) its parameters, such as start time,
duration, device etc: and (c) the properties of the parameters, such as their default values, whether
they are visible from the workstation etc.
Note that if a schedule is loaded from an xml file into a system which does not have some of the
required event types configured, the load will give an error message and fail.

EXECUTION WINDOW
See Event Look-Ahead

EXPORT SYSTEM
See current_system.xml

FILE ID
A field in the Property Inspector which indicates what is being used by the system to locate a file on
the video server. If short file IDs are being used, the field shows the instance label (a field in the
instance table of the database). If long file IDs are in use, the field shows the Long File ID

FILL REGIONS
Command in the file menu of the editor which allows a schdedule containing only breaks to be loaded
into a system with regional opt-outs without affecting global programme material.

FIXED START
Start mode which is used for events which must start at a specified time. It is specified in the Start
Mode field of the property inspector. The time and date must also be entered.

FLEXIBLE CHANNEL
A means of establishing a good level of resilience to channel failure by setting up a spare channel
which has its own hardware and can be used as a backup channel for any other channel. It can also
be used for previewing. See also N+1 Sync

FOLLOW-ON
Start mode which is used for events which need to merely follow on from the previous event. It is
specified in the Start Mode field in the property inspector. The start time of a follow-on event is
adjusted if Take Next is pressed on an earlier event, or if an earlier event is deleted or inserted. If the
schedule is held from the MIP, the start times of all subsequent follow-on events up to the next fixed

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event are adjusted continuously until hold is taken off.

FORCE CLEAR CHANNEL

A button in Event Store Test which does exactly what it says - it clears all events, including the on-air
event, from the selected channel. There is no are you sure? prompt and no undo. Use this button
with great care.

FORCE DECORATE EVENTS

Facility obtained by right-clicking in the editor which forces the immediate decoration of highlighted
events in the displayed channel. This can be useful in a heavily-loaded system.

GATEWAY
The Morpheus Gateway is an add-on to the Morpheus system which controls the unattended
conversion of material files by third party systems. It does not actually carry out the conversions, a
third party system such as Telestreams Flip Factory is required for this. Files are placed in a
monitored watch folder and then converted. Metadata information is preserved and transferred into
the Morpheus Database. If for example, the archive server came from one manufacturer and the
playout server from another, Gateway would initiate the required file conversion.

GPI - GENERAL PURPOSE INTERFACE

This is a hardware connection used to control a device and sometimes also to get status back from it.
It is a simple pin-per-function method usually accessed via a multiway connector on a rear panel. The
actual function which is associated with the GPI is often assignable within the configuration of the
device. There are several types of connection:
Open collector, in which the collector of a transistor is brought out to the connector. When the GPI is
not fired, the transistor is off and the collector is open-circuit. When the GPI fires the transistor is
turned on and the collector goes close to 0V. Ideally such a connector would also have the supply
rail brought out. If it is not, an external power supply is required
Isolated loop with relay contacts, a pair of pins on a connector which are connected together
internally when the GPI fires - that is to say, they form a switch. There is no connection with
anything else in the device. They are non-polarised, i.e. they can pass current either way.
Isolated loop with a transistor, in which the emitter and collector of a transistor are both brought out
to the connector. The transistor is turned on when the GPI fires. This gives more flexibility than
simple open collector. However the transistor polarity, emitter-collector current/voltage rating and
base-emitter voltage requirements have to be taken into account (the base of the transistor is
internally connected in this case)
Opto-isolated GPIs, in which the output is a pair of pins which are the emitter and collector of the
transistor in the opto-isolator. (This transistor has no base connection and is turned on purely
optically.)
Pin per function with common 0V in which each GPI is brought out as a pin whose voltage is high
when the GPI is active and open circuit when it is not.
Pin per function with common supply rail in which each GPI signal is brought out as a pin whose
voltage is low when the GPI is active, and open circuit when it is not.
An alternative terminology is that GPI stands for General Purpose Input, and therefore by extension,
GPO stands for General Purpose Output. GPI connections which can be software configured as
inputs or outputs as required are often designated GPIOs for General Purpose Input/Outputs.

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GPI examples
A GPI output from Morpheus is used to trigger a bug generator or a sting by means of a GPI input to
the device
GPI fires on failure of one power supply of a resilient pair which produces a GPI output from the
device. This connects to a GPI input on the monitoring equipment.

GPI Implementation in Morpheus

GPIs in Morpheus can be configured as outputs or inputs, although in general only the output mode is
used. If a hardware MIP is used, then the MIP buttons are connected into the system using the GPIs
as inputs.
The GPI outputs on the 2330 controller cards are open-collector, active low with +V brought out. The
GPI inputs on the 2330 controller cards are opto-isolated and need grounding to activate, for which
purpose a ground is brought out.
The GPI setting in Event Store Test has 3 modes: 0 (off), 1 (on) and 2 (toggle). If a GPI event has a
non-zero duration, it will revert to its original state at the end. This allows easy setting up of pulses.
GUARD SOURCE
A source which simultaneously plays out the same material as the main source as a backup in case of
failure of the main source. If a source, e.g. a server port, is specified as a guard, it cannot be used for
anything else at the same time, so if rippling and guard sources are used, enough ports have to be
available to allow all this at the same time, which for a single channel would be 4 ports.

HEAD-UP DISPLAY (HUD)

This is a screen which gives a limited, read-only view of one channel with limited look-ahead. It is
normally run on a separate workstation. The fonts, colours, layout and backgrounds are all
configurable, and it is often used to give a display of the next few events in concise form, using a large
font and customised colour configuration. Error messages are shown in a banner display at the
bottom of the HUD. The HUD is actually a separate instance of the editor launched with the
appropriate switch in the command line: see Editor Shortcut Parameters for details.

HIGH WATER MARK

See Purge

HOLD
A button in the Manual Intervention Panel or optionally on the Master Control Panel which holds the
current item until either hold is released by pressing again, or until Take Next is pressed. This will
cause the start times of all subsequent events to be recalculated.

HOTLIST
A function in the palette which allows a list of frequently-used material to be kept for quicker access.
The HotList may contain any material but it would commonly be used for commercials or junctions.
The Hotlist is accessed by pressing the Hotlist button in the palette. When in the HotList display,
material can be added to the HotList by right-click-dragging and dropping from the schedule.
Alternatively, in the database query display, material can be dragged and dropped onto the HotList
button.

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HUD
See Head-Up Display

HUDFAX
Serial stream representation of the schedule for broadcasters to send current schedule data to their
regions or affiliates.

ICON
In Morpheus, system icons are held in C:\Morpheus\icons. Users can create their own icons if desired
and they will become available to the system once placed in that folder. The icon format is 32x32
.BMP

ICON FRAME
Pro-Bel's proprietary frame and card system. An Icon card is simply
any card from that system which fits into an Icon frame. The
Morpheus 2330 controller card is a 3U Icon card and has to be
mounted in a 3U Icon frame (its processor daughterboard makes it
slightly too large to fit horizontally in a 1U frame)

IMPORT SYSTEM FROM FILE

See Current System.xml

INGEST
The process of transferring material to a video server system, usually from tape or another legacy
playout method. Some systems have ingest servers which are dedicated to this function. The Ingest
process relates to transferring of files from a single stand-alone VTR (for automated transfer of files
from VTR using a Flexicart or LMS, see Caching)

INSTANCE
Pro-Bels term for describing an individual copy of a file on any medium. Multiple instances of a given
piece of material could exist on different devices, for example a server copy and two tape copies, and
these are referred to as instances of that material, in which case each instance has a unique file ID (or
Instance Label) but the same material ID and title.

INSTANCE TABLE
One of the three core tables of the Morpheus database. It is a list of instances of recorded material
and includes the unique file ID, the material ID, and the Storage Device ID. (* Indicates a required
field)

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Description

Instance label*
(Primary key)

Material ID* (actually

called MAT_ID)
(foreign key)
Device ID* (foreign
key)
Source device ID
Last aired date
Last used date
Usage count

Format

Notes

Unique identifier.

Text up to 8 chars

If long file IDs not in use, it is the

same as the filename on server.
If long file IDs are in use, this
just becomes the unique
reference for the table as used
by the database and not used
by Morpheus.

As in item table

Text up to 20 chars

As in device table

Text up to 20 chars

Date last played out

Date last put into a
schedule (whether
played out or not)
Number of times
material has been used

Text up to 20 chars
Date & time

Upper case, letters only

Inserted automatically

Date & time

Written to by locks decorator

Integer max 65535

Incremented automatically
Server instances default to
00:00:00:00 and tape instances
to 10:00:00:00. Can be edited
from Admin, Event Store Test,
Editor

Timecode in

Timecode at SoM

hh:mm:ss:ff

Timecode out
VITC*
LTC*

Timecode at EoM
Is it present, yes/no
Is it present, yes/no

hh:mm:ss:ff
Text up to 3 chars
Text up to 3 chars

Delete after

Date & time

To allow auto deletion from a

video server to make space

Technical comment
Video compression

Text to 254 chars

8-bit floating point

Free information text

Inserted automatically

Audio mode

A to both, B to both,
Mono mix, stereo, ph
rev B

Text up to 8 chars

Audio sample rate

8-bit floating point

Audio compression
Quality check

8-bit floating point

Date & time

Run on

How much more

material there is after
the end of the item

Recorded date*

Text up to 8 chars
Date & time

Inserted automatically
Indicates that a clip has been
fully transferred with no errors.
See article

Encoded

Flag

Integer max 65535

Clip ref

Not used

Integer max 65535

Audio shuffling ID

Used in multi level

audio systems

Integer max 65535

Long file ID

If in use, is filename on
server. Unique

Text up to 128 chars

Instance status

32

Integer max 65535

Preview operator enters the

information. Cache engine
reads it during ingest

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INSTANCELESS DEVICE
A device which has no instances of recorded material associated with it, such as a blank tape. This
does not violate the rules of the database.

INSTANCELESS ITEM
An entry in the database item table which does not have a corresponding entry in the instance table.
This condition violates the rules of the database. Not to be confused with orphan item.

ITEM
A database record relating to the content information of a piece of material. It does not describe
recordings of that material, which would appear in the instance table. For example, Eurovision Song
Contest 1958 is an item, but carries no information about where it might be found, or what its format
is.

ITEMLESS INSTANCE
An entry in the database instance table which does not have a corresponding entry in the item table.
This is not a legal instance as it violates the rules of the database.

ITEM-ONLY SEARCH
An option available in the palette which searches only the item table. Note that material added to the
schedule from this search cannot be played out since there is no instance information.

ITEM TABLE
One of the three core tables in the Morpheus database. It lists the parameters applicable to each
item, and its columns are: (* Indicates a Required Field)

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Column
Material ID*
(primary
key)
Title*
On-air
duration*
Run-on
duration
Subtitle ref
Reviewed
by
Notes
Filed date
Status
Episode
number
Number of
tapes
Aspect
ratio
Material
type*
Owner ID
Purge date
Scavenge
Archive
Category
ID

Description

Format

Unique identifier for a piece of

material

Text up to 128
chars

The materials actual title

Text up to 20 chars

Upper case letters, numbers,

some symbols. Cannot be
null
Cannot be null

Duration

hh:mm:ss:ff

Cannot be null or zero

hh:mm:ss:ff

Can be zero

How much material after the

stated duration
To identify the file ID for subtitle
equipment
Reviewers name to confirm the
file has been reviewed
Free text. Useful information or
reminders
Of the record

Notes

Text up to 30 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 256
characters
dd:mm:yy

Inserted automatically. Read

only

Text up to 10 chars
Episode number in a series

Integer max 65535

In case the material is spread

across multiple tapes

Text up to 2 chars

4:3, 16:9, 16:9PV or 20:9

Text up to 4 chars

Also includes AFD

Programme, commercial etc

Text up to 10 chars

One type must be allocated

Integer max 65535

Has to be incorporated when

database initially set up

Used to generate different

owners views of the item table
Date after which the material
can be purged
Flag which triggers automatic
central archiving
Flag which triggers automatic
local archiving
Used for customising
programme types

Date & time

Flag
Flag
Integer max 65535

KERNEL
The real-time operating system and its configuration and data which runs on the 2330 controller card.

KERNEL CLASS ID
Three digit number which tells the system what parameters relate to a particular device. That is to say
a label for the list of kernel parameters relevant to that device.

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KERNEL DIAGNOSTICS LOG

A file created by the kernel containing diagnostic information. It is periodically transferred to the
Bridge PC (every 10 minutes). The current file is KernelDiags.log and this is backed up daily to
filename KernelDiags<date>.log. It contains a record of kernel activity for all control cards.

KERNEL PARAMETERS
Event parameters which are required by the kernel (not the parameters of the kernel itself), and which
are passed to it by the Bridge. These are listed in Event Store test under Event Types, Kernel
Parameter Definitions tab.

LAG, AUDIO
See Audio Lead and Lag

LEAD, AUDIO
See Audio Lead and Lag

LIVE EVENT
An event in a Morpheus schedule which does not control a device and only relates to a source on a
router. If the event type is set as live in the property inspector, this triggers the countdown to the next
live event in the online editor. If the duration of the live event is not accurately known, the event
following it is usually set to manual start so that it can be started at any time by pressing take next in
the MIP or Preroll & Take on the TX control panel.

LIVE RECORD (in schedule)

A material type which indicates material recorded as live, which may contain gaps, inappropriate
content, retakes and so on. This will usually indicate material ingested by live record (acquisition)

LIVE RECORD (acquisition)

An independent Morpheus application which allows a live source to be crash recorded onto a server in
the same way as on a VTR. The recording is then trimmed, or topped and tailed to remove unwanted
content.

LIVE RECORD (sub-event in schedule)

A sub-event which controls the record port of a video server such that the event it is attached to will be
recorded on to that server. Needs the live record decorator service to be running.

LIVE RECORD DECORATOR

A service in the Shell Host which generates an instance record in the Morpheus database in
preparation for making a live recording.

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LOAD SCHEDULE see Schedule

LOCK DECORATOR
A service within the Shell Services Host which populates the locks table in the database by looking
ahead by a set amount of time in the schedule for an individual channel. Its purpose is to prevent
deletion of material which is about to be played out. The default look-ahead is 24 hours. The lookahead time, channel and relevant device ID are all configurable in the Shell Services Host under
Service Settings.

LOCKS TABLE
A table which lists all material which may not be deleted. Its columns are as follows:
Column
Material ID
Device ID
Playlist name
Event ID
Not needed after
Need by

Description
As in material table
As in device table
Name of channel locking
the material
Not used

Format
Text up to 128 chars
Text up to 20 chars

Notes

Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Date & time
Date & time

LOGS
Detailed lists of statuses, error messages, activity on the system are kept in various log files whose
default location is C:\Morpheus\Logs. These are:
Log
Kernel As-Run log
KernelDiag log

File Name

Event Store Test log

Probel.Automation.Eventstore.Testapp.
exe.log.<yyyy-mm-dd>

Snapshotter log
Engineering log
Pbak bridge log
Editor log
Host Shell exe log

Snapshotter.exe.log.<yyyy-mm-dd>

Remarks

KernelAsRun.log.<yyyy-mm-dd>
KernelDiags.log .<yyyy-mm-dd>

Optional
PbakBridge.exe.log.<yyyy-mm-dd>
MorpheusEditor.exe.log.<yyyy-mm-dd>
MorpheusHostShell.exe.log.<yyyy-mm-dd>

LONG FILE ID
These can be used in Morpheus if required. The option has to be set in the two application servers
and in Acquisition Configuration. The Long File ID is a field in the database instance table which is
null if not used. Even if the long file ID is present, the Instance_Label is still the primary key. Some
users find it useful to have the file ID and the material ID the same to simplify identification of material

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in a list, although if multiple instances exist, there has to be a system for adding suffixes. Long file IDs
allow a simple method of segmenting material such as films. This can be done during acquistion.
If long file IDs are being used, the filename on the video server is the same as the long file ID. The
palette can still see items with short file IDs and they can still be played out, although if long file IDs
are not in use, only short file ID items will be displayed.

LOOK AHEAD EVENT COUNT see Event Look-Ahead

LOW WATER MARK

See purge

MAIN EVENT
Term used for an event in a schedule which is at the highest level, in other words it is not a child
event of another event. The term is synonymous with primary event and top-level event. The term
parent event should be used more carefully since a child event can itself be the parent of another
event.
In the Event Types configuration in Event Store Test, the term equates to a Mixer Event.

MANUAL INTERVENTION PANEL

A pop-up window available from the Morpheus editor by clicking the icon shown. The
actual icon indicates the status of the MIP - if the hand symbol is shown with a red
crossed-out sign (left) then the MIP is inactive and pressing the button will activate it.
If the plain hand symbol is shown then the MIP is already active and pressing the button will close it
down. This is useful if dual screens are present or if the MIP is not the top window. The MIP contains
the following functions:

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HOLD

Allows the on-air event to be continued indefinitely. It takes no

account of the content or length of the item, which could mean that
unwanted content could be broadcast, or if the item runs out, black
or a freeze frame. It is a toggle button - a second press releases
the item. While HOLD is active, the start times of all follow-on events
up to the next fixed event are continuously adjusted, and Fixed
events may get out of sequence. In this condition, if HOLD is
released, the preset item will go to air immediately. The word HOLD
appears in red in the Status Bar.

TAKE NEXT

This button takes the On-Air Event off air and puts the Preset Event
on air after the set pre-roll time. If the schedule is not running,
pressing Take Next will start it. If the preset event is not yet cued up,
the current event will be deselected nevertheless, and while the new
event cues up, the output will be black This button has the same
function as the PREROLL AND TAKE button on the Pro-Bel TX
mixer panel.

PREVIEW

Select an event in the schedule and then press Preview in the MIP
to preview it on its scheduled device. This requires the device to be
free, but if it is not, a different device can be configured in the
property inspector.

JUNCTION PREVIEW

This button is intended for previewing junctions to ensure that

transitions, for example, will play out as intended. It allows the
simultaneous selection and previewing of a number of events. This
only plays the beginning and end of each item, the time being
configured in Event Store Test > system config.

AUTO IS ON / AUTO IS
OFF

(Toggle button). Auto Is On is the normal operating mode for the

system, in which all devices are receiving communication. Pressing
the button disables the automation, and the legend Auto Is Off
indicates that all controls to external devices have been deactivated.
The schedule still runs while the automation is off, but no commands
are issued.

COMPOUND PREVIEW

Previews a sequence of events highlighted in the schedule according

to the resources available in the flexible channel.

TAKE GUARD
PROGRAMME

Click this button to play out from the guard device in the event of a
fault with the main device associated with an event. The guard
device has to be set up first.

TAKE GUARD PRESET

Click this button to play the next event from the guard device. The
guard device has to be set up first.

SKIP NEXT

This button deletes the preset event, i.e. the next event in the
schedule, and replaces it with the event after it. The operator must
ensure that there is enough time for the new preset event to cue up.

TAKE SUB-EVENT

Used to take a sub-event which has been configured for manual take

GANG TAKE

Click the arrow to the right of the Take Next button to reveal a list of
all available channels. Tick the desired channels to execute Take on
these channels simultaneously.

N+1 SYNCH

Synchronises the +1 (or flexible) channel with the current channel

so that it can be brought into service. All events are copied into the
+1 channel, including the current event.

The above is often described as a soft MIP. It is possible to connect a hardware panel, such as a die-

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cast box with illuminated buttons mounted in it, as a hardware MIP (see MIP (hardware)). This uses
the GPIs on the 2330 card, the inputs being for the button contacts and the outputs for the lamp tallies.
The hardware MIP is set up in the Bridge Configuration.

MANUAL START
A check box available in the property inspector. When checked, it prevents the event being started
until Take Next is pressed in the MIP, or until Preroll and Take is pressed on the TX panel, in other
words it is equivalent to Holding the previous event. The checkbox has to be made visible in the event
types configuration in Event Store Test > Settings > Event types.

MANUAL SUB-EVENT
Secondary event whose configuration requires it to be activated manually. This is done by highlighting
it in the editor and right-clicking. The options Cue Secondary Event and Take Secondary Event are
presented.

MAPP AND COMPASS

Probel legacy media management and automation system. Some elements of this have been carried
into Morpheus, and there are numerous similarities between the operation of the two systems.

MAPP APPLICATION SERVER See Pro-Bel Application Server.

MATERIAL DATABASE
In Morpheus, the Material Database is the list of all the metadata of all the media files on the system.

MATERIAL DECORATOR
A service which runs within the Shell Services Host. It reads data from specified fields in the database
and writes them into the event store as required. One of these fields is Material Status, and it is this
data which is read by the editor and used to enter a status barrel in the schedule display.
The configuration can be changed from the Shell Host: settings > service settings > decorator service
> detailed config. This sets which channels and fields are to be decorated, and which one of the three
modes of operation is to be used:
Mode
Manual
Automatic
Always

Description
Default setting. In this mode the decorator has to be run from the quick
launch panel in the Shell Services Host
When running dual Shell Services Hosts. This ensures that arbitration
between the two host shells takes place.
Normal operation with single Shell Services Host

Note that if for any reason the material decorator is not running, the barrels will not be coloured
correctly in the editor, and some invalid combinations will result, such as grey-green (on the device
but not in the material database - cannot arise in normal use unless the decorator is not responding
or has been disabled). There is an option for the material decorator, selected in the channel settings

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in Event Store Test, Decorate Once Only, which allows fields which have been decorated to be
changed afterwards from the property inspector, as opposed to Decorate Always which continuously
repopulates the field from the database thereby preventing its being modified (not to be confused with
the Always mode of operation described above. If an event type has been configured to be decorate
always, there is a workaround, colloquially known as X-ing outwhich allows its parameters to be
edited if necessary. See the Morpheus Operators Handbook.

MATERIAL EVENT
Term used to describe the part of the schedule event which relates solely to the playout of material, as
opposed to mixer or router control. See also Mixer Event

MATERIAL ID
An alphanumeric string of up to 20 characters which identifies a piece of material on a server. Often
generated according to a system evolved by the users, so for example a material ID of
CH6/120599/ART/007 could mean channel 6, date, ad agency and 3 incremental digits.
If a file is copied, the two files would have the same title and material ID but different file IDs, although
some server systems prevent this. Morpheus prevents the ingest of more than one copy of an item
onto the same server. The material ID is called the MAT_ID in the instance table. (This is because
earlier versions of Morpheus used a Centura database, in which linked columns in different tables
cannot have the same heading.)

MATERIAL MANAGER
A tab in Morpheus Administration for editing the material on a storage device. The main tab allows
searching by Material ID, title and device ID, and editing of material ID, Title, Device ID,
inpoint/outpoint, duration and programme type. Within this tab are eight secondary tabs whose
functions allow the extensive viewing and editing of all material parameters.

MATERIAL TYPE
There are five material types in use in Morpheus, as summarised in the following table:

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Typical
display
colour

Description

Assocated functions

Programme

Blue

Main programme items, generally

as advertised in the listings
magazines or on the EPG.
Events which influence viewers to
see the commercials

Appears in Schedule Summary.

Can be used as a search criterion
in the palette

Commercial

Magenta

Revenue-generating
advertisements

Appears in Schedule Summary.

Can be used as a search criterion
in the palette

Junction

Red

Channel idents, promos, bumpers

and other interstitials

Appears in Schedule Summary.

Can be used as a search criterion
in the palette

Brown

An item from a live studio or

outside source

Appears in Schedule Summary.

Activates live event countdown.
Can be used as a search criterion
in the palette

Brown

Events which were recorded as

live and may contain black or
unwanted, inappropriate or
unexpected content

Material
Type

Live

Live record

Can be used as a search criterion

in the palette

It can be very useful to classify material properly since this can activate certain functions (see column
4 of the above table). The material type can be edited in the property inspector if the event type
configuration allows, but this may be overwritten by the material decorator if its configuration
specifies this.
User-defined material types are not available.

MEDIA BALL
Pro-Bels proprietary name for a collection of child events which can be manipulated (that is to say
moved, copied and pasted to another parent event) as one entity. This allows some useful features,
for example a media ball could be created which contains child events referenced both to the
beginning and end of a programme - this could then be applied to any programme regardless of
length. Although a MediaBall is typically used as a wrapper for secondary content, in fact it can
contain any kind of content. They can be imported and exported as xml files. MediaBalls are edited in
Event Store Test under Event Types, or in the Configurator via the Edit MediaBall icon.

MEDIA DATABASE
The table of material files on a server system. See Morpheus Database

METADATA
Data about data. In a data stream, such as an SDI stream, provision is made for fields containing user
data. These could include such things as record date, owner, earliest and latest TX dates, copyright
information, or performer information. Some systems can read, display and act upon this data as part
of their typical operation. Morpheus makes use of metadata in media files which holds Material ID,

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title, duration and other parameters such as use by date, quality check information, and numerous
others.

MIP see Manual Intervention Panel

MIP (hardware)
A hardware button panel which has the same function as the soft MIP accessed from the editor. This
can either be a custom unit utilising illuminated pushbutton switches or the user-defined switch bank
on the Pro-Bel TX mixer. Full details of how to implement this can be found in the handbook
Morpheus Interconnections.

MIRROR
See replication

MISSING MATERIAL REPORT

A facility available in either the online or offline editors which checks and lists any material not
available on the device specified. It only works on the currently loaded schedule. The report is
displayed on-screen in a new window, or it can be printed if desired.

MIXER EVENT xxx

Every primary event in a Morpheus schedule comprises two parts, one concerning the playout of
material (the Material Event) and the other concerning making the necessary mixer or router
selections. The mixer event is the name given to the part of an event which relates to controlling the
mixer and/or router. In the Event Types configuration in Event Store Test, this is called a Main
Event, and its backup event type is called a Backup Mixer Event. If a Pro-Bel TX mixer is present,
there must be a router present to make the necessary pre-selection to the PGM and PST buses.
See also Material Event.

MODEL xxx
A term used in Morpheus to denote the whole system as it now stands. The snapshotter may report
waiting for model, meaning that at that stage of its startup sequence it has not yet loaded the
snapshot queue, or click here to initialise new model if a system is being started from scratch and the
queue is currently empty.

MORPHEUS APPLICATION SERVER

An application server which is used by the Morpheus editors and the Shell Services Host to
communicate with the database. The following table shows how these applications use it:

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Application

Why it needs the Morpheus application server

Online editor

For palette and manual query

Offline editor

Offline palette and manual query

Transfer decorator

Uses Pro-Bel Application server to pass queries to the Morpheus

Application Server. See note below

Shell Services Host

Decorators fetch missing values from database to populate empty

positions in event store

Note: If media management applications are in use and the transfer decorator is activated, the
Morpheus Application Server configuration must have logon to legacy app server checked in the App
Server tab.

MORPHEUS CONTROL AND MONITORING (MCM)

The name of Pro-Bels PC-based router control product, which is being expanded to include control
and monitoring of all hardware products.

MORPHEUS CONTROLLER CARD (2330)

This card is one of Pro-Bel's Icon family of cards, it fits in a standard 3U Icon frame. It carries a
daughter board with a Pentium 4 processor which runs a real-time operating system (On-Time RTOS).
It requires a network connection, and feeds of TOD timecode and station reference.
Each card has eight RS-422 serial ports for device control. Ports 1 and 2 (only) can also talk RS-232.
There are also 16 GPI input/outputs. In the case of devices which have ethernet control ports, they
are controlled by the 2330 card, but across the network rather than via a dedicated port.
It carries a compact flash RAM card which contains 2 configuration files, called pbak.dat and
pbak.rtb - these contain the whole personality of the card, and this is not lost when the card is
removed or the crate powered down. If necessary the card can be removed from the crate when the
system is running. If this is done after the start of a long event during which no device control
commands are being issued, it can be done without any interruption to the channel output.
It has a backup battery for date retention if the card is removed. The date is used in conjunction with
the TOD timecode to make a complete date & time reference for schedule events.
The controller card communicates with the Bridge, which passes events to it. See execution

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window.
Cards can be set up as a pair with auto failover. Dual redundant cards share the same rear panel
and there is an LED to indicate which card is active. There are two rear panels available, single and
dual. Guard sources are commonly controlled by a separate card from the main sources. Ideally these
two cards should be in different frames.
There are two rear connectors. The small edge connector towards the bottom rear of the board only
carries the power, and the 110-way Harting connector carries everything else. Insert the card into the
frame firmly to ensure that both are fully mated.
Each card has its own ethernet connection and an individual IP address in the range 10.1.0.1 to
10.1.3.254. If there are a number of cards in one frame, it is recommended to label each one with its
IP address. However the board displays the last two digits of its IP address in a very interesting and
unusual way which is activated by putting switch 1 on the first DIL set (i.e. nearest the board edge) to
on. This causes the row of LEDs to display two digits, partially multiplexed so that one can read the
numbers by moving ones head from side to side to give the illusion of a dot matrix display.
The card has a reset button which reboots the processor. This takes around 20 seconds. The card
can be reset while on air, but of course no device commands can be issued during start-up. The
kernel and bridge will resynchronise, and the system carries on with no disturbance. Information in the
RAM is lost but not information in the flash memory. Rebooting does not reset the on-board ethernet
controller, so if a network fault is suspected, the card may need to be pulled out and reinserted.

MORPHEUS DATABASE
The Morpheus database contains data about the material, recordings and devices available to the
system. It is a relational database, which means it contains a number of tables whose columns are
chosen so as to minimise repetition of data and which are linked by means of keys. A key is a column
which appears in two or more tables, thus creating the link between them.
There are some 75 tables in the database, but not all are used in any given system. Only 3 of them,
known as the core tables, are essential to the function of the system: the Item Table, the Instance
Table and the Device Table. Examples of some others are the Presentation Table, the Locks
Table, the Transfer Request Table, the Transfer Error Table, the Storage Device Table and the
Server Type Table.
For the system to function correctly the database must be an accurate and complete record of the
available material. When new material is ingested, the application being used (Morpheus Acquisition
or Morpheus Caching) communicates with the database and ensures that it is updated.
Discrepancies are flagged in the individual Morpheus applications as appropriate, and there are
various tools within Morpheus to interact directly with the database. See also orphan; itemless
instance; instanceless item.
Originally Morpheus used a Gupta (Centura) database but from late 2006 Morpheus has been capable
of using either this or Microsoft SequelServer.

MORPHEUS DATABASE DECORATOR

A service within the Shell Services Host which can interrogate the database to populate any field in the
Event Store. The desired fields have to specified within the service configuration, and then pulled into
the event types configuration in Event Store Test using parameter script arguments.

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MORPHEUS GATEWAY see Gateway

MORPHEUS MEDIA MANAGEMENT or M

A suite of applications designed to manage the material and media used by the on-air automation
system,
ensuring that media files are moved to the right storage device in time to be played out by a server.
All applications require access to the Morpheus database. Some examples are Video Network
Manager, Cache Engine, Request Control, Administration, Archive Controller

MORPHEUS REQUEST CONTROL

An application that runs on the same workstation as Video Network Manager and gives a dynamic
view of all transfer requests and errors. It allows new requests to be generated and existing requests
to be modified and cancelled, and it can also purge video server material and reconcile server material
against the database.

MOS INTERFACE
An interface that generates a copy of the active Morpheus schedule in MOS format, commonly used to
provide data to EPG or graphics systems.

MTV RULES ENGINE DECORATOR

A Shell Service which populates a schedule, or a segment of it, according to a playlist created
automatically by a rules engine linked to a web-based voting system.

MULTICAST ADDRESS
An address having the same form as a normal 4-byte IP address which must be configured in
Morpheus to enable the distribution of UDP Multicast packets upon which much of the communication
with the Event Store is based.
The first octet of a multicast address begins with 1110. In other words multicast addresses are in the
range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255. These are known as Class D Addresses. The port numbers
used are 28523 and 28524, and this distinguishes UDP multicasts from IP multicasts.
In Morpheus, the multicast address is normally configured during software Deployment and can be
changed by running Deploy again. It can also be edited in the configuration of the Rescale Vault &
Server. The multicast address of the editor or HUD can be set as a switch in the shortcut command
line. The offline editor does not use UDP multicasts.
RescaleFileDeployment.xml keeps a record of the last Multicast Address entered during the
Deploy process.
Current_System.xml does not contain the multicast address.

MULTIPART PROGRAMME ID
A number put in the MPP field of each of a series of events to indicate that they are all part of a

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sequence, such as segments of a live item or film which is to be split by commercial breaks. The
number must be the same for each segment but can be chosen at will by the operator. It could for
example be 1 or 82957113. The purpose of this is that if a manual take next or hold is applied to
one segment, the timing of the next segment is automatically adjusted. However in current software
versions, inpoints and outpoints are not changed (the function was originally intended for live events).

MULTISTREAM CACHE ENGINE

One of the Morpheus Transfer Agents which optimises transfer of material from up to 2 VTRs in a
Flexicart to up to 2 video servers.

NEBULA
Pro-bel router control system which is included with a Freeway, Axis, Sirius, Freeway or Halo Master
router. Morpheus can communicate easily with it to give automated router crosspoint control.

NEW COPY
A feature in Live Record which allows a live recording to be topped and tailed within the server,
thereby simplifying future playout and saving server hard disk space. Not all servers support this, in
which case the icon will be greyed out.

NORMAL EVENT
A nomenclature unique to the editor configuration which equates to Secondary Event.

N+1 SYNCH
A button in the Manual Intervention Panel which relates to the N+1 resilience mode in which a
channel is configured to be a flexible channel, or backup, for the other channels (i.e. the other
channels are the N and the spare is the +1). Pressing the button transfers the current schedule, in its
entirety and including the current event with its current inpoint, into the flexible channel, which then
cues up and plays automatically.

NULL SERVICE
A service within the Shell Services Host which does nothing. No configuration is required.

ODBC
Open Database Connectivity. A communication layer used for database access on a Windows
platform.

ON-AIR EVENT
Also known as the current event. The event which is being played out now. It cannot be deleted. Its
duration can be changed. Secondary content can be added while on air.

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ON-AIR RESTART
Full details are given on how to restart the automation while on air in the Procedures Requiring
Special Care guide, but the essential points are given here for reference:

Morpheus is a modular system, it is highly unlikely that a total system restart is

necessary - do you really need to do it?
No manual intervention will be possible while the automation is shut down
Ensure the execution window is long enough (bearing in mind the possibility of
aborted or unsuccessful attempts - 2 hours should be adequate) and that all
events have green status barrels
Back up the current system configuration (see current system.xml)
Modify the preset event to a fixed start time and back up the schedule
Shut down the bridge
Shut down client applications leaving the Vault & Server and snapshotter
running
Recreate queues (say yes to the utterly destroy question in more than 3 but
less than 9 seconds)
Restart the snapshotter
Restart Event store test and re-import the saved system configuration (see
current system.xml)
Restart the editors, the application server and the Shell Services Host but not
the bridge.
Load the saved schedule. Identify the item which is currently playing out, ideally
waiting for an event of long duration. Modify the next item to have a fixed start
time. Delete the events before this item including the on-air event. The event to
be played out next should now be at the top of the schedule.
Restart the bridge. Confirm that the preset event is cued up.

Not surprisingly this procedure has much in common with that for the time change at the
end of daylight saving time. See Autumn Time Change

OPT-OUT HEADER
A dummy header which acts as a parent item for schedule events during an opt-out. To
enter an opt-out header into a schedule, drag and drop from the icon in the palette onto
the item above which you want the header to appear. In other words, drop it onto an
item, it goes in below it. Note that this also adds opt-out headers to all the other
channels which have been configured to be in that opt-out group.

ORPHAN ITEM
An item which exists as a file on a video server but does not appear in the material database.
Needless to say it will never be played out. The term is also used for an entry in the database which
has no physical instance associated with it.

PALETTE
A facility available from the Morpheus editor which allows the media database, specifically
the instance table, to be searched. It is opened by clicking the icon (shown left) in the editor,
or by pressing F8. A list appears of all items fulfilling the search criteria from which items can
be dragged and dropped into the schedule. The palette button is unlike some of the other buttons in
the icon bar in that it does not indicate whether the palette is open or not, and that the palette is not

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closed from the icon bar but by closing the palette window.
PASTE TOP
An operation within the Morpheus Editor obtained by right-clicking in the schedule pane, or
by clicking the icon on the icon bar (left). It pastes the contents of the clipboard immediately
after the current on-air item, regardless of which item is highlighted. It is a convenient way
of cutting or copying an item later in a schedule and placing it next after the current item.

PARENT EVENT
An event which has a child event associated with it. It could also be the child of another event.

PBAK DEPLOY
A utility for creating compact flash disks to be used by 2330 cards.

PBAK UTILITY
A utility which reads and edits the kernel registry and backing-up and restoring pbak.dat files.

PERIODIC FETCH
The time interval between successive uploads from the event store into the 2330 controller card
kernel. It is set in the bridge configuration.

PINOUTS for rear connector of 2330 card

See Connection information guide

POSTROLL
The length of time which a server or VTR is to continue playing out after the nominal end time of an
item. This must be taken into account when mixes or wipes are to be scheduled. The setting is found
in Event Store Test, under Devices.

PRE-COMPILING
A group of items may be combined into one longer item prior to transmission if time and resources
permit. For example, a complete commercial break could be compiled in an edit suite and then
transmitted as one event. This prevents making any last-minute changes to the break and could be
said to defeat one of the objects of using automation, namely flexibility, However it does make the
schedule simpler, and if only one server port is available, it allows transitions which would need two
server ports if done from the automation system, assuming these to be available in the edit suite.
Precompiling may also help if a large number of very short clips are being transmitted since it gives
the preset event device more time to cue up.

PRE-ROLL
A playout device such as a server or VTR takes a finite length of time for the output to be stable, and
the pre-roll is the time configured in Morpheus to allow for this. It may be somewhere between 0.5 and

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5 seconds depending on the equipment and its age.

PRESENTATION TABLE
A table in the Morpheus Database which lists the broadcasting parameters associated with a
Material_ID, including information on PDC, subtitles, keyers, GPIs and audio-over parameters such as
channel gain, stereo routing and phase reverses. It is not one of the core tables.

PRESET EVENT
The event which is to be played out next after the on-air event. If a mixer is present the preset event
source is selected on the preset bus.

PREVIEW
A function available from the MIP which allows material to be previewed using the server
preview port if present.

PRO-BEL APPLICATION SERVER

Formerly known as the MAPP application server, this program handles all communication with the
Morpheus Media Management (M3) system. It is used by the following applications:
APPLICATION

WHY IT NEEDS THE PRO-BEL APPLICATION SERVER

Transfer decorator

To pass transfer requests to the Media Management System. Uses

Morpheus Application Server

Morpheus Acquisition

As an interface with the database

Morpheus Request
Control

To pass transfer requests to the Media Management System

Video Network Manager

To receive transfer requests from the Media Management System

Archive controller

To receive transfer requests from the Media Management System

Multistream Cache
Engine

To receive transfer requests from the Media Management System

Morpheus Application
Server

Transactions for the Morpheus Application server are passed

through the Pro-Bel Application server

Morpheus Gateway

To receive transfer requests from the Media Management System

Now called Pro-Bel Application Server. Manages the connections and priorities of various applications
to the Database using a pool of connections. In particular, it receives and posts Transfer Requests
according to Process IDs, which identify each Transfer Agent. Also used by Acquisition. See also
Application Server

PROCESS ID
Each one of the Morpheus Transfer Agents has a unique Process ID. Commonly, Video Network
Manager has a process ID of 1, Cache Engine has a process ID of 2, and so on. When a transfer

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request is generated, one of its parameters is the process ID, and the request is dealt with first of all
by that agent. If this fails, the process ID is incremented and the next agent attempts to deal with it.
This continues until either the material is found and transferred, or the process fails. This is known as
a cache error, and manual intervention becomes necessary. Failure of the process is either
because the material does not exist, or because the Time Required setting is too close.

PROPERTY INSPECTOR
The panel at the right-hand side of the editor window which is used to view and modify the
parameters of a schedule event. The parameters which are visible, the order in which they appear,
and the limitations on what changes can be made to them, are configurable in Event Store Test under
event types. New parameters from the database can also be added here. For full details see the
Morpheus Configuration Reference.

PURGE
A function available in Morpheus Request Control, that allows the manual deletion of video server
instances. Deletion may be performed by searching a server device or by searching for the material.
The application will indicate whether material is locked. Locks may be overridden if the application is
configured to do so. Unencoded instances will also be indicated, as will instances on a server that is
being reconciled.

QC FLAG
A column in the database instance table which contains a time and date stamp to indicate when a
files technical quality was checked. This is more than the reviewed indication, which only relates to
the content of an item. This can be configured to be displayed in the editor where it is normally shown
as a blue tick icon.

QUERY
A facility available in the editor property inspector which populates empty fields in the event data.
This is only relevant if decorate once is active, and if the user has modified fields, when it is used to
revert to the original values.

QUEUE
The Rescale Vault and Server contains two large files which contain all the information about the
whole system. They are called the Snapshot and Command Queues. The word queue describes
their first-in, first-out behaviour. They are in a constant state of change and are continuously written
to the hard disk. Their filenames are of the form
rescale-VaultAndServer-Command-500097900.queue
rescale-VaultAndServer-Snapshot-1102209823.queue
Their maximum size is set in C:\rescale.ini. A typical value would be 300MB but this could be
changed depending on system resources.

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QUICK LAUNCH PANEL

Pop-up window in the Shell Services Host which contains icons for all the decorator and other Shell
Services which have been set to manual.

REAR CONNECTOR PANEL 1434 (Dual version for 2 x 2330 cards)

See Connection information guide

RECONCILE
A utility in Morpheus Request Control for checking and correcting any mismatch between the contents
of video servers and the database.

(RE)CREATE QUEUES
A command available in the Rescale Vault & Server which deletes the existing queues and generates
new empty queues, thereby deleting all event store system data. The user is asked for confirmation,
but there is of course no undo. Recreating queues turns the automation off for all affected channels.
It is re-enabled from the MIP. This is only used following event store data corruption or when building
a new system from scratch. Recreating the queues will always require the system configuration to be
re-imported using Event Store Test, so it is important to ensure that a known good backup exists.

REDUCED RESILIENCE
The alarm condition which Morpheus reports to indicate that the backup 2330 card of a redundant pair
has failed. It may be seen if the bridge is shut down or mistakenly configured for dual controllers.

REDUNDANT/REDUNDANCY
A method of obtaining resilience, q.v., by using two or more identical components for functions in a
system. This can apply to hardware or software.

RELATIONAL DATABASE
A database which is organised into a number of related tables which are linked by having one column
in each being the same. This avoids unnecessary and wasteful data duplication and increases
efficiency, but at the expense of increased complexity.

RELATIVE TO OWNER see Duration Mode

REPLICATION
A process within the Morpheus Media Management (M3) suite which handles the mirroring of files
between two servers, for example in the creation of low resolution browse copies.

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REQUEST CONTROLLER
A media management application, supplied with Video Network Manager, which monitors the
transfer request table and the transfer error table. It also gives user access to them. Its main
functions are: to view, modify, create and delete requests, to view and delete failed requests, to
synchronise database and server contents, to mirror server contents, and to purge & delete material
from servers. It uses DCOM to communicate with the Pro-Bel Application Server.

RESCALE SERVER STATUS

A facility available in the Editor (Tools > Rescale Server Status) which allows the operator to verify the
number of Rescale servers which are configured, and how many of them are active. These two
numbers should be the same. If the status changes, this will be reported in any case.

RESCALE VAULT AND SERVER

An application which is the essential core of the Morpheus system. It contains the event store, which
is the list of all events in the schedule, and makes it available to any application which requires it,
such as the shell host, editor, HUD, event store test, bridge and snapshotter.
The executable file is C:\Morpheus\RescaleServer.exe

RESET JAM
Button in the Rescale Vault & Server application for manual restarting of the event store in single
mode when the direct network connection between the two PCs has been lost.

RESILIENCE
A means of obtaining greater immunity to faults and equipment failure in a system. This is an
important issue in broadcasting since the failure of a channel, even for a comparatively short time,
may result in significant loss of revenue and the invocation of contract penalty clauses.
The key to improved resilience is redundancy. Morpheus employs a number of methods to achieve a
very high degree of resilience. Here are the principal ones. They fall into five categories: operational,
software, database, hardware and power.

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Table 1-1: Ways in which Morpheus achieves resilience

Operational

Software

Hardware

Super Duo mode

One Morpheus channel can control two mirrored playout channels

Flexible channel

One spare channel set aside to be a backup for all the others.
Schedules can instantly be transferred to this, and a viewer should
see no disturbance

Guard sources

Each source has its allocated guard source which plays out in the
background, synchronously with the main source. This can be
invoked at any time from the MIP or mixer panel. The viewer sees no
disturbance other than the fault with the main device

Offline editor

Allows schedule creation and viewing without affecting the active

schedule minimises the risk of operator error

Online editor

Clear, load, insert schedule all leave on-air event playing

Continuous backing up
of queues

Command and snapshot queues are continuously backed up to the

HD. Event store can be rebuilt in the event of server failure

Database

Database can be backed up and restored

Workstations, event
store test

Can be shut down without affecting output

Facility to back up full

system configuration

Current_system.xml can be exported at any time, and reloaded

if required

Modular architecture

Any failure affects one module only, minimising the risk of complete
system failure

Distributed processing

Running database, event store and edit workstations on different

machines so that machine failure does not necessarily lead to loss of
automation

Database PC

Dual databases can be run on two separate machines

Dual event store

Load is shared between applications on two different machines. If

one fails the other one takes on the whole load. The interconnection
is via a crossover cable, i.e. not via any kind of active device
Queues are held on a RAID drive with hot swappable HDs
RAID drive has a non-volatile cache

Controller card

Is not Windows based

Is quick to reboot and resynchronise
Contains a continuously updated look-ahead of the schedule, so that
the station output can continue for a time without loss of automation
Its personality is backed up in flash RAM
Can run as a dual redundant pair
Guard sources can be controlled from a card in another crate,
protecting against crate failure

Power

Non-volatile disk cache

The server HD is written to and read from via a non volatile cache
which protects from power failures

Event store PC PSUs

PC has dual PSUs which can be fed from different supplies

Icon crate PSUs

Crates can have dual PSUs

RESTART FAILED SERVICES

A button in the Shell Services Host which restarts any of its configured services which have been
shut down manually, or in the event of a failure.

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REVIEWED
A field in the item table which gives the initials of the person who checked the item for content. If two
versions of a programme exist, where one has been edited for content and the other has not, this
would require two entries in the item table.

RIPPLE
The playing out of events in a schedule from alternate server ports. The Morpheus editor can
do this from the main screen: select a range of events using click first item - shift+click last
item or click first item - highlight to end, then either select the Ripple icon (shown) from the
main icon bar, or choose Tools > Ripple from the menu. The items are then reassigned to alternate
server ports depending on the options selected in the options window which appears. Obviously this
is impossible where a single server port is present. It is also worth bearing in mind that rippling does
not guarantee smooth playout where there are a number of successive events of short duration, if the
first port does not have time to preroll while the previous event plays out from the second port.

ROLE
Somewhat akin to user profiles, roles such as operator, supervisor, engineer, administrator or all
are used so that views or privileges can be set according to responsibility. Roles apply to the online
and offline editor, the HUD and the Timeplane. Roles are created and managed in the editor
configuration and stored in current_system.xml
The online and offline editors can be forced to open with a particular role by adding a switch to the
command line in the shortcut.

ROLLING HOUR
A feature of the Morpheus Editor which gives a dynamic check on the Commercial content of the
schedule as a percentage or duration of either a 60 minute period (which could be partly in the future)
or the last complete clock hour. The Editor status bar shows the proportion (percentage or minutes),
colour coded according to the warning and critical thresholds set in the editor configuration under
Channel > System > Rolling Hour.

RTB
(Real-Time Binary). The file extension of the real-time operating system file (pbak.rtb) which
resides on the Morpheus controller card. See Update RTB

RUN-ON
The amount of material which remains after the nominal out-point of a file. It is to be found in the
database Instance Table. This could be relevant in the case of a crossfade or wipe into the next item.
Not to be confused with post-roll

RUN-ON (Morpheus Acquisition)

The length of time which a recording is set to continue after its nominal end time

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SAMPLE RATE
When an analogue signal is digitised, measurements of its amplitude have to be taken at regular
intervals. These measurements must be close enough together in time so as not to miss detail of the
waveform. Nyquists criterion states that the sample rate must be at least twice the highest frequency
present in the signal being sampled. For example, the sample rate used in CD recording is 44.1kHz,
in other words, 44,100 samples, or measurements, are made of the audio waveform each second.
This allows an audio bandwidth of up to 22kHz or so. The sample rate used for the luminance signal
in standard definition SDI video is 13.5MHz, which is ample for the luminance bandwidth of an anlogue
video signal, which is 6.5MHz. In Morpheus, the audio sample rates of the SDI signal are stored in the
instance table of the database.

SAVE SCHEDULE see Schedule

The prompt are you sure appears because this command overwrites a previously loaded schedule
file. This is indicated in the status bar. It is safer to use save as and use a new filename.

SCHEDULE
The list of events which are to be played out or acted upon in a Morpheus system. Some automation
systems call this a playlist. The schedule is basically an XML file but certain tags have to be present.
It is given a .sch extension, so to edit it manually, it has to be renamed as <filename>.xml.
Schedules can be created by third party systems - even text editors - and imported easily into
Morpheus. Schedules can be saved under any name so long as there is a .sch extension.
Save schedule - a displayed schedule can be saved to a filename and location as prompted.
Load schedule - always goes into the future. If a saved schedule begins with a fixed time event, this
is loaded into the earliest date which has that time onwards free. Loading a schedule should be done
with care, as it will delete every event in the schedule currently running apart from the on-air event. If
a schedule is loaded into a system which does not have some of the required event types configured,
the load will give an error message and fail.
Append schedule - add a saved schedule to the end of the existing schedule.

SCHEDULE APPENDER
A service which runs within the Shell Services Host. Its purpose is to automatically append schedule
files created off-line when they are placed in a designated location, specified in the Detailed Config of
the Schedule Appender Service in the Shell Services Host, Service Settings.

SCHEDULE PANE
The part of the editor window which displays the schedule as a table. It is also known as the Main
Grid. The configuration of the display is very flexible, for example the display font, the order and
widths of the columns, and the colours of the text and backgrounds indicating different conditions can
be changed. Colours and fonts are changed from within the editor by selecting Tools > Configuration
in the menu bar. The order of columns is changed simply by dragging the relevant column headers to
the new position.

SEARCH AND REPLACE

A Function available in the editor which allows the schedule to be searched for events, and these

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replaced according to criteria set in the dialogue box. It is activated from the toolbar magnifier icon or
by right-clicking anywhere in the schedule, and a pop-up menu appears. Replaced events can be
highlighted in any chosen colour in the editor configuration.

SECONDARY EVENT
Same as a child event or second-level event. An event which is displayed with another event as its
parent because it is associated with it, and because one or more of the parameters of the secondary
event are dependent on those of the primary event.
Multiple secondary events can usefully be collected together and saved as a MediaBall allowing
them to be applied in one action to another primary event.

SEGMENTING
The process of splitting an item up to accommodate (say) commercial breaks. There are three ways
of doing this. The following examples refer to an imaginary film which is to contain five ad breaks.
(1) When using short file IDs, play out the item five times using different inpoints and outpoints
(sometimes called soft segmenting). This is done during schedule creation and needs the
decorator to be disabled to allow overwriting inpoints. This is operationally difficult to achieve.
(2) Split the file into separate smaller files, each being one segment. Could be called hard
segmenting. This is operationally inflexible especially where different channels need different
segmentations of the same material.
(3) If long file IDs are in use, multiple entries in the instance table can refer to the same physical
file on the video server since the long file ID does not have to be unique. The material IDs
can be suffixed -1, -2, -3 and so on, each entry in the instance table referring to each
successive segment by means of the inpoint and outpoint, giving full operational flexibility. It
may be helpful to use Multipart Programme IDs. Material is normally segmented at the
acquisition or review stage using the + button. To segment a programme once it has been
added to the schedule, it should be copied as many times as necessary for the number of
segments. Then the material ID of each segment can be edited in the property inspector by
adding a suffix, -1, -2, -3 and so on. The inpoint and outpoint of each can then be edited as
required (having modified the material ID these will no longer be overwritten by the decorator),
and finally commercial breaks can be placed between the segments. The editor status flags
will show a database error but this can be ignored since the file ID is sufficient to establish
which clip is to be played out.
Instance
label

Long file ID
(physical filename)

0015447
0015448
0015449

OMN-1001-CH9-0303
OMN-1001-CH9-0303
OMN-1001-CH9-0303

0015450
0015451

OMN-1001-CH9-0303
OMN-1001-CH9-0303

In instance
table

In instance table

Inpoint

Material ID

Title

00:00:00:00 00:21:31:04
00:21:31:04 00:43:01:01
00:43:01:01 01:01:12:05

CH9/FL07/SON/PSYCH-1
CH9/FL07/SON/PSYCH-2
CH9/FL07/SON/PSYCH-3

PSYCHO SEG 1
PSYCHO SEG 2
PSYCHO SEG 3

01:01:12:05 01:21:17:19
01:21:17:19 01:40:40:07

CH9/FL07/SON/PSYCH-4
CH9/FL07/SON/PSYCH-5

PSYCHO SEG 4
PSYCHO SEG 5

In instance and item tables

In item table

In item table

Outpoint

In item table

Studying the table will make all these points clear. What makes this work is the long file ID which can
be the same for every segment. The corresponding material ID carries a suffix which identifies the
segment. The instance label has to be different for each entry since this is the unique identifier for the
instance table even though long file IDs are in use. The instance labels are all different. The long file
IDs are all the same. The in- and outpoints are all different. The material IDs are all different. The
titles are irrelevant but in this case all different.

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SERVER
In a general sense, a server is a computer dedicated to one function which sits on a network to
provide that service to client applications. In the broadcast context a video server is a computer with a
large hard disk which stores programme material in the form of files which can be outputted as SDI
video into the broadcast chain. They have largely replaced VTR as the primary means of asset
storage & playout. Video servers have a number of ports which can be replay only, record only, or
record/replay. A video server does not necessarily have a record port - material can be acquired
using non real time file transfer for example. Sometimes ports are logical and do not necessarily map
to a physical port, such as in the case of a record/replay port which may consist of two physical
connectors but only one can be used at a time. Each port can be controlled either manually from a
simple programme on the machine or remotely from an automation system. The actual control of a
server port is a simple operation, consisting basically of cueing up an item (which means loading at
least the first part of it into the server port RAM) and playing it out (that is, reading it out of RAM at the
correct speed, converting it to an SDI signal, and passing it to a physical connector), and other simple
commands such as recueing, stop, find in-point, variable speed play and so on. The similarity with a
VTR is self evident.

SERVER TYPE TABLE

A table in the Morpheus database which lists parameters relating to server types. It is only accessible
to system administrators using Morpheus Request Controller. Its columns are as follows:

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Column
Device no.
Manufacturer
Domain no.

Description
As Device ID in device
table
Make of video server
Used when a server is to
be allocated to different
logical groups.

User name
Password
Archive ID
Video bit rate
Server subtype
Sub domain

Format
Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Integer max 65535
Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
Text up to 20 chars
8-bit floating point
Text up to 20 chars
Integer max 65535

Server status

ON LINE or OFF LINE

Text up to 20 chars

Reconcile

NO or YES

Text up to 3 chars

Low mark

High mark
Delete after
period
Archive server
group
Remotable
Storage location

Notes

The minimum space in MB

allowed on a video server
before auto-deletion is
activated.
The space in MB after
which no further auto
deletion will take place

(Individual servers
can be taken off line
for maintenance)
Shows whether the
server is in the
process of being
reconciled. If YES it
cannot be used for
anything else

Integer max 65535

Auto deletion
disabled if zero

Integer max 65535

Auto deletion
disabled if zero

Integer max 65535

Applies to archive
servers only

Text up to 20 chars
Integer max 65535
Text up to 40 chars

SHELL HOST
Short and convenient name for the Shell Services Host.

SHELL SERVICES HOST

A program within the Morpheus suite which contains various services used by the system, i.e. it is the
host program containing the shell services. These are covered in separate articles, but here is the list:

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SERVICE NAME
Alarm GPI service
As-run DB service
As-run Collector
Device manager
Eng Log collector
HUDFax
Live record decorator
Lock decorator

Material decorator
Morpheus DB decorator
MTV Rules Engine
decorator
Null service
Schedule appender
Transfer decorator

REMARKS
Future implementation
Writes the as-run log to a database file
Creates the as-run log and removes past items from the schedule
Manages device allocation to eliminate resource conflicts in a multi
channel environment.
Sends the contents of the HUD as a serial datastream
Puts a file ID in the instance table for an upcoming live record
event
Enters all material within a specified schedule window (default 24
hours) into the database locks table. Thereby preventing deletion.
Also updates the database last used and last aired fields.
Reports status of material to the editor
Service which populates a section of a schedule by selecting from
a playlist
Service which does nothing. (No configuration is required).
Adds a schedule to the on-air schedule
Posts transfer requests for missing material and reports the status
of transfer

SIBLING EVENT
An event in a schedule which is at the same level as another, i.e. not its child or parent.

SKIP NEXT
Button available in the MIP which deletes the preset event and makes the one after it the new preset
event.

SNAPSHOTTER
An application within the Event Store which moves past transactions from the command queue and
creates a new model (that is, a new record of the current state of the system). This data then goes
into the Snapshot Queue. This process takes place at intervals specified in the configuration (default
every 60 seconds) and means that applications connecting into the Event Store only need read the
most recent model (maximum 1 minute old if using default setting) and process the transactions
remaining in the command queue, rather than having to go back to the model when the system was
started and process all transactions. This prevents the command queue from running out of space, at
which point the applications would cease to be able to perform transactions on the event store. It also
ensures that applications can always start up rapidly.

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OVERALL STATUS.
PRESS TO INITIALISE
NEW MODEL

SNAPSHOT
QUEUE
STATUS

BAR SHOWS
% QUEUE
USAGE

COMMAND
QUEUE
STATUS

POINT AT WHICH
SNAPSHOT IS
TAKEN

SNAPSHOTTER
ACTIVITY LOG

Figure 6 - Snapshotter GUI

In the snapshotter window, the status of the two queues is shown. The large bargraph shows what
proportion of the allocated memory is in use. The size of the queues is set in C:\Rescale.ini

SNAPSHOTTER LOG
A log file which is created by the Snapshotter which contains a record of all snapshotter activity. It is
found in C:\Morpheus\logs

SPECIFIED see Duration Mode

SPLIT AUDIO/VIDEO TRANSITION

A transition in which the audio and video do not track each other.

START MODE
In the Morpheus Editor, a parameter which is set in the property inspector for each event in the

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schedule. For a primary event, it specifies whether the event is to start at an absolute time, for
example 18:00:00:00 (fixed mode) or to follow on from the previous event regardless of the real time
(follow-on mode). For a secondary event, the two options are Reference to Parents Beginning, which
offsets the start of the secondary event from the start of the primary event by whatever offset has
been set, and Reference to Parents End, which offsets the start of the secondary event from the end
of the primary event by whatever offset has been set.

START POINT OFFSET

This name is used in the Event Store Test > Event types > detailed config, but in the property
inspector it is simply called Offset. It is the time difference between the start time of the (child) event in
question and that of its parent event. This parameter applies for the start mode Reference To
Parents Beginning.

START-UP OF MORPHEUS SYSTEM

It is recommended that the modules in Morpheus are started up in this order:

1
2
3
4
5

Module
Database
Rescale Vault & Server
Snapshotter
Application server
Event Store Test

6
7
8

Shell services host

Editor
Bridge

Notes
SQL
Wait a few seconds for queues to appear
Wait a few seconds for the % USE bars to fill up
Optional application. Time to be set to Do not set time for a
broadcast system running normally

Wait for bridge to connect after countdown indicated

Different applications will normally reside on different machines.

STATUS BAR
This is to be found at the bottom of the Morpheus editor display. It contains indications of the status of
the schedule.

STATUS INDICATIONS
Note that separate barrels are shown, one to show status as reported by the material decorator (which
equates to the status of the item in the database) and one to show status as reported by the bridge
(which equates to the status of the device requested), unless both are the same, in which case one
large combined barrel is shown.

STORAGE DEVICE TABLE

A table in the Morpheus database which lists the parameters of the available storage devices. Note
that in this context, a storage device could be a tape, but not a VTR.
Its columns are described in this table:

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Column
Device no.
(primary key)

Description

Location

Library, shelf etc

Text up to 20 chars

Type

Video server, tape,

archive, browse server

Text up to 20 chars
(chosen from fixed
list)

NA

Format

e.g. DigiBeta, DVC

Text up to 20 chars

Acquisition,
administration

Name

Not used
Identifies non-dropframe
tapes to trigger
conversion to dropframe
within acquisition

Text up to 20 chars

NDF

Format
Text up to 20 chars

4-bit integer

Can be edited from

Once entered, cannot
be edited
Administration or
acquisition

Acquisition

SUPER DUO
A configuration of Morpheus in which two entire transmission chains can be controlled from one editor
giving additional resilience. It is configured in Event Store Test.

SYSTEM CONFIG
A button in Event Store Test which brings up a dialogue whereby main system configuration items
can be viewed and edited.

SYSTEM RESTART
See On-Air Restart

TAKE NEXT
A button in the MIP which allows the forced taking of the preset event before its
scheduled time. There will be a slight delay depending on what pre-roll has been set
for the device. Note that this causes all the times for subsequent events to be
recalculated as far as the next fixed start time event. The resulting gap before the fixed event will be
flagged in the schedule as an under-run, and two times will be shown in the duration column.
Note also that this function is also present as a physical button on the TX panel, where it is called
PREROLL & TAKE.

TAKE GUARD PGM

See Manual Intervention Panel

TAKE GUARD PST

See Manual Intervention Panel

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TERTIARY EVENT
Another name for a child of a child event.

TIME DISPLAY
In Morpheus the hh:mm:ss:ff (hours, minutes, seconds, frames up to 23:59:59:24 for 625/50
systems and 23:59:59:29 for 525/60 systems) format is used for all time displays: real time (time
of day or TOD), durations, inpoints and outpoints, start and end offsets. See also Drop-Frame
Timecode

TIMEPLANE
Alternative display of the schedule in time-proportional, graphical format. It can be zoomed in and out
and can show all channels simultaneously. It can only look at one event store at a time.

TITLE
Of a material file. A free text field of up to 256 alphanumeric characters

TOGGLE GUARD
A method of switching to the guard source by right-clicking in editor schedule pane. Toggle Guard is
then selected from the pop-up menu. This will select the guard source for all subsequent events in the
schedule

TOP LEVEL EVENT

Same as primary event, first level event, parent event. The first event in a schedule is sometimes
called the top event, as in the menu item paste top, used when pasting an item immediately below the
on-air event, i.e. as the present event.

TRACK PROGRAMME EVENT

One of the two alternative modes of display of the events in the schedule. It is
selected by means of the icon bar button pictured (far left) and deselected by
means of the button (left). This mode keeps the on-air event at the top of the
schedule pane regardless of any scrolling. It appears immediately above a
thick red line. If this mode is not selected, the red line is not present.

TRACK SELECTED EVENT

One mode of display of events in the schedule. As soon as the scroll bars are used, this mode reverts
to track programme event.

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TRAFFIC SYSTEM
A third party system which creates XML files ready for importing into Morpheus as schedules.
Morpheus can convert from any format using Script Manager

TRANSFER
Refers to moving material files between servers on a media network under the control of Morpheus
Media Management.

TRANSFER AGENT
A program which moves material around the video network system. There are five of these, namely
Cache Engine, Multi-stream Cache Engine, Video Network Manager, Archive Manager, and
Asset Mail. Each is dealt with in a separate article.

TRANSFER DECORATOR
A service within the Shell Services Host which posts transfer requests into the Transfer request
table and monitors and reports on their status. It contributes some of the colouring of the barrels in
the schedule pane of the Morpheus editor.

TRANSFER ERROR
An error condition which results when the media management system requests the
transfer of material which cannot be satisfied, either because the material is
unavailable, or because the transfer was requested too close to transmission time.
This condition results in the icons (right) being shown in the status column of the editor. In older
systems the term used was Cache Request Error.

TRANSFER ERROR TABLE

A table of all failed transfer requests. It is very similar to the transfer request table but with additional
information relating to the error. Its columns are described in this table:

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Column
ID (primary key)
Source material ID
Source device ID
Source instance
Target device
Target instance
Process ID
Time required
Time requested
Request type
Parameter
Status
Failure code
Failure time
Failure details
Event ID
Make event ID

Description

Identifies a transfer agent

Copy, move or delete

Format

Can be edited from

Integer up to 15
Text (<= 128 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Integer up to 15
Date & time
Date & time
Integer up to 15
Text (<= 16 char)
Integer up to 15
Integer up to 15
Date & time
Text (<= 254 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)

NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA

TRANSFER REQUEST TABLE

This is a table in the database which keeps a record of all requests for material to be ingested or
moved.
Column
ID (primary key)
Source material ID
Source device ID
Source instance
Target device
Target instance
Process ID
Time required
Time requested
Request type
Parameter
Status
Event ID
Make event ID

Description

Format
Integer up to 15
Text (<= 128 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)
Integer up to 15
Date & time
Date & time
Integer up to 15
Text (<= 16 char)
Integer up to 15
Text (<= 20 char)
Text (<= 20 char)

Can be edited from

NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA

TRANSITION
The range of transitions which are available from the Morpheus Editor depends on which vision mixer

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is incorporated in the system. If no mixer is present then only cuts are possible. If a mixer is present
but only one server port is available, then any transition which does not involve overlapping of material
can be performed, namely cut, V-fade, U-fade, fade and take, take and fade. However to perform a
cross fade (also known as X-fade, mix or dissolve), or any kind of wipe, two server ports and a mixer
will be needed. The timing of the transition is set from within the editor, either by entering times in the
hh:mm:ss:ff format in the property inspector, or by using the graphical transition editors.

TRANSITION EDITOR
A graphical means of editing
transition timings which is
accessed from the property inspector
pressing the button located next to the
transition time field (shown left). This
allows the user to set up transitions
visually. The figures which appear in
fields in the transition editor are
automatically transferred to the
property inspector.
The audio
transition tracks the video as long as
track video box is checked; the
Synchronise With Video button does
same thing but it can be changed
again afterwards.

by

the

the
the

TRANSITION TIMING
The following diagrams illustrate the timing of a selection of transitions relative to the start time of the
new event:

CUT
NEW EVENT
START TIME
NEW EVENT
START TIME

CROSSFADE
(MIX)
TRANSITION
DURATION

NEW EVENT
START TIME

V-FADE
TRANSITION DURATION

If a transition has a duration of n frames, then the nominal transition time is frame 1, and this is the first
frame which has a little of the new source, or a slightly reduced amplitude, depending on what
transition type is selected. Frame n is the first frame of black, or of the new source only.

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TX520
Pro-Bel's own Transmission Mixer. It can be
controlled by a Morpheus automation system, and
the communication is two-way, in other words,
making a selection on the TX520 control panel can
modify events in a schedule. Limited control of an
audio mixer is available from this panel but where
more flexible audio mixing is needed, the audio
mixer sidecar panel should be used. The TX520
uses a 2330 controller card with mixer firmware.
There is a compact version, the TX510, which has
limited facilities, a different kind of display, and a
smaller footprint, but is otherwise a drop-in
replacement. The predecessors of the TX520 were
the TX220, TX320 and TX420.

TX520
control panel

UDP MULTICAST
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols. It is connectionless in that it
does not request a reply from a destination and does not guarantee that packets will arrive. This gives
it the advantage of speed, but at the expense of reliability (not usually an issue for physically small
networks running well below capacity). It is at level 4 of the OSI 7-layer model, the same level as
TCP. UDP Multicasting is a system whereby a specific group of computers (or more exactly, a group
of applications running on computers) can all receive UDP packets from a source computer. To do
this they all have to subscribe to the same multicast address, and the source computer must send
packets destined for the group to this address. Subscribing to a multicast address has nothing to do
with the actual IP address. The class D address ranges 224.0.0.1 to 239.255.255.255 are reserved
for multicasts (and are unavailable for normal IP addresses as a consequence). Port numbers 28523
and 28524 are used, and the application(s) in question monitor these ports via the protocol stack in
the normal way. The PC network adaptor itself is unaware of the multicast address (just as it is
unaware of port numbers) since this relates to applications rather than network adaptors. Therefore
the multicast address will be present in the applications configuration but not in the PCs network
configuration.

UNENCODED INSTANCE
An instance of a media file which is incompletely encoded either because encoding is still taking
place, or because an error has occurred part way through the process. This results in an invalid file
which nevertheless is listed in the database. The encoded flag is not be set, and this will be shown in
the Encoded column of the palette. The word refers to the fact that video servers store material in
encoded form, and early equipment utilised external encoders and decoders.

UPDATE RTB
A button in the PBAK Utility whose function is to upload a new version of pbak.rtb which is the
Kernel operating system residing on the 2330 controller card. Pressing the button opens up a
browse window. When the right file has been located and highlighted, pressing Open (or doubleclicking the file name) will upload the file. This procedure will disable the controller card, so ensure
that no device control commands are imminent before carrying it out. The card must be reset using its
red reset button after uploading the new file.

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USE CHILDREN see Duration Mode

USE OWNER see Duration Mode

UTC OFFSET
Used in a multi-region situation where the main system is being fed with UTC time-of-day timecode. It
allows different channels to have different offsets applied so that the schedule time for the region is
the same as the regions local time. The setting is in Event Store Test under channels. Event times
change immediately as soon as the setting is accepted, but the editor must be restarted for the clock
display to take up the new time.

VAULT & SERVER

One of the two essential processes in the Morpheus Event Store, the other being the Snapshotter. It
contains a list of all devices and configurations in a Morpheus system. These are stored as Objects.
The Vault portion of this program backs up all the system data by continually copying it to a hard disk
file.

VIDEO COMPRESSION
Any signal contains redundant information, which means information which is inaudible or invisible to
the viewer, or information which is repeated. Sending this information in its raw form is really a waste
of bandwidth, so it is cost effective to reduce the amount of redundant information transmitted or
stored. This is done by means of compression, and there are a variety of methods of doing this. The
most common method of video compression is MPEG-2. The compression that can be achieved
depends on the content, but video is remarkable in that its bandwidth can be reduced from 270Mbit/s
to 50 or 25Mbit/s (that is, about 5:1 or 10:1) with very little noticeable difference. If some signal
degradation is acceptable, a usable picture may be obtained with a bandwidth of just 2Mbit/s or 130:1
compression.

VIDEO NETWORK MANAGER (VNM)

One of the Morpheus Transfer Agents which deals with the transfer of material assets between
servers on a high speed network.
One of its services is that of Background Deletion. This makes use of a background deletion
algorithm which has settings for a high water mark and a low water mark. The principle is that when
the amount of free space on a server reaches the low water mark setting, material will be deleted until
it reaches the high water mark setting, using the parameters set for the deletion algorithm.

VISUALISE
A function available within Event Store Test which opens the Live Schedule View. This is an
alternative display of the schedule which consists of a structure view and a time view. The
parameters of any object within either view can be displayed by clicking and highlighting it. Hovering
the mouse cursor over the time view pane gives a dynamic display of the date and time at the cursor
position.

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X-CACHE
A Media Management application which allows third party agents to trigger transfer requests in the
Morpheus Media Management system by publishing an xml file to a preset folder.

XML
eXtensible Markup Language. A type of text file which takes text and annotates it to show what
variable the text is. It is a development of HTML and allows user defined variables in addition to the
predefined ones familiar in HTML. It is used for storing databases and has the advantage of being a
text file, although it is inefficient for this purpose.
In Morpheus, the schedule is stored as an XML file (although renamed .sch), as is the current
system file.
ARTICLES TO ADD IN NEXT VERSION

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