What is the Cuez Media Player?
The Cuez Media Player (CMP) is a browser based media player that can receive clips and images. The CMP can be used as a standalone option to play back media from the Automator, but is designed to be used in conjunction with tools like for example OBS, which don't have great support for playing video clips via their API. Combining the CMP with other tools, means that the Cuez Media Player can be added as a Browser source/input in the other tool.
Adding a Cuez Media Player 'device' to the Automator
In the top right corner of the Automator, we see 'Devices' - this can be either in red or green depending on the status of the configured devices. Click it and select 'Add device'.
Next, select 'Cuez Media Player' from the 'Device type' dropdown list, then give it a name.
Once the Cuez Media Player device is selected and given a name, we will see all fields needed to configure it so it can be used with the Automator.
Basic device configuration
You can enable or disable the Cuez Media Player, name the device and you can enter a listening port. Once these settings have been entered, the device should show as 'online' (green) in the top right corner.
The port that is entered by default by the Cuez Automator can be changed, but keep in mind that the port would then need to be modified in the URL used to access the Cuez Media Player as well.
Media handling configuration
Next, check the box to indicate that the Cuez Media Player will be handling media. More settings will appear, allowing you to configure where media needs to be downloaded and which media we want our Automator to download for the Cuez Media Player.
Download folders
The 'Download folder' is the folder where the Automator will download all media to, with its location seen as from the Automator.
The 'Device media folder' is the folder where the Automator will download all media to, with its location seen as from the Cuez Media Player. This is most likely just a local folder on the same computer, so the same path as above.
Automatically delete files
We can also set files to be automatically deleted after 24 hours or a week. This way you don’t keep all downloaded media in case it is not needed anymore.
Define Blocks with media
Finally we can configure which Blocks will need their media downloaded for our Cuez Media Player. For this, click 'Add media field' at the bottom, select your Block configuration (for example 'Clip') and then the field name of the media (usually 'Media'). Repeat this step for all Block configurations that need their media downloaded for the Cuez Media Player.
As soon as these final settings have been configured, the media from the Episode will start downloading to the folders that were defined. A green checkmark next to a thumbnail (in the Script) indicates the media was successfully downloaded.
Accessing the Cuez Media Player
To access the Cuez Media Player, go to the URL where your Automator is running (by default this would be your localhost and port 7070) and add /playout?port=7072&channel=1 to the URL.
The playout port depends on the port you entered in the device configuration when you added the Cuez Media Player device to your Automator. Make sure to update the port accordingly.
Via this URL, you can now see the content that is being sent to the Cuez Media Player in your browser. As a next step, you can copy this URL and add it as a Browser source/input in other tools such as OBS for example, in order to playout your clips (or other media) in that tool.
Configuring actions
The next step is then to configure each Item and Block configuration with the (set of) functions you want to perform on the Cuez Media Player when triggering the Item or Block - more on that in this article.
