Tutorials
What is a Bumper?
Bumpers are special Clips that are inserted into the Channels, automatically, based on a repetition parameter.Bumpers are brief announcements, usually 2 to 15 seconds long, that can be used to identify the WebTV or with other advertising purpooses (Ex, insert third party publicity).
More at Wikipedia: Bumper definition
Examples
Bumper:
Original Channel's Playlist:
Example 1: Bumper inserted every #1 Clip
Example 2: Bumper inserted every #1 Clip + Bumper inserted as first Clip of the Channel.
Example 3: Bumper inserted every #2 Clip
Example 4: Bumper inserted every #2 Clip + Bumper inserted as first Clip of the Channel.
Creating a Bumper
Here you will find step by step instructions on how to create a Bumper. Basically, it is the same procedure as creating a Clip.Open the WebTV´s Content Administrator. To do it, add /admin to your WebTV´s URL.
Example: http://www.webtvdomain.com/admin
Click on the "Bumpers" button; the corresponding page will open.
Once inside the "Bumper" page click on the "New Bumper" button:
The Bumper creation page will open:
1) Enter the "Name" of the Bumper (up to 100 characters).
2) Enter a complete description.
ADVANCED USERS - TIPS
• You can enter XHTML code into the description field.
• (Simple Web TV 1.1.5+) If you are entering a description which is very long or has XHTML code, it is recommended to also supply an alternative "text-only" description. In order to do this, enter a simplified ( unformatted, text-only ) description between the tags [shortdesc] and [/shortdesc].
3) Provide an image "Thumbnail" that will represent the Bumper in the WebTV. It is recommended to use a representative frame of the video.• You can enter XHTML code into the description field.
• (Simple Web TV 1.1.5+) If you are entering a description which is very long or has XHTML code, it is recommended to also supply an alternative "text-only" description. In order to do this, enter a simplified ( unformatted, text-only ) description between the tags [shortdesc] and [/shortdesc].
NOTE: For this example, click on the "Browse" button and select the file we supplied with the installation package "SimpleWebTV-Thumbnail.jpg".
4) Select the "Aspect" (aspect ratio), in the drop down menu you will find several options; the most common aspects are 4:3 (standard 1.33) and 16:9 (widescreen 1.78), additionally you will find other aspect ratios used in film.
NOTE: In this example we will use a video that has a 16:9 aspect ratio, select the "1.78 - TV 16:9" option.
5) Enter an approximate duration for the Bumper.
6) Choose wheter the Bumper is a 3D, stereoscopic, video.
7) Enter the insertion pattern - a number - (every # Clips).
8) Choose wheter the Bumper will be the First Clip played back on the Channel(s) where it will be inserted.
9) Select the Channel(s) where you want to insert the Bumper.
10) Click on the "Create Bumper and upload video files" button.
NOTE: All the Clip properties can be edited anytime.
The Bumper will be created with the supplied information. The following step is to upload the files.
WARNING: If the thumbnail is not saved or if you see an error message at the right of each Quality, check the end of this tutorial*.
Remember that Simple Web TV has three predefined qualities: "Normal", "HQ" and "mobileip", for this reason you will find three slots that will allow you to upload the video file for each of them.
Warning: Do not use special character in file names.
Use only alphanumeric characters: letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9). Some characters like "-" and "_" can be used.
11)"Normal" Quality file: Click on "Browse" and select one of the files we supplied with the installation package: "SimpleWebTV-normal.flv", the name of the file will appear in the text field.Use only alphanumeric characters: letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9). Some characters like "-" and "_" can be used.
12)"HQ" Quality file: Click on "Browse" and select one of the files we supplied with the installation package: "SimpleWebTV-HQ.f4v", the name of the file will appear in the text field.
NOTE: Since Bumpers do not work on iPhone/iPod extension, you can skip the "mobileip" quality file.
Once the files were selected you can click on "Upload" (one by one or both at the same time) , the file(s) will start to upload to the server.
You will be notified when completed:
**WARNING: If you receive a "File upload complete." notification but the files are not stored, check the end of this tutorial**.
To finish, click on the "Save" button.
The new Bumper will appear in the Bumper list.
NOTE: Every time a Bumper is created, it will have an "Inactive" status, the Bumper won´t be publicly available until you decide to activate it.
Activate the Bumper by clicking the grey light bulb (once activated it will turn yellow).
That´s all! you just have created a Bumper.
What about adding interactivity to the Bumper? Read the Interactive Videos tutorial.
TROUBLESHOOTING
- *If instead the file upload options you see an error message at the right of each Quality, it is probably because the WebTV is not properly installed or configured. Possible causes:
1 - Verify the FTP server address, username and password (Configuration section of the WebTV).
2 - FTP functions disabled for PHP.
3 - If you are working with a newly created domain, it is possible that the DNS propagation is not fully complete and the FTP connection can´t be established. Wait at least 24hrs to allow complete DNS propagation.
- If the thumbnail is not saved after saving the Clip, verify the write permissions for the "plantillas/admin/thumbs" folder in your server.
- **If you receive a "File uploaded successfully!" notification but the files are not stored, check the upload and post limits for your server (upload_max_filesize and post_max_size).
For more information, check the Installation and Configuration tutorials.