Transferring Media to and from Devices

Drag and Drop

Mediant uses standard Windows ‘drag-and-drop’ methods to transfer media files to and from devices. Simply drag image files from a standard Windows ‘explorer’ window, and drop them into a Mediant Browser window. They will be transferred to that device (via the transfer queue) and will appear in the Mediant browser automatically.

To transfer files from a device to a Windows folder, just drag them from the browser and drop them into the Windows folder.

You can also drop files onto the device icons shown in the Mediant Device Manager window. This will have the same effect as dropping them onto a browser window, but you are also allowed to drop files onto a Device Group. This will queue the files for transfer to all the devices in the group. Mediant’s queued transfer system ensures that available network bandwidth is optimised by transferring files to multiple devices simultaneously

As well as transferring individual files, you can copy multiple files and entire directories with a single drag and drop. Because Imagestore does not support hierarchical directories, all files are placed in the relevant ‘top level’ directory within Imagestore.

You can also drag graphics directly out of any application which supports this – for example, you can drag a graphic straight from a web page viewed with Internet Explorer into an Imagestore, or the selected area of an image straight from Photoshop.

Queued Transfers

When a file is dropped onto a device, you can continue to use Mediant while the transfer is in progress. This is because all Mediant transfers to devices are queued sequentially. While a transfer is in progress, the device manager window will show a ‘busy’ icon on the device, and when the transfer completes, a message will be shown in the Logging window.

Media Conversions

Mediant can automatically convert media formats to that required by the device. Not all formats include all possible data – for instance, JPEG images have no key data.  This format conversion will happen ‘on the fly’, simply as a result of dropping files onto the device.

Currently, Mediant converts a variety of still image formats for Imagestores to the Imagestore’s native .OXT format. Not all Image formats provide key and positioning information – the following table summarizes this.

Supported File Types

Still Image Files

Format Description Converted? Can have Key? Position Info?
.OXT Oxtel Image No YES YES
.TGA TARGA YES YES YES
.BMP Windows BMP YES YES No
.JPG/.JPEG JPEG image YES No No
.MIF MILES image YES YES YES
.GIF GIF Image YES No No
.ICO Windows Icon YES No No
.PNG Portable Network Graphic YES YES No
.PSD Adobe Photoshop YES YES No
.TIFF/.TIF Tag Image File Format YES YES No
.PCX PC Paintbrush YES No No
.VPB Quantel VPB YES No No
.EMF/.WMF Windows Metafile YES No No

 

Animations/Clocks/CG Templates

.OXA   All OXA file formats for Animations, Clocks and Easytext CG templates are supported. No conversions are performed on these file types. Note that the ability of the Imagestore to display these files depends on the version and licenses installed.

Audio Files

Classic Imagestore models with the Easyplay option require the .OXW format. In some cases, 16 bit 48KHz .WAV files can be used directly. Mediant will convert all other audio files to .OXW as required.

As well as converting the basic format, Mediant will automatically perform high-quality sample-rate and sample size conversion if required.

OXW   48KHz 16/20 bit mono or stereo audio files saved by Miranda Audio Builder software.

.WAV  48KHz 16 bit mono or stereo files. These requires at least Imagestore IS2 Version V2.11 software.

.OXE   Multi-channel format used for “Modern” Imagestores. Mediant will automatically convert to and from this format as required.

.AIFF files are converted to .OXW or .OXE as required.

MPEG Files

MPEG files are not yet supported.

Font Files

.TTF TrueType fonts for Easytext CG option – no conversions are required.