Consumers
From CasparCG Wiki
Please note: This page currently only has information about version 1.8.
Please see Category:CasparCG_Server_2.0_pre-release for info about the CasparCG Server 2.0 alpha version.
Consumer is the term used for the CasparCG components that receive playing media such as video, animations, images and audio from a producer and displays that media on a specified output, for example a window on the computer monitor or an SDI card.
CasparCG currently ships with four consumers.
Contents |
Bluefish Consumer
Outputs the playing media on to video cards from Bluefish Technologies with full SDI support for all SD and HD resolutions, frame rates, pixel aspect ratios, including support for separate fill + key + audio.
Multiple Cards
You can install multiple Bluefish cards in a single machine. Each card will be addressed with a unique channel ID, making it possible have several independent outputs from one server.
Automatic Conversion of Output Levels
To comply with broadcast standards such as CCIR 601 and Rec. 709 the 0-255 RGB levels rendered by the producers is automatically converted to the correct broadcast format (for example a range of 16-235) by the Bluefish Consumer based on the setting in the Bluefish Feature App.
Genlock
Genlock is supported with this consumer.
Audio
With the Bluefish Consumer in the current version (CasparCG Server 1.8) audio is played via the regular audio output of the machine. Embedded audio via SDI is planned for an upcoming release.
Compatibility
All producers can output their media to this consumer.
See also
DeckLink Consumer
Outputs the playing media on to DeckLink video cards with full SDI and/or HDMI support for SD and HD resolutions, frame rates, pixel aspect ratios, including support (depending on the card's capabilities) for separate fill + key and embedded or separate audio.
Multiple Cards
The current version of CasparCG Server only supports one DeckLink card per machine.
Automatic Conversion of Output Levels
To comply with broadcast standards such as CCIR 601 and Rec. 709 the 0-255 RGB levels rendered by the producers is automatically converted to the correct broadcast format (for example a range of 16-235) by the DeckLink Consumer, based on the card settings.
Genlock
Genlock is supported with this consumer.
Compatibility
All producers can output their media to this consumer.
There have been some issues with synchronizing to genlock with this consumer. Please check the forum for details.
Notes
The DeckLink Consumer was added in CasparCG Server version 1.8.
See also
Fullscreen Consumer
The Fullscreen Consumer uses OpenGL 2.0 to automatically scale the content played by the producer(s) and display it fullscreen on a computer monitor.
The resolution and aspect ratio are automatically taken from the values from the monitor resolution and aspect ratio.
How to Use
Create a shortcut to the CasparCG program and add one or several of the following command line arguments:
- oglchannel Starts the Fullscreen Consumer.
- stretch= specifies how the image is stretched to fit the screen, if not specified "fill" is used. Possible values:
- none= Frame preserves its original resolution
- fill: Frame is resized to fill the screen. Aspect ratio is not preserved, screen aspect ratio is used.
- uniform: Frame is resized to fit the screen. Aspect ratio is preserved.
- uniformtofill: Frame is resized to fill the screen. Aspect ratio is preserved.
- displaydevice= Specifies which displaydevice should be used, if not specified "0" is used possible values: integer > 0
- oglvideomode= Specifies consumer resolution, if not specified "videomode" is used. Possible values: same as the Bluefish Consumer.
Example:
oglchannel stretch=uniform displaydevice=1 oglvideomode=720p5000
Compatibility
All producers can output their media to this consumer.
Notes
- OpenGL 2.0 support was added in CasparCG Server version 1.8.
- Ability to play and scale output from the Flash Producer was added in CasparCG Server version 1.8.
GDI Consumer
The GDI Consumer displays the output from the CasparCG Server in a standard Windows computer window using GDI.
Limitations
The GDI Consumer has limited functionality and is only suitable for testing. The resolution is fixed at non-square pixel aspect ratio PAL SD (720x576 pixels.) There is no support for on-the-fly modification of scaling, non-square pixel aspect ratios or de-interlacing, so the source(s) played by the producer(s) will have to be setup/rendered correctly for computer display in order for the output to appear correctly in the GDI window. This means that they must not be interlaced and use a square pixel aspect ratio.
The GDI window cannot be scaled to fill the screen (unless the source is exactly the same resolution or larger than the screen resolution of the monitor that is displaying the GDI window.)
The window frame cannot be removed.
Compatibility
All producers can output their media to the GDI Consumer.
