Clock

The Clock device exposes the time of day — the Producer machine's system clock — to the show. It talks to no hardware and has nothing to configure. It is used for two things: displaying the current time in a UserScreen, and driving a timeline so that the timeline follows real time of day.

Setup

The Clock device has no settings. In the Content dock -> OBJECTS tab, create a Clock device and give it a descriptive name. A single Clock device is enough for the whole show, since they would all show the same time.

Device widget

To show the time in a UserScreen, unlock the UserScreen, drag the Clock device from the OBJECTS tab into it, then lock it again.

The widget displays the current time of day as a read-only timecode, HH:MM:SS:FF. The frames field is derived from the show's timebase, set in the Content window settings. Its font, text colour and background colour can be changed in the inspector while the UserScreen is unlocked.

In the WebPanel, the same widget is displayed as HH:MM:SS, without the frames field.

Locking a timeline to the Clock

The Clock is a timecode device, so a timeline can follow it instead of running on its own internal clock. Add a Command Cue (or a QuickKey) with the action Lock Tc, and pick the clock — listed as Clock device n°1 — in the device list. UnLock Tc gives the timeline its internal clock back.

While a timeline is locked to the Clock, its timecode is the time of day: at 14:32:10 the locator sits at 14:32:10, so a cue placed at 14:32:10:00 plays at 14:32:10 every day. This is a convenient way to run a show that must follow opening hours.

Info

A locked timeline ignores its own transport: play, pause and dragging the locator have no effect until it is unlocked. A red TC indicator is shown on the timeline while it is locked.

Info

The Clock device is not the Show Clock (ms) ActionGraph node, which counts milliseconds since Onlyview started rather than giving the time of day, nor the Countdown media, which counts down over the duration of its own cue.