Output devices
In this article:
Overview
This topic describes which features of Q-Live are supported by specific output devices. For example, some devices may not support the full range of colour, positioning or background options available when creating subtitles.
Of the available output devices, only the most commonly-used ones are described here. Contact the Broadstream Support team for information on other output devices.
Polistream
The Polistream device allows you to send Teletext and Open Caption subtitles to a Polistream System.
The following notes apply to this device for Open Caption:
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Foreground colours: The seven primary foreground colours (red, blue, green, magenta, yellow, cyan and white) are supported. Custom colours may be possible depending on the configuration of the Polistream system. Unsupported colours will be output using the closest supported colour.
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Background colours: Only black is supported.
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Text Styles: Italic text is supported. Bold or underline text styles are not supported and will be output as normal text.
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Text font and size: All text is output with the same fixed font configured in the Polistream system. The font style and size in Wincaps Q4 are ignored (but see note below on vertical positioning)
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Background styles: The following Q-Live backgrounds are supported: Surround (2, Smooth), Shadow (4, Full), Block Solid/Mesh Row and Block Solid/Mesh Box. Both Box styles are a strap as opposed to a box around the text.
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Horizontal positioning: Polistream supports left, centre and right positioning of subtitles. This is controlled in Wincaps Q4 by the horizontal positioning controls. Polistream ignores the justification setting in Wincaps Q4 and justifies text as per the position, i.e. left-positioned text will always be output as left-justified, regardless of the justification setting in Wincaps Q4. Consequently, you are advised to lock the position and justification controls together when outputting to Polistream.
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Vertical positioning: In order for vertical positioning to work accurately you must configure Wincaps Q4 so that the maximum number of displayable rows matches the Polistream settings. For example, assume that Polistream can display text on 10 rows. In Wincaps Q4, you need to configure the font size and safe area settings such that the displayable area is divided into exactly 10 rows. If the screen height is 576 and the height of a single row of text is 35 (font size 30) then the top and bottom safe area should be set to (576 - (35 * 10)) / 2 = 113
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If this is not configured properly, the main symptom will be top-positioned or raised subtitles not appearing (because they are off the top of the screen)
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If Polistream is configured to drive multiple outputs then this approach may not work for all outputs
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Newfor TCP
Newfor TCP is a Teletext protocol originally developed by Softel but is now one of the most common Teletext protocols.
Teletext is fixed font and style with a choice for double height or single height.
- Newfor supports standard Teletext foreground colours; white, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, blue, red and black. Teletext background colours; black, cyan, yellow, red, blue, white and green.
- Newfor supports standard Teletext vertical positions, 24 rows for single height and 12 rows for double height.
- Newfor supports standard Teletext 40 characters, minus the standard control characters which means there are 37 available characters on each row.