The TMS can select a feature CPL from a film group based on tags assigned to a specific Auditorium or using show tags received for the POS system.
Content film groups are referred to as “Films” on the Content and Playlists screens.
How to Assign a Content to a Film Group
Go to Content tab using main menu
Open content piece to assign and go to Info tab
Select the Films box and type a name of a film group
You can select an existing film group
You can create a new one by typing a group name instead
You can assign one content piece to multiple film groups if required
Save the changes to apply them
How to Use a Film Group
To use a film group you need to pick film group as a feature in the playlist. When this playlist will be booked, TMS will apply different rules to resolve film group to the best feature CPL option for a screen.
Starting from 5.15, TMS will try to resolve film groups even if it does not have any content available in library or screens. This will raise proper Feature and KDM related errors and notifications.
To avoid film resolution while content is not on site, set feature.content.film.siteDetectedCplOnly to true
Auditorium Tags
Each Auditorium can be tagged with the types of content it supports for example audio formats 7.1, Atmos.
If a film group is used in a playlist rather than a feature CPL then the TMS will select the best audio format for a booked playlist.
If a KDM is not available a configurable amount of time before a booked show the TMS will select a CPL with a KDM for that auditorium.
Property feature.content.film.tags.unplayable defines content tags which will be considered unplayable in auditoriums which do not have the same tags set. For example, good candidates for this property would be IMAX, IMAX-12, HFR, 3D, 71 because all these formats require specific screen capabilities. The default is IMAX, AURO, ATMOS, HFR, 3D, 7.1, though any custom tags may also be specified.
SCOPE and FLAT formats (or tags) are different. Both formats are being played in any type of auditorium, so it would not make sense to add them to the unplayable tag list. However, it is still important to only use the tag which is applicable to the auditorium. For example, screens which are designed for FLAT format should only have the FLAT tag set, despite that they will also play SCOPE format features. SCOPE format features would still be added to the shows on that screen until it is not included in the unplayable tag property.
Property feature.content.film.tags.ordered defines the ordered list of preferred format tags used when resolving feature CPL from a Film group. The ordering determines tag prioritization during automatic content resolution. The default is IMAX, 3D, ATMOS, AURO, DBOX, 4K, 7.1, HFR, SCOPE, FLAT, though any custom tags may also be specified. When any of the default tags are included, the Theatre Management System (TMS) will auto-resolve them during the feature resolution process. This ordering ensures that the most desirable available format is selected based on the configuration and capabilities of the auditorium.
Show tags
You can add a show tag manually or it might come automatically from POS integration. In this case those tags will be used as a pre-filter to match show feature.
For example if you have a film group called with 2D & 3D versions of a movie and a show tagged as 2D TMS will populate a 2D version of the movie, even if 3D version is available & auditorium is capable to play 3D.
POS Tag Mapping
Property extension.pos.tags.map allows the mapping of show tags received from the POS system to alternative values, enabling normalization or cleanup of incoming tag data. Mappings are specified as a space-separated list using the format "FROM->TO". Multiple input tags can be grouped and mapped to a single target value by separating them with commas. For example, the mapping string "2D,3D->2D Digital->" will convert any tag group containing "2D,3D" into a single "2D" tag, while removing any occurrence of the "Digital" tag entirely (by mapping it to an empty value). This functionality ensures consistent tagging for downstream processes such as feature resolution from a film group.
Content Rescue
Before the show start, TMS can attempt to rescue content if it has KDM missing or is invalid. TMS would attempt to replace a feature with another version from the film group, which might not be as preferable but would still be better than a lost show.
To enable this functionality for cases when content has KDM missing unlockedOnlyOffset should be defined, e.g. 30min:
feature.content.film.unlockedOnlyOffset=0 30
Starting from RB 5.13 version, to enable this functionality for cases when content is invalid unlockedOnlyOffset should be defined, e.g. 30min:
feature.content.film.validOnlyOffset=0 30
When creating booking manually within the set offset of mentioned properties, content will also be hidden if missing KDM or invalid.
Other usages
Protect Films from auto-assignment Checkbox
The TMS can automatically create a film group based on the feature CPL uuid provided by a POS system for a show. The typically use case would be POS system provides the 5.1 CPL uuid and TMS then automatically creates a film group of CPLs sharing same Content Title.
The functionality is disabled by default and can be enabled using the following properties, but can only be used if a feature CPL is defined in the POS schedule data (which is seldom the case)
extension.pos.groups.active=true
To add 7.1 CPL with the same title name automatically to the same Film group use this property
extension.pos.groups.tags=7.1