Sources and Destinations

The Sources and Destinations section helps you manage and maintain all your Sources and Destinations from one place.

Sources

A Source is a player for a specific type of content. The source is mapped to the Destination to stream content. Learn about the different types of Sources in Userful Infinity using the links below.

• HDMI

• Media

• Network Streamer

• Program Runner

• Remote Desktop

• VNC Viewer

• Spaces Screencast

• Web Browser

• YouTube

• For Power BI, Tableau, and Epic Sources, refer to Dashboards and Integrations.

Sources and supported apps list

Source Type	Description	Supported apps
HDMI	HDMI input connected to a server capture card.	Decisions Artistic
Media	Audio, video and image files	Decisions Artistic
Network streamer	Network streams supporting RTSP, HTTPS and HTTP protocols	Decisions
Program runner	Linux programs	Decisions Trends Artistic
Remote desktop	Windows remote desktop sessions	Decisions Trends Artistic
VNC viewer	Desktop streaming using the VNC protocol	Decisions Trends Artistic
Spaces Screencast	Cast your screen into a specific inset in Decisions as in a meeting	Decisions
Web Browser	Web pages with a URL	Decisions Trends Artistic
YouTube	YouTube videos	Decisions Artistic
Epic	Time charts and bed occupancy rates that come with Epic systems integration.	Decisions Trends
Power BI	Dashboards that come with Power BI integration	Decisions Trends
Tableau	Dashboards that come with Tableau integration	Decisions Trends

Destinations

Destinations are the end-points on which content is displayed. It can range from a single display to multiple displays arranged and calibrated to stream content. The Destinations screen lists all the connected uClients.

The App Permissions column shows the application icons to which the destination has access. Modify this access by clicking on the three-dot menu > Settings option. The Settings menu appears, showing the list of applications. Select/ deselect the applications and click Save Changes.

On the destination card, the Warning icon denotes that the destination is currently streaming content. Hover over the icon for more details. Please re-assign only after due diligence, as reassigning content stops the playback of the previous mapping.

Refer to the Manage Video Wall article to learn how to create and calibrate a video wall.

Enable Show ID for Destinations

Each destination has an ID (a number) that helps you identify it.

To view destination IDs on display screens:

1. In your Userful account, navigate to Sources & Destinations.

2. In the left pane, click Destinations.

3. Select one or more destinations.

4. Click the Actions drop-down menu at the top.

5. Select Show ID. The IDs will be displayed on the selected Destinations.

Alternatively, click the three-dot menu on individual Destination cards within each app and select Show ID.

Note: Starting from version 12.9, Destinations are searchable using Display IDs or Destination names.

Map and unmap Sources and Destinations

In general, Userful Infinity apps UI presents a bottom tray with Sources (cube-shaped icon) and Destinations (screen-shaped icon).

The UI also has placeholders for Sources and Destinations. In Decisions, these can be found within Canvases. In Engage, Trends, Artistic, these can be found within Mapping Groups.

Map and Unmap a Source

• To map a Source, drag a Source (from the bottom tray) and drop it in the Source placeholder.

• To unmap a Source, click the 'x' at the top right of the Source card.

Map and unmap a Destination

• To map a Destination, drag a Destination (from the bottom tray) and drop it in the Destination placeholder.

• To unmap a Destination, click the 'x' at the top right of the Destination card.

Adding and processing assets

An asset is a piece of content that a source can play. This can include media files and web links. You can either upload an asset or create one.

Upload an Asset

1. In your Userful Infinity account, navigate to Sources and Destinations.

2. Click Assets in the left pane.

3. Click Upload Files at the top right corner. Note: If you have special characters in the names of files you add in the Video Wall Asset Processor, it will throw an error. Please remove special characters from the name of the file and add it again to overcome this issue.

4. Drag and drop your file or select a file and click Open in your local window.

5. Click Upload File option.

Create an Asset

1. In your Userful Infinity account, navigate to Sources and Destinations.

2. Click Assets in the left pane.

3. Click Create Asset at the top right corner.

4. Enter the Asset Name and Description. Note: If you have special characters in the names of files you add in the Video Wall Asset Processor, it will throw an error. Please avoid special characters in the names of assets.

5. Select the Asset Type. Media File: Enter a valid file path. URL: Enter a valid URL.

6. Select the apps to which you want to make this Source available.

7. Click Save changes.

Process Assets for video walls

A video wall comprises multiple screens that facilitate viewing content on a larger canvas for better visualization. The Video Wall Asset Processor helps chop content and enables neat composition on the video wall with local playback utilizing Userful uClient players.

1. In your Userful Infinity account, navigate to Sources and Destinations > Video Wall Asset Processor.

2. Select a GPU. Recommended: Use a secondary GPU if available. Asset processing utilizes GPU resources.

3. Optional: Add Tolerance in pixels. By adding Tolerance you can make the assets compatible with other video wall Destinations of similar configuration.

4. Under Assets to chop, select the assets using the drop-down. Only image and video files should be selected. Image files are processed and converted into a video file. Note: If you have special characters in the names of files you add in the Video Wall Asset Processor, it will throw an error. Please remove special characters from the name of the file and add it again to overcome this issue.

5. Enter the Image Duration --the time duration for displaying images in seconds. It is only applicable to image format files. Its default value is 30, and the minimum and maximum values range from 3 to 3600 seconds.

6. Select the video wall destination.

7. Click Start Process. A notification to confirm process initiation appears.

8. Click Start Process option. The platform initiates asset processing and chops the content per the geometry of the screens in the video wall. This process can take a few minutes based on the quantity and type of assets selected. Note: The media files are processed separately for each video wall geometry. Every processed file is listed in the Finished Processes list.
9. Click View Assets or navigate to the Processor Asset List.

   

• All video wall destinations should always be online for streaming content. If destinations are unmapped from the server or the video wall, please remap the destination to the mapping group to restart playback.

• Please process the asset file before assigning it to the mapping group if any changes are made to the video wall geometry.

• Refer to the steps for creating a media Source to learn how to add processed assets as Sources.