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Playlist: How to show Time elapsed/remaining for live inputs with a duration like videos?
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Hi. I am using a playlist to automate our show in vMix and it works great.
However, it combines live sources as well as pre-recorded videos for commercials. We schedule the live hits for specific lengths - say, 15 min, 30 seconds etc for a segment. When the playlist plays, videos have a counter in the program out showing the time elapsed and the time left. However, live sources don't show this making it impossible to tell the talent how long they have before being a cut off. A stopwatch is always going to be off due to human error. It makes it impossible to do talkback with the host without being cut off.
Is there a way to make live sources in a playlist that have a duration attached to them show the playback time like the videos do? I am tearing my hair out.
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 5/21/2025(UTC) Posts: 5
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Yeah vMix should REALLY add that as a feature.
But this GetOnTime software looks perfect if it can do that. It would solve the problem. As long as it shows the time remaining and time elapsed of the live sources in the playlist. Does anyone know how to set it up so it will play/see the vMix playlist? Tutorial/walkthrough? I’m a little confused by their instructions how to connect the playlist to it.
I’m on air tomorrow and would prefer to avoid another disaster :)
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The thing is, a live source has no start nor end. Calculating time elapsed and remaniing is a bit complicated. It only work if you have a fixed window for a live source. Like the 15min you said. You can write a script to check on specific inputs that when they are live a timer is started that switches to the add playlist and back.
There is no such feature available. You have to script it.
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Originally Posted by: sky1  Yeah vMix should REALLY add that as a feature.
But this GetOnTime software looks perfect if it can do that. It would solve the problem. As long as it shows the time remaining and time elapsed of the live sources in the playlist. Does anyone know how to set it up so it will play/see the vMix playlist? Tutorial/walkthrough? I’m a little confused by their instructions how to connect the playlist to it.
I’m on air tomorrow and would prefer to avoid another disaster :) I didnt use this software but it`s purpose as i understand is not to read the vmix playlist.But to provide a way as mavik said to measure the time for every action. You do a timeline on what you need to do and then it says the time from event A to event B and if there is need to add more time or delete,the clock syncs in auto way so everyone in production knows when his order or auto way an action will happen. To understand better your workflow. Because when we start a vmix Playlist in auto way it plays and we cannot add-remove things or change a live source time that will be on air while it runs. So you know the time that the specific live source will exist. So your best bet is to set the countdown timer a little before you start the playlist and almost there start countdown with on transition in trigger. Or script like mavik says but this maybe tricky if today the x livesource is 5 minutes and then in other shot 6 minutes,you need to open/close/edit script? I have also another idea by using also an external software but for now it is only in my mind and you give my next try to do project by using the AI technology! You motivated me to try an approach to do this thing! So thank you for your post !!
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 5/21/2025(UTC) Posts: 5
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We have the exact length specified in the playlist for the live source in the playlist. So it has a beginning and end. Can this software do this and, if so, how - any method that can do this I am fine with. We also don’t have time to script it from scratch. OBS has plugins that can do this, there is no reason a $1200 piece of software should not. We can’t stop production to learn how to program from the ground up. If there isn’t a feature like this available then there needs to be one. Originally Posted by: mavik The thing is, a live source has no start nor end. Calculating time elapsed and remaniing is a bit complicated. It only work if you have a fixed window for a live source. Like the 15min you said. You can write a script to check on specific inputs that when they are live a timer is started that switches to the add playlist and back.
There is no such feature available. You have to script it.
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 5/21/2025(UTC) Posts: 5
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I did say I need it to be able to read the vMix playlist from the very start. I just need to see a timer in some way or form for everything in the playlist. That is it. That’s all. The live sources have a specified duration. It can be a plugin, a script a workaround, I don’t care. I just want to be able to see if I have a live source that runs 15 minutes, know how long it has left so I can cue my talent. I don’t care how it is done, as long as it can be done, and told how. That’s all I need. Originally Posted by: nikosman88 Originally Posted by: sky1 Yeah vMix should REALLY add that as a feature.
But this GetOnTime software looks perfect if it can do that. It would solve the problem. As long as it shows the time remaining and time elapsed of the live sources in the playlist. Does anyone know how to set it up so it will play/see the vMix playlist? Tutorial/walkthrough? I’m a little confused by their instructions how to connect the playlist to it.
I’m on air tomorrow and would prefer to avoid another disaster :) I didnt use this software but it`s purpose as i understand is not to read the vmix playlist.But to provide a way as mavik said to measure the time for every action. You do a timeline on what you need to do and then it says the time from event A to event B and if there is need to add more time or delete,the clock syncs in auto way so everyone in production knows when his order or auto way an action will happen. To understand better your workflow. Because when we start a vmix Playlist in auto way it plays and we cannot add-remove things or change a live source time that will be on air while it runs. So you know the time that the specific live source will exist. So your best bet is to set the countdown timer a little before you start the playlist and almost there start countdown with on transition in trigger. Or script like mavik says but this maybe tricky if today the x livesource is 5 minutes and then in other shot 6 minutes,you need to open/close/edit script? I have also another idea by using also an external software but for now it is only in my mind and you give my next try to do project by using the AI technology! You motivated me to try an approach to do this thing! So thank you for your post !!
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Joined: 5/21/2025(UTC) Posts: 5
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So…is the verdict that a $1200 piece of software can’t do this very basic function?
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@ sky1
Although the feature is not currently built-in to vMix, there is a simple enough "workaround" that you can easily apply.
I would be inclined to add a "Trigger" to the Input prior to the LIVE segment of your PlayList to start a 15 minute countdown timer GT Title:
OnTransitionOut / StartCountdown / my GT Title Timer Input
(and possibly a second Trigger to Overlay that onto the Preview screen)
Ice
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Originally Posted by: sky1 So…is the verdict that a $1200 piece of software can’t do this very basic function? The conclusion is that there is no perfect software, no matter how much it costs, and it also depends on how much the creator values it. From there on, the fact that the free OBS has a ton of plugins that do this and that and the other, which you can't find in paid software, is something I personally admire about OBS. But at the end of the day, I end up using vMix, as neither OBS is perfect. A quick, easy, and simple solution to your problem would be to run the live source from OBS with the appropriate plugin that suits you, then use the NDI plugin to bring this source into vMix and use it. And your question could be, "Wait a minute, I paid $1200 to use OBS for such a 'simple' function I need?" Or "I paid $1200 and now I have to download half the internet and waste an unknown amount of time learning how to write this script, whatever it's called?" Life is not perfect. Yes, unfortunately, there is no perfect solution. Personally, I like to search and come up with workarounds for whatever I think might be possible, and I accept the fact that I had to dig into some scripts I needed. You, and understandably, want the immediate solution."
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