Asset Manager Settings

The Asset Manager Settings dialog is the central control point for how assets are optimized, what codecs are used, and how transfers are throttled. Changes here affect every future optimization — they determine the file size, visual quality, playback performance, and alpha channel support of every asset in your show. Open the dialog by right-clicking in the Assets window and choosing Asset Manager Settings.

When to Change Settings

Most shows work well with the default settings. Consider changing them when:

• Your display servers have specific GPU capabilities — e.g., hardware HEVC decode, where switching from HAP to HEVC reduces storage and transfer requirements.
• You need to preserve alpha channels — verify that the codec mapping routes alpha-carrying sources to an alpha-capable output (e.g., ProRes 4444 → NotchLC Alpha).
• Storage or bandwidth is limited — lower quality levels reduce file size; the bandwidth limiter prevents transfers from saturating a shared network.
• Your content pipeline delivers in a specific format — if all source material arrives as HAP, the pass-through mapping avoids unnecessary re-encoding.

Bandwidth Limit

The Bandwidth Limit setting caps the data rate (in Mbit/s) used when transferring optimized assets to display servers (Runners).

Use a bandwidth limit when WATCHOUT shares the network with other traffic (lighting control, audio, show control, internet access). On a dedicated WATCHOUT network, leave it at 0 for the fastest possible transfers. See Asset Transfer for more on optimizing transfer performance.

Track Management

The Track Management section controls how the optimizer handles source files that contain both video and audio tracks (e.g., an .mp4 with a stereo audio track). The Composition Logic dropdown provides four options:

This setting applies globally to all newly imported assets. It does not retroactively change assets that have already been optimized.

Output Properties (Quality Levels)

The Output Properties section lists codecs that support quality configuration. For each codec, you can set a Quality Level that controls the trade-off between visual fidelity and file size:

Not all codecs expose a quality setting. Pass-through formats (HAP, NotchLC, Raw) produce a fixed output regardless of quality level — they appear in the list but without a dropdown.

Codec Mapping

The Codecs section shows the input-to-output codec mapping — the rules that determine what the optimizer converts each source codec into. This is the most impactful setting in the dialog.

Each row maps a source codec (In) to the codec used for the optimized output (Out):

Default Codec Mappings

The system default maps each source to a GPU-friendly output:

See Formats & Codecs for a full comparison of all codec options, including file size, decode method, and alpha support.

How Settings Interact

The three main settings — bandwidth limit, track management, and codec mapping — operate independently but can have combined effects:

1. Codec mapping determines the output format and file size.
2. Quality level fine-tunes the file size within that codec.
3. Track management determines whether multi-track sources produce one or two assets.
4. Bandwidth limit controls how fast the (potentially larger or smaller) output is transferred.

For example: switching the HAP codec mapping from "Good" to "Best" quality produces larger files, which take longer to transfer — if you also have a bandwidth limit enabled, the transfer time increases proportionally.

Saving Changes

Click Save to apply the current settings. The Save button is only enabled when changes have been made. Click Cancel to discard changes and close the dialog.

Best Practices

• Set codec mappings before importing content. Once assets are optimized, changing the mapping does not retroactively update them. Set the desired mappings before your first import to avoid re-processing.
• Use "Very Good" quality for most content. The difference between "Very Good" and "Best" is often invisible in show conditions (audience distance, ambient light, motion content), but the file size difference can be 2–3×.
• Keep a per-show settings record. Document your codec mappings, quality levels, and bandwidth settings for each show. This is critical when reproducing a show on different hardware or handing off to another operator.
• Test on actual display hardware. GPU decode capabilities vary between GPU generations. Before committing to HEVC as your output codec, verify that every Runner in the system supports hardware HEVC decode at the required resolution and frame rate.
• Use "Composition" mode for sync-critical content. When video and audio must be frame-accurately synchronized, keep them as a composition. Splitting into individual assets introduces the possibility of independent timeline edits that break sync.

Troubleshooting