Navigating the Cablecast Interface
Cablecast runs entirely in your web browser, which means there's nothing to install and nothing to launch. Just log in, and you're in. Once you're inside, the interface is organized around a few consistent elements that appear on every screen. Getting familiar with these will help you move around quickly and find what you need.
The Left-Hand Menu
The left-hand navigation menu is your primary way to move between the main sections of Cablecast. It's available from every screen, so you can jump to any area without needing to go back to a home page first.
Here's what each section contains:
Schedule — View and manage your programming schedule, crawl schedule, and record events.
Shows — Create, search, and manage Show Records. This is also where you'll find Saved Searches and bulk action tools.
Cablecast CG — Manage bulletins for your Cablecast CG bulletin board system.
Producers — Add and manage producer records associated with your programming.
Autopilot — Commit your schedule to air and control your system in real time using Control Rooms.
Assets — View, upload, and manage the playback files on your system. You can also rename files, delete files, and create new Show Records from files that haven't been linked yet.
Internet Video — Manage Video on Demand, live streaming, and Internet Channels.
Tools — Access Batch Functions, Workflows, Autoschedule, Reporting, and Developer Tools.
Settings — Configure Location Settings, System Settings, and User Settings. This area is primarily for administrators managing back-end system configuration. If you're a day-to-day operator, you likely won't need to come here often.
About — View the version of Cablecast currently installed on your system.
Manual — Open the Cablecast manual in a new browser window.
Frontdoor — Navigate to the Frontdoor interface, which handles user accounts and system-level settings.
Log Out — Sign out of Cablecast.
The Top Menu Bar
The menu bar runs across the top of every screen and gives you a few useful tools at a glance.
Site Name — The name configured for your Cablecast system. This appears on the left side of the bar and is set in Frontdoor under Server Setup.
Breadcrumbs — Located in the center of the bar, breadcrumbs show where you are in the navigation hierarchy. Clicking any link in the breadcrumb trail takes you back to that level. Clicking Main Menu takes you to the Dashboard from anywhere in the system.
Server Time — The current time on your Cablecast server. This is always shown in the server's time zone, which is worth keeping in mind if your team works across time zones.
Quick Search — A search box that lets you look up Shows from any screen. You can enter a Show ID to jump directly to that Show Record, or search by title.
The Dashboard
When you first log in, you land on the Main Menu Dashboard. This is the main overview screen for your Cablecast system. It gives you a snapshot of system health and current activity across your channels.
The top portion of the Dashboard displays several status panels. The first row appears for all systems:
Autopilot — Shows when Autopilot was last sent. If the schedule has changed since the last send or the send duration has expired, this panel turns red as a reminder to send again.
Playback Files — Displays the number of playback files on the system and their current status.
Video on Demand — Shows how many VOD assets are available and their status.
Server Health — Monitors your RAID arrays and disk volumes. If a RAID is in a warning state or a disk is running low on space, the icon turns red.
If your station subscribes to Cablecast Cloud Services, you may also see a second row of panels depending on which services are active:
Captions — Displays captioning usage statistics, including minutes used and remaining.
Translations — Shows translation usage statistics, including minutes used and remaining.
Smart Summaries — Displays usage for the AI-powered summarization service, including remaining minutes and the number of VODs summarized.
Reflect+ — Shows your Reflect+ cloud storage usage, including total storage used and the number of assets stored.
Below the status panels, the Dashboard shows your output channels. For each channel, you can see what's currently airing and what's coming up next. The confidence monitor gives you a live preview of the channel's output, including audio levels and closed captions.
What's Next
Now that you know your way around the interface, you're ready to start working with content. A good next step is Understanding the Basics: Login, Upload, Schedule, Autopilot, which walks through the core day-to-day workflow from start to finish.
