The Target Threshold setting controls how precise the Fitting To Time algorithm needs to be when scheduling content to fit within time constraints. By default, this is set to 30 seconds, which means PlayIt Live will accept any combination of tracks that gets within 30 seconds of the target time.

What Target Threshold controls: This setting determines the acceptable margin of error when scheduling content up to the end of an hour or a fixed time marker. PlayIt Live will generate multiple combinations of playout log items and select the first combination that fits within your Target Threshold, or the best-fitting combination if none meet the threshold.

How to configure it: Go to File > Settings and click on the Advanced Scheduling tab. Look for the Fitting To Time settings section where you can adjust the Target Threshold value. Note that the Advanced Scheduling module is required to modify these parameters.

Impact of changing the setting: Decreasing the Target Threshold (making it more strict) will make PlayIt Live work harder to find combinations that fit more precisely within your target time. For example, setting it to 10 seconds means PlayIt Live will only accept track combinations that get within 10 seconds of the target time, resulting in more accurate scheduling.

Trade-offs to consider: A smaller Target Threshold will increase the time it takes to schedule playout log items, as PlayIt Live needs to generate more combinations to find one that meets the stricter criteria. The system will spend up to the Seconds Per Fit time limit (default 2 seconds) and generate up to the Number of Attempts (default 25) trying to find a suitable combination.

Practical example: With the default settings (30-second threshold, 25 attempts, 2 seconds per fit), PlayIt Live will generate up to 25 different combinations of tracks and select the first one that gets within 30 seconds of the hour end. If you reduce the threshold to 10 seconds, it becomes more selective and may need to use more of its 25 attempts to find a combination that meets the stricter requirement.