Glossary A–ZLetter T
Time zone
A time zone is an area with a uniform legal local time that can be described as an offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), including the rules for summer time.
Germany uses Central European Time, UTC+1 in winter and UTC+2 in summer.
A player converts the time it receives over the network into local time using its configured time zone; schedules, power schedules and countdowns are based on this. In networks spanning several countries, the time zone decides whether “8 am” means each site’s own local time or the same moment for all. Operating systems usually set time zones by names such as “Europe/Berlin”, which already contain the summer time rules.
A wrong time zone is a common mistake during initial setup, especially with devices shipped with a foreign default. The error is often only noticed when content appears an hour too early or too late. Management software, players and reports should share the same understanding of what a given time refers to. For campaigns across borders, it must be decided which time applies.