Extron Electronics VN-Matrix 250 User Guide: VNM 250 GUI Overview

VNM 250 GUI

Overview

VNM 250 GUI Login

The system can be configured and controlled using a graphical user interface (GUI), which is

served by the VNM 250 device that is acting as the system controller. To use this GUI, follow

these instructions:

1. Use one of the following web browsers with the version shown or later:

®

®

z Windows

Internet Explorer

version 8

®

®

z Mozilla

Firefox

version 20

®

™

z Google

Chrome

version 30

The PC must be on the same network as the VNM 250 controller.

2. Enter the controller IP address in the search bar. Press <Enter>.

3. The VN‑Matrix Controller login page opens:

Figure 19. VN-Matrix Controller Login Page

4. Enter the Username and Password. By default, these are both admin (all lower case).

5. Press Log In. The VNM 250 GUI opens at the Device List tab (see page 35).

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 3333

VNM 250 GUI Tabs

The following list shows the tabs that are available in the VNM 250 GUI control program and

provides links to more detailed descriptions of each tab. They are divided into Shared tabs

(encoder and decoder), Encoder tabs, and Decoder tabs.

Configuration of the system, using the control program is described in Configuration with

the VNM 250 GUI (see page 66).

Tabs Shared by Both the Encoder and Decoder

z Device List (see page 35)

z Accounts (see page 36)

z Alarms (see page 37)

z Alarms Logs (see page 38)

z Upgrade (see page 40)

z Peripherals (see page 41)

z License (see page 44)

Encoder tabs

z Encoder Device (see page 45)

z Configure (VideoPort0) (see page 46)

z Bandwidth (see page 48)

z Video Setup (see page 52)

z Configure (AudioPort0) (see page 53)

z Configure (data) (see page 55)

Decoder tabs

z Decoder Device (see page 57)

z Display (Display0) (see page 58)

z Bandwidth (video) (see page 61)

z Bandwidth (audio) (see page 62)

z Bandwidth (data) (see page 64)

z Format (see page 65)

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 34

Tabs Shared by Both the Encoder and Decoder

Some of the tabs listed in this section, for example the Device List (see below), Accounts

(see page 36), Alarms (see page 37), and Alarm Logs tabs (see page 38), can be

accessed without first selecting a device.

Other tabs, for example the License (see page 44), Upgrade (see page 40), and

Peripherals (see page 41) tabs, can only be selected once a device has been selected.

However, the options in these tabs are identical whether you navigate to the page from an

encoder or a decoder. Therefore, they have also been included in this Shared Tabs section.

Save All, Help, and Logout are available in all screens, although these function as buttons

rather than tabs.

Save All saves changes you have made:

On the Device List page, Save All saves all changes on the system.

On the Device page, Save All saves only the changes to that device.

Help provides a context‑sensitive help page that explains the features of the tab that is

currently open.

Logout, logs you out of the system.

Device list tab

The control program opens to the Device List tab.

Figure 20. VN-Matrix Device List Tab.

When the Device List tab is selected, the Accounts and Alarms tabs become available.

The Device List lists all the devices in the system, using the following icons:

Mode Icon Description Status Icon Description

Unknown device Alarm status gray — a device that has not

contacted the controller during this session.

Encoder device

Alarm status green — a device under active

(source)

control with no alarms.

Decoder device

Alarm status yellow — a device under active

(display)

control showing only Warning alarms.

Alarm status red — a device under active

control showing Critical alarms.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 35

Pass-through mode

In this mode, data received by a device (input) is transmitted over the network using

TCP/IP and then converted back to serial data by a second device (output). Data flow is fully

bidirectional and is independent of whether the VN‑Matrix device is an encoder or decoder.

Pass‑through data cannot be recorded.

One device in the pass‑through group is designated the server. One or more devices are

connected as clients (in pass‑through mode).

TCPRS-232 TCP

RS-232

Network

TCP

RS-232

TCP

RS-232

CONTROL

STREAM

MENU

ADJUST

CONTROL

MENU

ADJUST

CONFIG

STATUS

STREAM

ALARM

NEXT

VN-MATRIX RGB / HDMI OVER IP

VNE 250

CONFIG

STATUS

ALARM

NEXT

VN-MATRIX RGB / HDMI OVER IP

VND 250

VN-Matrix (Server)

CONTROL

ADJUST

STREAM

MENU

STATUS

RS-232 serial data input to the server

CONFIG

ALARM

NEXT

VN-MATRIX RGB / HDMI OVER IP

VND 250

is sent to all clients simultaneously.

Data input to each client is sent to the

CONTROL

STREAM

MENU

ADJUST

server output. Simultaneous data input

CONFIG

STATUS

ALARM

NEXT

VN-MATRIX RGB / HDMI OVER IP

VND 250

is processed on a "rst in, rst out" basis.

Figure 27. Example of Pass-through Mode

Any number of serial pass‑through groups can exist on the same network.

Serial Port Control

Select a serial port mode:

z none ‑ the serial port is not used

z server ‑ the serial port is used to send serial RS‑232 data to clients

z client ‑ the serial port can connect to the server serial ports on other devices

A pass‑through link can be established by setting the serial port of one device in server

mode and the serial port of a second device in client mode. The destination of the second

(client) device is set to the pass‑through port on the first (server) device.

NOTE: The destination can only be modified when the serial port is operating in

client mode. The pulldown list allows a pass‑through connection to be requested to

each VN‑Matrix device in the network, regardless of whether the device is currently

configured as a server.

A server can accept multiple client connections. Under these conditions the data input

by the server serial port is duplicated to all connected clients. The data received from the

clients is multiplexed (in order of arrival) and output through the server serial port.

The basic operation parameters of the serial port can be controlled on a device by device

basis. There is no requirement for a server and connected client to share a common baud

rate. However if serial data is continuously input at a high rate, some handshaking will be

required otherwise data will be discarded when the internal buffer overflows.

Serial RS-232 Data Channel

In this mode, serial RS‑232 data received on the pass‑through port is transported over the

network alongside the video stream. Data flow is unidirectional from the encoder to the

decoder and may be recorded synchronously with the other streams that are configured on

the encoder.

NOTE: Serial mode for both the encoder and decoder must be set to server.

It is recommended that all serial port settings are the same for both the encoder and

decoder. Mismatches result in data being discarded if it arrives at a decoder faster than it

can be transmitted.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 42

Mouse+Keyboard Control

VNM 250 products have the capability to forward Mouse and Keyboard information from a

Display device to a Source device. This allows a Source (PC) to be controlled remotely from

the Display location.

The forwarding operation is configured automatically and the Display is connected to

the Source from which video is currently being streamed. The user enables and disables

M+K Forwarding by entering a hotkey sequence on the keyboard that is connected to the

decoder.

On a VNE 250 device, the mode can take two values, Enable and Disable. When enabled,

the Source permits M+K Forwarding. When disabled, all forwarding requests are denied.

On a VND 250 device, the mode can take on one of four values:

z Disable ‑ the Display will not forward mouse and keyboard information.

z Keyboard ‑ the decoder forwards mouse and keyboard information.

z Keyboard+Keepalive ‑ this is the same as Keyboard except the link is automatically

re‑established if broken until explicitly killed by a Display hotkey input.

z Force ‑ mouse and keyboard forwarding and keepalive is permanently enabled without

the need for a hot key sequence.

The destination IP address is automatically configured and the MK IP field can be left blank

for normal operation.

This screen also shows two items of status. The first Status is the current status of the

Link. On the VNE 250 it will show as Disabled, Local, or Remote M+K. On the Display it will

show as Disabled, Local, or Forwarding. In case of a connection error, a reason is shown in

brackets after Local.

The second item of status is the Inactivity timer. This only operates on the VND 250 and

counts the number of seconds since the Mouse or Keyboard last reported a change. The

system controller may chose to drop a "Force" connection after a period of inactivity.

The page does not auto‑update so fresh status values are present only after the page is

loaded. Click on the Peripherals tab (see page 41) to reload or press "F5."

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 43

License Tab

Figure 28. License Tab

Device License — for a VNM 250 device, the license features are fixed and cannot be

modified.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 44

Encoder Tabs

Device Tab

Figure 29. VN-Matrix Encoder Device Tab

The Accounts and Alarms tabs disappear but Device, Upgrade, and Peripherals tabs

appear, with the Device tab highlighted. In addition, there are three links (videoPort0,

audioPort0, and data) in the Configuration panel. The encoder Device tab is split into four

panels:

Device Summary — provides information about the device:

z The device can be named by editing the Name text box and clicking Update. Use any

combination of letters, numbers, and the underscore character. Do not use spaces. By

default, the device name is the word device followed by the device ID.

z The device status field is read only. The status can be Active (a device that is online

and under control) or No Device (a device that cannot be contacted by the controller).

z The IP address, port, and cport are the current IP address of the streaming port

network (LAN 2), the UDP port the device is using to contact the controller, and the

UDP port on the controller that is being contacted. This field is read only.

z The link status can be Good (indicates little or no management packet loss), Fair

(indicates a small amount of packet loss), or Poor (indicates a bad link). If the link is

poor, determine whether the link has sufficient bandwidth for the traffic.

Device Setup — controls some of the global actions for the device.

z The device type is a read‑only field and shows Source for an encoder.

z The Mode can be enable (normal operation), disable (streaming is disabled but pass‑

through is enabled), or test (suspends normal streaming and displays a splash screen

with the words Test Mode).

z The Identity/Source/No Source check boxes allow the device name and source

type to be overlaid on the local display. This helps to identify a specific encoder in a

large or complex system.

z Identity displays the device name or device ID

z Source displays the currently detected source format

z No Source enables the Identity text when no valid source is detected.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 45

z Data interface is a read‑only field that reports which of the CAT 5 (by default) or SFP

connectors is currently active on LAN 2.

z Multicast TTL (Time to Live) defines the number of hops multicast traffic makes between

routed domains when it exits a Source.

Configuration — allows you to configure the video attributes of the source (VideoPort

link), the audio attributes of the source (AudioPort link), the data attributes (Data link),

or the display attributes and source selection.

Video Stream Input Configuration

Click on the videoPort0 link to configure the video input. The Configure tab for

videoPort0 opens:

Configure (VideoPort0) Tab

Figure 30. VideoPort0 Tab

The Upgrade and Peripherals tabs disappear and Bandwidth and Video Setup tabs

appear, with the Configure tab highlighted.

By default the video port is named videoPort0. If required, change the name by editing the

Name field and clicking update.

The top panel provides information about:

z Input Mode — shows the operating mode of the input. Normally this should show

auto. It is controlled in the Video Setup tab (see page 52).

z Current Mode — shows the currently detected source type.

z Source Status — describes the video input connection. Active means the video

source has been recognized at the input. Unplugged means either no source is

connected or there is no active video signal from the connected source.

Video input — EDID settings

Set the EDID (D) for the digital video input and the EDID (A) for the analog input. In most

cases, transparent is the correct option. This allows the EDID data of the loop‑through

display to pass through the VNE 250 to the source PC.

The Monitor EDID shows the name of the display currently connected to the loop‑through

video connector.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 46

The reported EDID drop down allows selection of the EDID that the encoder will report

to the source device. Selecting Transparent mode reports the EDID from the currently

connected monitor. If no monitor is connected, the EDID from the last connected monitor is

used.

EDID from previously connected displays is stored and may be selected.

Alternatively, you may select one of the fixed EDIDs listed in the drop‑down list. Available

EDID files are shown in the Supported EDID Modes tables (see page 122).

Video input — channel selection

Use the drop‑down list to set the Input Channel mode to auto,

Input Channel

auto

chan-1 (digital), or chan-2 (analog).

chan-1

auto causes the HDMI input to be selected whenever a digital

source is detected.

chan-1 selects the HDMI input.

chan-2 selects the RGB input.

NOTE: Both the analog and digital inputs support full auto‑detect of the input signal

resolution and frame rate. No user configuration is necessary.

Video input — HDCP authorization

Select or deselect the Enable HDCP check box.

This allows HDCP negotiation to be turned on or off. If the source requires HDCP and this

setting is disabled, no image is displayed on the pass‑through monitor and no video signal

is streamed.

Streams — multicast enable

Select the Multicast Enable check box if RTP multicast source streaming is required.

Otherwise, ensure the box is deselected, to enable RTP unicast.

If Multicast Enable is selected, a dialogue

is displayed asking for a multicast address (see

figure to the right). This must be obtained from

your network administrator.

Streams — New Export Stream

The New Export Stream button can be used to configure streaming between devices that

are controlled by different system controllers. The VNM Enterprise Controller fully supports

this feature and Extron recommends that it be used as the system controller if this function

is required.

auto

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 47

Managing Compression and Bandwidth Settings

From the Configure tab, click on the Bandwidth tab:

Bandwidth Tab

Figure 31. Video Bandwidth Tab

The VNE 250 can apply various types of compression to an input source in order to reduce

the volume of source data streamed across the network. In addition, various parameters

are provided to manage and, if necessary, limit the amount of data flow to ensure that the

available network bandwidth is not exceeded.

The default compression settings applied by the VNE 250 offer a balance between the

quality of the displayed material and network bandwidth. Where network bandwidth is

restricted, extra compression can be applied. Depending on the source type and content,

significant reduction in streamed data can be achieved with little or no perceptible effect on

image quality.

Alternatively, where network bandwidth is not an issue, compression can be reduced to

provide improved image quality. In most cases, this is not required as the VNE 250 uses

highly efficient compression algorithms.

From the Video Configuration tab, click on the Bandwidth tab. The Video Setup tab

disappears and the Bandwidth tab is highlighted. The Bandwidth tab can be set to show

two levels of detail, by selecting the Less Detail button (see figure 31) or More Detail

button (which replaces the Less Detail button when the GUI window contracts).

Bandwidth Management panel — simple control

Figure 32. Video Bandwidth Tab (Less Detail)

The Bandwidth Management panel provides a basic level of control over the encoder

compression settings.

The maximum bit rate of the streamed image is set with the Bandwidth slider. The slider

may be adjusted from 1 Mbps to unlimited. The selected maximum bit rate is displayed on

the right hand side of the slider bar.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 48

When the slider is set to unlimited, the bit rate depends on the complexity (detail and

motion) of the source image. As the slider is adjusted to reduce the maximum bit rate, the

encoder progressively drops frames in order to limit the instantaneous bit rate. The number

of frames dropped depends on the source image complexity.

NOTE: Extron advises against using more than 300 Mbps for most applications. Check

with your network administrator to determine the available bandwidth.

The Video Quality slider adjusts the amount of spatial compression that is applied to the

source image. Video Quality is set in steps ranging from low to high quality.

The low setting (one star) provides the lowest

image quality (with the highest compression).

The high setting (four stars) provides the highest

image quality (with the lowest compression).

Either of two transform types can be selected using the transform drop‑down list:

z Graphics is optimized for text and sharp lines, as is present on most computer

screens.

z Video is optimized for smooth tone changes such as is present in movies and other

video content.

Monitoring the bit rate

The bit rate of the streamed image is monitored in the Streams information area of the

Bandwidth tab.

# Destination TransBW(Mbps) Drop%RTT(us)

1 VND200_PDTEST.videowindo

Video Quality low high

Video Quality low high

Streams

rtp(m)0.000

0.0

Figure 33. Bandwidth Streams

The Streams list shows network statistics for current RTP streams. For each RTP stream,

three values are presented: the transmit bandwidth (Trans) (in megabits per second), the

packet drop percentage (Drop %) and the round trip delay time (RTT, in microseconds). The

transmit bandwidth is the true bandwidth of the source measured over the last second.

All of this data may not have arrived at the destination if the link shows packets are being

dropped. Most networks show a small amount of dropped traffic, but when this loss rate

rises above 5%, it indicates that the capacity of the link has probably been exceeded.

A lightly loaded network shows a fairly constant RTT. When this value starts to rise or

fluctuates excessively it indicates the network is congested. Usually when network capacity

has just been exceeded, the RTT rises to a large value just before packets start being

dropped. The link latency rises as RTT increases.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 49

Video quality and Bandwidth panel — advanced control

Figure 34. Bandwidth Tab: Video Quality and Bandwidth Panel

The Video Quality and Bandwidth panel (click More Detail, if necessary) provides a

greater degree of control over the encoder compression settings.

These controls are divided into two main categories:

z Video Quality

z Bandwidth

They provide access to the complete set of image quality and bit rate tools for the VNE250.

When controls in this section duplicate controls found in the Bandwidth Management panel,

the settings in both panels coincide.

Video Quality Panel

Spatial Compression — this level is set using the Luminance and Chrominance

drop‑down lists.

A luminance value of 0 provides the minimum spatial compression; a luminance value of 10

provides the maximum spatial compression.

These controls are normally locked (using the Lock check box), with an optimal offset of

2units between them. If required, the chrominance compression may be set independently

by clearing the Lock check box.

NOTES:

• By default, the luma and chroma offset is set to 2 whenever the simple (standard)

management scheme is selected.

• A spatial compression setting of 4/6 (luma 4; chroma 6) provides visually lossless

compression.

Temporal Compression — is applied by selecting the Temporal check box (this option

is selected by default). Temporal compression causes data to be transferred only when a

change occurs between frames.

Threshold Setting — modifies the detection point of the temporal compression algorithm.

A value of

0 results in all changes between frames being sent. As the threshold value is

increased, only changes above a certain level are sent, thus reducing the bit rate.

This control compensates for image sources that have a level of noise in them. In general,

there is always some noise in any source produced by an analog method. By applying a

threshold, this noise can effectively be ignored by the PURE3 compression engine, resulting

in a lower transmitted bit rate.

A setting of 0 is suitable for DVI computer‑generated sources. Sources with more noise or

video‑type motion should use a setting between 1 and 4. Camera sources should always

use a value greater than 1.

Chroma Setting — controls whether the temporal algorithm should consider changes

in the color or chrominance of the image. Enabling chroma gives better results on digital

simulation source types. However, chroma thresholds can increase the transmission

bandwidth by up to 20%; therefore, it should be disabled on bandwidth sensitive systems. It

is usually not required on video or camera source types.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 50

Bandwidth Panel

Figure 35. Bandwidth Tab: Video Quality and Bandwidth Panel

The VNE 250 can apply various control modes to manage the bit rate. These control modes

are selected in the Mode drop‑down list.

None — no bandwidth management policy is followed apart from the underlying

compression settings.

Manual Frame Drop — allows the user to specify the precise fraction of frames to drop.

This doesn't manage the average bandwidth at a fixed level, but does result in a smoother

update during rapidly changing video content types. Enter the percentage of frames to

discard in the Frame Drop Percentage field. For example, a value of 95 (95%) discards 19

out of every 20 frames, reducing a 60 frames per second (fps) video signal to 3 fps.

NOTE: Slowing the frame rate to 1 fps may cause the decoder to behave as if the

source stream has been interrupted and it may flash up the "No Source" splash

screen.

Shared Flow rate — limits the total network video traffic for all streams from this source

to the flow rate (in Mbps) specified in the Target Bandwidth field. Frames are dropped if

the instantaneous data rate is higher than the flow rate.

Peak Flow rate — limits the network video‑traffic for a single stream from this source

to the flow rate specified in the Target Bandwidth field. Frames are dropped if the

instantaneous data rate is higher than the flow rate.

PBR-F — Dynamically modifies the compression settings to limit the transmit bandwidth

to the specified rate or below. The specified compression setting is used as the minimum

compression value. The filter averages the bit rate over a period of 1 second.

PBR-F (FD) ‑ Same as PBR-F except frames are dropped when a larger reduction than can

be achieved with just compression settings is required.

Flow rate control modes (shared flow rate and peak flow rate modes) limit the instantaneous

traffic on the network and are useful where the network pipe between source and display

has limited bandwidth and drops traffic when this rate is exceeded. Non‑flow rate control

modes (none, manual frame drop, PBR‑F, and PBR‑F (FD) limit the average bandwidth, but

the instantaneous bandwidth can be high. Non‑flowrate control modes are best used on a

LAN where the user does not wish the VNE 250 to consume excess bandwidth.

NOTE: The actual bandwidth usage for unicast transports is multiplied by the number

of data stream destinations. For example, if the encoder has two unicast RTP

connections plus a TCP connection, it sends three data streams across the network

and requires bandwidth for each stream.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 51

z Data interface is a read‑only field that reports which of the CAT 5 (by default) or SFP

connectors is currently active on LAN 2.

z Multicast TTL (Time to Live) defines the number of hops multicast traffic makes between

routed domains when it exits a Source. If the TTL is not properly configured, information

that is to be sent back to a corresponding encoder may fail to function correctly.

Output Configuration

Display tab

Select a decoder in the Device List tab and, in the Configuration panel of the Device tab

that opens, click the Display0 link:

22

1

1

3

3

Figure 41. Display Tab

The Output Format drop‑down list has three scaling modes (see figure 41

1

):

z Auto — sets the display to the same resolution and frame rate as the source stream.

z Monitor — sets the decoder output mode to the preferred resolution and frame rate

of the output monitor. To operate correctly, this feature requires the monitor to support

EDID properly.

z Fixed — sets the decoder output mode to the chosen resolution and frame rate as

selected from the Output Format drop‑down list.

NOTE: The scale option must be enabled whenever Monitor or Fixed output

formats are selected.

Enable or disable the

Nodata Splash, SoG, Scale, Genlock, Clean Switch and HDCP

mode

check boxes (see figure 41

2

).

z Selecting Nodata Splash enables the display of a splash screen when the display

detects a break in the input data stream. When disabled the last decoded frame is

displayed. After startup, when no last decoded frame exists a black screen is displayed.

z The SoG mode is not supported by the VND 250. Selecting this option has no effect.

z Selecting Scale enables scaling of the source image to the required resolution and

frame rate as defined by Monitor or the Fixed output format that is selected.

NOTE: Scaling is disabled when the output format is set to Auto.

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 58

z The Genlock control allows the display output of multiple decoders to be coordinated

and creates a genlock group. One VND 250 device is selected as the timing reference

for the output of all the other VND 250 devices in the same decoder genlock group. The

genlock output from the chosen reference device is connected to the other decoders in

a daisy chain architecture.

A network‑based protocol enables the chosen VND 250 to coordinate the frame timing

so that all decoders display the same frame simultaneously.

z One decoder is selected as the reference (master) unit, and provides the genlock

signal that is used to synchronize all the other units (slaves).

z The Genlock setting on the master device must be disabled.

z The Genlock setting on the slave devices must be enabled.

z The name of the master device must be selected from the Framelock Ref

drop‑down list on all devices in the genlock group (see Framelock ref below).

Framelock Ref (see figure 41

3

) controls membership of the decoder genlock group.

Each member of the group is selected to have the same genlock master, including the

master itself. When such a group is formed, a network‑based protocol is used to permit

the master to coordinate frame timing so that all decoders are showing frames captured

at exactly the same times. This requires the separate enabling of the genlock feature, as

described above.

z The Clean Switch feature allows glitch free transitions when switching between

decoded streams that may have different resolutions and frame rates. Select the check

box to activate this option.

NOTE: When using Clean Switch mode, the scale option must be checked and

the required output mode must be selected in the Output Format drop‑down

list. Clean Switch is not supported when switching to an image from a recorded

stream.

z The VND 250 fully supports HDCP. Source images that are HDCP encrypted can only

be displayed on an HDCP compliant display. Selecting the HDCP Mode option forces

HDCP encryption for all stream types. An HDCP compliant display must be used when

this option is enabled. If not, a full green screen is displayed for all video streams.

NOTE: Setting this mode will improve the Clean Switch performance in systems

where it is necessary to switch between encrypted and non‑encrypted stream

types.

The

Active Format reports the current output mode being used on the display.

z When the Output Format is set to auto, this field reports the source format for the

current stream.

z When the Output Format is set to monitor, this field reports the source format that

has been selected from the EDID of the currently connected display.

z When the Output Format is set to fixed, this field will report the same mode.

Assigning a video source stream

In a system with multiple encoders, each decoder in that

system potentially has access to multiple video streams.

To assign a specific source stream to a decoder select

one of the available source streams from the video

source drop‑down list (see the figure to the right).

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 59

Each source is listed by the device name and videoPort name, and has a suffix that

describes the connection type:

z _rtp — is an RTP unicast connection

z _rtp(m) — is an RTP multicast connection, if configured

z _tcp — is a TCP unicast connection

Selecting a source with an _rtp suffix causes the decoder to connect to an RTP stream

output by the selected source. The controller automatically connects the data stream to

that decoder. If the source IP address is currently set as a multicast group, a multicast

RTP stream is used, otherwise an additional unicast RTP stream is created. Each encoder

can support up to four unicast RTP output streams. Attempts to connect more than four

displays to a unicast source will fail. Multiple unicast RTP connections from a single encoder

may cause data errors if the total bandwidth becomes too high.

Selecting a source with a _tcp suffix causes the decoder to independently make a TCP

stream connection to the selected encoder. This does not require the encoder to have been

configured to transmit in multicast or unicast modes.

NOTE: Use either _rtp unicast or multicast connections for streaming. TCP transport is

not recommended for streaming applications as it is a "guaranteed delivery" protocol,

which causes a build up in latency.

Complete the source selection by clicking Update.

Clicking the video, audio, or data bandwidth links displays a screen that provides access to

configuration settings and bandwidth data for the associated stream.

Assigning an audio source stream

To enable a program audio stream, check the Audio

check box (

1

in the figure to the right) and click Update

(see figure 41). The program audio stream is assigned

from the same encoder selected for the video stream.

Once enabled, the read only audio source field populates with the name of the program

audio stream (

2

in the figure above right). If no name is displayed, either no audio source is

available or the check box selection was not implemented by clicking Update. The transport

for the program audio follows that selected for the video stream. For RTP streams, the

multicast option must be configured on the audio port. For further information, see Decoder

audio bandwidth tab on page 62.

Assigning data source stream

To enable a data stream, check the Data check box

(

3

in the figure to the right) and click Update (see

figure41). The data stream is assigned from the same

encoder selected for the video stream.

Once enabled, the read only data source field populates with the name of the data stream

(

4

in the figure above right). If no name is displayed, either no data source is available or

the check box selection was not implemented by clicking Update. The transport for the data

will follow that selected for the video stream. For RTP streams, the multicast option must be

configured on the data port. For further information, see Decoder data bandwidth tab on

page 64.

1122

VNM 250 • VNM 250 GUI Overview 60

Decoder video bandwidth tab

To access the video Bandwidth tab from the Device tab, click the Display0 link and, in the

Display tab, click the video link.

Figure 42. Video Bandwidth Tab

This page provides statistics on the video stream and allows the decoder video buffer to be

monitored and configured, if necessary.

If required, modify the Window Name by editing the current value and clicking Update. It is

not necessary to name this field for normal operation.

Decoder video buffer

The delay time between the data being input to the encoder and output on the decoder is

controlled by setting the Channel Delay and the Frame Delay. The channel delay is unique

to each channel of video, audio, or data and is set in seconds. The frame delay can only be

modified on the video channel and is converted from frames to seconds depending on the

video frame rate that the decoder is currently receiving. The delay time is the sum of these

two values and is shown in the Total Delay field.

In normal operation on a LAN, Channel Delay should be set to 0.0 and Frame Delay should

be set to 6 frames. This will give an end to end delay of 100ms on a 60 fps signal.

On a WAN the Channel Delay parameter should be used to add an amount corresponding

to the one‑way network delay.

Under normal operational circumstances, there is no requirement to adjust the Frame Delay

setting and the buffer is managed automatically.

The hardware has a minimum delay requirement of 2.5 frames in progressive mode and

3.5 fields in interlace mode. Setting a Total Delay less than these values results in uneven

playback and pipeline underflow alarms.

NOTE: There is one exception to this rule — setting the Total Delay to 0.0 (zero)

places the system in a special minimum‑latency mode. When operating with minimum

latency, the display attempts to decode data as soon as it arrives. This reduces the

elastic feel when using a remote cursor but can cause the display to be more jumpy

and the lip sync to an audio stream to be lost.

Excessively long delays cause data to build up in a software buffer within the decoder. When

the build up exceeds 10 video frames, frames of data are discarded, which may cause

on‑screen artefacts.

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To synchronize channels, either between video and audio on one device or between video

channels on multiple devices, the frame delay should be set to 6 and the channel delay to 0.

Valid Delay settings can be determined by setting values then checking the Pipeline Status

Meter.

Setting is valid and should give a stable image.

NORM

Playback delay is too small: the playback image jumps as network loading

LOW

changes.

Playback delay is too large: the image latency increases and may result in internal

HIGH

buffer overflow on high bandwidth data streams. This causes a jumpy and flashing

screen.

Decoder video connection fields

The Source field shows the encoder name and the transport type for the current video

stream, as selected in the source drop down box (see Assigning a video source stream

on page59).

Rtp destination reports the network address and port number that the current video

stream is connected to. For multicast transports, this field reports the multicast group

address.

Rtp source reports the network address and port number that return statistics are sent to.

For multicast transports, this field reports the multicast group address.

Decoder video stream statistics

Statistics about the current stream are reported in a table.

z The total column contains counts for the history of the current stream. These statistics

are reset each time a new connection is made.

z The window1 and window2 columns contain stream statistics over user programmable

intervals.

z The first row is a count of the number of Megabits per second received from the current

stream.

z The second row is a count of the number of data packets per second received from the

stream.

z The third row is a count of the number of data packets dropped during the associated

interval time. This will always be 0 for TCP streams. Dropped packets are counted when

using RTP streams on busy networks. However some errors will occur when using

gigabit networks.

z The fourth row is the interval time over which the previous counts are averaged. The

total interval time reports the duration of the current connection session. The remaining

two times are user programmable in seconds.

Decoder audio bandwidth tab

To access the audio Bandwidth tab from the Device tab, click the Display0 link and, in

the Display tab, click the audio link.

This page provides access to the audio channel configuration settings. Similar to the

Decoder video bandwidth page, it also provides statistics on the audio stream and allows

the decoder audio buffer to be monitored and configured, if necessary.

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Figure 43. Audio Bandwidth Tab

Audio output selection (Audio Control panel)

Select the appropriate check boxes to output the received audio stream to the HDMI port,

the Analog output port, or both. The HDMI output level cannot be controlled and is equal to

the level seen on the encoder device.

The analog audio output level is controlled using Analog Output Level. The output level

will be correct if the input level on the encoder has been correctly configured for optimum

signal level.

Return audio configuration (Audio Control panel)

The return audio input must be separately enabled and the level must be manually

configured to achieve an undistorted signal with the optimum signal to noise ratio. The input

level is selected using the Analog Input Level setting and is set to a value just larger

than the maximum input value. If this level is unknown, the Analog Input Measurement

continuously shows the current input level. If the input measurement shows over‑range the

input level should be increased until the over‑range condition clears. If the measurement

is more than 2 dB below the set input value, the input value should be reduced to be 1dB

greater. These measurements must be carried out when the content of input signal is at a

maximum volume and the stream must be connected to a suitable encoder. If the audio is

not being streamed, the measurement shows disabled.

Reverse audio data is always sampled using 16 bits stereo at 48000 Hz. It is then

compressed to the "decimate 2" level resulting in a reverse bandwidth of 784 kbps. It uses

a "best effort" delivery making no effort to obscure dropped packets and not managing the

delay between decoder and encoder.

Decoder audio stream statistics

The audio stream Statistics operate in the same ways as the video statistics (see Decoder

video stream statistics on page 62).

Decoder audio buffer

The decoder audio buffer operates in the same ways as the video buffer (see Decoder

video buffer on page 61).

NOTE: The frame delay setting reflects the value that is set in the video buffer and

cannot be adjusted.

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Decoder audio connection fields

The decoder audio connection fields operate in the same ways as the video connection

fields (see Decoder video connection fields on page 62).

Decoder data bandwidth tab

To access the data Bandwidth tab from the Device tab, click the Display0 link and, in the

Display tab, click the data link.

This page provides access to the data channel configuration settings. As with the Decoder

video bandwidth page, it also provides statistics and allows the decoder buffer to be

monitored and configured, if necessary.

Figure 44. Data Bandwidth Tab

Data channel configuration

RS-232 data configuration

Serial Enable — check this box to receive RS‑232 serial data.

NOTE: Serial data transport also requires configuration of the corresponding

VNE250 device (see Configure Data0 tab on page 55) and the serial RS‑232 port

parameters (see the Peripherals tab on page41).

UDP data configuration

Udp Enable — check this box to receive UDP data.

Udp IP — enter the IP address of the external device or system that receives UDP traffic.

Unicast or multicast addresses are valid.

Udp Port — enter the port number used by the external device or system to receive UDP

data.

Decoder data stream statistics

The decoder data stream Statistics operate in the same ways as the video statistics (see

Decoder video stream statistics on page 62).

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Decoder data buffer

The decoder data buffer operates in the same ways as the video buffer (see Decoder video

buffer on page 61).

NOTE: The frame delay setting reflects the value that is set in the video buffer and

cannot be adjusted.

Decoder data connection fields

The decoder data connection fields operate in the same ways as the video connection fields

(see Decoder video connection fields on page 62).

Decoder video format tab

From the Display tab, click the Format tab:

Figure 45. Decoder Format Tab

This tab provides two methods to create new formats for displaying decoded video streams:

z Clone an existing mode and modify some parameters.

z Create a new CVT mode by entering a complete set of new values (see page83).

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