Custom Device Communication

You can program serial command protocols for controlling external devices not otherwise supported by the switcher. Custom devices are also useful in testing currently unsupported commands to external devices, as well as other communications testing.

Custom device commands allow you to select the signals that the switcher sends to the custom device when you select a command on the switcher.

Keep the following in mind:

Keep the following in mind when working with custom device commands:

  • The custom device protocol supports only one way communication. The switcher will not record or act upon signals being returned from the custom device. Therefore, queries for Current-time-sense (such as grab timecode), Inpoint, Outpoint and Clip-ID-names are not supported.
  • Some protocol signals may exceed the maximum number of bytes (19) allocated per command. In cases where a custom control is used, 2 command slots (and 2 tags) can be used and a custom control programmed to run both of them in immediate succession. Each user-programmed device supports a maximum of 10 command slots. There may be other practical problems with the protocol you are trying to reproduce that may render custom devices unsuitable.
  • The custom device system was designed to control VTRs, Video Servers, or Audio Servers. To control something other than these devices, you can re-use the existing command-tag names but substitute different commands. For example, the Play command tag could be used to cue a camera shot.
  • The commands can be run manually from the VTR Remote menu or recorded into custom controls.