Home
Setup
Reference and video I/O setup, canvas layouts, and signalling setup.
SDPE Reconfiguration for Switcher Type

Setup
Reference and video I/O setup, canvas layouts, and signalling setup.
- Network Connections
  The switcher requires a network connection for the DashBoard interface as well as any control panel you want to use.
- Video Reference
  The switcher uses the REF A or B input reference signal on the router directly as a reference clock. The switcher does not rely on the reference settings in Ultrix™ for a reference signal.
- Video Inputs
  Video sources come into the switcher either from the router matrix, or through the HD-BNCs on the SDPE blade. Depending on how you want to use these video sources, or where they come from, you may want the switcher to pair them together, or associate an external device with them. Pairing two video sources together is usually used for an auto select key where an external device, such as a character generator, outputs both a key video and key alpha. Associating a video source with an external device allows special control over that device to become active when you select the source on a bus.
- Video Outputs
  Switcher outputs are routed to destinations in the router matrix or to the HD-BNC on the SDPE blade directly.
- MultiScreen
  MultiScreen works by breaking your display into individual panels. Each panel is represented by a tile in MultiScreen and the entire display is represented by the canvas.
- Splicers
  Splicers allow you to use DVEs to position up to four sources (2×2) on a single output. This can be used to divide up a Canvas for the display segments you want to show it on.
- Frame Sync and Format Conversion
  The frame synchronizer / format converter (FSFC) and input i-to-p converters can be used to convert video signals as well as correct mistimed, or drifting, video input signal. The frame synchronizers cannot completely correct badly formatted video, mistimed switches, signal drops, or similar issues.
- Frame Delays
  A delay of up to 13 frames in HD, or 7 frames in UHDTV1, can be added to any input that an FSFC is assigned to. This allows you to delay the timing of an input to compensate for the delay in another source. For example, in a virtual set environment it may take a few frames for the system to track the position of the camera and render the background. In this case you want to delay the foreground cameras to compensate for this delay.
- Input Media-Stores
  Video inputs must be configured as a Media-Store for that Media-Store channel to be available as a source.
- System Real-Time Clock/Date
  The switcher uses an internal clock to generate the time for the clock overlay for the MultiViewer.
- Color Correction
  The color correctors can operate as Processing Amplifiers (Proc Amps) in the HSL (Y-Cr-Cb) color space or as RGB Color Correctors in the RGB color space. Proc Amps and RGB Color Correctors apply color correction to video on input to the switcher, before the switcher crosspoint.
- Personality
  Personality settings allow you to configure how you interact with the control panel and switcher, as well as how the buttons on the control panel appear. All of these settings are stored in the Personality register.
- Licenses
  The switcher comes with all the hardware required for the available options. These options can either be licensed at the time you purchase your switcher, or purchased and installed later on.
- GPI Control
  General Purpose Interface (GPI) is a high/low voltage signalling protocol that allows the switcher to send simple commands to an external device, or receive commands from a device. Each pin on the GPI is set as either high (+5 Volts), or low (0 Volts), and it is the switching between high and low that sends commands to the external device, or to the switcher.
- MultiPanel
  Each frame supports up to 3 independent control connections (Main, Satellite 1, and Satellite 2) as well as Satellite 3/SoftPanel. Each connection, with the exception of SoftPanel, can be from a control panel, DashBoard, or a combination of the two. All devices on the same control connection mirror each other.
- SDPE Reconfiguration for Switcher Type
  - To Configure the SDPE for Carbonite
    To configure the SDPE blade for Carbonite you must use the Acuity® menus.
  - To Configure the SDPE for Acuity®
    To configure the SDPE blade for Acuity® you must use the Carbonite DashBoard menus.

SDPE Reconfiguration for Switcher Type

The Software Defined Production Engine (SWR-SDPE) can be used as either an Acuity® ME or Carbonite switcher. To switch between Ultrix Acuity and Ultrix Carbonite you must access the SDPE blade from the switcher you want to convert from. For example, if you have an SDPE in your Acuity® switcher that you want to convert to Carbonite, you must use the Acuity® menus to convert the blade to Carbonite.

The following software versions are required to reconfigure the SDPE from the menus:

Ultrix Carbonite 7.0.0 or higher
Ultrix Acuity 11.0a or higher

Note: You can only convert an SDPE blade to Carbonite from Acuity®, or to Acuity® from Carbonite.

Important: When you reconfigure the SDPE as Carbonite it will boot up with the last software and IP address that was assigned to it as Carbonite. This may be the factory default settings. When you reconfigure the SDPE as Acuity® it will pull the latest software from the Acuity CPU.