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epiphan Standalone VGA Grid User Manual

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User Guide
Standalone VGA Grid
 
 
Release 3.14.4
April 24, 2015
UG103-004

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  • Page 1 User Guide Standalone VGA Grid     Release 3.14.4 April 24, 2015 UG103-004...
  • Page 2 This document, the Epiphan web site, and the information contained therein, including but not limited to the text, videos and images as well as Epiphan System Inc.’s trademarks, trade names and logos are the property of Epiphan Systems Inc. and its affiliates and licensors, and are protected from unauthorized copying and dissemination by Canadian copyright law, United States copyright law, trademark law, international conventions and other intellectual property laws.

  • Page 3: Thank You For Choosing Epiphan

    Go to the Professional Recording and Streaming Systems page of the Epiphan website to get the most recent product specifications and additional information about Epiphan's Standalone VGA Grid. Warranty All Epiphan Systems products are provided with a 100% return to depot warranty for one year from the date of purchase. Technical Support Epiphan’s products are backed by our professional support team.

  • Page 4: Resolved Issues

    Live Streaming via Wowza Cloud Using a simple connection code, the power of Standalone VGA Grid can easily be combined with the flexibility and worldwide accessibility of the Wowza Streaming Cloud to universally stream from any live video source. See Stream your video.
  • Page 5 Some cameras are sensitive to EDIDs and are not captured at optimal settings. When capturing from these cameras, the HD signal may be down-sampled by the camera to an SD signal because the Epiphan system doesn't share the EDID the camera expects for its HD signal.
  • Page 6 Affecting other areas   Limitation: Pearl fails to restart after improper shutdown (power cable removed or rapid power cycle). LED and touch screen blink. Workaround: Restart Pearl by removing the power cable for 20 seconds, then reattaching the cable and powering the system back on.

  • Page 7: Table Of Contents

    Step 6: Recording the Stream What’s Next? PART 1: Setup 1-1 Connect to the Admin Interface Connect via DNS-based Service Discovery Connect via the Epiphan Discovery Utility Connect via Persistent Static IP Address 1-2 User Administration Understanding User Privileges Setting and Changing User Passwords...
  • Page 8 Tether to a Mobile Network Perform Network Diagnostics 1-3 Configuration presets Configuration presets overview Configuration groups Create a configuration preset Apply a configuration preset Apply the Factory default configuration preset Update a configuration preset Delete a configuration preset Configuration preset considerations 1-4 Configure Date and Time Verify Date and Time Settings Change the Time Zone Configure Synchronized Time (NTP, PTP v1, and RDATE)
  • Page 9 Create a multi-source layout Delete a channel Rename a channel 3-2 Identify a channel 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Choose a codec to maximize your stream quality Codec and file format compatibility Adjust video quality Upscale or downscale your video image Control the matte (black bars) in the video output Unstretch the output video Limit the frame rate...
  • Page 10 Change the channels recorded by a recorder Delete a recorder 5-2 Create Recordings Recording basics Record a channel via the web interface Record with a recorder via the web interface Configure the type and length of recording files Close the current recording file while recording Control recording with a mouse 5-3 File Maintenance View the List of Stored Files...
  • Page 11 Verify RAID storage Read data from removed storage disks 7-8 Control with RS-232 / Serial Port Connect and configure the RS-232 cable Control the Standalone VGA Grid with RS-232 RS-232 / Serial port command examples 7-9 Control with HTTP Commands HTTP command syntax HTTP command examples 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs...
  • Page 12 Release 3.12 Features Release 3.11 Features Software and Documentation License Environmental Information FCC & CE Compliance Statement Other Jurisdictional Issues Submissions to Epiphan and Affiliated Servers Third Parties and Links to Third-Party Web Sites Miscellaneous Enforcement of Terms and Conditions...

  • Page 13: Welcome

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Welcome Welcome Welcome, and thank you for buying Epiphan’s Standalone VGA Grid™. This guide will help you configure your new system. To get started, review the Standalone VGA Grid Overview What's in the Box? sections. Next, a...

  • Page 14: About This Guide

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Welcome About this Guide Warnings are depicted as follows. This is a warning. Tips and Notes are depicted as follows. This is a tip. Throughout this guide there are situations where more than one solution will complete a task. In those cases the guide describes the simplest or most common variation first.

  • Page 15: Standalone Vga Grid Overview

    Standalone VGA Grid Overview Standalone VGA Grid Overview Epiphan's VGA Grid allows you to capture, stream, and record audio and video from a large number of VGA, DVI, HDMI, composite and component sources. It supports streaming to a large number of viewers using industry-standard codecs such as H.264 and MPEG-TS.

  • Page 16: What's In The Box

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide What's in the Box? What's in the Box? The Standalone VGA Grid is a 4U rackmount server with dimensions 522 mm (D) × 430 mm (W) × 176 mm (H) (20.5” × 16.9” × 6.9”). Latest Hardware Revision: Standalone VGA Grid can now capture more HD content than ever before.

  • Page 17: Front And Back Panel View For The Vga Grid

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide What's in the Box? Image Name Description Connects an HDMI source to the system’s DVI HDMI to DVI adapter port(s). Connects a DVI source to the encoder’s DVI DVI-I Single Link cable port(s). Composite to S-Video...
  • Page 18 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide What's in the Box? Table 1 Rackmount Standalone VGA Grid Front and Back Panel Descriptions Label Name Description Unlock the door to reveal the power button. Power Button (behind Press to turn on; press and release to turn off the system. Press and door) hold for 4 seconds for a forced system shutdown.

  • Page 19: Quick Start

     3. Connect the Ethernet cable to the Standalone VGA Grid. Connect the Ethernet cable to your network.  4. Attach the power cable to the system and plug it into a power source.

  • Page 20: Step 2: Admin Discovery And Login

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Quick Start  6. Wait for the Standalone VGA Grid to complete the power up sequence. The power LED illuminates and the hard drive LED flashes during start up. Step 2: Admin Discovery and Login The Standalone VGA Grid is managed from a web interface. This interface acts as a configuration utility and system monitor.

  • Page 21: Step 3: Setup The Video Source

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Quick Start  3. Enter the user name and password then click OK. The administrative user is ‘admin’. Initially no password is set. To set a password follow the procedure outlined in Setting and Changing User Passwords.
  • Page 22 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Quick Start  2. Find the DVI (or SDI) source that you have connected by selecting each DVI (or SDI) source (named .vga or .sdi as the suffix) and verifying if the preview on the right side of the screen reflects your source material.

  • Page 23: Step 4: Configure The Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Quick Start Step 4: Configure the Channel Now that you have confirmed the system sees your source it is time to add and configure a channel for output of your source. Channels expose your sources to your streaming users and prepare the sources for recording.

  • Page 24: Step 5: Testing The Stream

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Quick Start You may now optionally add audio to your channel:  7. Click Sources for your channel; the media source page is displayed.  8. Select the audio source to which you connected your 3.5mm audio cable. If you connected to the blue line-in on the back of the system, the audio source is the audio source without a frame grabber serial number.

  • Page 25: Step 6: Recording The Stream

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide Quick Start Step 6: Recording the Stream The stream is set up and broadcasting. This may be all you need, but if you like, you can also record the stream. To record the stream:  1. From the web interface, scroll to the Channels section.

  • Page 26: Part 1: Setup

    If you followed through the quick start guide, you already have a basic configuration and possibly a recording of an input. Before you tweak the channel or configure more, this part of the manual helps you to get your Standalone VGA Grid properly configured for your network. Topics covered:  ...

  • Page 27: Connect To The Admin Interface

    1-1 Connect to the Admin Interface Connect to the Admin Interface The Standalone VGA Grid is managed from a web interface. If you know the IP address of the system you may type it into the address bar of your web browser.

  • Page 28: Connect Via The Epiphan Discovery Utility

    Connect via the Epiphan Discovery Utility Epiphan provides a utility for discovering Epiphan systems on your network. The Epiphan network discovery utility is a 32-bit Windows executable that works on most 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems. Download and install the utility via this link: http://www.epiphan.com/downloads/NetworkDiscovery.exe.
  • Page 29  1. Launch the discovery utility.  2. Click Search to find all the Epiphan systems on the network; a list similar to the following appears.  3. If more than one system appears, select the one you wish to configure by matching the serial number listed with the serial number marked on the back of the system.

  • Page 30: Connect Via Persistent Static Ip Address

     b. Connect the system directly to the workstation’s Ethernet port using either a regular or a crossover Ethernet cable.  2. Record the network settings of the workstation being used to connect to the Standalone VGA Grid so that they can be restored later.

  • Page 31: User Administration

    Changing the logged-in user Understanding User Privileges Standalone VGA Grid's three user accounts are admin, operator and viewer. The user account names cannot be changed and the accounts cannot be disabled. By default, none of the accounts have passwords. Admin The admin account is the main operator used for all system configuration.
  • Page 32 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-2 User Administration viewer username and password prompt appears only when there is a viewer password set. In addition to the global viewer account, each channel can set a viewer password that overrides the global value.
  • Page 33 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-2 User Administration Action or Menu Option viewer operator admin ü ü View Source Configuration   ü Rename Source     ü ü Configure Source   ü ü View Source Snapshot   System Configuration Operations ü...

  • Page 34: Setting And Changing User Passwords

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-2 User Administration Action or Menu Option viewer operator admin ü Shutdown Device (via Web Interface)     ü Configure Time Until Next Disk Check     ü Perform Disk Check     ü ü View Disk Information  ...

  • Page 35: Removing User Passwords

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-2 User Administration For security reasons, the current password appears as eight dots regardless of password length, and even if there is no password set.  5. Highlight and delete the confirmation password for the selected user.

  • Page 36: Overcoming Lost Passwords

    If you have lost the admin password and you have remote support enabled on the system, you can contact Epiphan support to request a remote password change. See Support. If remote support is disabled, you will need to return the system to Epiphan for password recovery. Contact Epiphan support to discuss this option.
  • Page 37 (Note that Active Directory does not support anonymous binding.) LDAP referrals, restrictions and failovers are not supported. To configure LDAP authentication for your Standalone VGA Grid:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.
  • Page 38 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-2 User Administration Connection Description/Default port used encryption No Encryption No encryption is used to connect to the LDAP server. The default port is 389. SSL encryption is used to connect to the LDAP server. The default port is 636.

  • Page 39: Changing The Logged-In User

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-2 User Administration In one case, LDAP replaces the local viewer account instead of working side-by-side with it. When LDAP is enabled and the viewer account has no password (either there is no global viewer password or the channel overrides the global password with a blank password), the viewer must authentication with LDAP, he may not alternatively use the viewer account with a blank password.

  • Page 40: View System Information

    1-2 View system information View system information The system information page provides a great deal of useful information about your Standalone VGA Grid. Use the Info link from the Configuration menu to view your current firmware level, system hardware version (if available) and currently configured channels.

  • Page 41: Configure Network Settings

    1-3 Configure Network Settings Configure Network Settings By default the Standalone VGA Grid uses DHCP to obtain an IP Address via an Ethernet-based network. If you want to change the network settings, or if you’re having network-related issues, this section covers the following related topics:  ...

  • Page 42: Configure A Static Ip Address

    IPv6 addresses. Configure a Static IP Address Your network administrator may require you to use a static IP address for your Standalone VGA Grid. To configure a static IP address:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.
  • Page 43 Select this radio button to use the configured static IP address. IP Address The internet protocol address (IP Address) to assign. This value is may be obtained from your system administrator. The Standalone VGA Grid supports IPv4 addresses. It does not support IPv6 addresses. Network Mask Also called the subnet mask, this value denotes a range of IP addresses.

  • Page 44: Configure Dhcp

      Configure DHCP Occasionally, such as when moving your system to a new network, your Standalone VGA Grid must switch from static IP address allocation to dynamic allocation via DHCP. You can accomplish this three ways:  ...

  • Page 45: Tether To A Mobile Network

    Tether to a Mobile Network The Standalone VGA Grid supports tethering to a mobile device via USB. Tethered networking can work side- by-side with Ethernet routing and either networking system can be a back-up for the other.

  • Page 46: Perform Network Diagnostics

     8. Click Apply. Perform Network Diagnostics If your Standalone VGA Grid has network trouble, you can perform basic network troubleshooting tasks from the Network configuration page. In addition to providing the system’s IP address and MAC address to your network administrator (See...
  • Page 47 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configure Network Settings  4. Click ping or traceroute; an animation appears to the left of the address to indicate processing is underway.  5. Upon completion of the command, read the results from the console-like display is shown below the Network Diagnostics setting.

  • Page 48: Configuration Presets

    Configuration preset considerations Configuration presets overview Configuration presets make it easy to use your Standalone VGA Grid in a variety of situations without needing to reconfigure it. Configuration presets divide the system's settings into the following configuration groups. (For a complete list of what is included in each group see Configuration groups.)
  • Page 49 Example of configuration presets in action A recording and streaming company brings Standalone VGA Grid to a conference as part of a portable rack. Each conference session needs to be streamed and recorded with a picture in picture layout that includes identifying information about the presenter in the metadata and the background image for the stream.
  • Page 50 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Conference session 1 preset The company applies this preset from the corporate office when testing and at the conference prior to conference session 1 starting. All other preset groups remain unchanged, this preset only affects the channel (s) and their configuration.

  • Page 51: Configuration Groups

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Configuration presets are a versatile tool to help you use Standalone VGA Grid in a variety of changing conditions. Try it yourself and see! Configuration groups The following table describes what settings are saved with each configuration group.
  • Page 52 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Note that configuration presets that include network or system settings require a system reboot when applied. To create a configuration preset:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.

  • Page 53: Apply A Configuration Preset

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Apply a configuration preset When you apply a configuration preset, the system settings for all included configuration groups are updated. Other settings on the system are not affected. For example if you apply a preset that includes the configuration groups channnels and automatic file upload, your network settings, passwords, time server, source configurations, etc are not modified.

  • Page 54: Apply The Factory Default Configuration Preset

     8. The system reboots if needed. Apply the Factory default configuration preset Your Standalone VGA Grid comes with a special factory default configuation preset. This configuration preset cannot be erased and is always presented at the top of the configuration presets list. It contains all possible configuration settings groups.

  • Page 55: Update A Configuration Preset

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Factory default   Factory reset function configuration preset ü Deletes all branding files ü ü Resets all Source settings ü ü Deletes all Automatic file upload settings To apply the factory default configuratin preset, follow the instructions in Apply a configuration preset select the Factory default preset.

  • Page 56: Delete A Configuration Preset

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets  7. Selected the desired configuration group(s) from the Sections group.  8. Click Save; a confirmation dialog asks you to confirm you want to overwrite the configuration preset.  9. Click OK; your configuration preset is updated in the list.

  • Page 57: Configuration Preset Considerations

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets  5. Click delete (x) next to Apply for the configuration preset; a confirmation message appears.  6. Click OK to confirm you want to delete the preset; the preset is deleted. Configuration preset considerations Configuration presets are groups of settings applied to the system, leaving other settings intact. The following considerations will help you get the most from your configuration presets.
  • Page 58 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Configuration presets that contain the channels configuration group specify the channels in the preset by their index number. This means if you have channels 1, 2, 3 and 4 when you save your preset, applying that preset will overwrite the configuration of your current channels with indexes 1, 2, 3 and 4.
  • Page 59 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets For example, prior to applying your configuration preset, you have channels with indexes 1, 2 and 3; each of these has five recording files. When you apply a configuration preset that has channels with index 1 and 2 only, you'll notice those channels each still have the same 5 recording files.
  • Page 60 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-3 Configuration presets Branding content The channels configuration group includes the filenames for logos and backgrounds used in the currently configured channels. It does not include the image files. Therefore it is important to make sure that between uses of different channel-related configuration presets you do not delete or replace files listed in the Branding Content section of the web interface.

  • Page 61: Configure Date And Time

    1-4 Configure Date and Time Configure Date and Time The Standalone VGA Grid uses the current date and time in naming recorded files and when synchronizing and timestamping inputs from multiple sources (i.e. when synchronizing an audio and a video source). The admin interface lets you specify date and time settings to ensure they are correctly configured for your time zone and your network.

  • Page 62: Change The Time Zone

    Configure Synchronized Time (NTP, PTP v1, and RDATE) By default the Standalone VGA Grid uses the network time protocol server (NTP server) protocol and a time server from National Research Council Canada. You can continue to use this time server or configure a new server that is more appropriate for your network and location.
  • Page 63 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-4 Configure Date and Time  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. Select the Date and Time link in the Configuration menu; the date and time configuration page opens.

  • Page 64: Configure A Local Ntp Server

    Manually Configure the Date and Time By default the Standalone VGA Grid uses NTP for time synchronization. If your system does not have access to a time synchronization server, or if you do not wish to use one, you can choose to manually set the date and time.

  • Page 65: Restrict Viewers By Ip Address

    Restrict Viewers by IP Address The Standalone VGA Grid permits you to restrict which computers can access broadcasts by building a list of allowed and/or denied IP addresses. You can do this at a global level for the system and can also override these settings on a per-channel basis.

  • Page 66: Examples

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-5 Restrict Viewers by IP Address  3. Select the Streaming link for the desired channel; the streaming configuration page opens.  4. From the Access Control drop-down, select Use these Settings; local password and Allow/Deny IP lists are enabled.
  • Page 67 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-5 Restrict Viewers by IP Address For example if your system is accessible on your local area network (LAN) and you want to make sure only the CEO’s specific desktop, laptop and tablet computers (with IP Addresses 192.168.1.50, 192.168.1.51, and 192.165.1.75, respectively) can connect to the broadcast, construct the following allow list:...
  • Page 68 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 1-5 Restrict Viewers by IP Address Deny: 192.168.1.211 As with Allow lists, your deny list can specify a range of IP addresses, and can specify multiple ranges or distinct IP addresses in a comma-separated list. Allow List with a Range of IP Addresses, Distinct IP Addresses, and an Exception Building on the previous examples, consider the situation where you want the CEO’s computers (192.168.1.50,...

  • Page 69: Part 2: Sources

    Now that you know how to connect to the admin interface, you are ready to configure your input sources. The following sections provide an overview of the types of sources you can connect to your Standalone VGA Grid and how to configure each source.

  • Page 70: Identify Sources

    Connecting sources You can connect sources to the Standalone VGA Grid at any time, either before or after the system is powered on. Similarly you can disconnect a source from a port and even connect a different source at any time.

  • Page 71: Previewing Captured Stream From Sources

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-1 Identify sources they are capturing. It is a good practice to view the images from each source to confirm what is captured. See below. When a source is connected, the system automatically detects and adjusts the image capture settings at start up and continues to adjust every 60 seconds during operation (interval is configurable).

  • Page 72: Configure A Video Source

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-2 Configure a video source Configure a video source This section covers the following video source configuration topics:   Configure the video source's frame grabber parameters   Change a source name For topics related to fine tuning for specific problems or for uploading a custom EDID, see Fine-tune channel configuration.
  • Page 73 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-2 Configure a video source  7. Make note of the name of the source, or optionally, change the source name to reflect the data it is capturing. You'll need to know this name to add the source to a channel. See Create a single source channel.
  • Page 74 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-2 Configure a video source Value Description Rotate This feature is useful when a source captures video that is rotated 90⁰ or is displayed upside down. Choose one of the following values to change the video orientation while streaming:  ...
  • Page 75 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-2 Configure a video source Value Description PLL adjustment Changing the value adjusts the horizontal resolution of the image. Adjust the value using small increments until the image is sharper. The value ranges from 0- 999 to 999.

  • Page 76: Change A Source Name

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-2 Configure a video source Value Description Enable Enable this feature to convert an interlaced source signal to a non-interlaced deinterlacing signal. S-Video Signals The following options are available for S-Video signals via S-Video ports.
  • Page 77 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-2 Configure a video source  3. From the web interface, scroll to the Sources menu option.  4. Click the .vga or ,video source link; the source configuration page opens.  5. Click the source name at the top of the page; the name turns red.

  • Page 78: Configure An Audio Source

    2-3 Configure an audio source Configure an audio source Standalone VGA Grid's web interface automatically discovers all input source ports and displays them in the Sources section of the web interface. Audio sources are identified by the word audio in the source name. Audio input devices such as a microphone and portable music players can send audio signals to the Standalone VGA Grid using the audio input port.

  • Page 79: Configure Audio Encoding Settings

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-3 Configure an audio source  7. Select an audio source.  8. Click Apply. Configure audio encoding settings To configure audio encoding settings:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.

  • Page 80: Set Audio Volume

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-3 Configure an audio source  6. Check Enable audio check box.  7. If the default audio format AAC 44KHz, stereo, 320 Kbps is not desired, click the Audio format drop- down menu to select an audio codec. See...
  • Page 81 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-3 Configure an audio source  6. Select the Input source from the drop-down menu. Choose Line (default setting), to capture system audio, or choose Front Mic or Rear Mic to capture audio from a microphone connected to the audio input port.

  • Page 82: Fine-Tune Source Configuration

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-4 Fine-tune source configuration Fine-tune source configuration In addition to fine tuning channel settings such as frame rate, resolution and bit rate to ensure optimal use of resources while streaming a quality video, there may be circumstance when you must fine tune the video input source.

  • Page 83: Video Is Too Bright, Too Dark Or Washed Out (Vga Sources Only)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-4 Fine-tune source configuration  3. From the web interface, scroll to the Sources menu option.  4. Click the desired video source ; the source configuration page opens.  5. To move the video horizontally to the left or right, scroll to Horizontal shift .

  • Page 84: Video Looks Squished (Vga Sources Only)

    The image is squeezed horizontally on the screen. This distortion occurs when there's a mismatch between the aspect ratio the Standalone VGA Grid detects and the aspect ratio that is sent from the source signal. To compare the two signal values, you must know the aspect ratio that the source is sending.
  • Page 85 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-4 Fine-tune source configuration  4. Compare the aspect ratio from the source with the aspect ratio from the Standalone VGA Grid info window. Confirm if there is a mismatch.  5. If there is a mismatch, go to the Encoding page for the channel and change the frame size to match the frame size that is sent from the source.

  • Page 86: Remove The Combing Effect On Images

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-4 Fine-tune source configuration Remove the combing effect on images When frames are interlaced, artifacts from one frame may appear on the next frame. This occurs when a fast motion video is interlaced. Since each frame is captured from a different point in time, the action captured in one frame is carried over to the next frame.
  • Page 87 Like monitors, each video capture card in theStandalone VGA Grid contains an EDID. When you connect a VGA or DVI video source (such as a laptop or video camera), this source sees the Standalone VGA Grid's capture card as a monitor and uses its EDID to negotiate which video signal to send.
  • Page 88 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-4 Fine-tune source configuration  10. Click Choose File; a file browser opens.  11. Browse to the location where the custom EDID file was saved and select the file.  12. Click open; the EDID filename is displayed on the screen.
  • Page 89 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 2-4 Fine-tune source configuration  3. From the web interface, scroll to the Sources section.  4. Click the capture card (source) for which you wish to restore the EDID; the source configuration page opens.  5. Scroll to the EDID section.

  • Page 90: Part 3: Channels

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide PART 3: Channels PART 3: Channels Channels organize and display content captured from DVI, VGA, HDMI, SDI, camera input sources and audio. A channel can be set up to display the content from one input source, or may capture, stream and record content from multiple input sources.

  • Page 91: Create And Configure Channels

    Channels make your sources available for viewing and recording. You choose how you want to configure your sources to make channels. Standalone VGA Grid gives you a lot of control over how your sources are streamed. You are not limited to creating a Channel list that is a one-to-one reflection of your Sources list.
  • Page 92 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels To add a single source channel:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. Ensure a DVI, HDMI, VGA or SDI input source is connected to the device.
  • Page 93 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels  11. If you're not sure what Codec to pick, keep the default, H.264. For help selecting a codec, refer to Fine- tune channel configuration.  12. Keep the default video encoding preset and video encoding profile for help selecting these values,...

  • Page 94: Create A Multi-Source Layout

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels Making the dimensions larger, smaller, or a different aspect ratio than the source takes some processing power, so it’s always best to leave at the value detected by the system unless you want to specify a particular size.
  • Page 95 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels  2. Login as admin.  3. Ensure at least two video input sources are connected to the system.  4. From the web interface, scroll to the Channels menu option.  5. Click Add channel located at the bottom of the list; a new channel is created and its Sources page opens.
  • Page 96 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels  d. Enter the position coordinates. Position coordinates are based on where the source’s image will appear. Each axis represents 100 percent. The first value is the image’s position along the x axis (horizontal axis).
  • Page 97 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels Example: Picture in picture The multi-source layout provides flexibility for you to position the sources in any way you like, including a more traditional picture in picture layout where one source is displayed over the other.

  • Page 98: Delete A Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels Images can be located anywhere on the screen, for example if you want the second image to appear near the top right corner of the screen, choose the position x= 60, y=5 and adjust the sizes so it fits in the corner (for example, 35% for x and y-axis size).

  • Page 99: Rename A Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-1 Create and configure channels  5. Click OK to continue or Cancel to stop. If you proceed, a message indicating that the channel was successfully deleted appears at the top of the page. Rename a channel By default, channels are automatically configured with the same name as their source, however there may be circumstances when you want to create a distinct name for the channel to reflect the source(s) it contains.

  • Page 100: Identify A Channel

    3-2 Identify a channel Identify a channel The Standalone VGA Grid captures video and audio signals from input sources. Sources are configured into channels with one or more video and audio sources. If not changed by the administrator, channels are labeled according to the input source type configured for the channel.

  • Page 101: Fine-Tune Channel Configuration

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Fine-tune channel configuration In addition to adjusting typical features such as frame rate, resolution and bit rate to reduce bandwidth and system resource usage, choose the following settings to maximize your stream quality, while minimizing your processing requirements and bandwidth:  ...
  • Page 102 This is the preferred codec for the system. We always recommend you use the hardware encoding profile. However for times when you need to have the exact same encoding mode as previous versions of Epiphan streaming systems, we also provide a software encoding option.
  • Page 103 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Value Description MP3 provides a common audio format for audio storage. Supported values are 22 kHz, 44 kHz and 48 kHz. Most digital signals (HDMI or SDI sources) use 48 kHz audio. Matching the encoded level with the source level provides the best sound quality by avoiding audio resampling.

  • Page 104: Codec And File Format Compatibility

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Codec and file format compatibility The following table displays the compatibility between the video/audio codecs and formats supported for streaming. Video Codec selected Audio Codec selected RTSP MPEG-TS MJPEG ü ü...

  • Page 105: Adjust Video Quality

    Accelerated performance. Software This matches the default from previous generations of Epiphan products. Choose this only if you need software encoding or X.264 encoding to match results created with previous generations of Epiphan products or firmware.  6. If the selected codec is H.264, click Video encoding profile to limit or include video formats that are supported.

  • Page 106: Upscale Or Downscale Your Video Image

    If that isn't feasible, or if you are scaling for multiencoding, follow the steps below to scale your video. The Standalone VGA Grid conveniently provides a list of common aspect ratios and different frame sizes at each ratio on the Encoding page.

  • Page 107: Control The Matte (Black Bars) In The Video Output

    Control the matte (black bars) in the video output By default, the Standalone VGA Grid makes sure that the aspect ratio of input signals is preserved when the output is streamed. If an input video signal doesn't match the encoded frame aspect ratio, bars are added to the sides or top and bottom of the encoded stream when the output is streamed and recorded.
  • Page 108 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Borders are added to the top and bottom of the image to preserve the wider ratio of the input. For example:   Input signal resolution is 720×480 (a 3:2 aspect ratio)  ...
  • Page 109 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Match the output frame size to the aspect ratio of the source signal To change the output frame size to match the aspect ratio of the source:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism.

  • Page 110: Unstretch The Output Video

    Unstretch the output video By default, the Standalone VGA Grid makes sure that the aspect ratio of input signals is preserved when the output is streamed. If this default was overridden or if the channel was created in a version of the software earlier than 3.11.0, the image is stretched to match the output frame size.

  • Page 111: Limit The Frame Rate

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration  5. Click Apply. Unstretching the image causes a matte (black bars) to appear on the sides or top and bottom of the output. To remove these see Control the matte (black bars) in the video output.

  • Page 112: Adjust Key Frame Interval

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-3 Fine-tune channel configuration Adjust key frame interval The key frame interval feature specifies how often a key frame (a frame that contains all the pixels) is used when streaming the video. This setting also impacts how quickly a video moves through the frames when a viewer uses the search function of their media player.

  • Page 113: Customize Your Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel Customize your channel Adding a corporate logo, company information, corporate color and time stamps are easy ways to identify your broadcast. This section describes the following topics for customizing your channel:  ...
  • Page 114 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel To upload an image for use as a logo or no signal image on a channel:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.
  • Page 115 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  8. Click Upload; the file is uploaded and displayed in the Other files section.  9. See below to learn how to apply the logo or no signal image to a channel as well as how to add metadata information such as presentation title, presenter’s name, and other corporate information.
  • Page 116 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  5. Enter metadata such as: presentation title, presenter name(s), any copyright dates and additional information about the broadcast that you want the viewer to know. How metadata is displayed depends on the media player. For example VLC stores the...
  • Page 117 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel If location settings are incorrect and cause the image to be cropped, the system overrides the incorrect settings and reduces the margins so the whole image is displayed, if possible.  9. Click Apply.
  • Page 118 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  7. Click Apply. Go to the live broadcast page to confirm the message location on the broadcast page. To delete a logo or no signal image from the system  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.

  • Page 119: Add A Time Stamp Or Text Overlay To Your Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel To remove metadata from a channel  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. From the web interface, select a channel; the menu expands.

  • Page 120: Select The Background Color For Your Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  8. Select a screen position from the Overlay label position drop-down box. Your choices are bottom right, bottom left, top right or top left.  9. If desired, check the Large-sized font checkbox to double the size of the text in the overlay.

  • Page 121: Add A Customized Background To A Multiple Source Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  3. From the web interface, scroll to the channel where you want to add a background color.  4. Click the channel; the menu expands.  5. Choose Encoding for the channel; the Encoding configuration page opens.
  • Page 122 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel Before you can upload and apply a customized background, save a PNG, TIFF, JPEG file to a location to which you can browse. For best results, the background image size should match the frame size of your multi-source layout (frame size is set in the Encoding configuration page).
  • Page 123 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  4. Click Upload. The file is added to the list of files under the Other files heading. Now you can apply the background to a multiple source channel.  5. Click the multiple source channel where you want to apply the customized background; the menu expands.
  • Page 124 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-4 Customize your channel  8. You may need to adjust the position and size for each source to fit within your customized background, refer to Merge multiple videos into a single channel. Your background image will appear squeezed, stretched or grainy if its size and aspect ratio do not match the size and aspect ratio of the channel.

  • Page 125: Preview A Channel

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 3-5 Preview a channel Preview a channel While configuring a channel, you may want to open a live preview of the channel in another tab or browser window so you can see the changes as they are applied. Choose one of the following options to preview your channel:  ...

  • Page 126: Preview A Channel From The Status Page

    Preview all channels at once Standalone VGA Grid has a special preview mode that lets you see all configured channels at once. The resulting web page can be very large. You may wish to be aware of your web browser's zoom hot keys.
  • Page 127  1. Open a new browser window.  2. Type the following string into the address bar of your web browser on your admin computer (ipaddress is the IP address of your Standalone VGA Grid). http://<ip address of Standalone VGA Grid>/preview.cgi For example: http://172.20.1.33/preview.cgi...

  • Page 128: Part 4: Stream

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide PART 4: Stream PART 4: Stream Streaming provides powerful and flexible approaches to delivering to your users. Offering an easy to use interface, users can stream video using multiple formats to multiple users and devices such as web browsers, media players, set-top-boxes, Smart TVs and Content Distribution Networks.

  • Page 129: Stream Your Video

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video Stream your video After you have configured your media and channels, decided on the content and layout of your broadcast, it’s time to share your broadcast. The following sections provide a description of the available streaming options, insight into why you would choose each option, and procedures to stream your content using each option.

  • Page 130: Choose A Streaming Option

    Streaming for viewers Streaming for viewers allows viewers to connect to your Standalone VGA Grid and view the live stream. You can configure whether or not streaming is enabled for viewers. See Disable (and enable) streams for viewers.
  • Page 131 There is approximately a 30 second delay when streaming using HLS. Stream to a server Your Standalone VGA Grid streams to a server when you want to use a CDN or Multicast. By default, this is not configured. See Stream content using a Content Distribution Network...
  • Page 132 Network. The following options are available to stream video to a CDN: Epiphan TV - test your video stream using Epiphan’s portal using RTSP announce - stream live video to a content delivery network using RTMP push - stream live video to a content delivery network RTSP and RTMP streaming provides the following advantages:...

  • Page 133: Disable (And Enable) Streams For Viewers

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video Publishing Options Use this option to... Multicast Streaming Stream content to a multicast IP address where it can be shared with multiple viewers within the same LAN. All viewers receive the same stream at the same time.

  • Page 134: Restrict Access To Streams For Viewers

     3. Uncheck Enabled to disable streaming to viewers (or check to enable).  4. Click Apply at the bottom of the page. Restrict access to streams for viewers Standalone VGA Grid can restric access to all viewer streams using global viewer passwords and IP allow/deny lists. See Setting and Changing User Passwords Restrict Viewers by IP Address...
  • Page 135 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. From the web interface, click Streaming for the desired channel; the streaming page opens.

  • Page 136: Stream Content Using Http Or Rtsp

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  5. Select Use global settings from the drop down list; the configuration fields are disabled (any changes to the configuration fields are not saved).  6. Click Apply at the bottom of the page.

  • Page 137: Configure Streaming Ports

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  2. Login as admin.  3. From the web interface, click a Channel; the menu expands.  4. Click Status: the following page opens displaying the stream protocol that is supported based on the selected codecs.

  • Page 138: Stream Content Using Http Live Streaming (Hls)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  5. Set the HTTP Streaming port to specify the port used to stream the HTTP broadcast. This value along with the URL is used by viewers to access the FLV, ASF and MPEG-TS streams.

  • Page 139: Stream Content Using Upnp

     8. Provide the HLS stream link to your viewers. Stream content using UPnP Using the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) networking protocol, your Standalone VGA Grid can be discovered and can stream to software and hardware media players, set-top-boxes and Smart TVs with ease. If UPnP is enabled, the system automatically establishes communication with media players on the network.
  • Page 140 Removing User Passwords to clear the viewer password. The topics in this chapter include how to enable and disable UPnP and how to control media players from the Standalone VGA Grid. To choose recordings or live streams from your media player, see Viewing with UPnP...
  • Page 141 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  4. Enter a name in the Server name field. If no name is provided the server name will be the system's serial number.  5. Select whether you want to share live video and recorded files.
  • Page 142 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  a. Click the Share via UPnP check box (if not checked).  b. Click Apply  2. For channels (recorded files):  a. Click Recording for the desired channel; the channel's recording page opens.  b. Click the word change next to the list of what is being recorded; the recording options expand.
  • Page 143  6. Click Apply; UPnP sharing is disabled. Play directly to a media player If your digital media player is UPnP enabled, the Standalone VGA Grid can play direct the media player to play recorded files, without browsing through menus in the player.
  • Page 144 Change UPnP device name You can configure the UPnP server name that appears for your Standalone VGA Grid. By default, if you left the server name field blank when enabling UPnP, the server name is the system's serial number.

  • Page 145: Stream Content Using A Content Distribution Network

    CDN allows you to stream any time, anywhere, regardless of the viewing device. You can test how your content is streamed by sending your content to Epiphan’s CDN or choose one of Epiphan’s preferred CDN providers http://epiphan.tv/cdn-partners.php.
  • Page 146 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video   a path to the mount point or an XML configuration file (provided by the CDN provider);   verify which transport protocols your CDN supports:   a current flash player; and  ...
  • Page 147 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video To stream content to a CDN using RTSP announce  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. From the web interface, click a Channel; the menu expands.
  • Page 148 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video To stream content to a CDN using RTMP push  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. From the web interface, click a Channel; the menu expands.
  • Page 149 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video The CDN provider assigns a user name and password to authenticate the publisher. Contact the CDN provider for your log in credentials.  4. Click Apply. To stream content using Wowza Streaming Cloud To set up streaming via Wowza Cloud, sign in to the Wowza Streaming Cloud web site and create a new Live Stream.
  • Page 150 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  6. Click Apply.  7. Under the selected channel, click Streaming; the channel's Streaming page opens.  8. Click the Publish drop-down menu.  9. Select to Wowza Cloud from the drop-down list.  10. Click Apply; three new fields appear.
  • Page 151 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  12. Click Set to pair the channel on Epiphan's encoder with the live stream on Wowza Streaming Cloud. Each individual connection code is intended for pairing with a single channel only. If you wish to pair a second channel, you need to create a new Wowza live stream and generate a different connection code.
  • Page 152 Standalone VGA Grid web UI Standalone VGA Grid's Wowza Streaming Cloud integration is designed for maximum uptime. If a network or power interruption Standalone VGA Grid temporarily prevents the system from communicating with the Wowza Streaming Cloud service, every attempt is made to reconnect after the power or network is restored.
  • Page 153 Wowza Streaming Cloud charges may continue to accrue, as per your user agreements. Test content distribution using Epiphan CDN Epiphan.tv is a service provided by Epiphan to help our customers to experiment with content distribution networks, bandwidth, performance limits and viewer limits are applied. To upgrade to a full service, select one of Epiphan’s preferred CDN provider at...
  • Page 154  6. Click the Publish drop-down menu.  7. Choose to <serial>. Epiphan.tv. Where <serial> is the serial number of the system.  8. Click Apply; a connection through the media tunnel is established. The system streams to the Epiphan’s portal – epiphan.net.
  • Page 155  3. Click the link to view the broadcast.  4. A web page opens displaying the broadcast.   Specify a multimedia player to view your Epiphan TV broadcast  1. From the Epiphan TV portal, click Switch To on the bottom of the screen; the following options appear.

  • Page 156: Stream Content Using Multicast Streaming

     3. Highlight and right-click on the code in the dialog box. A drop-down menu appears.  4. Choose Copy.  5. Paste the content into the HTML code for your website. A link to your broadcast on Epiphan TV is added to your web page.
  • Page 157   Using MPEG-TS RTP/UDP push Standalone VGA Grid supports multicast streaming content to an IP TV or a set-top box playlist when the stream format is MPEG-TS. The following procedures outline the steps to distribute your content using multicast streaming.
  • Page 158 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  10. Share the link to the file with viewers. Multicast streaming for MPEG-TS streams using UDP push To configure the MPEG-TS stream, ensure the following codecs are configured:   Video – H.264  ...
  • Page 159 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  8. Enter the destination port number through which the media will stream.  9. Perform one of the following:  a. If you do not want to advertise your stream to a media player over a local network, go to the last step of this procedure;...
  • Page 160 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video  3. From the web interface, click a Channel; the menu expands.  4. Click Streaming; the channel's Streaming page opens.  5. Click the Publish drop-down menu.  6. Choose using MPEG-TS RTP/UDP push.
  • Page 161 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-1 Stream your video To view the stream when SAP announce has been set and the stream is advertised on a media player, set-top- box or Smart TV, refer to Viewing with Session Announcement Protocol...

  • Page 162: Samples Of Stream Settings

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-2 Samples of stream settings Samples of stream settings When choosing your stream settings it is important to consider the stream content. When streaming fast moving video it's best to choose a higher bitrate and frame rate versus streaming a slide presentation where you can save on bandwidth and system processing by lower the bitrate and frame rate.

  • Page 163: Streaming Slide Content

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 4-2 Samples of stream settings Streaming slide content The table below provides suggested settings to maximize your stream quality while minimizing system resource usage when streaming slide content from a PC, Mac or tablet. Setting...

  • Page 164: Part 5: Record

    PART 5: Record PART 5: Record Your Standalone VGA Grid encodes the video and audio it captures. If you choose to record the resulting streams, it stores the recorded files on the system and provides a variety of automatic or manual mechanisms to download the files.

  • Page 165: Recorders

    5-1 Recorders Recorders Your Standalone VGA Grid can record the output from each channel and can also record multiple channels together in a single multi-track file. You only need to create recorders for multi-track recordings. For single channel recordings, see Create Recordings This section describes the following topics for creating and managing multi-channel recorders.

  • Page 166: Rename A Recorder

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-1 Recorders Rename a recorder To rename a recorder:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. Select the desired recorder link from the Recorders section; the recorder configuration page opens.

  • Page 167: Change The Channels Recorded By A Recorder

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-1 Recorders Change the channels recorded by a recorder By default when you create a new recorder, it records all the channels configured on the system. If new channels are added, they are automatically added to the recorder.

  • Page 168: Delete A Recorder

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-1 Recorders Delete a recorder When you no longer need a recorder, you can delete it. Deleting a recorder deletes all the recorded files for the recorder. Be sure you have a copy of any important recorded files.

  • Page 169: Create Recordings

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings Create Recordings Your Standalone VGA Grid can record the output from each channel. (See Recorders for information on creating multi-track recorders using multiple channels.) Recordings are very robust and crafted so that even in the case of accidental system shutdown, recording files are closed off and playable.

  • Page 170: Record A Channel Via The Web Interface

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings The MOV file type created by Standalone VGA Grid requires a relatively newer player for playback. Epiphan has tested with the following players. Operating System Tested Players Mac OS   QuickTime 10.3 (for 1080p streams)  ...
  • Page 171 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings  4. Click the Recording link for the channel; the Recording page appears.  5. To Start Recording:  a. Click the Start button; the recording starts and a timer indicates how long it has been recording.

  • Page 172: Record With A Recorder Via The Web Interface

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings  c. The system continues to record this channel (and any concurrent recordings) until it is stopped. If the system runs out of storage space, the oldest recorded file is deleted to make room for the new recording.
  • Page 173 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings  2. Login as admin or operator.  3. Click the name of the desired recorder; the recorder configuration page appears.  4. To Start Recording:  a. Click the Start button; the recording starts and a timer indicates how long it has been recording.

  • Page 174: Configure The Type And Length Of Recording Files

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings  a. Click the Stop button on the given recorder's configuration page. The recorder number changes to black next time the web interface is refreshed (by clicking a link or refreshing the page).
  • Page 175 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings  6. Select a time limit for the recording from the Time limit drop down.  7. Select a file size limit from the Size limit drop down. Tip: If you don’t know what size to select, do some test recordings to get an idea of the file sizes you can expect.

  • Page 176: Close The Current Recording File While Recording

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-2 Create Recordings Label Description / Options Filename prefix Specifies how the recordings are named. Recording files start with the given prefix followed by the date and time. The channel or recorder name is used if no prefix is given.

  • Page 177: Control Recording With A Mouse

     6. Refresh the page to see the new recorded files list. Control recording with a mouse You can physically control recording start/stop by connecting a USB mouse to your Standalone VGA Grid. To control recordings with a mouse:  1. Power on the system.

  • Page 178: File Maintenance

    File Maintenance The Standalone VGA Grid has a finite amount of storage. Though this storage space holds a lot of recordings, it will eventually run out of space if recordings are added but never removed. When this happens, the system deletes the oldest recorded files to make room for new recordings.

  • Page 179: Rename Stored Files

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-3 File Maintenance  6. Otherwise:  a. All files for this channel are listed, sorted by date. Files that are part of the same recording session are listed one after another. Three dots appear between files of different recording sessions. The file currently being recorded (if applicable) is shown at the top of the list.

  • Page 180: Download Files Manually

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-3 File Maintenance  5. Type the new file name and press enter when finished. The web interface keeps track of the filename extension (i.e. .avi) so you do not need to include it when renaming the file.

  • Page 181: Delete Files Manually

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-3 File Maintenance  5. To download multiple files:  a. Select the check box next to the recordings you wish to download from this channel or recorder.  b. Click Download Selected to download a zip file containing the selected recordings.

  • Page 182: Pick Specific Tracks From A Multi-Track Recorder File

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-3 File Maintenance  c. Click OK on the confirmation dialog. The list may not update immediately. You can refresh the list by reloading the Recording page (for channels) or the recorder settings page (for recorders).
  • Page 183 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-3 File Maintenance  5. Select the track(s) you want to extract. Tip: To deselect all tracks, click the check box for the top track, then hold SHIFT and click the check box for the bottom track.

  • Page 184: File And Recording Transfer

    5-4 File and recording transfer File and recording transfer Your Standalone VGA Grid can be configured to automatically upload recordings from local storage to a network storage location or an attached USB drive. This section discusses the following generic automatic upload topics:  ...

  • Page 185: Configure The Files Included In Afu (Part 1 Of 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer By default, channels and recorders are not configured to support automatic file upload for their recorded files. You must enable this feature for each channel or recorder you wish to include in your automatic file transfers.

  • Page 186: Enable And Configure The Frequency Of Afu (Part 2 Of 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer  3. For a channel recording:  a. Click the desired channel; the channel menu expands.  b. Select the Recording link for the channel; the Recording page opens.  4. For a recorder:  a.
  • Page 187 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer  3. Select Automatic File Upload from the Configuration section; the Automatic File Upload configuration page opens. If your screen does not indicate that AFU is enabled for at least one channel or recorder, return to Configure the files included in AFU (part 1 of 3)  4.
  • Page 188 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer Name Description Every 6 hours The system uploads completed recordings every six hours. Every 12 hours The system uploads completed recordings every 12 hours. Every 24 hours The system uploads completed recordings every 24 hours.

  • Page 189: Configure Afu To An Ftp Server (Part 2 Of 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer   Configure AFU using SCP (part 2 of 3)   Upload to an external USB drive Configure AFU to an FTP server (part 2 of 3) This procedure assumes you have completed the steps in Enable and configure the frequency of AFU (part 2 of and wish to continue with configuration of upload to an FTP Server.

  • Page 190: Configure Afu Using Rsync (Part 2 Of 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer Table 22 FTP Automatic Upload Configuration Options Name Description / Options Server address The IP address (or fully qualified domain name) of the FTP server. Server port The port used by the target FTP server. Standard port is 21.

  • Page 191: Configure Afu Using Cifs (Part 2 Of 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer  4. Specify a username for the RSync Server in the Login field. The user must have write permissions for the module.  5. Specify the password for the user in the Password field; the value is masked by dots.
  • Page 192 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer  2. Specify the target Server address. If your system is configured with DHCP or has a valid DNS configuration (see Configure Network Settings), you can use the server’s fully qualified domain name instead of the IP address.

  • Page 193: Configure Afu To A Secure Ftp Server (Part 2 Of 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer Name Description / Options Server share The name of the shared folder on the CIFS server. Domain The CIFS server's Windows domain or Work Group name . Needed if the server is part of Active Directory or a Domain Controller.
  • Page 194  6. Select Use temp file to name files with a temporary filename extension (.part) on the server until upload is complete. For secure file transfer you can upload an SSH identity for your Standalone VGA Grid. This key must be trusted by the destination server. Details for generating the key and setting up this trust are beyond the scope of this document.

  • Page 195: Configure Afu Using Scp (Part 2 Of 3)

    (Alternatively you can choose to use a private key instead of a password for authentication.) For secure copy you can upload an SSH identity for your Standalone VGA Grid. This key must be trusted by the destination server. Details for generating the key and setting up this trust are beyond the scope of this document.

  • Page 196: Upload To An External Usb Drive

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer The system accepts RSA keys for SSH-1; DSA, ECDSA, EC25519 and RSA for SSH-2. Keys must be in OpenSSH format.  c. Click Upload to upload the file.  2. Use the Test your key field to test your uploaded key against the secure server, if desired.
  • Page 197 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer   View available USB storage space   Safely eject the USB drive Only one copy or move to USB operation is permitted at a time, even though the UI may appear to let you start a second one. Please wait until the first is complete before starting a new operation.
  • Page 198 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer Using the fix link disables any other type of automatic file upload you have configured. When you are done with USB uploads, return to the Automatic File Upload configuration page and re-configure FTP, RSYNC, or CIFS.
  • Page 199 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer  5. Select the appropriate check boxes based on the descriptions provided in the following table. If your USB drive does not have activity indicators it is suggested you select either remove after copying or mark file as downloaded so you know when the transfer is complete.
  • Page 200 5-4 File and recording transfer Manually copy recorded files to USB drive You can manually copy recorder files to a USB drive connected to the Standalone VGA Grid. This procedure is separate from automatic file upload and does not need any pre-configuration in the automatic file upload page.
  • Page 201 View available USB storage space When you insert a USB drive in an available port of the Standalone VGA Grid and select an External USB Drive action other than ignored (i.e. manual copy, automatic copy, etc), the total and free space are calculated and displayed in the Web Interface.
  • Page 202 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer Safely eject the USB drive When you have completed work with the USB drive you can safely eject it by using the link at the bottom of the Web Interface page. To safely eject the USB drive:  1.

  • Page 203: View The File Upload Log

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-4 File and recording transfer View the file upload log A log is kept of automatic file uploads. To view the log:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.

  • Page 204: Use The Local Ftp Server

    Use the Local FTP Server Standalone VGA Grid can act as an FTP server, allowing you to manually or automatically connect to the system and download recordings. Depending on configuration of the FTP server, you may also be able to remotely delete files after download, maximizing available system storage.

  • Page 205: Downloading Files From The Local Ftp Server

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-5 Use the Local FTP Server  c. Click Apply.  5. To allow the FTP user to delete files:  a. Select the Enable FTP DELETE command check box.  b. Click Apply. Any currently logged in ftp users must log out and back in again to have access to the command.
  • Page 206 Configure the Local FTP Server) In the example below, the IP address of the Standalone VGA Grid is 192.168.1.210, the username is admin, there is no password, and the Windows command line ftp utility is used. To connect to the FTP server:  1.
  • Page 207 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 5-5 Use the Local FTP Server  8. If enabled in the FTP configuration page, delete the file after downloading it by issuing the delete command, or using your tool’s delete mechanism. If the delete command is not enabled, attempting to delete a file will result in an Unknown...

  • Page 208: Part 6: View

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide PART 6: View PART 6: View Now that you have perfected your stream, identified the medium to publish your stream, it's time to view the video stream from a media player or a web browser.

  • Page 209: View Your Video

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video View your video This chapter describes factors to consider when choosing a streaming URL and steps to view the video stream from a media player or a web browser. Refer to the following sections:  ...
  • Page 210 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video  5. Copy the URL and provide to viewers. Based on their media player, viewers can access the broadcast using a URL specific to their media player. View your broadcast using the Live broadcast link on the Status page  1.
  • Page 211 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video  5. When HTTP live streaming for the channel is enabled the status page also shows the HTTP Live Streaming link. See, Fine-tune channel configuration When HLS is enabled and with no viewer password set, viewers can access the stream using a tablet or smart phone device.

  • Page 212: Viewing With A Web Browser

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. From the web interface, click the channel that you want to view; the menu expands.
  • Page 213 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video If your channel is configured with 48 kHz audio, flash streaming (which is used for browser viewing) may not work. In this case, we recommend you view the channel with a media player instead. (See below.)

  • Page 214: Viewing With A Media Player

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video Viewing with a media player If a viewer password is configured, provide participants with the password to log in, along with the IP address or the URL to be copied to the media player. For example purposes the following procedure describes the steps using a VLC media player.
  • Page 215 Some players cannot access the stream or saved recordings if a viewer password is set. If needed, see Removing User Passwords to clear the viewer password. When browsing via UPnP your Standalone VGA Grid is displayed by the server name you set, or it's product serial number.

  • Page 216: Viewing With Session Announcement Protocol (Sap)

    6-1 View your video UPnP can also be used to directly play a recording to the digital media player, or to set a media player to automatically play a particular live stream after reboot of the Standalone VGA Grid. See Stream content using...
  • Page 217 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 6-1 View your video  8. Click on a live stream; the stream plays in the media player window.

  • Page 218: Part 7: Maintenance

    PART 7: Maintenance This section covers topics that will keep your Standalone VGA Grid running smoothly. It also covers a new tablet operator interface and ways to configure and operate your system using third party tools via HTTP or RS- 232.

  • Page 219: Mobile / Tablet Operator Interface

    7-1 Mobile / Tablet Operator Interface Mobile / Tablet Operator Interface Epiphan's tablet interface is designed for touch-screen devices. Use your tablet or mobile device to perform confidence checks and basic operator tasks such as verifying disk space or starting and stopping recording.
  • Page 220 Use the mobile version of Epiphan Connect Epiphan has iOS and Android versions of the Epiphan Connect discovery utility. The mobile versions of the discovery utility automatically open the tablet interface when connecting to the Standalone VGA Grid for administration.

  • Page 221: Confidence Monitoring Using The Tablet Interface

     2. Launch Epiphan Connect; the application searches your network and shows you a list of available Epiphan systems.  3. Find your system in the list. If you have several Epiphan systems, look for the serial number of the one to which you'd like to connect.
  • Page 222 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-1 Mobile / Tablet Operator Interface  4. For audio inputs without signal, nothing appears in the audio input bars.  5. For audio inputs with signal, the level is shown next to the source name in the audio input bar.

  • Page 223: Verify Disk Space Via The Tablet Interface

     4. If disk space is low, the green bar will be nearly full. Control recording via the tablet interface The tablet interface provides a simple way to control recording for your Standalone VGA Grid. You can control recordings for both channels and recorders from the same interface.

  • Page 224: Switch To The Full Admin Interface

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-1 Mobile / Tablet Operator Interface  3. Scroll to the CHANNELS section.  4. Find the channel or recorder from the list under CHANNELS. (The names of the channels and recorders match the names set in the full admin interface.)  5.

  • Page 225: Power Down And System Restart

      Shutting down the Device Manually Restarting the Device via the Web Interface Standalone VGA Grid's web interface allows you to reboot the system. To restart the system:  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.

  • Page 226: Shutting Down The Device Via The Web Interface

     4. Click the Shutdown Now button; a confirmation dialog appears.  5. Click OK. Shutting down the Device Manually You can manually shut down the Standalone VGA Grid via the button physically located on the system.   To shut down the system manually:  1.
  • Page 227 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-2 Power Down and System Restart If the system is unresponsive, press and hold the power button for 4 seconds to force an immediate power down.

  • Page 228: Save And Restore Device Configuration

    Save and Restore Device Configuration After completing configuration of your Standalone VGA Grid, it is good practice to save the system configuration so you may restore it at a later date (i.e. after a change that wasn’t wanted, or after a factory reset) or so you may load it onto another system to provision it with the same configuration.

  • Page 229: Load A Saved Device Configuration

    After making changes to the system configuration, you may find that the results are not what you expected or that they serve a different need and you wish to return to a previous configuration. Via Standalone VGA Grid's web interface you can load a previously saved configuration file.
  • Page 230 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-3 Save and Restore Device Configuration  7. Reboot the system by clicking the link in the message on the web page, or by using the power button on the system; when the system comes back up the restoration is complete.

  • Page 231: Perform Factory Reset

    7-4 Perform Factory Reset Perform Factory Reset If you’ve been testing with your Standalone VGA Grid and are ready to reset it back to factory settings, you can do this through the web interface. This section covers the following topics:  ...
  • Page 232 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-4 Perform Factory Reset  5. Click OK on the warning dialog; the system resets to factory defaults and reboots.  6. Wait for the system to reboot and begin re-configuration.

  • Page 233: Firmware Upgrade

    Check for Firmware Updates When you register your product with Epiphan you are given a choice to be notified by email of firmware updates for your system. If you selected this choice, you will be notified of updates applicable to the Standalone VGA Grid.

  • Page 234: Install Firmware

    Epiphan. Install Firmware Directly from the Web Interface: If your Standalone VGA Grid has internet access, the easiest method of installing new firmware is to use the download link provided when you check for new firmware. To download new firmware directly:  1.
  • Page 235 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-5 Firmware Upgrade Do not interrupt power to the system during the firmware upgrade.  7. When the firmware update is complete, the message lets you know it is going to reboot.  8. Wait for the system to restart. Depending on the upgrade, a disk rebuild may be required, causing the restart process to take much longer than usual.
  • Page 236 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-5 Firmware Upgrade  7. Select the firmware upgrade file from your local computer.  8. Click Apply; the file is uploaded. The system unpacks and verifies the file. If the file is valid, the upgrade begins.

  • Page 237: Support

    (Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm Eastern)   Call: 1-877-599-6581 / 613-599-6581 From time to time, Epiphan support may ask you for logs from your system. Follow the instructions in this section to download the log files for support.   Download logs and "allinfo"...
  • Page 238 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-6 Support  1. Connect to the admin interface using your preferred connection mechanism. See Connect to the Admin Interface.  2. Login as admin.  3. Select the Maintenance link in the Configuration menu; the maintenance page opens.

  • Page 239: Configure Remote Support

     9. Share the log files and allinfo results with Epiphan support. Configure Remote Support Remote support is configured by default to connect to the Epiphan maintenance server with the domain name epiphany.epiphan.com. The system must be able to resolve this domain name to connect to the server and permit remote support.

  • Page 240: Disable Remote Support

     11. If the system reaches the maintenance server, ensure your firewall, if you have one, has port 30 open for the system.  12. Confirm with Epiphan support that they are able to access your Standalone VGA Grid for remote troubleshooting.
  • Page 241 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-6 Support  5. Click Enable connection to maintenance server to deselect it. This prevents outgoing links to Epiphan.  6. Click Apply.

  • Page 242: Storage Disk Maintenance

    Check disk storage space Standalone VGA Grid has a finite amount of storage By default, the standalone and networked version have 3 TB of storage. This storage space holds a lot of recordings, but it can get full. It’s a good idea to monitor your current disk usage.

  • Page 243: Schedule Disk Check

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-7 Storage Disk Maintenance  4. If available storage is low, take action to remove files as discussed in File Maintenance File and recording transfer. Schedule disk check A disk maintenance schedule is used to check the system storage drives for errors. Two values are supplied, one to specify the number of system restarts that should occur before disk check, and the second to specify the number of months before performing a disk check.

  • Page 244: Rebuild Or Replace Storage Disks

    Rebuild or replace storage disks The rackmount Standalone VGA Grid can be optionally configured with storage configured in a RAID array. Periodically you may wish to clean the RAID array to start from scratch, or you may want to introduce new disks in place of the old ones.
  • Page 245 When purchasing a new disk set, ensure that the drives in the new set are identical (brand, size, and type). To change the disk set:  1. Power down the Standalone VGA Grid.  2. Open the front panel of the system (the panel key may be required).
  • Page 246 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-7 Storage Disk Maintenance Table 29 RAID Array Types Label Description Diagram RAID 0 Block level striping writes data across multiple disks in parallel. This configuration divides the storage between multiple drives; provides read/write performance improvements but does not provide fault tolerance.
  • Page 247 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-7 Storage Disk Maintenance  2. Click Build Storage; you are asked to confirm that you want to erase the storage drives and rebuild.  3. Click OK on the confirmation dialog; a message appears indicating the rebuild is underway. Internal storage is not available during rebuild.

  • Page 248: Verify Raid Storage

    Verify RAID storage The rackmount Standalone VGA Grid can be optionally configured with storage configured in a RAID array. Use the strategies described here to determine if you are using a RAID array and if it is in good health.

  • Page 249: Read Data From Removed Storage Disks

    Read data from removed storage disks Standalone VGA Grid storage drives use an ext4 file system and can only be read with a computer running Linux. These steps describe how to read the recorded files from the removable storage drives using Ubuntu.
  • Page 250 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-7 Storage Disk Maintenance Depending on your exact version of Linux, the steps you follow may differ slightly from the steps below. To read the recorded files:  1. Install Linux on a workstation where the drives will be installed (Ubuntu or Debian are recommended.
  • Page 251 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-7 Storage Disk Maintenance Total Devices : 1 Persistence : Superblock is persistent Update Time : Thu Jan 23 12:03:03 2014 State : clean, degraded Active Devices : 1 Working Devices : 1 Failed Devices : 0...

  • Page 252: Control With Rs-232 / Serial Port

    To connect your control equipment to the Standalone VGA Grid you will need a standard RS-232 null-modem cable and a USB to RS-232 serial adapter cable. Adapter cables are not included with the Standalone VGA Grid. Only certain adapter chipsets are supported, Epiphan recommends this adapter cable from Startech.

  • Page 253: Control The Standalone Vga Grid With

    VGA Grid such as when to start or stop recording, or to retrieve or set the value for various settings. Each command sent to the Standalone VGA Grid via RS 232 must be terminated with a line feed (LF) character (ASCII code 10). Your software may need to be configured to add the line feed to each command.
  • Page 254 In the example below, the second recorder's index is 2. To access this recorder via RS232 commands, use the index m2. The table describes the RS-232 commands supported by the Standalone VGA Grid. Table 31 Supported RS-232 Commands Command Name...
  • Page 255 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-8 Control with RS-232 / Serial Port Command Name Description SNAPSHOT Takes a snapshot image of all channels (supported only for channels configured to use the Motion JPEG codec). Snapshots are saved with recording files on the system.

  • Page 256: Rs-232 / Serial Port Command Examples

    SET and GET parameters are found in Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Each command sent to the Standalone VGA Grid via RS 232 must be terminated with a line feed (LF) character (ASCII code 10). Your software may need to be configured to add the line feed to each command.
  • Page 257 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-8 Control with RS-232 / Serial Port SET.2.framesize="640 x 480" SAVECFG 6. To enable broadcasting audio on channel 2: SET.2.audio=on SAVECFG 7. To disable broadcasting audio on channel 2: SET.2.audio="" SAVECFG...

  • Page 258: Control With Http Commands

    HTTP command examples HTTP command syntax Control of the Standalone VGA Grid by HTTP is done by sending commands to one of two URLs and specifying the target configuration item. Syntax for the get and set commands follows. Many commands require a channel or recorder index as an argument. A channel's index is found by looking at the Channels list in the web interface.
  • Page 259 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-9 Control with HTTP Commands http://<address>/admin/channel<N>/get_params.cgi?key (or for recorders, add 'm' before the recorder number, i.e. channelm1 for recorder 1) http://<address>/admin/channelm<N>/get_params.cgi?key To Set configuration settings: http://<address>/admin/channel<N>/set_params.cgi?key=value (or for recorders, add 'm' before the recorder number, i.e. channelm1 for recorder 1) http://<address>/admin/channelm<N>/get_params.cgi?key...

  • Page 260: Http Command Examples

    HTTP command examples Some configuration of the Standalone VGA Grid can be done by non-interactive http commands. The following examples demonstrate how to use wget to exercise some of the HTTP commands supported by the system. For values with spaces, encode space as %20. i.e.: set_params.cgi?framesize=640%20x%20480 The examples assume a system IP address of 192.30.23.45 and admin password pass123.
  • Page 261 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-9 Control with HTTP Commands wget --http-user=admin --http-passwd=pass123 http://192.30.23.45/admin/channelm2/set_ params.cgi?rec_enabled=on...

  • Page 262: Configuration Keys For Third Party Apis

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Using HTTP or RS-232, you can send commands to the system to query or configure the system. For the RS-232 and HTTP syntax see Control with RS-232 / Serial Port Control with HTTP Commands.

  • Page 263: System-Level Settings Keys(Read-Only)

    The value is read-only. vendor Epiphan Systems Inc. Name of the vendor. The value is always “Epiphan Systems Inc.”. The value is read-only. System-level Settings Key (Read/Write) The following read/write system-level setting keys are supported. The channel number can be omitted from the...

  • Page 264: Recording Configuration Keys

    To enable firmware update checking, set to on. To disable firmware update checking, set to an empty string (""). description string To give this system a name in the Epiphan discovery utilty, specify a description string. Recording Configuration Keys The following recording settings are supported.

  • Page 265: Ip-Based Access Control Configuration Keys

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Values Description http_sport integer Specifies the HTTP server SSL port (HTTPS port). http_usessl Enables or disables HTTPS (SSL Server) empty string ("") To enable SSL, set to on. To disable SSL, set to an empty string ("").

  • Page 266: Sap Configuration Keys

    For shifts to the left, use positive values. For shifts to the right, use negative values. offset 0...63 Specifies ADC offset. 0 is brightest, 63 is darkest. phase 0...31 Specifies phase adjustments for VGA signals. Generally not used unless value is provided by Epiphan support.

  • Page 267: Broadcast Configuration Keys

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Values Description -999...999 Specifies PLL adjustment. Changes the number of pixels in the line. tune_interval 0...9999 Specifies the number of seconds between auto-adjustments. To disable auto-adjustments, set to 0. vshift -20...20 Specifies vertical shift.
  • Page 268 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Values Description codec h.264 Specifies the stream codec. mpeg4 mjpeg fpslimit 1-60 Specifies the frame per second limit. Set to your desired limit. framesize 640 x 480 Specifies the frame size in pixels.

  • Page 269: Channel Logo Configuration Keys

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Values Description timelabel none (no date) Specifies the time label on the stream. date (date alone) To have no time label, set to ‘none’. hms (time alone) date_hms (date and time)

  • Page 270: Audio Configuration Keys

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Table 43 Supported Channel Logo Configuration Keys Values Description logo_margin_x 0…frame width Specifies the horizontal offset in pixels from the position in logo_position. To offset 10 pixels from the left (when using a top-left logo position), set to 10.

  • Page 271: Stream Publishing Configuration Keys

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Values Description audiopreset CODECS: Specifies an audio code preset in the format CODEC;RATE. pcm_s161e (PCM) i.e. libfaac;128 libmp3lame (MP3) libfacc (AAC) RATES: Stream Publishing Configuration Keys The system supports the following stream publishing settings. For more information on publishing the stream, Stream your video.

  • Page 272: Rtp/Udp Configuration Keys (Publish Type 3)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Table 46 Supported RTSP Announce Configuration Keys Values Description announce_by_tcp Enables or disable RTSP over TCP. To enable TCP transport, set empty string ("") to on. Otherwise, set to empty string ("").

  • Page 273: Mpeg-Ts Configuration Keys (Publish Types 4 And 5)

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs MPEG-TS Configuration Keys (Publish Types 4 and 5) The following settings are supported when the publish type is set to MPEG-TS. For more information on MPEG- TS and these settings, see Stream your video.
  • Page 274 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-10 Configuration Keys for Third Party APIs Table 50 Supported Content Metadata Configuration Keys Values Description author string Specifies the name of the author for the stream/recording. Refer to description above on handling white space (spaces) in the string.

  • Page 275: Troubleshooting

    Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-11 Troubleshooting 7-11 Troubleshooting Use the follow table for help if you are experiencing problems or unexpected behavior from your Standalone VGA Grid. Problem Action(s) to Resolve Not sure if the connected video inputs are Check each source's input from the source preview in the Web being captured.
  • Page 276 If you still cannot see the stream, try disabling your local computer firewall. If the issue is still not resolved, contact Epiphan Support at support@epiphan.com. The stream interrupts or the image The following tips can help diagnose image problems: breaks up.
  • Page 277 Standalone VGA Grid User Guide 7-11 Troubleshooting Problem Action(s) to Resolve Firmware upgrade fails. Reboot the system and try again. If the problem persists, contact Epiphan support at support@epiphan.com.

  • Page 278: Part 8: Releases And Features

    Our newest line of Standalone VGA Grid systems now capture, encode, stream and record even more HD content! In addition to the DVI-I ports and S-Video ports found on previous models, Standalone VGA Grid now has SDI ports. The new SDI ports support capture of SDI video and audio.
  • Page 279 Hardware acceleration for H.264 encoding Standalone VGA Grid is capable of capturing and encoding up to 300 frames per second of HD video thanks to the addition of hardware accelerated H.264 encoding. H.264 with hardware encoding is the default for new all channels, but you may still use software encoding if needed for compatibility reasons.

  • Page 280: Release 3.12 Features

    SAP Announce Your Standalone VGA Grid allows you to advertise your stream over a local network using SAP Announce. To use this feature, your stream must be setup to use UDP streaming. Local viewers can view the stream using a software or hardware media player.

  • Page 281: Release 3.11 Features

    See Recorders. Multiple audio sources The Standalone VGA Grid now supports one audio input per DVI input in addition to the system's main line-in or microphone. No need to pre-mix audio before routing it to the device for recording. To support this change, the Audio menu tab has been removed and audio sources are now listed under the Sources section.
  • Page 282 MPEG-TS streaming for IPTV Standalone VGA Grid now supports MPEG-TS streaming over RTP/UPD and UDP for easy integration with IPTVs. Simply provide the IPTV's or IPTV gateway's IP address in the channel's publishing configuration menu to enable transmission of the MPEG-TS stream. Choose a codec to maximize your stream quality.
  • Page 283 Alternatively, choose to tether for confidence monitoring and recording control only. Configure the Standalone VGA Grid to use no mobile data, to use Ethernet normally and switch to mobile data if the Ethernet becomes unavailable, or to mobile data as the preferred transmission method.
  • Page 284 HTTP traffic.   MPEG-TS format recording. This robust encoding mechanism has no index or trailer structures making it the most fault tolerant format supported by the Standalone VGA Grid. MPEG-TS files are ready for streaming over HTTP, RTP and UDP.  ...

  • Page 285: Software And Documentation License

    Agreement, (ii) are packaged with this Agreement, or (iii) pre-installed on Epiphan products, or (iv) embed this Agreement in their installer(s) and which are installed after acceptance of this Agreement, and which binary and/or bytecode software programs include any Documentation; and “You”...
  • Page 286 Software and Documentation are granted only for use in conjunction with Epiphan hardware. You shall not distribute, lease, rent, grant a security interest in, assign, or otherwise transfer the Software except as expressly provided in this Agreement. You shall not modify or create any derivatives works of the Software or merge all or any part of the Software with another program.
  • Page 287 PERSON OR ENTITY FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT, RELATING TO THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION, OR RELATING TO ANY SERVICES PROVIDED TO YOU BY LICENSOR (INCLUDING ITS LICENSORS, SUPPLIERS, SUBCONTRACTORS AND/OR DISTRIBUTORS) IN RELATION TO THE SOFTWARE AND/OR DOCUMENTATION FOR ANY INDIRECT, RELIANCE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF REVENUE OR PROFIT, LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO DATA, BUSINESS INTERUPTION, LOSS OF DATA, REPLACEMENT OR RECOVERY COSTS, OR OTHER COMMERCIAL OR ECONOMIC LOSS, WHETHER...
  • Page 288 Agreement. For the purposes of any applicable government use, the Software and Documentation were developed exclusively at private expense, and are trade secrets of Epiphan Systems Inc. for the purpose of any Freedom of Information legislation or any other disclosure statute, regulation or provision.

  • Page 289: Environmental Information

    Software. You may not assign this Agreement whether voluntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise without Licensor’s prior written consent. Licensor may assign this Agreement at any timewithout notice. The failure of a party to claim a breach of any term of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such breach or the right of such party to enforce any subsequent breach of such term.

  • Page 290: Other Jurisdictional Issues

    Those who choose to access the Epiphan web site or use Epiphan products do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable...

  • Page 291: Enforcement Of Terms And Conditions

    Enforcement of Terms and Conditions These Terms and Conditions for use of this document and the associated Epiphan Product are governed and interpreted pursuant to the laws of the province of Ontario, Canada, notwithstanding any principles of conflicts of law.

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