Alcorn Mcbride Digital Binloop HD User Manual Download Page 102

Summary of Contents for Digital Binloop HD

Page 1: ...Digital Binloop HD User s Manual...

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Page 3: ...or modification Alcorn McBride products are not intended for use in applications where a malfunction can reasonably be expected to result in personal injury Customers using or selling Alcorn McBride...

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Page 5: ...g Video 6 ABOUT THE BINLOOP 7 What is the Binloop 7 What s inside the Binloop 7 The Card Cage 8 The Controller Card 8 The Reproducer Cards 8 The CobraNet Card 9 How the Binloop Works 10 Control System...

Page 6: ...werup Mode 30 Get Set SMPTE Restart Mode 31 Get Set SMPTE Idle Mode 31 Get Set Video Format 32 Get Set Synchronous Play Delay 32 Search Clip 33 Play Resume 33 Loop Resume 33 Play Clip 34 Play Loop Cli...

Page 7: ...de Trigger List 63 A Word About Trigger Latency 66 COBRANET 67 Description 67 Details 67 CobraNet Y Cable 67 Reproducer Configuration 68 CobraNet Configuration 69 CobraNet Advanced Configuration 70 Bu...

Page 8: ...ce 93 A Word on Temperature 94 Output Connections 95 Compact Flash Media Reliability 95 Removing a Card from the Cage 95 SPECIFICATIONS 97 Physical 97 Control Information 97 Video 97 Audio 98 SMPTE 98...

Page 9: ...the Network Settings of your PC 112 Configuring the Network Settings of the Binloop 113 Connecting over Ethernet with the Binloop Software 114 APPENDIX A TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDES 117 APPENDIX B COMPACT...

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Page 11: ...hardware Later sections contain more detailed information on programming and operation including how to integrate your Binloop into a control system and the various hardware configuration options that...

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Page 13: ...E DON T THROW AWAY THIS MANUAL Installation Instructions Note It is always ideal to use power protection such as surge protection and or an uninterruptible power supply to ensure a reliable power sour...

Page 14: ...ces out there with different specs and compatibility issues We recommend SanDisk cards because we can guarantee that they work in all of our Compact Flash products Also it s important to mention that...

Page 15: ...el 1 You may see the Reproducer indicate a fault flashing red LED but this is normal While holding the Test Button insert the Compact Flash card into the Compact Flash socket of channel 1 Wait a secon...

Page 16: ...with the Digital Binloop HD test clip into the Compact Flash socket of channel 1 3 Power up the Binloop 4 Wait for the Binloop to finish initializing You can determine this by watching status display...

Page 17: ...lications this product can be controlled externally by SMPTE EBU timecode MIDI RS 232 Ethernet or contact closures That being said the Binloop is not your everyday multi channel video player Its abili...

Page 18: ...op with the ability to either Generate or Read SMPTE timecode It also has the ability to store a list of SMPTE triggers that can be precisely executed at specified times To maintain synchronization be...

Page 19: ...with the CobraNet option you can distribute the stereo audio outputs of up to 8 reproducers that s 16 channels of audio over a CobraNet network When this option is installed an additional RJ 45 Ether...

Page 20: ...comprise the Binloop let s get more familiar with how those components actually work together The diagram below outlines the different components we ve covered as well as their functional relationshi...

Page 21: ...command to play video 1 on reproducer 1 It must interpret this command and then send the appropriate control signal to the reproducer to make it happen Another common example would be using the Parall...

Page 22: ...e to you Setting Options Video Format NTSC PAL Sample Rate 32kHz 44 1kHz 48kHz 96kHz These settings can be configured using the Menu Wheel interface on the front of the Binloop as well as the Binloop...

Page 23: ...tial time of SMPTE generator when it is first enabled Start Time The time that the SMPTE generator returns to after it reaches the End Time when looping End Time The time when the SMPTE generator eith...

Page 24: ...loop s A V Sync system is configured for NTSC 29 97fps the SMPTE module can generate 29 97fps timecode that is perfectly synchronous This means that each tick of the SMPTE clock will coincide with the...

Page 25: ...e of the SMPTE Output when the SMPTE Interface is Stopped If the Idle Mode is configured to mute SMPTE the SMPTE output will be silent when the SMPTE clock is stopped If the Idle Mode is configured fo...

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Page 27: ...Description Alcorn 9 bit 9600 For use with Alcorn Show Controllers AMI Pioneer 9600 Generic ASCII based protocol intended for use by almost any serial control device MIDI 38400 For use with MIDI Show...

Page 28: ...s to go in one piece The good news is that you do not have to understand those complexities As a matter of fact you only need to know the following information to send a UDP message Destination IP Add...

Page 29: ...ucers Mute Audio 13 14 Mute Audio on all reproducers Play Group 1 20 GND Play and Loop clip 1 on Group 1 Play Group 2 21 GND Play and Loop clip 2 on Group 2 Play Group 3 22 GND Play and Loop clip 3 on...

Page 30: ...oup Control Inputs The Binloop has contact closure inputs on the rear panel that can be used to command groups of Reproducers to Play or Stop When used on their own these 8 Play Group inputs cause the...

Page 31: ...using the SMPTE Control inputs is to configure the Binloop to generate SMPTE program a playback trigger in the SMPTE Trigger Table and start SMPTE using the Start SMPTE input When the timecode reaches...

Page 32: ...up You could then create a Play command that gets triggered by the timecode shortly after it starts running The result is that the Binloop automatically starts playing after power up with no external...

Page 33: ...e most commonly used commands in detail The protocol is ASCII based Upper or lower case characters can be used interchangeably All commands and responses are terminated with the Carriage Return charac...

Page 34: ...R Example Command 1ID Response R Get Command ID Response xx Example Command ID Response 1 Get Set IP address Description This command will get or set the unit IP address Parameters xxx xxx xxx xxx re...

Page 35: ...mple Command SM Response 255 255 255 0 Set Command xxx xxx xxx xxxSM Response R Example Command 255 255 255 0SM Response R Get Set Gateway address Description This command will get or set the IP addre...

Page 36: ...Comments If the SMPTE module is configured to Generate this command will cause the SMPTE clock to stop at its current time If the SMPTE module is configured to Read this command will cause the SMPTE...

Page 37: ...mm ss ff Example Command CT Response 01 59 59 30 Set Command hh mm ss ffCT Response R Example Command 01 59 59 30CT Response R Get Set SMPTE Mode Description This command will get or set the operatin...

Page 38: ...30 fps Get Command FR Response x Example Command FR Response 5 Set Command xFR Response R Example Command 5FR Response R Get Set SMPTE Preroll time Description This command will get or set the SMPTE p...

Page 39: ...ss ff Example Command RT Response 00 00 01 00 Set Command hh mm ss ffRT Response R Example Command 00 00 01 00RT Response R Get Set SMPTE End time Description This command will get or set the SMPTE e...

Page 40: ...led on power up Get Command LM Response x Example Command LM Response 1 Set Command xLM Response R Example Command 1LM Response R Get Set SMPTE Powerup Mode Description This command will get or set th...

Page 41: ...nabled on power up Get Command RM Response x Example Command RM Response 1 Set Command xRM Response R Example Command 1RM Response R Get Set SMPTE Idle Mode Description This command will get or set th...

Page 42: ...ption This command configures the synchronous play delay of the Binloop reproducers By default this delay is 2 seconds but this setting allows you to override that default if necessary Be warned that...

Page 43: ...on This command will start playing a clip that was previously loaded by a Search Clip command This command will also resume playback when the reproducer has been stilled or paused Command aaaPL Parame...

Page 44: ...hould use the Synchronous Play command for a consistent synchronized start of playback Using a Search command along with a timed Play Resume command works well for synchronous playback too Examples Pl...

Page 45: ...ys addressed to either a Group or All reproducers to ensure that they all start playing synchronously Examples Synchronously Play File 2 on Group 1 2G1SP Synchronously Play File 2 on All Reproducers 2...

Page 46: ...ress of the card s you want to process the command Rxx Reproducer address between R1 R8 Gxx Group address between G1 G13 Wildcard address for all reproducers Response R Example Play File 2 on Reproduc...

Page 47: ...rameters aaa is the address of the card s you want to process the command Rxx Reproducer address between R1 R8 Gxx Group address between G1 G13 Wildcard address for all reproducers Response R Example...

Page 48: ...G1 G13 Wildcard address for all reproducers Response R Example Mute Video on Reproducer 1 0R1VD Unmute Video on Reproducer 1 1R1VD Mute Unmute Audio Description This command controls muting on the aud...

Page 49: ...et Reproducer 1 to YPbPr colorspace 1R1VC Set Reproducer 1 to RGsB colorspace 0R1VC Set HD Video Format Description This command configures the high definition video format for the outputs of the spec...

Page 50: ...status of the specified reproducer If the specified reproducer is not installed in the Binloop there will be no response Keep in mind that using this command will briefly tie up the Reproducer communi...

Page 51: ...ded for use immediately before or after time sensitive commands like Synchronous Play This command requires DBAP4 Controller firmware V1 17 or newer and Repro16V or Repro24D firmware V1 61 or newer If...

Page 52: ...ses a single Universal Real Time System Exclusive ID number sub ID 1 02H for all Show commands transmissions from Controller to Controlled Device In this version of MIDI Show Control command responses...

Page 53: ...hronized 04 to Still Video still frame on screen 05 to Pause Video video output goes black 15 to Start SMPTE 16 to Idle SMPTE 17 to Reset SMPTE 18 to Pause SMPTE Tmsb Tlsb track ID 30 30 30 37 for Rep...

Page 54: ...15 hf7 7 Reset SMPTE hf0 h7f h7f h02 h7f h17 hf7 Using the MIDI Show Control protocol the Binloop can play clips numbered from 1 to 511 i e VID00001 MPG to VID00511 MPG These files can either be playe...

Page 55: ...al Page 45 Acknowledge Message Format In response to a MIDI command the Binloop will send an acknowledge message The format of the acknowledge message is as follows F0 7F ID msc F7 Data Byte Entry Des...

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Page 57: ...o program SMPTE timecode triggers for applications where you want the Binloop to operate without any external control system Requirements The Binloop software requires that you have PC running Microso...

Page 58: ...nnection you are ready to use the Binloop software to program and communicate with the your Binloop Connecting with Ethernet Ethernet is also a common method of interfacing the Binloop software to the...

Page 59: ...ring the installation The program can also be launched from the Windows Start menu from the Programs Alcorn McBride Inc folder When the program opens you ll see this window Before we get started you l...

Page 60: ...dress in the provided box Once you have setup the appropriate connection click the OK button to close this window To make sure that the connection is working properly click on the icon at the top of t...

Page 61: ...d in the Getting Started section of this manual before moving on 1 Make sure that Reproducer 1 has a flash card loaded with a video file named as clip 1 i e VID00001 MPG 2 Make sure that the Binloop y...

Page 62: ...ult values and an empty timecode trigger list Open The second selection is Open which pops up a window allowing you to open a previously saved file containing all of your program settings Previously s...

Page 63: ...g a new name into the File name box Print Setup The Printer Setup selection allows you to select and configure your printer Once you ve programmed some timecode triggers explained later in this chapte...

Page 64: ...he number of reproducers in the Binloop The Digital Binloop HD has 8 slots Control Port Protocol The Control Port Protocol determines the protocol that is used on the Show Control Port These settings...

Page 65: ...o communicate to the Binloop It defaults to Offline SMPTE Start You can also set a Custom Preroll Time where SMPTE Generation can begin earlier the first time it is started This window presents you wi...

Page 66: ...ted with the Binloop s SMPTE interface Frame Rate This is the Frame Rate used for generating SMPTE The choices are 23 976 24 25 29 97 30 drop and 30 frames per second Read External SMPTE This button c...

Page 67: ...erating or Reading timecode as soon as the system reaches the Ready state Preroll Time This is the timecode value at which the SMPTE generator will begin when first started Start Time This is the time...

Page 68: ...f Primary Segment Please refer to the Media Files section of this manual for the correct way to name and number files The Segment refers to the particular video file that you want to play It is a numb...

Page 69: ...and video to be muted respectively When video is muted the video outputs are black Un Mute Audio Un Mute Video These buttons cause the audio and video to be un muted respectively Media Utilities Impo...

Page 70: ...ucers 5 6 7 and 8 to be members of Group 1 Status You can determine that current playing status of each Reproducer by opening the Status window When this window opens select Refresh and after a brief...

Page 71: ...timecode triggers A confirmation window will appear Upload Configuration This option allows you to retrieve the configuration from a Digital Binloop HD view it within the Binloop software When you cl...

Page 72: ...Alcorn McBride Binloop User s Manual Page 62 Help Menu The Help sub menu shows a window containing current revision information...

Page 73: ...you to program precisely timed commands that are triggered based on the Binloop s timecode clock It has a row of button at the top that allow you to Add Duplicate Edit or Delete triggers Add Clicking...

Page 74: ...ence Send a Start Sequence command to an Alcorn McBride Show Controller out of the Show Control Port Show Control Port must be set to Alcorn 9 bit Set Variable Send a Set Variable command to an Alcorn...

Page 75: ...ack from a specified offset into a video or audio file The Digital Binloop HD does not support this feature Stereo or Mono versus Independent For Binloops that support audio playback this option is us...

Page 76: ...y command is normally used for applications that require multiple channels of video that are unrelated to one another like individual kiosks etc Synchronized Play Latency The exact amount of latency t...

Page 77: ...ackets and network infrastructure controllers hubs repeaters switches cabling etc CobraNet Y Cable There are two separate CobraNet interface components to the CobraNet card The first set of Binloop re...

Page 78: ...Manual Page 68 Note the second slave CobraNet interface for reproducers 9 16 must be connected to the same CobraNet network as the first master CobraNet interface for reproducers 1 8 for proper opera...

Page 79: ...raNet hardware Upon locating the CobraNet interface the hardware will report back the revision number for identification purposes A Note about Downloading the CobraNet configuration When downloading t...

Page 80: ...ded resolution of the audio source 20 or 24 bits are the standard options Latency This option allows the operator to set the maximum delay tolerated in the communications channel Conductor Priority Th...

Page 81: ...ct with the receiving unit Many audio channels can be transmitted within a bundle Bundle numbers 0 255 are defined as Multicast point to many channels and bundles 256 65279 are Unicast or point to poi...

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Page 83: ...ted a fault condition VSync Red The unit is has detected an external video sync source and is locked to it Gen Red The unit is actively generating SMPTE timecode Ready Red The unit is ready to accept...

Page 84: ...le when the Binloop is configured to generate and loop SMPTE Pushing this button causes the SMPTE generation to pause the next time the configured End Time the loop point is reached After this button...

Page 85: ...frames In the event that there is no current timecode value meaning timecode is not currently being read or generated this time will be displayed as dashes like the following example In addition to pr...

Page 86: ...cer has a test button located directly above the Compact Flash socket As you can probably tell from the name this button is intended only for testing purposes and not for normal operational control Wh...

Page 87: ...Video outputs HD SDI BNC Female up to 8 SMPTE 259M HD SDI Digital Video Outputs HDMI HDMI Female up to 8 HDMI Interface for Digital Video and Audio Unbalanced Audio RCA F Red Wht x 16 Unbalanced Ster...

Page 88: ...Alcorn McBride Binloop User s Manual Page 78 Digital Binloop HD Rear Panel...

Page 89: ...1 20 2 2 21 3 3 22 4 4 23 5 5 24 6 6 25 7 7 26 8 8 27 Balanced Audio Each of these connectors contains balanced analog audio outputs for groups of four Reproducers Refer to the table below Balanced Ou...

Page 90: ...gured to output in a variety of different video formats i e 1080i 720p 480p etc The composite video CVBS connector always outputs a standard definition version of the reproducer s video output Show Co...

Page 91: ...rk This interface can be used by the Binloop Configuration software to control the Binloop as well as download new configurations For other methods of Ethernet control this interface also provides a s...

Page 92: ...rence for all audio and video generated within the Binloop For more details about using external video sync with the Binloop refer to the A V Sync System chapter in the About the Binloop section of th...

Page 93: ...8 SMPTE Start input 9 SMPTE Pause input 10 SMPTE Pause input 11 SMPTE Stop input 12 SMPTE Stop input 13 Mute input 14 Mute input 15 VCC 5VDC supplied by Binloop power supply 16 GND 17 GND 18 GND 19 GN...

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Page 95: ...o and Audio The first three are easy to explain A video elementary stream is a video only file that is encoded using the associated video format For example an H 264 elementary stream is a video file...

Page 96: ...For example the Binloop will identify a file with an extension of H264 as an H 264 Elementary Stream The file number is determined by the 5 digit nnnnn portion of the file name The Binloop supports f...

Page 97: ...an MPEG Transport Stream like VID00001 MPG Setting Values Profile Main Level High Max Bitrate 40Mbps 40000kbps Resolutions 1080p 1920x1080 1080i 1920x1080 720p 1280x720 480p 480i 720x480 576p 576i 72...

Page 98: ...80 720p 1280x720 480p 480i 720x480 576p 576i 720x576 Frame Rates NTSC 23 976fps 29 97fps 59 94fps PAL 24fps 25fps 50fps Aspect Ratios 16 9 4 3 Chroma Format 4 2 0 Both Constant CBR and Variable VBR bi...

Page 99: ...6 9 4 3 Chroma Format 4 2 0 Both Constant CBR and Variable VBR bitrate are supported so long as the bitrate does not exceed the maximum Although the Binloop HD supports playback of 1080p24 1080p25 and...

Page 100: ...e are the supported audio formats Format Variations MPEG MPEG 1 Layer I II MPEG 2 Layer II AAC MPEG 2 AAC MPEG 4 AAC LC 2 Channel AC3 Dolby Digital EX Pro Logic II MLP and DTS AC3 audio streams are no...

Page 101: ...nloaded at http www filesplitter org Using this method a large file can be separated into several segments which a reproducer can treat as a single coherent video file Here s how it works Let s say th...

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Page 103: ...must be a part of the recording itself Hum is a far more common problem than hiss and is unfortunately a far more difficult problem to correct Hum is fundamentally caused because the audio signal bec...

Page 104: ...e neutrals sourced from the center of the isolation transformer and an isolated ground It is essential that this isolated ground be just that isolated It should be referenced to the isolated neutral a...

Page 105: ...y rare however Nonetheless it is always prudent to properly backup all of the audio and video data contained in your Binloop This can easily be done by simply copying the data to a PC hard drive or by...

Page 106: ...should be facing the power supply on the left GENTLY push the card toward the back end of the unit until you feel the pins lock into place DO NOT FORCE THE CARD IN 7 To Remove the Card Find the card t...

Page 107: ...Run Pause Stop Mute VFD Display 2 x 16 Characters Parallel Inputs Play Loop Stop for 8 groups Start SMPTE Pause SMPTE Stop Opto Isolated Parallel Outputs Ready Running Fault dry contact relay outputs...

Page 108: ...ation 16 bit Dynamic Range 104 dB Sample Rate 44 1 KHz 48 0 KHz Frequency Response DC 20 000 Hz 0 5 dB Signal to Noise 120 dB Below Full Scale when muted THD N 97dB Track Skew Less than 100 nanosecond...

Page 109: ...If you do not have this software or you need guidance with connecting your PC to the Binloop refer to the Binloop Configuration Software section before continuing with this example Connecting to the...

Page 110: ...a certain value a trigger will instruct the Binloop reproducers to play a video When the video is finished the SMPTE clock will loop back to its starting value and cause this process to repeat indefi...

Page 111: ...is the range of time that the SMPTE interface will generate First set the Preroll Time to 00 59 55 00 and the Start Time to 01 00 00 00 For this example the End Time value needs to coincide with the e...

Page 112: ...at the top left of the trigger list window The following window will appear First we need to enter the SMPTE time when we want this trigger to occur Enter 01 00 00 00 in the Time box Select Play as th...

Page 113: ...nt to download the new configuration and overwrite the configuration currently in the Binloop When you proceed the following progress window will appear to show you the real time progress of the downl...

Page 114: ...in mind that although we re using an InterActivator in this example all of our controllers would be programmed using the exact same method Preparation This application note requires that you have vid...

Page 115: ...be accomplished by deleting triggers from the Trigger List configuring the SMPTE clock to be idle or both If you need assistance doing these things you can use the previous application note as a guid...

Page 116: ...the show controller Click on Resources Ports to bring up the port configuration Start by changing the name of port1 to Binloop so that we can easily identify this connection in the script programming...

Page 117: ...now created a sequence that we will eventually program to start playing a file in the Binloop Before we get to that part let s first configure this sequence to be triggered by pressing Button 1 of th...

Page 118: ...g Right click on the nop event and select Play from the list of events Most events in WinScript require additional information or data parameters to work For example the Play event needs to know which...

Page 119: ...cers can have multiple clips stored on their Compact Flash cards so it s important to specify which clip to play Enter the number 1 in this field We have now created an event that will command the Bin...

Page 120: ...show controller You can now press Button 1 on the front of the show controller to play video 1 on reproducer 1 of the Binloop Immediately after you press the button you will see the serial LED 1 blink...

Page 121: ...installed on a PC and that the PC is connected to the Binloop via Ethernet If you do not have this software refer to the Binloop Configuration Software section before continuing with this example As f...

Page 122: ...C s Ethernet connection will appear in this list and is usually named Local Area Connection Keep in mind that you may have several network connections so it s important that you select the connection...

Page 123: ...e factory default network settings which are as follows IP Address 192 168 0 254 Subnet Mask 255 255 255 0 Gateway 192 168 0 1 If you believe that these settings may have been altered you should verif...

Page 124: ...he Binloop Begin by launching the Binloop Software When the program is loaded open the Connection Settings screen by clicking on the icon or selecting Binloop Settings Connection Select Ethernet as th...

Page 125: ...e version box should fill with the current firmware version of the Binloop s controller card If you wish you may click Upload to transfer the Binloop s configuration to your PC over the Ethernet conne...

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Page 127: ...re Reproducer LED s illuminate RED This verifies communication c Cycle Power Video Troubleshooting Guide Symptom Cause s Solution s 1 No Video Output single track no fault indicated Status and or Mute...

Page 128: ...ducer status LED is not RED a Audio output connector disconnected from unit or shorted a Restore audio output connection to Binloop 3 Audio Output distorted on single reproducer card a Audio output wi...

Page 129: ...supported file size is 4GB A computer will not allow you to copy a file larger than this to the flash card If your application requires a longer playback time than a 4GB limitation will allow the best...

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Page 131: ...you wish to update 4 Copy the OS NEW file from the downloaded update to the Compact Flash Card using a card reader 5 Re insert the Compact Flash Card into the Reproducer 6 Power on the Binloop 7 The r...

Page 132: ...Binloop top button with play icon next to it 6 Verify that the display now reads Firmware Update Mode 7 Connect a straight thru RS 232 cable between a PC and the Binloop s Programmer serial port 8 La...

Page 133: ...erify that the Binloop responds with SMPTE Vx xx 20 Click the Browse button and browse to the folder extracted in step 2 Select the SMPTECOR HEX file and click Open 21 Click on the Update button at th...

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Page 135: ...Alcorn McBride Binloop User s Manual Page 125 Appendix D Menu Wheel Map...

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Page 137: ...ities 119 Media Reliability 95 Media Utilities Format 59 Menu Wheel 75 Message Format 43 MIDI In 77 81 MIDI Out 77 82 Mute 73 74 83 97 NTSC 98 PAL 98 Parallel Control 77 pause 73 Pause 83 97 Play 23 2...

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