Planning Your Videohub Installation
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Planning your Smart Videohub Installation
Smart Videohub is a tiny router, with a built-in control panel for changing routes, and is perfect for locations
where minimal space is available such as outside broadcast trucks. It features 32 pushbuttons for local router
control without needing a computer, 16 SDI inputs, 16 SDI outputs, reference input, a universal power supply
and powerful Videohub routing control software for Mac OS X and Windows.
All SDI connections support auto detection of SD, HD or 3 Gb/s SDI, and reclocking on all SDI inputs.
Simultaneous routing of 2K, HD, SD video and DVB-ASI are supported with Smart Videohub.
Local router control is easy and intuitive using the built-in 32 pushbutton control panel, and requires no
configuration and no computer. The front panel can be removed to allow insertion of labels under the
buttons. All buttons can be variably backlit to ensure the labels can be easily read, even in dark rooms.
Remote router control can also be performed via 10/100Base-T Ethernet, serial or USB 2.0 and then shared
over an IP network in much the same way as USB printer sharing.
If router control is performed via Ethernet, the integrated “Videohub Server” is used and you need only
provide an Ethernet cable to connect Smart Videohub to your Ethernet network switch.
If remote router control is performed via USB 2.0, you must nominate a computer to be the “Videohub
Server” and to perform Videohub sharing via USB. You can use almost any computer for the Videohub
Server, such as an editing workstation, and you don’t need a dedicated or powerful computer for this task.
However the Videohub Server computer must remain powered on at all times so that Videohub settings
can be modified. If your Smart Videohub is too far away to connect via USB, or if you do decide to use a
dedicated server computer, this could be a great use for an old Mac OS X or Windows computer which is
no longer fast enough for other work. Alternatively you could use a very small computer, such as a netbook
or Mac Mini, which can be hidden in an equipment rack along with your Smart Videohub. You will need to
provide a standard USB 2.0 type A-B male cable to connect Smart Videohub to the server computer.
Third party router controllers can control Smart Videohub via Ethernet, or as an RS-422 slave device, for
router crosspoint switching. The Videohub Ethernet protocol, RS-422 protocol and RS-422 pinout diagram
are documented in the Developer Information section of this manual.
