Qualis Audio Sentine User Manual Download Page 12

6

User Manual

Getting organized

The Qualis Audio Sentinel
monitors a surround audio
signal through analog or
digital inputs. A networked
instrument, it provides
its user interface through
your browser and delivers
alarms via email.

1. Power. Input from univer-

sal input voltage external
power supply.

2. Auxiliary Signals. Linear

Time Code input, 6 DC
inputs, 2 loudness con-
trol input pairs, 8 contact
closure outputs.

3. Network. RJ45 connec-

tor for 10BASE-T Ether-
net. LEDs indicate con-
nectivity and network
activity.

4. Audio Module 2.

Optional second audio
input/output module.

5. Audio Module 1. Primary

audio input/output mod-
ule: AES digital, SDI digi-
tal, or analog.

To install the Qualis Audio Sentinel, you mount it where it will be used,
connect it to power, network, audio source and auxiliary signals, and
configure it for operation.

For a basic installation, you can typically make the connections using
standard cabling, and you can configure the Sentinel through its user
interface on your browser. You'll need to view the Sentinel’s front panel
to determine its network address; you can also use the front panel to
view configuration settings, and modify network, time and security set-
tings.

If this is the first time you have installed a Sentinel, we suggest you per-
form a basic installation to confirm that your unit is working correctly
and to gain familiarity with its operation. Once you're comfortable with
the basics, finish your permanent installation.

Pay particular attention to these configuration steps, should they apply
to you. The instructions that follow provide more detail.

Static IP address. By default, the Sentinel gets its network address
automatically using DHCP services. You may prefer a static address
(you use the address to access the Sentinel, and a static address
won't change on you). You will need to contact your network adminis-
trator to determine appropriate settings for your network.

Summary of Contents for Sentine

Page 1: ...Sentinel surround sound audio monitor User Manual Version 2 0 May 2011...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...User Manual Version 2 0 May 2011 Qualis Audio Inc Lake Oswego Oregon...

Page 4: ...udio Inc All rights reserved Dual Stream is a trademark of Qualis Audio Inc SEN IUM 110531 Qualis Audio Inc PO Box 731 Lake Oswego OR 97034 1 503 635 9376 voice 1 503 635 3851 fax www qualisaudio com...

Page 5: ...log audio connection 12 Auxiliary signals connection 14 Date time configuration 15 Log repository configuration 15 Chapter 3 Front Panel 17 Front panel displays and controls 18 Front Panel menus 19 Ch...

Page 6: ...l 72 Date Time settings panel 73 Chapter 6 Log Repository 75 Log repository setup in the user interface 77 Purging and archiving repository data 78 Scheduled downloading of log data 78 Chapter 7 Conne...

Page 7: ...1 1 Overview...

Page 8: ...red audio Features The Qualis Audio Sentinel monitors a surround program up to 8 chan nels Measurements include Individual surround channel signal levels with user selectable ballis tics Stereo and mo...

Page 9: ...er power etc Internal clock calendar for time date reference LTC for correlating results with program Internal temperature for monitoring equipment rack conditions The measured results may generate us...

Page 10: ...4...

Page 11: ...Power connection and grounding 7 Network connection 8 User interface configuration and use 8 AES digital audio connection 9 SDI digital audio connection 11 Analog audio connection 12 Auxiliary signals...

Page 12: ...ou can typically make the connections using standard cabling and you can configure the Sentinel through its user interface on your browser You ll need to view the Sentinel s front panel to determine i...

Page 13: ...ld always be used indoors in a non con densing environment Power connection and grounding The Sentinel is supplied with a universal input voltage external power supply It is designed to plug into any...

Page 14: ...provides its user interface through your browser It is accessible from wherever you have network access to the Sentinel Connect your browser to the user interface by using the Sentinel s IP address Y...

Page 15: ...you can view and modify settings On the left of each page is a navigation panel that lets you select which information panels are visible and lets you switch pages Briefly to modify settings you 1 Swi...

Page 16: ...al HD15 to XLR cable for this configuration Specifications for fabricating custom cabling are provided in AES digi tal audio connections p 84 AES In Out connection Discrete PCM input chan nels compati...

Page 17: ...When monitoring coded audio streams any channel from the decoder may be routed to any internal channel The description of the Dolby Metadata panel p 54 lists channel orders for common channel configu...

Page 18: ...ut Sources settings panel p 61 with the Use Input From field When monitoring PCM inputs in SDI format two groups of the available 4 may be monitored These 8 channels can be assigned to any of the inte...

Page 19: ...1 m Horizon DA88 F 5 15 ft HOSA DTF 80 3 5 m Mogami DB25 XLRF 5 10 15 20 25 ft Monster SLDA88 FX 1 5 3 5 m Planet Waves XLR F 5 10 25 ft Pro Co DA88XF 5 10 15 ft Quantum Audio QDA88 F 6 15 20 25 ft Sw...

Page 20: ...ny input connection can be assigned to any of the internal channels Auxiliary signals connection The auxiliary signals connection combines the Linear Time Code LTC input loudness meter controls alarm...

Page 21: ...ugh the Front Panel menus p 19 and you can manually set the clock through the menus if for some reason you re not able to use an NTP server Log repository configuration The Sentinel logs all sampled a...

Page 22: ...ining the log repos itory and scheduling downloads are located in the pulldown menu on the readings navigation panel at the left of the readings page Create a log repository using the Select Repositor...

Page 23: ...17 3 Front Panel Front panel displays and controls 18 Front Panel menus 19...

Page 24: ...fy control s function and operability lit when functional off when inoper ative 1 LCD display Dur ing operation shows date and time and IP address On input line 1 shows selection title line 2 shows se...

Page 25: ...front panel display timezone and daylight savings time The Sentinel does not automatically switch to or from daylight savings As an alternative to setting the date and time manually the Sentinel can a...

Page 26: ...ord must be entered from the user interface in order to change Sentinel configuration settings Up to fifteen characters can be entered The default password is audio Use the knob to scroll through char...

Page 27: ...There are separate listings for the two digital input module ROM slots M1 and M2 Only occupied slots are listed LCD contrast setup Adjusts the LCD contrast on the front panel Use the knob to scroll t...

Page 28: ...22...

Page 29: ...34 Loudness meter panel 34 Hardware loudness gating control 39 Loudness gating control buttons 39 Readings Timeline panel 40 Timeline 40 Timeline scroll bar 43 Transport control buttons 43 Segment ta...

Page 30: ...they re lost for some reason if you clear cookies on your browser change browsers or change the IP address of the Sentinel Meters panel p 25 true peak meters p 28 bargraph meters p 26 balance display...

Page 31: ...hannel bargraph meters True peak indi cator level bar and bandwidth bar for each input channel 2 Balance display Plan view of listening space with listener at center 3 Spectrum display 4 Downmix compa...

Page 32: ...roximate signal bandwidth for each channel Input channels The Sentinel accepts up to 8 input channels Six seven or all eight input channels may be grouped into a surround program The remain ing channe...

Page 33: ...Indicated or if the metadata is missing the manually set values will be used Bargraph ballistics The input and downmix channel bargraph levels are measured with user selected metering ballistics The M...

Page 34: ...l p 62 UNDER Loudness less than threshold set in the Loudness settings panel p 64 HUM Line frequency components above threshold set in the Channel Analysis settings panel p 67 These errors are also re...

Page 35: ...hic is dependent on the high frequency signal content The color also changes with the low and high frequency energy giving two equivalent methods of interpreting the information Configuration Channel...

Page 36: ...h the loudest channel brightest This creates an intuitive view of the sound space balance For example a phantom monaural sound appears as equal brightness in both the left and right front speaker icon...

Page 37: ...ple there should not be signifi cant high or low frequency content in a program that is supposed to be dominantly dialog It enables assessment of the relative level of spectral components which are ex...

Page 38: ...wnmix Compatibility settings panel p 68 Downmix compatibility calculations in detail The Sentinel takes a radically different approach to quantifying com patibility from that used in other products Ot...

Page 39: ...compatibility problem Cancellations in the voice band are generally of the highest concern because of their poten tial effect on intelligibility Downmix problems at low or high frequen cies though pot...

Page 40: ...he Sentinel to the repository When the user interface is displaying live readings the displayed time and linear time code are the latest values reported by the Sentinel When paused or displaying logge...

Page 41: ...bargraph and numerically above it The short term loudness is compared to a user defined threshold displayed on the bargraph as a thin red line When this threshold is exceeded for a user specified dur...

Page 42: ...alues loudness is outside specified tolerance Conventional and Dual Stream loudness measurements The Sentinel can measure integrated loudness exactly as specified in the ITU BS1770 standard The standa...

Page 43: ...gram stream with interleaved commercial segments When the instru ment is told that the program being monitored has gone to commercial it pauses the program measurement However it continues measuring a...

Page 44: ...The numeric loudness values may be displayed in either relative or absolute units Except loudness range which by definition is a relative value The relative display shows measurements in loudness unit...

Page 45: ...conditions 1 A Reset of a Commercial segment occurs when the P C control line makes a transition from the Commercial state to the Program state 2 A Reset of a Program segment occurs when the P C cont...

Page 46: ...he panel are the timeline itself which displays a set of signal traces and the segment table The web interface saves a temporary record of readings as it receives them from the Sentinel These readings...

Page 47: ...error and alarms is also always visible as the last trace It shows a yellow marker at each reading that records an error If the error resulted in an alarm a red marker appears above the yellow Cursor...

Page 48: ...nts Each pair corresponds to an entry in the segment table Both bounds cursors display the segment number which also appears on the segment table entry Bounds cursor pairs are created and deleted as s...

Page 49: ...nd its scroller below the timeline traces indi cate the position the visible timeline segment within the readings his tory and allow you to reposition the segment of readings data dis played on the ti...

Page 50: ...ton Moves current position to closest follow ing beginning segment bound If the current position is at a beginning bound moves to the next one If no bound follows the current position it moves to the...

Page 51: ...ercial for measured segment Include exclude ignore for defined segment 6 Begin End times Editable for defined seg ment 7 Duration Editable for defined segment 8 Begin LTC 9 Integrated measure ments Lo...

Page 52: ...ent table entry Defined segments may also appear on the Signal Histogram panel p 47 Defined segments are numbered for identification These numbers are displayed both in the segment table and on the se...

Page 53: ...nts for programming segments selected using the Readings Timeline panel p 40 The display updates as you add or remove segments from the timeline or adjust their limits Bars of the histogram represent...

Page 54: ...sources are Clip The true peak level is above the User Clip Level The User Clip Level is set in the Levels Metering settings panel p 62 Over The metered level is above the Overload Level The Overload...

Page 55: ...within a specified range of octave bands exceed a threshhold and duration as set in the Downmix Com patibility settings panel p 68 L Cancellations on Lo Left channel exceed the limits R Cancellations...

Page 56: ...es between measured values and between measured and meta data values Auxiliary I O The Auxiliary I O section displays the status of the signals on the rear panel auxiliary signals connector Auxiliary...

Page 57: ...ts errors displayed on this panel not on other panels or the bargraphs It also does not affect the Alarm Out status display at the bottom of the panel The hold time may be set to 1 3 10 or 30 seconds...

Page 58: ...ter representation of the audio source Destination Four character representation of the intended destination Common Metadata Format Professional or consumer format interface audio PCM or non audio cod...

Page 59: ...onous to the channel status S bits remaining formatting undefined AES 18 Follows AES 18 standard AES 52 Follows AES 52 standard IEC60958 Follows IEC60958 standard IEC62537 Follows IEC62537 standard Us...

Page 60: ...equentially Dolby Metadata panel The Dolby Metadata panel displays metadata information carried in each Dolby Digital or Dolby E data packet Format metadata Format Indicates whether stream is PCM Dolb...

Page 61: ...o mono stereo and surround programs Defined only for Dolby E streams Some common values are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 5 1 1 LF 1 RF 1 CF 1 LFE 1 LS 1 RS 5 1 2 1 LF 1 RF 1 CF 1 LFE 1 LS 1 RS 2 LF 2 RF 5 1 2 1 1...

Page 62: ...ed as a table with two columns CF for the center front channel LsRs for the surround chan nels Rows indicate each coefficient Standard Present in all Dolby packets used by decoders which do not suppor...

Page 63: ...by E only Other Metadata Mix Level Peak sound pressure level used in program creation Room Relative size of mixing environment and equalization used in program creation Large Large room with cinema X...

Page 64: ...ly be a few degrees above that of the rack in which the Sentinel is installed This allows monitoring tem perature of the equipment rack at a remote facility and triggering an alarm if the temperature...

Page 65: ...s Metering settings panel 62 Loudness Settings panel 64 Channel Analysis settings panel 67 Downmix Compatibility settings panel 68 DC Inputs Temperature settings panel 70 Alarms settings panel 71 Alar...

Page 66: ...input con nector signal format surround format and assignment of inputs to surround and ancillary channels Levels Metering settings panel p 62 Selects meter ballistics and scale reference level clip t...

Page 67: ...ctor For SDI input modules it selects between PCM signals on the SDI connector coded audio signals on the SDI connector and PCM signals on the AES In Out connector SDI Group Appears when a SDI module...

Page 68: ...s attack 300 ms decay IEC 60268 17 0 VU at the Alignment Level IEC I Nordic PPM 5 ms attack 1 5 s decay DIN 45406 IEC IIa BBC PPM 0 to 7 numeric scale otherwise the same as IEC IIb IEC IIb EBU PPM 10...

Page 69: ...it represents an error Settings range from 1 to 30 seconds Alignment Ref Sets the reference source for the Alignment indication User Selected Allows you to set the Overload Level The two proprietary...

Page 70: ...orm value is not available as occurs if a PCM signal is received the fixed target will be used Loudness measurement Loudness Target Sets a target level to which loudness measurements are compared in d...

Page 71: ...he measured loudness must be above the maximum value for an error to be issued The choices are 3 10 30 or 100 seconds Or If Integrated Loudness Is Configures integrated loudness error detection Errors...

Page 72: ...e below the specified minimum to generate an under level error The choices are 1 3 10 or 30 seconds A Surround Channel is Below Sets the minimum surround channel loud ness allowed before issuing an un...

Page 73: ...tion a signal may have before it is considered program and not hum The choices are 2 and 4 dB For Longer Than Sets the duration that a signal must exceed the speci fied limits to generate a HUM error...

Page 74: ...re used for both the meter displays and the compatibility analysis Downmix Parameters LFE Gain Sets the gain applied to the LFE signal when performing downmix compatibility measurements It does not af...

Page 75: ...ill include compo nents as low as 175 Hz etc Up To and Including Sets the highest octave included in the compati bility analysis Downmix compatibility problems are assessed in this octave and below Th...

Page 76: ...2 55V to disable this com parison Or Below Sets the minimum DC value allowed on that input before issu ing an error The value may be set between 0 0V and 2 25V in 0 15V steps Set this to 0 0V to disab...

Page 77: ...porting of channel clipping Hum Enables reporting mains hum errors Program Loudness Enables reporting of short term loudness exceeding the maximum allowed Integrated Loudness Enables reporting of inte...

Page 78: ...rs Enable Check the box to send email Delay First Email For The Sentinel will wait this long before sending email notification of any error This allows faults which might cause multiple errors to be c...

Page 79: ...internal real time clock used to accurately record the timing of measurements To provide an unambiguous reference times are recorded in Coordinated Universal Time UTC and the Sen tinel can synchronize...

Page 80: ...74...

Page 81: ...75 6 Log Repository Log repository setup in the user interface 77 Purging and archiving repository data 78 Scheduled downloading of log data 78...

Page 82: ...rm this downloading as a separate command independent of the web interface Repository organization The repository is organized as a sequence of daily log files stored in a single directory The directo...

Page 83: ...select the location of the log repository Scheduled Log Save enables periodic downloading of log data from the Sentinel to the repository and lets you set the interval The Save Log Now performs an im...

Page 84: ...inuous log data in a production environment This separate download operation uses the same Java applet as is used to provide access in the Sentinel web interface However in this case it is invoked usi...

Page 85: ...XP systems To perform scheduled downloads on a Windows XP system you create a bat file containing the download command as described above then create a scheduled task that runs the bat file You can pl...

Page 86: ...set the task to repeat every hour for the full duration of the day If you set the option to stop the task if it runs longer than 55 minutes it will keep a slow or stalled download from overlapping wit...

Page 87: ...Log Repository 81 An asterisk indicating any may be specified for any of the time fields For example 30 0 23 Sentinel Logs download sh You install the crontab task using crontab crontab file...

Page 88: ...82...

Page 89: ...83 7 Connections and cabling AES digital audio connections 84 Analog audio connections 85 Auxiliary connections 86 Breakout adapter 87...

Page 90: ...nels 7 8 high 14 Output in out only 15 Ground The AES input and input output connectors on the AES audio module and the AES input output connector on the SDI audio module share a common pin configurat...

Page 91: ...Channel 6 low 18 Channel 5 high 19 Channel 5 ground 20 Channel 4 low 21 Channel 3 high 22 Channel 3 ground 23 Channel 2 low 24 Channel 1 high 25 Channel 1 ground Qualis Audio offers a Breakout Adapte...

Page 92: ...connector to 24 screw terminals This provides a convenient way of connecting auxiliary signals The LTC input is a differential input that may be wired for either bal anced or unbalanced operation The...

Page 93: ...sister networks It is the most convenient way to make connections to the auxiliary sig nals connector It also provides a convenient way of adapting the ana log audio connector to plenum cable or other...

Page 94: ...88...

Page 95: ...89 8 Firmware updates...

Page 96: ...or whatever command you normally use for unpacking zip archives There are five separate field upgradeable ROMs in the Sentinel SentinelDSP base SentinelCPU base SentinelWeb base SentinelDINMCU digital...

Page 97: ...are image to update Use the Browse button to select the firmware image file then press the Update button to upload the file to the Sentinel The Sentinel will display a message indicating the Firmware...

Page 98: ...r and clear the browser s cache when you restart it Otherwise the browser will use stale copies of the Sentinel web pages from its cache the resulting errors can be quite confusing For Firefox go to t...

Page 99: ...ness analysis Measurements Momentary Short Term Integrated Loudness Loudness Range Standards ATSC A 85 ITU R BS 1770 1 EBU R 128 tech 3341 tech 3342 Classification Signal may be classified as program...

Page 100: ...Sample Rate 32 kHz to 192 kHz each stream asynchronous to all others Connector B 1 AES 3 input selected from 4 AES 3 inputs on one 15 pin high density female D sub Sample Rate 32 kHz to 48 kHz Cable C...

Page 101: ...ou will be given prompt assistance and return instructions Send the product transportation prepaid to the indicated service facility Repairs will be made and the product returned transportation prepai...

Page 102: ...96...

Page 103: ...s you are a qualified technician operating under the direc tion of the factory If qualified and you are authorized to service the unit please keep the following in mind at all times This product is de...

Page 104: ...98...

Page 105: ...ame 20 DHCP 8 digital interface panel 51 Dolby metadata panel 54 downmix compatibility display 31 downmix compatibility settings panel 68 E errors panel 48 Ethernet see network connection F firmware r...

Page 106: ...gment table 45 serial number 34 settings page 60 73 signal histogram panel 47 specifications 93 94 spectrum display 31 status bar 34 system requirements 8 T time see clock real time true peak meters 2...

Page 107: ......

Page 108: ...We re Listening Qualis Audio Inc Lake Oswego Oregon...

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