Sound Devices PIX 250i, User Manual And Technical Information

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PIX 250i User Guide and Technical Information
v. 2.00 Features and specifications are subject to change. Visit www.sounddevices.com for the latest documentation.
40
N
etw
or
k Gr
ouping
Network Grouping
When multiple rack-mounted PIX video recorders (PIX 250i, PIX 260i, or PIX 270i) or the 970 Audio
Recorder are in use on an Ethernet network, they can be grouped together for transport control and
linking of most setup options. Setup Menu option
[Network - Network Group]
assigns the PIX 250i
to one of four available groups.
In this section, the term “unit” refers to PIX 250i, PIX 260i, or PIX 270i Video Recorders, or the 970
Audio Recorder.
There is no “master” / “slave” relationship in Network Groups. All units in a group are “master”.
Transport commands and settings changes made on any unit a group will ripple to all other units
in the group. If a transport command or settings change has to be made to only one unit in a group,
the unit must be temporarily removed from the group before making the change. To quickly toggle
between
No Group
and the current group setting, press MENU Control Knob.
Requirements and considerations when setting up Network Groups:
• The maximum number of units supported in a single group is currently 10. Increasing the amount
of units in a group increases the time of response for grouped transport commands and auto-con-
figuration.
• It is recommended that timecode be distributed individually to each unit in a group rather than
“daisy-chained” through units in a group.
• Allow all units in a group to auto-configure before proceeding with grouped operations. See the
following section for details. ( See “Group Auto-Configuration”, page 40 )
• Some settings are not linked even when units are in a group together. ( See “Grouped Settings”, page
41 )
Group Auto-Configuration
When changes are made to a Network Group, all units in the group must auto-configure. It is im-
portant to allow all units in the group to complete auto-configuration before proceeding with any
grouped operations (Transport control, settings changes, etc). While configuring, units will display
a dialog message:
Configuring Network: Please Wait...
Wait 10 seconds after this dialog has cleared
before proceeding with grouped operations.
Common tasks that will cause a group to auto-reconfigure:
• A unit on the LAN is powered on or off.
•
A unit is connected or disconnected from the LAN.
• A unit is added or removed from a group via
[Network - Network Group]
.
Grouped Transport
Transport control (Record, Play, Pause, Stop, Jog, Shuttle, Fast Forward, and Rew) of grouped units
is linked. Recording and playback is frame-synchronized among PIX 260i and PIX 270i units in a
group. When a file is selected for playback, all units in the group will play the file of that same name
if it exists. If no file of that name exists, grouped units will play the most recently played or recorded
file.