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Technicolor COM1000, Integrator'S Manual

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Technicolor COM1000 Integrator'S Manual Download Page 26

 

 

26

 

The DIP switch pictured above will allow you to assign the chassis a unique ID between  1 and 
12 by setting the switches as described in 

Table 2

. 

Note:

 The photo above and the table below are written as if you are standing with the front of 

COM200 facing you and are looking down on the rear side of the backplane. 

 

Summary of Contents for COM1000

Page 1: ...REV 2 72 DIRECTV COM1000 Integrator s Manual Software Version ST02 08 07 ...

Page 2: ...QAM24 Board 21 4 GETTING STARTED 24 4 1 Setting up Multiple Chassis 24 4 2 Installation Requirement Guidelines 27 4 2 1 General System Guidelines 27 4 2 2 System Integrator Guidelines 28 4 2 3 System Operator Guidelines 28 5 CONFIGURING THE SYSTEM 30 5 1 Useful tools 30 5 1 1 Configuration tool 30 5 1 2 DHCP Server 30 5 1 3 Video Playback 31 5 1 4 System Logging 31 5 1 5 TFTP FTP Server 31 5 1 6 I...

Page 3: ...valuating COM24 Authorization Status 54 6 6 Evaluating COM1000 System Status 58 6 7 Evaluating COM1000 Health Status 60 6 8 The Tune Command 63 6 8 1 Tuning the COM24 Cards 64 6 8 2 Evaluating COM24 Informational Status 68 6 8 3 Using the COM24 Direct Tune Feature 70 6 8 4 Using the COM24 LED Control Feature 71 6 8 5 Using the COM24 File Transfer Utility 72 6 8 6 Setting the COM24 User Configurati...

Page 4: ...NOSTIC CAPABILITIES 107 8 1 Indicator lights 107 8 1 1 Power Supply Issues 107 8 1 2 System Startup 108 8 1 3 Normal Operation 109 8 1 4 Software Upgrade 110 8 2 Network Connectivity Indicators 112 9 DIRECTV AUTHORIZATION 113 10 GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS 114 10 1 Testing Video without Pro Idiom Encryption 114 10 1 1 Streaming Video to a Standard Television 114 10 1 2 Streaming Video to your PC ...

Page 5: ...m the COM24 Discovery Tool 32 Figure 11 Network Connections Window 33 Figure 12 Internet Protocol Configuration 34 Figure 14 Accessing the Command Prompt window 36 Figure 15 Running ipconfig 36 Figure 16 Tftpd32 Startup Screen 38 Figure 17 Tftpd32 Settings Window Global Settings 39 Figure 18 Tftpd32 Settings Window TFTP Settings 40 Figure 19 Tftpd32 Settings Window Syslog Settings 41 Figure 20 Tft...

Page 6: ...nterface on Advanced Edit page 71 Figure 39 File Transfer Interface on Advanced Edit page 72 Figure 40 User Config Interface on Advanced Edit page 74 Figure 41 CAM Log Interface on Advanced Edit page 76 Figure 42 CAM Log Report 77 Figure 43 Reset Interface on Advanced Edit page 79 Figure 44 COM1000 TuneAll Page 80 Figure 45 COM1000 EPG Page 85 Figure 46 COM1000 EPG Page Configured 88 Figure 47 COM...

Page 7: ...guring VLC Media Player 115 Figure 62 Opening a Network Stream 116 Figure 63 Streaming Video from a COM24 Card 117 List of Tables Table 1 Definition of Terms 10 Table 2 COM200 Chassis ID Configuration 27 Table 3 LED States 107 Table 4 LED Startup Behavior 108 Table 5 LED Behavior during Normal Upgrade 110 Table 6 RF Spot Check Values 124 ...

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Page 9: ...9 THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY BLANK ...

Page 10: ...f the system before proceeding any further Table 1 Definition of Terms Term Definition COM1000 This is the complete system consisting of the following one or more COM100 now discontinued or COM200 chassis COM120 or SWM units an optional gigabit Ethernet switch and QAM24 cards or alternatively comercial edge QAMs COM120 A RF radio frequency distribution panel which is necessary to enable Ka B band ...

Page 11: ...ys a QAM6 can be expanded to 12 QAM channels QAM24 An optional circuit board i e internal Edge QAM that replaces the Ethernet Card in the upper left side of a COM200 Chassis The board provides 12 QAM channels in addition to a system management Ethernet port Each QAM channel can carry 2 HD or 8 SD video channels This product has been replaced by the QAM6 and the SWQAM2 ATSC8 An optional eight chann...

Page 12: ...n that typically holds the right of entry and is responsible for installation and all onsite support on a daily basis SWM a k a SWiM Single Wire Multiswitch DirecTV Module used for selecting up to 8 satellite transponders for TV programs and 1 network transponder Pseudo code The first five characters of the COM200 Chassis serial number e g BC009 Identifies the version of the chassis The serial num...

Page 13: ... technical limit to the number of COM200 chassis than can be configured in this manner the DIP switches used for setting individual chassis IDs are only capable of providing 12 unique identifiers Refer to Section 4 1 for more information on this topic The COM24 receiver cards are controlled and managed via an Ethernet connection and do not contain an internal video decoder for viewing the currentl...

Page 14: ...a device that acts as the antenna of your satellite dish It receives incoming signals and sends them to the RF distribution panel Each one is capable of providing two outputs TV TV COM120 RF Distribution Panel External Edge QAM COM200 Chassis Up to 12 COM24 cards Admin PC Optional Series of any number of Pro Idiom enabled Digital TVs with tuners QAM24 or QAM6 OR LNB 3 LNB 2 LNB 1 OR SWM32 Single W...

Page 15: ...ion 5 1 and a web browser of your choice COM24 and COM24FLX Cards The bulk of this manual is dedicated to these cards They are the means by which the property will be able to receive the desired television programming for their network and control the entire COM1000 system QAM24 or QAM6 Cards An optional board that replaces the Ethernet Card in the upper left side of a COM200 Chassis The board pro...

Page 16: ...16 content compression type and it will stream either MPEG 2 or MPEG 4 encoded transport streams ...

Page 17: ... with the Gigabit Ethernet port in the rear see Figure 3 allow for direct connections to other devices such as an edge QAM Ethernet switch and or a management PC optional and allows any additional chassis in the system to be interconnected If the chassis is using the QAM24 modulator it replaces the Ethernet Card See Section 3 7 Along the bottom edge is the ventilation grate which combined with the...

Page 18: ...ould be noted that the power supplies are hot swappable The COM200 chassis also contains two 5 inch exhaust fans to provide cooling to the system Airflow is pulled through the ventilation grate on the front of the COM200 chassis across the COM24 cards and out the back In the case of an equipment failure the COM200 chassis can run with just one fan without overheating but it is recommended that the...

Page 19: ...M24 card feeds a dedicated DIRECTV tuner capable of supporting one channel of transcryption When both RF inputs are connected the card is capable of streaming two Pro Idiom encrypted HD channels simultaneously via the Ethernet port The COM24 is designed such that each tuner on a card only needs to be set once Once configured the cards should remain locked unless there is a disruption in the signal...

Page 20: ...1 for an explanation of indicator light diagnostic capabilities 3 4 COM24FLX Card The COM24FLX card is a variant of the standard COM24 card that only supports SWM connections It is configurable as a three channel standard definition or two channel high definition satellite receiver The COM24FLX as purchased is only capable of receiving SD programming To upgrade a FLX card to receive two HD channel...

Page 21: ...slot one with the GbE card you now have another gigabit speed Ethernet port that can be used to route data to the QAM24 card in that chassis This card is also required for use of the ATSC8 receiver in the system if the QAM24 or QAM6 modulator is used 3 6 XDR24 Card The XDR24 card is currently being deprecated For additional support contact your equipment vendor or Technicolor 3 7 QAM24 Board The Q...

Page 22: ...n the chassis the board is retained by front panel screws which MUST be installed Install the QAM24 Board as follows 1 Remove power from the chassis Remember to unplug BOTH power cables 2 Remove the chassis top cover to gain access to the slot connector and rear panel GbE port cable 3 Unplug the rear panel Ethernet cable 4 Remove the switch access board 5 Install the QAM24 6 Tighten front panel re...

Page 23: ...tors report the good state and going dark when power is removed from the chassis or when a problem is detected on one of the regulators The QAM24 card s middle right LED represents the link and activity of the GbE interface on the back of the card The QAM24 card s top right LED represents the status of the QAM24 card It is solidly lit when the card is performing a software update It is flashing if...

Page 24: ...lying upon other devices in the system to decode and display the MPEG streams it produces Furthermore the COM1000 does not have any native user interface Controlling and monitoring the COM1000 requires a Windows based PC and a web browser of your choice 4 1 Setting up Multiple Chassis For installations that require more than one COM200 chassis each chassis will need to be assigned a unique chassis...

Page 25: ...25 Figure 8 COM200 Chassis ID Configuration Switch Location Figure 9 COM200 Chassis ID Configuration Switch Closeup Chassis ID Configuration Switch ...

Page 26: ...n the chassis a unique ID between 1 and 12 by setting the switches as described in Table 2 Note The photo above and the table below are written as if you are standing with the front of COM200 facing you and are looking down on the rear side of the backplane ...

Page 27: ...N 8 DOWN DOWN DOWN UP 9 UP DOWN DOWN UP 10 DOWN UP DOWN UP 11 UP UP DOWN UP 12 DOWN DOWN UP UP 4 2 Installation Requirement Guidelines Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when installing the COM1000 system that will minimize the potential problems that the system could be expected to encounter 4 2 1 General System Guidelines The optimum RF levels at the input of a COM120 or SWM are 30 to 50 ...

Page 28: ...ots and tuners The COM1000 will generally be preconfigured including the appropriate RF and IP connections to an edge QAM device which most likely is the QAM24 A COM120 RF Distribution panel consisting of DIRECTV approved multiswitches and Ka B band converters or a DirecTV SWM 32 unit shall be supplied by the System Integrator 4 2 3 System Operator Guidelines It is recommended to use the StarRoute...

Page 29: ...29 Figure 10 COM24FLX to SWM Module connections ...

Page 30: ...tails on accessing the user interface are included in Section 5 1 6 below 5 1 2 DHCP Server Because the COM24 cards have the ability to remember their settings once the system has been properly configured the cards will retain whichever IP addresses were used last and will not need to obtain new ones from a DHCP server Even if the cards are assigned new IP addresses they will continue to operate n...

Page 31: ...shooting a system One simple solution is the syslog feature of the previously referenced Tftpd32 but it is limited in terms of features A more feature rich option might be considered for a more robust debugging capability One alternative solution is an offering from Kiwi Enterprises available at http www kiwisyslog com but this option carries a licensing fee for a full version of the software so i...

Page 32: ...ng with the COM24 cards is that you must know the IP address of any card that you wish to interact with In the case that you do know the IP address of the card you are trying to access simply type the IP into your web browser s address bar An alternative to typing a card s IP address directly into your web browser is to use an application designed by Technicolor specifically to combat this issue c...

Page 33: ...ontrol Panel typically located on the right hand side of the Start Menu Double click on the icon labeled Network Connections Figure 12 Network Connections Window From there you will need to identify the network interface that will communicate with the COM24 cards In this example our system is utilizing the connection that is linked to the PC via an USB Ethernet adapter You will need to right click...

Page 34: ...w to resolve this issue If you wish to manually configure your network and ensure that you will never have to worry about IP addresses changing on you however then select the second option Use the following IP address taking care to assign a unique IP address to your PC Also configure the subnet mask to 255 255 0 0 You may not know the cards IP addresses at this point but it is very likely that th...

Page 35: ...cts you may wish to disable the wireless interface temporarily and see if that helps 5 3 Using a TFTP Server While you do have the option of using your choice of either FTP or TFTP to transfer data between the management PC and the COM1000 system it is recommended that you use a TFTP program The reason is that TFTP is greatly simplified over FTP the biggest difference being that it does not requir...

Page 36: ...6 Figure 14 Accessing the Command Prompt window In the program window that appears you will be prompted to enter a command Type in ipconfig and press Enter see Figure 15 below Figure 15 Running ipconfig ...

Page 37: ...h as the Kiwi syslog daemon discussed in the previous section Tftpd32 has proven useful for performing file transfers to the COM24 cards but some important limitations must be kept in mind when using it A successful file transfer could be prevented by any third party firewalls or anti virus tools running on your computer so you should disable them temporarily You must be sure that your computer an...

Page 38: ...he bottom of the screen Figure 16 Tftpd32 Startup Screen The window that comes up should look like the one below in Figure 17 At times things like firewall setting and improper IP address configurations can interfere with the file transfers between your computer and the COM24 cards ...

Page 39: ...39 Figure 17 Tftpd32 Settings Window Global Settings ...

Page 40: ...40 Figure 18 Tftpd32 Settings Window TFTP Settings ...

Page 41: ... you do not see a progress bar shown in Figure 20 within 30 seconds after hitting the Submit Query button on the upgrade page see Section 7 on upgrading your system then the file transfer will not happen In that case it is advised that you review your setup ...

Page 42: ...as not successfully transferred to the COM24 card In order to get a better understanding of what happened you should be sure to review the Log Viewer tab of the Tftpd32 interface If the file transferred successfully you should see a statement similar to the last line shown in Figure 21 for each file you attempted to upload Figure 21 Tftpd32 Completed Transfer Screen ...

Page 43: ...ce Introduction Page The COM24 card issues a discovery call for all other COM24 cards in the system and then populates a table with some basic information on current tuning parameters and RF signal levels Once this information is complete for version ST02 05 05 and later the Discover Web Page illustrated in Figure 22 is automatically displayed For SW versions earlier than ST02 05 05 the Discover W...

Page 44: ...Scan Refresh or Display hyperlinks at the top of any COM1000 web interface page The differences will be discussed in later sections Figure 24 shows the Discover page for systems containing COM24FLX cards Note that the slots containing COM24FLX cards in SD mode will contain entries for three tuners instead of two 1 Prior to ST02 05 05 the company logo needed to be clicked to transition from to ...

Page 45: ...45 Figure 24 Discover Page w COM24FLX ...

Page 46: ...er shown RF output channel and subchannel if directed to internal QAM24 port are shown Destination IP address and IP port if directed to an external device is shown Program bit rate if directed to an internal QAM24 port static snapshot Clickable Slot_ID link shows CAM log if there are authorization problems Issues for some of the tuners are shown color coded in Figure 25 below Figure 25 COM1000 Di...

Page 47: ...5 05 and later if some of the programs are streaming to a QAM24 then QAM is displayed as the column header If all signals are routed out of the system then IPAddress will display as the column header instead In SW version ST02 05 05 or later if the card is sending video to a QAM24 this field shows the output QAM frequency and QAM sub channel number If a card is streaming video to outside of the ch...

Page 48: ...NR is low it will be highlighted in yellow and if the SNR is very low it will be highlighted in red Note For optimum performance of the COM200 this value should be 11 or higher AGC2 This value provides a value corresponding to the internal Automatic Gain Control setting in the COM24 In ST02 05 05 and later if the AGC is low it will be highlighted in yellow and if the AGC is very low it will be hig...

Page 49: ...can can take an hour or more As a result the Discover command is a better choice in nearly all cases unless you have found that it does not work for you The Scan operation is limited in its capabilities The COM24 card will scan through four full subnets including and following the current one looking for other COM24 cards For example if the card s IP is 192 168 3 100 it will scan for cards in the ...

Page 50: ...ited amount of information in the same format as was covered in Section 6 1 It primarily displays all IPs found within an area in numerical order The information can be resolved into a more useable format i e COM24 card information only by clicking the Refresh link ...

Page 51: ...g the Refresh link at the top of any COM1000 web interface page Please note that this table is filled in with data obtained during execution of either the Discover or Scan commands so if it appears to be empty simply perform one of these operations first and then come back to this screen ...

Page 52: ...ying COM1000 Status By clicking the Display hyperlink at the top of any COM1000 web interface page you can see the information last obtained from a Discover or Refresh with the signal status of all cards in the system as shown in Figure 28 below ...

Page 53: ...n conjunction with the Scan and Refresh commands it simply filters the table so that all discovered COM24 cards are shown at the top of the table and removes any system status messages that may appear when running the previously covered functions ...

Page 54: ...ystem as shown in Figure 29 below For details on how to obtain more in depth information on this topic please refer to Section 7 This page also provides direct access to a card s internal syslog and CAM log and the ability to upgrade multiple cards These can be reached by clicking the hyperlinks that represent the card s IP address and CAM_ID as can be seen below Figure 29 COM1000 Pairing Info Pag...

Page 55: ...en authorized A value of 1 indicates that the card has been authorized thereby enabling the card to receive DIRECTV programming A value of 0 indicates that the card has not been authorized Paired This field reports the pairing status of the CAM card In order to be capable of receiving an authorization to the DIRECTV network the RID and CAM data must first be paired If this has not happened then th...

Page 56: ...elect which type of file transfer you wish to undertake for a particular card The available options are shown below It should be noted that when selecting any option other than 2 the card will appear to go through the usual software update cycle but that it will revert to the current build of code once it has rebooted 0 Set_Log_IP This option allows you to identify the IP address to which you wish...

Page 57: ...57 Note Options 4 through 7 are not available to users and are for development purposes only Figure 31 COM24 Multi card Upgrade Results Page See Section 7 for more information on upgrading your system ...

Page 58: ... the top of any COM1000 web interface page you will access the page shown below in Figure 32 This table gives you the ability to select from one of a number of different unique identifiers for every COM24 card if your system needs such capability Figure 32 COM1000 SysInfo Page ...

Page 59: ...nstructions contained within the COM24 cards Property_ID This is a user defined field that can be used in conjunction with the System_Integrator_ID above to create a unique identity for every chassis you distribute Unfortunately the ability to load this data is not supported by the web interface at this time Entering this information requires a more advanced tool that will give access to the compl...

Page 60: ...the top of any COM1000 web interface page you will access the page shown in Figure 33 below The data available here gives you an impression of the overall health of the COM1000 system and can be used to identify potential problem areas at a glance Figure 33 COM1000 HealthInfo Page ...

Page 61: ...pply is connected and operating properly the value should return OK If there is a problem with either of these things the value will return Fault Note Newer chassis will only have a single power supply instead of a dual power supply These power supplies do not provide health indicators so the PS0 and PS1 Health indicators will report Fault which should be ignored See device labeled AC Input 1 in F...

Page 62: ...62 See device labeled Exhaust Fan 2 in Figure 3 in Section 3 2 ...

Page 63: ...rlier than ST02 05 05 You can also access the Basic Tune screen of any given COM24 card and tuner combination by clicking the channel name number hyperlink in the Channel column on the Refresh or Display pages Figure 34 COM24 Basic Tune Screen This form permits two different ways of tuning DIRECTV channels with Pro Idiom encryption The first way specifies the destination IP address and port along ...

Page 64: ...corresponds to the subchannel number e g 2 in the channel number 13 2 or 13 2 is the subchannel number Major_Number This field is equivalent to the DIRECTV channel number you tune to on a typical DIRECTV tuner Use the link Advanced Edit to access the Advanced Tune page Figure 35 described below For software versions before ST02 05 05 by clicking the Tune hyperlink from the Edit column on the old D...

Page 65: ... holds the COM24 card you are currently tuning Slot This value shows the Slot number within the COM200 chassis that holds the COM24 card you are currently tuning Tuner This value indicates which tuner on the COM24 card you are controlling It is important to note that Tuner 0 lower in the web interface is the same as the coaxial hub labeled Tuner 1 on the COM24 card faceplate and Tuner 1 upper in t...

Page 66: ...ajor_Number and Minor_Number should be set to zero and the correct Channel_Object_ID must be entered Contact Technicolor to convert the television call letters to the Channel_Object_ID Major_Number This field is equivalent to the DIRECTV channel number you tune to on a typical DIRECTV tuner The default value is 0 Minor_Number This field is automatically filled in by the COM24 card with a default v...

Page 67: ...ault value is 0 Persistent Setting this value to 1 tells the COM24 to retain all channel and IP destination settings in memory i e data entered into the card is persistent This eliminates the need to reprogram the COM24 cards after every power cycle or reboot Persistent is on by default i e 1 It should be on for most installations Otherwise all settings will be lost in the event of a power interru...

Page 68: ...ed Edit page Figure 36 Info Section on Advanced Edit Page This section provides a selection of many key indicators to the operation of the COM24 card It acts as a concise index to the characteristics of each individual COM24 card according to its status and user defined settings Following is a brief explanation of each field shown above ...

Page 69: ...ized within the DIRECTV network The card needs to be paired and authorized in order to receive DIRECTV programming A value of 1 means that the card has been successfully authorized 0 means that it has not yet been authorized or has lost its authorization Paired This field provides feedback on whether the smart card has been successfully paired with the COM24 card The card needs to be paired and au...

Page 70: ... above A brief explanation of each field follows Network_ID This field displays the DIRECTV network of the currently tuned channel This number correlates to a specific satellite and can be used in conjunction with the Frequency_Index field below to determine whether the card is locked to the correct channel version as of this version of the manual all SD content resides on Network 0 and the HD con...

Page 71: ...assume control of the PWR LED temporarily This feature can help you easily identify a specific card within a chassis if there is ever any doubt about which card you are accessing A brief explanation of each field shown above is as follows LED_State This field allows you to control the PWR LED This may be used as a simple means to identify a particular card within a chassis at a remote location The...

Page 72: ...Transfer Interface on Advanced Edit page Similar in function to the upgrade section found on the PairingInfo page this section provides you with a method of transferring software updates to or transferring log data from individual COM24 cards See Section 7 for more information on upgrading your COM24 cards Following is a brief explanation of each field shown above ...

Page 73: ... to retrieve the software update or where to send the log file based upon the Usage setting above The default value for this field is 192 168 1 254 Filename This value entered in this field tells the COM24 which file to download in the case of software updates or what name you want to give the log file being transferred from the card Mode This field is used to tell the COM24 card which file transf...

Page 74: ...he ability to change the mechanism the cards use to obtain IP addresses and the ability to send log data to a PC or other monitoring mechanism Following is a brief explanation of each field shown above CardIP This field represents the IP address of the COM24 card that you are currently interacting with The value is filled in automatically IP_Config This field allows for one of 9 methods of IP addr...

Page 75: ...xtended period After entering the IP address of the destination the log files will start being forwarded to this address after a short delay You may then run a system logging utility like Kiwi on the destination computer to capture this information Log_Level This field allows you to define the level of detail that will be captured in the resulting log files Due to the complexity of this setting it...

Page 76: ...lity to read the log files generated by any COM24 card s Conditional Access Module CAM also known as its smart card The messages reported here match the ones that may be seen on a normal set top box and can be used to determine whether the card has been properly authorized and paired ...

Page 77: ...y 12 00 00 00 2011 4 9 727 727 Program Not Available in Your Area Service Blacked Out GMT Thu May 12 00 00 00 2011 5 0 0 Can t view GMT Thu May 12 00 00 00 2011 6 0 0 Blackout GMT Thu May 12 00 00 00 2011 7 9 727 727 Program Not Available in Your Area Service Blacked Out GMT Thu May 12 00 00 00 2011 The 3 digit values starting with a 7 are the DIRECTV support extension numbers associated with the ...

Page 78: ...78 There are a few fields as described below Refresh Refreshes this display Clear_CAM_Log Clears all current entries in that card s CAM log ...

Page 79: ...ced Edit page This section allows you to initiate a software reset on the card identified in the CardIP field This is sometimes helpful in situations where a card has become non responsive Activating this feature is the equivalent to pushing the recessed reset button on the face of the COM24 card and has a similar effect as pressing the small reset button on a traditional set top box ...

Page 80: ... 6 9 Using the COM1000 TuneAll Command The information shown in Figure 44 below is the result of clicking the TuneAll hyperlink at the top of any COM1000 web interface page Figure 44 COM1000 TuneAll Page ...

Page 81: ...mber Minor_Number Security_Mode The sample line below indicates the upper tuner of a card residing in Slot 4 of Chassis 2 It is targeting Port 301 of the device residing at the IP address 192 168 4 245 and tuned to the HD broadcast of channel 242 with Pro Idiom encryption set 2 4 1 192 168 4 245 301 242 65535 1 Upon initial system startup your table might look something like this Current Tuning Ta...

Page 82: ...171 218 65535 4 1 9 0 192 168 4 245 7426 206 65535 4 1 9 1 192 168 4 245 7427 545 65535 4 After editing the tuning table you simply need to copy and paste this information into the large field provided by the TuneAll command and then click Submit Query If you are using a QAM24 Card you can also use the syntax of Channel hd sd QamMajor QamMinor For example to tune the first unused tuner to the HD S...

Page 83: ...de up of still images of the current programming It moves down the list of assigned channels every 2 5 seconds creating a constant cycle showing nine channels at a time As such the guide is not interactive so the viewer must manually tune to their channel of choice 3 If the number of channels in the EPG fits in one screen nine or less the channel listing will not scroll This permits the installer ...

Page 84: ...dition of new channels you can expect the EPG to exhibit some odd behavior during the initial image creation It may appear to skip around at random but it can be expected to settle back into a normal operational state once it has finished generating all the necessary images 9 The EPG is a video only channel and you cannot set audio to play in the background 10 A COM24 card that is set to transcode...

Page 85: ...ess the EPG setup screen shown in Figure 45 below simply click the EPG hyperlink at the top of any COM1000 web interface page Figure 45 COM1000 EPG Page Following is a brief explanation of each field available on the EPG page as shown above ...

Page 86: ...operty This will be the IP address of the PC containing the TFTP server LogoFileName This field is used to tell the COM24 the name of the file that is to be used for the logo See Section 0 for more information on selecting and uploading a custom logo for your EPG The EPG s channel lineup is created in the large textbox on the lower half of the screen using the following format displayNumber majorN...

Page 87: ...nel 8 from OTA SMATV or COM1000 10 1 NLocal_Program_Info 1 71 Non DIRECTV channel channel name Local Note The actual content could come from the COM1000 a separate analog SMATV system or even from on air as long as the channel is available in DIRECTV s lineup The first time you access the EPG page it will be blank as shown in Figure 45 above Note that as mentioned previously this page applies to t...

Page 88: ...88 Figure 46 COM1000 EPG Page Configured ...

Page 89: ...e screen shown in Figure 47 below is the result of clicking the EpgLoad button located at the bottom of the EPG screen Doing this provides a convenient starting point for building an EPG for your system Figure 47 COM24 EPGLoad Result ...

Page 90: ...then assigns channel information starting from the first tuner on the leftmost card in the lowest numbered chassis and steps up one channel for every successive tuner This information will automatically be loaded into the appropriate text field the next time you visit the EPG page Note In the submission results shown above a 0 at the end of a channel line refers to a submission of sd and 1 refers ...

Page 91: ...utomatically sort them by channel number when it builds the guide As with the tuning table on the TuneAll page you may edit the EPG information in its text field on the page but it is recommended that you make all changes in a separate text editor and save a copy of the text file for easy retrieval in the case of any information loss Once you are finished entering all of the information necessary ...

Page 92: ...operly with the EPG the logo must be saved as a 24 bit bitmap bmp file and can be no larger than 170x60 pixels in size 170 pixels wide and 60 pixels long In addition the image s background can be made to render as transparent by changing the color to magenta RGB values of 251 0 255 An example of this can be found in Figure 49 below Figure 49 EPG Logo Adjustments Once the image has been properly up...

Page 93: ...re 51 below is the result of clicking the Syslog hyperlink at the top of any COM1000 web interface page Note that this method of displaying the syslog will only show the last 500 lines of messages from the card you are currently logged into Figure 51 COM24 Syslog Report ...

Page 94: ...eight tuners in each board that can receive an ATSC channel and forward the transport stream to a QAM24 There is a different IP address per every two tuners This results in four different IP addresses per board First the four IP addresses must be set Specify the desired base IP address such as 192 168 4 1 and click IP_Discover_and_Set This will discover all of the ATSC tuners and set their IP addr...

Page 95: ...g the Receiver_ID to 0xffffffff The Messages are 0 Download new DCI401MCS software 3 Feature enable disable 4 Reset DTA user settings ratings locks 5 Tune to a specified Major_Number Minor_Number channel 6 Scan for new channels 7 Display text for a few seconds on the TV 9 Set which channel is the EPG channel 10 Set site specific error messages indicating who to call for support 11 Send logo file f...

Page 96: ...nk will display the page below Figure 52 QAM24 Command Screen top portion The QAM24 card is controlled by any of the COM24 cards via Ethernet The QAM24 card has a fixed IP address 192 168 6 Chassis ID 1 An arbitrary alternate address can be assigned ...

Page 97: ...hannel Each group s base channel can be set according to the North American Cable Television Frequency plan Each RF channel can be individually turned on or off Each channel must be frequency adjacent and within the same band per the North American Cable Television Frequency Plan See EIA 542B or http www jneuhaus com fccindex cablech html The QAM24 supports an emergency broadcast override If a vid...

Page 98: ...6 channel MHz Change the frequency plan to minimize the impact of the RF spurs New reduced cost QAM 6 boards will only permit six QAM carriers to be active at a time To increase the number of QAM carriers additional licenses must be purchased from Technicolor and downloaded to the QAM24 When debugging QAM24 issues click on the qamLog button to see the QAM24 system log This log is mainly for Techni...

Page 99: ...99 6 15 Using the COM24 Help Command The help command can be reached by clicking Help at the top of any COM1000 page It briefly describes all of the other commands Figure 54 COM24 Help Command ...

Page 100: ... 2 Upgrading COM24 Firmware WARNING DO NOT download old software versions before ST02 07 05 if the RID does not start with 0330 This will cause all three LEDs to blink once a second and the card will not work This section will guide you through the procedure for upgrading your COM24 cards There are two different ways you can go about doing this The first method is a single card upgrade which requi...

Page 101: ... of the cards in succession As soon as each card finishes its download it will reset itself If you have sent the upgrade command from a card within the first several slots it may be reset before all of the cards in the chassis have received their upgrade commands in which case the last few cards in the chassis will not be updated In order to avoid this situation it is highly recommended that you e...

Page 102: ...102 The results of the upgrade in Figure 55 is shown in Figure 56 Figure 56 Multi card COM24 SW Upgrade Results ...

Page 103: ... a key an entry is made in the Key Entry text box using the format shown above the text box Chassis slot tuners RID KEY The chassis slot tuners RID entries can all be cut and pasted from the list above the key entry text box The KEY value is the key purchased through your distributor Once all key entries have been typed into the text box clicking on the Submit Query radio button will apply them On...

Page 104: ...iringInfo screen 7 4 Upgrading QAM24 Firmware Upgrading the firmware for the QAM24 is similar to updating the firmware for the COM24 and XDR24 except for the following differences QAM24 upgrade is tftp only Ftp is not available ...

Page 105: ... the fields necessary for the SW upgrade Figure 53 Figure 58 below shows those fields filled in as an example upgrade The tftpIP will be the IP address of the device that contains the upgrade file your PC The Filename will be the name of the upgrade file e g QAM24_01 05 03 img It is recommended that you retain the original filename of the update file you have been issued to avoid confusion later o...

Page 106: ...106 Figure 59 shows the results of starting a QAM24 SW upgrade Figure 59 QAM24 SW Upgrade Results ...

Page 107: ...mes and describes them and provides a color by which the states will be defined in the following sections Table 3 LED States On The LED emits a steady green light Off The LED is not lit at all Flash The LED exhibits an on off pattern once a second Slow Flash The LED exhibits an on off pattern once every two seconds Rapid Flash The LED exhibits an on off pattern multiple times a second 8 1 1 Power ...

Page 108: ...res before you can effectively diagnose any card issues This section covers the sequence of events that occur in a COM1000 system at boot up The COM24 card goes through four steps at startup 1 Self test 2 IP Initialization obtain IP address establish network connectivity 3 DIRECTV Program Guide acquisition 4 Channel acquisition and video streaming The COM24 cards take between 2 and 3 minutes to re...

Page 109: ...take on one of three behaviors The state you will see the Tuner LEDs in most frequently is the ON state A tuner whose LED is on can be interpreted as being locked on to a certain satellite and providing you qualify to receive the programming should be streaming video on the specified channel The COM24 cards will maintain a lock on the signal at all times if the signal strength and quality is withi...

Page 110: ...D PWR LED Upgrade initiated OFF OFF OFF Initializing bootloader ON ON ON Uploading file OFF OFF RAPID FLASH File received Authenticating code RAPID FLASH OFF RAPID FLASH Successful authentication Writing to memory RAPID FLASH OFF FLASH Upgrade successful Card will reboot shortly ON ON ON Note The PWR LED may flash briefly at the start and or end of the upgrade If you see a behavior not described a...

Page 111: ...111 The directory path and filename do not exceed the maximum limit of 200 characters ...

Page 112: ...it under normal operating circumstances When a COM24 card is connected to a XDR24 card the COM24 should behave as described above The XDR 24 meanwhile should exhibit both a steadily lit Activity indicator and a steadily lit Link indicator If the Activity indicator is dark or only flashing slowly but the Link light is on then the card is not transferring video data If the COM24 Tuner LEDs appear lo...

Page 113: ...e system up verify that the system is successfully collecting guide information and then call the required information into the DIRECTV call center It should be noted that DIRECTV currently processes all HD programming in a batch mode process so it may take up to 24 hours for your COM24 cards to receive the appropriate authorization hits Note Some cards have been known to reboot once they have rec...

Page 114: ... or you can send video directly to your PC 10 1 1 Streaming Video to a Standard Television If you happen to have access to a television in the test area that will be capable of playing the specified video stream it is possible to set up a system that will allow you to troubleshoot without using Pro Idiom It should be noted however that the settings required to setup such a system do not allow you ...

Page 115: ...n detecting your computer s IP address 2 Make note of which value the Port_Number field is set to If you have already configured the system you can leave this value on its previous setting If you have not select a default value for troubleshooting that will not conflict with the port number of any of the other cards 3 Make sure the Protocol_Type field is set to 0 UDP 4 Set the Major_Number field t...

Page 116: ... is the port number The and are delimiters Set the Port field to the value you were asked to note earlier during setup Figure 62 Opening a Network Stream If you have set up all your connections as directed VLC Media Player should start streaming video output from channel 100 The resulting screen should look similar to the one shown in Figure 63 ...

Page 117: ...transport stream contains non Pro Idiom key packet on the same PID that previously contained Pro Idiom key packets These are normally audio packets The Pro Idiom chip incorrectly interprets these audio packets as Pro Idiom key packets This confuses the Pro Idiom chip and causes it to lose its keys The QAM24 modulator solves this problem by automatically moving only the Pro Idiom key packets to a h...

Page 118: ... and you should call it in 4 Switch the coaxial cable coming from your RF distribution panel to another known working switch If this works you may have a problem with your multiswitches and should call the manufacturer 10 4 Verifying Card Authorization If multiple channels in the system are not playing check for the following 1 Locate the tuners that are causing the problem For single tuners on mu...

Page 119: ...into the details of configuring your COM24 IP addressing scheme it is essential that you understand the basic functionality of the COM24 IP assignment algorithm This information is provided to explain some oddities you may encounter when observing the COM24 card s behavior at boot up The following steps describe generally what happens to a card during a normal boot cycle 1 Early on in the boot cyc...

Page 120: ... DHCP server This mode will ensure that the cards will always have the same IP addresses as each card will store the initial IP address assigned to it in its memory and request the same address from the DHCP server every time it reboots Because this mode stores the card s DHCP address to non volatile memory you may choose to allow a DHCP server to assign unique IP addresses to the cards only durin...

Page 121: ...ield into its Base_IP field then set the mode to Fixed and reboot it This will ensure that the card will always come back up with the IP address currently assigned to it You must be careful however to ensure that each COM24 card has a unique IP address This is especially easy to overlook in installations that contain multiple COM200 chassis so it is recommended that you assign each Chassis a uniqu...

Page 122: ...ls the COM24 card what IP address to use in mode Fixed In order to ensure a level of uniformity across all of your COM100 installations it a good practice to assign addresses for the cards in the 192 168 1 xxx or the 192 168 3 xxx subnets ...

Page 123: ... is incorrectly set it may not be possible to talk to the card To force the card to reset the subnet to the 255 255 0 0 default reboot the card four times each time waiting for the power LED to flash before rebooting A 5 GATEWAY The Gateway field tells the COM24 card what default gateway to apply to the IP address it generates This field is optional and if left blank the COM24 will not apply a def...

Page 124: ...e COM1000 It should be noted that this table is only valid for the CONUS Continental United States feeds The guide data for local channels is located elsewhere on the 101 satellite Table 6 RF Spot Check Values DTV Channel Sat network Freq Index SNR AGC3 dBm 229 0 101 sat 26 10 55 to 25 230 0 101 sat 31 10 55 to 25 427 3 119 sat 30 10 55 to 25 Note These are all of the frequencies where DIRECTV Pro...

Page 125: ...owly Card is not streaming video Card is attempting to send to an unreachable IP address Possible authorization problem Verify that the destination IP and port number values are correct Check the CAM log for authorization problems If found tune to channel 100 and attempt reauthorization Tuner LED is blinking Tuner is locked but no video packets are being sent Possible authorization problem Check t...

Page 126: ...s unable find the guide data from the 119 satellite Revisit the RF installation guidelines Run through the guide acquisition spot checks Frequent macroblocking of the picture If the weather conditions are favorable there could be an RF signaling problem If only high action channels are affected it could be a problem with the QAM setup Try to isolate the problem to a particular tuner or frequency b...

Page 127: ...do not upgrade If there are more than six cards in a chassis the first card will get to the reset stage before the last six cards receive the upgrade request Refer to Section 7 and check for errors in upgrade settings Initiate the upgrades from the highest numbered slot in the chassis Cards cannot be upgraded when using the integrated switch of a COM200 chassis This is due to a limitation in the i...

Page 128: ...udo codes BC004 and NC004 require that multicast streams be sent out the front port and an external Ethernet switch be used You are attempting to stream transcoded content In such an installation an external GbE switch will be required Due to the high bitrate requirements of the transcode operation multicast distribution of transcoded streams is not feasible ...

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