VBrick Systems VB4000 Series Admin Manual Download Page 1

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VBrick v4.2 WM Appliance
Admin Guide

March 18, 2008

4410-0151-0004

VB4000-5000-6000 Series
Network Video Appliances

Summary of Contents for VB4000 Series

Page 1: ...VBrick v4 2 WM Appliance Admin Guide March 18 2008 4410 0151 0004 VB4000 5000 6000 Series Network Video Appliances ...

Page 2: ...n radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual may cause harmful interference to radio communications Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at their own expense This Class A digital apparatus meets all requirements of the ...

Page 3: ...ultiple Bit Rate Streams 8 MBR Output Settings 10 MBR Groups 11 MBR Troubleshooting 12 Using On Demand Playback 13 Optimizing System Performance 14 Mixed Model Appliances 14 Archiver and Recorder Functionality 15 2 WM Configuration Configuration Network 18 Configuration Network Ethernet 18 Configuration Network Routing 20 Configuration Network Management 22 Configuration Encoder 23 Configuration E...

Page 4: ...onfiguration Passthrough 72 Configuration Passthrough COM1 73 Configuration Passthrough COM2 76 Configuration System 76 Configuration System General 76 Configuration System SNMP Traps 77 Configuration System Security 80 Configuration System Logging 82 Configuration Script Management 83 Configuration Script Management Event Triggering 83 Configuration Script Management Auto Configuration 86 3 SDI C...

Page 5: ...ser Information Slot1 111 5 Diagnostics Diagnostics Network Tests 113 Diagnostics Network Tests Ping Test 113 Diagnostics Network Tests Trace Route Test 114 Diagnostics Device Test 115 Diagnostics Hard Drive 117 6 Maintenance Maintenance Device Information 119 Maintenance Default All Configuration 120 Maintenance Read Write Configuration 120 Maintenance Read Write Read From Device 120 Maintenance ...

Page 6: ...m 56K 135 Security Surveillance 135 9 Stream Prioritization Overview 137 Stream Prioritization 137 Non Bitrate Constrained 138 Bitrate Constrained 138 How the WM Appliance Creates Priority Lists 139 For Group Serving 139 For Archiving and Pushing to or Pulling from a WM Server 139 Configuring Groups 140 Safe Group Configurations 140 Index ...

Page 7: ... can reach thousands of people on your enterprise network VPN or the Internet The Windows Media appliance provides both Windows Media encoder functionality and Windows Media server functionality for live video A key benefit is its compatibility with the Windows Media Player thus eliminating the need for a desktop player installation Organization Introduction provides an overview of the WM Applianc...

Page 8: ...ch a way that it will only work well in a very limited environment Video quality is also relative What is acceptable quality for a surveillance application on a low bandwidth network is most likely unacceptable for a corporate presentation or a two way video conference on a high speed LAN Much depends on your network the bandwidth you have available and the audience you are trying to reach VBrick ...

Page 9: ...sed to indicate user input in keyboard commands scripts etc Folder names and user examples are displayed in this sans serif font Folder names and user input are displayed in this bold sans serif font Italics are used to emphasize specific words or phrases Printer Friendly VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide T To save or print a PDF document 1 Click once to open the PDF document in Acrobat Reader 2 To ...

Page 10: ...x Preface ...

Page 11: ...Media Player which is the client program that plays Windows Media and other multimedia formats The Windows Media Player is typically installed with the operating system on most desktop PCs so no player side installation is necessary eliminating a common IT concern when deploying a streaming audio video solution VBrick has licensed Windows Media encoding and server technology from Microsoft and cre...

Page 12: ... a combination of both LAN and WAN network topologies Note that the VBrick WM Appliance can support all of these Standard Feature Encoder Reflector Accepts composite or S Video input X Available as single or dual channel X Multiple bit rate support X Windows Media Audio 8 encoding 5 Kbps 192 Kbps X Windows Media Video 9 encoding 20 Kbps 4 Mbps X Optional 60 GB hard drive for local archiving X X 8 ...

Page 13: ...ows Media or RealNetworks Helix server The stream is then reflected by the server to players and other servers using any protocol supported by the server Push Reflection via Microsoft Windows Media or RealNetworks Helix Servers Streaming video and audio can be pushed from the VBrick WM Appliance to a publishing point on up to 25 Microsoft Windows Media or RealNetworks Helix servers The stream is t...

Page 14: ...dows Media Player and view the multicast A standard Windows system associates the asx extension with the Windows Media Player Use an HTTP URL to access the asx file on the VBrick You can create a web page that contains an HTTP link to the multicast asx file on the VBrick or you can open the multicast asx URL using Windows Media Player or a web browser Use VBrick StreamPlayer Program Guide VBrick s...

Page 15: ...m from another VBrick WM Appliance a Microsoft WM server or a Microsoft WM Encoder VBrick Reflecting Reflecting involves an encoder which creates a video stream and sends it over the network and a reflector which receives the network stream from the encoder and retransmits the stream to players or other reflectors In many applications VBrick appliances are used both as the encoders and as the refl...

Page 16: ...ted For example in the VBrick Encoder Reflector model the Slot1 multicast can be sending an encoded stream at the same time the Slot2 multicast is sending a reflected stream Note that the reflector always sends exactly what is received For this reason there are no video or audio configuration fields on the reflector configuration pages nor do the destination pages let you select different video an...

Page 17: ... from the source A VBrick Reflector either in the dedicated reflector model 9190 0200 xxxx or in the encoder reflector model 9190 4200 can pull from a VBrick Encoder a Microsoft Encoder or it can pull live or stored content from a Microsoft Server Table 3 Typical Pull Reflecting URLs T To reflect a pulled stream through a Windows Media or Helix server Create a broadcast publishing point on the Win...

Page 18: ... at different data rates to different clients Reflection For an organization that has a distributed infrastructure with multicast capable offices connected by lower bandwidth non multicast enabled links it may be useful to push pull a unicast stream to a reflector for redistribution and or archiving at the remote site The reflector can be provided by a Windows Media Server or by the reflecting cap...

Page 19: ...lets you create and save a wmv file archive of the streams directly from the encoder The file can be FTPed to a Windows Media Server or moved to a Windows system and played locally by a Media Player It can also be accessed locally via Using On Demand Playback In a mixed VBStar model with an MPEG 2 encoder and a WM encoder the MPEG 2 encoder can archive the MPEG 2 stream and the WM encoder can arch...

Page 20: ...ines whether to pull a specific group from the server or to negotiate with the server in order to pull the best quality stream based on available network bandwidth To allow the player server negotiation you can open a Windows Media Player and enter the HTTP URL shown on the Server page for example http 172 22 173 10 8080 vbrickvideo1 Alternately you can request a specific group by appending a know...

Page 21: ...mary or default group is always available The following screenshot shows how you can enable and configure different audio and video settings for MBR Group2 Figure 4 Configuring MBR Groups When serving multiple bit rate streams it is the player that determines which group to request and play based on the bandwidth available or on the measured network performance between the player and the appliance...

Page 22: ...re is no The first video encoder Video Rate1 is always enabled and available for selection the first audio encoder Audio Rate1 is always enabled and available for selection Different enabled audio encoders must have different audio rates Different enabled video encoders must have different video rates An enabled group must have at least one stream selected All enabled groups must have the same com...

Page 23: ... of these options are possible configure the group with the lowest rate audio stream to also have the lowest rate video stream and configure the group with the highest rate audio stream to have the highest rate video stream By carefully selecting audio and video rates you can reduce the likelihood that the Media Player will ask for unavailable audio and video rate pairs For more about the stream s...

Page 24: ...he quality of the decoder and monitor As a general rule use the lowest video rate that best suits the application When configuring VBrick units pay close attention to the total bit rate of all streams exiting the unit The sum of all streaming traffic should be closely monitored and kept to a minimum whenever possible Once you have selected and applied a configuration to the unit you can check the ...

Page 25: ...on what combination of appliances are installed See Figure 6 below and note the following distinctions An archiver only records from an associated encoder For example a WM Archiver is associated with a specific WM encoder A recorder is not associated with any encoder It independently records one stream at a time from an encoder a decoder or from the network On MPEG 4 appliances there is no archivi...

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Page 27: ...nces with two slots you may need to scroll down in IWS to see the values for Slot2 The second slot may also have a different device for example MPEG 2 encoder in which case you will need to refer to the VBrick MPEG 2 Appliance Admin Guide For a detailed introduction to IWS VBrick s Integrated Web Server see the VBrick Appliance Getting Started Guide Topics in this chapter Configuration Network 18 ...

Page 28: ...address from the server the VBrick will start in limited run mode after two minutes using its default IP Address of 172 17 5 5 After 15 minutes it will automatically reset and again attempt to acquire an address The LCD screen on the front of the VBrick will indicate a DHCP failed message Note The VBrick appliance requires a minimum DHCP lease length of 8 minutes to work however it is recommended ...

Page 29: ...10Mb 100Mb Automatic This allows the Ethernet interface of the VBrick to be manually forced to 100 Mbps or 10 Mbps The default setting is Automatic which enables auto negotiation in the VBrick so it will automatically match its speed setting to the speed of the switch or hub to which it is attached Automatic is the default and recommended setting Network Interface Type Half Duplex Full Duplex or A...

Page 30: ... SNTP server addresses This option must be enabled in the DHCP server for these addresses to be returned to the VBrick If the DHCP server configuration is unknown it is recommended that the address es be manually entered since the DHCP server supplied address will always override a manually entered address Primary Server IP Address or Host Name Primary host name VBrick Host Name or DNS Host Name o...

Page 31: ...to RIP version 2 announcements In this mode RIP will perform classless routing based upon subnet mask RIP Version 2 Multicast Configures the VBrick to listen to RIP version 2 announcements that are sent in multicast mode Both broadcast and multicast announcements are processed Static Routing Table This table provides for user defined routing entries Destination Network Enter the destination addres...

Page 32: ...e unit number range 0 2147483647 is used to identify each VBrick in a group Management SAP Used by VBDirectory or ETV Portal Server to detect the unit for the purpose of remote management The following parameters apply Transmit Enable Controls the transmission of the Management SAPs Enable or Disable Retransmit Time Defines the Management SAP Retransmit Time Time To Live The number of hops between...

Page 33: ...y are described in detail in WM Templates on page 131 Templates apply to Video and Audio settings only If after applying a template you override any audio or video settings the note Parameters do not match template will be displayed on the Template page A change on the template page also causes an interruption in the video and audio output of all video and audio encoders and all transmissions incl...

Page 34: ...ion video at 30 frames per second Cable DSL 300K Low Motion Approximately 300 Kbps with medium rate mono audio and high resolution video at 15 frames per second Cable DSL 128K High Motion Approximately 128 Kbps with medium rate mono audio and lower resolution video at 15 frames per second Cable DSL 128K Low Motion Approximately 128 Kbps with medium rate mono audio and medium resolution video at 10...

Page 35: ...ect ratio is the ratio of the width of the image to the height of the image Standard TV images generally use an aspect ratio of 4 3 DVD players and some camera can produce 16 9 Set this value to match the video input source either 4 3 or 16 9 Use Zoom to 16 9 to have standard 4 3 cameras produce streaming video that fits on 16 9 monitors Zoom to 16 9 is selectable for NTSC only at resolutions of 6...

Page 36: ...rted CC Enabled Inserts the user defined text set in the closed caption text field Inserted CC Update Rate Sets the rate at which the closed captioning field is updated default Medium when you select Inserted CC Enabled see above Slow The inserted closed caption field is updated every 60 seconds Medium The inserted closed caption field is updated every 20 seconds Fast The inserted closed captionin...

Page 37: ... Default 64 The contrast is the range of light to dark values of an image that are proportional to the voltage differences between the black and white levels of the signal Saturation 0 127 Default 64 The saturation is the spectral purity or intensity of a color Hue 128 127 Default 0 The hue is the attribute by which a color may be identified within the visible spectrum Hue refers to the spectral c...

Page 38: ...sent Insert metadata at the encoder with a string like this URL http www vbrick com Filename used to have the player stop playing your stream and play a file instead You may also need to enable Run Script Commands when present Insert metadata at the encoder with a string like this Filename c video Myvideo wmv Note Windows Media Player Depending on your computer s operating system Windows 2000 or W...

Page 39: ...and 10 below show the resolution combinations that are allowed For example 640x480 can be configured on one video encoder and 320x240 can be configured on another video encoder but 320x240 and 240x180 are not allowed together Once Video Rate2 and or Video Rate3 are enabled they will be available for selection on the Multicast Server and Archiver pages If they have been selected for inclusion on th...

Page 40: ...3 the values available for Resolution are shown in Table 9 The Resolution for Video Rate2 and Rate3 are automatically set equal to Video Rate1 except when the height the number of lines of resolution is 480 If the height equals 480 the corresponding values for Video Rate2 and Video Rate3 are set to 1 4 of the Video Rate1 resolution When Video Aspect Ratio 16x9 the values available for Resolution a...

Page 41: ...umber of frames the VBrick sends in a second for a Windows Media player to display Moving pictures are made up of a rapid series of still pictures that move so fast that the illusion of motion is produced A frame is one such still picture Regular TV programs in the U S run at about 30 frames in a second and the more frames presented in a second the smoother the motion contained within the video wi...

Page 42: ...ble to improve the quality of the center of the image at a given bit rate Buffer Size Sets the rate control buffer depth in milliseconds Larger buffer sizes may improve video quality and make the encoder s rate control more consistent This value is also used as the wmv pre roll for the stream header so the player generally buffers at least this amount of data and as a result larger buffer size val...

Page 43: ...audio level of the encoder When the Audio Input Level is set to Normal the settings are from 49 to 53 dB and mute Default 0 dB A setting of 7 is full volume and 53 effectively mutes the encoder Use the high gain settings labeled mic when using a standard microphone through the Audio Jack inputs When the Audio Input Level is set to Alternate the settings are from 12 to 48 dB and mute Default 0 dB A...

Page 44: ...ure multiple bit rates Check Enabled to display configuration settings for Audio Rate2 Once enabled AudioRate2 and AudioRate3 are available for selection on the Multicast Server and Archiver pages If selected on those pages an error will display if you attempt to disable them on this page Audio Rate3 Use to configure multiple bit rates Check Enabled to display configuration settings for Audio Rate...

Page 45: ...00 22 05 20000 16 16000 16 12000 8 If Audio Rate2 or Audio Rate3 is enabled on the Configuration Encoder Audio page the Sample Frequency is automatically set to 44 1 KHz and only the bit rates compatible with 44 1 KHz are available Stereo Mono Bit Rate bits sec Sample Frequency KHz Bit Rate bits sec Sample Frequency KHz ...

Page 46: ...ncoded video By default the IP Address is set to 127 0 0 1 the localhost address which disables multicast transmission The multicast address must be a Class D IP address Destination Port Sets the UDP video destination port Time To Live The number of hops between routers for which an IP packet is valid on the network Type Of Service The TOS Type of Service can be configured in the IP header to esta...

Page 47: ... to play the multicast stream Play the multicast stream from a browser or from a standalone player using the URL http vbrickipaddress vbs1multi asx The WM Appliance serves the asx file via HTTP The URL to the multicast asx for Slot2 of a dual WM Appliance is http vbrickipaddress vbs2multi asx Use VBrick s StreamPlayer product to add an automatic program guide to Windows Media Player so when you ru...

Page 48: ...ally send network announcements using SAP Session Announcement Protocol about the multicast and unicast streams created by your VBrick WM Appliance Other VBrick products such as EtherneTV and StreamPlayer can use the SAP announcements to automatically create program listings to allow viewers easy access to the streams from the VBrick or to filter the streams by IP address Use this IWS configuratio...

Page 49: ...for other VBrick products Default H Program x 1 or 2 for Slot1 or Slot2 Both Program Name and Session Information allow special character strings to be inserted automatically into these fields H or h Host Name of VBrick appliance When the default entry is used the program is identified by the default VBrick Host Name see Configuration Network Ethernet Program Author A string in the SAP that can be...

Page 50: ...mation String identifying VBrick SAP Session Information that appears on Program Guide Default VBrick Streaming Video Information URL Sets the URL advertised in SAP URI field It should be a pointer to additional information about the session Maximum 64 characters Contact Email Sets the email address advertised in SAP email field It should be an email address of the person responsible for the sessi...

Page 51: ...the video audio and script streams that meet their bandwidth limitations In this case it is important to note that the network between the appliance and the WM server must be able to handle the combined bit rate of all enabled groups because the pulled stream contains all enabled groups The WM appliance also provides a special URL that forces the Windows Media Player or Windows Media Server to pul...

Page 52: ...igured for video and no audio See Table 7 on page 12 for a complete list of guidelines Figure 9 Configuration Encoder Server Part 1 Windows Media Encoder Server Slot1 Note When configuring groups for multiple bit rate all enabled groups must have some video or all enabled groups must have no video you cannot mix and match The same applies to audio All groups must have some audio or all groups must...

Page 53: ...ou change settings It may take a few moments before new values are displayed RTSP UDP Estimated Bit Rate for group 1 Read only Click Refresh to recalculate estimated bit rate when you change settings It may take a few moments before new values are displayed HTTP URL for group 1 Read only Use this URL to force the Windows Media Player or Windows Media Server to pull only the specified group http 17...

Page 54: ...a Player to play the URL You can create a web page with a link to the HTTP URL or you can enter the URL directly in your browser Max Bandwidth bits sec Maximum amount of data that the VBrick will generate at any time using RTSP and HTTP The total is calculated by adding together the data in all the video and audio streams that have been started using RTSP or HTTP When this maximum is reached no ad...

Page 55: ...T To stream RTSPU using asx Launch the player directly from the IWS by clicking Click here to play RTSPU This is a good way for the WM Appliance administrator to easily view the stream when adjusting various encoder parameters via the IWS Right click on Click here to play RTSP and select Save Target As to write the RTSPU asx file to your computer You can then double click the asx file to launch th...

Page 56: ...mit is enabled this setting tells the VBrick how often in seconds to send a SAP Time To Live The number of hops between routers for which an IP packet is valid on the network Type Of Service The TOS Type of Service can be configured in the IP header to establish SAP packet priority in the network IP Address The IP address to which SAP information is sent out onto the network To have a WM encoder a...

Page 57: ...rnal URL for this encoder Stream Advertisement The external announcement includes the video and audio bit rates selected in the reflected stream use this setting to indicate what type of reflection is being used For example select Push Microsoft Reflector to advertise a publishing point that is receiving a push from this WM appliance Multicast Microsoft Reflector Push Microsoft Reflector Pull Grou...

Page 58: ...ows Media Server Depending on how you configure the Windows Media Server authentication can be the default setting for all push publishing points it can be required on a per publishing point basis or not required at all A typical deployment of the Windows Media Server will most likely have the authentication setting on to force a push device to authenticate itself before it can send data to the pu...

Page 59: ...er If this change is done at the server level and the change is propagated to all publishing points all publishing points will allow push without authentication T To Create Pull Publishing Points Create a broadcast publishing point on the server and use the WM Appliance s HTTP URL as the source for the publishing point When you start the publishing point it pulls the stream from the appliance and ...

Page 60: ...ard drive you can create a wmv file archive of any stream s from the encoder or reflector You an select any or all enabled video audio and script streams to be included in the archive When an archive file contains multiple video or audio streams it can be used for MBR on demand from a server The WM Archiver creates an indexed wmv file on the hard drive as the WM stream is encoded Once the archivin...

Page 61: ...hichever comes first no matter how many disruptions occur and how many files are created Note Although a 60 GB hard drive can store thousands of files it is important to understand that there are certain practices that can adversely affect overall encoder performance For example a large number of small files can consume excessive memory and therefore limit other encoder functionality For example i...

Page 62: ... URL like this ftp admin IP_Address D Be sure to login to the D drive as shown Do not modify or store files on the C drive The C drive has limited space and is reserved for VBrick firmware Archive Mode User Controlled Default The user controls which files to record and send to which configured server using IWS SDK and or the IR remote Start Record on Power up When the appliance is powered up the W...

Page 63: ...Network VBrick Host Name D Current date inserted as ddmmyy T Current time inserted as hhmm These special strings may be inserted anywhere in the file name and more than one string may be used The following rules also apply No leading or trailing blank spaces A period after the filename must be followed by an extension The path can only be one directory deep and any named folders will be auto creat...

Page 64: ...For best results and usable video set the archive duration to 10 seconds or more Note Archive Duration and Archive Maximum File Size are mutually exclusive The archiver uses the first parameter that exceeds its configured threshold Also note that the values you set are approximate the actual Duration or File Size may vary slightly depending on bit rate content and other factors Archive Maximum Fil...

Page 65: ...eceive the same stream Resources are shared between pull clients and push destinations so the configured maximum number of pull clients and the configured maximum number of push destinations cannot exceed 202 The actual number of pushes that can run at the same time depends on the configured bit rates The Maximum Push Destinations field determines how many lines 1 25 are shown on the page The defa...

Page 66: ...t additional audio video rates to send multiple bit rate streams to a Microsoft Windows Media Server Since a VBrick reflector cannot serve multiple bit rates you would typically select only a single video rate and a single audio rate when pushing to a VBrick Maximum Push Destinations Maximum number 1 25 of destinations for the pushed stream Default 1 Note that the Maximum Push Destinations plus th...

Page 67: ... an existing publishing point Must match the Reflector publishing point See Configuration Reflector on page 57 Copy From Publishing Point This object sets the name of an existing publishing point on the Windows Media Server that will be duplicated to create a publishing point to accept the push This parameter is not meaningful if the reflector is a WM appliance Auto Remove When the push publishing...

Page 68: ...rence between the VBrick push reflector and a Microsoft Server Publishing point is that the VBrick WM appliance cannot re mux a multiple bit rate push This means that if the source of the push contains multiple video and or audio streams the reflector will send the complete stream with all video and audio included to all destinations This will only be useful if there is a Microsoft Windows Media S...

Page 69: ...ssword Publishing Point User Name User defined Must match Encoder Push user name if authentication is enabled See Configuration Encoder Push on page 55 Publishing Point Password User defined Must match Encoder Push password if authentication is enabled See Configuration Encoder Push on page 55 Note The VBrick WM appliance supports pushing from a Microsoft WM Encoder When setting up a push from a M...

Page 70: ...ransparently without modification Reflector Source Pull Receiver The reflector is enabled for a Pull Receiver source Source URL Complete path to source stream The following examples show different types of URLs that the pull receiver supports http 172 22 113 9 8080 vbrickvideo1 VBrick Appliance direct HTTP http 172 22 113 9 vbs1http asx VBrick Appliance HTTP via ASX http MyWindowsServer Publishing...

Page 71: ... client player must be manually restarted at file end Off The Pull receiver is off and will not pull any live streams or stored files On with Bandwidth Save Live streams a pull starts when the first client connects Any additional clients tuning in join the stream in progress The pull stops when the last client disconnects Stored streams a pull starts when the first client connects The file plays f...

Page 72: ...t on page 35 for a description of the fields on this page Configuration Reflector Announce SAP Use this page to configure a session announcement Reflector announcements automatically start and stop depending on the availability of the Reflector source stream See Configuration Encoder Announce SAP on page 38 for a description of the fields on this page Note Support for HTTP pull from a URL includes...

Page 73: ...tion Reflector Server Use this page to configure a Served HTTP and RTSP Unicast pull destination The Reflector will only send streams when the source stream is being received See Configuration Encoder Server on page 41 for a description of the fields on this page ...

Page 74: ...l only write data to the file when the source stream is being received If you start the Archiver before the stream is received it will wait and automatically start recording when the stream is received Use the Start Archiver and Stop Archiver buttons on this page to start and stop recording Note that the Encoder Archiver and the Reflector Archiver can both be running at the same time and are start...

Page 75: ...iguration Reflector Push Use this page to configure HTTP Push destinations Even if enabled the Reflector HTTP Push is only active when the source stream is being received See Configuration Encoder Push on page 55 for a description of the fields on this page ...

Page 76: ...ication the snapshot can be displayed in a web page in realtime or FTPed to a server for archive storage Type the following URL in a browser to display the captured image in a web page The following URL example contains the folder location of the JPEG file for each encoder if there are dual encoders vbs1 or vbs2 indicates the slot number of the encoder Click F5 to refresh image http 172 22 123 23 ...

Page 77: ...t 5 JPEG Compression Quality 0 100 Values over 80 marginally affect image quality and may impact other system resources For best results experiment with the output and choose the lowest value that provides acceptable image quality Default 80 Deinterlaced Image Enable Vertical resolutions above 288 lines are deinterlaced to provide higher vertical resolutions Deinterlacing while there is motion on ...

Page 78: ...r After the maximum the files begin to overwrite Single Image Only one image is saved and overwritten on the server IP Address or Name of Server IP address or machine name of FTP server Default blank File Name on Server Archive mode This is the base file name to which incremental numbers are appended If the base file name is VBrick1 for example the captured images will be named VBrick1 1 VBrick1 2...

Page 79: ...ed Failure conditions during FTPs are noted on Status Hard Drive Archiver page Model JPEG Configuration Max Clients Dual WM WM encoder with archiver JPEG disabled on both slots 180 JPEG enabled on one slot 140 JPEG with deinterlace enabled on one slot 100 JPEG enabled on both slots 100 JPEG enabled on both slots JPEG deinterlace enabled on one slot 60 JPEG with deinterlace enabled on both slots 20...

Page 80: ... allows a destination server to select its own path name based on account user name and password In this case the Directory setting may be used to specify any sub folder on the server DNS Name IP DNS server name or IP address for the FTP server It accepts up to 20 characters The Host Name IP must be a DNS Host Name User Name FTP server user s account name Password Optional Password required to acc...

Page 81: ...ters in the Configuration FTP File Transfer Servers screen of IWS During the file transfer the front panel LCD on the appliance shows the current file actually being transferred FTP Status Directory Optional Allows a manager to switch to a different directory within the FTP server after login Accepts up to 64 characters Anonymous FTP is not supported Current File The filename of the current file b...

Page 82: ...d see the VBrick Appliance Getting Started Guide State The current state of the hard drive Values can be Transfer in Progress Idle Invalid FTP Server Invalid User Name Invalid User Password Local File Open Error Socket Open Failure Transfer Failure Socket Quit Failure Size Size of the file to be sent Rate Transmitted data rate of the file being FTPed Transfer Current amount transferred Last Queue ...

Page 83: ...a Passthrough state Three states are possible Disabled The VBrick will neither initiate nor respond to Passthrough setup requests Responder In this case the VBrick will accept a connection request up to 64 connection requests Initiator In this case it will continuously attempt to automatically initiate a Passthrough connection to the remote destination This mode also offers metadata destination op...

Page 84: ...ontrols passed through end to end All control handling is local When using a VBrick VCC 3 or VCC 4 camera set this control to Automatic when using a VBrick VCC 50i camera set this control to Force ON DTR Control Force OFF Force ON or Automatic If automatic the control will be ON when Passthrough is active Under no conditions are RTS or DTR controls passed through end to end All control handling is...

Page 85: ... command and displays the metadata This feature works for all passthrough port baud rates but can only accept continuous serial data at rates up to 9600 baud at higher rates there must be some idle time between metadata strings Slot2 MetaData Same as above except the serial port data is inserted as metadata in the video stream from the Slot2 encoder Baud Rate Rate of Passthrough port Rate can be s...

Page 86: ...ral System This menu lets you set system related parameters Network Time Synchronization Enabled or Disabled If enabled the System Date Time field is inactive See Network Time Synchronization on page 20 to set host name or IP address of time server You must set these parameters before you can enable Network Time Synchronization on this window System Date Time Set system date and time in mm dd yyyy...

Page 87: ...nd disable for the IR across all functions Fan Mode This option allows a user to either force the fan always high or to automatically cycle on and off based on measured temperature Default Automatic SAP Timing Method Fixed or Variable If fixed the SAP timing will operate as defined in the encoder decoder and pump screens with fixed SAP transmission and timeouts If variable is selected the entire V...

Page 88: ...ave only one state Alarms are events having two states Active and Clear When the alarm condition is first detected an alarm active trap is emitted Alarms are considered active until the condition cleared and the alarm clear trap is emitted Note VBrick supports SNMPv3 in addition to SNMP v1 v2 SNMP v3 is a Secure SNMP implementation as defined in Section 11 3 of RFC 3414 It provides initial configu...

Page 89: ...loss of video input on slot1 Encoder failure has cleared 3 There is loss of video input on slot2 Encoder 4 The loss of video input on slot2 Encoder failure has cleared 5 The box has started up in Run mode 6 The box has started up in Diagnostics mode 7 The box has started up in Limited Run mode 8 The box has received a reset request from an administrator 9 There is a fan failure 10 The fan failure ...

Page 90: ...coder card in Slot1 failed Power On Self Test POST Note If you disable Telnet FTP IWS and SNMP the only way to manage and re enable these parameters is to connect a PC to the VBrick with a serial cable and use the Command Line Interface CLI You should never disable all the network management interfaces if you are using COM2 for serial passthrough External Telnet Server Default Enabled Disabled wil...

Page 91: ... Simulator Default Disabled Allows a Microsoft Load Simulator to connect to the VBrick WM Appliance server for testing The Windows Media Load Simulator 9 Series is a GUI based tool that simulates a large number of client requests on a Windows Media server If you are testing a WM appliance with this simulator be aware that VBrick v4 0 or later WM Appliances are only compatible with Release 9 0 0 29...

Page 92: ...issue at each host Configuration System Logging Logging of certain events can be stored both locally within the VBrick device or externally for example to a server Local logs are preserved in non volatile memory For preservation of information it is recommended that remote logging be utilized Remote servers generally offer ample storage and offer the additional benefit of collecting log informatio...

Page 93: ...k appliances It also explains how to configure and control VBrick appliances via command line scripts For more information about the VBrick SDK contact your certified VBrick reseller or VBrick Support Services To purchase the SDK directly from VBrick go to www vbrick com products purchase asp Run Scripts Using IWS You can run scripts using the Run Script button in IWS This button is only available...

Page 94: ...a FTP and manage script files Requires a valid user name and password Event Enable Allows the user to Enable Disable Event Triggering for each input event Event Stable Time Allows the user to enter the amount of time in milliseconds that each input event has to be stable at the active level before the script will be executed ...

Page 95: ...ameters vbrickSlot1ArchiveMode 1 set archiver to user controlled mode vbrickSlot1ArchiveFileName event1record wmv vbrickSlot1ArchiveApplySet 2 end of group vbrickSlot1ArchiveStart 2 start archiving end of group vbrickSlot1EncoderHttpPushEnable 1 2 start Push vbrickSlot1EncoderHttpPushTableApplySet 2 end of group wait 120000 wait 2 minutes 120000 milliseconds end of group vbrickSlot1ArchiveStop 2 s...

Page 96: ...eters you simply point the URL to a server with an xml configuration file This is useful for example to change a reflector URL set the audio and video rates etc when the VBrick appliances are behind a firewall and cannot be accessed remotely The VBrick reads the URL field e g www myserver com config xml via HTTP protocol and executes the script depending on the VBEXECUTE tag If a VBEXECUTEFORCE ta...

Page 97: ...rderControlMode 1 vbrickHDRecorderControlIrEnable 1 vbrickHDRecorderControlName event1record mpg vbrickHDRecorderControlDuration value 30 vbrickHDRecorderControlBatchEnable 1 vbrickHDRecorderControlApplySet 2 VBRICK URL Valid path to a URL script file for example www myserver com config xml Default blank Poll Rate The rate at which the appliance checks the config file 0 1440 minutes default 0 Auto...

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Page 99: ...t operating at either the 525 line 60 Hz or 625 line 50 Hz video standard After VBrick s Windows Media conversion the compressed video can be transported and utilized over a standard IP network The SDI module extracts AES EBU or non AES EBU audio from Group 1 channels 1 4 from the incoming 270 Mbps data stream These audio channels are embedded into the SDI video stream and occupy space in the hori...

Page 100: ...igurations for an SDI equipped appliance are only available on certain models To see if an appliance supports SDI check for an SDI connector on the VBrick rear panel or go to IWS and check the Video Input Type parameter see above for the SDI option The following unique parameters are used for SDI Encoder Audio Input ...

Page 101: ...on is not supported Only Inserted Closed Caption is supported Encoder Video Hue control has no effect Audio Limitations with SDI Video Input and SDI Audio Input These limitations are imposed when the Audio Input selection is SDI 1 2 or SDI 3 4 MBR Audio is not available Only one audio rate is supported Audio Gain settings have no effect Bit rate selections are limited to the following 192 000 Ster...

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Page 103: ...tatus 96 Status Reflector Status 99 Status JPEG Status 100 Status Hard Drive 102 Status Server Status 104 Status Push Status 105 Status FTP Server Status 107 Status System Log 107 Status User Information 110 Status System Information Device State Provides user with a snapshot of firmware and hardware including the MAC address of the VBrick unit ...

Page 104: ...vided to the VBrick 24V 12V 5V 3 3V 2 5V The tolerance range for 24V is minimum 18V to maximum 25V The range for all other voltages is plus or minus 5 COM1 COM2 Passthrough Operational State The current operational state of COM1 COM2 serial passthrough port The possible values are Disabled Enabled Active Enabled Internal Error Enabled Rejected No Dedicated IP Addr Active RFC SAP Count Number of SA...

Page 105: ... circuits Not applicable on Ethernet models Destination Network Defines a target network or device that can be contacted via the system A value of 0 0 0 0 is used to indicate a default routing entry The 127 0 0 1 is always present and identifies the loopback route Local Gateway IP Defines the intermediary network device or entity which is responsible for IP forwarding to the given destination netw...

Page 106: ...us values for example Frames per Second IP Bytes Transferred etc on the following window are re measured and updated periodically Use the Refresh button on the IWS page to update with new values Status counters can be set to zero using the Reset button on the page which is available only in Edit mode ...

Page 107: ...properly set to Composite or S Video to match your source connection Verify that Configuration Encoder Video Video Format is properly set to NTSC or PAL to match your source format Note that the WM encoder will transmit black video when there is an input problem FPGA Revision Used by VBrick Support to identify encoder hardware version PLX EEPROM Revision Used by VBrick Support to identify encoder ...

Page 108: ... rates and bit rates is too difficult for the content you are encoding See Configuration Encoder Video on page 24 for more information Buffer Full Count Increments when the appliance is in an overloaded condition Reduce the load by lowering bit rates or reducing the number of RTSP and or HTTP clients Bit Rate Measured rate in bits per second of the encoded audio stream being created by the applian...

Page 109: ... Transmitting IP Bytes Transferred Total IP Bytes Transferred since last Reset IP Packets Sent Total IP Packets Sent since last Reset Push Receiver Status Pull Receiver Status Indicates the current state of the reflector receiver Started Receiving means that the reflector is receiving a stream Receiver Source IP The address of the push source currently sending to this reflector Bytes Received Incr...

Page 110: ... source is trying to push to this server Last Failed Login IP The address of the last push sender that failed a connection attempt Estimated Receive Rate The calculated rate of the incoming reflected stream Packets Created Packets created for Multicast Server Push or Archive If any destination is not active the counts are not incremented even though the reflected stream is active Buffer Full Count...

Page 111: ...gured snapshot interval Average Time to Create Milliseconds Average time to create each snapshot over the last 10 snapshots Average Time to Transfer Milliseconds Average time to transfer the snapshots from the VBrick to the server over the last 10 transfers Transfer Status Success compressed snapshot successfully transferred to the server Waiting to capture another image Transfer in progress Timeo...

Page 112: ...102 2008 VBrick Systems Inc Status Hard Drive Status Hard Drive General Status Hard Drive Archiver ...

Page 113: ...ecorded File Start Time Starting time of the current recording Buffer Full Count Increments when the appliance is in an overloaded condition Reduce the load by lowering bit rates or reducing the number of RTSP and or HTTP clients Last Complete File Last file archived Total Bytes Archived Total bytes archived in all files on hard drive since last status reset FTP Status Status of hard drive FTP sen...

Page 114: ...ber of Client Sessions Highest number of HTTP and or RTSP clients that were concurrently connected since the last time these parameters were Reset Current Bandwidth Used The approximate calculated bandwidth being used by all currently connected clients Maximum Bandwidth Used The highest approximate calculated bandwidth used by all connected clients since the last time these parameters were Reset R...

Page 115: ...HTTP or RTSP stream from the VBrick appliance Status Push Status The number of rows on this page matches the number of configured push destinations for each slot In dual encoder models both sets of push status are shown on the same page and each slot has a Refresh button Note For best results always click the Refresh button when you first access this page ...

Page 116: ...t log whenever it changes Retry Count Increments for each retry The appliance will automatically retry the push every 2 10 seconds until the connection is successful Retries may occur due to incorrect push configuration networks problems or server resets Bytes Sent Total byte count since the push connection was established Elapsed Time Total elapsed time since the push connection was established ...

Page 117: ...20 of the latest informational messages All logs are emptied when the appliance is powered down or reset Status System Log Config This log contains a list of the latest VBrick configuration changes Note Bandwidth measurements are only calculated for file transfers that take longer than one second If less than one second the Max Bandwidth and Current Bandwidth fields will remain at zero ...

Page 118: ...is log contains reports of system events within the VBrick These events may occur during normal operation and include some details of successful and unsuccessful attempts to access the HTTP and RTSP server as well as a some details concerning server push retries ...

Page 119: ...s all of the SNMP traps generated by the box whether or not the traps have been emitted Status System Log System Info This log contains unexpected behaviors detected by the VBrick software Normally this log is used by VBrick Support Services to help debug possible system malfunctions ...

Page 120: ...0 2008 VBrick Systems Inc Status User Information User information includes detailed hardware level information about the printed circuit boards in the VBrick appliance Status User Information Main Board ...

Page 121: ...Status VBrick WM Appliance Admin Guide 111 Status User Information Slot1 ...

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Page 123: ...est from one VBrick to another To Ping another VBrick it s necessary to enter Edit mode Enter the IP address and Test Settings and select the Start button The Operational State will read Ping Test After the test is completed use the Refresh button to display the results of the test The results of the test will be displayed in the top portion of the screen If the test is interrupted by pressing the...

Page 124: ...tening for an ICMP Time Exceeded reply from a gateway Use Refresh Start Stop and Default to run the test Address Mode IP Address or Host name Cannot be blank even if the Address mode is set to Host IP Address Enter IP Address if desired Host Name Enter Host Name Number of Packets Number of packets to send for the test default is 4 PDU Protocol Description Unit size of packets in bytes default is 6...

Page 125: ...thin a 5 second timeout interval a is printed for that probe If the result string exceeds 255 characters the string will be terminated by ending it with Too Long Diagnostics Device Test The WM Appliance automatically performs a full POST Power On Self Test hardware test at power on or reset The results are shown on this page T To run the Device Test 1 Go to Configuration System General 2 Set the C...

Page 126: ...reset Configured Operational Mode to Run Loop Count Number of times to run test Continuous Click to run in continuous loop Test Intensity Low intensity is faster but runs fewer tests High intensity runs all tests and may take up to 10 minutes ...

Page 127: ...ont panel displays Diagnostic Mode 3 Go to Diagnostic Hard Drive and click Begin Edit 4 Click Start to run the utility Note that the Start button is only shown in Diagnostic Mode 5 Click Refresh to see the results 6 When done reset Configured Operational Mode to Run Hard Drive Format Use carefully Removes all content and reformats the hard drive Check Disk Runs the Check Disk utility You must be i...

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Page 129: ...ice Information The device information menu allows the user to set various system information These parameters are often used in SNMP managed networks System Description Company name model and serial number of appliance System name Name of the system for example Hall 23 B System location Location of system for example Washington Building System Contact Contact name System Up Time Displays the time...

Page 130: ...ce the xml file is read from and VBrick appliance the xml file is written to must be running the same version of code Total System Up Time Displays the total time that the unit has been powered up Reset Table Displays a history of the last 10 times the VBrick restarted The table includes the start time stop time and run time for each restart and also includes an indication of whether the restart w...

Page 131: ... view this file offline you must download the style sheet see click here on the screen to the same directory as the saved file Do not change the name of the style sheet It should always be saved as cfgdata xsl and the first line at the top of the configuration file must always be xml stylesheet type text xsl href cfgdata xsl Note Firefox users To view and or save the configuration file click Read ...

Page 132: ... from an xml file to the VBrick On a successful write all parameters will be saved to Flash and the appliance will reboot Only administrator level users and above have Write privileges Note that the VBrick appliance that the configuration file is read from and VBrick appliance that the configuration file is written to must be running the same version of code ...

Page 133: ...eed to locate the error s manually by clicking through the IWS pages in Edit mode and looking for error messages highlighted in red T To create a configuration file 1 Read the configuration from the VBrick and save as an xml file See Read Configuration Data from Device above 2 Use any text editor preferably an xml editor to make changes to the file You can change the values field as well as delete...

Page 134: ...ial characters See Table 15 for defaults Confirm Confirm new password entry Note Appliance will then inform the user and perform a reboot Promiscuous Mode This mode is used in conjunction with VBrick supplied ActiveX controls In promiscuous mode no login or password is required When using the associated ActiveX components in this mode either the login password should be set to blank or to the lega...

Page 135: ...MPv3 Passwords User Level Default User Name Default Password Authority Administrator admin admin Read diagnostics edit change password network and routing Operator operator operator Read diagnostics edit Diagnostics diagnostics diagnostics Read diagnostics Public public public Read User Name Read only Set user name on previous page ...

Page 136: ...ers May include any combination of alphanumeric characters but only the following special characters See Table 15 for defaults Authentication Protocol Select protocol MD5 or SHA Privacy Password Required Security Level No Authentication No Privacy Default No Privacy Authentication and Privacy ...

Page 137: ...nd diagnostic capabilities Maintenance Mode can also be used as a means of downloading new firmware If your appliance enters maintenance mode during or after a firmware download you can simply rerun the download and reset the appliance to return to normal run mode Maintenance Mode is an operational mode that occurs when a VBrick is running a reduced subset of code It normally happens only when a p...

Page 138: ...network parameters are changed In Maintenance Mode after the user initiates changes and then applies them it is necessary to manually save and reboot the appliance Command Line Interface CLI in Maintenance Mode does not support the Global Editing Commands be en and sh Maintenance Mode Indicators There are three indicators that show when you are in Maintenance Mode If you enter Maintenance Mode the...

Page 139: ...ed Code 20 Critical system files are missing or corrupted Code 30 The Hardware Watchdog has failed Code 50 Invalid Flash parameters found defaults used Code 60 Corrupted Bootline default used Code FF Application failed to start up successfully either because of the configuration or another problem The VBrick appliance will enter Maintenance Mode if the appliance does not boot properly on four cons...

Page 140: ...dit the IP address Where yy yy yy yy is the new IP address c nt a Apply the changes Must be issued prior to save c nt 3 zz zz zz zz To edit the Sub Net Mask Where zz zz zz zz is the new subnet mask associated with the Ethernet interface c nt a Apply the changes Must be issued prior to save c nt 4 vv vv vv vv To edit the IP Gateway address Where vv vv vv vv is the IP address of the IP gateway c nt ...

Page 141: ...esources and more network bandwidth The optimum is to display the finest detail and smoothest motion possible given the network resources available The Cable DSL 128K High Motion template is the default template for the WM Appliance You select the template on the Configuration Encoder Template page as shown below Topics in this chapter Best Quality 132 LAN 133 Cable DSL 300K High Motion 133 Cable ...

Page 142: ... Motion Default template Approximately 128 Kbps with medium rate mono audio and lower resolution video at 15 frames per second Resolution 160x120 Cable DSL 128K Low Motion Approximately 128 Kbps with medium rate mono audio and medium resolution video at 10 frames per second Resolution 240x180 Modem 56K Approximately 56 Kbps with low rate mono audio and low resolution video at 7 5 frames per second...

Page 143: ...Method CBR CFR Target Bit Rate 1000000 Target Frame Rate 30 NTSC 25 PAL Key Frame Interval 3 Smoothness 0 Picture Center Quality Difference 0 Buffer Size 1000 Audio Encoder Parameter Setting Audio Channels Stereo L R Bit Rate 128000 Sample Frequency 48 KHz Video Encoder Parameter Setting Resolution 240x180 Rate Control Method CBR CFR Target Bit Rate 260000 Target Frame Rate 30 NTSC 25 PAL Key Fram...

Page 144: ...icture Center Quality Difference 0 Buffer Size 1000 Audio Encoder Parameter Setting Audio Channels Mono L L R Bit Rate 32000 Sample Frequency 44 1 KHz Video Encoder Parameter Setting Resolution 160x120 Rate Control Method CBR CFR Target Bit Rate 92000 Target Frame Rate 15 NTSC 12 5 PAL Key Frame Interval 6 Smoothness 0 Picture Center Quality Difference 0 Buffer Size 8000 Audio Encoder Parameter Se...

Page 145: ...annels Mono L L R Bit Rate 32000 Sample Frequency 44 1 KHz Video Encoder Parameter Setting Resolution 160x120 Rate Control Method CBR CFR Target Bit Rate 41000 Target Frame Rate 7 5 NTSC 5 PAL Key Frame Interval 10 Smoothness 0 Picture Center Quality Difference 0 Buffer Size 10000 Audio Encoder Parameter Setting Audio Channels Mono L L R Bit Rate 12000 Sample Frequency 16 KHz Video Encoder Paramet...

Page 146: ...008 VBrick Systems Inc Key Frame Interval 10 Smoothness 0 Picture Center Quality Difference 0 Buffer Size 10000 Audio Encoder Parameter Setting Audio Channels Mono L L R Bit Rate 8000 Sample Frequency 8 KHz ...

Page 147: ...iance the streams are packaged in MBR Groups 1 2 and 3 Stream Prioritization To select streams offered by a server the WM Player the client uses an item known as a Stream Prioritization Object The Stream Prioritization Object is one of the many ASF protocol items sent from a server to its clients and this section describes VBrick s usage of the Stream Prioritization Object The Stream Prioritizatio...

Page 148: ...deo2 has been omitted since it is the same as video2 audio2 Among the four pairs just mentioned the WM Player selects the one with the highest total bitrate As another example the redundant list corresponding to the priority list audio1 video1 video2 video3 is audio1 video1 audio1 video2 audio1 video3 The WM Player identifies the three pairs audio1 video1 audio1 video2 audio1 video3 and it selects...

Page 149: ... there being fewer or more audio streams than video streams and video only or audio only priority lists are dealt with in the manner described above How the WM Appliance Creates Priority Lists For Group Serving To simplify the explanation we regard an MBR Group as having bitrate 0 if the Group is disabled The algorithm for creating the priority list consists of these steps 1 Put the Groups in bitr...

Page 150: ... video rate is 300 The priority list is 200 192 300 128 The Player asks for the 192Kbps audio stream and the 300Kbps video stream i e Group1 s audio stream together with Group2 s video stream As a result the VBrick Server transmits nothing to the Player On the other hand suppose that the Groups are Group1 audio rate is 192 video rate is 260 Group2 audio rate is 128 video rate is 300 The priority l...

Page 151: ...tor Archiver 64 Reflector Multicast 62 Reflector Push 65 Reflector Server 63 Reflector Source 58 Script Management 83 System General 76 System SNMP Traps 77 System 76 Creating Publishing Points 48 Creating Publishing Points on Helix Universal Servers 49 Creating Publishing Points on Windows Media Servers 48 D Diagnostics 113 Hard Drive 117 Network Tests Ping Test 113 Network Tests Trace Route Test...

Page 152: ...ing 95 Push Status 105 Reflector Status 99 Reflector Status General 99 Server Status 104 Server Status Encoder Details 104 Server Status General 104 Server Status Reflector Details 105 Server Status Slot1 Details 104 System Information 93 System Log 107 System Log Config 107 System Log System Event 108 System Log System Info 109 System Log Traps 109 User Information 110 User Information Main Board...

Page 153: ... Write Write To Device 122 Read Write Configuration 120 Maintenance Mode CLI Operation 129 Passthrough State Responder 73 Sample VBrick Script 85 Status JPEG Status 100 Video Template Settings Slot1 Video Rate1 29 Windows Media Encoder Multicast Slot1 36 Configuration FTP File Transfer Transfers 71 Front Panel LCD Display 77 Maintenance Usernames Passwords 123 ...

Page 154: ...144 Index ...

Page 155: ......

Page 156: ...VBrick Systems Inc 12 Beaumont Road Wallingford Connecticut 06492 USA ...

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