RTM News Studio Automation

RTM News Studio Automation

Document family:

OmniBus Support

Author(s):

Mike Pearce

Revision:

1.1

Revision Date:

03rd August 2010

200310 OmniBus Systems Limited. All rights reserved

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RTM News Studio Automation

DISTRIBUTION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Name

Action

Mike Pearce

Author

Richard Jones

Review

Fintan McKiernan

Review

Nik @ Digistar

Review

Robert @ Digistar

Review

Nusi @ Digistar

Review

Zatul @ Digistar

Review

Responsibility

Date Reviewed

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RTM News Studio Automation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. SUMMARY............................................................................................................. 4
2. CONCERNS............................................................................................................ 5
3. STUDIO 3............................................................................................................... 5
4. STUDIO 4............................................................................................................... 6
4.1. MCSP CONFIGURATION.......................................................................................................6
4.2. COLUMBUS CONFIGURATION.................................................................................................6
4.2.1 Devices.......................................................................................................................................... 6
4.2.2 Important Parts of the Config......................................................................................................... 7
4.2.3 The Plan..................................................................................................................................... 8

5. STUDIO 5............................................................................................................... 9
5.1. MCSP CONFIGURATION.......................................................................................................9
5.2. COLUMBUS CONFIGURATION.................................................................................................9
5.2.1 Devices.......................................................................................................................................... 9
5.2.2 Important Parts of the Config....................................................................................................... 10

6. SONY MIXER CONFIG........................................................................................ 11

6.1. CROSSPOINT ASSIGNMENT..................................................................................................11
6.2. EMEM ASSIGNMENT..........................................................................................................11

7. RUNDOWNS & MACROS.................................................................................... 12

8. COLUMBUS DUBBING....................................................................................... 13

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RTM News Studio Automation

1.

SUMMARY
As of Monday 2nd August , the system is not configured to fulfil the requirements of RTM.
On Thurday 29th July, a meeting was held. The out come of this was that RTM now expect
to be able to change cameras shots under automation, A still of the first frame of the
upcoming story will be routed to the over the shoulder and I am no longer able to use M/E
2 to achieve the montage sequence. This is a contravention of what was agreed in May.
Having spent significant amounts of time experimenting with the mixer in May, I was
forced to discard much of this effort with 2 days remaining of site presence.
The change of requirements may not sound that complex, but it is important to realise that
when RTM have said they want to change camera shots under automation, what they
actually mean is that they want the change camera shots AND this involves changing
mixer crosspoints, with associated framestores, keys and DMEs. This cannot be achieved
with explicit control of the mixer EMEMs must be used and this itself introduces an extra
layer of administration and complexity.
Loosing access to M/E 2 means that I must design a new way of performing the opening
montage sequence. I am still faced with the original problems that forced me to use M/E 2
- the desk with the implemented protocol is unable to reliably support the explicit
commands needed to achieve the the montage on the P/P bus, thus EMEMs must be
used again.
I believe the requirements are still achievable its just that by using EMEMs we are
moving awaya from direct control. Columbus can fire these EMEMs but the EMEM must
be configured correctly.
I think that achieving the over the shoulder (OTS) video may be too awkward. We have
issues relating to when the server clip is cued up, and exactly when the still is routed to the
OTS. This will probably need to be done manually.

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RTM News Studio Automation

2.

CONCERNS
I am still concerned about the state of the infrastructure

The RISC replacement PCs have a different network requirement to the units they
replaced. Time has been wasted getting these set correctly despite the information
being provided well in advance. It is important to ensure that the switch port and
the NIC are set optimally both should match. 100 Mbps Full duplex is the
minimum. If Gigabit Ethernet is available AND 100% STABLE then this is also
acceptable.

Cabling Behind the racks is still very untidy. As a bare minimum, please ensure
that the new installed servers have dual power, VITC, network and full KVM
support. The Mixer control engines should have their Rocket Port break out boxes
secured to the rack, and the serial cables should be secured.

CBS KVM access. Please ensure that the studio Columbus servers have atleast a
mouse and preferably a keyboard attached and usable whilst infront of the monitor.
Windows Remote Desktop is not acceptable to use.

I have a suspicion that the video servers are not locked to house time. This may
be causing some problems with cueing the server ports.

Montage Clips There is still not a frame accurate and content accurate complete set
of montage clips available. Some of those that have been made available are not the
correct length, are not loadable on the TX server, or the video does not match what I
would expect to see.
EMEM Configuration RTM tell me that the EMEMs cant be saved as part of the
stored config on the mixer. If this really is the case then this means the EMEM
snapshots must be configured every time before the mixer is used under automation.
If one of these is configured incorrectly then this may have an on air impact. Our logs
will show that we caused EMEM x to be fired but Columbus does not actually know
what EMEM x actually is. I would suggest investigating how much of the EMEM config
is stored in the mixer config.

3.

STUDIO 3
This Studio has been decommissioned. There is no access to the servers or equipment.

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RTM News Studio Automation

4.

STUDIO 4
Columbus was upgraded to 3.22 B079 AND has been Ported to PC.
MCSP was upgraded to 0.25 B42 AND has been ported to PC. The Master/Slave DIP
switches of the Rocket Port card have been changed from default so that the Rocket Port
is the controller. This was verified with an RS-422 checker.

4.1.

MCSP CONFIGURATION
Automation Parameters
Serial Delay
Cut Delay
Cue Service Name
Automation
Audio Precue
Black Input
Matte Input
Enable Flip Flop
Background and Keu Off
Cut before run EMEM
TV Format
Build

1 Fields
0 Fields
MIXER-STU4
0 Fields
0 Fields
0
0
YES
NO
NO
PAL
0.25B42

Video Device Configuration

Port
Name
Protocol
Address
Inputs
Outputs

4.2.

0
Sony
DVS-7300
0x30
30
--

(Physical port #1)

COLUMBUS CONFIGURATION

4.2.1 Devices
The following devices are required in order for the Studio Automation to function
1. MIXER-STU4
2. NEXIO-TX2
3. NEXIO-TX6

4.2.1.1.

MIXER-STU4
Available
Group Rotate
Device Name
Type
Group
Location
Device Output
Pre-Cue
Delay

YES
NO
MIXER-STU4
Network Vision Mixer
MIXER
172.16.51.154
No Router
00:00:05:00
5 frms

(should show Ok at 172)

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RTM News Studio Automation

Extd Functions

4.2.1.2.

(do not change this!)

NEXIO-TX2
Available
Group Rotate
Device Name
Type
Group
Min Append
Location
Device Output
Pre-Cue
Pre-Roll
Post-Roll
Standby Time
Search Speed
Delay
Switcher Input
Player
Recorder
Append Allowed
Check Clash
Virtual

4.2.1.3.

NO

YES
NO
NEXIO-TX2
Video Disk Server
NEXIO
00:00:00:00
172.16.51.241
Nexio TX 2
00:00:05:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:15:00
0 Times
1 Frms
3
YES
NO
NO
YES
NO

(should show Ok at 172)

NEXIO-TX6
Available
Group Rotate
Device Name
Type
Group
Min Append
Location
Device Output
Pre-Cue
Pre-Roll
Post-Roll
Standby Time
Search Speed
Delay
Switcher Input
Player
Recorder
Append Allowed
Check Clash
Virtual

YES
NO
NEXIO-TX6
Video Disk Server
NEXIO
00:00:00:00
172.16.51.242
Nexio TX 6
00:00:05:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:15:00
0 Times
1 Frms
4
YES
NO
NO
YES
NO

(should show Ok at 172)

4.2.2 Important Parts of the Config

The Extd Functions setting for the mixer must not be turned on. During testing this was
found to cause mixer to fire the EMEM recall early at the Pre-Cue time of the headlines
clip.
The order of the devices in the channel device pool must not be changed. To achieve the
opening sequence we use EMEM recall. This sets the desk to a predefined state. This
relies on expecting the montage clip to be playing from the first server port.
In the channel configuration ASAP cueing is set to off. This should allow items to be cued
and rolled before on air time.

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RTM News Studio Automation

4.2.3 The Plan

RTM currently use snapshots for switching their camera shots. These snapshots map to a
3x3 assignable panel on M/E 1 bank allowing quick recall. These assignments correspond
to EMEMs.
It appears that EMEM 9 can be used to recall CAM1, EMEM 6 to recall CAM2 and EMEM
3 to recall CAM3., however using these numbers seems to cause a desk wide state to be
recalled., so when programming these EMEMs attention must be paid across all buses.
We can possibly take advantage of this by ensuring that EMEM 9, 6 & 3 cause M/E 2 to
switch to DVD. That is when the mixer switches back to a camera shot, the DVD source
is also routed to the OTS.
The montage sequence can probably be programmed on M/E 1 my main reason for
using M/E 2 previously was that I knew M/E 1 was used for the main show so I avoided it
and was told M/E 2 was not in use.

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RTM News Studio Automation

5.

STUDIO 5
Columbus was upgraded to 3.22 B079 AND has been Ported to PC.
MCSP was upgraded to 0.25 B42 AND has been ported to PC. The Master/Slave DIP
switches of the Rocket Port card have been changed from default so that the Rocket Port
is the controller. This was verified with an RS-422 checker.
The control port of the mixer had to be swapped. It was demonstrated with an RS-422
checker that some of the control ports were correctly configured to allow control of the
mixer some of them were not. This needs to be verified and corrected by the mixer
vendor.

5.1.

MCSP CONFIGURATION
Automation Parameters
Serial Delay
Cut Delay
Cue Service Name
Automation
Audio Precue
Black Input
Matte Input
Enable Flip Flop
Background and Keu Off
Cut before run EMEM
TV Format
Build

1 Fields
0 Fields
MIXER-STU5
0 Fields
0 Fields
0
0
YES
NO
NO
PAL
0.25B41

Video Device Configuration

Port
Name
Protocol
Address
Inputs
Outputs

5.2.

0
Sony
DVS-7300
0x30
30
--

(Physical port #1)

COLUMBUS CONFIGURATION

5.2.1 Devices
The following devices are required in order for the Studio Automation to function
4. MIXER-STU5
5. NEXIO-TX3
6. NEXIO-TX7

5.2.1.1.

MIXER-STU5
Available
Group Rotate
Device Name
Type

YES
NO
MIXER-STU5
Network Vision Mixer

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RTM News Studio Automation

Group
Location
Device Output
Pre-Cue
Delay
Extd Functions

5.2.1.2.

(should show Ok at 172)

(do not change this!)

NEXIO-TX3
Available
Group Rotate
Device Name
Type
Group
Min Append
Location
Device Output
Pre-Cue
Pre-Roll
Post-Roll
Standby Time
Search Speed
Delay
Switcher Input
Player
Recorder
Append Allowed
Check Clash
Virtual

5.2.1.3.

MIXER
172.16.51.155
No Router
00:00:05:00
5 frms
NO

YES
NO
NEXIO-TX2
Video Disk Server
NEXIO
00:00:00:00
172.16.51.241
Nexio TX 3
00:00:05:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:15:00
0 Times
1 Frms
3
YES
NO
NO
YES
NO

(should show Ok at 172)

NEXIO-TX7
Available
Group Rotate
Device Name
Type
Group
Min Append
Location
Device Output
Pre-Cue
Pre-Roll
Post-Roll
Standby Time
Search Speed
Delay
Switcher Input
Player
Recorder
Append Allowed
Check Clash
Virtual

YES
NO
NEXIO-TX7
Video Disk Server
NEXIO
00:00:00:00
172.16.51.242
Nexio TX 7
00:00:05:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:00:00
00:00:15:00
0 Times
1 Frms
4
YES
NO
NO
YES
NO

(should show Ok at 172)

5.2.2 Important Parts of the Config

See notes for Studio 4

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RTM News Studio Automation

6.

SONY MIXER CONFIG

Studio 4 & 5 contain the same model of Sony Mixer the DVS 9000.
The comment refers to the approximate position of the button on any given panel.
Reference is originated at top left.

6.1.

CROSSPOINT ASSIGNMENT
To Assign a crosspoint across all buses do the following
Screen Panel Push Button
Screen Panel Button
Screen Panel Button
Screen Panel Dial
Group
Screen Panel Button

6.2.

[ENG SETUP]
[PANEL]
[Xpt Assign]
[V/K Pair No] Dial
[Source No] Dial
[Set]

(screen panel, button 3x7y)

(screen button 1x2y)
(screen 2x7y)
(dial 1y)
(dial 3y)
(screen 4x5y)

EMEM ASSIGNMENT
To assign an EMEM do the following. The EMEM config panel is on the right hand side. It
is important that only the the bus that needs programming is selected (only the bus you
are interested in should be green no other bus should be orange), and that all buttons on
that bus are checked to be correct. The opening sequence only uses M/E 2. It is vitally
important that these EMEMs are set correctly on the desk and are checked regularly.
Please see the spread sheet for EMEM config
EMEM Panel Push Button
EMEM Panel Push Button
EMEM Panel Push Button
EMEM Panel Numerical
Button
EMEM Panel Numerical
Button

[SNAP SHOT]
[M/E 2]
[STORE]
EMEM NUMBER

(EMEM panel, button 2x1y)

(screen button 2x3y)
(EMEM panel, button 6x6y)
(screen 2x7y)

[ENTER]

(dial 1y)

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RTM News Studio Automation

7.

RUNDOWNS & MACROS

All the work that was done and reported in May is no longer valid due to the change in
requirements.
Currently there is nothing configured as the system is still in prototyping mode to try and
achieve the desired results under the new contraints.

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RTM News Studio Automation

8.

COLUMBUS DUBBING
Columbus was upgraded to 3.22 B079 AND has been Ported to PC.
The MMS config could not be ported between platforms, so had to be recreated.
While recreating this config from the screenshots of the previous config I noticed a
tremendous amount of inconsistency and untidiness.
The following things need to be reviewed by RTM

Timing of recording stat times these should be earlier than the required start
time, and staggered by 30 seconds so that the system is not attempting to start
multiple recordings on the same frame on the same server.

Duplicates of feeds at same time eg TVRI Nusantara @ 2000

Consistency of naming National Vs Nasional

Length of names there was a Nusantara recording that had a long clips name;
this would have the date appended, but would be too long, so would be truncated,
which would then cause a hash clip.

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