Transmission Recording And Compliance System Installation and operation manual Edition 2.7 Committed.
WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRICAL SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE TO RAIN OR MOISTURE ALWAYS disconnect your entire system from the AC mains before cleaning any component. NEVER use flammable or combustible chemicals for cleaning components. NEVER operate this product if any cover is removed. NEVER wet the inside of this product with any liquid. NEVER pour or spill liquids directly onto this unit. NEVER block airflow through ventilation slots. NEVER bypass any fuse. NEVER replace any fuse with a value or type other than those specified. NEVER attempt to repair this product. If a problem occurs, contact your local Axon distributor. NEVER expose this product to extremely high or low temperatures. NEVER operate this product in an explosive atmosphere. Warranty: Axon warrants their products according to the warranty policy as described in the general terms. That means that Axon Digital Design BV can only warrant the products as long as the serial numbers are not removed. Copyright 2008 AXON Digital Design B.V. Date created: 01-09-08 Date last revised: 01-09-08 Axon, the Axon logo and TRACS are trademarks of Axon Digital Design B.V. This product complies with the requirements of the product family standards for audio, video, audiovisual entertainment lighting control apparatus for professional use as mentioned below. EN60950 EN55103-1: 1996 EN55103-2: 1996 Safety Emission Immunity Axon Digital Design TRACS Tested To Comply With FCC Standards FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may cause harmful interference, and (2) This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. TRACS operation and installation manual 2
Table of Contents Preface 6 Manual information 6 Purpose 6 Audience 6 Revision history 6 Writing styles 6 Unpacking and shipping 7 Unpacking 7 Package contents 7 Shipping 7 Chapter 1: Introduction 8 Introduction to TRACS 8 N+1 box solution 8 Compliance 8 Product Description 9 General description 9 Main features 9 Chapter 2: Installation 10 Unpacking a TRACS 10 Preparing the product for installation 10 Unpacking 10 TRACS hardware description 11 Front panel layout 11 Front panel indicators 11 Rear connector panel layout 12 HDSUB pin-out 13 HDSUB pin-out on recorder 13 HDSUB pin-out on request server 13 Setup introduction 14 Preparing for setting up the TRACS 14 Location of the TRACS compartments 14 19 rack or equipment cabinets requirements 14 Connecting TRACS 15 Basic setup layout 15 Installing the units 16 Connecting the cables 16 Connecting external devices 17 Power up 17 Initial request server configuration 18 Login 18 Required initial settings 18 Client PC configuration 20 Client PC requirements 20 Video-LAN VLC player installation 20 TRACS operation and installation manual 3
Chapter 3: Basic operation 21 Recording and monitoring input signal 21 Start recording 21 Monitoring the recorders via client PC 21 Finding recorded data 23 Selecting recorder and time span 23 Search results 24 Note 24 Selecting a clip 24 Playing and downloading clips on client 25 Clip details 25 Playing a clip in the browser 25 Downloading a clip to your client PC 26 Playing a downloaded clip on your client PC 26 TRACS status monitoring 27 Status tab 27 TRACS system status 27 Detailed recorder status 27 Detailed request server status 28 Chapter 4: Advanced operation 30 Local operation of the request server 30 Local operation 30 Login 30 Hardware playout on request server 31 Playing out video on digital or analog outputs 31 Playing out recorded VBI material 31 Playing out Teletext information 31 Playing out Closed Captioning 32 Chapter 5: Advanced settings 33 Introduction to TRACS settings 33 Access to the TRACS settings 33 Changing the settings 33 Request server settings 34 Time settings 34 Unsynchronized timesource via timezone 34 Timesource via an NTP server 34 Manual date/time input 34 Timesource via LTC 35 Link settings 36 Recorder settings 37 Individual recorder settings 37 Channel settings 37 OSD (On Screen Display) settings 38 Video encoding 39 Audio encoding 40 Audio mixing (4 channel recording) 40 Removing recorders from the recorder list 41 TRACS operation and installation manual 4
Specifications 42 Recorder specifications 42 Request Server specifications 44 Postface 45 Contacting costumer support 45 GNU Public License version 2 46 TRACS operation and installation manual 5
Preface Manual information Purpose This manual details the features, installation, operation and settings of the TRACS. Audience This manual is written for the engineers, technicians, operators and other broadcasting employees that are responsible for the proper installation and/or operation of TRACS. Revision history Edition Date Revision 0.1 First draft 1.0 05-07-2005 Release V1.0 1.1 10-05-2006 Reviewed 1.1 final 08-06-2006 New application diagram 1.2 draft 25-08-2006 Digital I/O 1.2 10-10-2006 Final release V1.2 2.0 14-06-2007 Complete manual revision 2.1 28-11-2007 Release 1.2.1 2.2 12-02-2008 Release 1.2.2 2.3 08-08-2008 Release 1.2.3 2.7 01-09-2008 Release 1.2.7 2.7 16-03-2009 1.2.7 corrected Writing styles To make this document easier to understand, this manual contains the following text styles: Style Bold Italic bold CAPS Description Chapter titles, paragraph titles, table headers. Special words that need emphasis Indicates a keystroke on the keyboard, such as ENTER, CTRL, SHIFT or ALT. > Indicates the direction of navigation through a menu structure. Note Indicates important information that helps to avoid problems. TRACS operation and installation manual 6
Unpacking and shipping Unpacking Axon has carefully inspected this product before shipment to ensure years of trouble free service. Upon reception, please make sure you perform the following steps: 1- Check products for any visible damage that may have occurred during transit. 2- Confirm that you have received all products listed on the packing list. 3- Contact your Axon dealer if any product on the packing list is missing. 4- Contact the carrier if any item is damaged. 5- Remove all packing material from the products before you install them, in an anti-static environment. Package contents One TRACS package contains the following: 1x TRACS recorder or request server 1x TRACS chrome front (recorder or request server front) 1x CD containing manual 2x rail bracket (short hole) 4x rail bracket (long hole) 1x bag with mounting parts 2x rail glide 2x rail Shipping Keep at least one set of original TRACS packaging in case you need to return a product for servicing or replacement. If there is no original packaging available, please contact our RMA (rma@axon.tv) department and we will send you an original package so you can properly send back your products. TRACS operation and installation manual 7
Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction to TRACS N+1 box solution The minimum TRACS system is based on a N+1 box infrastructure. One unit is called Recorder. This 19 1RU case is capable of recording up to 30, 90 or 150 days, depending on which TRACS is purchased. The disk capacity determines the amount of days it can record, specified at 512Kb/s without recording VBI. When a certain amount of disk space is used, the Recorder starts deleting the oldest data. The second unit is the request server. Trough this box the user can change settings of the recorders and access recorded video. A request on the request server application software will trigger a copy of that material from the recorder to the request server and will be played from here. This procedure prevents accidental deletion and increases the data integrity. The system can be connected to the station time reference via an unbalanced SMPTE 309M timecode signal. Time synchronization can also be done via an external NTP. You need 1 request server for an N-amount of recorders. Hence we call it a N+1 box solution Compliance Compliance recording, video logging, or off-air check are all different names for a method of building a library to proof what has been transmitted. Mandated by the different governments around the world, the Axon TRACS system can help broadcasters in a very convenient way to build this library. Note Each government has its own set of rules and restriction concerning compliance recording which might differ from country to country. This concerns for instance the amount of days you are obliged to hold records of, or of what quality the recorded material must be. Check with your government which rules and restrictions apply to you if you are using TRACS for compliance recording. TRACS operation and installation manual 8
General description Product Description TRACS consists of a range of Gigabit dedicated networked digital video Recorders connected to a Request Server that also acts as a web server and monitoring unit. The Recorders, which use the MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression format with variable bit rate, are accessed through the Request Server by means of web pages. This allows you to easily monitor, browse and download video clips as well as monitor the system status and perform system settings. The system is a 1RU frame with SATA hard drives in a RAID5 configuration, exchangeable at the front. All units have analog and digital video and audio inputs and outputs, which are located at the back. Furthermore, thumbnail representation of each individual Recorder presents the user with a well-organized overview of the input signals and proof of recorded video. Main features TRACS features include the following: Designed for reliability and performance Linux OS for improved stability OS running from flashcard (solid state memory) MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 compression at 512 Kb/s to 10 MB/s. Axon designed PCI card which encodes and decodes the MPEG, ensuring minimum CPU usage. Record and play out Closed Captioning and Teletext Easy operation locally or through client PCs 4 RAID 5 configured Serial ATA disk drives RAID status monitoring and error logs 1 video channel on 1RU frame Composite video input for PAL, NTSC and SECAM SD-SDI input, 270Mb + embedded audio 2 audio channels (quasi 4 channels if you record mono and play out one of the channels) Audio gain option Gigabit Ethernet connection DHCP and manual IP network settings MPEG client clip format LTC SMPTE309M and external NTP time synch Free client software licenses Hardware play out on request server via analog or digital outputs 30, 90 or 150 days of recording on 512 Kb/s (depending on which model you have) OSD Time, date and channel name encoded in MPEG Innovative cooling design, featuring three 4cm high performance thermal controlled cooling fans, with overheat indication. TRACS operation and installation manual 9
Chapter 2: Installation Preparing the product for installation Unpacking a TRACS Before installing the TRACS, please mind the following: Check the product for any visible damage that might have occurred during transit Confirm receipt of all products on the packing list. Remove all package materials. Retain the original packaging for possible re-use. See Unpacking and shipping for more information about returning a product for servicing or replacement. Note If parts are missing or damaged, or if products on the packing list are not delivered, please contact your Axon dealer. Unpacking The Axon TRACS product must be unpacked and installed in an antistatic environment. Ensuring that this precaution is followed will prevent premature failure from any electrical components. TRACS operation and installation manual 10
Front panel layout TRACS hardware description When you take off the blue with chrome front you will reveal the front panel of the TRACS recorder or request server. It will look like as shown in the picture below. Displayed are the most important parts of the front panel. Front panel indicators The front control panel provides important system monitoring and control information. LEDs indicate power on, network activity, hard disk drive activity and overheat conditions. The control panel also includes a main power button and a system reset button. RESET: The reset switch reboots the system. DO NOT USE! POWER On/Off: This is the On/Off switch, used to start and stop the system. A short push on the on/off button will correctly start or stop the system. After the system is stopped, only standby power is applied to the system. Total system start and stop time is approximately 1 minute. Note While the system is on, keeping the power button pressed for a period of four seconds will stop the system abruptly. This is not recommended! OVERHEAT: Indicates an overheat condition in the chassis. NIC: Indicates network activity on GLAN when flashing. HDD: Channel activity for all HDDs. This light indicates CD-ROM and SATA drive activity when flashing. POWER: Indicates power is being supplied to the system's power supply units. This LED should normally be illuminated when the system is operating TRACS operation and installation manual 11
Rear connector panel layout The back of the TRACS recorder or request server contains several connectors. The picture below displays the back of a TRACS request server or recorder and all its connectors (the parallel port and COM port are not in use with TRACS). Note The LAN1 and LAN2 ports (see picture above) have to be connected in a predefined way: On recorder: LAN1 (left port seen from the backside of the device) to the provided TRACS switch. LAN2 (right port seen from the backside of the device) must be left unused. On request server: LAN1 (left port seen from the backside of the device) to the company s LAN. LAN2 (right port seen from the backside of the device) to the provided TRACS switch. Reliable operation can only be guaranteed if the TRACS network is set up as described above. TRACS operation and installation manual 12
HDSUB pin-out The HDSUB, seen from the female side (so from the socket on the TRACS recorder or request server itself), has the pins numbered as follows: HDSUB pin-out on recorder HDSUB pin-out on request server The pin assignment for the HDSUB connector on recorder is as follows: 1 Ground Analog 1 14 AES 1 pos input 2 Ground Analog 2 15 AES 2 pos input 3 Ground Analog 3 16 LTC input (UNBALANCED) 4 Ground Analog 4 17 Not connected 5 Ground AES 1 18 Not connected 6 Ground AES 2 19 Analog 1 neg input 7 LTC Ground 20 Analog 2 neg input 8 Not connected 21 Analog 3 neg input 9 Not connected 22 Analog 4 neg input 10 Analog 1 pos input 23 AES 1 neg input 11 Analog 2 pos input 24 AES 2 neg input 12 Analog 3 pos input 25 Not connected 13 Analog 4 pos input 26 Not connected The pin assignment for the HDSUB connector on request server is as follows: 1 Ground Analog 1 14 AES 1 pos output 2 Ground Analog 2 15 AES 2 pos output 3 Ground Analog 3 16 LTC input (UNBALANCED) 4 Ground Analog 4 17 Not connected 5 Ground AES 1 18 Not connected 6 Ground AES 2 19 Analog 1 neg output 7 LTC Ground 20 Analog 2 neg output 8 Not connected 21 Analog 3 neg output 9 Not connected 22 Analog 4 neg output 10 Analog 1 pos output 23 AES 1 neg output 11 Analog 2 pos output 24 AES 2 neg output 12 Analog 3 pos output 25 Not connected 13 Analog 4 pos output 26 Not connected TRACS operation and installation manual 13
Preparing for setting up the TRACS Location of the TRACS compartments 19 rack or equipment cabinets requirements Setup introduction Please read this chapter carefully before you begin the installation procedure. Follow the steps in the given order to complete the installation. Leave enough room in front of the unit to be able to open the front completely and take out hard drives or open the CD drawer. Also leave enough room at the back of the rack to allow for sufficient airflow and ease of servicing and (re)connecting. All TRACS units, including the Axon supplied switch, are rack mountable in 19 rack-mount equipment cabinets or racks with EIA standard rackmount hole spacing. A TRACS recorder or request server is 19 wide (437 mm), the height is 1.7 (43 mm) (1 RU) and the depth is 19.85 (504 mm). TRACS is designed for unattended 24/7 use; therefore the mounting height within an equipment cabinet or rack is not critical. Equipment cabinets or racks do not require special air-cooling equipment; however free air space for ventilation is required at the front and rear of the units. The unit s internal forced air cooling flows from the front panel towards the rear, hence the requirement to leave free space in front and behind the units. TRACS operation and installation manual 14
Basic setup layout Connecting TRACS In a typical TRACS setup there is a clear distinction between the TRACS network and the company network. The TRACS environment consists of at least 1 recorder, 1 request server and 1 network switch. The request server functions as the communicator between the TRACS and your company LAN. No other device than the request server should be connected to your own local area network. The picture below illustrates a typical TRACS setup. Note The network switch within the TRACS environment is supplied by Axon, free of charge. Reliable operation is not guaranteed if this switch is replaced by any other device. TRACS operation and installation manual 15
Installing the units Before connecting any cables, please make sure all units are fit steadfast into the 19 rack or the equipment cabinet. TRACS was shipped with two sets of rail assemblies, six rail mounting brackets and the mounting screws which you will need to install the system into a 19 rack. Note It is advised to maintain a logical order of unit placement in the 19 rack or cabinet. For instance: put the request server on top of the recorders which will be connected to it, and not in between them. This will ease servicing and local operation. Connecting the cables Cables are not supplied by Axon. Please test the cables you are going to use before you start connecting the TRACS. The correct cables to use for connecting the recorders and request servers to the Axon supplied switch and to connect the request server to your companies LAN, should be UTP straight thru patch Cat.6 cords (ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 standard) with RJ45 connectors. Make the following UTP connections: - Connect all recorders to the Axon supplied switch using the LAN1 port, which is the left ethernet port seen from the backside of the recorder (see page 12: rear connector panel layout). - Connect the request server to the axon supplied switch using the LAN2 port, which is the right ethernet port seen from the backside of the request server. - Connect the request server to your own companies LAN using the LAN1 port, which is the left ethernet port on the backside of the request server. When the HDSUB connector cables are properly soldered onto the correct pins of the plugs (see page 13: HDSUB pin-out), connect the plugs to the appropriate sockets on the back of the recorders or request servers. Please note that the connector pin assignment for recorders and request servers are not the same. When you are using an LTC input, make sure all TRACS recorders and the request server have the LTC input. Connect the digital or analog (or both) video input cable(s) to the appropriate connector(s) of the recorders (see page 12: rear connector panel layout). Connect the analog or digital (or both in case of software version 1.0.x) video output cable(s) to the appropriate connector(s) back of the request server. TRACS operation and installation manual 16
Connecting external devices After you have connected all the cables as described above, you can connect all external devices to the request server for local request server operation and hardware playout. Your keyboard goes in the purple PS/2 port or any USB port on the backside (see page 12: rear connector panel layout), USB is recommended. Connect your mouse to the green PS/2 port or any USB port on the backside of the request server (USB is recommended). A normal VGA monitor (minimum resolution of 1024 x 768 is required) can be connected to the 15 pole D-sub VGA port (see page 12). Note The request server is only compatible with standard USlayout keyboards. When using PS/2 ports, make sure keyboard and mouse are connected on boot up. The PS/2 ports are not hot pluggable. For hardware playout you can connect various devices to the request server s digital or analog video outputs and audio outputs. This can be VTR s, TV-monitors, routers or other video devices on the video outputs and active speakers, amplifiers, mixers, audio recorders or other audio devices on the audio outputs. Power up When all former described cables and devices are properly connected, you can feed the TRACS components with power. Connect a standard power cable with IEC C13 connector to the back of each recorder and request server (see page 12: rear connector panel layout). Both 120 and 240 volt main power are supported. Don t forget to feed your Axon supplied switch with power also. Please read the switch s manual about the power specifications. To switch on the TRACS network push the power button of the request server and wait at least 15 minutes. Then push all power on/off buttons of all TRACS recorders (see page 11: Front panel layout). On boot up all front LED s will light up shortly. Recorders take only a few moments to boot. Recording will start automatically without any operation or setting needed to be done. The request server takes up to 15 minutes to be fully functional. The VGA monitor, which is connected to the request server directly, will display a login screen. TRACS operation and installation manual 17
Initial request server configuration Login If the indications mentioned in the previous paragraphs are carried out properly you will be looking at the request server s login screen, which looks as displayed in the picture below: The request server s login is: Login: Password: tracs Axon Please mind the capital A in the password: the password is case sensitive. Required initial settings In order to use TRACS from within your company s environment a few request server settings must be done. After login, click the large tab on the left side of the screen with the saw and tools icon on it. The Settings screen will open with 2 tabs: - [+] Time settings - [+] Link settings Clicking the tab-titles will expand the settings. Expanding all tabs will open up a screen that looks like as displayed in the picture on the next page. TRACS operation and installation manual 18
Change the Timezone setting into your local timezone in order to get the right time adjudged to the recorded data. Setting the correct timezone and country is important because TRACS automatically adapts to daylight saving time (DST) according to the local rules of your region. Note To get a more accurate time source like via LTC or via an NTP server, please refer to Chapter 5: Advanced settings. Make sure you fill out the Link settings correctly to make the TRACS communicate properly with your company s LAN. If you are not sure about these settings, please contact your IT-department. When all settings are entered, click Apply settings. We recommend rebooting the request server in order to ensure a proper entry onto your company s LAN. TRACS operation and installation manual 19
Client PC requirements Client PC configuration We guarantee reliable TRACS operation via client PCs if they meet with the following requirements: - Micorsoft Internet Explorer version 6 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox version 1.9 or higher - Video-LAN VLC player version 0.8.6 or higher - Video-LAN ActiveX and Mozilla plug-in - 1024x768 VGA monitor resolution or higher We recommend Windows XP with service pack 2 as operating system. Video-LAN VLC player installation To be able to play recorded material in your browser or after download, you must have the Video-LAN VLC player and plug-ins installed on all client PCs. Go to http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ for the latest versions and updates. When you have downloaded the install file, please make sure that you minimally install the player and its ActiveX and Mozilla plug-ins. We recommend the following configuration during installation: TRACS operation and installation manual 20
Chapter 3: Basic operation Recording and monitoring input signal Start recording To start recording, no operation other then powering up the TRACS recorders is required. After boot up, the recorder will start recording the incoming signal automatically. For record settings like bitrates and timecode, please contact your company s IT-department or refer to Chapter 5: Advanced settings. Monitoring the recorders via client PC To monitor the activity of the recorders you can log onto the request server via a client PC. To do this you must enter the IP-address of the request server. To find out the correct IP-address, please refer to your company s IT-department or read Chapter 5: Advanced settings. After you typed the IP-address in the browser s address bar of your client PC, you will see a screen as displayed below. If it is the first time you log on to the request server via the client PC you are on, All monitoring thumbnails are set to -- None --. To view what a certain recorder is recording select the recorder you want to view in the dropdown box below any of the thumbnails. If you have selected a recorder, a thumbnail will appear. The thumbnail picture displays the recorded video with 5 second intervals. If a thumbnail is showing and refreshing every 5 seconds, you are 100% sure that the selected recorder is recording and functioning properly. This will look as shown in the picture on the next page. TRACS operation and installation manual 21
In the picture you see a thumbnail displaying in the first box. In this example you can be sure that recorder 00304880b57e is functioning correctly. All 16 boxes can display any recorder you like to monitor. All selected recorders are memorized by your client PC (if the client s browser settings allow cookies), so next time you log on to the request server with the same client PC, you will immediately see all the recorders you selected last time You can left click a thumbnail to enlarge it in the middle of your screen. This will look as displayed in the next picture. Click the large picture to close the enlarged thumbnail. If you are somewhere else in the navigation and want to return to the thumbnail page, click the large tab with camera and film icon on the left side of the screen. TRACS operation and installation manual 22
Selecting recorder and time span Finding recorded data To find recorded video on a certain recorder you click the large tab with a film and magnifying glass icon on the left side of the screen. You will see a screen as displayed below. In this screen you can select one or all recorders you want to find data on. You can do this by selecting the desired channel in the Channel Name dropdown box. Next is defining the time span and length of your search. Click the calendar icon next to the start and end date lines to select a start and end date. You can fine tune your search on exact start and end hours, minutes and seconds by selecting an exact start and end time on the selected date. Duration will display the length of the selected period of time. If you adjust the duration of your search, the end time will be adjusted (not the starting time). For instance, if you want to find data recorded on 20 February 2007 from 2 o clock till 3 o clock in the afternoon, you can do two things: - You select 20 February 2007 as start and end date, with 14:00:00 as starting time and 15:00:00 as ending time. - You select 20 February 2007 as starting date and 14:00:00 as starting time and select as duration 1:00:00. When you filled out the desired time span and length of your search, you can click to button Next > to start searching the selected recorder or all recorders on data that applies to your search query. To reset all dates and times to the current time and date, click the Set times to NOW button. TRACS operation and installation manual 23
Search results After having clicked on the Next > button a screen like below will appear. This screen displays the search results. If you have selected all channels in the previous screen, you might see more then 1 result if more then 1 recorders have recorded data that apply to the searched period of time. The start and end times of the search results can differ a few seconds from the start and end times of your search query. This property is linked to the limitations of MPEG. Note When you see No input in red text instead of the radio button in front of a search result, it means that for the duration of that clip, no video was recorded due to a loss of input on the input that is set to be recorded in the recorder settings (so when this is set to composite and you connected SDI, the no input will appear.) Selecting a clip When a clip was found that applies to your search query, you can select the clip to display its details and play or download it. To do this, select the radio button of the appropriate clip and click on the Next > button. TRACS operation and installation manual 24
Playing and downloading clips on client Clip details After you selected the desired clip from the search results list and clicked the Next > button, you will be looking a screen that looks like the following picture. In this screen you can make your choice to play the clip directly, download it, go back to the search results or return to the page where you perform a new search. Playing a clip in the browser To play the selected clip directly you must select the VGA option in the Playout method dropdown box. After having selected this option, click the Next > button to start playing the clip in your browser. Note Playing the clip in your browser requires the Video-LAN VLC ActiveX and browser plug-ins to be installed on the client PC. This freeware can be downloaded at: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/. For the VLC player installation settings please refer to Chapter 2: Installation If the VLC player plug-in is properly installed, you will see Video-LAN logo (an orange with white traffic cone) shortly followed by the playout of the selected clip. When playing a clip inside the internet browser of your client PC, you can stop, play and pause the clip by pushing the appropriate buttons below the clip s display. Your screen will look like as shown in the picture on the next page. TRACS operation and installation manual 25
Downloading a clip to your client PC If you want to be able to skip, slowmotion, play backwards, and have other more sofisticated controls, it is required to download the clip to your client PC first. You do this by selecting Download in the Playout method dropdown box in the Search details screen. After clicking on the Next > button the download will start. The way you are alarmed about this download depends on the browser you are using and its security settings. Note Since Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 7.0 and earlier versions) limits your downloads to 4 gigabytes, we recommend using Mozilla Firefox in case your regularly need to download video clips exceeding this size. Playing a downloaded clip on your client PC When you want to play back the downloaded clip you must have the Video- LAN VLC player installed on your client PC, this is freeware downloadable at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ (for the VLC player installation settings, please refer to Chapter 2: Installation). When you open the downloaded.mpg video file, the VLC player will start playing the clip. To find out more about the VLC player s controls, please refer to the VLC help file, or the videolan website. TRACS operation and installation manual 26
TRACS status monitoring Status tab To check the status of separate recorders, or the whole TRACS system, you can click on the large tab on the left side of the screen with the grey cilinder with circle icon. The circle in the icon is either green or red. Green means that there are no errors and the system is working fine. Red means something is wrong with the system. When you click the tab, a screen like displayed below will open. TRACS system status This first screen is a list of all TRACS devices within the network and their overal status. In the first collumn the device names are summed up, starting with the request server, followed by all recorders connected to the request server. Second and third collumn display the TRACS network IP-addresses and Machine ID (MAC addresses) of all devices. Fourth collumn display the network status of the devices, displaying if they are properly connected ( ) or not ( ). The fifth collumn displays the Recording status. Can be recording ok ( ), not recording ( ) or no known status ( ). In case of not recording then please reboot that recorder. If that doesn t help, please contact support. Last collumn displayes the RAID status of each recorder. The following status types are possible: - = RAID system is OK. - = there is no RAID status known. - = RAID system is rebuilding. - = RAID system is downgrading, immenent error. - = there is a RAID error. - = RAID system failed, recorder is down. Detailed recorder status Clicking the name of one of the recorders in the previous discribed screen will open a more detailed status report of the selected recorder. The detailed recorder status screen looks as displayed on the next page. TRACS operation and installation manual 27
Beside monitoring the incoming signal, like in the thumbnail screen on page 21, you van view which TRACS software version is running ( TRACS version ), which input is currently used ( Video Input Source ), which audio channels are being recorded and mixed ( Audio tab) and detailed information about the RAID status per harddrive ( Storage tab). Inidividual HDD status icons reflect the status of each hard disk. The following status types are possible: - = HDD is OK - = HDD is rebuilding (priority over critical status) - = HDD critical (prediction) - = HDD failed - = HDD not found - = HDD status not known Detailed request server status Clicking the request server in the status overview screen will open a more detailed status report of the request server. The detailed request server status screen looks as displayed below. TRACS operation and installation manual 28
Displayed are the request server s general statuses (online status, external IP, ID (mac address) and TRACS version) and time status. NTP status can be either NoSynch or SyncExternal. Time source displays current LTC source setting. LTC status can be either Usable (correct LTC), NotUsable (LTC date invalid, due to wrong LTC standard setting) or Error (LTC input lost or frozen). Latest decoded LTC displays the last decoded LTC value. TRACS operation and installation manual 29
Chapter 4: Advanced operation Local operation of the request server Local operation Operating the request server via a keyboard, mouse and VGA monitor (minimum resolution of 1024x768 is required) locally, enables additional options compared to operation via client PCs. How and where these devices should be connected can be read on page 17: Connecting external devices. Login When the request server is booted up, or when it was allready power up and the former operator log off properly, the screen will display the login screen like shown in the picture below. The request server s login is: Login: Password: tracs Axon Please mind the capital A in the password. The password is case sensitive. Note It is advised to log off every time you are done with locally operating the request server. You do this by closing the browser pressing the upper right X button. When the browser is closed, give a right mouse click anywhere on the screen and choose Quit from the menu that appears. Press OK (saving settings in not needed) and the screen will display the login screen again. TRACS operation and installation manual 30
Playing out video on digital or analog outputs Hardware playout on request server Operating the request server locally makes it possible to play out recorded material on other devices, like VTRs or televisions, via the digital (SDI) or analog (CVBS) video outputs on the back of the request server. Playing out material via the video outputs of the request server works the same as playing or downloading clips via client PCs (see page 25: Playing and/or downloading clips). The difference is that on local operation the download clip option is replaced by CVBS and SDI. Choosing this option will expand the details screen with additional hardware playout options like displayed below. Playing out recorded VBI material In the additional hardware playout options you can choose to show Teletext or Closed Captioning information on playout. The Show: dropdown box contains three options: - Plain video - Teletext - Closed Captioning Selecting Plain video means you want to play only the recorded video and audio material. When you choose Plain video the following options Teletext page: and Show video behind TXT: can be discarded since they have no influence on what is displayed. Playing out Teletext information If you select Teletext, you have to choose in the next option which Teletext page you would like to view on playout. Note that if you want to view other pages, you have to stop playout, change the page and start playout again. The last option Show video behind TXT enables or disables video displayed behind the TXT page. Below you see a picture showing what playing material with Teletext TRACS operation and installation manual 31
enabled should look like with Show video behind TXT enabled. Playing out Closed Captioning If you choose Closed Captioning, the option Teletext page: and Show video behind TXT: can be discarded, since it has no influence on what is displayed. Just choose Closed Captioning in the Show: dropdown box and click Next >. Below you see a picture showing what playing out video with Closed Captioning should look like. Note During playout the VBI information is displayed as an overlay picture on top of the video stream. Using devices with advanced VBI capabilities will not enable you to adjust Teletext or Closed Captioning views and settings during playout. TRACS operation and installation manual 32
Chapter 5: Advanced settings Access to the TRACS settings Introduction to TRACS settings The settings menu is only accessible when operating the request server locally. This counts for both request server settings as well as individual recorder settings, all individual recorder settings are set via local operation of the request server. To learn more about local operation of the request server please read page 29: Local operation of the request server. When logged onto the request server locally, an extra tab is displayed on the left side of the screen displaying a saw and tools icon. This tab is not available via client PC operation for security reasons. Clicking this tab will open the settings screen as displayed below. The screen displays the request server settings first. On the top right dropdown box you can select the recorder of which you want to view/change settings of. You can get back to the request server settings by choosing Request server again in this box. Changing the settings In order to confirm and apply any changed settings, it is required to click the Apply settings button. No changes will be applied before this button is pressed! Note Changing the settings can affect the entire TRACS network and functionality. Please change settings only when this is in concurrence with the IT-department and your company s compliance recording policies. TRACS operation and installation manual 33
Request server settings Time settings This setting selects which time source all recorders and the request server will use for finding recorded material. These are the available options: - LTC - Timezone - Manual date/time input Unsynchronized timesource via timezone Timesource via an NTP server Manual date/time input You can leave the timesource unsynchronized to your studio s time by selecting Timezone in the first dropdown box. Select the correct local timezone and country and click Apply settings leaving the NTP textbox empty. This option is not recommended. You can set timesource via an NTP server by choosing Timezone in the first dropdown box, selecting the correct local timezone and country and fill in your company s NTP server IP address. To find out what your NTP server s IP address is please refer to your company s IT-department. Click Apply settings to apply the changes. When selecting Manual date/time input the TRACS time is set to a user definable time and date. This time can be set by clicking the small clock icon next to the time in the lower left corner (see screenshot on former page). This will display the following screen: In this screen you see the last read TRACS time (upon loading of the page). You can refresh the clocks to current TRACS time clicking the Re-read date/time button. You can manually adjust the clock and click Apply. This means that TRACS will still not be synchronized to your studio time. Also bare in mind that day light savings is NOT automatic. You have to manually adjust the clock when your local time jumps to winter or summer time! Manual date/time input is a last resort as time source. Axon does not recommend using it unless there are no other options. TRACS operation and installation manual 34
Timesource via LTC You can set LTC as time source by selecting LTC in the first dropdown box and selecting the correct local timezone and country. We advise to fill in a NTP server IP address in addition to the LTC setting in case of an LTC signal failure. To find out what your NTP server s IP address is please refer to your company s IT-department. You can select multiple standards of LTC timecode. TRACS supports the following standards: - LTC without date information (so only time, no date) - Date 1 (UU.Dd.Mm.Yy) - Date 2 (Dd.Mm.Cc.Yy) - Date 3 (Yy.Mm.Dd.UU) - Date 4 (UU.Yy.Mm.Dd) - Date 5 (UY.yM.mD.dU) - Date 6 (Dd.Mm.Yy.UU) - Date 7 (Mm.Dd.Yy.UU) - Date 8 (UU.Mm.Dd.Yy) - Status (UU.Dd.Mm.Yy) - BBC - TVE - SMPTE309M YYMMDD format (default) - Custom LTC Date When choosing Custom LTC Date, you can manually type in your LTC bit group positions. Following code is used for this manual setting: - D = day tens - d = day units - M = month tens - m = month units - C = century tens - c = century units - Y = year tens - y = year units - U = user bit (not displayed) For example: If you LTC would be built up in the following way: 31-12 - 20-07 (meaning 31 December 2007) This would mean the following bit groups: Dd - Mm - Cc Yy Please make sure you change LTC settings under the supervision of studio engineers who have knowledge about the studio s LTC signal. TIP: look at the request server s last decoded LTC status in the detailed status window (see page 28) to see how your LTC signal s bitgroups are currently ordered. Click Apply settings to apply the changes. After applying settings, the clock in the lower left corner should display your studio s time correctly. TRACS operation and installation manual 35
Link settings Link settings apply to the network configuration of your company s LAN. You can choose using your company s DHCP-server to give the request server an IP-address, or enter a static IP. This choice depends on the properties of the company s network. When using a DHCP server, we advise you to program your company s routers and/or servers to give the MAC-address of the request server a predetermined IP-address. Hereby you prevent the request server from getting different IP-addresses after reboots. Please refer to your IT-department to get this information. Note When using Static IP settings, you can use all IP addressed except the 192.168.200.x range. Remember to click Apply settings after changing the settings to apply them. We recommend rebooting the request server after changing any link settings. TRACS operation and installation manual 36
Individual recorder settings Recorder settings Recorder settings can only be altered individually by selecting the recorder you want to view or change settings of in the upper right dropdown box of the settings screen. When you have selected this recorder, a screen like shown below will open. Changes to any of the recorder settings will only apply to the one recorder you are viewing the settings of. Settings are only applied when you click the Apply settings button. Sliding bars or making other changes will not have any effect on the current recordings until you click the Apply settings button. Channel settings Clicking the [+] Channel setting tab will expand the Channel settings as shown in the next picture. In this setting you can change the Channel name (which is the recorder s identifier). You can use for instance the name of the channel the recorder is recording, or channel numbers, or the recorder s MAC address or anything else you find useful. For easy TRACS operation and installation manual 37
operation and service, we recommend using the following format: 01_<channel name> 02_<channel name> 03_<channel name> Etc. Make sure you only use ASCII letters from A to Z (or a to z), numbers from 0 till 9 or underscores and dashes as channel name. Do not use other symbols. OSD (On Screen Display) settings Expanding the [+] OSD settings will show settings that handle about the on screen display (OSD). If you enable the on screen display by showing channel name and/or time, the time and channel information is burned into the video stream. It is not possible to delete this information out of the recorded material afterwards. The OSD settings screen looks as displayed below. Box setting changes whether you want to have the OSD transparent over the video ( Transparent option) or displayed in a black box on screen ( Black option). If you record your video using low bit rate compression, we recommend the Black setting to prevent loss of timecode readability due to compression artifacts. Position setting lets you change the position of the OSD. You can put it on any place indicated in the dropdown box. Options are Top left, Bottom left, Top middle, Bottom middle, Top right and Bottom right. Time setting lets you choose either to show or hide the time and date. Note OSD time will only function properly when an LTC signal is coming in all recorders. If this is not the case, time will be displayed as 00/00/00 00:00. TRACS operation and installation manual 38
Channel name setting lets you choose either to show or hide the channel name. The last setting Date handles about how the date is displayed. You can choose between the European standard (DD-MM-YY) and the US standard (MM/DD/YY). Video encoding If you click the [+] Video encoding tab, a screen as shown on the next page will expand. These settings concern the way the incoming video signal is recorded. The video coding option is the method that is used to encode the incoming video signal. You can choose between MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoding. This will only influence recording quality slightly. Video bitrate defines the quality of the recorded material. Higher bitrate means lower capacity. You can choose between 512Kbps, 550Kbps, 600Kbps, 700Kbps, 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 3Mbps, 4Mbps, 5Mbps, 6Mbps, 8Mbps and 10Mbps The Video size setting handles about the recorded size of the video. Options are Small (CIF/SIF resolution) or Large (full D1 resolution). Large will give a more detailed image but might decrease in quality in combination with lower bitrates. Below 3Mb/s the image will automatically become CIF or SIF resolution so when the video bitrate is set below 3Mb/s this setting will not make a difference. Record VBI enables or disables recording VBI information. VBI (Vertical Blank Interval) contains additional information to the video, such as Teletext or Closed Captioning. Enabling VBI recording will decrease the recorder s capacity. Making changes to the video encoding settings will alter the capacity of the recorder as shown at the bottom of the screen. The amount of days displayed here is guaranteed. For instance: better quality encoding and VBI recording enabled will decrease the capacity, TRACS operation and installation manual 39
while lowering the encoder quality and disabling VBI recording will increase the recorder s capacity. Changes will not influence the current recordings until you click the Apply settings button. Audio encoding [+] Audio Encoding will expand a screen as shown below. In this screen you can set/change both audio quality and channel mix settings. These settings will influence the way audio is recorded on the recorder you have selected. Audio coding handles about the way the incoming audio is encoded. Only MPEG audio layer 2 is supported at this moment. Audio bitrate defines the quality of the recorded audio. Higher bitrate will improve audio quality, but will decrease the recorder s capacity. Audio input adjusts the audio input to the company s used standard Head Room Level (refer to your audio specialists if you aren t sure about this setting). You can select levels between +0 dbu and +24 dbu. Audio mixing (4 channel recording) The following 4 settings handle about which audio channels are recorded in what way. TRACS has the ability to record up to 4 audio channels to one video stream. This is done by mixing down 2 channels on 1 audio track during recording. On play out you can choose whether to play track 1 (containing channel 1 & 2), track 2 (containing channel 3 & 4) or both. The following schematic on the next page visualizes this ability. TRACS operation and installation manual 40
Audio channel 1 setting lets you choose which audio channel you want to record to track one. Choices range from SDI embedded audio channel 1 to 16 to all 4 AES/EBU audio inputs and all 4 analog audio inputs. Audio channel 2 setting lets you choose which audio channel you want to record to track two. It contains the same options as the audio channel 1 setting. Recording the same channels to both track 1 and 2 is possible. Audio 1 mix with setting makes it possible to mix the selected channel in the audio channel 1 setting, with another channel of choice. The selected channels in Audio channel 1 and Audio 1 mix with are mixed down to track 1 of the video. Audio 2 mix with setting makes it possible to mix the selected channel in the audio channel 2 setting, with another channel of choice. The selected channels in Audio channel 2 and Audio 2 mix with are mixed down to track 2 of the video. Removing recorders from the recorder list When a recorder is disconnected from the TRACS network, it will still show in the dropdown box on the top right of the screen. If you took out the recorder on purpose and wish to delete it permanently from the recorder list of the request server, you can select the disconnected recorder in the dropdown box on the top right of the screen which will result in the following screen. Clicking the remove from list button will remove the recorder permanently from the list. All settings of the removed recorder will be lost. TRACS operation and installation manual 41