Ultra 4K Tool Box Version 2.1.43.0 Release Note This document summarises the enhancements introduced in Version 2.1 of the software for the Omnitek Ultra 4K Tool Box and related products. It also details any known issues with the current v2.1. 43.0 release. The User Guide that describes these features will be available on the Omnitek web-site before the end of November. Version 2.1 is recommended for all current Version 2.0 users. A range of new features have been introduced together with a number of software improvements and operational changes. New Features: Audio Support Version 2.1 sees the addition of support for up to 16 channels of PCM audio both in the Ultra s Analyser/ Converter and in the built-in signal generator. This audio can only be delivered to the Ultra over SDI inputs but 16 channels of audio output can be delivered over the SDI outputs or alternatively the first two channels can be delivered over the HDMI output. o Audio PPMs: A new display has been added to the Viewer window that comprises a set of meters displaying the level of audio across the 16 channels, grouped in pairs. These meters behave in accordance with the EBU PPM digital current meter and are marked out in dbfs. The meters for channels that are enabled are shown in traffic-light colours to make it easy to spot when the level exceeds the EBU-specified reference levels. Channels that are absent are shown in grey. o Audio Status: A new Audio Status display reports basic information about the selected channels such as the type of data the channel is carrying (PCM), the channel mode and the word length. This information is again grouped into the same four sets of four channels. Audio PPM display Audio Status display Page 1 of 6 Nov 2015
o Audio Tone Generation: The Ultra s built-in signal generator now includes the ability to generate simple audio tones alongside video sequences where these are output either over the SDI outputs (all 16 channels) or over the HDMI output (first two channels only). This feature sees the 16 channels divided into four groups of four that can be individually enabled. Within each group of four, the individual channels can be set either to Mute (the default setting) or to a particular frequency (selected from a drop-down list). The audio tone is defined using the Audio page that has been added to the right-hand panel of the Generator window. Other options include a choice of Waveform (sine, square or triangle), Amplitude (between 0 and -60dB) and Click Mode (Audio on first frame only; Audio on all frames except the first; or Click Mode off). There is also an overall Mute All option that allows you to turn the audio off when you don t want this tone pattern to be generated alongside the video without losing any of the detailed settings you have made. The Click Mode is useful when playing a sequence in a loop as it will help in counting the number of times the loop is repeated. o Audio Pass-Through: As well as offering the ability to analyse up to 16 channels of PCM audio delivered alongside SDI video input, Version 2.1 also allows this audio to be passed through alongside the video and output either on SDI outputs or on the HDMI output. Again the 16 channels are divided into four groups of four. All 16 channels can be passed out over SDI outputs but only the first two channels can be delivered over the HDMI output. (It is not currently possible either to take audio from the DisplayPort input or to deliver audio to the DisplayPort output.) To select Audio Pass-Through, use the Connections window to set the Ultra to take video from SDI inputs and to direct the output from the Analyser/Converter to either SDI outputs or the HDMI output. Then enable Audio Pass-Through and the Audio Groups corresponding to the channels you want to deliver on the Audio page of the Configuration window. Ancillary Data Monitoring Version 2.1 includes the facility to identify different types of ANC packet within the blanking associated with the video images being processed and to report how many of each type have been detected and how many of these contained any errors. The displays on which this information is reported comprise: o An ANC Watch display on which the names of different ANC Packet types are displayed in green when one or more packets of this type have been detected within the video that is being processed or in red when errors have been found in any of these packets. The names of packets may alternatively be underlined, again either in green or red depending on whether any errors were found, where packets of this type were found in a previous video session but haven t been found in the current video session. o A suite of ANC Counts pages, each listing for a subset of the known ANC Packet types the number of frames in which a packet of this type was identified (both as a simple count and as a percentage of all the frames processed) and the percentage of those packets that were found to be in error. Where the video is delivered over multiple Inputs, the pages also indicate the Inputs on which the packets were found using the same colouring scheme as is used both in the SMPTE definitions of the video standard and on the Data View display. Page 2 of 6 Nov 2015
ANC Watch display Example ANC Counts display There are a number of built-in links both between the ANC Watch and ANC Counts pages and between these pages and the Data View and ANC Viewer displays. In particular: o Clicking on the name of an ANC Packet type in the ANC Watch display calls up the ANC Counts page that records how many of this ANC Packet type have been detected. o Clicking on the name of an ANC Packet type that has been detected in the current video session moves the SMPTE cursor and hence the focus of the Data View, Cable View and ANC Viewer displays to the location of the ANC Packet within the blanking so that you can see the details of the packet in these displays. Another feature of working with multiple Inputs is that you can opt to disable counting from individual Inputs by clicking on the number at the top of the corresponding column. The fact that ANC Packets of particular types have been detected within the blanking is still shown for both enabled and disabled Inputs but only the enabled Inputs contribute towards the totals shown. By comparing these totals against the totals shown for example when all the Inputs are counted can enable you to identify where the errors are occurring. Local User Interface and Picture Images on any Output Version 2.1 allows the display of a Local UI on any monitor that supports a 1920 x 1200 display attached to any of the output ports, SDI, DisplayPort or HDMI. (The port used needs to be set to a 1980 x 1080 video standard.) Another feature of Version 2.1 is that a Picture Tile displayed as part of the Local UI on any of these monitors will show pictures as long as connections are made on the Connection window both between the upper connector on the Local User Interface block and the relevant output block, and between the Analyser/Converter block and the lower connector on the Local User Interface block. The first connection is essential to the display of the Local UI as a whole; the second connection is essential to the display of any pictures. (The lower of the two connectors acts as Picture Input to the Local User Interface block.) Note: While the Ultra is set up as above, it is not possible to feed the video output from the Analyser/ Converter to another monitor e.g. for display at full-resolution. To have a full-resolution display of this output, the output from the Analyser/Converter block on the Connections window needs to be linked directly to the relevant Output block, thereby taking the picture feed away from the Local User Interface. Saving Network Bandwidth If network bandwidth becomes an issue when you are accessing the Ultra remotely, one option is replace Views such as the Picture View with displays that do not take as much bandwidth. However, if having the Picture View as one of your tiles is important to you, Version 2.1 offers an alternative approach which is to reduce the Quality of the image displayed. This facility is offered in the right-hand panel of the Viewer window when the User Interface is being accessed remotely via the Web and a Picture View is selected. The default selection is High but selecting Medium will halve both the number of pixels in a line and the number of lines, while selecting Low will halve these again. Picture Quality options (Web only) Page 3 of 6 Nov 2015
Network View Where the Omnitek Ultra you are using is on the same network as other Omnitek Ultra systems, Version 2.1 allows you to see the URLs of those other Ultras. Furthermore, where you are already using a Web browser to access one Ultra, the option is offered to call up the User Interface of one or more of the other Ultras either in place of the Ultra you are currently using or through a separate tab on your Web browser. The list of other Ultra systems on the same network is given on the new Network Devices page of the Configuration window. When this display is called up on a Local UI, the details shown just comprise machine name and URL. When the display is called up remotely using a Web browser, the display also includes Connect and Connect on a new Tab options for you to use. Network Devices on Local UI Network Devices on Remote UI Where the Ultra system you are interested in is also running Version 2.1, the Web-based version of the display will also show details of the version being run, the length of time that the named Ultra has been running for and the number of remote links that have been made into that system. Note: It is not possible to connect to a system that is already supporting two remote links. If you try to do this, you will see a message telling you that the maximum number of remote links have already been made. You can see the details of the remote links that have been made to the Ultra on which you are working by calling up the System page of its Configuration window. Details of the remote links are given on the righthand side of this page, under the Network heading, together with an X button that you can use to terminate any unwanted link (except the one that you yourself are using). Cable Length Cable Length has been added to the Status information given both about SDI input in general and specifically about any SDI input to the Eye port. The figure given is an estimate of the length of cable that is between the source and the point of measurement. The estimates for SDI inputs are shown on the first page of the Video Status display. The estimate for the Eye input is seen by calling up the Physical Status display. In both cases, the figures given are calculated assuming Belden 1694A cable. Hue option The Ultra s screen display makes extensive use of black and near-black backgrounds to allow text to be read easily within a darkened room. Rather than force you to work with so much black, in Version 2.1 we have introduced a Hue option that allows you to apply tinges of other colours red, blue, green, yellow, cyan and magenta to the near-black areas. The colours are offered in a drop-down menu accessed from the System page of the Configuration window. After you have made your selection, the Ultra will reload. A Default option included in the drop-down menu returns the backgrounds to the default near-black colouring. Page 4 of 6 Nov 2015
SMPTE RP198 Timing By default, the results of reference timing measurements show the actual real-time delay between the reference input and the video input. These results may however differ from those shown by other measurement systems, many of which include the delay introduced by the D/A converter in their assessment of the delay. If it is important to you to match the results coming from the 4K Tool Box to those produced by such a system, Version 2.1 includes a SMPTE RP168 setting on the Video page of the Configuration window that you can use to adjust the timings made by the Ultra. DisplayPort EDID An option has been added to the right-hand panel of the Connections window that allows the Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) of a device attached to the DisplayPort output to be both shown on the screen and packaged for use within a suitable monitoring tool. Clicking on the (EDID) Show option shown when the DisplayPort output is selected displays a dialogue containing a text interpretation of the EDID data, together with an option to save the data to disk. Clicking on the Save option downloads two files dp_edid.txt and dp_edid.bin either to your web downloads folder or, if you are driving the Ultra from a Local UI, to a USB stick plugged into the Ultra.The dp_edid.txt file contains a copy of the text displayed in the dialogue; the dp_edid.bin file contains a binary dump of the EDID data taken from the port. DA Output option Up to four SDI Outputs can be specified at any time. Where two or four of these outputs are used to deliver the selected video standard, the outputs are used in the order they are listed but where the video standard requires just one of these outputs, Version 2.1 offers the choice of either just delivering the video over the first of the listed outputs or distributing the same video to all the selected outputs. The option that controls this is the DA Output option that is offered in the righthand panel of the Connections window when the SDI Outputs block is selected, When this option is disabled, video requiring a single output is just delivered to the first output in the list: when this option is enabled, this video is delivered to all the outputs in the list. Note: If all four SDI outputs are looped back as inputs to the Analyser/Converter, it is possible when the DA Output option is enabled that the built-in sensor of the supplied video standard will interpret the SDI Input as belonging to one of the Quad-link video standards. In such circumstances, you are advised to disable the DA Output option. DisplayPort EDID dialogue On-Screen Keyboard and Keypad V2.1 SDI Output Options With earlier versions, a mouse and a keyboard plugged into the Ultra have been essential to drive the Ultra through a Local User Interface. With Version 2.1, the Local UI can be driven just with a mouse. In the absence of a physical keyboard, the software now pops up on screen a representation of either a keyboard or a numeric keypad as appropriate, whenever you need to enter either a name or a value. Page 5 of 6 Nov 2015
Other changes: The addition of new Views such as Audio PPMs and ANC Watch has led to a re-organisation of the drop-down View menu. The Views are now grouped under the headings: Picture; Audio; Status; Pixel Data; Ancillary Data; Physical; and Timing. To pick the display you want, you now need to first pick the appropriate heading, then select the required View from the associated submenu. In the case of the ANC Counts display, there is a further submenu from which to pick because the information is divided up into Sets. A new icon has been added to the right of the Ultra 4K Tool Box name in the top right-hand corner of the display in web-based copies of the user interface. Clicking on this icon toggles the display between being shown within a Microsoft window and being shown full screen. Hovering the cursor over this icon displays a message on the top line indicating its Full Screen role. The Eye Waveform now offers the choice of displaying a single eye or two eyes. This selection is made through the Button Bar for this display. The addition of this option to the Button Bar means that the filter used by the Jitter meter shown above the Eye diagram is now selected in the right-hand panel. Eye CRC Errors have been added to the range of Eye Input parameters monitored by the Ultra and reported on the Physical Status display. The range covered by the Jitter Histogram display is now defined by separate Start and End parameters. Another new option allows the selection of logarithmic scaling for this display. The default value for the Maximum SDI Amplitude above which an error is reported is now 880mV. Anyone upgrading from an earlier version of the Ultra software will continue to work with the value that was previously set, even after they have selected the Reset option. However, the new value will be substituted in the event of a Factory Reset. The Generator window can now offer two forms of Export for Test Patterns: Export Image (or Export Images) and Export Pattern. The Export Image(s) option (where offered) saves a copy of the source of the Test Pattern; the Export Pattern option saves a.oaf file containing all the properties for the image along with the image source file. The Export button on the Button Bar selects the version that is most appropriate for the selected Test Pattern. The new version is accompanied by a new version of the MIB file that facilitates remote access both to the features of earlier versions of Omnitek s Ultra systems and to the new features introduced in Version 2.1. A copy of the new MIB file can be downloaded by taking the SNMP MIB option offered on the System page of the Configuration window. How to use this file is explained in Section C of the Ultra User Guide (Version 2.x). Please also note: Internet Explorer 10 (IE 10) is not supported by Version 2.1 of the Ultra software. If you use IE10 as your web browser, please either upgrade to IE 11 (or later) or use Chrome. To avoid any issues when deleting a sequence from the Generator window, always check that the deletion has been completed before selecting another sequence to run. There is an issue in the current version with capturing images from interlaced video. If you need further information on this, please contact Customer Support (support@omnitek.tv). Page 6 of 6 Nov 2015