Posts Tagged Barco
MacBook Pro: Black screen or ‘snow’ over DVI into switchers
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Presentation IT on February 21, 2010
Recently, it seems, an update to Apple computers with a DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort interface (that’s MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, Imac, and Mac Pro machines) has caused HDCP to activate whenever the devices are connected to an HDCP compatible device.
What this means, for example, is that if you connect a MacBook Pro to a D/A (splitter) that supports HDCP, the copy protection standard will activate. Which is fine – as long as everything else in the chain also supports HDCP. In many cases, devices after the D/A will include things like Barco Encore or ScreenPRO II devices – which do not support HDCP – and will therefore see sync, but a black screen, or sometimes a ‘snow’ effect (a result of the raw encrypted signal).
I you connect a Mac using a DisplayPort to DVI adaptor to a device that does not support HDCP – for instance, directly into the background input of a ScreenPRO II, or into an ImagePRO HD, HDCP will not activate from the Mac, and the signal will flow through correctly.
HDCP is designed to prevent piracy – if you wish to play back a Blu-ray disc or copy-protected movie, the player (or computer) that it is connected to must support HDCP, and each display device connected to the player (or computer) must either also support HDCP, or be disabled. This is inherent to the HDCP (and DisplayPort) specification, and cannot be circumvented under license. HOWEVER, as Apple has done – they can prevent Blu-ray or copy-protected movies from playing back when non-compliant hardware is connected, but still allow that hardware to display other content (for example, a Keynote presentation).
At this stage, the Apple hardware is a little too smart for its own good – choosing to activate or disable HDCP depending on the first device connected to the Mac being either HDCP compliant or not. What we really need is a work-around to disable HDCP support on demand, which will mean we can connect it to an HDCP compliant D/A (or a unit like the Barco DCS-200), and still support other equipment further down-stream which is not HDCP compliant – in exchange for disabling playback of Blu-ray discs or copy-protected movies (which is typically fine for AV applications).
Work-around: For the time being, a slightly expensive work-around is to connect the Mac to an ImagePRO HD, and then take either/or both the DVI out, and DVI loop-out ports to connect to other equipment (HDCP compliant or not).
If anyone comes across a ‘hack’ for OS X or new Apple hardware that will disable HDCP support for the sake of connecting to AV equipment (and also maintains legitimacy by disabling Blu-ray and copy-protected movie playback), we’d all be grateful if you could leave a comment here or let us know so we can spread the word!
Clear destinations on ScreenPRO II Controller
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems on January 21, 2010
A common frustration when programming presets on the ScrenPRO II controller, especially when using Aux destinations such as ImagePRO HD’s or PresentationPRO II’s, is that ‘learning’ a new preset will store actions for all desinations and aux destinations that are currently lit up (selected).
It’s easy to accidentally program ‘aux’ transitions into presets without intending to.
To deselect any currently selected destination or aux destination, just double-puch (or double-press) the corresponding destination button. If you want to ensure that you record no aux transitions in a preset, press the red ‘DEST | AUX’ button, to select ‘AUX’ mode, and then double-tap ‘ALL’ to deselect all (or select all, if no aux destinations were previously selected).
This process is briefly covered in the ScreenPRO II Quick Start Guide from Barco.
ScreenPRO II Quick Start Guide - Destination/Aux Bus
DVI image spikes, peaks, artifacts
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems on April 4, 2009
One issue you might come across with DVI signal is the occasional/momentary presence of lines or flashes of light color (in my experience often a light green, purple, or blue). The flashes often only appear for a second or less, and may, if you look closely, recur at the same point in a video roll or at the same slide in a presentation, every time its on screen.
DVI image spikes, a rough representation
I can reasonably confidently put the issues I’ve experienced down to being a bandwidth issue and/or being related to electrical/electromagnetic interference between source and projector/display.
I’ve come across two methods for decreasing the occurrence of these issues:
1. Lower the brightness at the source: This will, in turn, lower the ‘output levels’ from the source, and will require less bandwidth (and is less likely to hit ‘peak levels’) once the signal gets to the projector. There are other ways to lower the output levels or prevent peaking, but this is a cheap and nasty way and it’s a good trick to know if you’re limited on resources.
2. Use a DVI signal regenerator/equalizer in line between the source (vision mixer/switcher) and projector. Something like a DVI Gear DVI Detective should, in theory, do the trick. Although there are so many of these devices out there and often it’s difficult to determine what each device actually does beyond simply joining two cables together. You should look for a device that’s specifically designed to reduce or eliminate electrical interference.
Most of the issues of this type that I’ve experienced have been while using Barco/Folsom mixers and switchers, often with Apple MacBook Pro or Mac Pro machines via DVI (although I’ve seen it with HDCAM sources connected via HD-SDI), and running DVI-D over fibre-optic cable to a projector (Christie, Projectiondesign, Barco). I’ve seen the issue at 1400×1050, 1920×1080, and 1920×1200.
If anyone else has other ideas or ways to address the issue please feel free to comment!
Grass Valley TURBO iDDR with Barco Encore or ScreenPRO II
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems on December 9, 2008
Grass Valley TURBO iDDR
Since the offset, the TURBO has output an unusual signal over DVI which tends to confuse a lot of pro video switchers and scalers – I’ve had issues interfacing the TURBO with Vista Systems Montage, Spyder, Barco Encore, ScreenPRO II, ImagePRO HD, and other Barco / Folsom switchers and scaling mixers.
Grass Valley did release a software revision for the TURBO in order to fix the issue, however, I’ve still experienced issues since – maybe because I’m in PAL land here in Australia.
I’ve found the composite and SDI outputs from the TURBO to be standard and reliable, however the SDI only outputs PAL/NTSC, not HD formats. The DVI output can output analog YUV/RGB with some success using a break-out cable, when running 1080i format, however for best results so far, I prefer to stick with setting the TURBO to output 1536×768 for HD material, and putting up with the slight effect on resolution, as, in my experience, this output format tends to work best with the switchers I’ve mentioned above.
You might notice that even when the TURBO is set to output 1536×768, various scalers and switchers might interpret the signal differently, however I have found that regardless, they will tend to lock onto the signal with success, with the expection of sometimes needing to manually set the aspect ratio to 16:9.
Matrox TripleHead2Go as a background source for Barco Encore
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Presentation IT on November 2, 2008
Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital
Barco makes this process a little easier with the options in its ‘Widescreen’ configuration menu (Output Setup). When using a triple-head display card or device, such as the Matrox TripleHead2Go, choose the background format as ‘Edge-butted’, and choose to centre the background content – while you’re there, ensure Data Doubling is ‘Enabled’ to make sure that the PIP content matches across the blend regions.
The Matrox TripleHead2Go makes a suitable unscaled DVI background source for Encore with a couple of considerations:
1. The TripleHead2Go is designed primarily for extending the desktop of a computer across multiple monitors, and as such, isn’t best suited to running heavy graphics and video – you will find that the stress that the unit places on your display computer’s graphics card will make it near impossible to display fluid transitions in Keynote or PowerPoint, or play back full resolution video.
2. When designing content, ensure you leave adequate space to the left and right of your content to compensate for the blend overlap (i.e. if you have 2x 1920×1080 projectors on a 3.333:1 screen, your total pixel space will not be 3840×1080, but rather 3600×1080). In PowerPoint or Keynote this is easy – just choose a slide format in 3.333:1 ratio (or a resolution of 3600×1080 in Keynote) and when you run the presentation, both PowerPoint and Keynote will automatically pillarbox the left and right of the output to compensate.
3. The Matrox TripleHead2Go does not yet support the common projection resolution of SXGA+ (1400×1050) out of the box. While it may be possible to ‘hack’ the TripleHead2Go device to support this resolution using a tool like PowerStrip, I’ve never tried it, and wouldn’t suggest that it’s worth relying on (if anyone has achieved this please feel free to comment!).
4. There are a maximum of 3 outputs using this device – and only 2 outputs if you’re using a high resolution such as 1920×1080 – so keep this in mind if you have larger edge-blending requirements. For true scalability, you would be better off using a system like AVStumpfl Wings or Dataton Watchout, both systems would run video and transitions a lot more fluidly, and would provide a much greater capacity to scale.
Barco Encore Preset Manager
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Presentation IT on November 2, 2008
Preset Manager is a program which Barco don’t make a huge fuss about, but anyone who operates more than the most basic of shows, especially using the Encore SC console, will appreciate the ability to save, edit, and recall all of their presets, colour-code and name those presets, and insert presets in a timed, or manually triggered cue list – functionality that you can’t yet get with Encore out of the box.
You can run Preset Manager on a Mac or PC connected to your Encore network.
Barco Encore Preset Manager
Troubleshooting Barco Encore and ScreenPRO II network issues
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems on November 2, 2008
Barco Encore
- 10/100 Ethernet switch
- CAT5e compliant network cables
- A dedicated network (no other devices attached to the switch)
Despite this advice, it is common to notice problems with Encore and ScreenPRO II systems including issues where one VP (video processor) will transition out of time to another VP, or router inputs won’t be recalled correctly, or won’t be recalled in time. The ScreenPRO II units are more susceptible to these sorts of issues if running with a BlendPRO II unit to create a widescreen blend, as not only are there more devices attached to the network, but it also becomes more critical that they all run in sync.
If you are experiencing sync or communications issues with your Encore or BlendPRO II system, try the following:
Ensure you are using an Ethernet switch:
(rather than a hub or a router) A hub will not intelligently address each device attached to it, and is prone to ‘packet collisions’ which can mean that information being sent by the Encore controller is not delivered to some or all attached devices. A router is designed for connecting computers to the Internet or another network, and will often include functions like DHCP hosting, which will conflict with the Encore controller.
Use a high quality switch:
The price of Ethernet switches can range from tens to thousands of dollars depending on the feature set and quality. It is important to choose a switch that supports high-reliability packet switching, as Encore isn’t intelligent enough to correct any errors that may be introduced by cheaper switches – while the network switch you’re using might work fine for a computer network, you could still notice issues when running Encore.
A managed switch will contain a whole bunch of features which are unnecessary for Encore (like Quality of Service and VLAN support), however due to the higher quality construction and overall capacity and capabilities of these switches, they’re likely to be a better choice than an unmanaged switch.
Don’t worry about gigabit:
Encore supports 10/100 Ethernet – and in a recent software update, Barco suggested ensuring the use of a switch that supports 100mbit/s data rates instead of just 10mbit/s, however the Encore and ScreenPRO II units do not support gigabit Ethernet, so there’s no benefit in using a gigabit switch – you’re better off spending the extra money on a higher quality 10/100 switch.
Check your cables:
It’s so important to make sure that you Ethernet cables fully support the true CAT5e (CAT5 Enhanced) standard. That means ensuring that the cable, terminators, and the color-order of termination conform to the CAT5e standard. CAT5 cables rely on the specific color-coded twisted pairs of the cable to be in the correct order, allowing phase cancellation to prevent interference from other devices, and minimize packet loss. Check this guide for creating compliant CAT5e cables.
It’s also worth trying to keep all the cables in your system as short as possible, and of similar length – although length is unlikely to cause any significant delay, it can theoretically increase the chance of data loss through interference.
Reccomendations:
Consider using store-bought CAT5e certified Ethernet cables, or at least ensuring the cables you use truly meet the CAT5e specification.
Linksys 10/100 Ethernet Switch