VideoServer User Guide

Sapphire Broadcast
MPEG Video Server
User Guide
Release 5.6
TNM – 5100 Series

March 2009
Document release 1.0
TNM-51xx-2 & TNM-51xx3 MPEG Video Server SAPPHIRE
Notice
This document is THOMSON property and may not be reproduced and diffused without the
prior permission of THOMSON.
THOMSON shall have no liability or responsibility to customer or any other person or entity
with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by
equipment sold or furnished by us.
SAPPHIRE is a trademark of THOMSON.
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notification.
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SAPPHIRE MPEG Video Server TNM-51xx-2 & TNM-51xx3
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.1. Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.2. Related Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.3. Manual Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4. Manual Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.5. General Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5.1. Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5.2. Product Damage Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.1. Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.1.1. Hardware Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.1.2. Software Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1.2.1. Actions Performed for Incoming, Stored & Output Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1.2.2. Connection to the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2. Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3. Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.1. Rack Mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.2. Power Supply and Earthing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.2.1. AC Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.2.2. Power Supply Cord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.2.3. Protective Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.2.4. EMC Earth (If present) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.3. Ventilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.4. Rear Panel Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.4.1. Supermicro Infodip Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.4.1.1. SC833 Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.4.1.2. SC836 Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.4.2. ASI Connectors Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.4.2.1. Pia+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.4.2.2. PassPro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.4.2.3. GES Board Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3.4.3. Network Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3.5. Connecting System I/O Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4. Starting the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.4.1. Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.4.1.1. Locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.4.1.2. From a Remote Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.4.2. Starting the Server & the Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.4.2.1. Supervisor Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.2.2. Configurator Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.3. Exiting the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.4. Restarting the Video Server Application from a Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4.5. Shutting Down the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3. Operating Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1. Functional Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.1. Time Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.2. Manual Record and Manual Play Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1.3. Play and Record Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.1.4. Near Video On Demand (NVOD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.1.5. Media Ingest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1.6. Ad Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.1.7. Media File Concatenation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2. Graphical User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
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3.3. Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.3.1. Scanning Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.3.1.1. Scanning New Inputs (ASI only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.3.1.2. Scanning Existing Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.3.1.3. Adding a New ASI Input & Scanning its Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.3.1.4. Adding a New MPEG over IP Input & Scanning its Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3.2. Managing Dummy Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3.3. Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.3.3.1. Performing a Manual Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.3.3.2. Creating a Record List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3.3.3. Inserting a Segment into a Record List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.3.4. Creating an Ingest Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3.3.5. Extracting Segments from a Record Loop (Delay Line) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.3.4. Using the Delay Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3.4.1. Creating a Delay Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3.4.2. Creating a Delay Line from an Existing Record Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.3.4.3. Modifying an Output Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.3.4.4. Delay Line’s Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.3.4.5. Creating a Play List Using a Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3.4.5.1. Create the Delay Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3.4.5.2. Create the new Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3.5. Creating a Live Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.3.5.1. Creating Live Unicast Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.3.5.2. Creating a Live Multicast Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.3.6. Playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.3.6.1. Playing a File - Manual Play (for ASI & Network Outputs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.3.6.2. Creating a Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.3.6.3. Inserting a Segment into a Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.3.6.3.1. Inserting a Live Segment into a Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.3.6.3.2. Inserting a Stored File into a Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.3.6.4. Creating an NVOD Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.3.7. Automatically Adding Files & Segments to the Hot Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.3.7.1. Automatically Adding Segments to a Play or Record List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.3.7.2. Automatically Adding Files using a Hot Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.3.8. Concatenating Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.4. Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.4.1. Repackaging for Shipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4. Advanced Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.1. Removing an Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.2. Adding an FTP Server as an Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.2.1. Adding an FTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.2.2. Recording on an FTP Server Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3. Modifying an Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.1. Modifying an ASI Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.2. Modifying Output Actions of an ASI Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.3.3. Modifying Output Actions of a Network Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.4. Removing an Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4.1. Removing a Non-Multiplexed Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4.2. Removing a Multiplexed Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.5. Managing PSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5.1. Passing Through PSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.5.2. Passing Through PSI with Mux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.5.2.1. When to Choose this Option? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.5.2.2. Setting the PSI Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.5.3. Setting Advanced PSI Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.5.4. Remapping Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.5.4.1. Remapping a Service at the Time of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.5.4.2. Remapping an Existing Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
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4.5.4.3. Remapping Audio PID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

4.5.4.3.1. Audio Remapping Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.5.4.3.2. Adding an Audio/Data PID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.5.4.3.3. Removing an Audio/Data PID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.5.4.4. Multiplexed Output: PID Duplication Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.5.4.5. Remapping: Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.6. Setting Advanced Network Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.7. Filtering PIDs (Audio & Data) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.8. Advanced Demultiplexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.8.1. Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.8.2. Result in the Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.9. Managing Play and Record Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4.10. Performing Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.11. Selecting Files & Directories on a Remote Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.12. Adding a GPI Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.12.1. Setting an IP Address for the GPI Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.12.2. Configuring your GPI Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.12.3. Adding the GPI Box to the Sapphire Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.13. Using the Automation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.13.1. Enabling the Automation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.13.2. Using the Automation System with a Play List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.13.3. Using the Automation System with a Record List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.13.4. Customizing the VDCP Link with Advanced Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.13.5. Disabling the Automation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.14. Inserting Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.14.1. Standard Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.14.2. External Splicer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.14.3. Triggers Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.14.4. NTP Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.15. Using the Sapphire’s FTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.15.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.15.2. Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.15.2.1. User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.15.2.2. Options Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.15.3. Connection to the Sapphire’s FTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4.16. National/Local Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4.17. Multiplexing/De-multiplexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.17.1. Multiplexing the Output (ASI only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.17.2. SI Management for Multiplexed Output (ASI only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
4.17.3. De-multiplexing an Input Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4.17.4. Managing the Output Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5. Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.1. Client/Server Connection/Disconnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.1.1. Manual Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.1.2. Automatic Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.1.3. Disconnecting from Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.1.4. Loss of Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.2. Graphical User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.2.1. Inputs Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.2.2. Outputs Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.2.3. Toolbar, Menu and Status Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.2.3.1. Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.2.3.2. Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.2.3.3. Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.2.4. Symbols & Icons Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.2.5. Context Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.2.5.1. ASI Input Board Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.2.5.2. Ethernet Input Board Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
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5.2.5.3. Drive Input Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

5.2.5.4. Input ASI Connector Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.2.5.5. Ethernet Input Connector Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.2.5.6. ASI and Ethernet Output Board Context Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.2.5.7. ASI Output Connector Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.2.5.8. Ethernet Output Connector Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.2.5.9. FTP Disk Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.2.5.10. Grayed Menus when Connection is Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.2.5.11. Grayed Menus for Supervisor Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.2.6. Services View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.2.6.1. Services Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.2.6.1.1. Grayed Menus when Connection is Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.2.6.1.2. Grayed Menus for Supervisor Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.2.6.2. Input and Output Services View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.2.7. Tree View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.2.8. Information View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.2.8.1. ASI Board Information View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.2.8.2. Ethernet Board Information View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.2.8.3. Drive Information View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.2.8.4. Connector Information View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.2.9. Histogram View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.2.10. Messages View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.2.10.1. Logs View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.2.10.2. Specific Messages View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.2.10.3. Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.2.11. Files View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.2.11.1. Information on Stored Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.2.11.2. Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.2.11.3. Stream Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.2.11.4. Refreshing the Files View List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.2.11.5. Adding a Permanent Stream to the List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.2.11.6. Modifying the Files View Stream Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5.2.11.7. Removing a Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.2.11.8. Mounting Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.2.11.9. Information Storage on Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.2.12. Play and Record List Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
5.2.12.1. List Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
5.2.12.2. Segment Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.2.12.3. Default Play List Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
5.2.13. Mounting View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
5.2.13.1. Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
5.2.13.2. Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5.2.14. About Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
5.2.15. Trace Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
5.2.16. Client Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
5.2.17. Drag & Drop Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
5.3. Message & Error Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
5.3.1. Logs View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
5.3.2. Specific Messages view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
5.3.3. Current Error State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
5.3.4. Acknowledging Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6. Related Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.1. Redundancy Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.1.1. AMETHYST Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.1.2. AMETHYST Main Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.1.2.1. Functionalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.1.2.2. Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
6.1.3. Typical System Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
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6.2. Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

6.3. Changing a Defective Disk on the Raid System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.4. Synchronizing Main/Backup Computer Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
6.5. Consequences of Changing Time Zones on a Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Appendix A. Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Appendix B. Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Appendix C. Digicypher Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Appendix D. Platform Capacities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Appendix E. API for List Management through Hot Folder Text File Commands . . 186
Appendix F. Help File Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Appendix G. Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Appendix H. Play List Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Appendix I. Trace Management and Dump Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Appendix J. SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Appendix K. Segmentation Descriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Appendix L. Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Contacting THOMSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Page 8/216
Page 9/216
List of Figures
Figure 1. System overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Figure 2. SAPPHIRE client overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 3. SC833 rear chassis view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 4. SC833 I/O back panel zoomed in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 5. SC836 rear chassis view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Figure 6. SC836 I/O back panel zoomed in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Figure 7. 1 Input + 1 output ASI connectors (+ 1 trigger input). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 8. 2 inputs + 2 outputs (+ 2 trigger inputs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 9. 3 inputs + 3 outputs (with 3 trigger inputs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 10. 4 inputs + 4 outputs (with 4 trigger inputs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 11. PassPro brackets for 1 input + 1 output or 2 inputs + 2 outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 12. PassPro brackets for 3 inputs + 3 outputs or 4 inputs + 4 outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 13. GES connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 14. Accessing the remote desktop connections properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 15. Remote desktop connection properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 16. Time delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 17. Manual record and manual play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 18. Stream substitution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 19. Master & slave play lists in Near Video On Demand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 20. Media ingest channel dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 21. Graphical user interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 22. Scanning new inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 23. Adding a new ASI input: connector selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 24. Ethernet input parameters dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 25. Adding a dummy service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 26. Setting the dummy service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 27. Dummy service in the input services view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 28. Output actions dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 29. Recording rate definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 30. Manual record added. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 31. Manually recorded service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 32. Manual record view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 33. Service being recorded. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 34. Record list parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Figure 35. Enable Delete segment after record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Figure 36. Input delay scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Figure 37. Record list view in maximized mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Figure 38. Segment setting view (play list). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Figure 39. Record list with two segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 40. Ingest channel dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Figure 41. Delay line parameters wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Figure 42. Existing delay line (i.e. first one). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 43. Delay line output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 44. Ouput characteristics as a delay line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Figure 45. Service with live output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Figure 46. Input files view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 47. Manual play dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 48. Setting up Play list parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Figure 49. Log settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Figure 50. Play list view in maximized mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Figure 51. Drag & drop Master play list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Figure 52. Master and slaves play lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 53. Setting up a hot folder for record list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
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Figure 54. Example of Storage.xml file (version 5.5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Figure 55. Example of default new file Storage.xml (version 5.6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 56. Concatenating files - file parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 57. Adding an FTP Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure 58. Modifying ASI output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure 59. Modifying an output action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Figure 60. Modifying a network output - context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Figure 61. Modifying a network output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Figure 62. Removing a multiplexed output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Figure 63. Pass Through with Mux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 64. Setting Pass Trough PSI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Figure 65. Advanced PSI dialog (DVB). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Figure 66. Remap dialog (DVB standard). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Figure 67. Choosing the data type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure 68. Duplicated values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Figure 69. Audio PID Mapping Algorithm Presentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 70. Adding/removing an audio PID. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 71. Newly added PIDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Figure 72. Multiplexed output with duplicated values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Figure 73. Duplicated values message information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Figure 74. Example of service with duplicated PID values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Figure 75. Setting network advanced parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Figure 76. Filtering audio and data PID. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 77. Filtered PIDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 78. Advanced Demux parameters dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Figure 79. Transrated service indicators (icon on Tree view/overlay on service thumbnail). . . 102
Figure 80. Actions on play lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 81. Actions on record lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 82. Analysis parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Figure 83. Directory selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Figure 84. File selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Figure 85. Installing a GPI box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Figure 86. Setting the GPI box network parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Figure 87. Adding the GPI box to the GUI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Figure 88. Configuration of a serial port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 89. Enabling automation system for record list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 90. Ad-insertion standard workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Figure 91. External splicer settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Figure 92. National/Local switching functioning overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Figure 93. Play list for national/local switching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Figure 94. Multiplexing outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Figure 95. Multiplexed output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Figure 96. SI management with OpenMux®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Figure 97. Client preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Figure 98. Flashing "connection lost" message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Figure 99. Inputs panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Figure 100. ASI inputs items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Figure 101. Network input items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Figure 102. Drive input items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Figure 103. Outputs panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Figure 104. ASI output items with OpenMux®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Figure 105. Network output items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Figure 106. Drive output item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Figure 107. Main Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Figure 108. ASI board context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Figure 109. Ethernet board context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 110. Drive input context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Figure 111. ASI input context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
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Figure 112. Ethernet input connector context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Figure 113. ASI and Ethernet output board context menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Figure 114. ASI output connector context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Figure 115. Ethernet output connector context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Figure 116. FTP disk context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Figure 117. Services context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Figure 118. Input Services view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Figure 119. Tree view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Figure 120. ASI board (PassPro) with unused connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Figure 121. Ethernet board Information view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Figure 122. Drive Information view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Figure 123. ASI Output connector Information view (Pia+/PassPro). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Figure 124. Input Information view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Figure 125. Histogram View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Figure 126. Logs view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Figure 127. Files view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Figure 128. Customization menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Figure 129. Customizing columns dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Figure 130. Modifying the stream information from the Files view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Figure 131. Play list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Figure 132. Segment definition dialog (play list). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Figure 133. GPI settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Figure 134. In band settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Figure 135. Default trigger button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Figure 136. Default play list triggers settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Figure 137. Mounting view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Figure 138. Slider part between In and Out points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Figure 139. Frame accurate, GOP accurate and TS durations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Figure 140. Trace Loader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Figure 141. Client preferences dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Figure 142. Current error state. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Figure 143. Typical redundancy architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Figure 144. Trace Loader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Figure 145. Trace management options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Figure 146. Accessing the Dump to file menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Figure 147. Start and end of dump process in the Logs view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Figure 148. SNMP agent service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Figure 149. Sapphire MIB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Figure 150. Adding a trap destination in the SNMP configuration file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Figure 151. Defining a redirection in the SNMP configuration file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Page 12/216
Page 13/216
List of Tables
Table 1. List of accessories delivered with all systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Table 2. Delay line’s behaviour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table 3. Text format fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Table 4. Advanced PSI parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Table 5. Performed analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Table 6. File & Directory selection on remote server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Table 7. Rights and options per user group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Table 8. Server menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Table 9. View menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Table 10. Option menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Table 11. Window menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Table 12. Help menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Table 13. Symbols used in the Output services view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Table 14. Symbols used in play and record lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Table 15. Generic context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Table 16. ASI board context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Table 17. Ethernet board context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Table 18. Drive input context menu item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Table 19. ASI input context menu item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Table 20. Ethernet input context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Table 21. ASI output connector context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Table 22. Ethernet output connector context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Table 23. FTP disk context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Table 24. Services logos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Table 25. Services context menu items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Table 26. Logs menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Table 27. Color codes in the Files view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Table 28. Stream edition menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Table 29. Toolbar buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Table 30. Play & record list fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Table 31. Navigation buttons in the Mounting view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Table 32. Edition buttons in the Mounting view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Table 33. Rights panel fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Table 34. Client preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Table 35. Drag & drop facilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Table 36. Play list drag & drop facilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Table 37. Listed errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Table 38. AC power source characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Table 39. Safety/EMC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Table 40. Environmental characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Table 41. Mechanical characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Table 42. GPI characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Table 43. Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Table 44. Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Table 45. ASI, IP and GES Inputs and Outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Table 46. Functional limits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Table 47. List of errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Table 48. Segmentation descriptor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Table 49. Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Page 14/216
Page 15/216
Revision History
Appl. to
Documentation update &
Version Date Author product
explanations
version
Document creation and update for

G 12-Dec-2008 H. Le Tutour 05.05
version 05.05
1.0 17-Mar-2009 N. Kerzreho Update for version 05.06 05.06
Page 16/216 Introduction

1. Introduction
1.1. Scope
This manual provides installation, first-time operating instructions, product tutorial and
reference for the following Thomson Sapphire video server components & features:
• Recording and playing out MPEG-2 TS media,
• Operating play lists and record lists,
• Importing and editing video clips,
• Managing ASI inputs and outputs,
• Managing Gigabit Ethernet inputs and outputs,
• Multiplexing MPEG programs,
• Operating splicing and ad-insertion,
• Interfacing with automation systems,
• Interfacing with SCTE30 splicers,
• Operating time-delay,
• Performing MPEG media ingest.
1.2. Related Documents
No other documents are needed to use the video server equipment.
1.3. Manual Structure
The manual is organized into the following sections:
Introduction Page 17/216

Getting Started
This section contains an overview of the product and basic instructions on unpacking,
installing and operating the system. Moreover, it provides procedures for checking that the
system is functioning properly as well as repackaging information.
Operating Basics
This section provides a detailed description of the product and a brief tutorial that shows
how the applications are used. Operating Basics also provides a comprehensive list of the
buttons, icons, and menu selections for the applications.
Advanced Settings
This section completes the Tutorial with more advanced settings on the SAPPHIRE system.
Reference
This section provides a detailed reference for all the applications of the SAPPHIRE system.
Related Issues
This section provides an overview of SAPPHIRE-related issues.
Appendices
This section provides detailed information on SAPPHIRE specifications and related

installation procedures, as well as complementary information.
1.4. Manual Conventions
The following notes may appear in this manual:
WARNING. Warning statements identify conditions or practices that could

result in injury or loss of life.
CAUTION. Caution statements identify conditions or practices that could

result in damage to this product or other property.

NOTE. Note statements identify additional information pointed out to your

attention.
Naming conventions for the interface elements and Windows elements in this manual follow
the Microsoft Manual of Style, Third Edition. Naming conventions for MPEG-2, ATSC, and
DVB structures follow the conventions derived from the standards documents listed above.
In addition, the following formatting conventions apply to this manual:
Bold text refers to specific interface elements that you are instructed to select, click, or
clear.
Example: Select Settings from the Configuration menu.
Italic text refers to document names or sections. Italics are also used to refer to a named
item when it is first described.
Example: See Details Panel for more information.
Example: A transport stream (also called a multiplex) is an ordered series of bytes

representing valid MPEG-2, DVB, or ATSC elements.
Mono-spaced text can indicate the following:
- Text you enter from a keyboard
Example: Enter administrator for your login and MPEG2 for your password.
- Characters you press on your keyboard
Example: Press CTRL+C to copy the selected text.
- Paths to components on your hard drive
Example: The MIB is at the following location: C:\MIB.
1.5. General Safety Instructions
Please observe the following safety precautions to avoid injury and prevent damage to this
product or any products connected to it.
These servicing instructions are for use by qualified personnel only.
1.5.1. Safety Precautions
Avoid electric overload
Do not apply a mains voltage that is outside the range specified in this manual.

Circuit Overloading: considerations should be given to the connection of the equipment

to the supply circuit and the effect that overloading of the circuits might have on overcurrent
protection and supply wiring. Appropriate consideration of equipment nameplate ratings
should be used when addressing this concern.
Reliable earthing (required for UL)
Ensure that your device is properly grounded before power-up. Grounding is through the
power cords.
Mains power and circuit overloading (required for UL)
The connection panel should comply with the legislation in force in the country of
installation.
Connection panel position in the rack must ensure that plugs and power cords are within
easy reach for switching off purposes.
Use Proper Power Cord. Use only the power cord specified for this product and certified
for the country of use.
Rack Mounting instructions (required for UL)
Elevated Operating Ambient: If installed in a closed or multi-unit rack assembly, the

operating air ambient temperature of the rack environment may be greater than room
ambient.
Provide proper ventilation as described in section 2.3.3. Ventilation to keep the equipment
in an environment compatible with the maximum ambient temperature specified by the
manufacturer (see section Specifications).
Reduced Air Flow: Installation of the equipment in a rack should be such that the amount
of air flow required for safe operation of the equipment is not compromised.
Mechanical loading: Mounting of the equipment in the rack should be such that a
hazardous condition is not achieved due to uneven mechanical loading.
Reliable earthing (required for UL):
Reliable earthing of rack-mounted equipment should be maintained.
Particular attention should be given to supply connections other than direct connections to
the branch circuit (e.g. use of power strips).
Power disconnecting: disconnect power before removing protective panel, soldering or

replacing components (these operations can be performed by qualified service personnel
only).
Do not operate without covers
To avoid electric shock or fire hazard, do not operate this equipment with cover or blank
panels removed.
Do Not Service Alone. Do not perform internal service or adjustments of this product
unless another person capable of rendering first aid and resuscitation is present.
Do not operate in explosive atmosphere
To avoid injury or fire hazard, do not operate this product in an explosive environment
(atmosphere and materials).
Do not operate in wet/damp conditions

To avoid electric shock, this product should only be operated in dry conditions.
Avoid Exposed Circuitry. Do not touch exposed connections and components when
power is present.
Use Care When Servicing With Power On. Dangerous voltages or currents may exist in
this product. Disconnect power, remove battery (if applicable), and disconnect test leads
before removing protective panels, soldering, or replacing components.
If the chassis has more than one power supply cord, disconnect all power supply cords
before servicing.
Handling precautions (Weight >18 kg)
When fully equipped, the chassis can be heavy (see section Specifications for more
details). To avoid injury, it is therefore advisable to take all the necessary precautions when
installing the device in a rack (or removing it from a rack).
Ask another person for help or use an adapted carry lift.
Replacement of lithium battery
The product includes a lithium battery which should never require replacing. If for any
reason replacement does prove necessary, please observe the following conditions:
The operation must only be performed by qualified personnel.
Caution: Danger of explosion if battery is incorrectly replaced. Replace only with the
same or equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer, dispose of used batteries
according to the manufacturer's instruction.
Attention: Il y a danger d'explosion s'il y a remplacement incorrect de la batterie.

Remplacer uniquement avec une batterie du même type ou d'un type équivalent
recommandé par le constructeur. Mettre au rebut les batteries usagées conformément aux
instructions du fabricant.
Do not dispose of batteries with the general household waste.
Specific safety instructions for Finland, Norway and Sweden
Finland: Laite on liitettävä suojamaadoituskoskettimilla varustettuun pistorasiaan.
Norway: Apparatet må tilkoples jordet stikkontakt.
Sweden: Apparaten skall anslutas till jordat uttag.
1.5.2. Product Damage Precautions
Fitting Observe the installation instructions in section 2.3.1. Rack Mounting.
Dusty atmosphere As the device features no air filter, it must be installed in a dust free
environment.
Provide proper ventilation
Provide proper ventilation to prevent product overheating. Refer to section 2.3.3.

Ventilation. All empty slots should be fitted with blank panels (mask plates) so as not to
impair ventilation.
Do not operate with suspected failures

If you suspect there is damage to this product, have it inspected by qualified service
personnel.
Replacing components Only use components from or approved by Thomson.
Retain original packaging
If equipment is returned to the Customer Services Department, the faulty device must be
packed where possible in its original packaging (protective corners and boxes). Observe
the packaging guidelines described in section 3.4.1. Repackaging for Shipment.
Use Proper Fuse. Use only the fuse type and rating specified for this product.
Do Not Operate Without Covers. Do not operate this product with covers or panels
removed.
Keep Product Surfaces Clean and Dry.


2. Getting Started
This section will help you install your SAPPHIRE video server and configure it.
2.1. Product Overview
2.1.1. Hardware Overview
The video server application is made up of the following elements:
• a keyboard and a mouse,
• a server,
• a set of boards:
- one or two ASI boards (1, 2, 3 or 4 inputs & outputs),
- and/or a NIC network adapter,
- a Gigabit Ethernet Streaming (GES) card.
The video server platform is designed around a PC server platform running a Windows™
2003 Server.
Each input (one, two or four ASI inputs or network inputs) can receive an MPEG-2 TS
stream. Incoming signals for ASI or IP inputs can be de-multiplexed. These streams can be
stored on-disk depending on time slots or events defined in a record list. They can then be
reused in broadcasting lists so as to create a channel composed of live and stored files.
The input stream can also be sent directly to one output (live). All the generated channels
can be multiplexed to create an MPTS over ASI.
Page 24/216 Getting Started

Figure 1. System overview.
2.1.2. Software Overview
The video server is an MPEG-2 DVB or ATSC transport stream server that can handle
several inputs and generate several MPEG-2 Transport Stream outputs. Inputs can be
either SPTS (single program transport streams) or MPTS (multiple programs transport
streams) with SD or HD content.
Video server standard inputs are based on ASI boards and/or network cards. They have
the following characteristics:
• Incoming Transport Streams with packets of 188 or 204 (ASI only) bytes,
• DVB-ASI interfaces in byte mode or packet mode.
2.1.2.1. Actions Performed for Incoming, Stored & Output Streams
• De-multiplexing of incoming stream,
• Selecting one or several input services in incoming streams,
• Storing useful data only (188 bytes per packet),
Getting Started Page 25/216

• Manual recording & playback: a TS is directly played back or stored for a user-
defined duration,
• Record list and play list: programs recording can be scheduled through a record
list. Programs playback can be scheduled through a play-list,
• Frame-accurate editing: each stored clip may be edited before being broadcast by
setting In and Out points,
• Frame and GOP accurate splicing: performed between each event in the play list.
Splicing may be operated between a live program and a stored clip, between two
stored clips or between two live programs,
• Near Video On Demand: a main output play list is delayed to one or more slave play
lists,
• Real-time embedded re-multiplexing for ASI output: powered by the OpenMux®

technology, the video server can handle several play lists, live streams and delayed
streams simultaneously and in real time. It therefore creates an MPEG-2, DVB or
ATSC-compliant multiplexing output that can be directly connected to a modulator,
• Performing analysis using sampling of the stored streams, the incoming live
streams and the playback streams (loss of synchronization, rate from PCR, presence
of components based on PID value, decoding and display of thumbnails, consistency
of MPEG-2/DVB or ATSC tables).
2.1.2.2. Connection to the Server
Each client connects to one SAPPHIRE server.
Figure 2. SAPPHIRE client overview.

The video server software runs on the server. Client applications can be triggered on
another Windows™ 2000 or Windows™ XP operating system located on the same LAN or
WAN.
2.2. Unpacking
Table 1 lists the accessories that are always shipped with your system. Use this list to
ensure that your order is complete.
More accessories can be delivered depending on options you chose.
Table 1: List of accessories delivered with all systems
Quantity Description
Server machine including input/output board (ASI and/or

1
Ethernet board)
1 Installation and documentation CD-ROM
1 Keyboard and mouse
1 Certificate of conformity
1 Return for repair form
2.3. Hardware Installation
This section provides instructions to install your system and make the necessary electrical
connections. The system can be operated from a bench or mounted in a rack.
2.3.1. Rack Mounting
The product can be mounted in a 19" rack:
• Ensure that it is firmly and safely located.
• Do not use this product to support any other equipment.

2.3.2. Power Supply and Earthing
Once you have installed your product and completed making the signal, network, and
peripheral connections:
1. Ensure that the on/off switch is switched "off". If the product is not fitted with an on/
off switch ensure the local main supply is switched off.
2. Plug the device end of power cable to the product's main connector(s).
3. Plug the power cable to the local main power supply.
2.3.2.1. AC Power Supply
CAUTION. Supply power to the product with the type of power source
indicated on the marking label.
Mains Voltage Range. You can power the product from mains without setting a voltage
selection switch (see section Specifications for more details on the voltage).
Mains Frequency. The product operates on either 50 Hz or 60 Hz line frequencies.
See Appendix A. Specifications for a full power supply specification.
CAUTION. Never plug a supply unit which is not connected to a server.
CAUTION. To prevent damage, protect the product from power fluctuations

and temporary interruptions with a regulating no interruptible
power supply. This device protects the hardware from damage
caused by power surges and voltage spikes. In addition, it allows
the product to operate temporarily during a power failure.
2.3.2.2. Power Supply Cord
NOTE. The power supply cord should comply with the legislation in force in
the country of installation
CAUTION. Do not supply power to the product until all connections have been
made.

2.3.2.3. Protective Earth
WARNING. The product is designed for connection to an earth-grounded AC

outlet and must be correctly earthed through the main outlet end
of cable.
WARNING. The product is designed for connection to an earth-grounded AC

outlet. To avoid risk of electrical shock or equipment damage, do
not disable the grounding plug.
2.3.2.4. EMC Earth (If present)
The product has an EMC earth terminal located at the end panel. This earth is not a
protective earth for electric shock protection. EMC connection is recommended to ensure
ground equipotentiality between the different devices of the technical centre (only one
connection is required per device).
The bonding strip must have a cross-section of 6mm² and a length of less than 500mm.
2.3.3. Ventilation
Note that the failure rate is quickly increasing with the temperature. Consequently, the
following precautions should be observed:
• Prevent hot air from one device being re-injected into other devices;
• Ensure adequate distribution of air flows to the air intakes of the devices;
• Avoid effects due to natural convection between devices;
• Avoid hot/cold air short-circuits;
• Avoid transverse effects for coupled racks;
• Avoid thermal stuffings (hot air stoppers);
• Check the air flows: the rack should ensure a sufficient supply of cold air and
sufficient evacuation of hot air (depending on the number of devices mounted in the
rack and their corresponding air flows);
• Leave enough room for a column of air (min. 50mm deep) at the rear of the chassis,
from the bottom to the top of the rack.

2.3.4. Rear Panel Connectors
By default, your system is only equipped with standard IP inputs and outputs. An optional
ASI board and/or an optional network card can be added.
2.3.4.1. Supermicro Infodip Platform
2.3.4.1.1. SC833 Platform

Until version 05.03 included, SAPPHIRE was shipped on a SC833 Supermicro Infodip
platform.
Rear System Fan Slots (2)
Full Size PCI

Expansion Slots
Power Supply
Back panel I/O ports
Figure 3. SC833 rear chassis view.
NOTE. Figure 3 shows the standard configuration of the SC833 platform.

Sapphire’s rear chassis is slightly different. Refer to Figure 4 for the
back panel detail.
Figure 4. SC833 I/O back panel zoomed in.
2.3.4.1.2. SC836 Platform

From version 05.04, SAPPHIRE is shipped on a SC836 Supermicro Infodip platform.

Figure 5. SC836 rear chassis view.
Figure 6. SC836 I/O back panel zoomed in.
2.3.4.2. ASI Connectors Distribution
The ASI connectors depend on the type of board (Pia+ or PassPro) the system is equipped
with.
NOTE. In software version 05.05, the trigger inputs are not used. Triggers are
managed by an external GPI box.
2.3.4.2.1. Pia+
ASI connectors are dispatched.

Figure 7. 1 Input + 1 output ASI connectors (+ 1 trigger input).
Figure 8. 2 inputs + 2 outputs (+ 2 trigger inputs).
Figure 9. 3 inputs + 3 outputs (with 3 trigger inputs).

Figure 10. 4 inputs + 4 outputs (with 4 trigger inputs).
2.3.4.2.2. PassPro
1 or 2 inputs
Figure 11. PassPro brackets for 1 input + 1 output or 2 inputs + 2 outputs.
The second input and output will be deactivated by the software in the case of 1 ASI I/O
server configuration.

3 or 4 inputs
Figure 12. PassPro brackets for 3 inputs + 3 outputs or 4 inputs + 4 outputs.
2.3.4.2.3. GES Board Connectors
Fiber 0 Copper 0 Copper 1 Fiber 1
Figure 13. GES connectors.
2.3.4.3. Network Cards
Connect your network inputs and outputs directly on the network cards. Integrated network
cards shall be used for supervision and configuration only. Additional network cards are
used to stream data (multicast or unicast mode).
NOTE. It is recommended to connect all network cards.
2.3.5. Connecting System I/O Ports
Before starting your server, connect your inputs on the ASI connectors and network
connectors. The server will automatically detect ASI inputs when it initially starts up.

2.4. Starting the System
The video server application is based on two parts: the server (Video server) and the
Graphical Interface (Video client).
2.4.1. Login
2.4.1.1. Locally
Log on to the local machine (domain) using the following parameters:
• username: administrator
• password: videoserver
2.4.1.2. From a Remote Desktop
So as to prevent multiple processes from saturating the server activity, the following
procedure will let you prevent multiple connections to the server.
1. From the Windows Start menu, go to Programs | Accessories | Communications.
2. Right-click Remote Desktop Connection and select Properties.
Figure 14. Accessing the remote desktop connections properties.
3. Go to the Shortcut tab.
4. In the Target field, append the following string to the default path provided by
Windows: " /console /v", i.e. the resulting content of the Target field shall be
"%SystemRoot%\system32\mstsc.exe /console /v"

Figure 15. Remote desktop connection properties.
NOTE. There shall be an empty string after mstsc.exe, and another one after
console.
5. Click Apply, and then OK.
2.4.2. Starting the Server & the Client
The Video server application is launched automatically when the system starts up.
To configure and supervise your video server, use the video client application. You can
open it from the Windows Start menu selecting Programs | THOMSON | Video Client or
using the desktop shortcut ( ).
The TCP/IP port used between the Client and the Server is 4012.
To prevent unauthorized modifications to the configuration, handling rights are determined

through the use of two user profiles:
• Supervisor,
• Configurator.

2.4.2.1. Supervisor Rights
Supervisors can use the video client software for monitoring purposes. However, they
cannot modify the configuration on the server. In other words, Supervisors cannot add,
scan, modify, remove inputs, outputs nor filter, change rate nor perform drag & drops.
Supervisors can add, modify or remove elements in lists. They can also set or reset analysis
parameters.
To set Supervisor rights (default profile), select User mode from the Server menu. The
Mode definition dialog is displayed. Select Supervisor and click OK to validate. No
password is necessary for the Supervisor mode.
2.4.2.2. Configurator Rights
Configurators are allowed to access all video server features.
To set Configurator rights, select User mode from the Server menu. Then, select
Configurator, enter the password and validate.
By default, the password is blank. To change the password, select Password from the
Options menu. Enter the current password. Then, enter a new password and click OK to
validate.
If the current password is erroneous, an error message is displayed. The new password is
set if the current password is correct and the dialog has been validated.
2.4.3. Exiting the Application
To exit the client application, simply close the client software. Select Exit from the Server
menu.
If the Save window position option is set on the client (see Preferences from the Option
menu), the position and size of windows will be the same the next time the application is
started.
NOTE. Do not stop the Video Server application on the server, except for
reinstallation purpose.

CAUTION. When using input 1 (ASI in 1) and/or input 3 (ASI in 3) of the

PassPro board, if the application is stopped, every signal that
comes in input 1 is automatically duplicated on output 1, and every
signal that comes in input 3 is automatically duplicated on output 3.
E.g.: A signal coming in input 1 is expected to be broadcast
12 hours later. If the application is not running, Sapphire will not be
able to apply the delay line and the content will be broadcast on
output 1 immediately, without the expected delay.
This functioning does not apply to inputs 2 (ASI in 2) and 4 (ASI in
4): signal is not duplicated and nothing goes out from output 2 and
4. For sensible content, it is then strongly advised to used inputs 2
or 4.
Refer to 2.3.4.2.2. PassPro to see the location of inputs.
2.4.4. Restarting the Video Server Application from a Client
From the Server menu, you may restart the Video Server Application by clicking the
Restart server menu item.
See the chapter CAUTION. above.
2.4.5. Shutting Down the System
You do not need to exit the applications before shutting down the server.
Select Shut Down from the Windows 2003 Server Start menu.
See the chapter CAUTION. above.


3. Operating Basics
This section provides a functional overview of the product modules and a tutorial that will
show you how the modules work together.
NOTE. If you are not familiar with the Windows operating systems, please
read the documentation supplied with your system.
3.1. Functional Overview
3.1.1. Time Delay
So as to handle the time difference between the geographical zones, the video server can
simultaneously delay several MPTS for a duration ranging from a few seconds to several
hours. The video server can delay an input stream or group of incoming services to several
outputs, using different delay durations for each. The input stream can be filtered to store
selected data only.
Page 40/216 Operating Basics

U U U U E
S S S S U
A A A A R
O
T T T T P
I I I I E
M M M M
E E E E S
T
Z Z Z Z D
O O O O
N N N N T
E E E E I
M
4 3 2 1 E
Delay
#3 #2 #1
#4
The same programs are broadcast

a few hours later at the same time
Figure 16. Time delay.
3.1.2. Manual Record and Manual Play Capabilities
The video server can use any input or group of incoming services to perform manual record
of the stream on the disks. The input stream can also be filtered so that only selected data
is stored on the disks. Recording is started manually and can be stopped automatically or
manually when the selected duration is reached. The video server can play out any content
stored on the disks to any output in a manual operation. In and Out points can be set and
a clip can be played in a loop.
Manual record
from any input to
disks
Manual play to any

output from disks using
begin & end locators
Figure 17. Manual record and manual play.
Operating Basics Page 41/216

3.1.3. Play and Record Lists
The video server can be used to record events from any incoming stream (i.e. the so-called
segments).
If you don’t want to play this program
Regular Program
Broadcast Europe
8:30 10:30
AM AM
Modified Program
Broadcast Europe
8:30 10:30
AM AM
…broadcast another one, recorded earlier
Figure 18. Stream substitution.
Recorded contents, stored clips and live sources can be mixed into a play list for channel
play list applications.
Two schedule modes are available:
• weekly: all events in the list are permanent and can therefore be periodically run.
• dated: once an event has been processed, it is automatically removed from the list.
3.1.4. Near Video On Demand (NVOD)
Near Video On Demand (NVOD) is also called Advanced PPV (Pay-Per-View) or Enhanced
PPV. Typically, in the NVOD context, an entertainment or information service broadcasts a
common set of programs to customers over a schedule basis.
NVOD is particularly useful to delay an output play list. The master play list can have
several slave play lists, each of which has its own delay, totally independent from the
others. Only recorded segments can be added to the Master play list.

T0 T0 + Δ1 T0 + Δn
Figure 19. Master & slave play lists in Near Video On Demand.
3.1.5. Media Ingest
Combined with the THOMSON ViBE encoder family, Sapphire Broadcast Server offers a
high quality frame-accurate media ingest solution. Since it is able to control any VTR and
any ViBE encoder in a frame accurate way, the video server produces MPEG files starting
and ending on GOP boundaries, at the first and last user-defined pictures.
Figure 20. Media ingest channel dialog.

3.1.6. Ad Insertion
The Sapphire Broadcast server is able to operate play list-based channels, mixing live
sources (acquired from one of the server inputs) and file-based clips. Because it features
an integrated splicer, it performs seamless and GOP or frame-accurate transitions between
play list events.
The Sapphire Broadcast server can also operate in combination with an external splicer,
through the standard SCTE-130 messaging protocol.
3.1.7. Media File Concatenation
The Sapphire Broadcast server offers the ability to concatenate multiple clips (or portions
of clips) into one single MPEG file. It makes it possible to build a play list-like sequence of
clips and to run it at a high-speed. The video server then processes the clips and produces
a merged clip, featuring seamless and frame or GOP accurate transitions.

3.2. Graphical User Interface
Title bar
Menu bar
Toolbar
Inputs view
Outputs view
Input
connectors
Output
connectors
Tabular views
Logs view
Status bar
Figure 21. Graphical user interface.
The Sapphire GUI is composed of:
• A Title bar that indicates the name of the video server.
• A Menu bar that lets you parameter the GUI display.
• A Toolbar that provides commands related to connection and logs or alarms.
• An Inputs view that displays the input connectors and streams.
• An Outputs view that displays the output connectors and streams.
• A Logs view that provides with the list of logged messages.
• A Status bar that contains information on the status of the equipment.
Both Inputs and Outputs views are divided into two areas:
• the left area displays the physical MPEG interfaces and connectors: ASI boards and
connectors, network cards and streams, drives and recording actions (in outputs
only).
• the right area displays tabular views: you can reach the Services, Tree,
Information, Histogram and Files tabs depending on what is currently selected in
the left part.

Refer to the Reference section for a complete GUI description.
Actions on the video server are performed using drag & drop actions.
Right click on elements to display possible actions.
For more information, refer to the section 5.2.17. Drag & Drop Facilities.
3.3. Tutorial
This section contains a step-by-step tutorial that will introduce you to the capabilities and
features of the SAPPHIRE video server. Other features are described in the Advanced
Settings section. Refer to the Section 5. Reference, p. 124 section for detailed operating
information for each module.
3.3.1. Scanning Inputs
To receive live sources from a video server input, it is first necessary to scan it. If the input
contains MPEG 2 PSI/SI/PSIP tables, the video server detects and adds the services
automatically.
All the new inputs can be scanned simultaneously - which is the case when the server is
started up for the first time - or independently.
3.3.1.1. Scanning New Inputs (ASI only)
The Scan new input feature lets you scan all ASI inputs that are not already created and
add inputs that contain streams.
Proceed as follows:
1. Right-click an input board (not the input itself, but its board).
2. Select Scan New Input.
Figure 22. Scanning new inputs.

3. A confirmation is required. Click OK to validate.
Any new connector with a valid signal is added (default names are Input x). Services for
new inputs are added to the Services view.
Already existing inputs are not affected nor scanned.
3.3.1.2. Scanning Existing Inputs
The Scan input feature lets you scan the input stream to determine (using its tables) the
content of the stream.
Proceed as follows:
1. Right-click an input.
2. Select Scan.
If the services are found to have changed, they will be updated: new services will be added
and services that no longer exist will be removed. This is true only is if the input is not used
by an output or a record.
The input rate will be updated if it is different from the signal rate.
3.3.1.3. Adding a New ASI Input & Scanning its Content
Proceed as follows:
1. Right-click the relevant ASI board and select Add Input.
If at least one connector is available and you have Configurator rights, the Board
Connectors dialog is displayed.
NOTE. If all inputs have already been created, a message is displayed. It is

not possible to add a connector.

Figure 23. Adding a new ASI input: connector selection.
2. Select the connector to be added (Connector 1 to 4). Connectors that are already
created cannot be selected and are grayed. Default connector name is Input x,
where x is the connector’s number. This name can be changed and will be displayed
in the connector view, under the connector image.
Underneath the list of connectors, there is a representation of the physical

connectors on the ASI board. When a connector is selected in the top list of
connectors, the one on the picture is lit up.
3. Click Finish to add the input connector and scan its services.
If no signal is present, you will need to use the Scan Input option (from the connectors
context menu) once you will have plugged in the signal.

3.3.1.4. Adding a New MPEG over IP Input & Scanning its Content
NOTE. The Add input feature cannot be reached if all inputs are already
created (the maximum number of network outputs has been reached),
if you do not have Configurator rights or if the connection is lost.
Proceed as follows:
1. Right-click the Ethernet board and select Add Input.
The Network Address dialog is displayed.
Figure 24. Ethernet input parameters dialog.
2. Set the following parameters:
- Name: name of the network input.
- Protocol: select one of the two network protocols: UDP or RTP.
NOTE. Unicast addresses are in the 127.0.0.1 to 223.255.255.255 default

range. Multicast addresses are in the 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255
default range. Min./Max. unicast/multicast ranges can be set in the
registry.
- IP address.
3. Click Finish.
The network card name is added under the Ethernet board.
If no signal is present, you will need to use the Scan option (from the Ethernet input’s
context menu) once you will have plugged in the signal.

3.3.2. Managing Dummy Services
Dummy services can be created when defining a play list or a record output. To understand
the scope of dummy services, let us suppose that in a given bouquet, the number of
services offered varies regularly.
For example, at time T = 0, 4 services are broadcast, whereas at time T = 5, 5 services are
broadcast. Let us suppose that, at time T = 0, you wish to schedule a recording action to be
performed at time T = 5. For all the 5 services to be taken into account and recorded, you
must define 1 dummy service. If you do not do so, only 4 services will be recorded; in other
words, only the services present at time = 0 will be taken into account.
To add a dummy service, proceed as follows:
1. Right-click in the input Services view.
2. Select Add from the context menu.
Figure 25. Adding a dummy service.
The Service parameters dialog is displayed.
Figure 26. Setting the dummy service.
3. Set the values for the dummy service.

By default, each PID is set to a null value. There is no audio PID and no data PID.
4. Click OK.
The dummy service is added to the input Services view.
Figure 27. Dummy service in the input services view.
To remove a dummy service, proceed as follows:
1. Right-click the dummy service.
2. Select Remove from the context menu.
3. Confirm your choice by clicking Yes.
The dummy service is no longer displayed in the input Services view.
NOTE. Dummy services can also be removed while scanning the input.
3.3.3. Recording
3.3.3.1. Performing a Manual Record
You can record any stream or group of services that are currently on the input (multiple
selection is enabled in the input Services view). This can be done through a manual start
and stop operation.
To create the record action:
1. Drop a service, a selection of several services or the input item (ASI or Ethernet)
onto an output drive.
2. Define the output action in the displayed dialog: select Manual record.

Figure 28. Output actions dialog.
3. Click Next to continue.
The Advanced setting dialog is displayed.
Figure 29. Recording rate definition.
NOTE. The Enable audio PID option is enabled if at least one audio PID is
selected.
The Enable data PID option is enabled if at least one data PID is
selected.
To view the selected PIDs, click Remap.
An estimated total rate for the selected services is displayed. This rate is actually the sum
of the maximum rate of each service at the time of output creation. The maximum rate of
each service is calculated by the video server. An offset is added to prevent overflow.
4. Define the recording rate and click Finish.
The Manual record is created and an item is added under the selected output drive.

Figure 30. Manual record added.
Figure 31. Manually recorded service.
Recorded services are displayed in the output Services view. An overlay indicating manual
recording is added to the bottom left corner of the service.
If several services have been selected, each service is displayed in the Services view. In
this case, of course, all services are recorded.
5. Click the hand overlay in the bottom-left corner of the manual record thumbnail.
The Manual record dialog is displayed.
Figure 32. Manual record view.

NOTE. If you are performing a Manual record on an FTP server, you only need
to fill in the Filename and Duration fields. The Segmentation based
on EIT option is not available. All other fields and options are available.
6. Fill in the Directory, Filename and Duration fields. The free space on disk is
indicated in the Free field in the following format: day, hour, minute, seconds.
7. You may enable the automatic segmentation feature based on EIT by checking the
Segmentation based on EIT box. A new segment will then be created in the file
view for each EIT event.
8. You may enable the file splitting feature by enabling the Automatic file splitting
option. This feature lets you divide your recording into several files. You choose the
periodicity of file changing, i.e. you define the time interval between each new file
creation.
9. When you are done with your settings, click the button to start recording.
While recording, the thumbnail (provided it is not scrambled) is continually updated. A

progress bar is displayed.
It provides information on the current position in the file.
Figure 33. Service being recorded.
Split files can be concatenated using the simple DOS command show below:
copy /b video1.TRP+video2.TRP+video3.TRP+video4.TRP+video5.TRP
d:\MyVideo.TRP
3.3.3.2. Creating a Record List
NOTE. Record lists are also available for network inputs and outputs.
To create a record list:
1. Drop a service, a selection of several services or the input item (ASI or Ethernet)
onto an output drive.
2. In the displayed dialog, to create the record list, select Record list and click Next.
3. Set the record rate and click Next.

Figure 34. Record list parameters.
Figure 35. Enable Delete segment after record.
4. Set the record list parameters:
- Delete segment after record: if enabled, the segment is automatically deleted

after record.
- Automatic renaming option: if enabled, the date is automatically added in the

filename so as to avoid overwriting previously recorded files.
- Input delay: used to start a recording action earlier than the requested start time.

Figure 36. Input delay scheme.
- In the Streams directory for list field, you can click the button to select a
directory on the current drive if you wish to modify it.
When changing directories, a warning message indicates that all files present on-
disk in the former directory will be destroyed as soon as their duration exceeds the
period indicated in the Keep file during field.
NOTE. The drive is set and cannot be modified. It is the drive onto which the
selected services have been dropped for the record.
- Keep file during field: indicates that a recorded segment in that directory will no
longer be used once a certain time has elapsed after its creation. For example, all
segments that are created will no longer be used from after tomorrow at the same
time. If a ".trp" file is still present in that directory after this time lapse, it will be
destroyed. This value shall be set with great care because a file could be
destroyed too early if this value is too small, or never be destroyed if this value is
too big. Default value for this parameter is 0, i.e. files will be kept forever. This
option is very useful to prevent the pointless use of disk space and to destroy
useless files.
- Allow import list from hot folder option: if enabled, the current record list will be
updated with record list files stored on a drive. The hot folder is scanned every
20 seconds. If the scanned file is correct, the segments are added to the record
list. If not, an error message is added to the Logs view.
5. Once you have set all options, click Finish to create the record list. The record list
is created and the corresponding item is added under the selected output drive. The
recorded services are displayed in the output Services view and an overlay
indicating this service is in the record list is added to the bottom left corner of the
service.
6. Click the record list icon in the bottom-left corner of the overlay.
The Record List view is displayed. It is empty.

Figure 37. Record list view in maximized mode.
The name of the selected service corresponds to the title of the Record list view. In the
illustration, the service name is TMC and so is the record list's. When several services are
selected, the title is MPTS.
3.3.3.3. Inserting a Segment into a Record List
Once you have created a record list and opened the Record list dialog, you can insert
segments into your record list.
Let us suppose that you wish to insert a segment called Dancing on Thursday, at 11:30, for
10 minutes.
Proceed as follows:
1. Click the toolbar button.
2. In the displayed dialog, set the following parameters:
- Title: enter the name of the segment, e.g. Dancing.
- Start: keep the Start at option enabled and enter the begin time in the field, here.
2009 03 24 11:30:00.
- Stop: keep the Duration option enabled and enter the duration of the segment in
the field, here 0D 00:10:00.
To repeat the segment insertion, use the options:
- Periodic - (format is 0D 00:00:00). Select to display the option field. Use the field
(expressed in day, hour, minute, second) to enter the record periodicity, for
example:
ο every week (7D 00:00:00),
ο every day (1D 00:00:00),
ο every hour (0D 01:00:00)...
- Occurrency - (format is a free-text field). Select the option if you want to repeat a
record with the periodic settings...

NOTE. To enter values, either use the arrow buttons or type the values directly
from your keyboard.
Figure 38. Segment setting view (play list).
3. Click OK to validate. The Dancing segment is inserted at 11:30 AM.

A blank row is placed after and before the segment (see Figure 39).
NOTE. To insert a segment, right-click in one of the blank rows. Select the
row (previously or after) accordingly to the record time of the new
segment.
To insert a segment in a record list that already contains segments:
1. Click in the list
2. Select the time at which you wish to insert the new segment. The new segment will
be inserted after the selected one.
3. Proceed as described in the procedure above.
Example:In a list that already contains two segments, the first segment is named What's
on, starts on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and lasts 15 minutes. The second segment is named
Sport TV, starts at 12:00 AM and lasts 10 minutes. To insert the Dancing segment at 11:30
AM, you have select the What's on segment, because it ends at 11:15 AM and Sport TV
begins at 12:00 AM.

Figure 39. Record list with two segments.
NOTE. A segment can be inserted into a record list when another segment is
recording.
3.3.3.4. Creating an Ingest Channel
NOTE. Ingest channels can be created from both ASI and Network inputs.
The ingest channel features can be used to record video from a VTR to the local disk. To
create an ingest channel:
1. Drop a service item (ASI or Ethernet) onto an output drive.
2. In the displayed dialog, select Ingest Channel.
3. Choose a Com Port (COM1 in this case) and click Next.
4. If needed, set the record rate as for a manual record and click Next.
5. Set the Ingest channel parameters:
- Enter a name for the Ingest channel.
- In the Streams directory for list field, you can click the button to select a
directory on the current drive if you wish to modify it.
NOTE. The drive is set and cannot be modified. It is the drive onto which the
selected services have been dropped for the ingest channel.
- Encoder settings: this area enables the driving of a compatible encoder (e.g.
THOMSON’s ViBE encoder). Check the Control encoder box and enter the IP
Address of the encoder device and its Device ID.

6. Click Finish.
The Ingest channel is created and an item is added under the selected output drive.
7. Click the Ingest channel icon in the bottom-left corner of the overlay to display the
Ingest channel dialog.
Figure 40. Ingest channel dialog.
8. Fill in the Directory, the Filename and the Clipname fields. Then the free space on
disk is indicated in the following format: day, hour, minute, seconds.
- The duration is indicated. It depends on the In Point and Out Point settings.
- The VTR settings area shows the current time code on tape.
Use the buttons on both sides to step forward or backward by one frame.
The 4 buttons below are, from left to right: fast rewind, stop, play and fast forward.
The Set IN and Set OUT buttons may be used to copy the current VTR Time Code to the
In Point and Out Point settings respectively.
At the bottom of the VTR settings section, the status of the VTR is displayed.
9. When you are done with the settings, click the button to start the ingest
process.
3.3.3.5. Extracting Segments from a Record Loop (Delay Line)
Once you have recorded a stream on-disk, you may want to extract one or more segments
from this stream. To do so:
1. In the Inputs view, select the storage disk.
2. In the list of existing services, select the Record loop.
3. Double-click it to edit it in the Mounting view.

Only some actions are authorized: you may set an In point and an Out point, and then
extract the corresponding segment to create a new file.
Refer to the section 5.2.13. Mounting View for more details.
NOTE. The record loop can never be modified.
If the record loop has just been created, the area not yet written on the disk is colored red
on the slider. You may not perform any action on this red area.
The extracted segment also appears in the list of services. Its name is colored blue.
3.3.4. Using the Delay Feature
There are three ways of defining a delay line:
• in direct mode,
• from an existing record delay line,
• by modifying an output delay,
A delay line set on a drive can be reused several times.
3.3.4.1. Creating a Delay Line
Let us suppose that you want to delay a stream to several time zones.
For example Europe TV to:
• US time zone 1 (+6h),
• US time zone 2 (+7h),
• US time zone 3 (+8h)
• US time zone (+9h).
If you create a 9-hour record loop and four outputs having a 6, 7, 8 and 9-hour delay, you
will only use 9 hours of storage on the disk.
To create the delay line:
1. Drop a service or a selection of several services or the input item (ASI or Ethernet)
onto an output board (ASI or Ethernet/ATM), an output (ASI) or an output drive.
2. Depending on the target you have selected, a wizard lets you setup the output
parameters. Set the output parameters and click Next.
3. A new wizard opens. Select Delay line and then click Next.
The Setup the delay line parameters wizard is displayed.

Figure 41. Delay line parameters wizard.
4. Set the Max Delay (9 hours) and Delay (6 hours) values. The Free field indicates
the available duration on the disks to create the delay line.
- The Max Delay value corresponds to the buffer size on the drive allocated to delay
line. Its minimum value is 2 minutes and its maximum value is 6 days 23:59:59.
NOTE. The Max Delay duration can be increased later but never decreased.
- The Free value corresponds to the remaining space on drive, i.e. the maximum
size that can be allocated to the buffer.
- The Delay value corresponds to the current delay line. Its minimum value is
20 seconds and its maximum value equals the Max Delay value minus
20 seconds.
- The Drive value, which is one of those displayed in the GUI, can be modified. If
another drive is selected, the free space is updated.
- The Directory value can also be modified. To do so, proceed as follows:
ο Click the button,
ο Select a directory on the set drive,
NOTE. If you change parameters such as PID mapping or service name, the
record is done with original values and the remapping process is
applied to the output, providing different mappings for the outputs.
5. Click Finish to validate.
The delay line is created.
The output as well as the corresponding thumbnails located in the output Services view will
only be available once the recording has been sufficiently recorded (in this example, after
6 hours). The symbol (overlay) is added to the thumbnail to indicate that the record is
associated with a delay line.

Each recording delay line can be used several times to create more than one output delay
line. For each output, the rate and the output delay can vary.
3.3.4.2. Creating a Delay Line from an Existing Record Delay
Let us suppose that an output delay has already been defined. On the Outputs panel, there
is a record delay and an output delay.
Figure 42. Existing delay line (i.e. first one).
To create another output delay:
1. Drag and drop the record delay onto an output.
2. Set the output rate and click Next.
3. In the displayed wizard, the Delay line option is enabled by default.
4. Set the output delay (the only parameter that can be changed this time round) and
click Next.
The new output delay line is created.
Two output delay lines have been created from the same record but with different delays.
3.3.4.3. Modifying an Output Delay
Let us suppose that a delay line has been defined for a given service. In the Outputs panel,
a delay line for a service is indicated by a small symbol located in the bottom left corner
of the service thumbnail.

Figure 43. Delay line output.
The output delay value is indicated under each output service.
To view and modify an output delay value:
1. Click the button associated with the service.
2. The Delay dialog is displayed. Modify the output delay value.
The Max output delay value equals the max record delay value minus 20 seconds.
It lets you modify the set output delay line. Clicking the button triggers no action on the
record. In other words, you cannot modify the max delay in this way. To modify the max
delay, you have to modify the record item directly.
NOTE. Modifications to the delay are not seamless. Some mosaic effects or
black screens may occur at transition.
3. Click OK to validate.
NOTE. Modifying the delay will result in an interruption of the service in order
to shift the output delay to the newly defined value.
NOTE. All the services of a given output have the same delay. You cannot set
a different delay for each service.
3.3.4.4. Delay Line’s Behaviour
The delay line’s behaviour varies along with the type of input, as shown in Table 2: output
can be ASI or IP.

Table 2: Delay line’s behaviour.
Input Service interrupted

Server stopped or restarted
type (signal lost or connector unplugged)
During the whole interruption, the delay The ASI board keeps on recording stuffing.
line broadcasts in loop in output the last As a result, the delay line is never in error
20 seconds of signal. As soon as the signal and the service interruption is broadcast
ASI is back in input, the output broadcasts with the defined delay.
again with a delay error, and this for the
whole delay duration. The delay then
resynchronizes properly.
The loop file contains a part without signal. When the server restarts, the delay line is in
error (because there is a gap compared to the defined delay equivalent to the duration of
IP
interruption of the server). The error is present for the whole delay’s duration. The delay
then resynchronizes properly.
3.3.4.5. Creating a Play List Using a Loop
Use this option when you want to create a play list base on a delayed live input. This
enables you to set the default broadcast as the delayed channel.
In this case, the main steps are:
1. Create a delay line (record the live in a loop).
2. Create the output with the delayed input (set this loop as default segment).
3.3.4.5.1. Create the Delay Line

1. Drag and drop the ASI input(s) to the E: output. The wizard to create the delay line
is opened.
2. For details on configuration, check the procedure Creating a Delay Line above.
NOTE. Once set, it is not possible to reduce the duration of the loop.
3.3.4.5.2. Create the new Play List

1. Select the newly created input. The delay line is characterized with a blue bold font
(see Figure 44) .
2. Drag and drop this input in an output (ASI for example). The wizard is displayed.
The only possible action is Play list.
3. Click Play List and confirm.
4. For details on configuration, check the procedure Creating a Play List hereafter.

Figure 44. Ouput characteristics as a delay line.
3.3.5. Creating a Live Output
NOTE. This functionality is useful to check the system rapidly (e.g. encoder,
SAPPHIRE, ASI board and decoder).
Let us suppose that you have an input stream on Input 1 and that you wish to play it out
now on output 2 (for all services or not).
3.3.5.1. Creating Live Unicast Output
To create the live output:
1. Drop a service, a selection of several services or the input itself (ASI or Ethernet)
onto an output board or an output connector.
2. Select Live and then click Next.
3. In the next dialog, click Finish to validate.
The live output is created and is added as an item under the selected output.
Live services are displayed in the Outputs view. A symbol is added in the bottom left corner
of the service to indicate the live nature of the service.
Figure 45. Service with live output.
3.3.5.2. Creating a Live Multicast Output
To create a live multicast output:
1. Select a service from the input Services view.
2. Drop it onto a network card.

3. Select Live and then click Next.
4. In the Network output area, set the protocol, a multicast address and a port, and
click Next.
5. In the next wizard, click Finish to validate.
The live action is set by default in the action wizard when a service is dropped onto a
network card.
NOTE. When creating a network output, the address is saved in registry. The
following network output will have this set address incremented by one
(for multicast addresses only).
NOTE. A live output can be created from an ASI or network input to an ASI or
network output.
3.3.6. Playing
3.3.6.1. Playing a File - Manual Play (for ASI & Network Outputs)
When files are stored on the disks, you can play them out directly on an output.
To play a file manually:
1. Select a drive from the Inputs view to view stored files.
2. Select the Files tab from the Inputs view.
3. All available files are listed. To create the manual play output, select a file.

Figure 46. Input files view.
4. Drop it onto an output board or an output connector.
5. In the displayed dialog, select Manual play and click Next.
6. If needed, set the interface parameters and click Next.
7. In the Advanced setting dialog, click Finish.
The manual play is created and added as an item under selected output,
Manual play services are displayed in the output Services view. A symbol indicating that
manual play is performed on the service is added to the bottom left corner of the thumbnail.
The thumbnail is refreshed when playing.
8. To open the manual play window, click the symbol.
Figure 47. Manual play dialog.

The name of the played file is set in the window title. In our example, the played filename
is dance.
9. To mount the selected file, click the Mounting button.
The Mounting view is displayed.
Before starting to play, you may set the first and last pictures to be played. Use the slider
to set the current position, then use the SET IN and SET OUT buttons located on each side
of the current picture, to set the In and Out points.
The value of the duration between the In and Out points is indicated.
The part that will actually be played is colored green (between the In and Out points).
Refer to the Section 5.2.13. Mounting View for full description of this view.
10. Click OK.
11. Click once more the overlay to open the Manual play dialog.
12. To start playing, press the Play button.
The thumbnail is updated. A progress bar is displayed under the thumbnail and gives
information on the current in-file position.
3.3.6.2. Creating a Play List
NOTE. Play lists are also available for network inputs and outputs.
To create a play list:
1. Drop a service from the Inputs view or an SPTS file from the Files view onto an
output board or an output connector.
NOTE. MPTS services cannot be used in a play list.
2. In the displayed dialog, select Play list and click Next.
3. If needed, set the interface parameters and click Next.
4. The Advanced Setting dialog is displayed. Click Next.
5. The Set up the play list parameters dialog is displayed. Set the record list
parameters:
- Delete segment after record: if enabled, the segment is automatically deleted

after record.
- Output delay: parameter defining the time period between the Play command
and actual play out.

Figure 48. Setting up Play list parameters.
- Wait for theoretical duration:
ο when enabled, a segment based on a recorded stream is on-air until its

theoretical duration is reached. If the real duration of the recorded stream
is shorter than the theoretical duration, the broadcast stops at the real
duration and an "on-air error" message is displayed. The next segment is
started when the theoretical duration is reached;
ο when disabled, a segment based on a recorded stream is on air until its real
duration is reached. When the segment is set on-air, the theoretical
duration is updated with the real duration. No "on-air error" message is
displayed when the next segment goes on-air.
- Use this service as default: the service used to create the output play list is on-
air whenever there is no segment to be on-air. This is very useful to switch
between live and advertising or recorded streams. A new default service can be
set when the output play list is created by dragging and dropping the new service
onto the play list (default broadcast starts at the end of the first start at segment).
- Log Settings: click this button to access the log settings.

Figure 49. Log settings.
ο Generate schedule log file: when enabled, a log file with all scheduled
actions is generated (see the Schedule Log Files section to get a file
example).
You can setup the directory. The default value is
c:\Report\VideoServer\Schedule.
You can also setup the log start time (in the Figure above, set at 4 A.M.).
ο Use AsRunLog: when enabled, a log file is generated each day (see the
As Run Logs section for more information).
You can setup the directory. The default value is
c:\report\VideoServer\asrunlog.
- File absent: this time value is used to warn you that a file is about to be played
but is not yet recorded. This warning is shown in the play list window by a red line
indicating "NOT PRESENT!".
- Allow import list from hot folder: this option lets you update current play list with
stored play list files. Segments are added from the file to the play list.
6. Click Finish.
The play list is created and is added as an item under the selected output. The play list
services are displayed in the output Services view. The overlay indicates that the
service is associated with a play list is added to the bottom left corner of the thumbnail.
The service used to create the play list is broadcast until the first segment is on air.
7. Click the overlay.
8. The Play list view is displayed. It is empty. Use the toggle buttons to maximize it
vertically and horizontally.

Figure 50. Play list view in maximized mode.
NOTE. The thumbnail is the one corresponding to the selected service that is
used to display the list.
The name of selected service corresponds to the title of the Play list view. In our example,
service name is TMC, so is the play list's. The top two lines describe the current playing
segment (red line), when present, and the next segment to be played (orange line).
3.3.6.3. Inserting a Segment into a Play List
The following elements can be inserted into a Play list:
• Live content from the input Services view,
• Stored files from the input Files view.
You cannot insert an MPTS. If an MPTS is dropped, the segment is not added and a
warning is displayed.
If the segment is dropped at the end of the list, a Start at segment is created. If the segment
is dropped between segments or close to a segment, a manual segment is created. A
segment can be added to a play list while another segment is on-air.
When the rate of the dropped item is lower than the output rate, stuffing packets are added.
When the rate of the dropped item is higher than the output rate, a warning is displayed.
The segment is however added and an output overflow may occur. To prevent output
overflow resulting from this kind of situation, the transrating function should be used.
3.3.6.3.1. Inserting a Live Segment into a Play List

To insert a live segment:
1. Select a service from the input Services view.

2. Drop it onto the play list (this has to be in maximized mode).
3. A dialog prompts for duration. Set the duration (minimum duration is 10 seconds),
then click OK.
The segment is added to the play list.
3.3.6.3.2. Inserting a Stored File into a Play List

When files are stored on the disks, you can insert them directly onto a play list.
To insert a stored file:
1. Select a file from the input Files view.
2. Drop the file onto the play list (this has to be in maximized mode).
The segment is added to the play list. Its status is RECORDED.
3.3.6.4. Creating an NVOD Play List
NVOD is useful to create delayed slave play lists from a master play list. Master and slave
play lists can be ASI or Ethernet play lists.
To create an NVOD play list:
1. Create the master play list, as described in the 3.3.6.2. Creating a Play List and
3.3.6.3. Inserting a Segment into a Play List sections.
2. Create the slave play lists: drag and drop the master play list onto an output ASI
connector or an output Ethernet board.
Figure 51. Drag & drop Master play list.
3. Perform the complementary settings:

- If the master play list is dropped onto an empty output ASI connector, set the delay
in the displayed dialog, then click OK. Once the delay is set, the output slave play
list is created.
- If the master play list is dropped onto an empty output ASI connector that is
already used, you will also have to set the delay and, if needed, remap the PID to
prevent conflicts. A multiplexer will be added.
NOTE. Only recorded segments can be dropped onto the master play list.
- The master play list can also be dropped onto an output Ethernet board. Once the
delay is set you will have to set the Ethernet address and the port.
Figure 52. Master and slaves play lists.
4. The delay is displayed in the top-left corner of the slave play list.
The slave play list is created in dated mode (segments are removed once they have been
played).
3.3.7. Automatically Adding Files & Segments to the Hot

Folder
For further details on advanced management through hot folder, see Appendix E. API for
List Management through Hot Folder Text File Commands.
3.3.7.1. Automatically Adding Segments to a Play or Record List
Segments can be added automatically to a play/record list. When creating the play/record
list, you can set a hot folder to import play/record list segments.

Figure 53. Setting up a hot folder for record list.
When the Allow import list from hot folder option is enabled, you can browse the video
server disk to select a new hot folder. The hot folder is scanned every 20 seconds.
Invalid files in the hot folder are not imported. An error message is added to the Logs view
whenever a file is invalid. The invalid file in the hot folder is renamed ("error" is added to the
file name extension).
Supported format of the play list file are the following:
• Thomson format (binary): these files are created by the video server. Extension of
these files is .list
• Text format: these files can be created using a standard text editor (e.g. MS
Notepad) or spreadsheet (e.g. MS Excel) by exporting in text mode. Extension of
these files is .txt. Format is:
- One line per element to play,
- Tab character (ASCII code 9), comma (,) or semi-colon (;) between fields,
- Fields are the following:
Table 3: Text format fields.
StreamName: Stream name in the database.
L: link (play after the previous one) (Only for Play List).
G: Play when a GPI trigger has occurred.
I: Play when a InBand (SCTE35) event has occurred.
M: Play when the operator clicks on the StartNow button.

Start Trigger type:
C: Start at a specific time. The time is set in the next field.
R: Delete at the specific time if no trigger (GPI or InBand) has

occurred. The time is set in the next field. (Only for Dated list).
NOW: Start the segment immediately.

Table 3: Text format fields.
This field is only used if the Start Trigger type is C (Start at), R
(Delete at), I (InBand) and/or G (GPI).
Format is:
<YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS-EventId-(GpiBoxNr-
GpiNr)Edge> if the Start Trigger type is CIG or RIG.
<YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS-EventId> if the Start
Trigger type is CI or RI.
Start Trigger (optional): <YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS-(GpiBoxNr-GpiNr)Edge>

if the Start Trigger type is CG or RG.
YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS is the specific start time
(Start at).
The EventId value is the In Band event Id or Any if no In Band
event Id is indicated.
The GPIBoxNr value is the number of the GPI box.
The GpiNr value is the number of input GPI trigger connectors
used.
D: Stop when the duration of the file is played (if this field is set
to 0, the default duration is the duration set in the database).
[A] Stop Trigger type:
G: Stop when a GPI trigger has occurred.
I: Stop when an InBand (SCTE35) event has occurred.
This field is only used if the StopTrigger type is present

Format is:
<hh:mn:ss:ff-EventId-(GpiBoxNr-GpiNr)Edge> if the Stop
Trigger type is DIG.
<hh:mn:ss:ff-EventId> if the Stop Trigger type is DI.
<hh:mn:ss:ff-(GpiBoxNr-GpiNr)Edge> if the Stop Trigger
[B] Stop Trigger: type is DG.
hh:mm:ss:ff is the duration.
The EventId value is the In Band event Id or Any if no In Band
event Id is indicated.
The GPIBoxNr value is the number of the GPI box.
The GpiNr value is the number of input GPI trigger connectors
used.
[C] Offset (optional, only for Offset from the beginning of the file.
Play List): Format is <hh:mm:ss:ff>
B: beginning of the loop.

[D] Loop mode (optional, only
E: end of the loop.
for Play List):
L: loop on itself.
This field is only used if the Play List Gop or Frame splicing
[E] Logo ID: mode is enabled. This field is the Logo number combined with
the segment.
This field is a short segment description and cannot exceeded

[F] Description (optional)
255 characters.

• Automation System text format: these files can be created using a standard text
editor (e.g. MS Notepad) or spreadsheet (e.g. MS Excel) by exporting in text mode.
These files are managed by an automation system. The extension of these files is
.Asy. The format is the same as the text format with a "User index" added after the
"Stream name". User Index: segment index, managed by the automation system.
3.3.7.2. Automatically Adding Files using a Hot Folder
To automatically add files to the Files view using a hot folder, you first need to define a disk
as a hot folder.
The Storage.xml file contains the list of declared storage disks. The path to this file is:
C:\Program Files\Thomson\VideoServer\vxx.xx.xx\config.
By default, to declare a disk, it is only necessary to indicate the path to the storage.
To declare a disk as a hot folder; i.e. a folder that will be periodically scanned to find certain
types of files, you need to indicate the path to the storage, to enable the hot folder feature,
and to specify the specific extensions of files you want to automatically add.
Figure 54. Example of Storage.xml file (version 5.5).
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>

<CONFIG>
<STORAGE Path="E:\StreamsHotFolder" HotFolder="true"
FileExt="*.trp;*.ts;*.mpg;*.mpeg" />
<STORAGE Path="E:\Streams" />
<STORAGE Path="E:\RecordStreams" />
<STORAGE Path="E:\DelayLines" />
<STORAGE Path="E:\FTPDisk" />
<DUMP_STORAGE Path="E:\Dump" />
</CONFIG>
Figure 55. Example of default new file Storage.xml (version 5.6).
In Figure 55, the E:\Streams directory is declared as a hot folder. The streams are
updated on event finding. The new files found are then automatically added to the Files
view.
• Use StreamsHotFolder for an automatic update of your file.
• Use Streams for a manul update, then add the files using the interface.

3.3.8. Concatenating Files
To create a play list with concatenated files, proceed as follows:
1. Select a file from the Files view and drag and drop it on the output storage disk.
2. Indicate whether the standard is ATSC or not, and then click Next.
3. Define the File parameters: modify the directory if needed, enter a name for your
file and specify the speed factor. Click Next.
Figure 56. Concatenating files - file parameters.
4. Set the advanced settings and click Next.
5. Set the play list parameters (see Figure 48) and click Finish.
3.4. Maintenance
3.4.1. Repackaging for Shipment
We strongly recommend you to use the original box and packaging when returning your
product. The Customer Services Department examines packaging on arrival and can
refuse to carry out repairs if the packaging has been visibly damaged during transportation
and this has led to further damage in addition to the fault originally noted.
If you lose your original packaging material, contact your THOMSON representative to
obtain replacement packaging.

The equipment must be returned with a Return for Repair Form.
CAUTION. Transportation costs and risks for equipment returns are borne by
the customer.

4. Advanced Settings
This section completes the Tutorial with more advanced settings on the Sapphire product.
4.1. Removing an Input
Proceed as follows:
1. Select the input you wish to remove from the Inputs view.
2. Right-click it and select Remove.
3. A confirmation is requested: click Yes.
4. If the input is currently used by an output or a record, a message is displayed to

indicate that the input cannot be deleted.
5. If the input you wish to remove is not currently used by a record or an output, click
OK to validate.
The input content is removed.
4.2. Adding an FTP Server as an Output
4.2.1. Adding an FTP Server
The same way you can store streams on a storage disk, you may also store streams on an
FTP server. The files will first be copied locally on-disk and then transferred on the ftp. You
can either choose to keep them on the disk or to delete them after the transfer.
To add the FTP server:
1. From the Options menu, select Add FTP connection.
Page 80/216 Advanced Settings

Figure 57. Adding an FTP Server.
2. In the displayed dialog, enter the configuration parameters:
- Server Name: enter a name (informal field only).
- Url: enter the URL of the FTP server.
- Login and Password: enter the login and password giving access to the FTP
server.
- Port: enter the port to connect to the FTP.
- Ftp subdirectory: enter the path to the folder in which the files should be stored
on the FTP, from the FTP’s root.
- Insert PAT/PMT: if enabled, the tables will be inserted at the beginning of the file.
- Insert SCTE35: if enabled, SCTE35 information will be added to the file to

describe frame accurate mounting points.
- Delay before transfer: if needed, set the duration (in milliseconds) that Sapphire
will wait before transferring data to the FTP server.
- Virtual disk: if enabled, data will be written directly on the remote FTP and will not
be copied in a local file.
- Local base path: enter the path to the folder in which the files should be stored
on the disk, from the disk’s root.
- Remove from the local disk: if set to Always, the files are always removed from
the local disk at the end of the transfer to the FTP. You can also choose to remove
files Only if the transfer succeeds. If you prefer to keep files on the local disk,
choose Never.
Advanced Settings Page 81/216

3. Click the OK button to validate.
4.2.2. Recording on an FTP Server Storage
You can drag and drop services onto the FTP server output exactly the same way you’d do
it on any other output. The only difference is:
• The Delay line feature is not available.
• When creating a Manual record service, some fields and options are not displayed.
See 3.3.3.1. Performing a Manual Record.
4.3. Modifying an Output
4.3.1. Modifying an ASI Output
Modifying the output lets you set the ASI output rate.
To do so:
1. Right-click the ASI output connector and select Modify.
Figure 58. Modifying ASI output.
2. The Setup the ASI interface dialog opens. The connector is selected whereas all
other connectors are grayed. You can modify the following parameters:
- Output rate,
- Channel rate,
- Interface: there are three kinds of interfaces:
ο ASIbyte mode: useful bytes are regularly sent in the stream (separated by
ASI stuffing),
ο Packet mode: useful bytes are sent in packets in the stream and are
followed by ASI stuffing,

ο M2S Divicom: useful bytes are sent every defined period (separated by ASI
stuffing - stuffing is also added at the end to complete the stream).
- Add stuffing bytes to useful data: indicates whether generated packets are 188
bytes long or 204 bytes long (by adding 16 stuffing bytes).
3. Click Finish for the changes to take effect.
NOTE. When an output parameter is modified (rate or interface), the

broadcast is interrupted while the output restarts.
4.3.2. Modifying Output Actions of an ASI Output
The ASI output can be modified, so can the following parameters of the output action: live,
play list or manual play.
To modify the output actions associated with an ASI output:
1. Select an action and right-click it and select Modify.
Figure 59. Modifying an output action.
2. A first dialog opens. It shows the selected action. No other action can be selected.
Click Next.
3. The Advanced setting dialog opens:
- If no multiplexer is set to the output, simply validate this dialog.
- If a multiplexer is set, this dialog displays the rate of the services to be multiplexed.
The rate can be increased, e.g. to prevent overflow.
See the 4.5. Managing PSI section for details on service remapping and for details
on advanced PSI.
4. Depending on the action selected, a dialog may be displayed to set the action
parameters.
5. Click Finish for the changes to take effect.
NOTE. If the rate is modified, the broadcast will be interrupted.

4.3.3. Modifying Output Actions of a Network Output
The network output can be modified, so can the output and action parameters, provided the
broadcast is interrupted.
To modify the output actions associated with a network output:
1. Right-click a network output and select Modify.
Figure 60. Modifying a network output - context menu.
2. The Setup the network IP interface dialog opens. The Port, IP address and send
null packets parameters can be modified. Set the new parameters and click Next.
Figure 61. Modifying a network output.
3. A dialog shows the current action. No other action can be selected. Click Next.
4. The Advanced setting dialog opens. Set the output rate and click Next.

5. A dialog displays the action parameters. The default number of packets per frame is
7 (this value can be changed in the registry). TTL default value is 2 (this value can
be changed in the registry).
A message is displayed to indicate the address type: unicast or multicast,
NOTE. Unicast addresses are in the 127.0.0.1 to 223.255.255.255 default

range. Multicast addresses are in the 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.
default range. Min./Max. unicast/multicast ranges can be set in the
registry.
NOTE. If a unicast address is set and if the remote address cannot be

reached, a message is added to the Logs view.
6. Click Finish for the modifications to take effect at the output level.
4.4. Removing an Output
NOTE. ASI outputs cannot be removed. However, actions associated with ASI
outputs can be removed (i.e. play list, manual play).
4.4.1. Removing a Non-Multiplexed Output
Proceed as follows:
1. Select the output (or the action, in the case of an ASI output) you wish to remove
from the Outputs view.
3. A confirmation is requested. Click OK to validate.
The output is removed.
4.4.2. Removing a Multiplexed Output
To remove a multiplexed output, the multiplexer also has to be removed.

Figure 62. Removing a multiplexed output.
When removing the second action, the multiplexer is stopped. A direct ASI output is set to
handle the first output. The broadcast is interrupted while removing the multiplexer. The
resulting output is non-multiplexed and can be removed following the procedure described
in the previous section (see 4.4.1. Removing a Non-Multiplexed Output).
4.5. Managing PSI
Several options are available to manage PSI tables between inputs and outputs:
• No PSI - The tables are not sent through nor re-created.
• Manage PSI - The tables can be managed.
• Pass Through PSI - The tables are sent "as is" so all input tables are available in
the ouput, including the tables not managed by Sapphire (with OpenMux® only
available for Live and Delay Line).
The management of the PSI can be setup at the level of the channels and at the level of the
ouput (right-click on each element to see the possible actions).
NOTE. There is an inheritance between the ‘parent’ element (input / ouput)

and the ‘child’ elements (i.e. the services), changing a parameter at
the output level may change the parameters at the channels’ level.
Remember the table names:
• DVB: TDT (Table Data Time), EIT (Event Information Table), NIT (Network
information table).
• ASTC: STT (System Time Table), CVCT (Cable Virtual Channel Table), TVCT
(Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table).

4.5.1. Passing Through PSI
In the Advanced settings dialog, select the Pass Through PSI option to disable the
tables’ processing: the tables received in input will be restituted in output without any
change.
The Pass Through PSI option is only available for functions that apply to the whole input
stream: live, delay line, manual record or record list.
When the Pass Through PSI option is enabled, all other filtering and advanced PSI/SI
options are disabled.
4.5.2. Passing Through PSI with Mux
4.5.2.1. When to Choose this Option?
This illustrates the case where you are using Live and Playlist on the output but still want to
use the same tables as the input.
To enable this, you should use the following settings for PSI:
• Ouput −> Pass Through PSI (triggers channel PSI parameter to No PSI).
• Channels −> the PSI parameter automatically changes to No PSI.
The typical example is illustrated Figure 63 below.
Figure 63. Pass Through with Mux.
The input contains 6 channels. The output will have 6 channels:

• Four channels are sent through "as is", i.e. Live. Because the composition of the
output is the same as the input there is no need for mux, the option to choose here
is No PSI.
• Two channels are changed to Play list, for example an ad must be inserted in each
channel. Remember you must not remap the PIDs.
The option on the ouput is Pass Through PSI. So the tables are sent through untouched.
4.5.2.2. Setting the PSI Parameters
To setup the output PSI parameters, you only need to specify the entire output. Once the
output is set to Pass Through PSI, the channels are automatically set to No PSI.
1. Right-click on the output name, for example Output 1. The drop-down menu is
displayed.
2. Select Modify, the Setup ASI interface dialog is displayed. A message indicates if
there is a mux on the output.
Figure 64. Setting Pass Trough PSI.
3. From the drop-down list, select Pass Through PSI and confirm.
4. Select one of the output, right-click and select Modify to check the value No PSI is
set.
4.5.3. Setting Advanced PSI Parameters
To set advanced PSI parameters:
1. Go to the Advanced setting dialog or to the first dialog that is displayed when
adding an OpenMux® to an output.
2. Click Advanced PSI.
3. The Advanced PSI dialog is displayed; it varies along with the mode that is set.
- When the DVB standard is selected, TDT, EIT and NIT tables are available.
- When the ATSC standard is selected, only the STT table is available if no
multiplexer is added. If a multiplexer is added, the managed tables are STT,
CVCT and, TVCT.
- When the Modify TS ID option is enabled, the value is displayed and sent to the
server. Its default value is 224 (decimal value).

- When the Modify ON ID option is enabled, the value (decimal value) is displayed
and sent to the server.
4. Set the necessary parameters. The parameters for the tables are described
hereafter.
The dialog and the table presenting avanced parameters are available hereafter.
Figure 65. Advanced PSI dialog (DVB).
Table 4: Advanced PSI parameters.
Table
Parameter TDT NIT STT EIT
None No table is used for the record or the output.
Keep An incoming table is used for the record or the output, if present.

Table 4: Advanced PSI parameters.
Table
Parameter TDT NIT STT EIT
A table is generated and injected by the video server or by the

-
Local OpenMux® using
the period set. a file and a period. the parameters. -
The table comes

The table comes from one of the inputs from one of the
Input - inputs (with
(with OpenMux®).
OpenMux®)
The EIT table

come from all the
Compiled - - - inputs and are
compiled (with
OpenMux®).
Specific NIT Table Parameters
The default file name for the NIT file is Openmux_<port number>.nit. If no OpenMux®
is needed, another file name can be selected using the Browse button.
When an OpenMux® is needed, the NIT file has to be in the same directory as the
OpenMux® application. The file name in the dialog is automatically generated and is in read
only mode.
CVCT and TVCT Table Parameters
These parameters are displayed with OpenMux® only. The modulation mode can be:
• Analog,
• SCTE_mode_1,
• SCTE_mode_2,
• ATSC (8 VSB),
• ATSC (16 VSB).

4.5.4. Remapping Data
4.5.4.1. Remapping a Service at the Time of Creation
To remap a service at the time of creation, from the Advanced setting dialog, click Remap.
The Service parameters dialog is displayed:
Figure 66. Remap dialog (DVB standard).
The list of selected services is given on the left hand side, and, for each service, the
following details are displayed:
• Name,
• Provider for the DVB standard or the major and minor channel numbers for the ATSC
standard,
• Program number (original value and current value),
• Video PID (original value and current value),
• PMT PID (original value and current value),
• PCR PID (original value and current value),
• A list of audio PIDs (see the 4.7. Filtering PIDs (Audio & Data) section),
• A list of data PIDs (see the 4.7. Filtering PIDs (Audio & Data) section).
For the program number, the video PID, the PMT PID and the PCR PID, the grayed value
is the original PID, which cannot be modified. Only the current value (in green) can be
modified. The original PID cannot be modified for audio and data.

The current PCR PID can be grayed if PCRs are carried by the video PID. In this case, the
current PCR PID equals the current video PID. If PCRs are independent from the video PID,
the current value can be modified. Original audio PID and data PID cannot be modified.
The audio language can be modified. Click the language to make your selection in the
combo box containing the list of all predefined languages or add a language.
NOTE. The audio language descriptor is 3-character long (see the DVB
standard).
The data type can be modified. Click the data type to make your selection in the combo box
containing the list of all predefined types.
Figure 67. Choosing the data type.
The data index is useful to make a distinction between two data PIDs of the same type but
with a different PID value.
NOTE. The maximum value for a PID is 8190, in DVB standard minimum is 32
and in ATSC standard minimum is 16. PID values in the 0 to 31(15)
range are reserved DVB (ATSC) PID values. Min. and max. PID
values are set in registry.
Duplicated values (PID or program number) are written in red. If there are any, the dialog
cannot be validated. Duplicated values can be found in the same service, for example if the
video PID is the same as the PMT PID, or between two services of two multiplexed outputs
(for example, the same video PID).

Figure 68. Duplicated values.
4.5.4.2. Remapping an Existing Service
Once a service has been created, you can still remap it. To do so, right-click the service
from the Outputs view and select Settings | Modify from the context menu. The process
is then exactly the same as when creating the service. Refer to the 4.5.4.1. Remapping a
Service at the Time of Creation section above.
4.5.4.3. Remapping Audio PID
You can remap audio PIDs at the time of creation or once the MPTS has been created.
1. Check the mapping is relevant (i.e. there are multiple inputs).
2. Check the option Manage PSI is set.
3. Click Remap. The Mapping dialog is displayed.
4. To add, remove a PID, right-click in the Audio PID area (see Figure 70).
Remember that changing the PID means the PSI tables must be remapped too.
4.5.4.3.1. Audio Remapping Algorithm
NOTE. The algorithm for the mapping has changed in Sapphire version 5.6.

As illustrated in Figure 69, the audio algorithm maps audio PIDs in the chronological order
presented below. The audio PIDs are also treated in their order of appearance in the table
(Operation flow illustrated with the arrow).
1. The couple language / type matches (example 1).
2. The language matches (example 2 then 3).
3. The type matches (example 4).
4. The audio PID is simply the next in line (example 5).
Figure 69. Audio PID Mapping Algorithm Presentation.
4.5.4.3.2. Adding an Audio/Data PID
NOTE. You can have 2 PIDs with the same language OR type but you cannot
have 2 PIDs with the same language AND type.
Figure 70. Adding/removing an audio PID.
1. Display the Service Parameters dialog to add audio and data PIDs.
2. Right-click in the Audio list and select Add audio PID.

A new audio PID row is added to the table of PIDs.

3. Set the original PID value, the new PID and the type (Mp1audio, ac3 audio, ...).
Figure 71. Newly added PIDs.
4.5.4.3.3. Removing an Audio/Data PID
CAUTION. No confirmation is requested.
1. Check the boxes corresponding to the PIDs you want to remove.
2. Right-click on the audio PID row and select Remove audio PID. The selected PID
is removed from the list.
4.5.4.4. Multiplexed Output: PID Duplication Issue
In the case of a multiplexed output, a given PID or a program number may be found on
several inputs. In this case, the multiplexer will not be able to differentiate between the two
services. You must then change the PID values of the second service.

Figure 72. Multiplexed output with duplicated values.
For example:
1. Drop a service from the first input to create a live output.
2. Drop another service from the same input with duplicated values to create another
live.
An OpenMux® is created,
3. In the Advanced setting dialog, a message indicates that values are duplicated.
This dialog cannot be validated until there are no duplicated values left.
Figure 73. Duplicated values message information.
4. Click Remap to modify duplicated values, which are written in red. If a service
contains duplicated values, its name is enclosed between two signs '**'.

Figure 74. Example of service with duplicated PID values.
5. Modify the values so that there are no duplicated values left.
4.5.4.5. Remapping: Use Cases
PIDs and/or program number are remapped to prevent duplicated values when using files
or live with an output:
• scheduled mode (play list): language and data type are used for the remapping. If the
output service has one audio PID, the system first searches for an input PID having
the same language. If there is no PID having the same language, the first audio PID
is taken. If the output service has more than one audio PID, the system only searches
for the PID having same language.
• not scheduled mode: only the original PID/PID couple is used for the remapping.
4.6. Setting Advanced Network Parameters
To set advanced network parameters:
1. Create or modify a network output to reach the network IP interface dialog.

2. Click the Advanced parameters button.
The Network advanced parameters are displayed.
Figure 75. Setting network advanced parameters.
3. Set the following parameters:
- Send null packets: if enabled, null packets (stuffing) are sent on the network. By
default, null packets are not sent.
- TTL: enter the Time To Live value, which ranges from 1 to 999.
- Nb packets / Frame: enter the number of packets in a frame, in the [1 - 999]

range.
- TOS: the Quality of Service (QoS) uses the network resources more efficiently by
differentiating between subsets of traffic data. The QoS functionality is obtained
through cooperation between applications, end hosts (e.g. PCs, servers),
switches, routers and wide area network (WAN) links through which data has to
pass. The default value for TOS (Type of Service) is High level. Choose the
Other option to choose a value from the drop-down list.
4.7. Filtering PIDs (Audio & Data)
To filter audio and data PIDs, proceed as follows:
1. Go to the Advanced setting dialog:
- If the Enable audio PID button is not checked, all audio PIDs are filtered. If the
Enable data PID button is not checked, all data PIDs are filtered.

- If the Enable audio PID option is enabled, at least one audio PID is available. If
the Enable data PID option is enabled, at least one data PID is available.
Figure 76. Filtering audio and data PID.
2. Click Remap to see the filter state of each PID in the Service parameters dialog.
An audio or a data PID is filtered if the corresponding check box in the Enable
column is not checked:
- PID filtered:
- PID available:
Figure 77. Filtered PIDs.
3. Click OK to apply the settings and begin the filtering process.

4.8. Advanced Demultiplexing
4.8.1. Settings
When creating the output or the record, a wizard opens. In the Advanced setting dialog,
click the Advanced Demux button.
The Advanced demux parameters dialog is displayed.
Figure 78. Advanced Demux parameters dialog.
This dialog varies according to the type of stream and to the mode of splicing chosen in the
previous step of the wizard:
• The Common tab is always available.
• In the Common tab, the GOP/Frame splicing mode only area is available if you
chose GOP or Frame in the Splicing Mode area.
• The No splicing mode only area is available if you chose the None option in the
Splicing Mode area.
• The H.264 tab is available for H.264 files and if you chose a splicing mode.
NOTE. It is strongly recommended to keep the default values. Modify these

values only if you are an expert.
The following advanced demultiplexing parameters are available:

• Minimum stuffing rate: enter the minimum stuffing rate in bits per second. The play
list output will have a mean constant stuffing quantity per second that is superior or
equal to the indicated value.
• Program rate type: choose from the drop-down list between the CBR and the VBR
mode.
- In CBR (Constant Bit Rate), video stuffing is added so that the bit rate be always
constant.
- In VBR (Variable Bit Rate), no video stuffing is added. The video bit rate is the
payload bit rate. Transport stuffing may be added in output.
No splicing mode only:
• Output drift time: enter the maximum value, in milliseconds, of which it should be
allowed to time shift a packet during the demultiplexing operation. If this value is
lower than the duration of a packet, this packet will be discarded in output. On the
other hand, if this value is too high, the server may generate a stream with T-SDT
overflows.
GOP/Frame splicing mode only:
• Transrating mode: choose one of the following modes from the drop-down list:
- None: no transrating.
- Splice point only: transrating at the splicing point in order to absorb the bit rate
increase potentially generated by the splicing.
- All the time: transrating all the time in order to follow the constraint affected to the
output.
NOTE. By default, the transrating mode is set to Splice point only for an
MPEG-2 file and to None for an H.264 file. This is due to the fact that
in MPEG-2, given the structure of the file, splicing is always needed
whereas in H.264, there are other options to compensate the overflow.
• Audio splicing mode: choose one of the following modes from the drop-down list:
- Overlap: default mode. Choose this mode if the decoder supports overlaps. This
is the most seamless mode.
- Hole: choose this mode only if the decoder does not support overlaps. In this case,
if two AUs are overlapping, they will be discarded and there will be a hole between
the AU that precedes the overlap and the AU that comes after the overlap.
• Audio encapsulation algorithm: number of audio frames per PES. Choose one of
the following modes from the drop-down list:
- Fixed number: in this case, the number of audio frames per PES is fixed to 1.
- Variable number: in this case, the number of audio frames per PES is variable and
it is automatically computed in order to optimize the bit rate.
• Max picture broadcasting duration: time between the first AU packet and the PTS
of this AU. By default, it is set to 1 second in H.264 and to 2 seconds in MPEG-2. The
maximum value is 1 second in H.264 and 10 seconds in MPEG-2.
• Max PCR interval: maximum interval, in milliseconds, between two PCRs.

If the file is an H.264 file and if you chose a mode of splicing, click the H.264 tab and choose
if you want to use the following options:
• Rebuild the POC and Frame num.: if enabled, the Picture Order Count and the
frame number will be rebuilt in output.
• Remove the VUI parameters of SPS.: if enabled, if VUI parameters are present in
input they are removed from the stream.
• Video profile: check this box if you want to force a video profile for the whole play
list and select a value from the drop-down list. If this option is disabled, the video
profile found in input is kept in output.
• Video level: check this box if you want to force a video level for the whole play list
and select a value from the drop-down list. If this option is disabled, the video level
found in input is kept in output.
CAUTION. In H.264, transrating at splice point only or all the time generates
a significant CPU load and can result in a service interruption on
other components. Use this feature with care!
In HD, if the transrating mode is not set to None, all services other
than the current one are interrupted.
4.8.2. Result in the Views
When the transrating mode is set to All the time, in the output Services view, transrated
services are identified by a specific overlay on the thumbnail, in the top right corner. In the
Outputs Tree view, transrated services are identified by an overlay on their service symbol.
Figure 79. Transrated service indicators (icon on Tree view/overlay on service thumbnail).
In the Histogram view, the histogram for a transrated service is displayed in blue.

4.9. Managing Play and Record Lists
To perform an action on a specific segment of the list, first select it and then click the
appropriate toolbar button.
To perform an action on the list itself, directly click the appropriate toolbar button.
Mount Stop Load Save/

Print
Modify Remove Start manually
Action on segment
Action on list
Figure 80. Actions on play lists.
Modify Stop Save/

Print
Remove Load
Action on segment
Action on list
Figure 81. Actions on record lists.
Restrictions on actions on segments:
• If the segment is on-air or between the previous Start at and the current on-air
segment, you will not be able to modify nor to delete it.
• If the selected segment is not a valid segment, clicking Modify returns to inserting a
segment.

• When a loop of segments is defined, you cannot insert or modify previous elements
in the loop. The only way to stop a loop of segments is to insert a Start at after the
loop (clicking Next triggers no action).
• Deleting a segment that is followed by linked segments modifies the start and end
times of all consecutive linked segments.
• If the segment deleted from a record list is used in a play list, it will not be deleted
from the record list until all the occurrences of this segment in the play list are
deleted. A message indicates that the segment cannot be destroyed.
• In the record list, if the file is present on the disks, it is destroyed when the segment
is deleted. You can use a multiple selection to delete segments.
• In a play list, if a segment is already on-air, you will not be able to start manually
another segment.
• If a segment is on-air, clicking on the Stop button:
- if the next segment is linked, interrupts the current segment and plays the next
one,
- if the next segment is a Start at segment, waits for this segment to start.
• Using the Stop button on a loop of more than one segment jumps to the next
segment in the loop, unless the segment is the last in the loop, in which case it jumps
back to the first one in the loop. You can never play a linked segment after the loop
(skipped). However, the loop will be stopped by a Start at segment. The next action
is taken into account after a few seconds.
Information on actions on lists:
• Lists can be saved on the client disk. The default extension is .list. The saved file
must not be edited (binary format). To print the saved list, right-click it and choose
Print from the context menu.
• When loading a list from the client’s disk, it is added into the current list at the
insertion point, in append mode.
4.10. Performing Analyses
A number of analyses can be performed for each incoming stream and output services
independently. Analysis results are logged to the Logs view.
If an analysis error is raised on a service, an overlay is displayed over the decoded picture
or logo. See the 5.2.4. Symbols & Icons Used section for further details on the symbols and
color codes used.

Table 5: Performed analysis.
Analysis label Details
Consistency in the MPEG-2, DVB or ATSC tables (e.g. PMT

declared in PAT but not present). This analysis is performed on a
Table coherence stream (i.e. for all the services of the stream). If this parameter is
modified for one service, the modification is applied to all other
services in the stream.
Presence of listed PIDs is checked. If one PID is not detected during

PID presence
1 second, an alarm is set.
When enabled, video is decoded periodically provided the service is

Video decoding not scrambled. The refresh period depends on the number of
services that are managed by the video server.
If a picture does not vary (i.e. is frozen) for more than a user-defined
Picture freeze duration, an alarm is set. This parameter is only available if video
decoding is set. If a null value is set, no test is performed.
Presence of MPEG transport flag is checked in the stream. These

MPEG transport flags flags are TEI (Transport Error Indicator), CC (Continuity Counter)
and DI (Discontinuity Indicator).
If the sum of the component rates differs too greatly from the
Service rate
analysis rate (i.e. tolerance to given bit/s), an alarm is set.
If the rate computed from the PCR differs too much from the analysis
rate (i.e. tolerance to 100 Kbit/s), an alarm is set. This analysis is
Transport stream rate
only performed if the Table Coherence is checked. This parameter is
the same for all services of a single stream.
Each analysis can be enabled or disabled. By default, all analyses are performed, except
the Service rate analysis and the Picture freeze analysis.
Analysis parameters can be set for each service by opening the corresponding context
menu: right-click the service thumbnail and select Analysis....

Figure 82. Analysis parameters.
Wave file: default sound played for an alarm is the buzzer. You can associate a particular
WAV file to each service.
Disable analysis: you can disable the analysis for different time slots.
PID to check: only PIDs checked in this list will be used in the analysis. By default, all the
PIDs of the service are checked.
4.11. Selecting Files & Directories on a Remote

Server
When you need to select a directory, e.g. for manual record or ingest channels, the dialog
shown in Figure 83 is displayed. Choose a directory and click the Select directory button
to confirm.

Figure 83. Directory selection.
When you need to select a file or a transport file, the dialog shown in Figure 84 is displayed.
Choose a file and click the Select file button to confirm.
Figure 84. File selection.
The toolbar commands are detailed below.

Table 6: File & Directory selection on remote server.
Moving up to the parent directory.
Creating a new folder in the current directory. Default name: New folder.
Removing the selected file.
4.12. Adding a GPI Box
If you purchased a General Purpose Interface (GPI) box to manage triggers, you need to
perform settings before being able to use it.
NOTE. By default, ASI cards are automatically added in the GPI list (1 GPI
trigger per ASI card.)
4.12.1. Setting an IP Address for the GPI Box
When your GPI box is delivered, it has no IP address because it depends on your network.
Before configuring your box, you thus need to set an IP address. Proceed as follows:
1. Connect the GPI box to the same network as the Sapphire equipment and power it
on.
2. Insert the CD-ROM delivered with the GPI box into your disk drive. A page is
automatically displayed.

Figure 85. Installing a GPI box.
3. In the Wutility area, click Install.
4. In all dialogs displayed, keep the default choices and click Next.
5. Click Close to exit the installation wizard.
6. Select Start | All Programs | W&T software toolkit from the Windows menu to
launch the WuTility application.
7. In the displayed window, right-click the box line (automatically detected) and
choose Set network parameters from the sub-menu.
Figure 86. Setting the GPI box network parameters.
8. In the displayed window, enter an IP address that is compatible with your network
in the IP address field. Click Next twice and then Finish to validate and go back to
the main page.
9. Close the WuTility application.

4.12.2. Configuring your GPI Box
1. Launch a Web browser and enter the following URL: http://x.x.x.x,

x.x.x.x being the IP address you just set.
2. In the tree displayed on the left part of the page, click Config.
3. In the right part, click Login and then Expert mode.
4. In the tree, expand the Device node and click the Basic Settings item.
5. On the right, check the Enable Binary 1 box and click the Temporary Storage
button.
6. In the tree, expand the Binary 1 node and click the TCP Server item.
7. On the right, in the Application mode area, check the Compatible 50xxx box and
click the Temporary Storage button.
8. Still on the same page, in the Local Port area, enter a port number in the field if you
wish to modify it.
9. Click again the Temporary Storage button and then click Logout.
10. In the next window, click the Save button.
11. The GPI box’s configuration is completed. Close your Web browser.
4.12.3. Adding the GPI Box to the Sapphire Client
To use the GPI box in the Sapphire GUI, proceed as follows:
1. From the Sapphire Client menu, select Options | GPI Boxes control.
2. In the displayed dialog, click Add.
3. In the IP Address field, enter the IP address you specified in step 8 of section
4.12.1.
4. In the IP Port field, enter the port you defined in step 8 of section 4.12.2.
The GPI box is added to the list.
Figure 87. Adding the GPI box to the GUI.
6. Close the dialog to finish.

4.13. Using the Automation System
4.13.1. Enabling the Automation System
Play and record lists can be managed using an automation system. The automation system
is connected to the video server through the RS 422 serial port. When the automation
system is connected to the video server, the serial port has to be configured on the video
server.
Proceed as follows:
1. Select Options | Serial control from the menu.
The Automation control settings dialog is displayed.
Figure 88. Configuration of a serial port.
2. The drop-down list contains the list of all available serial ports. Select the serial port
to be used. COM1 and COM2 are RS 232 ports. COM3, 4, 5 and 6 are RS 422 ports.
3. Enable the Used by automation system option.
The Settings and Advanced Settings areas are now available.
4. Define the parameters in the Settings area to configure the serial port.
5. If needed, enable the Trace in file option: the serial ports that are used by an
automation system are opened and a message is added to the Logs view. When
the serial port is closed (i.e. when it is detached from the automation system), a
message will be added to the Logs view as well.
6. Click OK when you are done with the settings.

For information on the Advanced Settings area, refer to the 4.13.4. Customizing the VDCP
Link with Advanced Settings section.
A message is added to the Logs view when the serial port is correctly opened (otherwise,
an error message is added).
The used mention is added at the end of the serial port name in the drop-down list of serial
ports in the Serial port area.
4.13.2. Using the Automation System with a Play List
To use the automation system with a play list:
1. Drop a service from an input or an SPTS file from the Files view onto an ASI output
or an IP board.
2. In the displayed dialog, enable the Automation control option.
3. From the Channel drop-down list, select the channel you want to use.
4. Validate the remaining dialogs as described in the 3.3.6.2. Creating a Play List
section.
The play list is created. It is in read-only mode when editing from the video client. Segments
in the play list are managed by commands coming from the automation system.
NOTE. Channel C is not necessarily associated with serial port S. It is a virtual

channel number set in the automation system.
4.13.3. Using the Automation System with a Record List
To use the automation system with a record list:
1. Drop one or more services from an input to an output drive.
2. In the displayed dialog, select Automation control.

Figure 89. Enabling automation system for record list.
3. From the Channel drop-down list, select the channel (minus value for recording) you
want to use, and then click Next.
4. Validate the following dialogs (see the 3.3.3.2. Creating a Record List section for
further details).
The record list is created. It is in read-only mode when editing from the video client.
Segments in the record list are managed by commands coming from the automation
system.
NOTE. Channel C is not necessarily associated with serial port S. It is a virtual

channel number set in the automation system.
4.13.4. Customizing the VDCP Link with Advanced Settings
To custom a VDCP link, advanced settings may be set:
• Ignore VDCP SetPreroll: lets SAPPHIRE ignore the "SetPreroll" VDCP message
and set the preroll to apply.
• Link segment on VDCP Cue: lets you force SAPPHIRE to link the new segment to
the previous one, in all cases.
• Channel Translating: may be used only when using a Record List with an
Automation system. This setting lets SAPPHIRE convert negative channel ID to be
indexed from [-127 to -1] instead of [-1 to -127].

4.13.5. Disabling the Automation System
To disable the automation system (i.e. to close a serial port used by an automation system):
1. Open the Automation control settings dialog.
2. Select the serial port you wish to detach from the automation system.
3. Disable the Used by automation system option.
The serial port is closed. A message is added to the Logs view.
4.14. Inserting Ads
4.14.1. Standard Workflow
Figure 90 shows the ad-insertion standard workflow.
Primary
channel OUT
Insertion channel Splicer
SCTE30/IP
ASI/IP
Ad-insertion server
Ad files
Figure 90. Ad-insertion standard workflow.

To insert ads in a primary channel, Sapphire communicates with an external splicer via the
SCTE30 protocol. It then sends ad files to the external splicer via ASI or IP and the insertion
stream is inserted in the output of the external splicer.
4.14.2. External Splicer Settings
To use the ad-insertion feature, you need to define a number of parameters. In the play list
creation wizard, check the Use external splicer box and click Next.
The Splicer settings dialog is displayed.
Figure 91. External splicer settings.
In the Protocol parameters area, fill in the following fields to communicate with the
external splicer:
• IP Address and Port: enter the IP address and port of the external splicer.
• Splicer Name: enter the name of the external splicer.
• Channel Name: enter the name of the output primary channel in which you want to
insert ads.
In the Hardware connection area, fill in the Chassis, Card and Port fields to parameter
the service in the output. These are parameters of the SCTE30 standard.
4.14.3. Triggers Management
Standard triggers are managed as in play lists (GPI or SCTE35). Refer to the 5.2.12.2.
Segment Definition section for mode information.
Default triggers are also managed as in play lists except in ad-insertion case because the
source of the trigger can be an external splicer. In this case, the server uses the SCTE35
triggers received through the SCTE30 protocol in the cue request message.

4.14.4. NTP Synchronization
So that the workflow shown in Figure 90 work properly, it is essential that the server and
the splicer be perfectly NTP synchronized on a common server. It is advised to install and
the Meinberg® NTP client.
4.15. Using the Sapphire’s FTP Server
4.15.1. Overview
Sapphire contains a FTP server used to supply files to the Files view.
From a PC, you may upload data to the Sapphire’s FTP server or download data from it.
4.15.2. Configuration
To configure the Sapphire’s FTP server, launch FTPServer Interface.exe available at

C:\Program Files\Thomson\VideoServer\5.06.xx\FTPServer\.
NOTE. You cannot change the default group options.
4.15.2.1. User Groups
There are 2 pre-defined user groups with different rights and options (traffic limitation is
the same fort both groups).

You may add new users to these pre-defined groups but you cannot create a new group.
Table 7: Rights and options per user group.
Upload/
Download
Group Name Rigths Disks Options
traffic
limitations
Deactivated:
Read
C -Clips list mode
Admin Group Write 5 MB/S
E -Insert PAT/PMT on video export
Create
-Insert Scte35 on video export
Activated:
Read -Clips list mode
Video User
Write E -Insert PAT/PMT on video export 5 MB/s
Group
Create Deactivated:
Insert Scte35 on video export
4.15.2.2. Options Description
As shown in the table above, several options are activated or deactivated for each account:
• Clips list mode - Display the list of video clips available on the server as displayed
in the Files view. This implies:
- If the same stream is mounted in 2 different ways, there are 2 entries in the Files
view. These 2 entries are seen as 2 distinct files (the size of which is associated
to the mounting duration of each entry in the Files view).
- When using the command "Get" and this option is activated, you actually
download the part of the file corresponding to the mounting in the Files view.
- If the video server is not operating when the users get the connection on the FTP,
then no files are displayed (only repertories and sub-repertories are displayed).
When activated, enables the following option:
• (Only available when Clips list mode is checked) Insert PAT/PMT on video export
- When using the command "Get" and this option is activated: the first packets
downloaded (TS) include the tables PAT and PMT(s).
When activated, enables the following option:
• (Deactivated by default & only available if the first 2 options are checked.)
Insert Scte35 on video export - When using the command "Get" and this option is
activated, you download a file into which are inserted systematically:
1. A SCTE35 In Point (based on Segmentation Descriptor with ASCII

identifier "CUEI") after the packets with the tables PAT/PMT
2. A SCTE35 Out Point (based on Segmentation Descriptor with ASCII

identifier "CUEI") in the packets "Stuffing" during the last seconds of the
file.
Please refer to Appendix K. Segmentation Descriptor, page 206 for more information.

NOTE. If, during the mounting, the In point and/or the Out point was set on a
B or P frame, the extracted file does not start on the defined frame but
at the beginning of the first GOP and the end of the last GOP, so that
the stream can be decoded.
If the extracted file is read by another Sapphire, the mounting
information is taken in account and the file duration corresponds to the
duration between the In and Out points.
If the extracted file is read by a PC, the file duration is higher and
corresponds to the duration aligned on GOP boundaries.
4.15.3. Connection to the Sapphire’s FTP Server
To connect to Sapphire’s FTP server, you can use any FTP client.
Check your group to log in with the appropriate name and password:
• Video User Group (login Assets & password Assets) - Once connected to the
Sapphire’s FTP server, the default view is Clips list mode: you view the entries
as they are displayed in the Files view (see also the option description above).
• Admin Group (login Admin & password Admin) - Once connected to the Sapphire’s
FTP server, you can see ALL files available on the disk, as is the case with other
standard FTP servers.
4.16. National/Local Switching
The use of the video server for national/local switching can be explained as follows:
depending on the time slot, the video server broadcasts either national live or local live
programs. The server performs splicing and re-mapping to guarantee seamless transitions.
Figure 92. National/Local switching functioning overview.

The national live stream is set as an input of the video server. The service to be switched
is used to create the play list (see the 3.3.6.2. Creating a Play List section, select the Use
this service as default option when creating the output play list). This service is broadcast
as long as no inserted segment in the play list is on air.
A file or live segment is inserted into the play list for local switching (see the 3.3.6.3.
Inserting a Segment into a Play List section on inserting Live and disk streams - recorded
or permanent - into the play list). When the segment is played (start 19:00/end 20:30), the
input service is broadcast.
Figure 93. Play list for national/local switching.
NOTE. The local segment can be one of the following types: start at, manual,
SCTE 35 or GPI.
4.17. Multiplexing/De-multiplexing
4.17.1. Multiplexing the Output (ASI only)
Basically, one input can be redirected to one output. However, the video server uses the
OpenMux® capability to multiplex outputs, i.e. each output can be handled by an
OpenMux®. Each OpenMux® can handle a multitude of play lists, manual playbacks and
live contents. These are all multiplexed together using the remapping feature.
The following figure is a use case example:

Figure 94. Multiplexing outputs.
The output multiplexing is based on the OpenMux® technology. OpenMux® is a software

multiplexing kernel that provides an easy way to compute MPEG-2 TS in real time.
OpenMux® multiplexes transport packets from input streams and outputs a valid MPEG-2
TS stream in real-time.
Figure 95. Multiplexed output.
Let us suppose that you have 2 inputs. For the first part of this example, the input sources
are different. PID values and program numbers are different for each input (i.e. no
remapping is required to prevent conflict).
To multiplex the output:
1. Create a play list (on output 1 for example) using the first input.

NOTE. To prevent overflow, the output rate should be greater than the sum of
all the selected services of the two actions.
2. Insert various segments onto the play list.
3. Select the second input.
4. Create another play list on output 1 with services from input 2.
The SI management is enabled to configure the OpenMux® (See the 4.5.3. Setting
Advanced PSI Parameters section for more details). In the creation process of the second
play list, the estimated rate is the sum of the maximum rates of all selected service(s). You
shall set the rate to the correct value.
5. OpenMux® is launched.
6. The second play list is created and added to the selected output connector. Insert
some segments onto this newly created play list.
On the output Tree view, the OpenMux® output can be seen. It contains the two input
services.
For information on duplicated values, refer to the 4.5.4.4. Multiplexed Output: PID
Duplication Issue section.
4.17.2. SI Management for Multiplexed Output (ASI only)
SI tables can be filtered or managed by the video server. SI tables may come from incoming
streams from the OpenMux® system.
For the DVB standard, the following SI tables are managed:
• TDT,
• EIT,
• NIT.
For the ATSC standard, the following SI tables are managed:
• STT,
• CVCT,
• TVCT.

Figure 96. SI management with OpenMux®.
4.17.3. De-multiplexing an Input Stream
To demultiplex an input stream, simply select one service or a group of services in the input
stream and drop them onto an output or a drive.
One or several services can be selected, and then dropped to create a play or a record
action. To select a service, click it. When the service is selected, it is highlighted with a blue
rectangle.
The selection is only available from the input Services view.
Several services can be selected at a time using the CTRL key. All selected services are
highlighted. To deselect a service, press the CTRL key while selecting the service. To
deselect all services, select one service; the selected service will be highlighted and all the
others will be deselected.
NOTE. To drop a multiple selection, hold down the CTRL key and click while
moving the mouse.
4.17.4. Managing the Output Rates
When an OpenMux® is used, on the Outputs panel, you can see the global output bit rate
as well as the bit rate for each service. By default, the global output bit rate equals the sum
of the bit rate of each service. You may though increase the global output bit rate if you
intend to add other services to the output. To do so, right-click the output line and select
Modify. You may then specify the global output bit rate. Validate the dialog to apply the
change.
If there is only one output service, when reducing the channel bit rate, the global output bit
rate is automatically reduced.


5. Reference
This section is a complete reference to the video server and client modules, including the
complete details on the interface menus and icons.
5.1. Client/Server Connection/Disconnection
Each video client can be connected to one video server only. However, several clients can
connect to the same server.
5.1.1. Manual Connection
The server can be remote or local, depending on whether the client is launched on the
server machine or not.
To connect a client to the local server, select the Server | Local menu or click the
toolbar button.
To connect a client to a remote server, select the Server | Connect menu or click the
toolbar button. Then, select a video server by setting its IP address, selecting its name from
the list or entering it from the keyboard. The video server list can be updated by clicking the
(browse) button.
Once you have chosen a server, click OK to validate.
5.1.2. Automatic Connection
If the Automatic connection to last server option is enabled in the Options |

Preferences menu, when starting up, the client automatically connects to the server it was
last connected to.
Page 124/216 Reference

Figure 97. Client preferences.
5.1.3. Disconnecting from Server
To disconnect from server, select the Server | Disconnect menu or click the toolbar
button. The video client will no longer be connected.
5.1.4. Loss of Connection
Whenever a network problem occurs or the link to the server is interrupted, the client
detects the loss of connection and signals it through an alarm beep. The client icon begins
to flash, and a flashing Connection lost message is displayed in the toolbar. This message
cannot be hidden.
Figure 98. Flashing "connection lost" message.
Most menus are consequently disabled. The video client automatically tries to reconnect.
When the connection is (automatically) recovered, the Connection lost message
disappears and all flashing stop. The video client disconnects and automatically reconnects
to the video server.
Reference Page 125/216

5.2. Graphical User Interface
For an overview of the GUI, please refer to the 3.2. Graphical User Interface section.
5.2.1. Inputs Panel
or
Figure 99. Inputs panel.
Figure 100. ASI inputs items.

Figure 101. Network input items.
Figure 102. Drive input items.

5.2.2. Outputs Panel
or
Figure 103. Outputs panel.
Figure 104. ASI output items with OpenMux®.
When there are at least two output services, an OpenMux® is automatically created. On the
Outputs panel, you can see the global output bit rate as well as the bit rate for each service.

Figure 105. Network output items.
Figure 106. Drive output item.
NOTE. Available drive(s) are displayed in the Inputs and Outputs views. The
input drives give a list of the stored files that have been added to the
Files view. The output drives are used to create recording actions
such as manual record and record list. Recording actions are listed
under the drive.
NOTE. Additional network cards shall be used to broadband the data; the
integrated network cards shall be used to configure & supervise the
video server.

5.2.3. Toolbar, Menu and Status Bars
5.2.3.1. Toolbar
Figure 107. Main Toolbar.
The toolbar display may vary according to the display mode defined through the View |
Toolbar menu command.
5.2.3.2. Menu Bar
Table 8: Server menu items.
Click To
Disconnect Disconnect from the server.
Exit Exit the client application.
Restart Server Restart the video server application.
Define a User profile (i.e. connecting as Configurator or

User mode
as Supervisor).
Table 9: View menu items.
Click To
Show or hide the status bar at the bottom of the client

Status bar
screen.
Toolbar Define the toolbar aspect or hide it.
Logs Show or hide the Logs view.

Table 10: Option menu items.
Click To
Preferences Set the client preferences.
GPI Boxes control Configure the GPI boxes.
Configure the serial port to use with an automation

Serial control
system.
Change the current password to logon in Configurator

Password
mode.
Add FTP connection Add an FTP server as an output.
Table 11: Window menu items.
Click To
Cascade Cascade the Inputs and Outputs views.
Position the Inputs and Outputs views the one under the
Tile Horizontally
other.
Position the Inputs and Outputs views the one next to

Tile Vertically
the other.
Outputs Select the Outputs view.
Inputs Select the Inputs view.
Table 12: Help menu items.
Click To
Help Reach the User Manual in PDF format.
Display the About box offering contact, rights & versions

About
information.
Download Trace Get the Trace file from the server.
5.2.3.3. Status Bar
The status bar is divided into three fields:
• The first field contains a description of selected menus and buttons.
• The second and third fields contain the client date and time when the client is not
connected to a server, and the server date and time when the client is connected to
a server.

NOTE. It is recommended that the client and server have the same date and
time.
To show or hide the status bar, use the View | Status bar menu.
5.2.4. Symbols & Icons Used
Symbols, overlays and icons are used throughout the Graphical User Interface to provide
at-a-glance health check of services and actions.
Table 13: Symbols used in the Output services view.
Symbol Meaning
A red cross overlay is added to boards when an alarm is active on at least

one connector or one service or one action.
A red cross overlay is added to connectors when an alarm is active on at
least one service.
A red cross overlay is added to services when an alarm is active.
The alarm overlay is added to the corresponding input/output connector if at
least one of its services displays an error or if an alarm applies to this input/
output.
An orange cross overlay is added to boards when an alarm has been

activated on at least one connector or one service or one action.
An orange cross overlay is added to connectors when an alarm has been
activated on at least one service. No alarm is active anymore but alarm
acknowledgment has to be performed.
An orange cross overlay is added to services when an alarm has been
activated. No alarm is active anymore but alarm acknowledgment has to be
performed.
The alarm overlay is added to the corresponding input/output connector if at
least one of its services displays an error or if an alarm applies to this input/
output.
A green arrow overlay is added to services when playback is in progress.
A red loop overlay is added to services when record in progress.
Symbol added to output services that are broadcast live.
Symbol added to output services that are scheduled through a play list or a
record list. If a segment within the play list or the record list is on-air, the
name of this segment is displayed near the symbol. Click it to open the
corresponding play or record list.
Symbol added to the output services that are managed by a manual play or
a manual record action. Click it to open the corresponding manual play or
record view.

Table 13: Symbols used in the Output services view.
Symbol Meaning
Symbol added to indicate that the service is scrambled.
Symbol added to an output transrated service (example of transrated

service would be ).
Symbol added to the thumbnail to indicate that the record is associated with
a delay line.
Table 14: Symbols used in play and record lists.
Symbol Meaning
The Start at starting mode is represented by a clock icon.

It is used for a segment that shall begin at a given time, whatever segment
was on-air before it. These starting mode segments are made prominent to
define key times in lists (e.g. live segments beginning on time). If a segment
is already on-air, it is stopped for the start at segment to begin.
The SCTE 35 starting mode is represented by a flag icon.
The GPI starting mode is represented by a rising edge icon.
The Manual starting mode is represented by a hand icon.
Record icon: segment present in record list. The segment is the one that is
defined (and recorded) in a record list. It can be used in play lists.
Live icon: in play list, segment is a live segment that is directly played from
an input.
Permanent stream icon: in play list, the source of the segment is a file
located on the server disks. This file should always exist (while not deleted).
These segments do not depend on record lists and can be used even if no
record list has been defined. The server does not delete them.
Loop: this column defines the loop state of a segment.

• Self-looped ( ): this segment is played in a loop (each time it
ends, it begins again). The end of the self-looped segment either
comes with the next start at or when you interrupt it using the Next
button.
• Begin loop ( ): indicates the beginning of a loop. If the picture is

red ( ), indicates that you may set the beginning of the loop but
not its end.
• End loop ( ): indicates the end of a loop. By default, a start at is

always considered as a begin loop event.
• Part of a loop ( ): this segment is part of a loop between a begin

and end loop.

5.2.5. Context Menus
Some context menu items are common to several menus. They are presented in Table 15.
Specific menu items will be presented in their corresponding sections.
Table 15: Generic context menu items.
Click To
Disabling or enabling video decoding of thumbnails in the

Disable/Enable video input Services view. This procedure is useful to decrease
decoding the CPU of the video server and when the control network
has small bandwidth.
When an error or warning is present on the input, this menu

Current error state
lets you get the current error state.
When some errors have disappeared but are have not been
acknowledged yet (i.e. orange state), this menu lets you
Acknowledge errors
acknowledge them and to make the overlay disappear from
the connector.
Opening a window that contains a list of errors and

Display messages messages concerning this connector (all services on this
connector) in the error list.
5.2.5.1. ASI Input Board Context Menu
Right-click an ASI board to reach the following context menu:
Figure 108. ASI board context menu.

Table 16: ASI board context menu items.
Click To
Adding input connector. When adding a new input, if the

maximum number of available inputs is reached, a message
Add input is displayed. The maximum number of inputs indicated in the
Rights panel of the About box (see the 5.2.14. About Box
section).
Scanning for new inputs that are not already listed. This
Scan new input procedure is useful when a connector with no signal is
connected to a stream.
5.2.5.2. Ethernet Input Board Context Menu
Right-click a network board to reach the following context menu:
Figure 109. Ethernet board context menu.
Table 17: Ethernet board context menu items.
Click To
Adding network inputs. When adding a new input, if the

maximum number of available inputs is reached, a message
Add input is displayed. The maximum number of inputs is indicated in
the Rights panel of the About box (see the 5.2.14. About
Box section).
5.2.5.3. Drive Input Context Menu
Right-click a drive to reach the following context menu:

Figure 110. Drive input context menu.
Table 18: Drive input context menu item.
Click To
Add Adding a stored file to the Files view.
Refreshing the Files view’s contents. This procedure is

useful in multi-client mode, since when one client removes a
Refresh
stored file from the Files view, the other clients are not
automatically updated.
5.2.5.4. Input ASI Connector Context Menu
Right-click an ASI input to reach the following context menu:
Figure 111. ASI input context menu.
Table 19: ASI input context menu item.
Click To
Modifying the current input (i.e. name, rate, filtering, services

Modify
on connector).
Scanning the current input to detect new services or remove

services that have disappeared from the input stream. This
Scan
feature is disabled when at least one input service is used by
an output.
Remove Removing the selected input or output.

5.2.5.5. Ethernet Input Connector Context Menu
Right-click an Ethernet input to reach the following context menu:
Figure 112. Ethernet input connector context menu.
Table 20: Ethernet input context menu items.
Click To
Modify Modifying the current input (i.e. name, address, port).
Scanning the current input to detect new services or remove

Scan
services that have disappeared from the input stream.
Remove Removing the selected input.
5.2.5.6. ASI and Ethernet Output Board Context Menus
Right-click an ASI or an Ethernet board to reach one of the following context menus:
Figure 113. ASI and Ethernet output board context menus.
5.2.5.7. ASI Output Connector Context Menu
Right-click an ASI output connector to reach the following context menu:

Figure 114. ASI output connector context menu.
Table 21: ASI output connector context menu items.
Click To
Modify Modifying the current output (i.e. rate, interface, stuffing).
5.2.5.8. Ethernet Output Connector Context Menu
Right-click an Ethernet output connector to reach the following context menu:
Figure 115. Ethernet output connector context menu.
Table 22: Ethernet output connector context menu items.
Click To
Modifying advanced settings, current output (i.e. port,

Modify
address, stuffing) and action (i.e. play list, manual play, live).
Remove Removing the selected output.

5.2.5.9. FTP Disk Context Menu
Right-click an FTP server connector to reach the following context menu:
Figure 116. FTP disk context menu.
Table 23: FTP disk context menu items.
Click To
Modify Modifying the FTP settings.
Remove Removing the FTP output.
5.2.5.10. Grayed Menus when Connection is Lost
The following menus are not available and are grayed when the connection is lost:
• Add input/Add output,
• Modify input/Modify output,
• Remove input/Remove output,
• Scan input,
• Scan new input,
• Disable/Enable video decoding,
• Current error state,
• Acknowledge errors,
• Display messages.
5.2.5.11. Grayed Menus for Supervisor Rights
The following menus are not available and grayed when you are a supervisor:
• Add input/Add output,
• Modify input/Modify output,
• Remove input/Remove output,

• Scan input,
• Scan news input.
5.2.6. Services View
To reach the Services view, first select an input or output item (i.e. board or connector) and
then click the Services tab. The displayed content depends on the selected item type.
The video client application performs the global supervision of all incoming streams and all
output streams. It displays the logo channel or the decoded picture for each service and
indicates the program status.
By default, the video is decoded by sampling (refresh period depends on the number of
services that are managed by the server) when the video service is not scrambled. The
other services are represented by a specific logo.
You can change the specific logos by selecting a bitmap file corresponding to the channel
logo. Bitmap files are stored on the video server.
Table 24: Services logos.
Logo Service type
Audio services
Data services
Video services
5.2.6.1. Services Context Menu
NOTE. The Services menu is the same for the Inputs and Outputs panels.
To reach the Services context menu, right-click a service from the Services view.

Figure 117. Services context menu.
Table 25: Services context menu items.
Click To
For current service, remap this service PID configuration

Settings/Modify and changing the name and program number of output
service.
Analysis Reach analysis settings for the current service.
Logo Select the service logo to replace the default picture.
Delete the service logo and replace it by the default service

No Logo (i.e. TV, data or radio). This item is grayed if no logo is
present on the service.
When an error or warning is present on the service, this

Current error state
menu lets you get the current error state.
When some errors have disappeared but are have not been
acknowledged yet (i.e. orange state), this menu lets you
Acknowledge Errors
acknowledge them and make the overlay disappear from the
service.
Open a window that contains a list of errors and messages

Display Messages
concerning this service in the error list.
Stream Properties Display general, audio and video properties of the stream.
5.2.6.1.1. Grayed Menus when Connection is Lost

The following menus are not available and are grayed when the connection is lost:
• Modify input,
• Scan input,
• Settings/Modify,
• Analysis,
• Logo,
• No logo.

5.2.6.1.2. Grayed Menus for Supervisor Rights

The following menus are not available and are grayed when you are a supervisor:
• Modify input,
• Scan input,
• Settings/Modify (can be reached but in read-only mode).
5.2.6.2. Input and Output Services View
Figure 118. Input Services view.
The Services view provides an immediate "health check" of input or output services
through the display of overlays. For further details, see the 5.2.4. Symbols & Icons Used
section.
From the Services view, you can manage the so-called Dummy services. For further
details on dummy service management, see the 3.3.2. Managing Dummy Services section.
In case of synchronization loss, no data or no signal is detected over the input, and the
Services view is cleared. The cause for this can be:
• No signal: the server does not detect any signal on the input. The wire is
disconnected or signal is no longer present.
• No data: the stream only contains empty packets. No more useful data is present.
• No synchro: no synchronization byte (0x47) detected at the beginning of each

packet (every 188 or 204 bytes).
5.2.7. Tree View
The Tree view displays all MPEG-2-DVB or ATSC parameters for the incoming stream or
output stream, as shown in Figure 119.

Figure 119. Tree view.
This view is available for each:
• ASI input,
• Ethernet input,
• Output ASI connector,
• ASI output,
• Ethernet output.
For outputs using an OpenMux® multiplexer, all services at the OpenMux® output will be
displayed.
5.2.8. Information View
5.2.8.1. ASI Board Information View
To reach the ASI board Information view, select an ASI board (input or output one) and
click the Information tab.
The information will slightly differ whether your system is equipped with a Pia+ board or one
or two PassPro board(s).
The ASI board Information view displays the connector. When a connector is used, its
name is displayed. When connector is unused, the Not used label is displayed.

Figure 120. ASI board (PassPro) with unused connectors.
5.2.8.2. Ethernet Board Information View
To reach the Ethernet board Information view, select a network board (input or output one)
and click the Information tab.
Figure 121. Ethernet board Information view.
The Ethernet board Information view displays information on selected card (i.e. name, IP
address, subnet mask, default gateway and MAC address).
5.2.8.3. Drive Information View
To reach the drive Information view, select a drive (input or output one) and click the
Information tab.

Figure 122. Drive Information view.
The drive Information view displays information on selected drive (i.e. label, type, file
system, free/used/total space).
5.2.8.4. Connector Information View
To reach this view, select a connector (input or output) and click the Information tab.
or
Figure 123. ASI Output connector Information view (Pia+/PassPro).
This view gives information on the selected input/output board, connector or service.
Information provided vary according to the element type you have selected.
The first item provides an information summary on the connector:
• ASI:
- card number,

- connector number,
- input/output rate,
- demux rate,
- filtered PID.
• Network:
- network card name,
- IP address,
- port number.
The second item provides information on actions on the input or output and on relations
between the input and the output.
• For an input, sub items are the following:
- Recording: lists the record list with the number of events and the manual record
with free space, filename, length and status if recording,
- Live: lists output connectors using this input for live,
• For an output, sub-items are the following:
- Play list: summarizes the play list (i.e. number of events, number of permanent
files, number of lives and input connector)
- Manual play: file name, recording size, length
Figure 124. Input Information view.
5.2.9. Histogram View
The Histogram view gives the current rate for each service of the selected input/output.
The current rate is indicated to the left of the histogram. The maximum rate is indicated to
the right of the histogram. The maximum rate of a service is the maximum rate of the service
since the video server was started and the service found (computed rate).
The Histogram view is available for the following items:
• ASI input,
• Ethernet input,
• ASI output,

• ASI output connector,
• Ethernet output,
• Record action (manual record or record list),
• Output drive (recording rate).
To reach the Histogram view, select one of the items from below list, then click the
Histogram tab.
Transrated services are drawn with a blue color (for output services).
Figure 125. Histogram View.
5.2.10. Messages View
5.2.10.1. Logs View
The Logs view provides the list of error, warning and information messages. It can be
shown or hidden via the View | Logs menu or by clicking the toolbar button.
Messages can be sorted, filtered and identified in a user-friendly way. To sort messages,
double-click the desired column header.
Figure 126. Logs view.
In this view, the following types of detected alarms are listed:

• System state,
• Inconsistency within the record or play lists,
• Synchronization analysis,
• PCR validity,
• PID presence.
Right-click the Logs view to reach the context menu. Menu items are described in Table 26.
Table 26: Logs menu.
Click To
Showing all messages, including masked messages.

Show all
Masked messages are no longer masked.
Show not masked Showing all messages that are not set as masked.
Mask Masking selected elements in the list.
Hiding all elements (messages are not masked, just

Mask all hidden). To show not masked again, use the Show not
masked context menu item.
5.2.10.2. Specific Messages View
Messages relative to a particular service or connector can be directly reached to view the
alarms concerning a selected service or connector. To do so, select a connector, an input
or a service, as you wish, and select Display Messages from the context menu.
In addition, all the messages are available in a daily log file that is located on the server.
Files are in to be found in the C:\Report\VideoServer folder.
5.2.10.3. Alarms
Each time a new error arises, an alarm can be heard (provided options for this have been
selected, see the 5.2.16. Client Preferences section). Information messages are indicated
by blue icons. Error messages are red-colored. Warnings are orange-colored.
To stop alarms, use the toolbar button. All alarms will stop. Since alarms are client
dependent, stopping an alarm on one client will not stop it on the others.
5.2.11. Files View
The Files view lists the stored streams that have been declared. To reach it, select a drive
and click the Files tab.

Figure 127. Files view.
Manually inserted and scheduled stored streams are automatically added to the Files view.
5.2.11.1. Information on Stored Files
identifies an SPTS stored file.
identifies an MPTS stored file.
identifies an MPEG-4 stream in a TS.
Information describing the stream is displayed:
• name,
• TS rate,
• duration,
• service name,
• description,
• starting and ending times for the presence of the stream on hard drives,
• video reference PID (for decoding & splicing),
• file name,
• video frame rate.
Stored files are written in different colors to identify their status. Color codes are detailed in
Table 27.
Table 27: Color codes in the Files view.
Color Meaning
Error or file that is being recorded or

Red
provisioned but that is not available for play.
File that is being recorded or provisioned and

Green
that is available for play.

Table 27: Color codes in the Files view.
Color Meaning
Permanent file on the disk (it is not being

Black
recorded or provisioned).
Warning on a permanent file on the disk (it is

Orange
not being recorded or provisioned).
File to be ingested. Refer to the 3.3.3.4.

Pale blue
Creating an Ingest Channel section.
5.2.11.2. Customization
You can customize the information to be displayed. To do so, right-click on any column
header.
Clicking a column header lets you sort the streams. E.g., to sort the streams by name, click
the Name column header. You can define the columns to be displayed through the
Customize header menu. You can also customize the header format, through the Header
format menu.
Figure 128. Customization menu.
Select an item and use the command buttons to display it, hide it or move it up or down.
Click OK to apply the customization.
Figure 129. Customizing columns dialog.

5.2.11.3. Stream Edition
A context menu is also available from the Files view. Right-click any stream to reach it.
Table 28: Stream edition menu.
Click To
Modify Modifying the header of selected stream.
Removing selected stream or a group of streams from the list AND

Remove
FROM THE DISK.
Mounting Mounting selected stream (for SPTS only).
NOTE. Multiple selection (CTRL key) is available for removal actions.
WARNING. Names cannot be duplicated. When a name already exists, a

new name is created: an underscore with an index (_i) is added
at the end of the name.
5.2.11.4. Refreshing the Files View List
To refresh the list of files, right-click the drive item and select Refresh (see Figure 110).
The list is then filled with the actual content of the Files view. The list is refreshed following
server modifications. However, it does not take manual deletion of files from disk into
account. As a consequence, refreshing the list manually at regular intervals is particularly
useful.
5.2.11.5. Adding a Permanent Stream to the List
NOTE. Only files from the current drive can be added. No other drive can be
selected.
To add a stored stream to the Files view:
1. Right-click the relevant drive and select Add.
2. Select the stream on the current drive and directories.
3. Click Open.
The stream is added to the list in the Files view.

5.2.11.6. Modifying the Files View Stream Information
The stream information can be modified. To do so:
1. Select a stored file in the Files view.
2. Right-click it and select Modify.
The File parameters dialog is displayed.
Figure 130. Modifying the stream information from the Files view.
NOTE. In case of an MPTS file, no service information is displayed.
3. If needed, you can modify the Name and Description parameters of the selected
stream.
4. Click OK for the changes to take effect.

5.2.11.7. Removing a Stream
CAUTION. Removing a stream implies effectively removing it from the disk.
Proceed as follows:
1. Select it from the Files view.
3. A confirmation is requested. Click OK.
The file is removed from the disk.
5.2.11.8. Mounting Feature
The Mounting feature lets you modify the In and Out points of currently selected file (i.e.
the begin and end frame of the stream). Once you have defined the new In and Out points,
you can:
• Play out or Record the defined stream part,
• Extract stream,
• Cut stream.
To reach the Mounting view for a specific stream:
1. Select it from the Files view.
2. Right-click on it and select Mounting.
The Mounting view is displayed.
For further details on the mounting features, see the 5.2.13. Mounting View section.
5.2.11.9. Information Storage on Disk
Information are stored on disks as XML and index files.
An XML file is associated with each stream. For example, the action.trp stream is linked
to an action.trp.xml file. This XML file contains:
• an asset, corresponding to the file,
• one or several clips, corresponding to entries in the Files view. Most of the time,
there is one clip per file, must in some cases, e.g. when using the EIT segmentation
feature, there are several clips per file.
The asset contains the list of programs contained in the stream. For each program, some
information is provided, including the name of the index file associated with the program.
Index files are always named after the name of the stream and the number of the program.
Here, the index file of the first program of the action.trp file is named
action.trp_program1.idx.

5.2.12. Play and Record List Views
5.2.12.1. List Views
Two kinds of lists can be differentiated: record list (input recording) and play list (output
playing). Both views are almost similar and will be focused on together.
To reach the Lists view, there must be at least one play list or one record list created.
Click the button located in a service thumbnail or double-click the play list Outputs view.
If the view is already opened, it will pop to the front of the screen.
Figure 131. Play list.
The top two lines describe the current on-air segment (red line) and the next segment to be
played or recorded (orange line). These lines contain:
• the name of the segment,
• a decreasing counter indicating the time left for the segment to play or record (red
line) or the time remaining before it begins (orange line) when no segment is on-air;
• the status of the segment (at the end of the line).
For loop segments, the total duration of loops decreases, not the duration of each segment
or each loop. Since the duration unit is expressed in the HH:MM:SS:FF format, if the
segment lasts more than one day, the HH attribute will be greater than 24. The maximum
value is 168 hours (i.e. one week).
The thumbnail corresponds to the selected service used to display the list.
Table 29 describes the buttons available in the lists’ toolbar.

Table 29: Toolbar buttons.
Click To
Modify the selected segment.
Insert a new segment (record list).
Delete the selection.
Stop the current segment.
Start the selected segment.
Mount the selected segment (play list).
Load a list.
Save the current list.
Moving the selected segment up in the list.
Moving the selected segment down in the list.
Fields in the list are described in Table 30.
Table 30: Play & record list fields.
Fields Possible values
The Start at starting mode is represented by a clock icon ( ) in the first column.
The Linked starting mode has no associated bitmap.

It is used for segments that have to begin after the end of previous segment,
regardless of actual time.
Starting mode
The SCTE 35 starting mode is represented by a flag icon ( ) in the first column.
The GPI starting mode is represented by a rising edge icon ( ) in the first
column.
The Manual starting mode is represented by a hand icon ( ) in the first column.

Table 30: Play & record list fields.
Fields Possible values
ON-AIR: defines the on-air (i.e. broadcast or recorded) segment. There is a

unique on-air segment per list.
STARTED or WAKEUP: a segment will soon be played (rarely present since

most segments are directly on air).
RECORDING ERROR or ON-AIR ERROR: indicates that the on-air segment

cannot be recorded or played because of an error. The top line flashes. The
reason for this could be that the file is absent on disks, the live input is corrupted
or equipment is out of order. An error is consequently logged in the Logs view.
Status LIVE: the segment is a live segment that comes from an ASI or an IP input.
RECORDED: the segment is present on the disks.
NOT PRESENT: the segment is not yet present on the disks (not recorded).
NOT PRESENT!: in the play list, indicates that the segment is not present and
that the delay defined in the Play list parameters (Warning file absent) is over. It
often means that the segment will not exist on time.
SKIPPED: the segment will not be played because it is overlapped by other

segments.
Title Segment name.
Duration, Day,
These fields define the beginning, the duration and the end time of the segment.
Begin, End
Name Name of the segment (freely definable - informal field only).
Record ( icon): present in a record list.
Live ( icon): in a play list, the segment is a live segment that is directly played
from an input.
Permanent stream ( icon): in a play list, the source of the segment is a file
located on the server disks. This file should always exist (while not deleted).
Type
Loop ( ): this column defines the loop state of a segment.
• Self-looped ( )
• Begin loop ( )
• End loop ( )
• Part of a loop ( )
EIT Indicates that an EIT segmentation is performed for this segment.
For further details, refer to the 5.2.4. Symbols & Icons Used section.
Color Codes
The lines in the list can take different colors:

Gray: holes (nothing is defined during a certain period - nothing will be played or recorded).
Blue: segments that might be truncated or not played in the list (SKIPPED for example).
Red: segments that would probably be in error if they were played.
Other: indicates the normal state.
List Display’s Customization
The size and position of the lists can be modified and saved if the corresponding Options
| Preferences options are selected. The views will then open at the same position each
time you reach them. Each column can be dragged and dropped and resized. All
modifications are saved when the view is closed.
By default, lists are displayed in maximized mode. You can use the toggle buttons to
minimize them vertically and horizontally.
Default Service Display (Play Lists Only)
When the Use this service as default option is set (in a play list), the default service is
displayed.
Live service used as default service.
File used as default service.
Another service (SPTS only) can be dragged (from a live input or from a drive) and dropped
in the control. This new service will be broadcast the next time there are no more segments
to be played.
5.2.12.2. Segment Definition
Terms used in this section are detailed in the 3.1. Functional Overview section.
When inserting, modifying or pasting a segment in a list, the Segment setting dialog is
displayed. Options available in this dialog slightly differ depending on the list being a record
or a play list.

Figure 132. Segment definition dialog (play list).
• Title: enter a name for your play or record list, at your convenience.
• Automatic renaming (record lists only): if enabled, the date is automatically added
in the filename so as to avoid overwriting previously recorded files.
Start parameters:
• Start at: check this box if you want your list to start at a given time. To set the day of
week, hour, minute and second, double-click the value and enter a new value using
the keyboard or use the arrows.
• Validity: the trigger GPI is applicable only during this validity duration. This is useful
when a series of the same GPI or Inband triggers are used on the segment.
- Time: set here the date & time you want for the validity duration. The default value
is the current date.
- First date field: current date & time minus this duration. The default value is 10
seconds.
- Second date field: current date & time plus this duration. The default value is 10
seconds.
- Drop-down list: action applied at the end of the validity duration. The values are
Start, Delete or Nothing (no action).

- Periodic: you can use this field to repeat the settings applied. When you select
periodic you can also use the occurency to repeat the setting a set number of
times (in the illustration, 2 times at 1 day’s interval).
• Delete at (in dated lists and with a GPI or/and In Band start trigger only): check this
box if you want your list to be deleted at a given time. To set the day of week, hour,
minute and second, double-click the value and enter a new value using the keyboard
or use the arrows.
• GPI: check this box if you want to trigger the start of your list using a GPI box.
• In Band: check this box if you want to trigger the start of your list using cue tones.
• Linked (play lists only): check this box if you want your list to start directly after the
previous segment’s end.
Several start triggers can be defined for the same segment.
Stop parameters:
• Duration: total duration of the segment to be played or recorded.
- for a file segment in a play list, click the button to mount the segment. Refer
to the 5.2.13. Mounting View section for a full description of the Mounting view.
For a loop segment, the indicated duration corresponds to the duration of a single
loop.
- for a record list or a live segment in a play list, enter the duration of the list.
A null duration is allowed only if another stop trigger is defined.
• GPI: check this box if you want to trigger the stop of your list using a GPI box.
• In Band: check this box if you want to trigger the stop of your list using cue tones.
Several Stop triggers can be used for the same segment.
NOTE. The begin time shall be set between previous "start at" in the list and
next one. The begin time of the segment cannot be selected as a time
after the stored file life (i.e. the beginning of the recorded segment plus
the "Keep file during" time set in the record list definition).
Loops parameters (play lists only):
• Loop on itself: plays the file in a loop from the offset for the given duration. The
number of loops cannot be set but the loop will end when the next Start at segment
starts.
• Begin and End: play a group of segments from the one defined as begin loop to the
one defined as end loop. The number of loops cannot be set but the loop will end
when the next Start at segment starts.
• None: the play list is played once; there is no loop.

GPI setting:
Figure 133. GPI settings.
• Box: select from the drop-down list the number of the GPI box.
• Number: number of the input trigger connector used. Start and stop GPI are totally
independent (i.e. a segment can be associated with a number for its start mode and
another one for its stop mode).
• Edge: choose from the drop-down list the edge kind (rising or falling).
• IP: the IP address of the GPI box is indicated. It is only informative, it is not editable.
Cue tone setting:
Figure 134. In band settings.
• Event ID:
- Check the Any box to associate the segment with any event (segment begins/
stops when a Cue Tone event is received).
OR
- Enter an event ID in the Event ID field to associate the segment with this specific
event (segment begins/stops when the specific event ID is received).
Start and stop In Band are totally independent (a segment can be associated with a
specific event ID for his start mode and an other for his stop mode).
• Input: choose from the drop-down list the number of the input ASI connector that
contains the In Band signal.
• Service: choose from the drop-down list the service name that contains the In Band
signal.
• Normal/Inverted: there is a specific Cue Tone to start a segment and another to stop
it. If the Normal option is enabled, the segment begins when the specific start Cue
Tone is received and stops when the specific stop Cue Tone is received. If the
Inverted option is enabled, the segment begins with the specific stop Cue Tone and
stops with the specific start Cue Tone.

5.2.12.3. Default Play List Triggers
To access the default play list triggers settings, in the play list creation wizard, click the
Default Trigger button in the Advanced Setting panel.
Figure 135. Default trigger button.
The Default Playlist Trigger dialog is displayed.
Figure 136. Default play list triggers settings.
Settings are the same as for segment triggers (see 5.2.12.2. Segment Definition above).
If the server receives a START trigger when no segment is being played, the first sequence
in the list is started; and if the server receives a STOP trigger, the current sequence is
stopped.
5.2.13. Mounting View
To reach this view, click the Mounting button from the Play list view or select Mounting
from the Files view’s context menu.

The Mounting view lets you mount the segments, using frame-accurate mounting
commands. First of all, it lets you modify the In and Out points of the currently selected file
(i.e. the begin and end frames of the stream). Once you have defined these points, you can:
• Play out or Record the thus defined stream part,
• Extract stream, i.e. make a copy of the stream part comprised between the In and
Out points. You can thus make several copies of a given stream, each copy having
different In and Out points,
• Cut stream, i.e. overwrite the stream with the stream part comprised between the In
and Out points. Cutting a stream actually results in losing data.
Figure 137. Mounting view.
The Mounting view displays twelve thumbnail images. The top middle one shows the
zoomed current picture, corresponding to the current position in the file (when the slider
cursor is moved).
The first picture in the stream (corresponding to the In point) is shown in the top left corner,
and the last picture is shown in the top right corner. Counters are located under each one
of these pictures. They indicate their exact position in the stream (duration from the
beginning of the stream). The beginning and end pictures are the first and last pictures that
will be played or saved.
There are nine more thumbnail pictures in this view:
• The middle one is the current picture.
• The four previous pictures are pictures prior to the current picture. If the current
picture is the first picture in the file, previous pictures are hidden.

• The four next pictures are pictures that come after the current picture. If the current
picture is the last picture in the file, following pictures are hidden.
In the top right corner of each picture, the picture type is indicated (I, P or B).
Click OK to set the points.
5.2.13.1. Buttons
Figure 138. Slider part between In and Out points.
The slider shows I pictures.
Red sections indicate the parts that are not recorded in the file. These parts can be seen
when the segment is currently recording, for example.
Left-most position shows the In point and right-most position shows the Out point.
Navigation
Table 31: Navigation buttons in the Mounting view.
Click To
Go to the beginning of the file.
Go to the In point.
Go to 10 pictures backward.
Go to the previous I picture.
Go to the previous picture.
Go to the following picture.
Go to the following I picture.
Go to 10 pictures forward.
Go to the Out point.
Go to the end of the file.
Edition

You can modify the In and Out points by moving the cursor to the chosen position and
clicking the SET IN or SET OUT button.
Once you are done, the gray part of the slider indicates the part that will be played or saved,
depending on the In and Out points you have defined. The black parts of the slider will not
be taken into account while playing the file, extracting it or cutting it.
Table 32: Edition buttons in the Mounting view.
Click To
Set the In point.
Set the Out point.
Extract the defined stream part (i.e. copying the grayed part of the
slider comprised between the In and Out points). Defined stream
part is extracted to a new *.trp file, to a path you shall define.
Cut the defined stream part. Defined stream part overwrites the file,
thus resulting in loss of data.
5.2.13.2. Information
The following information is provided on the stream:
• TS Name: service name of the stream.
• TS rate: rate (in bits per seconds) of the stream.
• Duration: duration between the In and Out points. There are three ways of
computing the duration:
- TS: the TS duration corresponds to what needs to be transmitted in terms of

transport.
- GOP: corresponds to the GOP accurate duration.
- Frame: corresponds to the frame accurate duration.
Figure 139 shows these three durations.
Audio
...
frames
Video
frames
I B B P B B P B B I ... I B B P B B P B B I Audio
frame PTS
>= video
Frame accurate duration. frame PTS
GOP accurate duration.

TS duration.
Figure 139. Frame accurate, GOP accurate and TS durations.
The first colored B video frame is the frame where the In point has been set, and the
second colored B video frame is the frame where the Out point has been set.

The Frame accurate duration corresponds to the exact duration between the In and
Out points.
The GOP accurate duration corresponds to the duration between the I frame that
precedes the In point and the P frame that precedes the Out point.
The TS duration corresponds to the duration I frame that precedes the In point and
the end of the audio (frame PTS higher than or equal to the PTS of the video frame).
NOTE. If the In point is set on an I frame and the Out point on a P frame, the
GOP accurate duration will be the same as the frame accurate
duration.
NOTE. An MPTS file can only be mounted in TS duration.
• Audio Settings: indicates the codec and the list of audio PIDs
• Video Settings: indicates the codec, the video PID, the Resolution, the Chroma
format and the Frame rate.
5.2.14. About Box
To reach the About box, go to the Help | About menu.
The About box contains three panels:
• The Contacts panel provides information on how to contact Thomson technical

support.
• The Versions panel contains all software versions and DLL versions used on the
client and server.
• The Rights panel indicates the limitations on the use of the server, which depends
on the content of the video server options purchased and software limitations.
The following fields can be found in the Rights panel:
NOTE. If some fields are missing in your application, this is because you do
not have the rights for the corresponding option(s).

Table 33: Rights panel fields.
Field Meaning
ASI inputs Number of ASI inputs (i.e. ASI connectors).
Number of ASI outputs (i.e. ASI connectors). There are always

ASI outputs
as many outputs as inputs.
Play lists Maximum number of play lists that can be created.
Record lists Maximum number of record lists that can be created.
Delay lines Maximum number of delay lines that can be created.
5.2.15. Trace Loader
Sapphire provides a tool to get the traces from the server. To reach it, select Download
Trace from the Help menu.
Figure 140. Trace Loader.
Connect to the Trace Server by entering the server’s name and clicking the Connect
button. When done, you can see the range of dates for which you have traces on the server.
An automatic purge is performed to prevent disk overflow, so that only the traces for the last
few days are written on the server’s disk.
You can reduce this range by modifying the Date Range limits. Then, choose the Output
Directory for the trace to be stored in, and click the Get Trace button.

5.2.16. Client Preferences
To reach the Client Preferences dialog, go to the Options | Preferences menu. Each
client can have its own preferences, which will not necessarily be the same on other clients.
Figure 141. Client preferences dialog.
Table 34: Client preferences.
Field Function
This option enables the resizing of the Inputs and Outputs

Enable window resizing
views.
When this option is set, any modification to the size and

position of lists, Inputs/Outputs and application windows will be
Save windows Position
kept as well as the modified position for manual views. When a
and size
new client session is opened, the positions and sizes will be
restored.
When this option is set and the application is launched, the

Automatic Connection to
client will connect to the same server as it last was last
last server
connected to.
If one of these options is set, the alarm rings each time a new
error, warning or information appears in the message log list.
Default alarm is a beep, however, a sound file can be selected
Enable Alarm
instead (provided client machine is equipped with a sound
card). Default Wav file field indicates the name of this wav file.
Alarm sounds until it is acknowledged.

Table 34: Client preferences.
Field Function
Errors that are no longer present (orange color on the services

and connectors) can be acknowledged through a right-click on
Confirm acknowledgment
services or connectors. When this context menu has been
of errors
used, a list of current errors on services can be displayed or
not, depending on the selected option.
Date format can be chosen: the day can be set as a short name
(first two letters for each day of the week) or a complete name;
Date format in lists
month and day can appear in the list dates. Date (month/day)
can be added to the day column in lists.
When this option is set, all time values are displayed in

Display msec in list
milliseconds.
5.2.17. Drag & Drop Facilities
In most cases, the video client implements the drag and drop facility.
Dragging and dropping can be used from input connectors and services to output boards,
drives, or output connectors. It lets you create output actions that vary along with the source
and the target.
NOTE. Actions that can be reached vary along with your rights. Refer to the
Rights panel of the About box to consult your rights.

Table 35: Drag & drop facilities.
Drag & Drop Details

Resulting Action & Details
From To
• Play list (when dragging single

service)
Live input • Delay line

Output connector
(service or group of services (ASI) • Live
or input itself)
• Automation control
No manual play available.
• Manual record
• Record list
Live input
(service or group of services Output drive • Delay line
or input itself)
• Manual ingest
• Play list (when dragging single

service)
Live input • Delay line

Output board
(service or group of services (Ethernet) • Live
or input itself)
Live input • Adding segment to play list

(service or group of services Play list
or input itself)
• Manual play
• Play list (when dragging SPTS)

File input Output (ASI or IP) • Automation control
No MPTS drop possible onto play list.

No delay line available.
• Adding segment to play list

File input Play list
File input Drive • Concatenation of files.

Live services or recorded streams can be dragged and dropped onto a play list. When the
service or the recorded stream is dropped onto the play list, a segment is created and
added. The segment type can be set automatically by using the keyboard when dragging
the service or the recorded stream. An overlay is added under the mouse cursor.
Table 36: Play list drag & drop facilities.
Key combination Actions/Overlay
Manual segment insertion if the segment is the first. Linked

No key pressed
segment otherwise ( overlay).
CTRL SCTE 35 segment insertion ( overlay)
SHIFT GPI segment insertion ( overlay)
SHIFT + CTRL Manual segment insertion ( overlay)
5.3. Message & Error Management
5.3.1. Logs View
The Logs view provides the list of error, warning and information messages. You can show
it or hide it via the View | Logs menu, or by clicking the toolbar button.
For further details, see the 5.2.10.1. Logs View section.
5.3.2. Specific Messages view
Messages relative to a particular service or connector can be directly reached to view the
alarms concerning a selected service or connector. To do so, select a connector, an input
or a service, and select Display Messages from the context menu.
5.3.3. Current Error State
To reach the current error state of an item (i.e. board, connector, service), right-click it and
select Current error state from the menu.

Figure 142. Current error state.
Error state window is displayed. It lists current errors (in red) and errors to acknowledge (in
orange). Listed errors are the following:
Table 37: Listed errors.
Listed error Meaning
An input or output card connector cannot be used on the ASI

Opening stream error
card or a network destination is unreachable.
Reading stream error Error reading data.
Writing stream error Error writing data.
Initializing stream error Error while initializing input or output on ASI board.
Starting stream error Error starting board, input or output.
Synchronize error Synchronization error in the stream.
Table coherence error The PSI table content is not correct.
Input overflow error System overloaded (CPU, disk access).
Demultiplexer overflow error The demux rate is too low.
Communication error Error while communicating with OpenMux® software.
The output stream is not correct due to a segment error in the

ON-AIR error
play list.
PID presence error An expected PID is not present.
The stream rate is incorrect (using PCR - usually due to PCR

Stream rate error
errors).
Service rate error The service rate is incorrect (by counting service packets).
Discontinuity error Shifting in continuity counter.
Video freeze error The video has not changed for a long period.

5.3.4. Acknowledging Errors
When an error is raised, it is automatically logged. However, when it disappears, it is not

deleted from the list of errors.
To indicate that an error has occurred and is no longer present, the error state switches
from red to orange. You should acknowledge it. This can be done for all connector errors
through the Acknowledge error context menu or for each service, one by one, through the
same menu.
To confirm the acknowledgement, click OK. Once they have been acknowledged, orange
errors are removed from the list of errors.


6. Related Issues
6.1. Redundancy Features
The video server can be backed up by another server. The backup server is exactly the
same as the normal server. A client can only connect to one server at a time.
NOTE. To get the same output from both servers, the date and time on both
servers have to be exactly the same. The "time zone" in the operating
system clock parameters on servers and clients shall also be set to the
same value, in order to get the proper server date and time on clients.
The proposed redundancy feature relies on the use of Thomson AMETHYST 1+1
redundancy smart switcher. AMETHYST secures the outputs of the video server in a 1+1
manner.
6.1.1. AMETHYST Overview
AMETHYST 1+1 Redundancy Switch has been designed for the intelligent protection of up
to 2 MPEG-2 transport streams.
AMETHYST is a fully integrated device that is able to:
• Detect input synchronization,
• Select the correct stream in each pair,
• Route this stream automatically to a pair of outputs.
Two DVB-ASI inputs and two DVB-ASI outputs are available for TS routing. Consequently,
the number of AMETHYST switchers depends on the number of ASI video server outputs
to be secured.
6.1.2. AMETHYST Main Features
6.1.2.1. Functionalities
• 1+1 redundancy for a pair of any type of MPEG-2 TS generating devices,
• No PC in decision process,
Page 174/216 Related Issues

• 2 DVB-ASI serial TS inputs,
• 2 DVB-ASI serial TS outputs,
• Dual power supply,
• Manual switch-over to allow preventive maintenance,
• AMETHYST configuration can be read by configuration software.
6.1.2.2. Hardware
• Height: 1 U, Depth: 16" (40 cm), Width: 19" (48 cm),
• All electrical connections are made at the rear of the device. Operation and
adjustment controls can be performed via the front panel,
• Supply characteristics: 100V/240V and 50 Hz/60Hz.
6.1.3. Typical System Overview
The following diagram shows a typical configuration for a 2-input/2-output video server
(TNM-5122) where 4 output streams are generated by a pair of devices.
The two video servers output the same stream on their output 1, and another identical
stream on the output 2. In the event of failure of the on-air server, AMETHYST Smart
Switcher (TNM 7112/7122) reports an alarm and takes the corresponding input on the
backup server as a new output.
Figure 143. Typical redundancy architecture.
Related Issues Page 175/216

6.2. Limitations
Limitations of the software are as follows:
• No MPTS in play list.
• Minimum duration for a live in a play list is 10 seconds.
• H.264 GOP accurate not seamless on “in point” with input stream that does not follow
the RAP restrictions (i.e. in presentation order, some frames after the I-Frame use
reference for earlier frames). Here are some examples:
- Valid RAP (1):
…PBBBIPBBBP
This is a simple case: the I-Frame is a valid RAP since all the frames after it do not
depend on earlier frames.
- Valid RAP (2):
…PBBBIBBBPBBBP
The I-Frame is a valid RAP since all the frames after it (except for the B B B) do not
depend on earlier frames.
Since the B B B-Frames are played before the I-Frame (according to their display
order) there is no problem to drop them, and the splice is still seamless.
- Invalid RAP (1):
... P B B B I B B B P B B B P
In this case some pictures after the I-Frame use the early P-Frame as reference.
Because of this dependency, the I-Frame cannot be a valid RAP. This means that
no IRD, STB, decoders, etc. can play the stream starting from this I-Frame without
visual artifacts.
- Invalid RAP (2):
…PBBBIBBBPBBBP
This is one of the complicated scenarios: in this case the P-Frame depends on the
B-Frame which by itself depends on an earlier frame (P). For the same reasons
mentioned above, the I-Frame cannot be a valid RAP.
6.3. Changing a Defective Disk on the Raid System
When the system is secured with a RAID controller, one disk can be in error without any
data loss.
When a disk is in error, it shall be replaced without stopping the system (hot plug repair).
The new disk is automatically detected and rebuilt.
Page 176/216 Related Issues

NOTE. Rebuilding can take a long time, depending on the disk size and the
disk use.
6.4. Synchronizing Main/Backup Computer Clock
To achieve synchronization (of event) between the main and backup computer clocks it is
advised to synchronized both servers on a common NTP server through an NTP client.
6.5. Consequences of Changing Time Zones on a

Server
The right way of shifting time on a server is very simple. Nothing special has to be done.
The server time changes when the client time changes, everything being carried on as if
nothing had happened:
• For record lists: the current recording segment will continue for the theoretical
duration unless it is interrupted by a start at segment (new hour).
• For play lists: the segment currently being played will continue for the theoretical
duration unless it is interrupted by a start at segment (new hour).
• For manual record and manual play: nothing is changed: record or playback
continues for the given duration.
• For delay lines: nothing is changed.
Start at and Delete at events may however be impacted when changing time zones on a
server.
Related Issues Page 177/216

Appendix A. Specifications
Power Supply
Table 38: AC power source characteristics
Characteristic Description
Source Voltage 100 VAC to 240 VAC ± 10% (90 VAC to 264 VAC RMS)
Rated Frequency 50 Hz to 60 Hz
Maximum Power
550 W
Consumption
Safety/EMC Specifications
Table 39: Safety/EMC Specifications
Specifications Description
CE marking 2004/108/CE (15/12/2004) directive
Legislation: European Low Voltage Directive 73/23/

Safety EEC (19/02/73) amended by 93/68/EEC (22/07/93)
Standards: EN 60950-1 (2001)
Legislation: 89/336/EEC (05/05/89) directive amended

by 93/68/EEC (22/07/93).
Standards:
EN 55022, ed 1998 with amendment A1 (2000) - A2

Electromagnetic (2003) and EN 55103-1 ed 1996 (Argos) for Emission,
EN 55024, edition 1998 with amendment A1 (2001) -

A2 (2003) and EN 55103-2 ed 1996 (Argos) for
Immunity;
FCC Part 15, Class A or B.
Page 178/216 Appendices

Environmental Specifications
Table 40: Environmental characteristics
ETS 300 019-1-3 (Feb. 1992)

- Environmental class 3.1
- Operation at temperature-controlled locations
Climatics: Operation
- +10°C to +35°C
- Humidity level compliant with the climagram featured
in the standard
ETS 300 019-1-1 (Feb. 1992)

- Environmental class 1.1
- Storage at weather protected, partly temperature-
Climatics: Storage controlled locations
- -20°C to +60°C
- Humidity level compliant with the climagram featured
in the standard
ETS 300 019-2-2

- Environmental class T2.3
Transportation
- The packaging has been designed to resist being
dropped from a height of 65cm.
Cooling airflow Natural circulation
50 mm air space adjacent to the bottom of the

Required clearance
instrument is required
Use rating Rated for indoor use only
Altitude Up to 3,000 m (10,000 ft.)
Mechanical (Physical) Characteristics
Table 41: Mechanical characteristics
Classification 3 RU platform
Height 132 mm (5.2")
Width 450 mm (17.7")
Depth 647 mm (25.5")
Weight 34 kg (74 lbs.)
Appendices Page 179/216

RS 422 Serial Port (Automation System)
Serial ports allow to connect to an automation system with a BrainBoxes board.
Port Pinouts with HARRIS Automation System
Harris connector SAPPHIRE connector
8 =============== 6
3 =============== 7
2 =============== 1
7 =============== 2
Port Pinouts with ENCODA Automation System
Encoda connector SAPPHIRE connector
6 ============== 6
8 ============== 7
5 ============== 1
4 ============== 2
Port Pinouts with NINSIGHT Automation System
Ninsight connector SAPPHIRE connector
x ============== 6
x ============== 7
x ============== 1
x ============== 2
GPI Characteristics
The trigger input accepts a TTL level (0 to +5 V) signal. You can use this signal to control
acquisition or generation with the video server.

Table 42: GPI characteristics.
Characteristics
TTL
Voltage levels Low: < 0.8 V, typical
High: > 2.0 V, typical
Termination 50 ohms resistive nominal

Appendix B. Software Installation
Installing the Client Software on the Server
To install the software:
1. Insert the CD-ROM.
2. Launch the Setup.exe file.
3. To install a server, select the Server and client configuration.
4. Reboot the server for server configuration.
Installing the Client Software on a Remote Computer
The client software can be launched on a remote computer on the same network. To do so:
1. Launch the installation from the CD-ROM.
2. Choose the Client only installation mode.
3. Follow the wizard instructions.
4. When the installation is complete, launch the VideoClient.exe file.
5. Click Connect to select the video server on the network. A 100Mbits/s network
between the client and the server is recommended.

Appendix C. Digicypher Mode
The digicypher parameters are stored in two registry keys:
• one in the server so that type 0x80 streams be considered as MPEG-2 video:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\THOMSON\Sapphire\Video\DigicypherVideo
PID0x80Enable
• one in the client so that this PID be shown as video in thumbnails and views:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\THOMSON\Sapphire\Video\DigicypherVideoP
ID0x80Enable

Appendix D. Platform Capacities
The platform capacities for the SC836 platform are described in the tables below.
Table 43: Disk.
Maximum reading rate in Mb/s 200
Maximum writing rate in Mb/s 200
Maximum global rate in Mb/s (using factor) 516
Rate factor for a "write disk" process 2.0
Rate factor for a "read disk" process 1.0
Maximum number of "read disk" processes 32
Maximum number of "write disk" processes 32
Table 44: Processing.
Maximum global rate in Mb/s (using factor) 516
Maximum rate in Mb/s for a no splicing process 100
Maximum rate in Mb/s for a GOP splicing process 80
Maximum rate in Mb/s for a frame splicing

50
process
Rate factor for a no splicing process 1.0
Rate factor for a GOP splicing process 2.0
Rate factor for a GOP splicing process in H264 3.5
Rate factor for a frame splicing process 4.0
Maximum number of processes 64
Table 45: ASI, IP and GES Inputs and Outputs.
ASI IP GES
Maximum number of inputs 4 32 0
Maximum number of outputs 4 16 32
Maximum global rate for I/Os 672 160 300
Maximum global rate for inputs 336 160 0
Maximum global rate for outputs 336 84 300
Maximum board rate for I/Os 336 120 300
Maximum board rate for inputs on one board 168 100 0

Table 45: ASI, IP and GES Inputs and Outputs.
ASI IP GES
Maximum board rate for outputs on one board 168 84 300
Maximum rate of an input 84 84 0
Maximum rate of an output 84 84 100
Minimum rate of an input 0.2
Minimum rate of an output 0.2
Table 46: Functional limits.
Maximum number of segments (all lists) 10000
Maximum number of segments in one list 1000
Maximum number of VDCP channels 10

Appendix E. API for List Management

through Hot Folder Text
File Commands
Hot folder text files lets you add file segments to the Play or Record list. You can also write
commands directly in the file text to manage the list.
Getting Help & Syntax
To get help, the command is HELP. A file named Help.lst is generated in the hot folder. Its
content is detailed in Appendix F. Help File Commands.
Getting Available Streams in the Database
To get the available streams in the database, the command is GET STREAM LIST. A file
named Streams.lst is generated in the hot folder.
Returned values are the following:
• ClipURL: ID of the entry in database
• ClipName: name of the stream
• Duration: duration of the stream in milliseconds
Example of returned file:
e:\streams\stream1.trpstream185640
e:\streams\stream2.trpstream278541
Getting Available Services from ASI and IP Inputs
To get the available services from ASI and IP inputs, the command is GET SERVICE LIST.
A file named Services.lst is generated in the hot folder.
Returned values are:
• Name: name of the service
• Input ID: ID of the service input
TV In:1:1
ZDF In:1:2

ZDFinfokanal In:1:2
ZDFdokukanal In:1:2
ZDFtheaterkanal In:1:2
3sat In:1:2
KiKa In:1:2
Fash In:225.1.1.1:5000
Getting the Current List's Content
To get the current list's content, the command is GET LIST. A file named List.lst is
generated in the hot folder.
Returned values are:
• ID: ID of the segment in the list,
• User index (optional): index managed by the automation system,
• Name: name of the segment,
• Status: status of the segment (e.g. wake up, started),
• Start Trigger type: start at (C), delete at (R), linked (L), manual (M), in band (I), GPI
(G),
• Start trigger: start/delete time (YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS), event ID if in band

trigger, or Gpi field if GPI trigger (see 5.2.12.2. Segment Definition respectively
sections - InBand and GPI),
• Stop Trigger type: duration (D), in band (I), GPI (G)
• Stop trigger: duration (HH:MM:SS:FF), event ID if in band trigger, Gpi field if GPI
trigger (see 5.2.12.2. Segment Definition respectively sections InBand or GPI),
• Offset: offset from the beginning of the file (HH:MM:SS:FF),
• Loop mode: begin, end, itself.
• Logo ID: optional;
• Description (segment): optional.
The Offset, Loop mode and CueTone fields are used only with a Play List.
The Delete at Start Trigger type is forbidden for the Weekly List.
The Linked Start Trigger type is forbidden for the Record List.
6417 Fanfan RECORDED C TH 16:28:40
6422 Eurosport ON AIR L D 00:00:40:14
6426 EbS Live M DG 00:01:00:00-(1-9)R
6433 Golf RECORDED M IG AnyN-(2-4)R
6442 Fugitif RECORDED CI MO 16:25:44-23I G (1-8)F

6417 is a segment with a start at to start on Thursday at 16h28m40s; its duration is the
default duration.
6422 is a linked segment, its duration is 40 seconds and 14 frames.
6426 is a segment with manual start and two stop triggers: its duration equals 1 minute and
GPI on connector 9 of box 1 with a rising edge.
6433 is a segment with manual start and with two stop triggers: normal InBand without
eventId and GPI on connector 4 of box 2 with a rising edge.
6442 is a segment with two start triggers: start at to start on Monday at 16h25m44s and
inverted InBand with eventId=23. It is a segment with one stop trigger: GPI on connector 8
of box 1 with a falling edge.
Removing Segments/Clearing the List
Removing Segments from the List
To remove a segment from the list, the command is REMOVE ID. This command requires
a specific parameter that is the ID of the segment. This parameter is returned by the GET
LIST command (see the Getting the Current List's Content section).
Example of segment removal command: REMOVE ID:683
Removing Files from the Database
To remove a file from the database, you first need to know the clipname: use the GET
STREAM LIST command that will return the clipname. Then use the DELETE FILE
command and specify the clipname.
Example of segment removal command: DELETE FILE:clipname
Clearing the List
To clear the list, the command is REMOVE ALL. No parameter is required. All the segments
are removed from the list. If a segment is on-air, it is first stopped then removed.
Modifying a Segment
To modify a segment, the command is MODIFY ID.
The following parameters are required for the command:
• ID: ID of the segment. The ID of the segment is returned by the GET LIST command
(see the Getting the Current List's Content section),
• Start Trigger type: start at (C), delete at (R), linked (L), manual (M), in band (I), GPI
(G),

• Start trigger: start/delete time (YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS), event ID if in band

trigger or Gpi field if GPI trigger (5.2.12.2. Segment Definition respectively sections
- InBand and GPI),
• Stop Trigger type: duration (D), in band (I), GPI (G),
• Stop trigger: duration (HH:MM:SS:FF), event ID if in band trigger or Gpi field if GPI
trigger (5.2.12.2. Segment Definition respectively sections - InBand and GPI),
• Offset: offset from the beginning of the file (HH:MM:SS:FF),
• Loop mode: begin (B), end (E), itself (L).
The Offset, Loop mode and CueTone fields are used only with Play Lists.
The Linked Start Trigger type is forbidden for Record Lists.
Example of commands to modify a segment:
MODIFY ID:1234,C,01/10:05:00,D,00:10:00:01
MODIFY ID:1235, C,01/10:25:00,DG,00:10:00:01-32
Setting Loop Segment
To set the loop attribute for a segment, the command is SET LOOP ID.
The following parameters are required for the command:
• ID: ID of the segment. The ID of the segment is returned by the GET LIST command
(see the Getting the Current List's Content section)
• Loop mode: begin (B), end (E), itself (L)
Example of command to set loop segment:
SET LOOP ID:1234,B

Appendix F. Help File Commands
The help file content is as shown below:
How to use list hotfolder
******************************
Available commands for '<filename>.txt' or '<filename>.asy' files are :
• GET SERVICE LIST
Get the list of available ASI and IP input services (result is stored in hot folder of the
Services.lst file)
For each service:
<ServiceName>|<InputID>
• GET STREAM LIST
Get the list of available streams files of the database (result is stored in hotfolder directory
in file Streams.lst)
For each stream:
<ClipURL>|<ClipName>|<Duration(msec)>
• DELETE FILE:<Name>
Remove file with ClipName <Name> from the database and delete it from the disk (the
ClipName is returned by the GET STREAM LIST command)
• GET LIST
Get the current list (result is stored in hotfolder directory in file List.lst)
For each stream:
<ID>|<Status>|<Name>|<Segment ID>|<Start Trigger type>|<Start time-

EventID-GpiField>|<Stop Triggers type>|<Duration-EventID-
GpiField>|<Offset>|<LoopMode>|<Logo ID>|<Description>
• UNDO LAST IMPORT
Remove the segments added at the previous time
• REMOVE ALL
Clear the list (if a segment is playing, interrupt it)

• REMOVE ID:<id>
Remove the segment with ID <id> (this ID is returned by the GET LIST command)
• MODIFY ID:<id>|<Segment ID>|<Start Trigger type>|<Start time-

EventID-GpiField>|<Stop Trigger type>|<Duration-EventID-
Modify the segment with ID <id> (this ID is returned by the GET LIST command)
• SET LOOP ID:<id>|<Loop Mode>
For playList only, set the loop setting of the segment with ID <id> (this ID is returned by the
GET LIST command)
• HELP
Send the current help text (result is stored in hotfolder directory in file Help.lst)
• <Name>|<Segment ID>|<Start Trigger type>|<Start time-EventID-

GpiField>|<Stop Trigger type>|<Duration-EventID-
Add a new segment in the list.
All fields except <Name>, <Start Trigger type>, <Stop Trigger type> and <Duration-
EventID-GpiField> are optional:
• <Name>: ClipName of the database entry returned by the GET STREAM LIST
command or ServiceName|InputID of input services list returned by the GET
SERVICE LIST command
• <Segment ID>: only with the '<filename>.asy' files. It is the Segment ID in the list,
ranging [0;4294967295] (Default value N)
• <Start Trigger type>: type of the start trigger
• <Stop Trigger type>: type of the stop trigger
For <Start Trigger type> and <Stop Trigger type>, various choices are:
- C: Start time (only for Start Trigger)
- I: InBand event
- G: GPI
- R: Delete time (only for Start Trigger and dated list)
- M: Manual (only for Start Trigger)
- NOW: Start the segment immediately (only for Start Trigger)
- L: Link (only for Start Trigger and for PlayList)

- D: Duration (only for Stop Trigger)
It is possible to have several triggers, for example: LIG for start trigger describes a linked
segment waiting an InBand or GPI event to start
CAUTION. Start triggers NOW and M cannot be used with any other start
trigger.
• <Start time>: In case of Start time type or Delete time type -> time with format:
<YEAR/MONTH/DAY HH:MM:SS>
• <EventID>: In case of InBand type -> eventID with format: <EventId> (word ANY
must be set to have Any_Event, otherwise EventId must be an integer between 0 and
65535)
• <GpiField>: In case of Gpi type -> Gpi box number, Gpi number and GPI edge with
format: <(GpiBox-GpiNr)Edge> (ranging GpiBox [1-10] GpiNr [1-12] Edge: F for
Falling or R for Rising)
• <Duration>: Duration with format: <HH:MM:SS:FF> (0 shall be set to have all the file)
• <Offset>: Offset from the beginning of the file with format: <HH:MM:SS:FF> (Default
value 0)(set 0 for RecordList)
• <Loop Mode>:It is the loop segment mode
- B: Begin of the loop (Only for PlayList)
- E: End of the loop (Only for PlayList)
- L: Loop on itself (Only for PlayList)
- All other char : None
• <Logo ID>: This feature is not available, set n or N
• <Description>: segment summary, max 255 characters (, ; Tabulation are forbidden)
NOTE. |: The field separator can be:

Comma(,)
SemiColon(;)
Tabulation(ascii code 9)

Appendix G. Log Files
Log Events
All log events are stored in a text file.
You can thus retrieve an event by opening this file in a text editor (e.g. Microsoft NotePad).
The default path to store these files is C:\Report\VideoServer.
One file is created per day with the yyyy mm dd.txt name.
The log file has several columns:
• Severity: E: Error W: Warning,
• Time: HH:MM:SS,
• Connector name: e.g. "Input1",
• Service Name: e.g. "ZDF",
• Text: e.g. "PID 110 (Video) not found".
Log file example
E 17:59:11 Input 1 ZDF PID 110 (Video) not found
E 17:59:11 Input 1 ZDF PID 130 (Data) not found
I 18:10:12 Input 1 ZDF PID 110 is found again
I 18:10:12 Input 1 ZDF PID 130 is found again
You can also open these files with a spreadsheet editor (e.g. Microsoft Excel). Simply select
a tab character as a field separator. This can be useful to carry out statistic analyses by
service or input, for example.
VDCP Log Files
Commands coming from the automation system and responses from the video server are
stored provided the corresponding option has been enabled when configuring the serial
port.
The default path to store these files is C:\Temp.
The filename is TraceCom<port_number>.txt.
The command file has several columns:
• Time: HH:MM:SS:MMM,

• RECEIVED,
• Start of text (STX),
• Size of message,
• Message,
• Command name.
The response file has several columns:
• Time: HH:MM:SS:MMM,
• SEND,
• Message.
Schedule Log Files
Schedule actions can be stored in a file provided corresponding option has been checked
when creating/modifying a play or record list.
Default path for storing these files is C:\Report\VideoServer\Schedule.
The filename is <service_name>_YYYY_MM_DD.txt.
The schedule log file has four columns:
• Time of information: time at which the information is received/known (in case of a

trigger, it is possible to receive it before the application time), in the HH:MM:SS
format.
• Type: type of information that can be:
- Start: start of a segment,
- Stop: stop of a segment,
- Trigger: reception of a trigger.
• Name of segment/Type of trigger: name of the segment in case of a Start/Stop

type; type of the trigger in case of a trigger. Possible values are:
- INTERNAL
- MANUAL
- CLOCK
- SCTE35
- GPI
• Time: time of start, stop or trigger application time.
Example:
18:43:32 Trigger INTERNAL 18:43:44.648
18:43:39 Start France 2 18:43:44.648

18:43:47 Trigger MANUAL 18:43:55.679
18:43:48 Stop France 2 18:43:53.679
18:43:48 Start Animaux 18:43:53.679
18:44:27 Trigger MANUAL 18:44:35.570
18:44:28 Stop Animaux 18:44:35.551
18:44:29 Start Classique 18:44:35.551
As Run Logs
The default path for storing As Run log files is C:\Report\asrunlog.
The filename is MDDNNHHH.ver,
where:
• M is the month (from 1 to 9 and A to C),
• DD is the day,
• NN is the network number,
• HHH is the head-end number.
The As Run log file has 13 columns:
• Event type,
• Scheduled date,
• Scheduled time,
• Window start time,
• Window duration time,
• Break number within window,
• Position number within break,
• Scheduled length,
• Actual aired time,
• Actual aired length,
• Actual aired position within break,
• Spot identification,
• Status code.
Error codes:
GDP_STATUS_CODE_NOT_COMPUTE = 0,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_AIRED_SUCCESSFULLY = 1,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_GENRERIC_FAILED_TO_AIRED = 2,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_BYPASS_ON = 4,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_LOGGING_TURNED_OFF = 5,

GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_BAD_VIDEO = 6,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_USER_ABORT = 8,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_INSERTER_ABORT = 9,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_DEVICE_NOT_READY = 10,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_UNKNOWN_ERROR = 12,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_TIME_OUT = 13,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_DEVICE_TIME_OUT = 14,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_SYSTEM_ERROR = 15,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_OPERATOR_ERROR = 16,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_INSERTER_BUSY = 17,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_INSERTION_CONFLICT = 18,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_DIRECTORY_ERROR = 19,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_NO_ADD_COPY_IN_INSERTER = 20,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_CUED_LATE = 21,
GDP_STATUS_CODE_FAILED_CHANNEL_COLLISION = 22.
Example:
LOI 0923 172500 1616 0058 001 001 000011 170329 00001100 001 03001392000 0001
LOI 0923 172500 1616 0058 001 001 000011 170829 00001100 001 03001392000 0001
LOI 0923 174500 1716 0058 001 001 000011 171629 00001100 001 03001392000 0001
LOI 0923 174500 1716 0058 001 002 000036 171640 00003600 002 12025042000 0001

Appendix H. Play List Files
SCH Play List Files
Play list files can either be loaded manually from the Play list view or automatically through
a hot folder process.
In both cases, you will be able to load SCH files with the following filename:
MDDNNHHH.sch
where:
• M is the month (from 1 to 9 and A to C),
• DD is the day,
• NN is the network number,
• HHH is the head-end number.
SCH play list files have the same content architecture than As Run log files. Refer to the As
Run Logs section above for information on file content and error codes.
Example:
REM Revised on 23/09/2008 16:59 DISCOVERY CHANNEL LIMA - CABLE MAGICO
LOI 0923 172500 1616 0058 001 001 000135 000000 00000000 000 00392003001 0000
AMERICA MOVIL PERU SAC PubMini Bnus

LOI 0923 174500 1716 0058 001 001 000135 000000 00000000 000 00392003001 0000
AMERICA MOVIL PERU SAC PubMini Bnus
END

Appendix I. Trace Management and

Dump Features
Trace Management
Sapphire provides a tool to get the traces from the server. To reach it, select Download
Trace from the Help menu.
Figure 144. Trace Loader.
Connect to the Trace Server by entering the server’s name and clicking the Connect
button. When done, you can see the range of dates for which you have traces on the server.
An automatic purge is performed to prevent disk overflow, so that only the traces for the last
few days are written on the server’s disk.
You can reduce this range by modifying the Date Range limits. Then, choose the Output
Directory for the trace to be stored in, and click the Get Trace button.
If needed, send the created trace.trc files to the support team for analysis.
Sapphire provides a way to define different levels of trace, as well as a tool to get these
trace from server.
Trace management and download is performed through the client interface. First of all,
connect a client to the desired server.
To reach the trace management options:
1. Keep the Ctrl + Shift + D key combination pressed on your keyboard.
2. Open the Help menu in the client interface.
You should get the Trace level additional options:

Figure 145. Trace management options.
By default, the trace level is set to Warning. To change it, just check the desired level.
Dump
This feature lets you record an input or an output during a given time without applying any
processing. To use it, proceed as follows:
1. Keep the Ctrl + Shift + D key combination pressed on your keyboard.
2. Right-click an input or output in the client interface to open the context menu and
choose Dump to file.
Figure 146. Accessing the Dump to file menu.
3. In the displayed dialog, enter the number of milliseconds during which you want to
record the data, and then click OK.
The dumping process starts immediately. You can see from the Logs view the messages
corresponding to the beginning and the end of the process. The name of the file where the
data is dumped is indicated in the Text column.
Figure 147. Start and end of dump process in the Logs view.

Appendix J. SNMP
The SAPPHIRE SNMP agent is designed to report the status of a video server unit. This
includes equipment’s configuration as well as operational health status concerning all the
operations running on the server (record and playout).
The SAPPHIRE SNMP agent periodically updates the associated MIB data information and
reports in real-time information and error messages as SNMP traps.
Starting/Stopping the SNMP Agent Service
To start or stop the service corresponding to the SNMP agent, proceed as follows:
1. On your desktop, right-click the My Computer icon and choose Manage.
2. In the tree on the left, expand the Services and Application node and click
Services.
3. In the list of Services on the right, select the Net-SNMP Agent line.
4. To start the service, click the button; to stop it, click the button.
Figure 148. SNMP agent service.
Exploring the SAPPHIRE MIB
In this document, we use a MIB browser to explore the SAPPHIRE MIB variables and tables
(MGSOFT MIB Browser). The SAPPHIRE agent implements the SNMP v2c standard and
uses the port 161.

Once the SAPPHIRE SNMP agent has been started, the MIB is available using the
following OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.4947.2.2.15.
The MIB variables are organized into the following main sections:
• smvVideoServerTraps: describes the SAPPHIRE trap notifications.
• smvVideoServerObjects: describes the equipment's configuration and its

operational health status.
• conformance.
Figure 149. Sapphire MIB.
The complete MIB is provided on the SAPPHIRE CD-ROM. It requires 3 files:
• SMVVIDEOSERVERMIB.txt,
• gvg-reg.txt,
• gvg-element.txt.

Sending SNMP Traps
The SAPPHIRE SNMP agent is able to send traps in order to report information and error
messages.
To add a trap destination, proceed as follows:
1. Edit the snmpd.conf file located in the C:\Program

Files\Thomson\VideoServer\Vx.yy.zz\SNMP\usr\etc\snmp folder.
2. Edit the Trap Destinations section and add a trap2sink line following the format
shown in Figure 150.
Figure 150. Adding a trap destination in the SNMP configuration file.
3. Save the modification.
4. Restart the Net-SNMP Agent service following the procedure provided earlier in the
Starting/Stopping the SNMP Agent Service section and clicking the button.
To remove a trap destination, follow the same procedure and remove the trap2sink line
from the configuration file.
Allowing Redirection to Other SNMP Agents
The SAPPHIRE SNMP agent is able to redirect SNMP requests to other SNMP agents
installed on the system (i.e. Windows SNMP agent). Other agents installed on the system
must be configured with a port different from 161.
To add a redirection to an other agent, proceed as follows:
1. Edit the snmpd.conf file located in the C:\Program

Files\Thomson\VideoServer\Vx.yy.zz\SNMP\usr\etc\snmp folder.

2. Edit the Proxy section and add a proxy line respecting the following format:
proxy -v snmp_version_protocol -c community
other_agent_address:other_agent_port
oid_to_redirect_to_other_agent
The node corresponding to the OID specified and its sub-elements will be redirected
to the configured agent.
Figure 151. Defining a redirection in the SNMP configuration file.
3. Save the modification.
4. Restart the Net-SNMP Agent service following the procedure provided earlier in the
Starting/Stopping the SNMP Agent Service section and clicking the button.
Monitoring the Server
This section gives a short description of the MIB variables and tables that the SAPPHIRE
SNMP agent dynamically manages. Detailed description is available in the SAPPHIRE MIB
files.
The smvVideoServerObjects group contains variables and tables designed to describe

the equipment's configuration and its operational health status.
SAPPHIRE server automatically updates the information reported by the agent each time
a new major event occurs (e.g. a synchronization loss is detected on an input; a new clip
becomes on air on a channel; a record or a playout is created; etc.).
Supervision
The supervision group reports the current status of the server unit. It includes:
• The list of the ASI/IP/Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and their status (supInterface
group),
• The list of the current inputs and their status (supInputs group),
• The list of the current outputs and their status (supOutputs group),
• The list of the current playouts and their status (supPlayout group),
• The list of the current records and their status (supRecord group).
For example, if we assume that a SAPPHIRE server featuring one ASI input and one ASI
output operates a record and a playout, you can get the current status of the following items:
• supInputTable (1.3.6.1.4.1.4947.2.2.15.1.2.20.10): input description

and status.

• supIfAsiTable (1.3.6.1.4.1.4947.2.2.15.1.2.10.10.10): ASI interface

description and status.
• supRecordTable (1.3.6.1.4.1.4947.2.2.15.1.2.50.10): record

• supPlayoutTable (1.3.6.1.4.1.4947.2.2.15.1.2.40.10): playout

• supOutputTable (1.3.6.1.4.1.4947.2.2.15.1.2.30.10): output description

and status.
Managing SNMP Traps
The SAPPHIRE SNMP agent manages two kinds of traps: errors and events.
These notifications are sent towards the remote hosts that are registered (see the Sending
SNMP Traps section above).
Server Errors
An error that occurs on/disappears from the SAPPHIRE video server is systematically
reported into the alarm display (and attached daily log file) and a trap is sent to notify the
error appearance or disappearance. The trap format is detailed in the MIB (supTrapError).
Play List Events
For each play list channel, SAPPHIRE is able to notify that an event becomes ON-AIR using
an SNMP trap. The format of these event traps is described in the MIB
(supTrapSegmentChange).
The SNMP trap related to a play list event is generated a few seconds before the event is
actually played out at the SAPPHIRE output.
Record list Events
For each record list channel, SAPPHIRE is able to notify that an event becomes ON-AIR
using an SNMP trap. The format of these event traps is described in the MIB
(supTrapSegmentChange).
The SNMP trap related to a record list event is generated a few seconds before the event
is actually recorded.

List of Errors
Table 47: List of errors.
Alarm text Meaning
An input or output card connector cannot be used on the ASI card or

Opening stream error
a network destination is unreachable.
Reading stream error Error while reading data.
Writing stream error Error while writing data.
Initializing stream error Error while initializing an input or an output on an ASI board.
Starting stream error Error while starting a board, an input or an output.
Synchronize error Synchronization error in the stream.
Table coherence error The PSI table content is not correct.
Delay error The delay is incorrect.
Input overflow error The system is overloaded (CPU, disk access).
Input underflow error There is an underflow on the input.
Demultiplexer overflow error The demultiplexer rate is too low.
Communication error Error while communicating with the OpenMux® software.
Output overflow error There is an overflow on the output.
Output desynchro error The output is desynchronized.
ON-AIR error The output stream is incorrect due to a segment error in the play list.
PID presence error An expected PID is not present.
Stream rate error The stream rate is incorrect (using PCR - usually due to PCR errors).
Service rate error The service rate is incorrect (by counting service packets).
Discontinuity error A discontinuity indicator was found.
Continuity counter error Shifting in the continuity counter.
Video decoding error Error while decoding a video thumbnail.
Video freeze error The video has not changed for a long period.

Appendix K. Segmentation Descriptor
The table below lists the segmentation descriptor for the option Insert SCTE35 on video
export (see Section 4.15. Using the Sapphire’s FTP Server).
Table 48: Segmentation descriptor.
Number of Value for in Value for out

Syntax
bits point point
segmentation descriptor() {
splice_descriptor_tag 8 0x02 0x02
descriptor_length 8 8 8
identifier 32 0x43554549 0x43554549
segmentation_event_id 32 0 0
segmentation_event_cancel_indicator 1 0 0
reserved 7 0 0
program_segmentation_flag 1 1 1
segmentation_duration_flag 1 0 1
if (segmentation_duration_flag == ’1’)
segmentation_duration() }
reserved 7 0
duration 33 duration
segmentation_upid_type 8 0 0
segmentation_upid_length 8 0 0
segmentation_type_id 8 0x10 0x11
chapter 8 0 0
chapter_count 8 1 1

Appendix L. Glossary
Definitions
Compression Layer
The compression layer is the compressed elementary stream and associated

metadata that describes the elementary stream. Usually this layer is organized
into variable length packets with headers and payloads of data, in which case
the bit stream is called a packetized elementary stream, or PES.
See the appropriate MPEG-2, DVB, or ATSC standards for more information.
See also System Layer.
Cue Tone
Also called trigger tones.
Signal that is broadcast by the network feed and intercepted by the video
switch. Cue tones notify the systems of breaks in programming during which
events can be aired. Cue tones can be initiated by a tone from a network or by
contact closure. There are two types of cue tones: start tones trigger an
insertion to begin, and stop tones can stop an event that is being played.
Delay line
Circuit designed to introduce a computed delay into a given signal

transmission.
File splitting
The file splitting feature lets you divide your recording into several files. You
choose the periodicity of file changing, i.e. you define the time interval between
each new file creation. Files may overlap, which gives you the possibility to
record a whole program without knowing its precise real start or end time. This
is particularly useful shall e.g. a TV program begin a bit later than scheduled
time. This feature offers extra flexibility.
GOP
Group Of Pictures: this represents the MPEG 2 group of pictures I, B and P.

The beginning of a GOP is always an I picture.

NVOD
Near Video On Demand (NVOD) is also called Advanced PPV (Pay-Per-View)

or Enhanced PPV. Typically, in the NVOD context, an entertainment or
information service broadcasts a common set of programs to customers over
a schedule basis.
ON-AIR
The ON-AIR segment is the segment that is currently being broadcast (or
recorded - by extension for record lists).
Permanent streams
This term groups together the different stream files which are on the server
and that may be used every week on the server. These files are not deleted
by the server. They are either imported onto the server or recorded manually.
Segment
A segment is defined as a video list element (an event in fact): it is recorded

or played from one time during a certain period.
Splicing
Splicing represents the quality of the video and audio at the transition between
two segments when they are played one after the other.
System Layer
The system layer is the transport stream with program data and associated
metadata that describes the composition and organization of the transport
stream. MPEG-2 system layer information includes synchronization bytes,
PID numbers, scrambling information, and other indicators, including the start
of the transport packet payload. Transport packets can be PES packet, a PSI
table, or other private data. ATSC and DVB transport streams are MPEG-2
compatible because the required ATSC and DVB system layer data are
MPEG-2 private data structures.
See the appropriate MPEG-2, DVB, or ATSC standards for more information.
Time to Live
A header field for a packet sent over the Internet indicating how long the
packet should be held.

Transrating
Transrating is an optional function that reduces the output Transport Stream

(TS) bit rate.
Trigger tone
See Cue Tone.
Acronyms
Table 49: Acronyms
Acronym Meaning
API Application Program Interface
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASI Asynchronous Serial Interface
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee
AU Access Unit
CAT Conditional Access Table
CBR Constant Bit Rate
CC Continuity Center (MPEG tranport flag)
CUEI Identifer format (0x43554549 (ASCII "CUE")
CVCT Cable Virtual Channel Table
DI Discontinuity Indicator (MPEG tranport flag)
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting
EIT Event Information Table
ETSI European Telecommunication Standards Institute
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GES Giga Ethernet System
GOP Group Of Pictures
GPI General Purpose Interface
GUI Graphical User Interface
HD High Definition
IP Internet Protocol
LAN Local Area Network
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group

Table 49: Acronyms
Acronym Meaning
MPTS Multiple Programs Transport Stream
NDIS Network Driver Interface Specification
NIT Network Information Table
NTP Network Time Protocol
NVOD Near Video On Demand
PAT Program Associated Table
PCR Program Clock Reference
PES Packetized Elementary Stream
PI Physical Interface
PID Packet IDentifier
PMT Program Map Table
POC Picture Order Count
PPV Pay-per-view
PSI Program Specific Information
PSIP Program Specific Information Protocol
PTS Presentation Time Stamp
QoS Quality of Service
RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks
SCTE35 Serial Clock Transmit External 35
SD Simple Definition
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SPS Service Provisioning System
SPTS Single Program Transport Stream
SSI Synchronous Serial Interface
STT System Time Table
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TDT Time and Date Table
TEI Transport Error Indicator
TOS Type Of Service
TS Transport Stream
TTL Time To Live
TVCT Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table
UDP User Datagram Protocol

Table 49: Acronyms
Acronym Meaning
VBR Variable Bit Rate
VDCP Video Disk Control Protocol
VTR Video Tape Recorder
VUI Video Usability Information
WAN Wide Area Network

TNM-51xx-2 & TNM-51xx-3 MPEG Video Server SAPPHIRE
Index C
Client/Server Connection/Disconnection
Reference 124
Creating
Symbols Delay Line 61
Manual Ingest 59
115 Manual Record 51
Record List 54
Creating a Live Output
A Tutorial 66
About box 131, 165 Creating a Play List Using a Loop
Ad Insertion Tutorial 65
Basics 44 Creating Delay Line from an Existing Record De-
Adding a New ASI Input lay
Tutorial 47 Tutorial 63
Adding a New MPEG
Tutorial 49
Advanced Demultiplexing 100
D
Advanced demux parameters 100 Data PID
Result 102 Creation 94
Settings 100 Filtering 98
Advanced PSI Dialog Removal 95
Managing PSI 89 Delay Line
Amethyst redundancy 174, 175 Behaviour 64
ASI 24, 25, 31, 59, 61, 66, 67, 73, 83, 85, 121, Creating 61
134, 136, 137, 143, 145, 146 delay line 62, 63, 87, 133, 177
ASTC Tables Delete segment after record 55
Managing PSI 86 De-multiplexing 119
ATM 61 Input Stream 122
Audio PID dummy services 142
Creation 94 DVB Tables
Filtering 98 Managing PSI 86
Removal 95
Automatic renaming 55
Automation System 111 E
Disabling 114
Enabling 111 EIT segmentation 54, 88, 156
Using with Play List 112 Errors
Using with Record List 112 error acknowledgement 134, 139, 141, 171
automation system 77, 111, 113, 131, 180, 187, listed errors 171
193 Extracting Segments from a Record Loop
Tutorial 60
B
F
Basics
Ad Insertion 44 file splitting 54
Functional Overview 40 filtering 98
Manual Play 41 frame-accurate 26, 162
Manual Record 41 FTP Server 116
Media File Concatenation 44 full TS 87
Media Ingest 43
Network Video On Demand 42
Play List 42
G
Record List 42 GPI 75, 76, 119, 133, 155, 160, 170, 180, 187,
Time Delay 40 188
GPI box 31, 108, 131, 159, 160

SAPPHIRE MPEG Video Server TNM-51xx-2 & TNM-51xx-3
GPI Box 146, 147, 177

Adding IP Address 108 Manuel Ingest
Adding to the Sapphire Client 110 Creating 59
Configuring 110 Media File Concatenation
Creating 108 Basics 44
Graphical User Interface Media Ingest
Reference 126 Basics 43
Message & Error Management
Reference 170
H Modifying Output Delay
Tutorial 63
Hardware 27
Muliplexing
Installing 27
Output with ASI only 119
hot folder 56, 71, 74, 75, 186
Multiplexing 119
I N
input delay 55
network 24, 25, 34, 54, 59, 66, 67, 69, 84, 97,
Inserting a Segment
125, 129, 135, 144, 146
Record List 57
Network Video On Demand
Inserting Ad 114
Basics 42
Inserting Ads
No PSI
External Splicer Settings 115
Managing PSI 86
NTP Synchronization 116
NVOD 42, 73
Standard Workflow 114
Network Video On Demand 42
Triggers Management 115
Installing 27
O
L OpenMux 26, 88, 90, 96, 119, 120, 121, 122,
143
live 24, 26, 66, 67, 72, 83, 96, 97, 119, 132, 133,
output delay 61, 63, 64, 70
146, 156, 157, 170
Output Rates
Loging
Managing 122
Starting the System 35
logs 56, 70, 75, 111, 112, 130, 147, 170
P
M Pass Through PSI
Managing PSI 86
Maintenance 78
Passing Through PSI with Mux 87
Repackaging for Shipment 78
PassPro 31, 33, 143, 145
Manage PSI
Performing Analyses 104
Managing PSI 86
Pia+ 31, 143, 145
Managing Dummy Services
Play List
Tutorial 50
Basics 42
Managing PSI 86
Managing 103
Advanced PSI dialog 89
play list 26, 50, 69, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 83, 97,
Passing Through PSI 87
104, 112, 119, 120, 121, 132, 133, 146, 156,
Passing Through PSI with Mux 87
169, 176, 177
Setting PSI Parameters 88
Product Overview
manual ingest 59
Hardware 24
Manual Play
Software 25
Basics 41
Unpacking 27
manual play 67, 83, 85, 146, 169, 177
Manual Record
Basics 41 R
Creating 51
manual record 26, 41, 51, 52, 59, 87, 129, 132, Record List

Basics 42 Tutorial 46
Creating 54 Adding a New ASI Input 47
Inserting a Segment 57 Adding a New MPEG 49
Managing 103 Automatically Adding Files & Segments to
Record list the Hot Folder 74
Occurrency 57 Concatenating Files 78
Repeat 57 Creating a Live Output 66
record list 26, 42, 55, 56, 59, 69, 87, 104, 112, Creating a Play List Using a Loop 65
113, 129, 132, 133, 146, 154, 156, 177 Creating Delay Line from an Existing Record
Recording Delay 63
Tutorial 51 Extracting Segments from a Record Loop 60
redundancy 174 Managing Dummy Services 50
remapping 93, 97, 119, 120, 141 Modifying Ouput Delay 63
Remapping Audio PID Playing 67
Algorithm 93 Recording 51
Remapping DATA 91 Scanning Existing Inputs 47
At the Time of Creation 91 Scanning Inputs 46
Remapping PID Scanning New ASI Inputs 46
Audio PIDs 93 Using the Delay Feature 61
PID Duplication Issue 95
Use Cases 97
Repackaging for Shipment V
Maintenance 78
VDCP 113, 193
Repeat
Record list 57
rights 36, 37, 49, 131, 139, 142, 165, 168
RS 422 111, 180
S
Safety
General Safety Instructions 19
Product Damage Precautions 21
Safety Precautions 19
Scanning Existing Inputs
Tutorial 47
Scanning Inputs
Tutorial 46
Scanning New ASI Inputs
Tutorial 46
SCTE35 75, 76
Server
Connecting 26
Shutting Down the System 38
Standard Workflow
Inserting Ads 114
Starting the System 35
Exiting the Application 37
Login 35
Starting the Server & the Client 36
Username & Password 35
T
Time Delay
Basics 40
transrating 100

SAPPHIRE MPEG Video Server TNM-51xx-2 & TNM-51xx-3

Contacting THOMSON
Our service worldwide organization can address your questions quickly and
comprehensively.
Our international support centers in France and the United States are available by phone
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
International Support Centers
France
+800 80 80 20 20
+33 1 48 25 20 20
United States
+1 800 547 8949
+1 530 478 4148
You can also contact your local support center directly during normal business hours.
Please check for the number of the center nearest you at
www.grassvalley.com/support/contact/phone/.
International Sales
http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/tbm/sapphire_broadcast/

VideoServer User Guide

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Sapphire Broadcast

MPEG Video Server

TNM – 5100 Series

SAPPHIRE is a trademark of THOMSON.

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notification.

4.5.4.3. Remapping Audio PID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

5.2.5.3. Drive Input Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

6.2. Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Figure 1. System overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Figure 54. Example of Storage.xml file (version 5.5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Figure 112. Ethernet input connector context menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Table 1. List of accessories delivered with all systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Document creation and update for

1.0 17-Mar-2009 N. Kerzreho Update for version 05.06 05.06

Page 16/216 Introduction

• Recording and playing out MPEG-2 TS media,

• Operating play lists and record lists,

• Importing and editing video clips,

• Managing ASI inputs and outputs,

• Managing Gigabit Ethernet inputs and outputs,

• Multiplexing MPEG programs,

• Operating splicing and ad-insertion,

• Interfacing with automation systems,

• Interfacing with SCTE30 splicers,

• Performing MPEG media ingest.

1.2. Related Documents

No other documents are needed to use the video server equipment.

1.3. Manual Structure

The manual is organized into the following sections:

Introduction Page 17/216

This section provides an overview of SAPPHIRE-related issues.

This section provides detailed information on SAPPHIRE specifications and related

1.4. Manual Conventions

The following notes may appear in this manual:

WARNING. Warning statements identify conditions or practices that could

CAUTION. Caution statements identify conditions or practices that could

Page 18/216 Introduction

NOTE. Note statements identify additional information pointed out to your

Example: Select Settings from the Configuration menu.

Example: See Details Panel for more information.

Example: A transport stream (also called a multiplex) is an ordered series of bytes

Mono-spaced text can indicate the following:

- Text you enter from a keyboard

- Characters you press on your keyboard

Example: Press CTRL+C to copy the selected text.

- Paths to components on your hard drive

Example: The MIB is at the following location: C:\MIB.

1.5. General Safety Instructions

These servicing instructions are for use by qualified personnel only.

1.5.1. Safety Precautions

Avoid electric overload

Introduction Page 19/216

Circuit Overloading: considerations should be given to the connection of the equipment

Reliable earthing (required for UL)

Mains power and circuit overloading (required for UL)

Rack Mounting instructions (required for UL)

Elevated Operating Ambient: If installed in a closed or multi-unit rack assembly, the

Reliable earthing (required for UL):

Reliable earthing of rack-mounted equipment should be maintained.

Power disconnecting: disconnect power before removing protective panel, soldering or

Do not operate without covers

Do not operate in explosive atmosphere

Do not operate in wet/damp conditions

Page 20/216 Introduction