AJA Control Room Operation Guide
AJA Control Room
Software
Installation & Operation Guide
Version 1.0
Published: April 22, 2014
Table of Contents
Notices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Copyright. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Contacting Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Supported Files and Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
User-interface Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Application Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
In This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2: Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Using the Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Playback Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Capture Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Capture Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Batch Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Edit-To-Tape Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Edit Settings Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Tape Deck Timing Adjustment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Capture Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Edit-to-Tape Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Appendix A: Python Scripting Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Python Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Apple Macintosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
AJA Control Room Setup for Python Scripting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Macintosh Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Windows Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Simple Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
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Notices
Trademarks
Copyright
Contacting Support
AJA®, KONA®, Ki Pro®, KUMO® and XENA® are registered trademarks of AJA Video, Inc.,
TruZoom™, TruScale™, Ki Pro Mini™, Io Express™, Io HD
“Work. Flow.” are trademarks of AJA Video, Inc. AirPort, Apple, the Apple logo,
AppleShare, AppleTalk, FireWire, iPod, iPod Touch, Mac, and Macintosh are registered
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Final Cut Pro, QuickTime and the QuickTime Logo are
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Avid, Avid Media Composer and Avid DNxHD are
trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective holders.
HDMI, the HDMI logo and High-Definition Multimedia Interface are trademarks or
registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing LLC. DVI is a registered trademark of DDWG. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Copyright © 2014 AJA Video, Inc. All rights reserved. All information in this manual is
subject to change without notice. No part of the document may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying or recording, without the express written permission of AJA Inc.
When calling for support, have all information at hand prior to calling.
™
™,
, Io
AJA Control Room™, and
To contact AJA Video for sales or support, use any of the following methods:
Telephone: +1.530.271.3190
FAX : +1.530.271.3140
Web: http://www.aja.com
Support Email: support@aja.com
Sales Email: sales@aja.com
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview
AJA Control Room™ is a simple software application for professional quality video and
audio capture, conversion, playback, and output. With AJA Control Room you can
master-to-tape using a single application. You can configure your video/audio
I/O via an AJA edit device using the AJA Control Panel launched from the AJA Control
Room application.
AJA Control Room is available for Mac OS X and Windows. This chapter provides a brief
overview of the application’s layout and functions.
Supported Files and Systems
AJA Control Room supports common video and graphic file types, including QuickTime
(.mov), and DPX. You can use AJA Control Room with a variety of AJA video and audio
processing hardware products.
Installation AJA Control Room software is available from the AJA website:
http://www.aja.com/en/products/software/
1. Locate and click the AJA Control Room download link to download the product.
2. Once the compressed product file is on your machine, double-click the file to open
it.
3. (Windows) Follow the installation wizard instructions to install AJA Control Room.
4. (Mac) Drag the app files to the Application folder.
5. After installation, the applications are ready to run.
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User-interface Overview
This section discusses the general layout and functions offered in AJA Control Room
application menu bar and user interface screen. The application, by default, opens to the
Viewer page shown in the following figure (the default Viewer Tab is Playback).
Figure 1. AJA Control Room Screen Layout
• Playback—the playback pane loads files from your computer and plays them out
through your AJA hardware.
NOTE: Tabs at the top of the Viewer Screen allow you to easily toggle between Capture, Playback and
Edit To Tape. The Capture and Edit To Tape screen tabs are not active unless the AJA Control
Panel is active with a valid AJA Edit product installed on your computer.
• Capture—the Capture screen allows capturing video and audio to the computer from
an external video/audio source, such as a VTR/DDR, using the AJA hardware.
• Edit To Tape—a workspace where you can perform an Insert or Assemble Edit to Tape
to record your clips to a VTR/DDR.
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Application Menus These top-level application menus provide information and control of the workspace
panes and the overall application performance.
• AJA Control Room (Mac menu only)
•File
•View
• Device
•Help
NOTE: Menu contents vary between the Windows and Mac menus. The following, first describes the
menu items contained within the same menu across the platforms and then notes those that
differ between platforms.
File Menu The File menu includes these options for both Mac OS and Windows:
New Bin: Opens a new blank bin panel for a new project.
Open Bin: Opens a browse window to load an existing saved bin (.crbin file)
Import Files to Bin: Loads EDLs for setting up batch captures adding them to the Bin.
Save Bin and Save Bin As: Standard file save operations.
AJA Control Panel: Opens the AJA Control Panel for setting up or changing AJA hardware.
Figure 2. File Menu
View Menu The View menu offers the following view options and provides the keystroke commands
for on-the-fly selection:
Figure 3. View Menu Selections
Toggle Fullscreen: Toggles the workspace display between full screen window size and standard window
size.
The following two options are useful to hide unused setup and information space and
maximize the Display Screen area while working with clip edits.
Show/Hide Viewer Settings: Located below the transport bar, the Viewer Setting pane is for setting up control
operations for workspaces—Capture, Playback, and Edit To Tape.
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Show/Hide Bin: Located in the left column, the Bin lists and allows selection of the clips you are working
with.
Viewer Mode: The last three options select one of the three workspace modes.
NOTE: For more on keystroke shortcuts, see “Keystroke Commands” on page 12.
Device Menu If you have more than one AJA hardware device installed or connected to your computer,
this menu allows you to select the one that AJA Control Room will use.
Figure 4. Device Menu
Help Menu Click the AJA Software Site link to visit the AJA website for the latest release notes,
manual and AJA software downloads.
Figure 5. AJA Control Room Help Menu
Preferences In Windows, the Preferences screen is under the File Menu. For Mac OS, see the AJA
Control Room menu for Preference settings.
This menu includes basic preferences under the following subject heads:
General Prefs: User interface and Capture option settings
Figure 6. AJA Control Room Preferences–General
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Viewer Prefs: Display and Timecode format option settings
Figure 7. AJA Control Room Preferences–Viewer
Serial Prefs: Settings for serial control via selected timecode source:
• AJA Control Panel timecode settings
• Tape deck control via RS-422 port.
Figure 8. AJA Control Room Preferences–Serial
For information on using Capture and Output offsets to adjust Tape Deck frame accuracy,
see “Tape Deck Timing Adjustment” on page 20.
Scripting Enable and Tutorial: For users who want to use Python Scripting to operate AJA Control Room, it is enabled
here and a link to an online tutorial is available. (The tutorial is also available in Appendix
A of this document.)
Figure 9. AJA Control Room Preferences–Scripting
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