EVS XFly Technical Reference Hardware Manual

Technical Reference Hardware
April 2012
Portable NAS Storage Platform
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
I
COPYRIGHT
EVS Broadcast Equipment – Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER
The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only and subject to change without notice. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this user manual is accurate, up-to-date and reliable, EVS Broadcast Equipment cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies or errors that may appear in thi s publication.
IMPROVEMENT REQUESTS
Your comments will help us improve the quality of the user documentation. Do not hesitate to send improvement requests, or report any error or inaccuracy on this user manual by e-ma il to
doc@evs.tv.
REGIONAL CONTACTS
The address and phone number of the EVS he adquarters are usually menti oned in the Help > About men u in the user interface.
You will find the full list of addre sses and phone numbers of local offices either at the end of this user manual (for manuals on hardware products) or on the EVS website on the fo llowing page:
http://www.evs.tv/contacts.
USER MANUALS ON EVS WEBSITE
The latest version of the user manual, if any, and other user manuals on EVS products can be found on the EVS download center, on the following webpage:
http://www.evs.tv/downloadcenter.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
II
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
III
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. III
WHAT’S NEW? .............................................................................................................. IV
1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1
2. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ............................................................................. 2
2.1 OS AND SOFTWARE .................................................................................................................. 2
2.2 HARDWARE ................................................................................................................................ 2
2.2.1 Front Panel ............................................................................................................................. 2
2.2.2 Rear Panel .............................................................................................................................. 3
2.2.3 Rack ........................................................................................................................................ 4
2.2.4 PC Characteristics .................................................................................................................. 4
2.2.5 Storage Characteristics ........................................................................................................... 4
3. CONFIGURATION .................................................................................................. 5
3.1 GIGABIT ETHERNET .................................................................................................................. 5
3.2 EVS SERVER CONFIGURATION ............................................................................................... 5
3.2.1 Network ................................................................................................................................... 5
3.2.2 Linx Protocol ........................................................................................................................... 5
4. WORKFLOWS ........................................................................................................ 6
4.1 IPDIRECTOR WORKFLOW WITH TRANSFER TO AVID ........................................................... 6
4.2 STREAMING WORKFLOW WITH XFLY STREAMER ................................................................. 9
4.3 BACKUP CLIP FROM EVS SERVER VIA XTRACT .................................................................. 12
4.4 RESTORE ELEMENT TO EVS SERVER VIA XTRACT ............................................................ 14
5. PERFORMANCES ................................................................................................ 16
5.1 PERFORMANCE DIAGRAMS ................................................................................................... 16
5.2 TEAMING LACP ........................................................................................................................ 17
NOTES .......................................................................................................................... 21
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
IV
What’s New?
This manual presents t he features of the first ve rsion of XFly.
In the future user manuals, the icon will be added on left margin to highlight information on new and updated features.
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
1
1. Introduction
XFly is a brand new compact and portable storage platform intended for extended live production operations. The storage case encloses eight removable standard SATA hard disk drives (2.5 inches) offering up to 8TB storage with a maximum capacity of 140 hours of HD at 100Mbps.
This new portable system is designed to offer EVS XT/XS server series operators an easy way to back clips and feeds up. When live shooting is completed, the operator can simply trans port the entire production; including pr ogram feed, multi­camera angles, best shots and highlights in a single storage case. When arriving at the booth from the shooting area, XFly is simply plugged into Avid or FCP allowing editors to im mediately begin their cr eative tasks.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
2
2. Technical
Specifications
2.1 OS AND SOFTWARE
XFly operates under Win dows 7 Pro Embedded X64. XTAccess is automatically installed, as well as the following utilities: Adobe
Reader, XML Notepad 2007 and Kasperski Antivirus.
2.2 HARDWARE
2.2.1 FRONT PANEL
The following elements are on the front panel of XFly
one USB port
one power switch
one power LED
one HDD LED
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
3
2.2.2 REAR PANEL
Number Element 1 1 x eSATA port 2 1X DVI-D port
3 2 x Ethernet Gigabit ports compatible JumboF rame 9K 4 Mouse connector 5 Keyboard connector 6 4 x USB ports 7 1 x VGA connector 8 3x RS232 port DB9-M an d 1X RS422 port DB9-F
The port number 2 is configured as RS422 for EVS video server control.
9 Audio connectors 10 S/PDIF connector 11 Power supply connector
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
4
2.2.3 RACK
XFly is presented as a por table box with a mini tower orientation. Two XFly units can also be assembled side-by-side in a 3U rackmounted cabine.
The kit is available upon request.
Note
Even if assembled, the 2 units operate separately
Each XFly has a single power supply. So no redun dancy is possible.
2.2.4 PC CHARACTERISTICS
Motherboard Core i5 660 3.3Ghz
DRAM 4GB (1GB shared with graph ic cart)
HDD for OS and software is a 30GB SSD (= flash disk, this induces no
partition for restore > restore files are saved to H DD RAID = +/-20GB )
Graphic card onboard with dual screen capabilities and 1 DVI-D port (D >
digital only)
Audio card onboard
2.2.5 STORAGE CHARACTERISTICS
STORAGE NAS
8x HDD SATA 1TB
Disk pack
RAID 5 (means t otal capacity is less then 7TB)
LSI 9260 RAID controll er
SATA HDD
SATA available capacit ies = 500GB and 1TB ( = EVS standard configuration)
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
5
3. Configuration
3.1 GIGABIT ETHERNET
All the servers, where the trains and clips should be browsed and backed up, have to be connected on the same Gigabit Ethernet as the XFly. The IP address range and the subnet mask sho uld match XFly/XTAccess LAN settings.
Default Gateway settings are available if the servers and workstations are spread in different VLANs.
Some limitations and r ecommendations exist on th e Gigabit connections:
6 accesses maximum per HiRes server
30 accesses per LowRes server
Gigabit connections manage Ethernet frame size: Original (1500) or Jumbo
Frames (9000 bytes of payload (MTU)) which offer better performances around 30%. If XFly/XTAccess workstations should negotiate jumbo frames with servers, all Gigabit Ethernet NICs and switches have to be configured in order to support this frame size.
3.2 EVS SERVER CONFIGURATION
3.2.1 NETWORK
Once Mult icam is launched on the EVS server, the Gigabi t connection settings and PC LAN connections setti ngs are located in the Multicam Config uration window, in the Server and Network tabs. Refer to EVS Server s Configuration manuals.
Set IP Addresses, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway and press ALT+A to apply modifications.
3.2.2 LINX PROTOCOL
XTract and XFly Streame r software require LINX protoco l to operate. Please che ck if Code 123 is activa ted on the EVS Server.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
6
4. Workflows
The following overviews are simple workflows involving XFly system and EVS software. For each software please refer to the related user manual for complete details of use and conf iguration.
4.1 IPDIRECT OR WORKFLOW WITH TRANSFER T O AVID
IP DIRECTOR CONFIGURATION
The first step of the con figuration is to create 1 X ML unit to point to XFly unit. An XML unit is a folder located on the network and scanned by the XTAccess
application. XTAccess is designed to manage clip transfers on the network using the EVS server Gigabit feature. The XML job files corresponding to a backup request or a clip export t o AVID system will be sent to thi s XML unit.
1. From Remote Installer/ Edit Workgroup parameters , select the’ XML Unit’ t ab
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
7
2. Click on the ‘New’ but ton to add a new unit.
A new line is added in the unit list.
3. Give a Name: Click in the Name column and give a nam e to the unit.
4. Define Path: Click on the Browse button to select the folder where the
XML files will be sent. This folder should be a UNC path to the network locations where the fo lder exists.
Note 1
This folder must correspond to the XFly/XTAccess XML folder which will effectively manage the transfer. Be sure this folder is shared with full access rights.
Note 2
Only UNC DNS name or IP address path are valid. (Ex: \\XFLY53210\XFLY_XML\, \\1.1.1.100\XFLY_XML\)
No local paths are val id.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
8
5. Default: If the unit is to be defined as the default unit for all workstations,
check the box in the defa ult column of the unit.
6. Specify the Unit Type: Use the IP option for XTAccess folder
Inside the XML Unit tab, the Vie w config button will display this status as long as the XTAccess is launched and scanning the XML Unit fol ders
Please refer to the IPDirector Technical Reference manual for complete information about XML unit creation.
XFLY / XTACCESS CONFIGURATION
XFly folder structure hosts the AVID Folder structure, i.e. :
[Drive_Letter]:\Av id MediaFiles\MXF\1
[Drive_Letter]:\Av id MediaFiles\MXF\2
These folders must be shared to ‘Everyone’ with full access rights. The shared name will be the name used by IPDirector Target configuration as well as in XTAccess.
AVID CONFIGURATION (STANDALONE MODE)
As the XFly will be conne cted as a network drive for the Avid MediaComposer, it is useful to enable the scan of the network drive by Avid Media Composer. This is achieved by typing the followi ng command in the Avid Me diaComposer console:
“Alldrives 1” (to scan only hard drives, the comm and is “Alldrives 2”)
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
9
4.2 STREAMING WORKFLOW WITH XFLY STREAMER
To start the recording, proceed as follows:
1.
The local XTAccess and its related XML unit is already started and
minimized in the task bar.
2. Click the shortcut to launch the XFly Streamer software. The screen will
always appear as follo ws:
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
10
3. Select the XFly hardware and the processing device i.e. XTAccess from the
two drop-down lists in the upper left corner. The local system and software, if present, always appear at the top of the list.
4. Then set a server type to display the servers list:
5. Into the server list, click the a rrow to display the list of available channels:
The selected channel is now displayed in the cha nnel area with thumbnails generation to preview the channel:
6. Repeat ste p 5 to select all channe ls desired.
7. Check and if necessary modify the wrapper selected, the path to save the
file, the format stri ng for automatic filenami ng and/or the maximum duratio n.
8. Then click REC command to start the recording:
The REC command lights red and a red frame is displayed around each channel. All selectio ns and settings are disab led during the recording.
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
11
9. Click STOP command to stop the recor ding.
Note
As the backup files need to close properly, it can however take some time before all jobs are finalized.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
12
4.3 BACKUP CLIP FROM EVS SERVER VIA XTRACT
The Backup window is op en by default when you launc h the application.
The window is divided in four panes:
Server Visibility
This pane displays the three families of EVS video servers which can be seen by XTract: XT[2]/XT[2]+, XS and XTnano. Select one or several server types you want to appear in the backup s ervers list.
Select backup servers
This pane displays a list of all available XT[2]/XT[2]+, XS and XTnano servers found on the network after a disc overy process. This lis t is based on the selection made in Server Visibil ity.
At any time, you can refresh this list and start a new discovery process, by
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
13
clicking on the Refresh L ist button. Once the list is displayed, select all servers on which you want to perform a
backup. Thus, all files tagged as “to be archived” by the server operator will be copied to the storage unit.
Browse or type destina tion folder
This pane displays the destination folder (server on the network, disk and folder on this disk) for all files that are going to be backed up.
You can either enter directly the path to this directory or browse to it using the
Browse button.
Choose File Format
Select the format of th e backup file among the available for mats. Please note that, in an XTract system, XTAccess does not perform any file format tr anscoding.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
14
4.4 RESTORE ELEMENT TO EV S SERVER VIA XTRACT
The window displays only a Server Visibility pane and a Select restore servers pane, which is similar to the one in the BACKUP window.
Server Visibility
This pane displays the three families of EVS video servers which can be seen by XTract: XT[2]/XT[2]+, XS and XTnano. Select one or several server types y ou want to appear in the restor e servers list.
Select Restore Servers
The pane displays a list of all available XT[2]/XT[2]+, XS and XTnano servers found on the network after a disc overy process. This lis t is based on the selection made in Server Visibil ity.
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
15
At any time, you can refresh this list and start a new discovery process, by clicking on the Refresh L ist button.
Once the list is displayed, select all servers to which you want to restore backup files.
By default, the resto red files are sent to page 6 on the destination server.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
16
5. Performances
5.1 PERFORMANCE DIAGRAMS
The following diagrams shows the performances of XFly unit to process multiple 90min backups from XT native codec to standard file wrapper such as EVSMXF,
QT, OP1a SMPTE and AVID OPATOM. Only one GbE port was configured during these per formance tests.
Important note:
The XFly system has not been designed to process multiple transcoding jobs at a time. In order to sustain multiple realtime transfers as described in the performance diagrams, we recommend to launch transcoding jobs separately from realtime constraints and not to exceed 4 jobs at a time.
PAL
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
17
NTSC
Note: 720P formats are supported but no performance tests were processed. The backup of these formats are supposed to be less pe rforming compared to 1080i formats therefore pl ease consider to validate your workflow prior to use 720p formats.
Only one GBE Ethernet port was configured during these performances tests. In order to increase the number of simultaneous jobs, the network configuration can be modified by defining 2 different VLANs or by configuring a Teaming LACP.
5.2 TEAMING L ACP
This section describes how to create IEEE802.3ad Team on XFly with On-board Network interfaces.
1. On the Desktop, right click on network and select Properties.
2. Click on Change adapter settings .
3. Right click on the first network adapter then select
Properties.
4. Click on Configure.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
18
5. From the Advanced Tab, choose Jumbo Packet and set the value to ‘9014
bytes’ Rem: Modify also the second network ada pter
6. On the desktop, right click on network and select Properties.
7. Click on Change adapter settings
8. Right click on the first network adapter then select
Properties
9. Click on Configure
10. From the Teaming Tab, select Team this adapter with other adapter (1) and
then click on New team (2).
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
19
11. Specify a name for the team.
Then, click Next.
12. Select the adapte r to include in this team.
Then, click Next.
13. Select the IEEE802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation type.
Issue 1.0.D
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
20
Click Next and then Finish.
14. Go to
15. Right click on Etherne t Team ‘local area connecti on’ and select Properties.
16. Select interne t Protocol Version 4 (TCP/ IPv4) and click on Properties
17. Complete your IP setti ngs
18. Configure the two ports connected on your Ether net Switch in IEEE802.3ad.
EVS Broadcast Equipment – April 2012
Issue 1.0.D
21
Notes
To learn more about EVS go to www.evs.tv
EVS Broadcast Equipment
Liège Science Park
16, rue Bois St Jean B-4102 Ougrée Belgium
Corporate Headquarters
+32 4 361 7000
North & Latin America Headquarters
+1 973 575 7811
Asia & Pacific Headquarters
+852 2914 2501
Other regional offices available on
www.evs.tv/contact
Loading...