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Nexio AMP Protocol 7.5 Developers Guide

1. RAIDSoft Information Commands 124 CO 81 ist First Disk 124 C1 81 ist First Disk with Status 124 CO 82 List Next Disk 125 CC 80 Select Disk 125 CO 80 Select All Disks 125 CI CF Get Disk Information 125 A0 1C Get Maximum Storage Length 127 CO B2 Get Allocation Unit Size 127 Cx C9 Get ID File Size 127 Chapter 3 VDCP Protocol 129 General Information 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 129 Command And Response 129 Media Identifiers 131 Fixed 8 Character IDs 131 Variable Length IDs 131 Unicode and Variable Length IDs 132 Nexio Supported VDCP Command List 133 Server Response 134 04 ACK 134 05 NAK 134 System Commands 135 00 80 15 Delete Protect ID 135 00 80 16 Undelete Protect ID 135 Immediate Commands 135 10 00 Stop 135 10 Ol Play 136 10 02 Record 136 10 04 Still 137 10 05 Step 137 10 06 Continue 137 10 07 Jog 137 10 08 Variable Play 138 10 0A EE Mode 138 Preset Select Commands 139 AO 1D Rename ID 139 20 A0 1F New Cop 139 20 20 Sort Mode 140 20 21 Close Port 141 20 22 Select Port 141 20 A0 23 Record Init 141 20 A0 24 Play Cue 142 20 A0 25 Cue with Data 143 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 7 Nexio AMP Protocol 20 A0 26 Delete ID 143 20 2B to Signal Full 144 20 A0 2C Record Init with Data 144 20 A0 2E System Delete ID 145 20 34 Audio In Level 146 20
2. Field Storage Size Max Characters ID 64 Bytes 32 Characters User Name 64 Bytes 32 Characters Department 64 Bytes 32 Characters Link 64 Bytes 32 Characters Description 240 Bytes 120 Characters Agency 30 Bytes 15 Characters User definable Field 1 50 Bytes 25 Characters User definable Field 42 50 Bytes 25 Characters User definable Field 43 50 Bytes 25 Characters User definable Field 4 50 Bytes 25 Characters As you will see only the ID and some of the extended fields support Unicode The 8 byte ID handle and the normal set of metadata fields do not support Unicode It is important for controllers that make multiple connections to the LLM that they set the same Unicode mask on every connection to the server The danger is if there is a mix of controllers one using Unicode characters from the non Basic Latin group and one using the ANSI character set There is no good way for the server to translate complex Unicode characters to ANSI The data retrieved by the ANSI controller will appear to be corrupt 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 26 Nexio AMP Protocol Underneath the hood the LLM translates the data between Unicode and ANSI by simply removing every other byte of data when going to ANSI and padding every byte with a 0x00 when going to Unicode The 0x00 byte is effectively the byte that represents the Basic Latin Unicode character set As a result as long as a Unicode cont
3. 10 0x00000400 4 VBI Start Line 11 0x00000800 4 VBI Stop Line 12 0x00001000 4 VBI Max Stored Lines 13 0x00002000 4 VBI Threshold Level 14 0x00004000 4 VBI Threshold Count 15 0x00008000 1 VBI Compressed 16 0x00010000 4 Audio Bits 17 0x00020000 4 Video Pixel Aspect Ratio 18 0x00040000 32 Audio Routing Input Mask Please refer to the Get ID Metadata C8 4A and Get Extended Field C9 C3 commands for further definition of many of the above fields Bit 18 Audio Routing Input Mask refers to the values written to extended field 24 for all new clips recorded once these values are set for any particular resolution C3CB Record Timecode Source Syntax C1 B7 SOURCE SOURCE 1 byte indicating the source of the timecode Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to select a specific timecode source s for recording It will affect all subsequent record commands As of the Nexio 6 5 2 Software Release the LLM will retain the last timecode source set using this command Prior to that release the controller would have to resend the instruction with each server connection The record timecode SOURCE is a bit field with the following structure Table 2 38 Record Timecode Source BIT7 BIT6 BITS BIT4 BIT3 BIT2 BIT1 BITO 0 0 0 0 Time of Day VITC2 VITC1 LTC A bit is set to request a specific timecode source If multiple sources are requested the recorder will use the first source that receives valid timecode information s
4. o foomo 21 Req aseen 9 o 20 ao 2 Req ser J 9 or 20 23 Req Record init 9 oy 20 zi Req PlayCue 9 riz Jomo s Opt oewhos oa 20 26 sea oet s oomo 2s sow osean 1 lo 12 fomo 2c Opt Record initwith Data 0 ov 20 6 2t om system Delete ID 9 o 20 a0 3 ot adone os ace roa 20 6 3s Opt Audio outtevel o foomo 39 om seama 9 oa oo a Opt Sub Carrier Aust fo oa 20 o 42 Opt Horizontal Position Adjust fo ack o foomo as om osre 9 Foe 20 a0 so om copyFileto oa ack os 20 a0 si Opt Deleterilerrom 9 os 20 0 52 Ont_ Abort CopyFileTo o ack Tec wba omoa cox NAME 8 omoa omoa wa roa 30 50 o Req OpenPon 03 30 80 si Granybened o2 3o s ox sa ne
5. RAME RATE CO RAME RATE CO E 24M 0 E 24 E 25 E 30M E 30 E 50 E 60M E 60 RAME RATE CO RA ME RATE CO i RATE CO RAME RATE CO RAME RATE CO ME RATE CO ME RATE CO Hr Hj Hj lH Hj Hj Hj Hj Hj Jp D z Lp ey E un Ares uv QE ev S e en K T op be While the above format code provides up to 96 different combinations in real use of a Nexio system most controllers will encounter only a few different format codes in a single system The most typical format codes encountered are identified in the following table 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 27 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 15 Format Codes Format Code Video Standard Video Resolution Frame Rate 0x03 3 NTSC 480i SD 30 drop frame 0x22 34 PAL 576i SD 25 Ox4D 77 PAL 720p HD 50 Ox4E 78 NTSC 720p HD 60 drop frame 0x52 82 PAL 1080i HD 25 0x53 83 NTSC 1080i HD 30 drop frame Ox5D 93 PAL 1080p HD 50 Ox5E 94 NTSC 1080p HD 60 drop frame As an example using the equation from above consider a 720p PAL clip formatCode verticalSizeCode SCAN TYPES scanType FRAME RATE CODES frameRateCod formatCode 4 2 1 84 5 formatCode 8 1 8 4 529 845 72 5 70 Even though the format code Enum allows for extended height scan lines for SD VERTICAL
6. 102 are determined with the help of a clip s video format and in some cases its bit rate Table 2 60 Chroma Format Bits Video Format Bit Rate Chroma MPEG2 MpMI n a 4 2 0 MPEG2 MpPI n a 4 2 2 DVCPRO encoded as HDCAM 140 3 1 1 DVCPROSO encoded as DVCPRO HD 100 4 2 2 The pixel aspect bits 103 and 104 only apply to HD media and are based on the media s pixels XDCAM HD is the most common format using 4 3 pixels Table 2 61 Pixel Aspect Bits Bitmap Sizes Width Height 1920x1080 1 1 1440x1080 4 3 1280x720 1 1 960x720 4 3 For backward compatibility if neither bit is set for HD media then the controller should assume a pixel aspect of 1 1 Meanwhile bits 105 and 106 are valid only as of the Nexio 6 0 software release Prior to that all encoded media was assumed to be 8 bits per component Now there s the option for 10 bits per component video such as AVC I and some DNxHD bit rates The Video ARC aspect ratio conversion field helps define several different characteristics associated with the clip in the area of aspect ratio and aspect ratio conversions 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 80 Nexio AMP Protocol The primary function of the field is to define the ARC applied to the clip when it is loaded for play out in a channel configured for the clip s opposite aspect ratio For example when a 4 3 clip is loaded into a channel configured
7. The disk systems are responsible for the complete file transfer when they have available time and bandwidth to perform the transfer Since requests may come in faster than they can be performed the disk system must accept requests at any time and queue up file transfer requests as they come in When the file transfer is complete the destination system s should indicate that the ID has been added by the IDs ADDED bit in the Port Status and add the ID to its IDs ADDED LIST If the command cannot be performed then the ID NOT TRANSFERRED error bit in the Port Status should be set If the ID does not exist then the ID NOT FOUND bit should be set If the ID exists in all of the destination disks then the ID ALREADY EXISTS bit should be set The video disk system that receives this command may or may not be one of the source or destination video disks 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 147 Nexio AMP Protocol SEND DATA 1 is the ID SEND DATA 2 is the source SEND DATA 3 is the Destination Note Use of the AO 50 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum Nexio systems do not support multiple destination transfers A File Transfer Agent is required on every system that makes use of the FTP Copy commands 20 51 Delete File From Syntax 20 51 DATA or A0 51 DATA This command will cause the disk system to delete the video file identified by the ID from the destination
8. Undefined error error error error Undefined Error The command received could not be interpreted as one from this protocol Command Ignored Checksum Error The checksum of the data received as calculated by the disk system per this protocol does not match the checksum sent in the command last byte of the command Command Ignored Parity Error Overrun Error Framing Error Per RS 422 definition or communications definition generally detected by communications hardware Disk system flushes input buffer and wait for new message Time Out When more than 10 milliseconds has past since last byte received and the number of bytes required by the byte count has not been received or only one byte has been received Disk system flushed the input buffer and waits for a new message 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 134 Nexio AMP Protocol System Commands Syntax 00 15 ID or 80 15 BC XID ID 8 bytes indicating clip ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow XID Extended ID This command prevents an ID from being deleted by an ID DELETE command An UNPROTECT command must be used to enable DELETE ID once the ID is protected The PROTECT ID command has no effect on the ID being played or copied SEND DATA 1 through SEND DATA 8 contain the ID to be protected Note Use of the 80 15 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Syntax 00
9. 0 PAL 1 FILM 23 98 frame rate 2 FILM 24 frame rate 3 Nexio 6 5 Software Release 27 0x08000000 14 Indicates the channel s current configuration for the output of AFD data based on the channel s aspect ratio Data returned is in the 14 byte Video ARC structure See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 19 for syntax Nexio 7 0 Software Release 28 0x10000000 14 Indicates the channel s default setting for handling AFD data on output when a clip of the same aspect ratio as the channel is loaded for play back See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 19 for syntax Nexio 7 0 Software Release 29 0x20000000 14 Indicates the channel s current setting for handling AFD data on output when a clip of the same aspect ratio as the channel is loaded for play back See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 19 for syntax Nexio 7 0 Software Release Bits 21 23 Note The 32 bytes returned for Bit Masks 0x200000 0x400000 and 0x800000 represent Bit 17 Note the audio track routing configuration in place for each channel They provide a tri level hierarchy for routing audio tracks based on specified audio track tags The 32 bytes represent the routing for up to 16 output audio tracks with two bytes assigned per track The first byte of each represents an audio track tag For now the second byte of each is reserved for future use and should be set to
10. Description These commands place the channel into variable speed reverse mode Although they are technically different commands Jog Reverse 2x 21 Variable Play Reverse 2x 22 and Shuttle Reverse 2x 23 these commands may be used interchangeably These commands make use of the same formulas and tables as referenced in the Set Variable Speed Forward 2x 1x commands except that the resulting SPEED must be set to negative such that the play direction is in reverse Nexio AMP and XS Note The Nexio AMP Volt and XS servers are capable of scrubbing audio during off speed play of up to 156 Cx 00 Incremental Jog Syntax C1 00 FIELDS or C4 00 FIELDS FIELDS 1 byte or 4 byte signed integer depending on the command prefix providing a signed displacement in fields MSB first Response 1001 Description Based on a controller repeatedly sending this command the Nexio server is able to provide a smooth jog response in either direction The FIELDS parameter indicates the number of fields to jump forward or backward with each use of the command And then based on the series of commands sent the Nexio server will average out the actual jog response so as to most smoothly match the desired variable playback speed When the resulting play back speed is within an acceptable range the off speed play back will include audio scrub Cx 01 Jump Forward Syntax C1 01 FIELDS or C4 01 FIELDS FIELDS 1 byte or 4 byte integer depending on t
11. 24 31TC Cues the channel to the indicated timecode value If an ID is currently loaded in the channel this command will load the ID to the specified timecode value If the ID does not contain the specified timecode value the clip will be loaded to the closest possible frame This can be the first or last frame of the clip If no ID is currently loaded this command will cue to the desired timecode within Timecode space and display its essence typically black 28 31 ID Cues the channel to the first frame of the specified ID handle This will load the ID in the channel if it was not already there If the ID handle does not exist the command will fail 2C 31 TC ID Cues the channel to the indicated timecode within the specified ID handle This will load the ID in the channel if it was not already there If the ID handle does not exist the command will fail If the indicated timecode does not exist for that ID the server will cue to the ID s In Point or Out Point whichever is closer 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 104 Nexio AMP Protocol If the ID does not include the timecode value specified in the command the clip will be loaded to the timecode position nearest the specified value Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value Cx 86 of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based Fast Cue Up with
12. Mask Description 0 0x00000001 Prepares promiscuous mode for ID lists If set to 1 all hidden IDs are included in the ID lists This is usually only important for editor based controllers 1 0x00000002 Prepares the Unicode interchange with the server If enabled the server expects all Unicode enabled fields to be read and written as Unicode strings in the protocol If set to 0 the server expects Unicode enabled fields to be read and written in the ANSI format The LLM will convert the fields to Unicode for storage on the disk If a controller has several different control connections to the same server it should set these values the same on every connection Example To show all hidden media in the server media lists C8 B1 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 01 To exit promiscuous mode C8 B1 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 To enter Unicode mode send C8 B1 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 02 To exit Unicode mode send C8 B1 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 CF B1 Set Special Channel Properties Syntax CF B1 BC MASK PROPERTY BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first PROPERTY Data representing the new PROPERTY value for the indicated MASK Response 1001 Description Only supported in the Nexio AMP Volt and XS platforms this command allows a controller to set a special channel property that is crucial in preparing the correct video record format and resolution for each
13. o 30 8 sz ustefibs ros 30 60 os Opt Pore Status Request oo 30 80 ss os 30 50 os Opt Position Request 07 30 80 86 Position 87 rox 30 50 os Opt Device Type Request oo 30 80 Tes Lo foro fo from syst stats Request 09 30 80 foo system sea ros 30 80 ii Req but lo 30 8 si usos Fox 30 80 i sop size Request oe 30 8 oa Se o 30 5 16 Req lbRemes o3 30 80 96 ibPresee os 30 50 17 Opt Compr Settings Request oo 30 80 97 Compr Settings o2 30 80 18 sea WsAddedtist oo 30 80 os wstisAdded rox 30 5 19 Req ispeeedus o0 30 80 99 List IDs Deleted Legend for code column B C Byte Count of command or reply or command or reply length Req Required command for a controller application to function Opt Optional command and is not needed for a controller application to function but may augment the controllers functions if implemented Note that these commands should be replied with an 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 133 Nexio AMP Protocol ACK if not implemented in a disk system so no error message is generated and error handling performed by the controller but the Not Supported bit in Error Status 3A of the PORT STATUS REQUEST should be set t If implemented command is based on a communications port not a signal port Must function
14. 12 Description UNICODE stored 120 character user entry text 240 field for storing detail about media 13 Agency UNICODE stored 15 character user entry text 30 field for storing detail about media 14 User definable Field UNICODE stored 25 character user entry field 50 1 15 User definable Field UNICODE stored 25 character user entry field 50 2 16 User definable Field UNICODE stored 25 character user entry field 50 3 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 77 Nexio AMP Protocol Number Field Description Max Size 17 User definable Field UNICODE stored 25 character user entry field 50 4 18 External Controller A field reserved for external controllers 16 UID needing a place to store their own unique identifiers 19 Video ARC A series of seven 2 byte values defining a clip s 14 video aspect ratio conversion when loaded into a channel of opposite resolution This field also sets whether to override existing AFD data and whether to override an SD clip s native aspect ratio see detail below 20 Modified Timestamp AFILETIME structure representing the time 8 and date stamp when the media was last modified See below for list of protocol commands which trigger this timestamp 21 Video QA Status Results of video quality analysis as performed 2 by the QuiC software application see detail below 22 User Segments In Used for managing the information stored in 2 Use user data seg
15. As a result video bit rate values above 50 are expressed in a progressive slope as seen in the following table Table 2 55 Video Bit Rate Table Byte Value Calculation lt 50 Bit rate Value gt 50 lt 60 Bit rate 5 Value 200 gt 60 Bit rate 10 Value 500 Date Fields The data in the Record Date and Kill Date fields include 16 bits which break down as follows Table 2 56 Date Format Bitmap BIT 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 FIELD Day Month Year The maximum value of these date fields is the last day of the year 2027 Response format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CF 44 Set ID Metadata Syntax CF 44 ID BITMAP DATAO 58 ID 8 byte ID handle BITMAP 1 byte unsigned integer based on bitmap data table below DATA 59 bytes based on bitmap data table below Response 1001 or DO 00 if ID handle not found Description This command allows the controller to update fields in the normal set of metadata associated with a specified ID handle The BITMAP byte indicates which field or fields to update While any combination of bits is allowed all fields in DATAO 58 must be sent with the command Unused fields should be set to zero None of these fields is enabled for Unicode text If the ID is not found on disk the server returns DO 00 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved P
16. C4 B3 command at gt 50 ms intervals until the status changes from TRANSACTION PENDING If the status is TRANSACTION SUCCESS use the Get Transaction ID C4 B4 command to retrieve the new ID handle Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based CE Q Create Empty Media with Extended ID Syntax CF C2 BC ATTRIBUTES PARENT XID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow ATTRIBUTES 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first based on the table in the Get Special ID Attributes C8 84 command PARENT 8 byte ID handle 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 94 Nexio AMP Protocol XID Response TID Description Unicode Note Extended ID in Unicode format when enabled D4 C2 TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command This command creates an empty ID with the specified name and attributes It can also be attached to an existing parent clip s ID handle so that the new ID gets assigned to the same disk volume as its parent This option is required when the newly created ID is intended to be used in a subsequent Create Subclip CF 85 command as subclips must reside on the same disk as their parent clip If no parent ID is required for the empty ID the PARENT parameter is s
17. It is an indication that the clip currently stacked in a play out channel is fully cued and ready for the transition to the active channel when needed The Excess Drift and No Audio or Video indicators were added as part of the Nexio 6 5 Software Release cO CO Get Record Parameters Syntax CO CO Response D8 CO VIDF VIDN VIDM VIDBR RES AUDIO VBI VIDF 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video format VIDN 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video N value VIDM 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video M value VIDBR 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video bit rate in Mb s RES 2 byte unsigned integer always returned as zeroes AUDIO 1 byte unsigned integer representing the number of audio tracks VBI 1 byte unsigned integer representing whether VBI is present Description This command gets the current record parameters for the channel Please refer to the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command for further definition of each of the above parameters Video bite rate VIDBR values greater than 50 make use of the progressive slope algorithm as defined in the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command However because the progressive slope reduces the granularity of the larger bit rates stored to multiples of 5 or 10 a new Get Extended Record Parameters CO C1 command was added as part of the Nexio 6 0 Software Release Caution This command should not be used if the auto input resolution detection option is enabled ona N
18. Most devices have a fixed latency time to process commands consistently This command allows the controlling device to specify a value that the device can handle and maintain frame accuracy under all conditions or a greater value SEND DATA 1 is the preroll frames SEND DATA 2 is the preroll seconds in decimal Nexio Addendum By default a Nexio Server does not support the Disk Preroll command For those controllers that depend on support for this command there is an option to enable this command via an LLM registry in the Control branch The DWord registry setting is VdcpDiskPrerollMode Set to 1 to enable The actual preroll delay of the server will be based on this Disk Preroll value in the registry plus any existing VdcpPlayLatency registry setting already existing on the affected server 20 50 9 9 7408 JE LC Ke Syntax 20 50 DATA or A0 50 DATA This command will cause the disk systems to transfer the video file identified by the ID to be copied from the source disk system to the destination disk system s This command should only be implemented on systems where files are to be transferred between multiple video disks and or archive systems that may be linked together on a network The Source and Destination are a byte for each of the disk systems for the action Multiple destination disk systems may be specified in SEND DATA 3 by placing a one byte address for each disk identifier and the command length byte will be set accordingly
19. SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy Response Status bits set Codec Mode Description Set Variable Speed Forward 2111 SPEEDDATAx or 21 12 SPEEDDATAx or 21 13 SPEEDDATAx or 2211SPEEDDATAxSPEEDDATAy or 22 12 SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy or 22 13 SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy 1 byte unsigned integer 1 byte unsigned integer presented in conjunction with SPEEDDATAx as MSB first 1001 JOG SHTL VAR SRV LAMP FWD Decompression These commands place the channel into variable speed forward mode Although they are technically different commands Jog 2x 11 Variable Play 2x 12 and Shuttle 2x 13 these commands may be used interchangeably The commands that make use of just one SPEEDDATA parameter use the following formula to provide values SPEE D 10 SPEEDDATAx 32 2 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 115 Nexio AMP Protocol The SPEEDDATA value as used in the protocol string is in hex The value as used in the formula above is in decimal The formula is invalid for SPEEDDATA O which is STILL or 0 playback A SPEED result of 1 is 100 speed or normal playback A SPEED result of 0 5 would be 5096 or half normal and a result of 2 would be 20096 or double time The following table was calculated based on the above formula Table 2 73 1 Byte Speed Data Calculations Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed 100 0x01 108 0x02 116 0x03 124 1241 0x04 133 1334 0x05 143 1433 0x06 5 1540 0
20. See CF 88 Software Release command for more details 19 Ox00080000 32 Sets the channel s audio Nexio AMP and routing input mask for Volt only as of extended field 23 See Get Nexio 6 0 Software Extended Field C9 C3 Release command field 23 for syntax and the Audio Track Router section above for details 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 45 Nexio AMP Protocol 20 0x00100000 32 Sets the channel s audio Nexio AMP and routing input mask for Volt only as of extended field 24 See Get Nexio 6 0 Software Extended Field C9 C3 Release command field 24 for syntax and the Audio Track Router section above for details As of Nexio 7 0 if auto input resolution detection is enabled this MASK will not function correctly Instead use the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters CF CF command 21 Ox00200000 32 Sets the channel s audio Nexio AMP and routing output primary mask Volt only as of See the Audio Track Router Nexio 6 0 Software section above for details Release 22 Ox00400000 32 Sets the channel s audio Nexio AMP and routing output secondary mask Volt only as of See the Audio Track Router Nexio 6 0 Software section above for details Release 23 0x00800000 32 Sets the channel s audio Nexio AMP and routing output tertiary mask Volt only as of See the Audio Track Router Nexio 6 0 Software section above for details Release 24 0x0100
21. Syntax C4 6E MASK MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Response DF 6E BC PROP 1 PROP 2 PROP_N or DO 6E if no valid properties BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow PROP N Variable based on properties requested according to tables below Description This command returns the values of all the Genlock related properties specified by the MASK in ascending bit position order The bit mask and all the returned property values are represented MSB first The possible values retrieved depend on the Nexio server The following two tables represent first the Nexio AMP and then the Nexio XS servers Property values supported only on the XS server will return null values when requested on an AMP server Table 2 43 Nexio AMP Genlock Properties Bi mask PROP_N Size PROP_N Values Returned 0x00000001 1 reference source where 0 internal 1 video in 2 reference in 0x00000020 vertical delay in lines 16 bit integer 6 0x00000040 horizontal delay in pixels 16 bit integer 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 62 Nexio AMP Protocol 7 0x00000080 1 Genlock status where 0 locked 1 unlocked 10 0x00000400 vertical delay range in lines as 16 bit integer values for min max and unity 11 0x00000800 horizontal delay range in pixels as 16 bit integer values for min max and unity Table 2 44 Nexio XS Genlock Properties Bi Mask PROP_N Size PROP_N Values
22. The STATUS for the second MODE can be one of four possible conditions when the disk array is valid Table 2 80 Disk Array Status STATUS Description 1 The disk array is valid 2 The disk array is in a broken state 3 The disk array is in a degraded state 4 The disk array is currently rebuilding If there are no valid disks DO 81 is returned This command is followed up with the CO 82 List Next Disk command to retrieve the rest of the disk volumes if any 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 124 Nexio AMP Protocol CO 82 List Next Disk Syntax CO 82 Response DC 81 LABEL or DD 81 LABEL STATUS or DO 81 if no disks found LABEL 12 byte string null padded STATUS 1 byte unsigned integer Description This command is used after the CO 81 List First Disk or the C1 81 List First Disk with Status command has been used to retrieve the first disk volume in the data array This command returns the label of the next disk volume in the data array and optionally the STATUS of the disk array See the C1 81 List First Disk with Status command for a description of the possible STATUS values for when this command follows the C1 81 command This command should be used repeatedly until there are no more disk volumes If there are no more valid disk volumes DO 81 is returned CC 80 Select Disk Syntax CC 80 LABEL LABEL 12 byte string null padded Response 1001 or 1112 Description Th
23. The main reason for doing so would be if one channel is pre configured as an SD channel and the other is an HD channel In this way any unlinked clips will play out simultaneously in both SD and HD assuming up and down conversion is enabled The registry setting to enable this one clip loads into two channels logic is a DWORD setting called ClipSyncMode which resides in the LLM s Control registry branch Set to 1 the feature is enabled Set to 0 the default it is disabled Field accurate synchronous operation between the selected channels is guaranteed except as follows e 200F when issued while in playback It can be used however to synchronously terminate recording e Variable play commands when going at more than 150 speed e All decompression commands above when issued in E E state They will however synchronously terminate an ongoing recording e In stacked play back when the clip loaded in the slave channel is shorter than the clip loaded in the master channel The channel sync logic works best in stacked playback mode when both the master and slave clips are of the same length Also the Preset Out commands 4x 15 and Ax 05 are not recommended for stacked and synced play back Use of these commands may result in unexpected preset preview behavior The controller should always verify and wait for both channels to cue before sending any play command It is possible for the channels to fall out of sync because one
24. channel took longer than the other to cue up 63 3 10 Lock Channel Control Syntax CF BO BC MODE LABEL BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow MODE 1 byte unsigned integer LABEL String of text to indicate name of lock Response D1 BO STATUS or DF BO BC LABEL or DF BO BC EXCL LABEL or 1001 depending on MODE STATUS 1 byte unsigned integer to indicate lock status LABEL String of text to indicate name of lock non null terminated EXCL 1 byte indicating exclusive nature of the lock Description This command allows controllers to name channels and lock their use so other controllers who support this command do not conflict with their control of the 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 66 Nexio AMP Protocol channel This command will have no effect on controllers that do not check for lock control when they first take control of a channel This command based on the MODE parameter defined below allows a controller to lock a channel for shared or exclusive use Table 2 48 Channel Lock Modes Mode Description Server Returns Server Network Locks 0x00 Status of lock D1 BO STATUS 0x01 Acquire lock for shared use 10 01 0x02 Acquire lock for exclusive use 10 01 0x03 Release lock 10 01 0x04 Release all locks with prefix of LABEL 10 01 Per Connection Local Locks 0x05 Set the connection s owner label 1001 0x06 Acquire local lock f
25. is identifying the different types of clips on a system based on the three commands used in the previous section the Get ID Metadata C8 4A Get Extended Field C9 C3 and Get Special ID Attributes C8 84 commands The following table reviews some of the different characteristics and types of media on the Nexio SAN how a controller can determine the information and why it s important Table 2 11 Identifying Media Media Type Detecting Via Protocol Importance Parent ID C8 4A command Determines if the ID has any subclips Response data bytes 28 29 child IDs which protect it from deletion Subclip C8 4A command If the data response is different from Response data bytes 00 07 the ID s the 8 byte ID handle a controller can determine the ID is a subclip which is merely a pointer to a piece of a Parent ID Audio Only Clip C8 4A command A value of 0x15 indicates a clip that has Response data byte 8 no video stored in the file only audio 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 20 Nexio AMP Protocol Media Type Detecting Via Protocol Importance Empty ID C8 4A command Response data bytes 16 19 If the data response is 1 indicating an ID with duration of 1 frame and all the rest of the ID s attributes indicate a normal clip a controller can determine that the file is an Empty ID which is a placeholder file created to reserve the ID for future use Media ID C8 8
26. is not found then an error will be logged the ID Not Found bit being set in the PORT STATUS error byte 3B If the ID is present the system will check to see if the ID is currently active on any signal port If the ID is active on a signal port an error will be logged in the Port Playing Active bit of PORT STATUS byte 3C If the ID is not active on a signal port the system will check to see if the ID has been delete protected If the ID is delete protected an error will be logged in the ID Delete Protected error bit in PORT STATUS byte 3B and the ID is not deleted otherwise the ID will be deleted from the system Note Use of the AO 26 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs 20 2B to Signal Full Syntax 20 2B DATA DATA 1 byte indicating percentage The 96 TO SIGNAL FULL command alerts operator to 96 of disk space available SEND DATA 1 is a number between 0 and 100 that represents the 96 of disk space still available when the full flag bit should set in the system status 3 DISK STATUS request This should be set between 1 and 1096 for normal operation The automation software will try to delete an unused media file as long as the disk full bit is set By keeping the size of the disk space empty slightly greater than the longest normal spot put into the disk then the disk full error will rarely occur when a record init command is issued This maintains system efficiency and disk space utili
27. looping will not be enabled if the clip is loaded by the Cue Up to Record Ax 02 command C8 CA Get Audio Track Information Syntax C8 CA ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response D6 CA SIZE PRECISION TRACKS or DO CA if no valid audio data is found SIZE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating audio sample size in bits PRECISION 1 byte unsigned integer indicating audio sample precision in bits TRACKS 32 bit mask represented MSB first indicating audio tracks enabled Description This command provides information about the specified clip s audio tracks Current support requires the audio sample SIZE and PRECISION packed format to be the same value The number of audio tracks is represented in a bit mask where the bit for each enabled audio track is set high For example 4 audio tracks represented in bits would be 00001111 or OxOF If the ID is not found or it is an existing ID with no audio data such as an empty ID the server returns DO CA C6 CA Set Manual Procamps Syntax C6 CA DEVICE VIDEOGAIN VIDEOSETUP CHROMAGAIN HUE DEVICE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating video stream affected VIDEOGAIN 1 byte unsigned integer VIDEOSETUP 1 byte unsigned integer CHROMAGAIN 1 byte unsigned integer HUE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to interactively adjust the procamp settings of a loaded ID before deciding whether to write those values to the ID s metadata Ther
28. the DTA spec represents the server s IP address as the first 4 bytes MSB first and the server s TCP port as the last 2 bytes MSB first MODE Bitmap indicating a particular storage space associated with the ID handle ID 8 byte ID handle ATTRIBUTES 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first based on the table shown in the Get Special ID Attributes C8 84 command Response D4 A1 TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command Description One of the purposes of this command is to store metadata or files in special user data segments in the LLM system These storage areas are useful for controllers wishing to store a lot of data associated with a particular ID Prior to issuing this command the controller needs to create a server side SOCK STREAM socket bind listen pass its coordinates for the server IP address and TCP port as the DTA specification and prepare to accept a connection accept The LLM data agent will connect as a client to the specified socket If the connection cannot be established the transaction will end in TRANSACTION CONNECTION FAILED Other than that the connection will be established even if the transaction ends in TRANSACTION NO FILE or other errors and then it will be closed The MODE parameter for this command determines which of the many available storage areas is to be written to There are 16 different user data storage areas that can b
29. 0x00 The series of bytes returned for Bit Mask 0x020000 represent a concatenated list of all the video formats and video resolutions supported on a specific channel The first byte returned is a byte count identifying the number of bytes to follow A return value of 0 indicates the feature is not currently enabled or implemented The remaining bytes are a series of one byte values indicating which formats and 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 41 Nexio AMP Protocol resolutions are supported The format and resolution indicators are split into the two nibbles of each byte The LSB nibble is used to identify one and only one video format supported If a server channel supports multiple formats there will be one bye of data per supported format Table 2 23 Video Format Nibble Data Video Format OxnO Default Assume all files may be played on any port Oxn1 JPEG Oxn2 MPEG2 4 2 0 Oxn3 MPEG2 4 2 2 Oxn4 DV all types Oxn5 JPEG2000 Oxn6 DNxHD Oxn7 H 263 MPEG4 Part 2 Long GOP ASF Oxn8 H 264 MPEG4 Part 10 Long GOP AVC Oxn9 AVC Intra MPEGA Part 10 I Frame AVC OxnA Apple Pro Res OXnB XDCAM HD 1440x1080 OxnC REDCODE OxnD Reserved OxnE Reserved OxnF Reserved The MSB nibble is used to identify all of the video resolutions supported in that channel Channels configured for the HD Mixed option are capable of up down or cro
30. 1001 Description This command clears the Preview In register and the PVW IN bit Status byte 9 bit 0 and invalidates the previewed clip if one has been previously specified 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 109 Nexio AMP Protocol AO 07 Reset Preview Out Point Syntax AO 07 Response 1001 Description This command clears the Preview Out register and the PVW OUT bit Status byte 9 bit 1 Syntax C1 16 PROFILE PROFILE 1 byte unsigned integer valid values between 00 and 31 Response 1001 Description This command is used to apply predefined audio routing to the currently cued or playing clip based on the output masks of the selected audio PROFILE It works similarly to the Cue Up with Data 2x 31 and 4x 14 commands in that once called you must wait for the CUED status bit as an indication that the operation has completed The recommended usage is to first cue up the ID wait for the CUED status bit select the preset audio profile and wait for the CUED status bit again Once cued the Play command can be sent and the audio routing will take effect immediately If the ID is recued this command must be resent to reapply the desired audio routing Otherwise the channel will apply the default audio routing Once the next ID is cued this command must be sent again if a specific PROFILE is desired In addition when an ID is stacked for sequenced play back you can send the Select Preview Audio
31. 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 59 Nexio AMP Protocol The input mask contains a default value for the output mask that is to be automatically written to Extended Field 24 of the clip upon record cue up The channel determines whether to use the SD input mask or HD input mask based on its record configuration The output mask defines the audio routing for playout Each byte in the output mask represents an audio track and can be assigned to any of the 256 track tags defined by the Audio Track Editor Each channel supports 3 possible output masks applied in a hierarchical order If no output mask is specified then audio routing is pass thru Caution This command should not be used for the input mask values if the auto input resolution detection option is enabled on a Nexio server If enabled this command may provide incorrect information about the channel s record parameters Instead you should use the Get Auto Detect Record Parameters C5 CF command to set Bit 18 for each video resolution CF 55 Set Audio Routing Parameters Syntax CF 55 BC PARAMETER DATA BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow PARAMETER 1 byte unsigned integer DATA 32 bytes of data Response 1001 Description This command is used to set the audio routing configuration of the current channel There are five different parameters possible two for setting up the input configuration values and three for th
32. 34 35 36 Indicates recording stopped 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 103 Nexio AMP Protocol Cue Commands 2x 31 Cue Up with Data Syntax 2031 or 2431TC or 28 311D or 2C31 TCID TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH ID 8 byte ID handle Response 1001 Status bits set PRRL DIR during search then SHTL STILL CUED PST IN PST OUT when complete Codec Mode Decompression Description This command is used to cue an ID based on the given information The server will search to and display the requested frame If successful the PRESET IN register will be set to the requested time as if a Preset In Point 40 14 command had been issued and the CUED bit status byte 2 bit O will be set high as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command It is up to the controller to determine if a clip is allowed to be loaded and played from any particular channel Use the Get Special Machine Properties C4 B1 command for mask 17 0x00020000 to determine if the channel will accept the resolution and format of the clip about to be loaded Loading an unsupported clip in a channel can result in black on air or cause an overload of the CPUs There are four different uses of this command each one requiring slightly different parameters 2031 Cues the channel to the first frame of the currently loaded ID If no ID is currently loaded in the channel the command will fail
33. 35 Audio Out Level 146 20 39 Select Input 146 20 43 Disk Preroll 147 20 50 Copy File To 147 20 51 Delete File From 148 20 52 Abort Copy File To 148 Sense Commands 149 30 01 Open Port 149 30 B0 02 ID Next 150 30 05 Port Status 150 30 06 Position Request 154 30 B0 07 Active ID Request 154 30 08 Device Type Request 155 30 10 System Status Request 155 30 B0 11 ID List 158 30 B0 14 ID Size Request 158 30 B0 16 ID Request 158 30 17 Compression Settings Request 160 30 B0 18 IDs Added List 162 30 B0 19 IDs Deleted List 162 VDCP Examples 163 Cueing and Playing 163 Example 1 Recording Media 163 Example 2 Open ended Recording 164 Example 3 Media Playback 165 Example 4 Playback of Multiple IDs 165 Unsupported VDCP Command List 168 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 8 Nexio AMP Protocol Chapter 1 Introduction About This Document This developers guide is intended to be used as a reference source for software development companies wishing to manage the contents and control the recording and playback of Imagine Communication s Nexio Server product line The information in this document is proprietary and confidential and requires a signed and approved non disclosure agreement This document defines and describes the protocols that are used to control the Low Level Module LLM the application that serves as the backbone of the Nexio Server system The LLM is the clustering software that enables our video
34. 5 5 0 software release LLM version 6 07 97 130 new support was added for servers configured to operate with two instances of the LLM In this special case one LLM provides control over the high resolution channels on the server Nexio Server System and the other LLM provides control over the low resolution channels Nexio Global Proxy System This is the typical configuration for a server recording new clips simultaneously into both high and low res systems Most controllers need not be concerned with the Nexio Global Proxy system or the information that follows It is listed here just in case the situation is encountered and questions are raised In a dual LLM control system there will be two sets of registry settings for configuring each individual system the existing registry branch under HKCU Software ASC Audio Video LLM for the high res LLM and a new registry branch under HKCU Software ASC Audio Video LLM1 for the low res LLM In this way specific configurations related to IP addresses node numbers domain letters and such can be clearly delineated between the two systems In addition there is a registry setting for providing an alternate port number for controlling the second LLM a DWord registry setting called TcpPortOffset The value entered here is an offset value added to the above stated port numbers for interfacing to the server And even though the phrase Tcp is in the registry name it also applies to the UDP control port
35. Hue MSB first 0 360 180 360 0 The settings listed above are represented in Decimal values The new values set by the controller will take effect after a variable delay that depends on network activity typically less than 100 ms Therefore this command is not appropriate for tracking a slider s movement To see near immediate results of procamp changes use the Set Manual Procamps C6 CA command with a loaded ID Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 C9 C3 Get Extended Field Syntax C9 C3 ID NUMBER ID 8 byte ID handle NUMBER 1 byte unsigned integer indicating the number of the extended field desired as listed in the below table Response DF C3 BC DATA or DO C3 if ID handle not found 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 76 Nexio AMP Protocol BC DATA Description 1 byte unsigned integer total amount of data to follow Data representing contents of field if any in Unicode format when enabled This command returns the data present in one of the fields in the extended set of metadata associated with the specified ID handle Only one field can be returned with each use of the command Which field is desired is based on its field NUMBER as indicated in the table below If the specified ID handle is not found the server returns DO C3 These extended fields are not available in legacy systems that are configured for 8 byte
36. ID handle C4 BC Get Transferred Field Count Syntax C4 BC TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying the Transaction ID to be queried Response D4 BC FIELDS or DO BC if specified transaction ID does not exist FIELDS 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Description This command is typically used following a read file or write file command CF AO and CF A1 respectively during which the transaction ID was returned It provides the number of fields transferred as of the request This is just a progress indication It should not be relied upon for detecting completion of the transaction This command is also used as part of the Erase ID with Transaction C8 4F command in which it returns information about a clip protected from deletion CA BD Get Transaction Result Syntax C4 BD TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying the Transaction ID to be queried Response DF BD BC RESULT or DO BD if specified transaction ID does not exist BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow RESULT Variable length transaction result 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 101 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command is used in conjunction with the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command to retrieve specific data associated with another command One of the primary roles of this command is associated with the Get Disk Information C1 C7 command for retri
37. ID is an eight character identifier If the port is not currently active then only a O is returned Nexio Addendum As of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release a new option was created whereby the Active ID Request command will return positive data when a clip is in a STILL state in the channel There is a DWord registry setting in LLM Control called VdcpActiveldMode 1 means channels with clips in still are active O is the legacy behavior which reports the channel is not active Note Use of the BO 07 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs 30 08 Device Type Request Syntax 30 08 The DEVICE TYPE REQUEST command is used to request the specifications of the Controlled Device The response to this command is a 16 byte maximum data message advising of the specifications of the CONTROLLED DEVICE The first N bytes will be the manufacturer ID followed by a colon Nexio Addendum For Nexio servers the command returns data in the format of ASC xxxx where xxxX is 2 bytes as defined in the following table Table 3 88 Server Types Code Description OxAA11 2 channel server FILM OxAA12 2 channel server NTSC OxAA13 2 channel server PAL OxAA15 2 channel server FILM VBI OxAA16 2 channel server NTSC VBI OxAA17 2 channel server PAL VBI OxAA31 4 channel server FILM OxAA32 4 channel server NTSC OxAA33 4 channel server PAL OxAA35 4 channel server FILM VBI OxAA36 4 cha
38. ID is not deleted otherwise the ID will be deleted from the system If the ID is in the Get From Archive List still to be transferred to the disk it should be removed from the Get From Archive List When the media file for the ID is deleted from the disk the ID must be put in the IDs DELETED LIST for all communication ports including the port that issued the delete command This action will cause the IDs DELETED bit to be set in the Status 2 byte of the PORT STATUS for all communication ports SEND DATA 1 8 contain the ID name to be deleted Note Use of the AO 2E command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum This command only affects IDs on the server system that the controller is connected to 20 34 Audio In Level Syntax 20 34 DATA DATA 2 bytes indicating audio level Issuing the AUDIO IN LEVEL command selects the audio LEVEL for the input audio record signal SEND DATA 1 and SEND 2 contain the LEVEL value Device Dependent 20 35 Audio Out Level Syntax 20 35 DATA DATA 2 bytes indicating audio level Issuing the AUDIO OUT LEVEL command selects the audio LEVEL for the output signal SEND DATA 1 and SEND DATA 2 contains the LEVEL value Device Dependent 20 39 Select Input Syntax 20 39 MODE MODE 1 byte indicating input format Issuing the SELECT INPUT command selects which input format and connector will be used for encoding from the input port selected MODE is defined as 0 OF
39. INTC OUTTC ATTRIBUTES BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow For use with the CF B9 command this value will be either 10 or 12 ID 8 null bytes to allow the LLM to auto create a new 8 byte ID handle INTC 4 bytes indicating the ID s In Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH OUTTC 4 bytes indicating the ID s Out Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH ATTRIBUTES Optional 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first based on the table shown in the Get Special ID Attributes C8 84 command Response DA B5 TID or D4 B9 TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command Description This command creates an empty ID handle with the specified In and Out Point timecode settings and optionally the attribute bits for the ID The Out Point should be 1 frame larger than the In Point to properly indicate that the clip is an empty ID This empty ID is essentially a placeholder ID used in the eventual creation of real media It is used extensively in the process of creating ID handles for extended IDs If the specified ID handle exists and it s not write protected all the existing data associated with that ID will be deleted If the specified ID handle is all zeroes the server will automatically generate a unique name for the ID handle In order to retrieve the new ID handle the controller should poll the transaction ID status using the Get Transaction Status
40. K o xm 30 om Pee oa ros m m 3i om video Compression Rate Ja K os aum 32 opt dosmpeRte fo K os zum 3s opt Audio Compression Rate fo os axx 37 Opt Video Compression Parameters 94 A c oy zum ss om seo 1 fao K oa xm 3A o Record Mode 1 1 194 rack SUS uc omoa omoa cox NAME sc omoa omoa NAM roa sx ex 2s opt MukiPertstatusRequest xx 3X 8X As Statestsus sc wba omoa cox name 8 omoi omoa NAME os sx o s rom aoma foa K oc sx o 63 Opt CopyFileto fo k oy sx ox si Opt Geomwdwe fao K oy sx o es som Send To Archive fao K ow sx ox 65 om PrepareiDTo Play ao K Poa sxx 67 opt Close io From Play 1 94 e id 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 168
41. New ID in the IDs Added List It must also set both the IDs Added and IDs Deleted in the port status data The data format is SEND DATA 1 to SEND DATA 8 the Original ID SEND DATA 9 to SEND DATA 16 New ID Note Use of the AO 1D command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs The disk may set the busy bit bit 6 Byte 1 in PORT STATUS 1 begin the operation and clear the busy bit when the operation is complete All busy bit rules apply see STATUS DATA Nexio Addendum Nexio server systems do not support the short ID version of this command 20 1D Syntax 20 1F ID NEWID SOM DUR or AO 1F BC XID BC2 NEWID SOM DUR ID 8 byte ID NEWID 8 byte ID of subclip SOM 4 bytes indicating start timecode of subclip DUR 4 bytes indicating duration of subclip BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID BC2 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the new ID NEWXID New Extended ID This command creates a new ID in the video disk from an existing ID How this command is implemented in the video disk is device dependent Ideally no copy of media data will result A new ID would be entered into the disk s ID table with pointers to the existing media data Alternately a direct data copy could be done so media quality would not be lost in the encode and decode processes but this takes more time and storage space 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved
42. Page 139 Nexio AMP Protocol If the first two methods cannot be performed then a full copy of the media could be executed In any implementation the NEW COPY command must have no effect on the original ID It may be played or deleted as if no NEW COPY was implemented The new copy is independent of the original file It may be played or deleted as if created with the record command Multiple new copies including overlapping media data of an ID may be made When the original file is deleted any media data not associated with a valid ID should be released and the disk space available for use The original purpose of this command is to allow a recorded program to be segmented into smaller spots that would then be played out with breaks in between or as individual completed spots The data format is SEND DATA 1 to SEND DATA 8 the original ID SEND DATA 9 to SEND DATA 16 new ID SEND DATA 17 to SEND DATA 20 offset to start the new copy within the original ID and SEND DATA 21 to SEND DATA 24 duration of the new ID If the offset and duration exceeds the original file length the new file will start at the file offset and go to the end of the original file The disk may set the busy bit bit 6 Byte 1 in PORT STATUS 1 and begin the operation The disk may also clear the busy bit when the operation is complete All busy bit rules apply see STATUS DATA SB100 Original Media ID SB4 Bp SB2 SB3 New Me
43. Returned 0x00000001 1 reference source where 0 internal 1 video in 2 reference in 3 reference in poor quality 1 0x00000002 1 reference resolution where 0 SD 1 1080i 2 720p 2 0x00000004 1 flywheel enable where 0 disable 1 enable 4 0x000000100 4 flywheel recovery time in milliseconds 32 bit int 6 0x00000000 2 horizontal delay in pixels 16 bitint_ 7 0x00000080 1 Genlock status where 0 locked 1 unlocked 2 free running 3 recovering 4 relocking 0x00000100 12 flywheel unlock time range in millisecond Da a E 0x00000200 12 flywheel recovery time range min max unity in 10 0X00000400 vertical delay range in lines as 16 bit int values P a 11 0X00000080 horizontal delay range in pixels as 16 bit int a faesfrmiemaranduniy 13 0x00002000 Genlock vertical delay range min max unity in lines 16 bit int s CF 6E Set Genlock Properties Syntax CF 6E BC MASK PROP 1 PROP_2 PROP_N BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first PROP N Variable based on properties to be set according to tables below Response D1 6E STATUS STATUS 1 byte unsigned integer 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 63 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command allows a controller to set some of the Genlock related properties available on the Nexio AMP and XS serv
44. Unicode for storage on the disk If 1 the server accepts the Extended IDs and fields in Unicode format All servers 0x00000040 Indicates the input video format code for the selected channel OxFF indicates a play only channel See notes below All servers 0x00000080 Indicates the output video format code for the selected channel OxFF indicates a record only channel See notes below All servers 0x00000100 Indicates the record video format code and HD pixel aspect ratio for the selected channel OxFF indicates a play only channel See notes below All servers 0x00000200 14 Indicates the default output Video ARC assigned to a channel Response is the 14 byte USER ARC structure as defined in the C9 C3 command for field 19 All servers 10 0x00000400 Indicates the output aspect ratio for SD channels or OxFF for record only channels 0 4 3 1 16 9 HD channels are always 16 9 All servers 11 0x00000800 Indicates if the channel is configured for insertion of timecode on output See table in CF B1 command for definition of bits MSB first Nexio 4 5 Software Release 12 0x00001000 Indicates the channel s setting for what to do at the end of a playing and unstacked clip 0 last frame freeze legacy 1 auto blank black output 2 auto blank on all stops including initial load Nexio 4 5 Software Release Option 2 as of Nexio 6 0 Software Relea
45. When a bitmap is added to a command block the data corresponding to the designated bit is accessed in the bit map The data corresponding to bit map data 1 is added after the map Data is added sequentially from the low order bit of the map data The entire command message is comprised of a sequence between 2 and 256 bytes Unless otherwise specified in the bit maps a bit set 1 is true The LSB is the right bit and the MSB the left bit All numbers are in hexadecimal All time values are in frames seconds minutes and hours in BCD with the frames sent first and hours sent last Media Identifiers The VDCP protocol is ID based All audio video material is referenced or accessed by an ID The ID must be unique to a given piece of material in the system at all times The video disk system must be a black box to the controller It records and plays back without the controller knowing how or where the audio video material is encoded decoded and stored Fixed 8 Character IDs In the major command types 00 20 and 30 IDs are 8 characters and are to be padded with ASCII spaces 20h when the ID is less than 8 characters Eight characters are always to be sent for an ID and any character not used must be set to a space Variable Length IDs In the major command types 80 AO and BO IDs are not padded with any additional characters beyond the visible ID characters All IDs are sent as a length byte followed by that number of characters
46. a setting of Harris Once set and the LLM is launched the settings for each serial port and each server channel are hard wired Even though there are protocol commands to select a different channel than the one assigned to the port the LLM will only control those ports as specified For example in order to control a channel in the Nexio native protocol a controller must select the channel Codec that it wants to control The Set Logical Channel C1 AC command is used for this purpose All subsequent commands on the same socket will be routed to the selected channel However when controlling a Nexio Server using RS 422 a controller can only actually communicate with the one specific channel per COM port setting The controller must make a connection through a different COM port in order to communicate with a different channel 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 10 Nexio AMP Protocol Similarly in VDCP protocol a controller is required to first open a port channel with the Open Port 30 01 command and then select it with the Select Port 20 22 command Even though each channel is hard wired to a COM port the controller must follow the protocol specification UDP Control UDP communication to the server is conducted on port 331 unless otherwise specified and configured This method requires that the content of server client conversations bear the following format Table 1 1 UDP Datagram Format m emm
47. applicable action This would be true during recording or during a copy of the video file from a tape archive a fiber channel network or any other source If a file does not complete successful creation but does exist these bits may be left on These bits indicate to the controller that it is not safe to perform these functions on this ID despite the fact that the ID does exist in the disk If the IN DISK bit is not set none of these bits need to be set as the controller will not try any of these functions on an ID that is not in the disk The Video Type only needs to be supported if a video disk can have more than one format of video files on it and cannot play any file type on any playout port This function must be supported on both the Port Status Request and the ID Request so the controller can determine if a particular video port can play a particular ID Nexio Addendum The Video Type functionality is optional and will report data of 0 unless the option is turned on and the Nexio server has been upgraded to at least the Nexio 5 7 0 Software Release This option must be enabled in the LLM registry LLM Control VideoStatusEnable When set to a value of 1 Byte 3 will indicate the video resolution and video format of the ID requested according to the following tables The LSB nibble is used to identify the video format of the ID Data Video Format Nibble OxnO Default Assume all files may be p
48. be set up for playing to air audio tracks from one particular language and another server channel might be set up to play a different language And because not every clip will have the exact same arrangement of audio tracks and tags additional 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 31 Nexio AMP Protocol flexibility has been added such that if one type of audio is not available for play out it is possible to select alternate audio track types as backups In all there are three levels of audio router planning a primary secondary and tertiary setting If a clip has no matching audio tags in the play out channel s primary routing table the secondary routing table will be used If there are no matches there the tertiary table is used If no matches are found there then the server passes through the audio in the tracks as the clip was recorded The output audio routing is set up using the Set Audio Routing Parameters CF 55 command which prepares the primary secondary and tertiary track routing table respectively Each table is made of 32 bytes 2 bytes per audio track output The first byte represents the audio tag for the individual track The second byte is currently reserved for future use So if the desire is to prepare a channel to play the first two tracks as the Dolby E Spanish language track and the next two as the PCM Spanish language stereo pair and as a backup to play the Dolby E Portuguese and PCM Portug
49. care must be taken to send the transport commands to the same logical channel that received the mask via this command Channel synchronization is supported for the following commands Table 2 47 Channel Sync Support Nexio Protocol 2000 Stop 2x1x Var Play Forward 2001 Play 2x2x Var Play Reverse 2002 Record 2x31 Cue Up With Data 2010 Fast Fwd Cx86 Fast Cue Up With Data 2020 Rewind Ax04 Preset Preview In 200F Eject CO02 Next Cue VDCP Protocol 20 24 A0 24 Play Cue 20 25 A0 25 Cue With Data 1005 Step As part of the cue up process for channel synchronization when a controller loads a clip into the master channel the server looks at the specified clip s Link field to know which clip to load into the slave channel The Link field is a metadata field retrieved using the Get Extended Field C9 C3 command which stores the name of a clip that is linked to the master clip When the master clip is loaded into a sync 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 65 Nexio AMP Protocol enabled channel its linked clip gets loaded in the slave channel If there is no ID in the Link field no clip gets loaded in the slave channel There is an optional registry feature in which if an ID does not have a linked clip the channel sync logic will load the same clip into both the master and the slave channels This is useful for controllers that wish to play the same clip out of two channels at the same time
50. channel For example this command will only have an effect if an SD clip is loaded in an HD channel or an HD clip is loaded in an SD channel As the controller adjusts the ARC settings they will have an immediate effect on the clip with a playback specific delay The DEVICE parameter is the number of the first defined video stream in the channel which for normal media would be 0 For a list of the possible values for this command refer to the Get Extended Field C9 C3 command Field 19 The main difference with using this command is that the 2 byte variables here are represented MSB first In addition the aspect ratio override and AFD override settings do not apply here The controller can send the Set Manual Video Arc command repeatedly as adjustments are made and the video output of the selected channel will follow those changes When the desired effect or changes are reached the controller can then use the Set Extended Field CF 44 command for extended field 19 to store the final values for the ID However when writing those values for the field the controller needs to be sure to write the values represented in little endian LSB first The speed of the Set Extended Field command depends on network activity The controller should verify the changes were received by using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 ms intervals until the transaction returns a success or failure When the changes are confirme
51. command but allows play out of just a part of the ID SEND DATA 1 through SEND DATA 8 contains the ID SEND DATA 9 through 12 contains the start position within the ID play out start and SEND DATA 13 through SEND DATA 16 contains the duration play out duration This command is not permitted on files that have been prepared with the PREPARE TO PLAY ID command FRAME X10 FRAME X1 DATA 10 22H SEC X10 MIN X10 HR X10 FRAME X10 SEC X10 MIN X10 HR X10 Note Use of the AO 25 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs 20 A0 26 Delete ID Syntax 20 26 ID or AO 26 BC XID 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 143 Nexio AMP Protocol ID 8 byte ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID The ID DELETE command is used to remove material from the disk system If the ID is in the Get From Archive List still to be transferred to the disk it should be removed from the Get From Archive List When the media file for the ID is deleted from the disk the ID must be put in the IDs DELETED LIST for all communications including the port that issued the delete command This will cause the IDs DELETED bit to be set in the Status 2 byte of the PORT STATUS for all communications ports SEND DATA 1 8 contain the ID name to be deleted Upon receipt of an ID DELETE command the system will check if the ID is present in the system If the ID
52. compressed from 5 1 audio surround sound 6 tracks and typically stored on the server as a linked pair of audio tracks e 0x44 01000100 MPEG audio compressed from a pair of tracks and typically stored on only one of the server s audio tracks Audio track tags are additional descriptors for audio tracks which allow an operator to identify and separate audio tracks according to language or any other definition The most basic operation is to assign one track or pair of tracks to one language and another track or tracks to another language 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 29 Nexio AMP Protocol The server allows for up to 256 defined audio tags that can be applied to a specific audio track Of these 34 tags are pre set and can only be set for pre determined purposes Another 64 are pre defined by Nexio controlling applications NXOS FTP Client and Velocity according to their assigned languages and audio types Table 2 17 Audio Track Tags Tag Description 0 The default tag for all tracks Indicates full pass through with no need to dynamically route the track to which this track is assigned 1 32 Tags set aside for each possible discreet audio track These are the LXF audio tracks as stored internally by the server 33 175 Tag numbers available to be defined 176 191 Tags preset for PCM audio and assigned to some of the more common specific languages 192 207 T
53. even if no signal port is open or selected If implemented command is based on a signal port not a communications port Can only function if a signal port is open and selected Unless otherwise specified in the bit maps a bit set 1 is true The LSB is the right bit and the MSB the left bit All numbers are in hexadecimal All time values are in frames seconds minutes and hours in BCD with the frames sent first and hours sent last Server Response 04 ACK Syntax 04 When the controlled device receives a command from the CONTROLLING DEVICE the CONTROLLED DEVICE will send back this command as acknowledgment All commands defined in this protocol should be Acked except when a message or status reply is sent back to the controller instead even if not implemented by the disk When a command not implemented is received and Acked the Not Supported bit in Status 3A of the PORT STATUS request should be set 05 NAK Syntax 05 DATA DATA 1 byte bitmap indicating type of error When the CONTROLLED DEVICE has detected any of the errors below or does not recognize the command as one from this protocol it will send back this reply as negative acknowledgment to the CONTROLLING DEVICE Depending on the nature of the error one of the DATA 1 bits will be set NAK will always return 2 bytes Table 3 86 NAK Return Data 1 BIT7 BIT6 BITS BIT4 BIT3 BIT2 BIT1 BITO Timeout Framing Overrun Parity error Checksum
54. is the LSN of DATA BYTES 1 or more bytes as defined by DATA Description This command retrieves the current channel s status The data bytes returned are dependent on the DATA parameter The most significant nibble of DATA defines the starting byte to be returned and the least significant nibble of DATA defines the number of bytes after the starting byte to be returned See the following table for the interpretation of the return data against the command parameters Table 2 33 Channel Status Bytes Byte Bit 7 ooo o o o j o o o o tow oxo1 READY o STOP o Rew FF REC sev o sm JOG VAR DIR stm cued 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 51 Nexio AMP Protocol oxo3 auro o o o o J o PSTOU PSIN O04 o eon o EDIT REVIEW 0 PREVIEW PRRL O05 o INSRT ASMBL vieo o wt az m Logs moz sc qp qoom s cp 9 20 9 15 S0 x 007 o o o o o o o o o0 o o o o o o O0 RECINHBIT oop o o o j o o PVWRDY PVWOUT PVWIN IDs a o EJ EXCESS NO AUDIO fom ro fe fe e e E IEEE oc o o o o o 0 Wm ME MN Toe Cece ea Gee a RE AE og o o o o o o o o xp om pog q 9 qp u 9 A 9 9 1 The PVW RDY bit is available only after the Nexio 5 5 Software Release for the Nexio AMP Server platform and Nexio XS platform after the 64 bit upgrade
55. loaded ID to the specified timecode C8 86 ID Cues the channel to the first frame of the specified ID handle This will load the ID in the channel if it was not already there If the ID handle does not exist the command will fail CC 86 TC ID Cues the channel to the indicated timecode within the specified ID handle This will load the ID in the channel if it was not already there If the ID handle does not exist the command will fail If the indicated timecode does not exist for that ID the server will cue to the ID s In Point or Out Point whichever is closer 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 105 Nexio AMP Protocol Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based 4x 14 Preset In Point Syntax 40 14 or 44 14 TC or 48 14 ID or 4C 14 TCID TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH ID 8 byte ID handle Response 1001 Status bits set PRRL DIR during search then SHTL STILL CUED PST IN PST OUT when complete Codec Mode Decompression Description This command has exactly the same behavior as the Cue Up with Data 2x 31 command The server will search to and display the requested frame If successful the PRESET IN register will be set to the requested time and the CUED bit status byte 2 bit O will be set high as retrieve
56. most Nexio systems But if it is enabled the C8 4F command will indicate which server currently has the clip loaded and which controller connection loaded it Other than going to that server and unloading the clip there is no direct method for clearing the connection so that the clip may be deleted Cueing and Playing Media There are three different commands for cueing an ID for playback each of which has four different sets of usage parameters e Cue Up with Data 2x 31 e Fast Cue Up with Data Cx 86 e Preset In Point 4x 14 The Cue Up with Data and Preset In Point commands behave exactly the same The fastest way to cue an ID in the server is by using the Fast Cue Up with Data command As long as the channel is prepared for playback this will cause an instantaneous cue to field 1 of the requested frame The drawback for this speed is that the latency of a subsequent play command is increased meaning that after the Play 20 01 command the video might start rolling a few milliseconds later than the controller is expecting This command is typically only used for checking the contents of an ID by allowing an operator to load and look at the first frame It was created to save processor time in such instances Once cued by any of these methods the controller should check the channel s status bits via the Get Channel Status 61 20 command until the server returns a CUED status for the channel The PST IN and 2014 Imagine Communica
57. number Typically this registry would only be set for the low res LLM1 registry leaving the high res control set to the documented defaults The TcpPortOffset value must be set to at least a value of 100 so that the ports for both LLMs do not conflict with each other For example a setting of 100 applied to the LLM1 registry branch would indicate high res control would remain on TCP port 557 and low res control would be available on TCP port 657 By default the Nexio Config utility presets this LLM1 registry value to 100 even for servers that are not configured for the Nexio Browse System It is safe to leave this LLM1 registry branch as long as the TcpPortOffset setting remains with its default value 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 12 Nexio AMP Protocol Chapter 2 Nexio Native Protocol Command and Response What follows is an overview of the Nexio Server Protocol command and response interaction between the controllers and servers Please see the VDCP section for more detail on that protocol s command and response definition First an overview of the basic components cog 2 3 D T Structure Format Description UL PNE 1 1 byte unsigned integer Contains the basic command group and byte count CMD2 Lbyte unsigned integer Byte Count BC 1 byte unsigned integer Contains byte count if CMD 1 bits O to 3 are set to 1 OxF DATAO DATA N 1 N bytes size depends on Optional One or more bytes c
58. pending to success the controller can request the new ID handle automatically created C4 B4 00 00 00 01 Retrieves the new 8 byte ID handle created during the CF C2 command 96000012 in this example AC 02 40 00 00 00 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 Cues up the new ID for recording with a start time code of 00 00 00 00 in drop frame NTSC timecode 61 20 OE Checks the channel s status until the cued bit is set 44 15 40 15 00 00 Sets the out point and therefore eventual duration of the clip about to be recorded to 00 00 15 00 in the NTSC drop frame timecode format This command can be sent before or after the recording has actually started 61 20 OE Checks the channel s status to verify the clip s preset In and Out Points are set 20 02 Puts the channel into record 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 25 Nexio AMP Protocol It s a good idea after the recording has started to keep verifying both the channel status using 61 20 and the clip s status to ensure that its duration continues to grow until the expected out point if any The server will provide metadata updates about the clip as often as every 2 5 seconds Special Protocol Information This next section details some of the special features and more complex protocol implementations that a controller should be prepared to support These include the Nexio Unicode solution how to interpret the special video format c
59. represented LSB first A controller can use the Set Manual Video ARC CF 66 command to preview possible ARC settings for a clip loaded in a channel The command makes use of the same set of 14 bytes as described above The only difference is the Set Manual Video ARC command sends the 2 bytes values represented MSB first When the controller identifies the desired ARC setting it can use the Set Extended Field CF CC command to write the desired values to the ID s field 19 represented LSB first The aspect ratios referenced here are the display aspect ratio values for clips not necessarily how the clip is compressed For example an XDCAM HD clip with stored pixels of 1440x1080 display as 1920x1080 and is therefore referred to as a 16 9 clip The Modified Timestamp field is updated when any controller uses a protocol command to update the clip The following is a list of the commands that have an effect on this field e Native Protocol o CF 44 Set ID Metadata CF CC Set Extended Field CC 84 Set Special ID Attributes CC B6 Redefine ID In Point CF A3 Redefine ID Timecode Bounds C8 C5 Consolidate ID CF CA Rename Extended ID 20 02 Record OOoOo0000 e VDCP Protocol o 0015 Delete Protect ID o 0016 Undelete Protect ID o 1002 Record o AO 1D Rename ID The Video QA Status field is generated as a result of the Imagine Communications QuiC media analysis tools The field is a bit wise field indicating the ID s current sta
60. server side SOCK STREAM socket bind listen pass its coordinates for the server IP address and TCP port as the DTA specification and prepare to accept a connection accept The LLM data agent will connect as a client to the specified socket If the connection cannot be established the transaction will end in TRANSACTION CONNECTION FAILED Other than that the connection will be established even if the transaction ends in TRANSACTION_NO FILE or other errors and then it will be closed The MODE parameter for this command determines which of the many available storage areas is to be read from There are 16 different user data storage areas that can be associated with an ID Table 2 69 Get Slow Access Mode Bitmap Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 Do not 0 Data area represented in 6 bits only supported close values in their decimal equivalent are 16 31 socket Currently the Nexio system uses several storage areas for internal uses Controllers should avoid using user data segments 16 24 and 30 31 If the Do not close socket bit is set to 0 the LLM will automatically close the connection after all the data has been sent at the first unrecoverable read error if the ID handle does not exist or if the storage area has been modified by a concurrent write The controller can close the connection at any time to end the transfer If the Do not close socket bit is set
61. servers and the shared storage to communicate share data and tasks It is also to the LLM that controllers make a socket or serial connection in order to control the servers Chapter One of this document provides general information about the protocols and communications with the Nexio servers It covers the basic methods for connecting to a video channel through the LLM whether through an RS 422 connection or over Ethernet Chapters Two and Three cover the specific protocols supported by Nexio Servers our own native protocol in Chapter Two and the VDCP protocol in Chapter Three Our native protocol implements subsets of the following manufacturer s specifications e Sony 9 Pin Protocol Document 9 966 979 04 e Odetics Command and Control Specification Document 4136201 A e Nexio Control Protocol e VDCP Video Disk Communications Protocol The Nexio implementation of the VDCP protocol is described based on the most recent VDCP manual available to the public in February 2003 Additions to and omissions from the standard are noted where appropriate The implementation of these protocol interfaces are constantly changing being enhanced to better serve our customers Every effort is made to keep the protocol backward compatible as changes are made However there is no guarantee that all future enhancements and fixes will not affect a controller s current interface to the Nexio server Check back regularly for updates to this document and we strong
62. settings for a channel Values returned are two byte values per channel between 0 and 65534 The CODE parameter selects which level or setting to return Table 2 39 Audio Level Code Description Input Meter Level Output Meter Level Input Level Setting Output Level Setting Cx 52 Set Audio Input Volume s Syntax C3 52 TRACK VOLUME or C4 52 VOL1 VOL2 or C8 52 VOL1 VOL2 VOL3 VOL4 or CF 52 BC VOL1 VOL2 VOL16 TRACK 1 byte unsigned integer to indicate the specific audio track to be affected VOLUME 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first to indicate volume level VOLn 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first to indicate volume level for specified audio channel n BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow Response 1001 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 58 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command sets the audio input gain level for one individual track or all tracks depending on which syntax is used Volume levels specified for tracks that do not exist will be ignored Volume values sent must be between 0 and 65534 Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 Cx 53 Set Audio Output Volume s Syntax C3 53 TRACK VOLUME or C4 53 VOL1 VOL2 or C8 53 VOL1 VOL2 VOL3 VOL4 or CF 53 BC VOL1 VOL2 VOL16 TRACK 1 byte unsigned integer to indicate the specific audio track to be affected VOLUME 2 byte unsigned integer MSB fir
63. slope reduces the granularity of the larger bit rates stored to multiples of 5 or 10 a new Set Extended Record Parameters C9 C1 command was added Caution This command should not be used if the auto input resolution detection option is enabled on a Nexio server If enabled this command may provide incorrect information about the channel s record parameters Instead you should use the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters CF CF command C9 C1 Set Extended Record Parameters Syntax C9 C1 VIDF VIDN VIDM VIDBR16 RES AUDIO VBI VIDF 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video format VIDN 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video N value VIDM 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video M value VIDBR16 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first representing the video bit rate in Mb s RES 2 byte unsigned integer always returned as zeroes AUDIO 1 byte unsigned integer representing the number of audio tracks VBI 1 byte unsigned integer representing whether VBI is present Response 10 01 Description Available with the Nexio 6 0 Software Release this command sets record parameters for a channel including the exact bit rate set for recordings over 50 Mb s The video bit rate parameter returns two bytes of data instead of the one byte provided with the original C8 C1 command which requires the progressive slope algorithm for bit rates greater than 50 This new command provides a better granularity of data in those cases Pleas
64. the PST OUT bit Status byte 3 bit 1 as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command This command is not intended for use when navigating to a new cued position within a clip The controller should instead use the Cue with Data 24 31 command Ax 04 Preset Preview In Point Syntax AO 04 or A4 04 TC or A8 04 ID or AC 04 TC ID TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH ID 8 byte ID handle Response 1001 Status bits set PVW IN Description This command is used to specify the In Point of the next desired clip to be played when the end of the current clip is reached After completion of this command the PREVIEW IN status bit byte 9 bit 1 will be set high as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command It is common practice to use this command in conjunction with the Preset Preview Out Point A0 05 command It is up to the controller to determine if a clip is allowed to be loaded and played from any particular channel Use the Get Special Machine Properties C4 B1 command for mask 17 0x00020000 to determine if the channel will accept the resolution and format of the clip about to be loaded Loading an unsupported clip in a channel can result in black on air or cause an overload of the CPUs 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 108 Nexio AMP Protocol There are four different possible uses of this command AO 04 The Preview In register will be set to t
65. to 1 the LLM will not close the socket after transfer completion In such a case it would be up to the controller to query the transaction status using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command in order to detect completion of the transfer A new read operation can then be initiated on the same data socket the transaction number will however be different There is one limitation to be aware of If the controller begins this process with the Do not close socket bit set to 1 it must send one last command to the LLM in which the Do not close socket bit is set to 0 before it can close the socket This can be a dummy command with ID 0x00 0x00 and mode 0x42 This is a limited description of the Read File CF A0 command not incorporating several advanced methods for storing and retrieving media within the LLM system This command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 92 Nexio AMP Protocol CF Al Set Slow Access Metadata Syntax CF A1 BC DTATYPE DTASPEC MODE ID ATTRIBUTES BC 1 byte unsigned integer total amount of data to follow For the following described uses of this command this value will always be 12 DTATYPE 1 byte unsigned integer For the following described uses of this command this value will always be 01 DTASPEC 6 bytes indicating the DTA specification For the following described uses of this command
66. unsigned integer representing the video N value 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video M value 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video bit rate in Mb s 2 byte unsigned integer always returned as zeroes 1 byte unsigned integer representing the number of audio tracks 1 byte unsigned integer representing whether VBI is present 10 01 This command sets record parameters for a channel Please refer to the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command for further definition of each of the above field 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 54 Nexio AMP Protocol definitions The VIDF parameter includes support for setting an SD clip to an aspect ratio of 16 9 as defined in the C8 4A command The parameters will be applied to all the new clips recorded on that channel It is the responsibility of the controller to determine the capabilities of the server channel which it is controlling The server will allow a controller to set up a channel to record using parameters which may be invalid for the specific channel It is also the responsibility of the controller to know the limits of the parameters based on video format video resolution and video standard For example no DV video format should have a VIDM or VIDN value greater than 1 VIDBR Video bite rate VIDBR values greater than 50 make use of the progressive slope algorithm as defined in the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command However because the progressive
67. value to set the attributes to Specify a value of Ox0000 to reset the attribute See the table below for the attributes that are settable If the ID is not found DO 00 is returned Table 2 68 Settable ID Attributes Mask Value Attribute Description Ox0000 0x0000 Normal ID An ID that has no special attributes Ox0001 0x0001 Delete Protected An ID that is protected from deletion 0x0002 0x0002 Sliding ID An ID that is a circular recording Ox0100 0x0100 Looping ID An ID that will continuously playback in a loop indefinitely For example to set the Delete Protected attribute the controller would send the following after the ID 00 01 00 O1 To unset the attribute send the following 00 01 00 00 It is also possible to set and unset multiple attributes in one command based on the bit mask A clip with the sliding ID attribute requires a preset in and out point to define the duration of the circular recording 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 87 Nexio AMP Protocol When a clip with the looping attribute is set the server automatically auto loads the same clip in the preview channel after any cue up command that involves the clip The looping play back can be cancelled by the following commands e Set Auto Mode On 40 41 e Set Auto Mode Off 40 40 e Reset Preview In Point AO 06 e Preset Preview In Point Ax 04 with another clip Also
68. 0000 16 Sets the channel s audio Nexio AMP and routing output audio type One Volt only as of byte per output track indicating Nexio 6 0 Software the audio type being output Release See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 23 for syntax 25 0x02000000 14 Sets the channel s default Nexio 7 0 Software setting for handling AFD data Release on output when a clip of the same aspect ratio as the channel is loaded for play back Data sent is in the 14 byte Video ARC structure See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 19 for syntax Output Timecode The value set for Bit Mask 0x0800 is a bit wise field indicating the output timecode control desired for the channel If Bit 8 is set high the Get Current Time Sense 61 OC command will make use of the selected timecode implementation instead of the legacy SOM based timecode reporting 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 28 Output Timecode Control Bit Description 8 1 Provides the full timecode implementation for LTC VITC UB in the 61 0C command 0 Legacy support in the 61 OC command always returning SOM based timecode and claim it s Sony LTC 7 insert continuous VITC based on SOM 6 insert continuous LTC based on SOM 5 VITC line duplication see RP188 standard 4 0 VITC line select see RP188 standard cO C3 Get Video Restriction Syntax CO C2 Response D1 C2 RESTRICTION REST
69. 012 Removed references to old VR series of servers non Unicode systems and systems with 8 byte clip IDs refer to earlier SDK releases to support those platforms and features Additions to Device Type Request 00 11 command to support detection of Film Rate Added MinFrame field to C8 4A command to report the frame offset from the first video packet in a clip to its actual start of message frame New channel status indicators where the serve r experiences excessive drift or media playback is lacking video or audio Extended field 9 now called Title 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 3 Nexio AMP Protocol Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 9 About This Document 9 General Information 9 Control Communication 10 RS 422 Control 10 UDP Control 11 TCP IP Control 11 Dual LLM Control 12 Chapter 2 Nexio Native Protocol 13 Command and Response 13 Nexio Protocol Overview 14 Identifying System Configurations 14 Building a Database of Media 16 Managing Media Assets 20 Cueing and Playing Media 22 Recording New Media 24 Special Protocol Information 26 Unicode Implementation 26 Video Format Codes 27 Audio Track Router 28 Short Clips Stacked Play Back 33 Standard Server Responses 36 10 01 ACK 36 ti 12 NAK 36 System Information Commands 37 00 11 Device Type Request 37 C4 B1 Get Special Machine Properties 38 C
70. 16 ID or 80 16 BC XID ID 8 bytes indicating clip ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow XID Extended ID This command is the opposite of PROTECT ID and allows the ID to be deleted but does not delete the ID by itself This command has no effect on the ID being played or copied SEND DATA 1 through SEND DATA 8 contains the ID to be unprotected Note Use of the 80 16 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Immediate Commands 10 00 Stop Syntax 10 00 The STOP command will return the selected port to the IDLE state The STOP command can be issued to a port in any state When in IDLE the port will output black and any material that is playing out CUED or cueing is aborted No action will result if the STOP command is received when no material is PLAYing If the port was in the RECORD state then the system will stop recording at the next REF interval A partial recording will have occurred and the internal database for the length of the material will be updated to reflect this reduced length The part of the material received is kept stored on the disk and is available for play 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 135 Nexio AMP Protocol 10 01 Play Syntax 1001 The PLAY command causes the specified ID to play out If the port status contains CUE INIT DONE then the PLAY command causes the ID specified by the preceding CUE command t
71. 4 Response Mask of 0x0004 Identifies an ID that is a Media ID essentially an EDL that includes pointers to other Parent IDs The Timeline Playback service is required on servers that load and play Media IDs Consolidated ID C8 84 Response Mask of 0x0040 or 0x0044 Identifies a Parent ID that has had its entire media except for those areas protected by subclips erased from the storage If a controller loads and plays a consolidated ID those erased areas will not play out Instead depending on how the clip was consolidated it may play black in those areas or skip them Looping Record Sliding ID C8 84 Response Mask of 0x0002 Identifies an ID that is a circular recording in which the length is preset and material is automatically deleted from the front as it is recorded on the back These IDs are typically used for delay to air programming or for creating a series of subclips Looping ID C8 84 Response Mask of 0x0100 Identifies an ID that will play in a loop if loaded and played in a channel Once it reaches its last frame it will seamlessly transition back to the beginning of the clip Hidden Files C8 84 Response Mask of 0x0020 Identifies IDs that will normally not appear in the List First Next lists unless specially requested by a controller with the C8 B1 command Hidden files are usually system files used by editing applications It is essentially up to the individual contro
72. 4C when processing responses If no IDs remain in the specified list DO 4D is returned 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 70 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 52 List Next ID List Table List Description Return Data 0x01 Main ID Handle List D8 4D ID 0x02 ID Handles Added List D8 4D ID 0x03 ID Handles Deleted List D8 4D ID 0x11 Main Extended ID List DF 4D BC XID 0x12 Extended IDs Added List DF 4D BC XID 0x13 Extended IDs Deleted List DF 4D BC XID 0x21 Main ID Handle Extended ID List DF 4D BC ID XID 0x22 ID Handles Extended IDs Added List DF 4D BC ID XID 0x23 ID Handles Extended IDs Deleted List DF 4D BC ID XID The Main lists 0x01 0x11 and 0x21 provide the same functionality as the List First ID Handle AO 14 command except the controller has the option to retrieve just the Extended ID or both the ID handle and the extended ID of the first clip in the list Unicode Note To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Response format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 c8 C3 Get Extended ID from ID Handle Syntax C8 C3 ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response DF C3 BC XID or DO C3 if ID handle not found BC 1 byte unsigned integer byte count of Extended ID XID XID Extended ID in Unicode format when enabled Description Th
73. 6 bits 0x09 IMX MPEG 4 2 2 CBG constrained bytes per GOP OxOA H 264 4 2 0 OxOB H 264 4 2 2 OxOC H 264 4 2 0 CBG e g AVC Intra class 50 OxOD H 264 4 2 2 CBG e g AVC Intra class 100 OxOE Reserved OxOF Audio only no video For value 0x06 what determines the actual format of the three listed is the video bit rate of the clip If the clip is 50 Mb s it s DV5O If 100 Mb s it s DVCPRO HD If it s more than 100 Mb s it s DNXHD The Video Format field also includes an indication of the clip s aspect ratio A value of 0x10 is added to the above values to indicate an SD clip is 16 9 All HD clips are assumed to be 16 9 even if the added value is not included in the returned data 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 74 Nexio AMP Protocol It is possible for a controller to override the aspect ratio defined here by setting a flag in Field 19 of the extended fields See the description for Field 19 using the Get Extended Field C9 C3 command Video Bit Rate Fields As of the Nexio 6 0 Software Release the Exact Video Bit Rate field was added in data position 20 21 to more accurately define the exact bit rate of the video portion of a clip If this field is currently null then the controller should use the original Video Bit Rate field at data position 11 Because the original Video Bit Rate field only stores one byte of data it was not possible to report all values of bit rates possible up to 300 Mb s
74. 8 B1 Set Special Machine Properties 43 CF Bl Set Special Channel Properties 44 CO C3 Get Video Restriction 47 CO C3 Get Max Extended ID Size 47 CX A4 Get Current Time 48 61 0C Get Current Time Sense 48 C8 BO Set Controller ID 49 Channel Status Commands 50 CO AC Get Logical Channel 50 C1 AC Set Logical Channel 50 AO 21 Get Device ID 50 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page4 Nexio AMP Protocol A8 CO A8 61 CO CO CS C8 C9 CF C1 CO C1 Cx Cx C1 CF C2 CF CE C4 CF co C4 CF 20 03 18 20 CO CL CF C1 Cl CF B7 50 51 Mediabase Commands AO AO C1 CO C8 CF CF C8 CF C9 CF CE CO C8 CC C8 C6 Cl CF C1 C9 CF CF CF CF CF CC 14 15 4C 4D C3 C4 CA 4A 44 C3 CC CB CB 84 84 CA CA CA 66 66 C9 AO Al Bx C2 85 B6 Set Device ID 50 Get Loaded ID 51 ID Status Request 51 Get Channel Status 51 Get Record Parameters 52 Get Extended Record Parameters 53 Get Auto Detect Record Parameters 53 Set Record Parameters 54 Set Extended Record Parameters 55 Set Auto Detect Record Parameters 56 Record Timecode Source 57 Get Audio Status 58 Get Audio Levels 58 Set Audio Input Volume s 58 Set Audio Output Volume s 59 Get Audio Routing
75. A4 TIME or D5 A4 TIME FRACTIONAL or DO A4 if timer TYPE is not available TIME 4 bytes indicating the time in the format of FF SS MM HH FRACTIONAL 1 byte unsigned integer indicating fractional frame Description This command returns the current time on the server It should be used by the controller to synchronize its own clock in order to correctly interpret subsequent time stamped notifications Refer to the following table if a TYPE is included with the command for definition of the source of the time Table 2 30 Source Time Types Current time on server same as CO A4 D4 A4 TIME Current time on server in fractional frame units D5 A4 TIME FRAC Timecode from attached RS 232 timecode reader D4 A4 TIME NTSC times are always returned in drop frame The FRACTIONAL variable returned from the 0x01 TYPE is represented with 8 bits of precision using a denominator 256 Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based 61 OC Get Current Time Sense Syntax 61 0C CODE CODE 1 byte unsigned integer Response 74 04 TC or TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Description This command is used to retrieve the server s current timecode The timecode is reported in four bytes presented in reverse order frames seconds minutes hours The most significan
76. AY SRV EE ON LAMP FWD Codec Mode Compression Description This command starts the recording of the currently loaded ID If no valid ID is loaded it may be possible to record the video content into timecode space However the timecode space feature is disabled by default and should not be used without good reason 20 OF Eject Syntax 20 OF Response 1001 Status bits set READY STOP E E ON LAMP STILL Codec Mode Compression Description This command behaves like the Stop 20 00 command except it places the channel into E E 20 10 Fast Forward Syntax 2010 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 114 Nexio AMP Protocol Response Status bits set Codec Mode Description 20 20 10 01 READY FF LAMP FWD Decompression This command places the channel into fast forward mode 4000 of Normal Speed Rewind Syntax Response Status bits set Codec Mode Description 60 2E 20 20 1001 READY REW DIR LAMP REV Decompression This command places the channel into rewind mode 4000 of Normal Speed Syntax Response SPEED Description 2x 1x Get Variable Speed Sense 60 2E 72 2E SPEED 2 bytes signed integer MSB first This command is used to request the current speed of the channel The server response is a two byte integer indicating the current speed where 100 0x0064 equals real time playback and 100 OxFF9C equals reverse at 100 Syntax
77. CP Command Groups Type Description System command Immediate command Preset Select command Sense request Not Supported Not Supported Variable length system command Variable length preset select command Variable length sense request Not Supported Archive command nholwalSloluslAlwl N RPlo The response to command types 0 1 and 2 will be an ACK 04h or a NAK 05h The response to command type 3 will set the most significant bit of the CMD 2 response to a 1 For example the response to command 30 29 is 30 A9 The command codes form a unique device dialect Examples of command types 1 2 and 3 are shown below Immediate Command Sample Command Play Command Code 10 01 Data Configuration 02 o2 10 o EF STO BC CMD 1 CMD 2 CS Return ACK 04h or NAK 05h Preset Select Command Sample Command Select Input Command Code 20 39 Mode Mode Byte O1h Off Black w sync 02h Composite 04h S Video 08h YUV 10h D1 Data Configuration Ta MET a Toe CS Return ACK 04h or NAK 05h Sense Request Command Sample Command Port Status Request Command Code 30 05 Bit map 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 130 Nexio AMP Protocol Bit Map 02 03 30 05 STO BC CMD 1 CMD 2 BIT Data Configuration Return Code 30 85 Data Configuration 0 30 8 1 2 STO BC CMD 1 CMD 2 BIT DATA CS
78. Channel CO AC command will indicate the actual highest channel number Example As of this writing the maximum number of channels possible is eight The controller should first try to change the current channel under control to channel eight C1 AC 07 The LLM will set the current channel under control to the highest numbered channel available To learn what channel that is the controller can then ask the LLM what channel it just changed to CO AC 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 37 Nexio AMP Protocol In response the LLM will return the actual number of channels D1 AC 01 2 channel server D1 AC 02 3 channel server D1 AC 03 4 channel server D1 AC 05 6 channel server D1 AC 07 8 channel server Also note that as a result of this command sequence the controller will now be controlling the returned channel number All future commands will continue to apply against this channel until another Set Logical Channel C1 AC command is sent C4 Bl Get Special Machine Properties Syntax C4 B1 MASK MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Response DF B1 BC DATA or DO B1 if no valid properties are requested BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow DATA String or bitmap depending on MASK selected Description This command allows a controller to retrieve a server s special machine or channel properties Depending on the bit mask selected a controller can determine seve
79. DATA Spot 1 RECORD Starts recording Spot 1 STOP Ends recording of Spot 1 If the port status contains CUE INIT DONE then the RECORD command causes the ID specified by the preceding RECORD INIT command to start recording An Input Port is the only Port that can add to the contents of the disk system All recording is done through Input ports Recording material into the system requires the sequence RECORD INIT RECORD At any point in time the port can be in one of three states IDLE INIT or RECORD If back to back recording is permitted then the command sequence may be extended as in the PLAY example above It is recommended to output the input signal on the corresponding output port i e E E to output port 1if recording on input port 1 if it is not currently selected by a different port Nexio Addendum The VDCP specification for this command includes the ability to record clips back to back This feature is not supported in Nexio servers 10 04 Still Syntax 10 04 The STILL command causes the currently playing ID to pause The last frame played prior to receiving the STILL command will continue being displayed The output port must be in PLAY or in the CUED state or an error will be logged Play of the current ID is resumed by a CONTINUE command 10 05 Step Syntax 1005 The STEP command causes the currently playing and paused ID in STILL state or in a play state to advance to the next frame and STILL The output port
80. DATA 1 and RETURN DATA 2 RETURN DATA 1 MSB RETURN DATA 2 LSB followed by ten 8 byte IDs in RETURN DATA 3 through RETURN DATA 82 A list of IDs DELETED must be kept for each communications port that has access to the disk When an ID is deleted from the disk and can not be played any more that ID must be entered into the deleted list for each communications port As a port sends each ID in groups of ten to its controller it must remove that ID from the deleted list for that port 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 162 Nexio AMP Protocol When an ID is in the deleted list the ID DELETED bit will be set in the port status that is sent to that communications port If an ID LIST is performed by a communications port then all IDs may be removed from the deleted list for that communications port The NEXT command is used to transfer any remaining IDs in groups of ten NEXT is called repeatedly until all IDs have been transferred Note Use of the BO 19 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs VDCP Examples Cueing and Playing There are two different commands to cue a clip in the server e Play Cue 2024 e Cue with Data 20 25 The Play Cue command loads the specified ID to an aliased In Point and Out Point while the Cue with Data command allows the In and Out Points to be specified within the context of the command The server will roll the cued clip at sync speed 3 frames af
81. Data Syntax TC ID Response Status bits set Codec Mode Description CO 86 or C4 86 TC or C8 86 ID or CC 86 TC ID 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH 8 byte ID handle 1001 PRRL DIR during search then SHTL STILL CUED PST IN PST OUT when search is complete Decompression This command has the same behavior as the Cue Up with Data 2x 31 command except for the following e This command completes much faster e The pre roll flag will drop faster e The latency of a subsequent Play 20 01 command is not guaranteed e The time code only format C4 86 will cue inside the currently loaded ID thus avoiding directory search If the command is issued very frequently that may save some processor time It is up to the controller to determine if a clip is allowed to be loaded and played from any particular channel Use the Get Special Machine Properties C4 B1 command for mask 17 0x00020000 to determine if the channel will accept the resolution and format of the clip about to be loaded Loading an unsupported clip in a channel can result in black on air or cause an overload of the CPUs As with the other Cue command there are four different uses of this command each one requiring slightly different parameters CO 86 Cues the channel to the first frame of the currently loaded ID If no ID is currently loaded in the channel the command will fail C4 86 TC Cues the currently
82. F 1 Composite 2 S VIDEO 3 YUV 4 D1 OFF provides BLACK with sync An error condition will result in the appropriate bit being set in the port status error byte s SEND DATA 1 contains a bit map specifying the input MODE Table 3 87 Select Input Bitmap BIT7 BIT6 BIT5 BIT4 BIT3 BIT2 BIT1 BITO D1 YUV S Video Composite Off 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 146 Nexio AMP Protocol Nexio Addendum The input format for a particular Nexio server is limited to the capabilities of the individual server For example the TXS server accepts SDI input only no matter what value is set here 20 43 Disk Preroll Syntax 20 43 FRAMES SECONDS FRAMES 1 byte indicating the number of preroll frames desired SECONDS 1 byte indicating the number of preroll seconds desired The DISK PREROLL command allows the controlling devices to specify to the controlled disk system that it should always begin the play or record function a set time after receiving the command The Disk Preroll is designated as the time that a disk system should delay the operation after a PLAY or RECORD command The disk should use the value in the command until changed by another Disk Preroll command The default should be zero unless otherwise specified in the disk manufacturer s specifications A value of zero is interpreted as Start The Function on the frame after receiving a Play or Record command
83. ISK FULL peres WRONG INVALID ILLEGAL SYSTEM SUPPORTED BUSY FULL PORT TYPE PORT VALUE ERROR ID DELETE ID ID NOT ID STILL ID STILL ID ID NOT INVALID PROTECTED TRANSFERRED TRANSFERRED PLAYING RECORDING ALREADY FOUND ID EXISTS SYSTEM NETWORK CUE OR PORT NOT PORT PORTNOT CUE NOT NOT IN REBOOTED ERROR OPERATION ACTIVE PLAYING IDLE DONE CUE INIT FAILED ACTIVE STATE EXCESSIVE NO DRIFT AUDIO OR VIDEO PVW READY Status 4 Port Settings Status 5 Video Compression Types Supported NUMBER OF VIDEO TYPES THIS PORT SUPPORTS THAT ARE LISTED FOLLOWING THIS BYTE TYPE X TYPE Y TYPE Z PORT STATUS DATA DESCRIPTION Status 1 State and Flag Status Byte 1 Bit 0 IDLE The system is in the IDLE state The output is black and there is no signal port activity Byte 1 Bit 1 CUE INIT The system is in the cue or record init state cueing or initializing Byte 1 Bit 2 PLAY RECORD The system is in the play or record state Byte 1 Bit 3 STILL The system is in the Still state Byte 1 Bit 4 JOG The system is in the jog state Byte 1 Bit 5 VARIABLE PLAY Can be set in addition to the PLAY RECORD bit but can not be set alone See addendum below Byte 1 Bit 6 PORT BUSY The system is in the busy state and can only accept immediate commands and status requests STOP PLAY RECORD STILL STEP CONTINUE PORT STATUS SYSTEM STATUS Byte 1 Bit 7 CUE INIT DONE The play cue or record init ha
84. IZE CODES enum SCAN TYPE SCAN TYPE INTERLACED 0 SCAN TYPE PROGRESSIVE 1 SCAN TYPES enum FRAME RATE CODE frame rate code FRAME RATE CODE 24M 0 FRAME RATE CODE 24 ENT unofficial ictureStructure PICTURE STRUCTURE FRAME E VID EO INFO see table below Mpeg progressive sequenc unofficial Mpeg 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 79 Nexio AMP Protocol Field 19 RAME RATE CO RAME RATE CO RAME RATE CO E 25 E 30M E 30 E 50 E 60M E 60 RATE CO RAME RATE CO RAME RATE CO RAME RATE CO Hj Hj Hj Hj Hj Hj Hj Jp D z UUUUUUuU I on To help decode the video format code value retrieved from the Video Info field s first 96 bits bits O 95 use the following reverse formula frameRateCod formatCode FRAME RATE CODES temp formatCode FRAME RATE CODES scanType temp SCAN TYPES verticalsizeCode temp SCAN TYPES More information on the Video Format Code can be found earlier in this chapter in the section titled Special Protocol Information As for the bits beyond the first 96 they typically indicate one thing or another For example bits 97 and 98 indicate interlaced or progressive line scanning The chroma format bits 100
85. Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 163 Nexio AMP Protocol high The server will stop recording when the time assigned in the Record Init command has elapsed when it receives a Stop command or when the disk space assigned to the selected ID is exhausted Note Actual amount of disk space used will be assigned to that ID when the recording ends 30 05 OF PORT STATUS REQUEST The controller should monitor the progress of the recording on a regular basis 30 06 01 POSITION REQUEST The controller should monitor the timecode progression of the recording on a regular basis Example 2 Open ended Recording The following is an example of creating and recording an open ended ID called SEGMENT1 These commands do not perform an open ended recording in the strictest sense but do a very close imitation of such a task The trick here is to fool the server into allotting a large space for recording and then terminating the recording when the desired length is reached 30 01 RECORDPORT OPEN PORT If not already done this opens a signal port upon which to record RECORDPORT 81 20 22 RECORDPORT SELECT PORT Selects the opened signal port before recording RECORDPORT 81 AO 23 BC SEGMENT1 00 00 01 00 RECORD INIT Creates the new ID and assigns 00 00 00 00 as the first aliased timecode frame of that ID Its record time is set for one hour and the CUED status bit will be set high The duration is purposely set for a
86. ODES 4 RATE CODES verticalsizeCode SCAN TYPES frameRateCode 0 95 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 78 Nexio AMP Protocol Picture structure bits if Mpeg VIDEO INFO PICTU ct E FIELD VIDEO INFO FORMAT BAS else if Mpeg progress iveFrame 0 d p R FORMATS 96 p R RLACED VIDEO INFO PICTURE FRAME INTE 7 93 else if Mpeg repeatFi VIDEO INFO PICTURE FRAME PROG 98 else Mpeg pull down frame VIDEO INFO PICTURE FRAME PROG 98 rstField RESSIVE RESSIVE REPEAT Chroma format bits see table below VIDEO INFO CHROMA 420 100 VIDEO INFO CHROMA 422 101 VIDEO INFO CHROMA 311 102 Pixel aspect bits HD only VIDEO INFO PIXEL ASPECT 1 1 103 VIDEO INFO PIXEL ASPECT 4 3 104 Nideo encoded in bits per component VIDEO INFO 8 BITS PER COMPONENT 105 VIDEO INFO 10 BITS PER COMPON 106 VIDEO INFO BITS 128 where enum VERTICAL SIZE CODE VERTICAL SIZE CODE 480 0 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 512 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 576 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 608 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 720 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 1080 VERTICAL S
87. Parameters 59 Set Audio Routing Parameters 60 Get Audio Routing Profile 60 Set Audio Routing Profile 61 Set Input Video ARC 62 Get Genlock Properties 62 Set Genlock Properties 63 Get Channel Sync Mask 64 Set Channel Sync Mask 65 Lock Channel Control 66 69 List First ID Handle 69 List Next ID Handle 69 List First ID List 69 List Next ID List 70 Get Extended ID from ID Handle 71 Get ID Handle from Extended ID 71 Rename Extended ID 72 Get ID Metadata 73 Set ID Metadata 75 Get Extended Field 76 Set Extended Field 85 Find First ID Whose Extended Field Matches Criteria 85 Find Next ID Whose Extended Field Matches Criteria 86 Get Special ID Attributes 86 Set Special ID Attributes 87 Get Audio Track Information 88 Set Manual Procamps 88 Reset Manual Procamps 89 Set Manual Video ARC 89 Reset Manual Video ARC 90 Get Slow Access Data Tag 91 Get Slow Access Metadata 91 Set Slow Access Metadata 93 Create Empty Media 94 Create Empty Media with Extended ID 94 Create Subclip 95 Redefine ID In Point 96 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 5 Nexio AMP Protocol GE A3 Redefine ID Timecode Bounds 96 A8 10 Erase ID 96 C8 4E Erase ID 97 C8 4F Erase ID with Transaction 97 C8 4D Query ID as Erasable 98 A8 11 Erase Segme
88. RATE AUDIO IN LEVEL AUDIO OUT LEVEL SELECT OUTPUT SELECT INPUT RECORD MODE SC ADJUST HORIZONTAL POSITION ADJUST OPEN PORT Command Ignored Byte 1 Bit 2 INVALID PORT The communications port has selected a signal port that it may not open because the port is already open and locked or it is an invalid port number Signal port commands will not be executed Byte 1 Bit 3 WRONG PORT TYPE The controlling device has issued a command not applicable to the open port e g RECORD RECORD INIT FREEZE UNFREEZE to a signal output port or PLAY CUE CUE WITH DATA PLAY STILL STEP CONTINUE JOG VARIABLE PLAY to a signal input port Command Ignored Byte 1 Bit 4 COMMAND QUEUE FULL Not Used Byte 1 Bit 5 DISK FULL The disk is unable to store any more audio video data e g RECORD INIT when not enough storage space to record for duration specified in RECORD INIT command Command Ignored Byte 1 Bit 6 CMD WHILE BUSY A command other than an Immediate Command was issued while the busy bit was set Command Ignored Byte 1 Bit 7 NOT SUPPORTED A command was issued that is not supported by the device Any optional command Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 0 INVALID ID An invalid ID was specified in a command with an ID parameter e g PLAY CUE CUE WITH DATA NEW COPY DELETE GET FROM ARCHIVE SEND TO ARCHIVE DELETE FROM ARCHIVE DELETE PROTECT UNDELETE PROTECT ID SIZE REQUEST Command Ignored Byte 2 B
89. RICTION 1 byte unsigned integer Description This is a legacy command that retrieves the current channel s video format restrictions This is required only for the VR and original Nexio servers where DV and MPEG material could not be played back to back on the same channel As a result every channel in a VR or Nexio system was locked down to either DV capable or MPEG capable Table 2 29 Get Video Restrictions Restriction Video Format 0 Unrestricted 1 MPEG 2 DV The Nexio AMP and Volt servers are able to play DV and MPEG clips back to back on the same channel As a result the response in those systems will always return a value of 0 The MPEG value includes all forms of MPEG2 including long GOP I Frame 4 2 0 4 2 2 and IMX The DV value includes DVCAM DVCPRO and DVCPROSO G0 C3 Get Max Extended ID Size Syntax CO C3 Response D1 C3 SIZE SIZE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating size of extended IDs in bytes 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 47 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This is a legacy command that retrieves the maximum extended ID size that was set for the server system in the Initialize Disk window of the LLM Nexio AMP and Volt systems are always 64 byte ID systems Response format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CX A4 Get Current Time Syntax CO A4 or C1 A4 TYPE TYPE 1 byte unsigned integer Response D4
90. Routing Profile C1 17 command If audio profiles do not exist on the machine then the channel uses the default audio routing or those set by the Set Audio Routing Parameters CF 55 command If this command is sent mid playback there will be a latency of approximately 1 second before the new routing kicks in Note This command was introduced as part of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release and does not function in prior released software Cl i7 Select Preview Audio Routing Profile Syntax C1 17 PROFILE PROFILE 1 byte unsigned integer valid values between 00 and 31 Response 1001 Description This command is used to apply predefined audio routing to the next clip stacked and ready for playback in a channel based on the output masks of the selected audio PROFILE 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 110 Nexio AMP Protocol It works similarly to the Preset Preview In Point Ax 04 command in that once called you must wait for the PREVIEW READY status bit as an indication that the operation has completed The recommended usage is to first preview the ID wait for the PREVIEW READY status bit select the preview audio profile and wait for the PREVIEW READY status bit again The audio routing takes effect immediately upon transition to the stacked clip If the ID in preview is overridden with another clip this command must be resent to reapply the desired audio routing to the new clip Otherwise the channel will a
91. S Imagine COMMUNICATIONS Developer s Guide EE Nexio AMP Protocol Version 7 5 May 2014 Delivering the Moment Nexio AMP Protocol Publication Information 2014 Imagine Communications Corp Proprietary and Confidential Imagine Communications considers this document and its contents to be proprietary and confidential Except for making a reasonable number of copies for your own internal use you may not reproduce this publication or any part thereof in any form by any method for any purpose or in any language other than English without the written consent of Imagine Communications All others uses are illegal This publication is designed to assist in the use of the product as it exists on the date of publication of this manual and may not reflect the product at the current time or an unknown time in the future This publication does not in any way warrant description accuracy or guarantee the use for the product to which it refers Imagine Communications reserves the right without notice to make such changes in equipment design specifications components or documentation as progress may warrant to improve the performance of the product Trademarks 6800 ADC CCS Navigator Channel ONE ChannelView ClipSync Delay D Series D Series DSX Deliver the Moment Delivering the Moment FAME Farad G8 G Scribe HView IconMaster IconLogo Ico
92. ST command 20 41 SUBCARRIER ADJUST SUBCARRIER ADJUST 1 SUBCARRIER ADJUST 2 COMPRESSION SETTINGS 6 HORIZONTAL SYNC ADJUST Byte 1 and 2 are the Horizontal Sync Timing data It is the echo of the data sent in the HORIZONTAL SYNC ADJUST command 20 42 HORIZONTAL SYNC ADJUST HORIZONTAL SYNC ADJUST 1 HORIZONTAL SYNC ADJUST 2 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 161 Nexio AMP Protocol 30 BO 18 IDs Added List Syntax 30 18 or BO 18 This request allows a controller to inquire about items that were added to the disk system by another signal port The command returns to the controller a list of the IDs that have been added to the disk system since the last IDs ADDED request or unreported IDs from before the last IDs ADDED request if not all were read The list is kept for each active communications port Note Even the communications port that added the item should get the item in its list The data format will return the number of IDs remaining to be transmitted in subsequent transmissions in RETURN DATA 1 and RETURN DATA 2 DATA 1 MSB DATA 2 LSB followed by ten 8 byte IDs in RETURN DATA 3 through RETURN DATA 82 A list of IDs ADDED must be kept for each port that has access to the disk When an ID is completely recorded into the disk or transferred into the disk from an archive system and can be played at any time that ID must be entered into the list for each communications port When any IDs are in the
93. STATUS REQUEST and make that decision As the recording occurs the controller may delete items to keep disk space available for the current record If an output port is selected an error is generated An error condition will result in the appropriate bit being set in the port status error byte When the media file for the ID is available for play out from the disk this may be as soon as recording has started or when recording is complete the ID must be put into the ID ADDED LIST for all communications ports This includes the port that issued the record command This action will also cause the IDs ADDED bit to be set in the Status 2 byte of the PORT STATUS for all communications ports SEND DATA 1 through SEND DATA 8 contain the ID SEND DATA 9 through 12 contain the desired length in BCD Note Use of the A0 23 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum The Nexio server does not support back to back records Syntax 20 24 ID or AO 24 BC XID ID 8 byte ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID The PLAY CUE command causes the selected port to prepare to play the specified ID The video disk should accept the PLAY CUE command while playing another ID cueing the new ID so that it may get a play command any time during the play of the current ID or after the current ID is played out If the disk is cueing or currently in the cued state then
94. _SIZE_CODE_512 and VERTICAL_SIZE_CODE_608 the server does not really take these variables into account when calculating the format code Controllers should treat any clips or channels configured for extended height capabilities in SD using the normal SD scan line values The following protocol commands make use of the Video Format Code e C4 B1 Get Special Machine Properties bit masks 0x0040 0x0080 and 0x0100 e CF B1 Set Special Channel Properties bit mask Ox0100 e C9 C3 Get Extended Field Field 4 In the case of Get Special Machine Properties bit mask 0x100 and Set Special Machine Properties bit mask 0x100 an additional bit of information is included If the record video format requires storing the pixels in the 4 3 aspect ratio such as with XDCAM HD the last bit is set high For example instead of a value of 0x53 83 decimal for NTSC 1080i the value would be OxD3 211 Controllers would set or unset this variable mainly when changing the record parameters to or from support for XDCAM HD Meanwhile the Extended Field commands go even further with additional bits for field number 4 These commands embed the Video Format Code into the first 96 bits of the 128 bit field The rest of the bits allows the server to store several more properties for each individual clips The additional bits are defined in the Get Extended Field command Audio Track Router Nexio platforms include support for audio track routing the dynamic routing of
95. able and therefore a subsequent erase ID may still fail To be sure the controller should attempt the delete with the Erase ID as Transaction C8 4F command 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 98 Nexio AMP Protocol A8 11 Erase Segment Trim Syntax A8 11 TC1 TC2 TC1 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH TC2 4 bytes indicating a second timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 Description This command is used to erase or trim a portion of material within the currently loaded ID TC1 specifies the starting timecode position and TC2 specifies the ending timecode position of the portion to erase All timecode positions within will be erased and de allocated The new In Point Out Point and duration of the loaded ID will automatically be calculated and reflected in the ID database It is typical to use this command incorporating either the starting timecode or the ending timecode of the loaded ID so that it is trimmed from one side or the other Erasing segments in the middle of the loaded clip will cause black to play back during those timecode points Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based CETT Erase Segment Trim by ID Syntax CF 11 ID TC1 TC2 ID 8 byte ID handle TC1 4 bytes indicating a timecode poi
96. ace of each partition was given across the protocol this is not done due to the open nature of the number of partitions If a disk system has multiple partitions and video files may not span partitions the Largest Contiguous Block must be reported as the value of the partition that currently has the smallest size Largest Contiguous Block This is to guarantee that the controller will delete enough material to make space for the recording to continue until that partition has space for recording to continue Since the controller 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 157 Nexio AMP Protocol does not know what partition a video file is on many files may be deleted from other partitions to make space to allow recording to continue on a different partition This makes partitions inefficient for disk space use unless the controller knows which file is on which partition and what the Largest Contiguous Block is for each partition This protocol only supports a disk system with a single storage partition efficiently 30 BO 11 ID List Syntax 3011 or BO 11 This command returns a list of all IDs currently stored on the system to the controller The format will return the number of IDs remaining to be transmitted in subsequent transmissions in RETURN DATA 1 and RETURN DATA 2 RETURN DATA 1 MSB RETURN DATA 2 LSB followed by ten 8 byte IDs in RETURN DATA 3 through RETURN DATA 82 The NEXT command is used to transfer any remai
97. adcast System ICE IIlustrate ICE Q algorithms ICEPAC Imagine ICE Inscriber Inscriber Connectus Invenio NEO Nexio Nexio AMP PersonalizedTV RouterWorks Videotek Videotek ASI STAR Videotek GEN STAR and Videotek HD STAR are registered trademarks of Imagine Communications or its subsidiaries Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation HD BNC is a trademark of Amphenol Corporation Some products are manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories Dolby and the double D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories DTS Neural audio products are manufactured under license from DTS Licensing Limited DTS and the Symbol are registered trademarks amp the DTS Logos are trademarks of DTS Inc 2008 2010 DTS Inc All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective companies Contact Information Imagine Communications has office locations around the world For locations and contact information see http www imaginecommunications com company contact us aspx Support Contact Information For support contact information see Support Contacts http www imaginecommunications com services technical support aspx eCustomer Portal http support imaginecommunications com 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 2 Nexio AMP Protocol Revision History Revision Date Description of Changes 7 5 M
98. added list for that communications port the ID ADDED bit will be set in the port status sent to that communications port If an ID LIST is performed then all IDs may be removed from the added list for that communications port As a communication port sends each ID in groups of ten to its controller it must remove that ID from the added list for that port On disks that may play an ID once recording or transfer from an archive has started but not completed then this action should take place as soon as the ID is available for PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA The NEXT command is used to transfer any remaining IDs in groups of up to ten NEXT is called repeatedly until all IDs have been transferred Note Use of the BO 18 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs 30 BO 19 IDs Deleted List Syntax 30 19 or BO 19 This command returns to the controller a list of the IDs that have been deleted from the disk system since the last IDs DELETED request or unreported IDs from before the last IDs DELETED request if not all were read This list is kept for each active communications port This request allows a controller to find out about items added to the disk system that it may need that were deleted by another signal port Note Even the communications port that deleted the item should get the item in its list The data format will return the number of IDs remaining to be transmitted in subsequent transmissions in RETURN
99. after the PLAY command for Spot 4 The STOP command would not be sent This sequence would keep the disk cued for the next spot at all times Nexio Addendum The VDCP specification for this command includes with this command an optional parameter for a Prepared File Handle This feature is not supported in Nexio servers Also even though the VDCP specification says PLAY should only function if the port status contains CUE INIT DONE as of LLM version numbers 6 07 96 25 and 5 07 160 it is possible to put a channel into PLAY when the channel is currently in a variable play state 10 02 Record Syntax 10 02 Issuing the RECORD command will cause the system to begin recording on the next REF interval It will also clear the CUE INIT and cueing bits in the port status The RECORD command may only be issued when the port has been prepared for recording with a RECORD INIT If a RECORD INIT command had not been issued prior to the RECORD command an error will result not in cue init state and the port will remain in its former state If CUE INIT DONE the system will then record for the LENGTH specified in the RECORD CUE command At the end of the record interval the port will leave the record state and return to the IDLE state 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 136 Nexio AMP Protocol An example of a command sequence that is used to record new material into the disk system is RECORD INIT or RECORD INIT WITH
100. age 75 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 57 ID Metadata Update Bitmap ome teen 0 3 0x01 Start Start Timecode of ID in format of FF SS MM HH If the timecode is NTSC drop frame the frames unit is padded by 40 frames where 40 00 00 01 represents a start time of exactly one hour Resered setallbytestozero ss set all Reserved setallbytestozero sd to zero 3 _ Procamp UU Procamp values for video gain video setup chroma gain and hue as shown in table below 12 13 2 0x08 Kill Date The date the ID is flagged to expire in format of LSB first based on Table 19 in Get ID Metadata C8 4A command above 25 bytes no longer used 39 53 15 0x20 Old Agency Old text agency field null padded to 15 bytes no longer used 54 58 Text type field null padded to 5 bytes 1 The Old Description and Old Agency fields are only available in legacy systems configured for 8 and 32 byte ID systems and when the system does not have the extended fields feature enabled Procamp Field The four procamp variables each represented MSB first must be set at the same time in a specific order as detailed in the following table Table 2 58 Procamp Data Order and Values Data Procamp Video Min Value Min Setting Default Max Value Max Setting Byte Setting Setting 7 Video Gain Luma 15 0 99 0 5 3 99 8 Video Setup 200mv 127 0 200mV 127 9 Chroma Gain Inf dB 100 0 6 0 100 10 11
101. ags preset for Dolby E compressed audio and assigned to some of the more common specific languages 208 223 Tags preset for Dolby Digital AC3 compressed audio and assigned to some of the more common specific languages 224 239 Tags preset for MPEG Layer I II compressed audio and assigned to some of the more common specific languages 240 254 Tag numbers available to be defined 255 A tag to indicate a track to be made mute Set Up Audio Tags The exact list of tags as programmed into the server can be found in the NXOS interface using the menu option for ViewMAudio Tag Definition There you will see each audio tag defined according to tag number ISO code to indicate the language the defined audio type and a description Remember that the tag number displayed in NXOS is in Decimal whereas the protocol commands used to get or set the tag is in Hex It is also important not to change the defined tags once they are set up in use For example if you set up audio tag number 101 to be PCM audio in the Tibetan language and later change it to be MPEG 1 compressed audio in Turkish any IDs already associated with that tag number as Tibetan PCM will be mislabeled after the change Manage Clips With the information about Audio Types and Audio Tags a controller can read or set the audio properties for every audio track inside a clip This is done using the Get Extended Field C9 C3 and Set Extended Field CF CC commands Extended field 23
102. al metadata associated with the clip gets stamped with the 16 9 flag It s possible to set the 0x2000 flag in the Video ARC field to change the clip back to a 4 3 aspect ratio This flag does not apply to HD clips which are always recorded with the 16 9 aspect ratio The final value 0x8000 has the effect of overriding any AFD data that might be embedded within a clip By default the Nexio server will apply the ARC as defined within the Active Format Description AFD So even if an ARC is defined by the use of this field it will be ignored on play out as long as the clip already contains AFD data and the 0x8000 flag has not been enabled Turn on this flag and the server will make use of the ARC as defined in this field The following table offers a few samples of ARC mode settings based on the first two bytes of the Video ARC field Remember the bytes are represented LSB first Table 2 63 Sample ARC Settings Value Description 0x0200 Letter Box ARC applied to a 16 9 clip in a 4 3 channel AFD data in the clip would override this setting 0x0020 Default ARC applied to an SD clip that is using the aspect ratio override to change the 16 9 clip to 4 3 0x0320 Pillar Box ARC applied to an SD clip that is using the aspect ratio override to change the 16 9 clip to 4 3 0x0280 Letter Box ARC applied to a 16 9 clip in a 4 3 channel This setting overrides any AFD data that may be present in the clip Ox04CO Center Cut ARC appl
103. and This command can be used to determine whether a particular clip is protected from deletion and if so how it s protected In the response to the command the server returns a transaction ID which can be used to find the erasable status of the clip In order to retrieve the status use the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 millisecond intervals until it changes from TRANSACTION_PENDING to one of the following e TRANSACTION SUCCESS e TRANSACTION NO FILE e TRANSACTION WRITE PROTECTED If the status is TRANSACTION WRITE PROTECTED the clip is protected from deletion The reason why can be determined with the Get Transferred Field Count C4 BC command If the field count returned is OXFFFF FFFF then the spot is protected by either the Delete Protect attribute or by having subclips Any other result indicates the ID is protected by reference which typically means it is currently loaded in a channel somewhere on the Nexio system The first two bytes of the field count returned indicates the LLM node protecting the ID and the last two bytes indicate the controller connection number that set the reference Use the Get Transaction ID Handle C4 B4 command to retrieve the user assigned controller identification if set of the connection protecting the ID During the course of this command interchange the status of the clip may change An ID which was found erasable by this operation is not guaranteed to remain eras
104. and Additional Notes Supported supported in the channel Audio Routing and Tags 32 bytes for all but the last command which is 16 bytes C4 B1 00 08 00 00 C4 B1 00 10 00 00 C4 B1 00 20 00 00 C4 B1 00 40 00 00 C4 B1 00 80 00 00 C4 B1 01 00 00 00 Gets the audio routing capabilities and tags for record and play out channels Other Special Channel Settings Variable C4 B1 00 00 02 00 C4 B1 00 00 08 00 C4 B1 00 01 00 00 C4 B1 00 04 00 00 C4 B1 02 00 00 00 Various special configurations available on a channel by channel basis Synced Channel Configuration Bitwise display CO C8 Indicates if one channel controls any other channels The controlling application should only direct transport commands to the master channel and not to the slave channel Building a Database of Media Once the controller has established the capabilities of the system the servers and the channels it is controlling it will need to retrieve a list of the media on the Nexio Server system For every controller connection the server maintains e A database containing a list of all existing IDs available to the controller e An Added IDs List containing a list of IDs that have been created or modified since the last time the controller queried this list This list behaves as a FIFO stack with items dropping from the list as they are read by the controller e A Deleted IDs List containing a list o
105. and the recording will be open ended AC 02 TC ID If the specified ID handle exists the channel will be armed to start recording at the specified timecode If the ID handle does not exist it will be created and the first frame of the ID will be set to the specified timecode Unless followed by a Preset Out Point 40 15 command the recording will be open ended Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based C4 87 Set New Out Point Syntax C4 87 TC TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 112 Nexio AMP Protocol Response 1001 Status bits set PST OUT Description This command sets both the Out Point and the end of material for the currently loaded ID to the given value It can be used to set an arbitrary duration after a Cue Up to Record Ax 02 command This command works for open ended or fixed duration recordings If successful the channel s PRESET OUT register is set to the indicated timecode value and the PST OUT status bit Byte 3 Bit 1 is set as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command Duration information about the clip is updated upon completion If the current timecode is greater than the new specified Out Point the recording will terminate at the point where th
106. as a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based CF A3 Redefine ID Timecode Bounds Syntax CF A3 ID INTC OUTTC ID 8 byte ID handle INTC 4 bytes indicating the ID s In Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH OUTTC 4 bytes indicating the ID s Out Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 10 01 or DO A3 if ID handle is not found Description This command redefines the In Point and Out Point of the specified ID handle No material is moved or released in the process This command is most useful for adjusting the timecode bounds of a subclip However use this command with caution If you set the INTC and OUTTC values outside the actual timecode values of the parent clip those unrecorded areas will play black to air If the ID is not found the server returns DO A3 Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 A8 10 12 af K I BD Syntax A8 10 ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response 1001 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 96 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command is used to erase an ID in the Nexio storage system The actual video and audio data is not erased but the areas containin
107. as been manually stopped AO 24 SEGMENT2 PLAY CUE Issued 4 frames or more after the play command this preloads SEGMENT2 in the channel if SEGMENT exists The server continues to play SEGMENT1 and cues SEGMENT2 placing it in standby The CUED and PLAY REC status bits will be high upon successful completion 1001 PLAY This is issued a pre determined latency before the end of SEGMENT1 The server will play to the end of SEGMENT1 and then play SEGMENT2 When SEGMENT2 begins playing the CUED status bit drops and the PLAY REC status bit remains high If the Play command arrives late or is never issued the video will still on the first frame of the next ID SEGMENT2 AO 24 BC SEGMENT3 PLAY CUE Issued 4 frames or more after the play command this preloads SEGMENTS3 in the channel if it exists The server continues to play SEGMENT2 and cues SEGMENT3 placing it in standby The CUED and PLAY REC status bits will be high upon successful completion 1001 PLAY This is issued a pre determined latency before the end of SEGMENT2 The server will play to the end of SEGMENT2 and then play SEGMENT3 When SEGMENTS begins playing the CUED status bit drops and the PLAY REC status bit remains high If the Play command arrives late or is never issued the video will still on the first frame of the next ID SEGMENT3 30 05 OF PORT STATUS REQUEST The controller should monitor the progress of ID playback on a regular basis 2014 Imagine Com
108. ata sent in the VIDEO COMPRESSION PARAMETERS command 20 37 VIDEO COMPRESSION COMPRESSION SETTINGS 2 AUDIO SETTINGS 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 160 Nexio AMP Protocol Byte 1 is the Audio Sample Rate It is the echo of the data sent in the AUDIO SAMPLE RATE command 20 32 Byte 2 is the Audio Compression Rate It is the echo of the data sent in the AUDIO COMPRESSION RATE command 20 33 Byte 3 and 4 are the Audio Input Level It is the echo of the data sent in the AUDIO IN LEVEL command 20 34 Byte 5 and 6 are the Audio Output Level It is the echo of the data sent in the AUDIO OUT LEVEL command 20 35 AUDIO SETTINGS AUDIO SAMPLE RATE 1 AUDIO COMPRESSION RATE AUDIO INPUT LEVEL 1 AUDIO INPUT LEVEL 2 AUDIO OUTPUT LEVEL 1 AUDIO OUTPUT LEVEL 2 COMPRESSION SETTINGS 3 PORT TYPE SELECTS Byte 1 is the Select Output Port Video Type It is the echo of the data sent in the SELECT OUTPUT command 20 38 Byte 2 is the Select Input Port Video Type It is the echo of the data sent in SELECT INPUT command 20 39 PORT TYPE SELECTS SELECT OUTPUT SELECT INPUT COMPRESSION SETTINGS 4 RECORD MODE Byte 1 and 2 is the Record Mode data It is the echo of the data sent in the RECORD MODE command 20 3A RECORD MODE RECORD MODE 1 RECORD MODE 2 COMPRESSION SETTINGS 5 SUBCARRIER ADJUST Byte 1 and 2 are the Subcarrier Adjust data It is the echo of the data sent in the SUBCARRIER ADJU
109. ated by the MASK Response 10 01 or DO CF if an invalid resolution is specified Description Available with the Nexio 7 0 Software Release this command sets up the record parameters for the current channel based on a specified video resolution With the addition of auto input resolution detection on record channels record parameters are expected to be different based on the video resolution of the input to the record channel Each resolution must be set separately and the MASK defines which of the record parameters are included with the command Table 2 36 Record Resolution Data Resolution 0x00 SD 0x01 720p 0x02 1080i 0x03 1080p The values specified in MASK are returned in ascending bit position order and is represented MSB first Table 2 37 Record MASK Bit MASK Parameter Description Size 0 0x00000001 1 Resolution detection enabled for specified resolution O legacy settings and commands 1 input resolution detection logic 1 0x00000002 1 Video Format 2 0x00000004 1 Video N value 3 0x00000008 1 Video M value 4 0x00000010 4 Exact Video Bit Rate 5 0x00000020 2 Metabytes Per Frame 6 0x00000040 1 Aspect Ratio 7 0x00000080 1 Audio Tracks 8 0x00000100 1 Video Format Code 9 0x00000200 1 VBI Format 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 56 Nexio AMP Protocol
110. atus 3 DISK STATUS REMOTE DISKDOWN svsrEM DISK CONTROL DOWN FULL DISABLED System Status 4 SUBSYSTEM STATUS User defined ARCHIVE FULL ARCHIVE AVAILABLE SYSTEM LOCAL SYSTEM LOCAL OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE STORAGE FULL STORAGE STORAGE STORAGE FULL AVAILABLE AVAILABLE System Status 5 STANDARD TIME FRAMES iO SECONDS X10 SECONDS X1 MINUTES X10 MINUTES X1 HOURS X10 HOURS X1 System Status 6 SIGNAL FULL LEVEL TO SIGNAL FULL LEVEL The Total Time Remaining The Total Time Remaining is an estimate of the amount of video data that could be stored on the available disk space without consideration of fragmentation or partitions The Largest Contiguous Block is the amount of time the largest single recording would currently succeed for These times are best estimates based on default or current compression settings and typical video streams They are not precise but should be a reasonable enough estimate to allow a controller to detect when the amount of space on the video disk has fallen below a threshold and something should be deleted to allow enough room to continue recording Total Time Remaining and Largest Contiguous Block will be the same value if the disk system has no partition or fragmentation issues that prevent a recording from using all available disk space The use of disk partitions is not recommended as the controller can not efficiently manage disk space allocation unless the free sp
111. audio tracks on play out The typical use of this feature is to manage the airing of different language tracks when played out of different server channels The idea is that a single clip would have multiple languages recorded across its many possible audio tracks And based on properties within the clip itself and the channels from which they air the server will dynamically know which audio tracks play on which audio track channels This feature was introduced with the Nexio 6 0 Software Release and continues to be enhanced with additional functions as of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release The information below regarding setting up Audio Routing Profiles and dynamically assigning them to IDs cued in channels was introduced with the 7 0 release 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 28 Nexio AMP Protocol What follows is the basic workflow items a controller might have to enable within protocol in order to make the audio track routing feature work 1 Setup audio tags 2 Manage clips to ensure their audio tags and other properties are correct 3 Set up channel input mask routing for recordings 4 Set up channel output mask routing for play out 5 Set up audio profiles for play out manipulation 6 Apply audio profiles to cued or playing clips to override default settings The Nexio Audio Track Router interface also supports the FTP import and export of discreet and paired audio track files This information is covered in t
112. ay 2014 Rebrand as Imagine Communications 7 0 August 2013 NOTE With the addition of auto input resolution detection and the ability to separately record all four major video resolutions on the same input the legacy Get and Set Record Parameter commands CO CO CO C1 C8 C1 C9 C1 are no longer valid when auto input detection is enabled the default as of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release Instead use the new Get and Set Auto Detect Record Parameters commands C5 CF and CF CF In addition the Get and Set Special Channel Properties C4 B1 and CF B1 commands for bit 20 to get set the audio routing input mask of a channel is replaced by the Get and Set Auto Detect Record Parameters command BO 07 VDCP command supports new VdcpActiveldRequest registry to indicate a channel is active if a clip is in the STILL state 30 05 VDCP Status command includes new extended status to indicate a stacked clip is ready to play PVW READY New Channel Properties in the C4 B1 command to indicate a channel s current AFD mode for both cases when a clip requires an aspect ratio conversion on play out or not New mode for Get Disk Information C1 C7 to handle storage systems up to 1 000 000 hours New protocol commands to manage audio track routing their profiles and the dynamic selection of these profiles C2 56 CF 57 C1 16 and C1 17 The Audio Track Routing introductory paragraph has been expanded to include the new commands available 6 5 July 2
113. bove parameters This command was added as part of the Nexio 6 0 Software Release This command should not be used if the auto input resolution detection option is enabled ona Nexio server If enabled this command may provide incorrect information about the channel s record parameters Instead you should use the Get Auto Detect Record Parameters C5 CF command Get Auto Detect Record Parameters C5 CF RESOLUTION MASK 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video resolution parameters desired 4 byte unsigned integer representing the record parameters desired MSB first DF CF BC PARAMETERS or DO CF if an invalid resolution is specified 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow The data requested as indicated by the MASK Available with the Nexio 7 0 Software Release this command returns the requested record parameters for the current channel based on a specified video resolution With the addition of auto input resolution detection on record channels record parameters are expected to be different based on the video resolution of the input to the record channel Each resolution must be queried separately and the MASK defines which of the record parameters are desired Table 2 34 Record Resolution Data Resolution 0x00 SD 0x01 720p 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 53 Nexio AMP Protocol 0x02 1080i 0x03 1080p The values sp
114. brary disks in advance of when they need to play them The controller of the playout disks would use the GET FROM ARCHIVE command to inform the playout disk to transfer the IDs it needs from other disks on the network The controller of the playout disk would also use DELETE ID 20 26 to remove IDs only from the playout disk when it needs to make room for additional material The SYSTEM DELETE ID command would only be used by the controller who dubs material into the library disks and manages the deletion of the library material This command only acts on disk systems and should not delete an ID from an Archive storage device Deleting material from an Archive storage device can only be done through Delete From Archive 00 14 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 145 Nexio AMP Protocol Upon receipt of a SYSTEM DELETE ID command the system will check if the ID is present in the system If it is not then an error will be logged the ID Not Found bit being set in the PORT STATUS error byte 3B If the ID is present the system will check to see if the ID is currently active on any signal port If the ID is currently active an error will be logged in the Port Playing Active bit of PORT STATUS byte 3C If the ID is not currently active the system will check to see if the ID has been delete protected If the ID is delete protected an error will be logged in the ID Delete Protected error bit in PORT STATUS byte 3B and the
115. capable of doing Some channels can only play clips some can only record some can do both Most have limitations as to what type of clips may be played or recorded in those channels For example one channel may be limited to support only SD clips while another might support all resolutions including 1080p The following options are configurable on a channel by channel basis Each individual channel under automation control must be queried for the following information Table 2 6 Channel Configuration Options Options Variables Command Additional Notes Channel Status modes queried A series of returned bytes based on status 6120 Current status of the channel whether it s cued playing in record etc Server Capabilities 1 byte variable C4 B1 00 00 00 04 As of the 6 5 Software Release determines the server hardware capabilities to support 1080p Codec Capabilities 1 byte for the first 3 commands and 4 bytes for the last C4 B1 00 00 00 40 and C4 B1 00 00 00 80 and C4 B1 00 00 01 00 and Determines each channel s capabilities and what types of clips can be Resolutions command C4 B1 00 00 80 00 played or recorded in the channel Video Formats and Variable C4 B1 00 02 00 00 Indicates a list of all video formats and resolutions 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 15 Nexio AMP Protocol Options Variables Comm
116. cess to all of the lists is gained through the List First ID List C1 4C and List Next ID List CO 4D commands The latter set of commands can return the 8 byte ID handles the normal extended ID or both The logical use of these commands is to first use the appropriate List First command followed by a series of List Next commands until all IDs have been returned Only one clip at a time is retrieved with every use of these commands As a controller builds its list of IDs it can also collect the metadata associated with every ID The LLM maintains two distinct storage areas for metadata the normal set and an extended set In addition the LLM maintains a list of special properties or attributes associated with each piece of media The Get ID Metadata C8 4A command is used to retrieve the normal set of metadata The Set ID Metadata CF 44 command is used to change the normal set of metadata associated with an ID The following field descriptions are just an example of some of the fields available in the normal set of metadata Table 2 7 Normal Set of Metadata Field Description Source of Metadata Video Format Indicates an ID s video format MPEG2 DV Based on record parameters of etc and aspect ratio media Video Bit Rate Value in Mb s for only the video portion of Based on record parameters of the media media Duration Number of frames in the media Based on record parameters of media changeable to smaller values by c
117. channel under control 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 44 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 27 Set Special Channel Properties Bit Mask Property Description Server Platforms Size 8 0x00000100 1 Sets the record video format Nexio AMP Volt code and the pixel aspect ratio and XS only for the selected channel See the section above on Video Format Codes and pixel aspect for syntax An LLM restart is required for video format code changes Changing the pixel aspect value does not require a restart 9 0x00000200 14 Sets the default output Video Nexio AMP Volt ARC assigned to a channel The and XS only Property uses the 14 byte USER ARC structure as defined in the C9 C3 command for field 19 11 0x00000800 2 Configures the channel for Nexio AMP Volt insertion of timecode on and XS only as of output See table below for Nexio 4 5 Software definition of bits MSB first Release 12 0x00001000 1 Configures the channel for Nexio AMP Volt what to do at the end of a and XS only as of playing and unstacked clip 0 Nexio 4 5 Software last frame freeze legacy 1 Release Option 2 auto blank black output 2 as of Nexio 6 0 auto blank on all stops Software Release including initial load 18 0x00040000 1 Sets the current local timeline Nexio AMP and control mode to indicate ifthe Volt only as of local timeline control includes Nexio 5 7 1 extra features
118. commands 20 52 Abort Copy File To Syntax 20 52 DATA or A0 52 DATA This command will cause the disk systems to ABORT the transfer of a video file that was identified by the ID to be copied from the source disk system to the destination disk system s that was previously sent This command should only be implemented on systems where multiple video disks and or archive systems may be linked together on a network where files are to be transferred between them The Source and Destination are a byte for each of the disk systems for the action The ID source and destination must match the original command to abort a previous copy command Multiple destination disk systems may be specified in SEND DATA 3 by placing a one byte address for each disk identifier The command length byte will be set accordingly 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 148 Nexio AMP Protocol The disk system must accept requests at any time If the command can not be performed then the CUE OR OPERATION FAILED error bit or another more appropriate error bit in the Port Status should be set The video disk system that receives this command may or may not be one of the source or destination video disks SEND DATA 1 is the ID SEND DATA 2 is the source SEND DATA 3 is the Destination Note Use of the AO 51 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum Nexio systems do not support multiple destination t
119. d the controller should send the Reset Manual Video ARC C1 66 command to reset the channel back to using the preset video ARC values of the loaded ID C1 66 Reset Manual Video ARC Syntax C1 66 DEVICE DEVICE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating video stream affected Response 10 01 Description This command disables the interactive video ARC setting mode enabled by the Set Manual Video ARC CF 66 command It resets the channel back to using the currently loaded ID s video ARC setting as stored in the ID s metadata The DEVICE parameter must match the previously set parameter in the Set Manual Video ARC command but again for most clips this would equal 0 If video ARC changes were made to the loaded clip and those changes were written to the ID s metadata using the Set Extended Field CF 44 command the controller should ensure the changes took effect by using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 ms intervals until the transaction returns a success or failure This confirmation of metadata will ensure that transients occur in the video 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 90 Nexio AMP Protocol C9 C9 Get Slow Access Data Tag Syntax C9 C9 MODE ID MODE Bitmap indicating a particular storage space associated with the ID handle ID 8 byte ID handle Response D4 C9 DATATAG or DO C9 if ID handle is not found DATATAG 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Description Th
120. d Extended ID It is the responsibility of the controller to monitor the transaction status using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 ms intervals until the transaction returns a success or failure If the rename succeeds the ID handle old Extended ID will be placed in the IDs Added List and the IDs ADDED status bit will be set In addition the old Extended ID will be placed in the IDs Deleted List along with a placeholder ID handle It is the responsibility of the controller to detect the IDs Added bit and update its database with the new Extended ID If another clip with the same Extended ID already exists the transaction will fail with TRANSACTION NAME CONFLICT OxOB Example Rename the Extended Name of ID Handle 960001234 to 123 as entered in a Unicode string CF CA OF 25 30 30 30 31 32 33 34 31 00 32 00 33 00 Send Rename command Server returns TID 0x00000009 C4 B3 00 00 00 09 Monitor progress until it returns TRANSACTION SUCCESS C1 4C 22 Check IDs Added List CO 4D until renamed ID is included in the response Response DF 4C 0E 25 30 30 30 31 32 33 34 31 00 32 00 33 00 The last two commands demonstrate a method of detecting a renamed ID using Mode 0x22 of the List First ID List C1 4C command The controller should check the documentation for the LIST mode most appropriate for its needs Unicode Note To make use of Unicode text in this command the control
121. d in the UNLOCKED mode will result in a 1 port granted being returned to the requesting communications port and the PORT BUSY bit being set in the port status until the port is reset to its idle state The original communications port will have the INVALID PORT bit set in the port error status An example of a normal command sequence start up of a controller re initializing port communications or establishing a session with a signal port e OPEN XX Opens port XX may be an input or an output port e SELECT XX Selects the port just opened e performs play back or recording for just a few seconds or many months e CLOSE XX Closes the port opened above 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 149 Nexio AMP Protocol This cycle may be repeated many times every few minutes such as when recording items into the disk system for preview or may last many months such as on air play out while other ports are used to record new items into the disk and do disk media management 30 BO0 02 ID Next Syntax 3002 or BO 02 The NEXT command is used to transfer any remaining IDs in groups of up to ten It has the same format as LIST commands and NEXT is called repeatedly until all IDs have been transferred See the LIST command 30 11 for more details Note Use of the BO 02 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs 30 05 Port Status Syntax 3005 DATA DATA 1 byte indicating w
122. d state 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 120 Nexio AMP Protocol Example If no trigger SOURCE is selected then the recording will start at the channel s command time as specified by the record command To start the recording when either LTC or VITC reaches a timecode of 01 02 03 04 send C5 B7 03 04 03 02 01 To start recording when only VITC reaches an NTSC timecode value of 01 02 03 04 send C5 B7 02 44 03 02 01 Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value CF 88 Syntax BC SUB BITMAP DATA Response BC ERROR BITMAP DATA Description of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based Local Timeline Contro CF 88 BC SUB BITMAP DATA 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow 1 byte unsigned integer indicating sub code for the command 1 byte bitmap indicating data arguments to apply Variable amount of data based on data arguments selected DF 88 BC ERROR BITMAP DATA 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow 1 byte unsigned integer indicating error code status for the command 1 byte bitmap indicating data arguments to apply Variable amount of data based on data arguments selected This command allows a controller to replace the standard cue up and play set of commands with a more tightly controlled timeline playback sys
123. d using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command It is up to the controller to determine if a clip is allowed to be loaded and played from any particular channel Use the Get Special Machine Properties C4 B1 command for mask 17 0x00020000 to determine if the channel will accept the resolution and format of the clip about to be loaded Loading an unsupported clip in a channel can result in black on air or cause an overload of the CPUs As with the other Cue commands there are four different uses of this command each one requiring slightly different parameters 40 14 Cues the channel to the first frame of the currently loaded ID If no ID is currently loaded in the channel the command will fail 44 14 TC Cues the channel to the indicated timecode value If an ID is currently loaded in the channel this command will load the ID to the specified timecode value If the ID does not contain the specified timecode value the clip will be loaded to the closest possible frame This can be the first or last frame of the clip If no ID is currently loaded this command will cue to the desired timecode within Timecode space and display its essence typically black 48 14 ID Cues the channel to the first frame of the specified ID handle This will load the ID in the channel if it was not already there If the ID handle does not exist the command will fail 4C 14 TCID Cues the channel to the indicated timecode within the specified ID handle This w
124. database 0x0040 Purged ID Indicates a consolidated piece of media in which the only area of the original clip that is retained is that area protected by subclips 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 86 Nexio AMP Protocol 0x0080 Reference ID Indicates a special hidden pointer file used by editing applications to protect the source clip from which the edit came 0x0100 Looping ID Indicates a special property in which the clip will play in a continuous loop if loaded in a channel 0x0200 Not Ready to Play Indicates the first audio buffer of the media has not yet been written to disk A controller should wait to load and play any clips with this attribute set 0x0400 Not Ready to Transfer Indicates the ID is currently in record or being written to disk 0x0800 Not Ready to Archive Indicates the ID is currently in record or being written to disk 0x1000 Transfer in Progress Indicates the ID is currently being transferred or imported into the system CC 84 Set Special ID Attributes Syntax ID MASK VALUE Response Description CC 84 ID MASK VALUE 8 byte ID handle 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first 1001 or DO 00 if ID handle not found This command sets an ID s special attributes based on the specified MASK The MASK indicates which attributes will be affected the VALUE indicates what
125. ded field desired as listed in the table shown in the Get Extended Field from ID C9 C3 command Data to replace the current contents of the indicated field D4 CC TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command This command allows the controller to update a field in the extended set of metadata associated with a specified ID handle Only one field can be updated with each use of the command and only some of the field numbers are modifiable as indicated in the shaded areas of the table shown in the Get Extended Field from ID C9 C3 command This command replaces any metadata currently in the specified field with the new data that follows It is the responsibility of non Unicode controllers to allow for the automatic Unicode conversion of these fields by sending no more than half the number of bytes associated with each field It is also the responsibility of the controller to monitor the transaction status of the pending command using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 ms intervals until the transaction returns a success or failure To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Find First ID Whose Extended Field Matches Criteria Syntax BC NUMBER CRITERIA Response ID Description Unicode Note CF CB BC NUMBER CRITERIA 1 byte unsigned integer t
126. deo is output and the switcher switches the video disk to air a few frames early or late then undesired frames will be seen Outputting black video will hide this defect 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 142 Nexio AMP Protocol For previewing purposes it is desirable to see the first frame of video of a clip that is cued This could be accomplished either through a user configurable setting in the video disk on a video port by video port basis just set on preview ports This could also be accomplished by allowing the customer to send the STILL command when in the CUE DONE state which would cause the video disk to display the first frame of video SEND DATA 1 through SEND DATA 8 contain the ID to be cued for Play SEND DATA 9 is the optional Prepared File Handle data SEND DATA 9 must be included if and only if the Prepare ID To Play command was issued for this ID If SEND DATA 9 is included it indicates which Prepared File Handle to cue Note that a prepared file may or may not have the optional Duration and Start Of Message data included Note Use of the AO 24 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Syntax 20 25 ID SOM DUR or AO 25 BC XID SOM DUR ID 8 byte ID SOM 4 bytes indicating start timecode of clip DUR 4 bytes indicating duration of clip BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID This command is similar to the CUE
127. dia IDs Note Use of the AO 1F command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum The Nexio implementation creates an ID that has pointers referencing the desired media data No physical copy of the original ID is made In addition the original ID cannot be deleted until all the copies derived from it are deleted In addition Nexio does not support creating multiple new copies at the same time Each copy will have to be created with one command at a time 20 20 Sort Mode Syntax 20 20 MODE MODE 1 byte indicating ID sort order The SORT MODE command is used to set a particular sort order DATA 1 contains the sort order A 0 requests the IDs be returned in alphabetical order see addendum below and a 1 requests that the IDs be returned in FIFO order oldest items listed first newest items listed last The default mode must be FIFO upon disk system power up and must be the mode used if this command is not implemented This is because a controller can always sort an ID list into alphabetical order but there is no other way for a controller to determine the oldest spots on the disk for automatically deleting the oldest items that are not needed The disk may set the busy bit bit 6 Byte 1 in PORT STATUS 1 to begin the sort and clear the busy bit when the sort is complete Nexio Addendum Alphabetical sort mode is unavailable for the Nexio server Its default sort mode
128. disk A controller should wait to load and play any clips when this attribute is set 0x0400 Not Ready to Transfer Indicates the ID is currently in record or being written to disk The special attributes are cumulative meaning media may have more than one attribute For example an ID with an attribute value of 0x0031 is an invisible 0x0020 project file 0x0010 that is delete protected 0x0001 A controller can use the Set Special ID Attributes CC 84 command to set some of these properties What follows is an example using the above Nexio protocol commands for building a database of media Table 2 10 Building a Database of Media Protocol Description C8 B1 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 02 If not already established sets up the interchange of data to be in Unicode where appropriate C14C21 Retrieves the first ID in the system Mode 21 retrieves both the 8 byte ID handle and the extended ID at the same time More traditional methods of ID retrieval use AO 14 to get the first 8 byte ID handle followed by C8 C3 to get its matching extended ID C8 4A 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 33 Retrieves the normal set of metadata associated with the specified 8 byte ID handle retrieved in the previous command C9 C3 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 33 00 Retrieves the metadata for the specified clip in the first extended field C9 C3 25 3030 30 30313233 nn Retrieves the metadata for the specified clip in each of the remainin
129. disk system s This command should only be implemented on systems where multiple video disks and or archive systems may be linked together on a network where files are to be transferred between them The Destination is a byte for each of the disk system s for the action Multiple destination disk systems may be specified in SEND DATA 3 by placing a one byte address for each disk identifier and the command length byte will be set accordingly The disk systems are responsible for the complete file removal when they have available time The disk system must accept requests at any time and queue up delete requests as requests may come in faster than they can be performed When the file removal is complete the destination system s should indicate that the ID has been deleted by the IDs DELETED bit in the Port Status and add the ID to its IDs DELETED LIST If the command can not be performed then the CUE OR OPERATION FAILED error bit in the Port Status should be set If the ID does not exist then the ID NOT FOUND bit should be set The video disk system that receives this command may or may not be one of the source or destination video disks SEND DATA 1 is the ID SEND DATA 2 is the Destination Note Use of the AO 51 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum Nexio systems do not support multiple destination transfers A File Transfer Agent is required on every system that makes use of the FTP Copy
130. drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based Cx AB Reverse Preset Out Point Syntax CO AB or C4 AB TC TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 Description This command is used to set a channel s Preset Out Point register for when the media is playing in reverse If the media is playing in reverse and the current timecode reaches the timecode in the register then playback will stop at that point There are two different uses of this command CO AB Sets the channel s Reverse Preset Out Point register to the first frame of the loaded ID C4 AB TC Sets the channel s Reverse Preset Out Point register to the indicated timecode value 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 107 Nexio AMP Protocol Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based Syntax 40 20 Response 1001 Description This command clears the Preset In register and the PST IN bit Status byte 3 bit 0 as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command This command is not intended for use when navigating to a new cued position within a clip The controller should instead use the Cue with Data 24 31 command Syntax 40 21 Response 1001 Description This command clears the Preset Out register and
131. e must be a clip loaded in the selected channel and the changes made will have an immediate effect on the clip with a playback specific delay The DEVICE parameter is the number of the first defined video stream in the channel which for normal media would be 0 The ranges and default values of the 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 88 Nexio AMP Protocol remaining procamp parameters are the same as in the Set ID Metadata CF 44 command The controller can send this command repeatedly as adjustments are made and the video output of the selected channel will follow those changes When the desired effect or changes are reached the controller can then use the Set ID Metadata CF 44 command to write the final values in the ID The speed of this command depends on network activity The controller should verify the changes were received by polling the server with the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command at greater than 50 millisecond intervals When the changes are confirmed the controller should send the Reset Manual Procamps C1 CA command to reset the channel back to using the preset procamp values of the loaded ID on Ramey Reset Manual Procamps Syntax C1 CA DEVICE DEVICE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating video stream affected Response 1001 Description This command disables the interactive procamp setting mode enabled by the Set Manual Procamp C6 CA command It resets the channel back to using the c
132. e 2 Bytes 00 00 STILL STILL 16 5F 4 8796 5 0096 20 00 10 0096 10 0096 25 AO 14 33 15 00 29 AO 19 11 20 00 2C BA 23 71 25 00 2F 43 29 43 30 00 33 42 39 24 40 00 36 5C 48 70 50 00 3C 01 74 99 75 01 40 00 100 00 100 00 49 AO 191 10 200 01 53 42 392 4296 399 9796 5C E5 749 8996 799 94 66 86 1539 93 1600 06 The formulas are invalid for SPEEDDATAx 0 which is STILL or 0 playback A SPEED result of 1 is 100 speed or normal playback A SPEED result of 0 5 would be 50 or half normal and a result of 2 would be 200 or double time Speeds above 110 are dependent on drive performance and may not be exact SPEEDDATA values above 0x7F will translate to 9306 speed Where available on a server that supports off speed audio audio is usually not played at speeds greater than 156 Nexio AMP Volt and XS Note The Nexio AMP Volt and XS servers are capable of scrubbing audio during off speed play of up to 156 2x 2x Set Variable Speed Reverse Syntax 21 21 SPEEDDATAx or 21 22 SPEEDDATAx or 21 23 SPEEDDATAx or 22 21 SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy or 22 22 SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy or 22 23 SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy SPEEDDATAx 1 byte unsigned integer SPEEDDATAy 1 byte unsigned integer presented in conjunction with SPEEDDATAx as MSB first Response 1001 Status bits set JOG SHTL VAR SRV LAMP REV DIR Codec Mode Decompression 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 117 Nexio AMP Protocol
133. e Get Extended Field C9 C3 command in the command listing below in this chapter In addition to metadata there are also some special attributes available for every clip in the system These are useful for a controller to detect special properties associated with a clip It s also a good indicator to know which IDs the controller can ignore Use the Get Special ID Attributes C8 84 command to retrieve an ID s special properties The following table includes some of them Table 2 9 Special Attributes Value Attribute Description 0x0001 Delete protected The ID is protected from deletion until this attribute is unset 0x0002 Sliding ID the back Indicates a circular recording in which the length is preset and material is automatically deleted from the front as it is recorded on 0x0004 Macro ID Media ID Indicates the media is a timeline made up of pointers to other pieces of media such as a 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 18 Nexio AMP Protocol 0x0010 Project File Indicates a special file used by editing applications to represent a container of timelines always with the Invisible attribute set 0x0020 Invisible ID Indicates the file is hidden from the normal media database Most controllers should not need to keep track of invisible files 0x0200 Not Ready to Play Indicates the first audio buffer of the media has not yet been written to
134. e LLM this would be considered the even numbered track Using the same example and the audio tag table available in NXOS we might then label the first set of Dolby E audio as being in Portuguese and the second set in Spanish while audio tracks three and four are PCM audio in Portuguese and tracks five and six are PCM in Spanish The resulting 32 bytes stored in extended field 24 would be displayed as follows C3 C3 B3 B3 B1 B1 C1 C1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 and so on For example the first audio track pair is set to C3 C3 in Hex is 195 in Decimal As seen in the NXOS Audio Tag Definition table tag 195 is Dolby E Portuguese which is now assigned to audio tracks 1 and 2 The reference to C3 appears on both tracks 1 and 2 because Dolby E audio is stored in and plays out of server on a pair of tracks Therefore any audio tag that is paired even uncompressed stereo audio would appear twice in the audio tag string However it is important to not set the same audio tag to separated tracks in extended field 24 Using the above example if both sets of Dolby E tracks were in Portuguese you cannot set the audio associated with tracks 1 2 and 7 8 to the same tag If you did the audio on tracks 7 8 would be muted Instead you should set up a new audio tag number for the second set of audio and apply it to tracks 7 8 Any assigned track with no actual audio should be set to nulls for both fields 23 and 24 Set Up Channel Input In addition to
135. e Length IDs 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 158 Nexio AMP Protocol Nexio Addendum Shaded boxes below denote unsupported bits RETURN DATA 1 Bit map for ID status IN OFFLINE IN QUERY TRANSFER IN STORAGE IN OFFLINE DELETE IN ARCHIVE PENDING PROGRESS TRANSFER STORAGE PROTECT ARCHIVE TRANSFER LIST LIST NOT READY NOT READY NOT READY Tom romaa Ton VIDEO TYPE See VIDEO TYPE DEFINITION below DISK HANDLE optional byte The In Disk Bit indicates the ID is on the video disk If the In Disk Bit is only set after the ID is available to play or any other supported function the Not Ready Bits are not required If the In Disk bit is set and the ID is put in the IDs Added List when the ID is created on the video disk but before it can be cued for play out then the appropriate Not Ready bits must be set The Delete Protected Bit is set if the ID cannot be deleted An Undelete Protect ID command clears this bit A Delete Protect ID command sets this Bit The Transfer In Progress bit should be set only during the time the ID is being transferred not a base band video recording to or from an Archive off line Storage device or fibre channel copy to the disk This bit should be reflected in all ports on the disk if they are receiving or sending the ID NOT READY bits in Byte 2 of RETURN DATA 1 indicate that although the ID file may reside on the disk it is not complete enough for the
136. e associated with an ID Table 2 70 Set Slow Access Mode Bitmap Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 Do not Data area represented in 7 bits only supported values in truncate their decimal equivalent are 16 31 Currently the Nexio system uses several storage areas for internal uses Controllers should avoid using user data segments 16 20 and 31 If the Do not truncate bit is set to O data of all types in all storage areas will be deleted prior to writing to the LLM If this bit is set to 1 existing data in storage areas other than the one being written to will be preserved Existing data in the storage area being written to will be overwritten The controller will close the connection after the whole data has been sent The LLM will close the connection only if the existing ID was write protected the disk is full or an unrecoverable error occurred 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 93 Nexio AMP Protocol It is up to the controller to query the transaction status using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command in order to detect completion of the transfer This is a limited description of the Write File CF A1 command not incorporating several advanced methods for storing and retrieving media within the LLM system This command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 Syntax CF B5 ID INTC OUTTC or CF B9 BC ID
137. e command was issued The updated Out Point may not be equal to the specified new Out Point Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based 40 41 Set Auto Mode On Syntax 40 41 Response 1001 Status bits set None resets AUTO bit Description This command sets the channel into AUTO mode and clears the PST bits and Preset registers as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command 40 40 Set Auto Mode Off Syntax 40 40 Response 1001 Status bits set None resets AUTO bit Description This command removes the channel from AUTO mode and clears the PST bits and Preset registers as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 113 Nexio AMP Protocol Transport Commands 20 00 Stop Syntax 20 00 Response 1001 Status bits set READY STOP LAMP STILL Codec Mode Compression Description This command terminates the playback or recording of an ID in the current channel 20 01 Play Syntax 2001 Response 1001 Status bits set READY PLAY SRV LAMP FWD Codec Mode Decompression Description This command starts the playback of the currently loaded segment If no valid segment is loaded black is played out 20 02 Record Syntax 20 02 Response 1001 Status bits set READY REC PL
138. e count identifying the number of bytes to follow A return value of 0 indicates the feature is not currently enabled or implemented The remaining bytes are a series of one byte values indicating which formats and resolutions are supported The format and resolution indicators are split into the two nibbles of each byte Information about the structure of these bytes is detailed as part of the ID Request 30 16 command 30 06 Position Request Syntax 30 06 DATA DATA 1 byte indicating which mode is desired The POSITION REQUEST query returns the current position timecode or time remaining within the ID which is currently playing on the selected port The selected port must be in PLAY RECORD CUED OR STILL state or an error will be logged An error condition will result in the appropriate bit being set in the port status error bytes The POSITION TIME returned is in RETURN DATA 2 5 in FRAMES SEC MIN HOURS BCD format is preceded by RETURN DATA 1 the time type SEND DATA 1 RETURN DATA 1 contains the time type to be returned e Orequests the time remaining e 1 requests the SOM based time code of the current frame position e 2 requests the zero based time code of the current frame expressed as an offset from the start of the ID Nexio Addendum The VDCP protocol use of this command was revised in the August 2000 document effectively reversing the implementation in place by Leitch To provide backward compatibility for controllers st
139. e first frame to the last frame of the loaded ID The server will remain on the last frame of the ID until stopped The PLAY REC status bit will be set high until the server has been manually stopped 30 05 OF PORT STATUS REQUEST The controller should monitor the progress of ID playback on a regular basis BO 07 ACTIVE ID REQUEST The controller should monitor the current ID on a regular basis in order to be aware of which ID is playing 30 06 01 POSITION REQUEST The controller should monitor the timecode progression of ID playback on a regular basis 10 00 STOP This will terminate playback The IDLE status bit will be set high Example 4 Playback of Multiple IDs The following is an example of playing to air a series of IDs 30 01 PLAYPORT OPEN PORT 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 165 Nexio AMP Protocol If not already done this opens a signal port upon which to play PLAYPORT 01 20 22 PLAYPORT SELECT PORT Selects the opened signal port before playing PLAYPORT 01 AO 24 BC SEGMENT1 PLAY CUE If SEGMENT1 exists the server displays field 1 of the first frame assigned to that ID The CUED status bit will be high upon successful completion 10 01 PLAY The server enters into PLAY and will play from the first frame to the last frame of the loaded ID The server will remain on the last frame of the ID until stopped The PLAY REC status bit will be set high until the server h
140. e front and begin recording over the front of the ID with new material In this way a controller can record a clip that never grows beyond its specified length Sliding IDs are useful for delay recordings in which a satellite feed is recorded into the server at a predetermined length and played back out on a separate channel an hour or more later Another use allows subclips to be created from the sliding IDs as it records in a loop Even as the sliding ID records back over itself any material from which a subclip has been made is protected from being overwritten In this way only the material desired from the sliding ID is preserved and the rest is released during the looping record To create a sliding ID the controller must first Cue Up to Record Ax 02 a newly created empty ID set the Preset Out Point 4x 14 to indicate the desired loop length then Set Special ID Attributes CC 84 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 24 Nexio AMP Protocol for the sliding bit before executing the Record 20 02 command The recording will not terminate unless it is explicitly stopped What follows is an example using Nexio protocol for creating a new clip and putting it into record For more detail on the commands and their proper usage please consult their individual descriptions later in this chapter Table 2 13 Recording New Media Protocol Description C1 AC 00 Selects the desired channel to cont
141. e information is broken down according to what is applicable system wide what is applicable on a server by server basis and what is applicable within each server on a channel by channel basis It should be noted that much of this is not possible within the VDCP protocol The following options are configurable on a server by server basis Each individual server must be queried for the following information 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 14 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 5 Server Configuration Options Options LLM Version Variables ASCII String Command C4 B1 00 00 00 02 Additional Notes The LLM version number can give the controller a clue as to the most recent features implemented Number of Channels 2 3 4 6 0r8 C1 AC 07 and CO AC First set the selected channel to the highest possible number 0x07 O based and then check to see what the resulting channel reports it as Media IDs playable On or off C4 B1 00 00 00 08 Nexio Timeline Playback Service must be installed and started if Media IDs are part of a system s workflow Unicode Interface On or off C4 B1 00 00 00 20 Indicates if the server is communicating with the controller using Unicode characters for metadata fields that support them Once a controller has determined the number of video I O channels a server is equipped with it then needs to determine what each channel is
142. e output The allowed values for PARAMETER can be found in the Get Audio Routing Parameters C1 54 command The format of the DATA values is defined in the section above describing the Audio Track Router Caution This command should not be used for the two input mask values if the auto input resolution detection option is enabled on a Nexio server If enabled this command may provide incorrect information about the channel s record parameters Instead you should use the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters C5 CF command to set Bit 18 for each video resolution C2 56 Get Audio Routing Profile Syntax C2 56 PROFILE PARAMETER PROFILE 1 byte unsigned integer valid values between 00 and 31 PARAMETER 1 byte unsigned integer Response DF 56 BC VALUE or DO 56 if invalid PROFILE or PARAMETER requested BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow VALUE 32 bytes representing audio routing mask 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 60 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command is used to retrieve the data values of an audio routing profile The profile defines the output audio routing masks associated with a Nexio platform so that a controller can dynamically change the audio routing on the fly using the Preset Audio Routing Profile C1 16 and Preview Audio Routing Profile C1 17 commands Audio Routing Profiles are built using the Set Audio Routing Profile CF 57 command The maximum nu
143. e refer to the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command for further definition of each of the above field definitions The VIDF parameter includes support for setting an SD clip to an aspect ratio of 16 9 as defined in the C8 4A command The parameters will be applied to all the new clips recorded on that channel It is the responsibility of the controller to determine the capabilities of the server channel which it is controlling The server will allow a controller to set up a channel to record using parameters which may be invalid for the specific channel 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 55 Nexio AMP Protocol It is also the responsibility of the controller to know the limits of the parameters based on video format video resolution and video standard For example no DV video format should have a VIDM or VIDN value greater than 1 Caution This command should not be used if the auto input resolution detection option is enabled on a Nexio server If enabled this command may provide incorrect information about the channel s record parameters Instead you should use the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters CF CF command CF CF Set Auto Detect Record Parameters Syntax CF CF BC RESOLUTION MASK PARAMETERS RESOLUTION 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video resolution parameters desired MASK 4 byte unsigned integer representing the record parameters desired MSB first PARAMETERS The record parameter data as indic
144. e two timecode parameters are entered in the syntax of FF SS MM HH frames seconds minutes hours The controller can identify clips by their 8 byte ID handle or the extended ID name And the transition effects descriptor is for future implementation The available functions that call these parameters are as follows Table 2 77 Timeline Sub code Functions Sub Function Available Response Code Parameters Parameters 0 Append new entry 1 2 3 41 7 3 6 0 Insert before existing entry 0 1 2 3 4 7 3 6 1 Modify existing entry 0 2 3 4 7 3 6 2 Delete entire timeline 2 Delete entry 0 3 Query timeline position 0 3 4 Get first entry ID 0 4 Get next entry ID 0 0 5 Query entry with 8 byte ID 0 2 3 4 3 6 6 Query entry with extended ID 0 2 3 7 3 6 Items in square brackets are optional Items separated by the vertical bar represent either one set of parameters or the other listed The duration response parameter for sub code 3 reports the timeline position based on the timecode progress from the in point of the clip not the actual timecode of the clip itself All server responses include an error code Table 2 78 Timeline Error Code Code Description o Success Entry not found New entry ID already exists No room for the new entry ID name not found Not in local timeline playback mode Invalid sub code Invalid sub c
145. ecified in MASK are returned in ascending bit position order and is represented MSB first Table 2 35 Record MASK Bit MASK Parameter Description Size 0 0x00000001 1 Resolution detection enabled for specified resolution O legacy settings and commands 1 input resolution detection logic 1 0x00000002 1 Video Format 2 0x00000004 1 Video N value 3 0x00000008 1 Video M value 4 0x00000010 4 Exact Video Bit Rate 5 0x00000020 2 Metabytes Per Frame 6 0x00000040 1 Aspect Ratio 7 0x00000080 1 Audio Tracks 8 0x00000100 1 Video Format Code 9 0x00000200 1 VBI Format 10 0x00000400 4 VBI Start Line 11 0x00000800 4 VBI Stop Line 12 0x00001000 4 VBI Max Stored Lines 13 0x00002000 4 VBI Threshold Level 14 0x00004000 4 VBI Threshold Count 15 0x00008000 1 VBI Compressed 16 0x00010000 4 Audio Bits 17 0x00020000 4 Video Pixel Aspect Ratio 18 0x00040000 32 Input Audio Routing Mask Please refer to the Get ID Metadata C8 4A and Get Extended Field C9 C3 commands for further definition of many of the above fields To learn how to change the record parameters for each resolution see the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters CF CF command C8 C1 Set Record Parameters Syntax VIDF VIDN VIDM VIDBR RES AUDIO VBI Response Description C8 C1 VIDF VIDN VIDM VIDBR RES AUDIO VBI 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video format 1 byte
146. ection of the database of media it should know if the first three conditions exist And if not the C8 4F command will provide that information In the case of a clip protected by one or more subclips the controller would first have to delete all the parent clip s subclips before it can delete the parent clip Keep in mind some of those subclips may be invisible These hidden subclips are typically a result of the parent clip being active in a Velocity or other editing project In that case the media management of the system must take into account the removal of outdated editor projects before the outdated parent clips can be removed In the case of a clip protected by the Delete Protect attribute the controller has the ability to unset that attribute before attempting to delete it Just keep in mind that there was probably a good reason why the Delete Protect attribute was set Typical uses of this attribute are by the Nexio MOS Playlist Manager application for all clips currently in a loaded rundown by the Nexio FTP Server application while it is currently transferring the clip from one server system to another and by an application user who has reason to want to protect the clip from deletion Last is the case where the clip is protected because it is currently loaded in a server channel somewhere on the Nexio system This is an automatic feature to prevent the deletion of a currently loaded ID However by default this feature is not enabled on
147. ed ID name 0x80 The server will accept up to 256 entries in the timeline at any given time After then sending the Preroll 20 30 command and then the Play 20 01 command the controller should continue to monitor the status of the timeline Sub code 3 CF 88 02 03 00 provides this information indicating both which element in the timeline is currently playing and at what timecode based on the entry s starting timecode value not the actual timecode value itself Here is an example of a series of the server responses to status queries separated by 10 frames each DF 88 08 00 09 00 00 10 00 00 00 DF 88 08 00 09 00 00 20 00 00 00 DF 88 08 00009 00 00 00 01 00 00 In this case the first clip in the timeline is playing and the timecode is incrementing as normal 08 represents the number of bytes to follow in the command 00 represents an error code of success no error 09 indicates the data bit mask for entry ID 0x01 and duration in timecode value 0x08 Most likely a controller would send the status queries as frequently as one per frame just to be sure the timeline is playing as expected At this point the controller might want to modify an item in the list maybe insert something up higher in the list Again as long as the affected item is not within three seconds of air it should be safe to modify or delete For example the controller might decide to change the second item in the list so that it starts playing 15 seconds later and on
148. ee Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 23 for syntax Nexio 6 0 Software Release 20 0x00100000 32 Audio routing input mask for extended field 24 See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 24 for syntax As of Nexio 7 0 if auto input resolution detection is enabled this MASK will not function correctly Instead use the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters CF CF command Nexio 6 0 Software Release 21 0x00200000 32 Audio routing output primary mask See notes below Nexio 6 0 Software Release 22 0x00400000 32 Audio routing output secondary mask See notes below Nexio 6 0 Software Release 23 0x00800000 32 Audio routing output tertiary mask See notes below Nexio 6 0 Software Release 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 40 Nexio AMP Protocol 24 0x01000000 16 Audio routing output audio type One byte per output track indicating the audio type being output See Get Extended Field C9 C3 command field 23 for syntax Not currently implemented as of Nexio 6 5 1 Software Release 25 0x02000000 Indicates if the channel is encoding or decoding video using 10 bits per component Possible values are 8 0x08 or 10 Ox0A to indicate the number of bits per component Nexio 6 0 Software Release 26 0x04000000 Indicates the video standard that the server is configured for NTSC
149. elds in the extended set Unlike the normal set of metadata many fields in the extended set support Unicode characters The following table includes some of the extended fields used most often Table 2 8 Extended Set of Metadata detail about media up to 15 characters Field Description Source of Metadata Record 64 bit field storing the time and date stamp Automatically set at record time Date Time of when the media was recorded of media by LLM Video Info 128 bit field storing extended video Automatically generated by LLM information indicating such things as video resolution format and frame rate User Name UNICODE field indicating the individual Automatically recorded by Nexio logged in to the Nexio system at recordtime user applications such as NXOS and Velocity at record time Description UNICODE user entry text field for storing User entry field detail about media up to 120 characters Agency UNICODE user entry text field for storing User entry field User definable UNICODE user entry field up to 25 User entry field Field 1 characters User definable UNICODE user entry field up to 25 User entry field Field 2 characters User definable UNICODE user entry field up to 25 User entry field Field 3 characters User definable UNICODE user entry field up to 25 User entry field Field 4 characters For more detail including a complete listing of the extended set of metadata review th
150. ent allocation unit sizes are present a maximum over all the disks will be taken MODE 7 Note This is a transaction based method to retrieve storage volume write error information In order to retrieve the error information the controller should poll using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 millisecond intervals until it changes from TRANSACTION PENDING If the status changes to 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 126 Nexio AMP Protocol TRANSACTION SUCCESS the controller then uses the Get Transaction Result C4 BD command to retrieve the transaction result The format of the transaction result is as follows Transaction Result n gt lt member recoverable errors 0 4 gt lt volume recoverable errors 0 4 gt lt unrecoverable errors 0 4 gt lt member recoverable errors 1 4 gt lt volume recoverable errors 1 4 gt lt unrecoverable errors 1 4 gt lt member recoverable errors m 1 4 gt lt volume recoverable errors m 1 4 gt lt unrecoverable errors m 1 4 gt where m is the volume s member number currently either 1 or 2 and n 12 m All errors are expressed in allocation units MSB first Presently m 1 for single volume systems and mz2 for mirrored volumes The member recoverable errors are the allocation units that are correctable by the member s ECC parity with no help from mirroring The volume recoverable errors are the allocation units un
151. ent with all nulls The controller can retrieve the new ID handle created for the empty ID by polling the transaction ID status using the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at gt 50 ms intervals until the status changes from TRANSACTION PENDING If the status is TRANSACTION SUCCESS use the Get Transaction ID Handle C4 B4 command to retrieve the new ID handle This ID handle will normally be used in subsequent protocol commands for any further access If an ID with the same Extended ID already exists it will be deleted unless it is write protected or has subclips in which case the transaction will fail with TRANSACTION WRITE PROTECTED To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CE 85 Create Subclip Syntax CHILD BASE INTC OUTTC Response Description CF 85 CHILD BASE INTC OUTTC 8 byte ID handle 8 byte ID handle of parent clip from which the CHILD or subclip will be generated 4 bytes indicating the ID s In Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH 4 bytes indicating the ID s Out Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH 10 01 This command is used to create a subclip of the specified BASE or Parent ID The new subclip s ID handle will have been determined by a previous Create Empty Media CF Bx or CF C2 command The new
152. eport of audio tracks VBI Present Indicates whether VBI is present 0 no 1 yes 36 39 4 Min Frame Frame offset indicating the number of frames from the clip s first video packet to its actual start of message 40 41 2 Record Date Old method for retrieving the date an ID was recorded in deprecated the format of LSB first based on the bitmap table below Controllers should use the Get Extended Field C9 C3 command to retrieve field number 0 which contains the more accurate date and time the ID was recorded 42 43 2 Kill Date Date ID is flagged to expire in the format of LSB first based on the bitmap table below TC Type Timecode type 0 NDF 1 DF 2 PAL 45 1 Reserved returned with zeroes Disk where ID is located 47 72 25 1 null Old Description Old text description field null padded to 26 bytes no longer used 73 88 15 1 null Old Agency Old text agency field null padded to 16 bytes no longer used 89 94 5 1 null Text field null padded to 6 bytes Video Format Field This field provides information about both the video format and the aspect ratio of the indicated clip Table 2 54 Video Format Table Value Video Format 0x00 Not supported 0x01 Not supported 0x02 MPEG2 4 2 0 0x03 MPEG2 4 2 2 0x04 DVCAM version of DV25 0x05 DVCPRO version of DV25 0x06 DV50 DVCPRO HD or DNxHD 0x07 Uncompressed KRGB 8 bits 0x08 Uncompressed K 1
153. er returns the 4 byte format as specified in the 3X10HardReturn setting e f Enable3X10Fix 3 the server returns the extended format as specified in the 3X10HardReturn setting e Ifthe registry setting does not exist the result is the same as if the setting were Enable3X10Fix 1 3X10HardReturn is a hard coded value in the format of HHHH MM SS FF It is only used when Enable3X10Fix is greater than 1 If the 3X10HardReturn setting does not exist the value is defaulted to 9999 59 59 2x where x 9 for NTSC and x24 for PAL Shaded boxes below denote unsupported bits within the Leitch server system System Status 1 STORAGE TIME REMAINING TOTAL TIME REMAINING FRAMES X 10 FRAMES X 1 SECONDS X 10 SECONDS X 1 MINUTES X 10 MINUTES X 1 HOURS X 10 HOURS X 1 LARGEST CONTIGUOUS BLOCK System Status 1 Extended Option STORAGE TIME REMAINING TOTAL TIME REMAINING LARGEST CONTIGUOUS BLOCK FRAMES X 10 FRAMES X 1 SECONDS X 10 SECONDS X 1 MINUTES X 10 MINUTES X 1 HOURS X 10 HOURS X 1 HOURS X 1000 HOURS X 100 HOURS X 100000 HOURS X 10000 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 156 Nexio AMP Protocol System Status 2 NUMBER OF IDs STORED NUMBER OF IDs STORED MS BYTE NUMBER OF IDs STORED LS BYTE System Status 2 Extended Option NUMBER OF IDs STORED NUMBER OF IDs STORED MS BYTE NUMBER OF IDs STORED BYTE2 NUMBER OF IDs STORED BYTE3 NUMBER OF IDs STORED LS BYTE System St
154. ers Which properties are set depends on the MASK passed to the server and the capabilities of the server The server returns the STATUS byte to indicate success a value of 0 or failure a value of 1 Failure is typically a result of the amount of PROP N sent not being consistent with the MASK value The following two tables represent the support for this command in first the Nexio AMP and then the Nexio XS servers Table 2 45 Nexio AMP Genlock Properties t mask PROP_N Size PROP_N Values Sent 0x0001 1 reference source where 0 internal 1 video in 2 reference in 0x0020 vertical delay in lines 16 bit int i6 0x0040 horizontal delay in pixels 16 bit int Table 2 46 Nexio XS Genlock Properties pes mese pornn 0x0001 1 reference source where 0 internal 1 video in 2 reference in 1 0x0002 1 reference resolution where 0 SD 1 1080i 2 720p 2 0x0004 1 flywheel enable where 0 disable 1 enable 0x0008 flywheel unlock time in milliseconds 32 bit int fae 0x0010 flywheel recovery time in milliseconds 32 bit int 0x0020 vertical delay in lines 16 bit int e 0x0040 horizontal delay in pixels 16 bit int CO0 C8 Get Channel Sync Mask Syntax CO C8 Response D4 C8 MASK MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Description This command retrieves the current MASK setting for channel synchronization a feature where play out channels can be synchronized in their res
155. eving storage volume write errors See the C1 C7 command for more information C4 A5 Change Notification Syntax C4 A5 MASK MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Response 10 01 immediately and CF A6 BC NN DATA when notifications are ready BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow NN 1 byte unsigned integer indicating the notification number DATA See table below Description A controller can connect to the server for the purpose of monitoring record processes and the added deleted ID lists without having to frequently poll for status This helps to reduce network traffic and the possibility of data packet collisions The MASK determines which list or process is to be monitored as specified in the following table Table 2 72 Notification Mask and Response Mask NN Description Server Notification 00 00 00 00 Disables notifications 00 00 00 01 0x00 IDs in Added List BC 0x01 NN 0x00 DATA none 00 00 00 02 0x01 IDs in Deleted List BC 0x01 NN 0x01 DATA none 00 00 00 04 0x02 Recording started BC 0x11 NN 0x02 DATA TSTC LOCTC ID 00 00 00 08 0x03 Recording stopped BC 0x11 NN 0x03 DATA TSTC LOCTC ID More than one notification can be enabled at the same time by including all the bits to be covered in the MASK When a condition is such that it meets one of the notifications the server sends the controller the CF A6 command When a controller receives the notification command from the server the c
156. exio server If enabled this command may provide incorrect information about the channel s record parameters Instead you should use the Get Auto Detect Record Parameters C5 CF command 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 52 Nexio AMP Protocol CO C1 Get Extended Record Parameters Syntax Response VIDF VIDN VIDM VIDBR16 RES AUDIO VBI Description Caution C5 CF Syntax RESOLUTION MASK Response BC PARAMETERS Description co C1 D9 C1 VIDF VIDN VIDM VIDBR16 RES AUDIO VBI 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video format 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video N value 1 byte unsigned integer representing the video M value 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first representing the video bit rate in Mb s 2 byte unsigned integer always returned as zeroes 1 byte unsigned integer representing the number of audio tracks 1 byte unsigned integer representing whether VBI is present This command gets the current record parameters for the channel including the exact bit rate set for recordings over 50 Mb s The video bit rate parameter returns two bytes of data instead of the one byte provided with the original CO CO command which requires the progressive slope algorithm for bit rates greater than 50 This new command provides a better granularity of data in those cases Please refer to the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command for further definition of each of the a
157. f IDs that have been deleted since the last time the controller queried this list This list behaves as a FIFO stack with items dropping from the list as they are read by the controller In this way a controller can first retrieve a list of all media on the server system and then on a regular basis retrieve a list of the updates and deletions so as to keep up to date on all changes For every piece of media on the system the LLM retains two separate IDs an 8 byte ID handle and the more user friendly 32 character ID also described as 64 byte ID The 8 byte ID handle is used by most protocol commands that affect the media As a result controllers must be prepared to associate every 32 character ID with its 8 byte handle When the 32 character ID is used in this protocol it is referred to in the LLM command listing as the Extended ID Controllers are able to keep the two IDs in sync by the use of two LLM protocol commands e Get Extended ID from ID Handle C8 C3 e Get ID Handle from Extended ID CF C4 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 16 Nexio AMP Protocol The process of retrieving these two sets of identifiers for each piece of media in the system requires a series of List First List Next commands Access to the database list of all clips is typically gained through use of the List First ID Handle AO 14 and List Next ID Handle AO 15 commands which return the 8 byte ID handle for each ID on the system Ac
158. f the port has not yet asked for that list of IDs Byte 1 Bit 3 IDS ADDED TO ARCH New IDs have been added to an archive system connected to the disk system and the controller of the port has not yet asked for that list of the IDs Byte 1 Bit 4 NO REF INPUT The system has no input reference Byte 1 Bit 5 NO VIDEO INPUT The port has no video input input port only Byte 1 Bit 6 NO AUDIO INPUT The port has no audio input input port only Byte 1 Bit 7 AUDIO OVERLOAD The audio level in is beyond limit input port only Extended option Byte 2 Bit 0 NO TIMECODE INPUT The input does not have timecode input port only Nexio Addendum As of the Nexio 6 5 2 Software Release the Port Down bit will be set high if the LLM has entered a play only state The bit will remain high until the LLM is restarted and the issue is corrected Status 3 Port Error Status All of the error bits are to be set for the appropriate port when they occur All bits should be cleared as soon as the Port Status is read by the controller Thus the controller will see a bit set only once for each occurrence of the condition Byte 1 Bit 0 SYSTEM ERROR The system has detected a functional error See addendum below Byte 1 Bit 1 ILLEGAL VALUE The system has received a command with an illegal value e g NEW COPY SORT MODE CLOSE PORT SELECT PORT RECORD INIT TO SIGNAL FULL VIDEO COMPRESSION RATE AUDIO SAMPLE RATE AUDIO COMPRESSION
159. followed by a LENGTH The ID is an 8 character identifier The LENGTH is the duration of record in FF SS MM HH BCD format The RECORD INIT command may be issued when the signal port is recording if the disk system supports back to back records In this case every frame of video is recorded Upon the next RECORD command the disk will direct all video data starting on the next frame to the new ID or file name this feature is required for a video disk to perform a delay box function using a single input port If the disk system does not support back to back recording and the port is not in the IDLE state when a RECORD INIT command is received an error is logged and the port remains in its prior state The disk system should check if the ID is unique If the ID is not unique An error is logged in the ID Already Exists bit in PORT STATUS byte 3C and the port is left in the IDLE state 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 141 Nexio AMP Protocol If the ID is unique The port is put into the CUE INIT state while initializing When initialized and the port is ready to receive a RECORD command then the CUE INIT DONE bit is set in the port status The CUE INIT bit may or may not be cleared but both must be cleared when a record or stop command is received The requirement for the disk to verify that there is enough disk space to record a clip is not needed The controller can obtain the available space through the SYSTEM
160. for 16 9 play out the server can convert the clip s display in the different aspect ratio according to the parameters defined in this field In addition this field can determine if the clip s ARC setting should override any ARC definitions already established within the media stream of the clip And lastly this field can change the aspect ratio characteristics of an SD clip The Video ARC field is 14 bytes long but most controllers will focus on the first two bytes represented in little endian LSB first which sets the ARC mode for the clip plus a few extra properties Table 2 62 ARC Mode Value Description Conversion 0x0000 Default Both 0x0001 Linear or Anamorphic Both 0x0002 Letter Box 16 9 to 4 3 only 0x0003 Pillar Box 4 3 to 16 9 only 0x0004 Center Cut 16 9 to 4 3 only 0x0005 Middle Cut 4 3 to 16 9 only 0x0006 14 9 for 4 3 source 4 3 to 16 9 only 0x0007 14 9 for 16 9 source 16 9 to 4 3 only 0x0008 21 9 for 4 3 source 4 3 to 16 9 only 0x0009 21 9 for 16 9 source 16 9 to 4 3 only Ox000A 14 9 Center Cut Alternate for 16 9 source 16 9 to 4 3 only Ox000B 14 9 Pillar Box Alternate for 4 3 source 4 3 to 16 9 only Ox000C 14 9 Letter Box Alternate for 16 9 source 16 9 to 4 3 only Ox000D 14 9 Middle Cut Alternate for 4 3 source 4 3 to 16 9 only OxOOOE Alternate Letter Box for 16 9 source 16 9 to 4 3 only 0x000F Alternate Middle Cut for 4 3 source 4 3 to 16 9 on
161. g extended fields C8 84 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 33 Retrieves the special attributes associated with the specified clip CO 4D Retrieves the next ID in the system including its 8 byte ID handle and extended ID C8 4A 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 34 Retrieves the normal set of metadata associated with the next ID in the list Continue this cycle of retrieving the next ID in the list and its associated metadata until the server returns no more IDs Once the database of media is built the controller then needs to keep up to date on any changes made to the list of clips For each controller connected the Nexio server keeps in memory a list of all additions modifications and deletions to the database 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 19 Nexio AMP Protocol It is up to the controller to request those changes on a regular basis This is done via the List First ID List C1 4C and List Next ID List CO 4D commands selecting one of the Added List or Deleted List modes The Added List includes both new clip additions and existing clip modifications It is up to the controller to determine if the ID listed in the Added List is a new clip or a modified clip How often the controller checks for changes to the database can be handled in any of three different ways e It can check every x number of seconds by sending the C1 4C command on a regular basis The frequency should be no more often than every 2 5 seconds This
162. g the deleted segments are internally marked as available for recording Regardless of whether or not the specified ID exists the server responds with ACK 10 01 For a command that provides better feedback on the results of a delete use the Erase ID with Transaction C8 4F command Syntax C8 4E ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response 1001 or 1112 if ID handle is not found Description This command is used to erase a specified ID handle from the Nexio storage system The actual video and audio data is not erased but the areas containing the deleted segments are internally marked as available for recording The server returns a NACK 11 12 if the ID is not found For a command that provides better feedback on the results of a delete use the Erase ID with Transaction C8 4F command C8 4F Erase ID with Transaction Syntax C8 4F ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response DA 4F TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command Description This command is used to erase a specified ID handle from the Nexio storage system with transaction tracking turned on In this way not only can a controller be sure if the ID is actually deleted but if not why it failed There are three reasons why an existing ID cannot be deleted The ID s Delete Protect special attribute is set Subclips have been created from the ID which must be deleted first before the parent ID 3 It is currently loaded i
163. ge system and all their special properties 3 Manipulating the media their metadata and their special properties 4 Loading and playing media in a channel 5 Recording media in a channel Identifying System Configurations It s the controller s responsibility to learn everything it can about every server and every channel in the system that is under its control Depending on a controller s role in a system it may need to learn about every channel in the system Information to retrieve should include e The basic characteristics of the server system the metadata available any general information about the media to be stored on the system and the current and maximum storage limits of the system e Extra detail about the server channels available in the system including the number of channels per server available and any restrictions on those channels e What the current status of each channel is including if there is a clip loaded the channel s play or record status and whether anything is cued to play next There are a few ways to manage this system inspection e One is manually Inspect the equipment and software visually Check with Imagine Commubnciations technical support Get a full report on the equipment installed and maintained e The second is programmatically Below is a checklist of some of the various configuration options to be aware of and the Nexio protocol commands that can be used to return the information Th
164. he format described in the sections in Chapters Two and Three about Command and Response structures Nexio AMP Servers and later versions of the Nexio XS Servers use RJ 12 connectors for their RS 422 connections All previous Nexio and VR Servers use 9 pin connectors Please consult the appropriate server s User Manual for a description of pinouts and adapters available Operators should also consult the manual to learn how to set up each RS 422 connection to a particular channel It s important to understand that COM port 1 does not necessarily control Channel 1 on the server There are LLM settings that control the relationship between the channels under control and the COM ports through which they can be controlled You can use the Nexio Config utility to determine which COM port controls which Nexio channel There is a special tab in Nexio Config called Automation Serial for preparing the port control For each serial port there will be three protocol options Sony Harris or Louth plus the appropriate server channel to assign to the port Sony represents the Nexio Server native protocol Both Harris and Louth represent slightly different versions of VDCP The difference is based on the interpretation of changes to the VDCP manual There was a change in the August 2000 manual in how a server should report its current timecode position The pre 2000 definition requires the protocol setting of Louth The 2000 and beyond definition requires
165. he FTP User Guide and will not be covered here but many of the concepts of clip properties associated with imported clips are the same There are two sets of information to keep track of with the audio track routing logic audio types and audio tags The audio types define the types of audio stored on each audio track including if compressed the number of audio tracks stored in the compressed data The audio tags are a simple way of managing the audio tracks and grouping them together so as to better plan what audio tracks get routed on play out of a specific server channel The audio types are defined on a per audio track basis according to the following 8 bit breakdown Table 2 16 Audio Track Types Bit Description 0 Indicates a track containing compressed audio which requires being stored within a pair of tracks Neural DTS Dolby Digital AC3 and Dolby E 1 3 Indicates the number of actual audio tracks stored within the compressed audio track This information is mandatory for all compressed audio PCM 0 4 7 Indicates the audio format of the track 0 PCM 1 Neural DTS 2 Dolby Digital AC3 3 Dolby E 4 MPEG 1 Layer and Layer II 5 reserved 6 AAC HE AAC HE AAC v2 What follows are some basic examples in Hex and bits of possible audio track types e 0x00 00000000 a typical uncompressed audio track usually identified as PCM assigned to one audio track e 0x3D 00111101 Dolby E
166. he audio format of the track 0 PCM 1 Neural DTS 2 Dolby Digital AC3 3 Dolby E 4 MPEG 1 Layer and Layer II 6 AAC HE AAC HE AAC v2 Field 23 Bit 0 1 3 4 7 Field 24 All 32 bytes are recorded and reported for every clip even if the clip is currently storing fewer audio tracks Unused audio tracks should be left at the default value of 0x00 For more information on the implementation of this field please see the section above on the Audio Track Router Field 23 is supported only on the Nexio AMP and Volt servers as of the Nexio 6 0 Software Release The Audio Track Tag Info field is the second field used to help define information about a clip s audio tracks as part of the Audio Track Router interface introduced with the Nexio 6 0 Software Release The Audio Track Tag Info field can store special data that might identify the language source of the audio and its audio type For each track there are 256 potential tags to choose from For more information on the implementation of this field please see the section above on the Audio Track Router 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 84 Nexio AMP Protocol CF CC Set Extended Field Syntax BC ID NUMBER DATA Response TID Description Unicode Note CF CC BC ID NUMBER DATA 1 byte unsigned integer total amount of data to follow 8 byte ID handle 1 byte unsigned integer indicating the number in hex of the exten
167. he command prefix MSB first Response 10 01 Description This command will cause the channel to move forward the requested number of fields This command is ignored if the channel is not in STILL mode Cx 02 Jump Backward Syntax C1 02 FIELDS or C4 02 FIELDS FIELDS 1 byte or 4 byte integer depending on the command prefix MSB first Response 10 01 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 118 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command will cause the channel to move backward the requested number of fields This command is ignored if the channel is not in STILL mode 20 61 Full E E On Syntax 2061 Response 1001 Status bits set E E ON Description This command causes the channel to enter the FULL E E ON mode one of the channel states retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command The channel will remain in this mode until it is reversed with a Full E E Off 20 60 command Nexio AMP and XS Note Some channels of the Nexio AMP and XS servers are configured to not display pass through video This command will not function on those channels 20 60 Full E E Of Syntax 20 60 Response 10 01 Status bits set None resets E E ON bit Description This command causes the channel to exit FULL E to E ON mode This command does nothing if the REC status bit is high as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command Syntax C4 CD TC TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format
168. he controller has the option to retrieve just the Extended ID or both the ID handle and the extended ID of the first clip in the list The Added and Deleted lists can be monitored via the Get Channel Status 61 20 command s OxOA byte If the lists are empty the IDs ADDED and IDs DELETED flags will be set to O When using the ID handle lists 0x01 0x03 a controller should use the Get Extended ID from ID Handle C8 C3 command to retrieve the ID s proper name Example Below is an example of a response to LIST modes 0x21 0x23 where the byte count is OxOE 14 the ID handle is 960000003 and the Extended ID is abc presented in Unicode In these three modes the ID handle portion of the response is always 8 bytes DF 4C OE 25 30 30 30 30 30 30 33 61 00 62 00 63 00 Unicode Note To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Response format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CO 4D List Next ID List Syntax CO 4D Response See table below Or DO 4D if at end of list BC 1 byte unsigned integer total byte count of the data to follow ID 8 byte ID handle XID Extended ID in Unicode format when enabled Description This command returns the next existing ID from the ID list selected with the List First ID List C1 4C It is the responsibility of the controller to know which LIST mode was initiated with C1
169. he extended IDs however any such controller should operate only in a closed Nexio system to prevent another controller or interface from generating its own extended IDs 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 132 Nexio AMP Protocol Nexio Supported VDCP Command List Table 3 85 Nexio Supported VDCP Command List Command from Controller Return from Controlled Disk System B C CMD 1 MD CODE NAME B C CMD 1 CMD NAME 00 80 Opt Delete Protect ID ACK Fas 36 20 35 sopt unbeeremetectio 94 nex 3 sc wba omoa cox NAME 8 omoa omoa wwe o 10 90 o Req stop T o 10 90 o Req Play L Sir o2 10 90 o Req Record 9 o 10 90 Joa ox su o id m 1o s o om se T T id o2 1o s o om cime 1 9 o 10s o Opt De T os 10 s os om variable ay 9 os 10 5 oa on eme 1 Lo L id sc wba omoa cox NAME 8 omoa omoa wwe 1 ao i sx Remo o Pia 207 ar rom New Copy 9 o fomo 2 so sonMode 9 L
170. he first frame of the currently loaded ID A4 04 TC The Preview In register will be set to the indicated timecode A8 04 ID The Preview In register will be set to the first frame of the specified ID handle AC 04 TC ID The Preview In register will be set to the indicated timecode of the specified ID handle Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based Ax 05 Preset Preview Out Point Syntax AO0 05 or A4 05 TC TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 Status bits set PVW OUT Description This command is used to specify the Out Point of the next desired clip to be played when the end of the current segment is reached After completion of this command the PREVIEW OUT status bit byte 9 bit O will be set high as retrieved using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command There are two different possible uses of this command A0 05 The Preview Out register will be set to the last frame of the currently loaded ID A4 05 TC The Preview Out register will be set to the indicated timecode Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based AO 06 Reset Preview In Point Syntax AO 06 Response
171. hich status information to return DATA 1 contains a bitmap specifying which status should be returned This command returns to the controller the status bytes specified for the selected video port preceded by the bit map Nexio Addendum Shaded boxes denote unsupported bits DATA 1 Bit map for PORT STATUS EXTENDED EXTENDED PORT PORT PORT PORT PORT PS2 PS3 STATUS 5 STATUS 4 STATUS 3 STATUS 2 STATUS 1 The port status items available and their contents are shown in the Figures below Status 1 State and Flag Status CUE INIT VARIABLE PLAY OR DONE PORT BUSY PLAY STILL RECORD CUE INIT IDLE PORT ID Status 2 Short Option Port HW Media Status AUDIO NO AUDIO NO VIDEO NO REF IDs ADDED TO IDs DELETED IDs ADDED PORT OVERLOAD INPUT INPUT INPUT ARCH DOWN Status 2 Extended Option Port HW Media Status AUDIO NO AUDIO NO VIDEO NO REF IDs ADDED TO IDs DELETED IDs ADDED PORT OVERLOAD INPUT INPUT INPUT ARCH DOWN NO TIMECODE INPUT Status 3 Short Option Port Error Status SUPPORTED BUSY QUEUE FULL TYPE PORT VALUE ERROR ID DELETE ID TRANS ID NOT TRANS ID STILL ID STILL ID ALREADY ID NOT INVALID SYSTEM NETWORK esi PORT NOT PORT PLAYING PORT NOT CUE NOT NOT IN CUE REBOOTED ERROR FAILED ACTIVE ACTIVE IDLE DONE INIT STATE 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 150 Nexio AMP Protocol Status 3 Extended Option Port Error Status NOT CMD WHILE D
172. ied to an SD clip whose original 4 3 aspect ratio has been changed to 16 9 and whose ARC setting overrides any AFD data in the clip The last 12 bytes of the Video ARC are normally set to their default values They are typically only used when the controller requires an ARC that is not among the ones pre defined In such a case the controller should set the ARC mode to 1 or Linear and then apply the remaining 12 bytes based on the following table Table 2 64 Video ARC Values Procamp Video Bytes Min Min Default Max Value Max Setting Value Setting Setting Setting Horizontal Size 2 5096 0x0040 0x0080 10096 0x0080 Horizontal Position 2 Currently not supported default Ox0000 Horizontal Crop from 1 O pixels 0x00 0x00 255 pixels OxFF left Horizontal Crop from 1 O pixels 0x00 0x00 255 pixels OxFF right Vertical Size 2 50 0x0040 0x0080 100 0x0080 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 82 Nexio AMP Protocol Field 20 Field 21 Procamp Video Bytes Min Min Default Max Value Max Setting Value Setting Setting Setting Vertical Position 2 Currently not supported default Ox0000 Vertical Crop from top 1 0 pixels 0x00 0x00 255 pixels OxFF Vertical Crop from 1 O pixels 0x00 0x00 255 pixels OxFF bottom The values in between the minimum and maximum values are linear And the 2 byte values are
173. ill load the ID in the channel if it was not already there If the ID handle does not exist the command will fail If the indicated timecode does not exist for that ID the server will cue to the ID s In Point or Out Point whichever is closer 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 106 Nexio AMP Protocol If the ID does not include the timecode value specified in the command the clip will be loaded to the timecode position nearest the specified value Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are O based 4x 15 Preset Out Point Syntax 4015 or 4415TC TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 Status bits set PST OUT Description This command is used to set the PRESET OUT register to the information given If media is playing and the current timecode reaches the timecode in the register then playback will stop at that point This has the effect of setting a new Out Point for the currently loaded ID There are two different uses of this command 40 15 Sets the channel s PRESET OUT register to the last frame of the loaded ID 44 15 TC Sets the channel s PRESET OUT register to the indicated timecode value Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate
174. ill making use of the 1999 protocol definition interpretation a new setting was added to differentiate between the two command interpretations Use the NxManager utility and navigate to the Control setup tab or change the following registry values for each server in the system e HKCU Software Asc Audio Video LLM Control ProtocolO e HKCU Software Asc Audio Video LLM Control Protocol1 e HKCU Software Asc Audio Video LLM Control Protocol2 e HKCU Software Asc Audio Video LLM Control Protocol3 Set this value to Harris for the 2000 interpretation of the command as defined above Or change it to Louth for the 1999 interpretation SEND DATA 1 RETURN DATA 1 contains the time type to be returned e Orequests the time remaining e 1requests position zero based as an offset from the start of the ID e 2 requests the time code of the current frame SOM based 30 BO 07 Active ID Request Syntax 3007 or BO 07 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 154 Nexio AMP Protocol This command returns information to the controller about whether a queried port is active an active port is one that is either recording playing cued or cueing and what the active ID is This query does not effect the output of the system The format returns the active status in RETURN DATA 1 and the ID in RETURN DATA 2 9 In RETURN DATA 1 a 1 indicates that the port is active and O indicates that the port is not active The
175. ired the system to be in the cue init done state e g PLAY RECORD JOG VARIABLE PLAY STEP CONTINUE FREEZE UNFREEZE Command Ignored Byte 3 Bit 2 PORT NOT IDLE A command was issued that required the system to be in the idle state e g RECORD INIT in some disks Command Ignored Byte 3 Bit 3 PORT PLAYING ACTIVE A command was issued that required the signal port to not be in the play state No command required not to be in the play state at this time Byte 3 Bit 4 PORT NOT ACTIVE A command was issued that required the signal port to be playing recording or active not idle e g STILL STEP CONTINUE JOG VARIABLE PLAY POSITION REQUEST ACTIVE ID REQUEST PLAY RECORD FREEZE UNFREEZE STOP Command Ignored Byte 3 Bit 5 CUE OR OPERATION FAILED A CUE command or other command that has been ACKed and started failing for some unknown reason Command will not be executed properly Byte 3 Bit 6 NETWORK ERROR Not Used Byte 3 Bit 7 SYSTEM REBOOTED Indicates the disk system was rebooted The controller needs to do a PORT OPEN and SELECT command and any other start up command sequence Note The error bits should be cleared after the port status is read by the controlling device Nexio Addendum As of the Nexio 6 5 2 Software Release the SYSTEM ERROR bit will be set high if the LLM has entered a play only state The bit will remain high until the LLM is restarted and the issue is corrected Ex
176. is set to FIFO 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 140 Nexio AMP Protocol 20 21 Close Port Syntax 20 21 PORT PORT 1 byte indicating port number The CLOSE command is used to break communication to a Signal audio video Port connection established by a preceding OPEN command PORT is a number representing the available video ports as in OPEN SEND DATA 1 contains an 8 bit signed number representing PORT 20 22 Select Port Syntax 20 22 PORT PORT 1 byte indicating port number The SELECT PORT command selects a Signal Port from the signal ports that are currently opened by this communications port All subsequent commands arriving at the associated RS 422 port will be routed to the assigned Signal Port until another SELECT PORT command is received Only one signal port may be selected by a single communications port at any time A CLOSE or SELECT PORT command following breaks or closes this selection PORT is a number representing the available I O signal ports SEND DATA 1 contains an 8 bit signed number representing PORT Syntax 20 23 ID LENGTH or AO 23 BC XID LENGTH ID 8 byte ID LENGTH 4 bytes indicating duration of clip BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID Issuing the RECORD INIT command with a Video Input Port selected causes the system to prepare for recording The RECORD INIT command consists of the command itself followed by an ID
177. is 32 Each profile includes values for the three different audio routing masks PARAMETER defines which mask is requested Table 2 42 Audio Routing Parameter Parameter Parameter Name 0x00 Output Mask Primary 0x01 Output Mask Secondary 0x02 Output Mask Tertiary 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 61 Nexio AMP Protocol The VALUE set for each PARAMETER of each PROFILE will always be 32 bytes one byte representing each routable audio track associated with a clip The structure of these 32 bytes is based on the audio track tags as defined at the top of this chapter in the section on the Audio Track Router Note This command was introduced as part of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release and does not function in prior released software CE 67 Set Input Video ARC Syntax CE 67 MODE HSIZE HPOS HCROP VSIZE VPOS VCROP MODE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first representing the ARC MODE HSIZE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first HPOS 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first HCROP 2 1 byte unsigned integers VSIZE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first VPOS 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first VCROP 2 1 byte unsigned integers Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to adjust the video ARC settings of a selected input channel and also controls the E E ARC if applicable These parameters are defined in the Set Manual Video ARC CF 66 command C4 6E Get Genlock Properties
178. is command returns a specially formatted data tag associated with the specified ID handle and one of its special storage areas within the LLM system The purpose of this data tag is to allow controllers quick access to information about the LLM s slow access storage areas sometimes called user data areas These storage areas are accessed through the Get Slow Access Metadata CF AO and Set Slow Access Metadata CF A1 commands It should be understood that the Slow Access commands can take up to 0 5 seconds to read from or write to the LLM By using this command to retrieve data tags associated with each storage area a controller can quickly determine if there is anything stored in the storage areas and or if those storage areas have changed since the controller last checked The data tag changes every time the user data area is written to The special value 0 indicates no user data is present It is the responsibility of the controller to store the previous data tags and compare them against any newly returned data tags This command uses the same MODE as seen in the Slow Access commands to determine which storage area is to be referenced The format of MODE is based on six bits as seen in the table shown with the Get Slow Access Metadata CF AO command Nexio system applications such as NXOS and VelocityNX currently use several of the available compartments for storage of information Most controllers should not need this special infor
179. is command returns the Extended ID based on a specified ID handle If the ID handle is not found the server returns DO C3 Unicode Note To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Response format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CF C4 Get ID Handle from Extended ID Syntax CF C4 BC XID BC 1 byte unsigned integer byte count of Extended ID XID XID Extended ID in Unicode format when enabled Response D8 C4 ID ID 8 byte ID handle Description This command returns an ID handle based on a specified Extended ID If the Extended ID is not found the server returns DO C4 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Nexio AMP Protocol Unicode Note To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CF CA Rename Extended ID Syntax CF CA BCID NEW XID BC 1 byte unsigned integer total byte count of data to follow ID 8 byte ID handle NEW XID New Extended ID name in Unicode format when enabled Response D4 CA TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command Description This command changes the Extended ID of the specified ID handle to the newly specifie
180. is command selects the disk specified in LABEL Any subsequent ID commands are confined to the specified volume Cue Up to Record Ax 02 commands will create the ID on the selected array A NACK 11 12 is returned if either the disk was not found or the array is already selected Syntax CO 80 Response 1001 Description This command selects all disk volumes available This requires the ID commands to search across all the disks before executing Cue Up to Record Ax 02 commands will create the ID on the disk that has the largest available space This is the default mode C1 C7 Get Disk Informatio Syntax C1 C7 MODE MODE 1 byte unsigned integer 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 125 Nexio AMP Protocol Response Dx C7 DATA DATA This parameter depends on the MODE selected and is defined in the table below Description This command retrieves the disk information specified by MODE for the selected disk If no disk is selected the function will return the sum over all the disks Table 2 81 Disk Information Options MODE Server Response Description 0 D8 C7 FREE SEG TOTAL SEG FREE SEG 4 bytes MSB first listing segments still available TOTAL SEG 4 bytes MSB first listing total segments on system 1 D8 C7 FREE TIME TOTAL TIME FREE TIME 4 bytes in format of FF SS MM HH displaying time remaining on system TOTAL TIME 4 bytes in format of FF SS MM HH di
181. is doing what it expects 20 01 Plays the cued clip 40 15 Sets the Out Point of the currently playing clip to its last frame 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 23 Nexio AMP Protocol A8 04 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 34 Stacks the specified clip in the channel in preparation for play out once the currently playing clip finishes A0 05 Sets the Out Point of the stacked clip 61 20 OF Checks and verifies the status of the channel When the first playing clip reaches its end the stacked clip will automatically start playing and the preset preview status bits will drop A8 04 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 35 With the preset preview channel clear another clip can be stacked and ready to play next Recording New Media In a normal Nexio system it is not possible to simply start recording a new clip with just its ID That s because most transport control commands on the server including Record require the 8 byte ID handle associated with the clip in order to cause an action What the controller must do instead is first create what is called an empty ID a media file empty of any video or audio The process of creating the empty ID auto generates an 8 byte ID handle after which the media file can be filled with material through one of the Cue Up To Record Ax 02 commands There are two sets of commands used to create these empty IDs one based on creating an 8 byte ID handle CF Bx and
182. is how most Nexio applications operate e It can watch the Added and Deleted bits provided by the Get Channel Status 61 20 command If a controller is regularly checking channel status retrieval of the tenth status byte will let it know if there are new clips in the Added or Deleted Lists Once notified the controller then uses the C1 4C command to retrieve which clip or clips was added to the indicated list e tcansetup an automatic notification from the Nexio server whenever a clip has been added to the Added or Deleted Lists This is done using the Change Notification C4 A5 command with masks 1 and 2 set Once notified the controller then uses the C1 4C command to retrieve which clip or clips was added to the indicated list As the controller receives the name of an ID that was added or modified it should use the same set of metadata retrieval commands it used to build the original database of media Managing Media Assets Once a controller has collected all the relevant information about each piece of media on the system it will need to organize those assets such that any future actions involving those assets are appropriate For example it is up to the controller to know the configuration of every server channel If the controller loads an HD clip into an SD channel that is not prepared to down convert the HD clip there could be a server failure Therefore the first step in organizing the database of media MediaBase in NXOS
183. it 1 ID NOT FOUND The ID was not found e g PLAY CUE CUE WITH DATA NEW COPY DELETE GET FROM ARCHIVE SEND TO ARCHIVE DELETE FROM ARCHIVE DELETE PROTECT UNDELETE PROTECT ID SIZE REQUEST Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 2 ID ALREADY EXISTS An ID specified in RECORD INIT was already in the system Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 3 ID STILL RECORDING A command was issued for an ID while that ID was still recording that cannot be performed until that ID is done recording e g PLAY CUE CUE WITH DATA DELETE PROTECT ID 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 152 Nexio AMP Protocol NEW COPY DELETE SEND TO ARCHIVE GET FROM ARCHIVE ID SIZE REQUEST Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 4 ID STILL PLAYING A DELETE command was issued while the ID was playing Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 5 ID NOT TRANSFERRED A PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA command was issued before ID has been transferred from Archive Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 6 ID TRANSFERRED A GET FROM ARCHIVE command was issued for an ID that is already in the disk Command Ignored Byte 2 Bit 7 ID DELETE PROTECTED A DELETE command was issued for an ID that is delete protected Command Ignored Byte 3 Bit 0 NOT IN CUE INIT STATE A command was issued that required the system to be in the cue state cueing state no commands require the disk to be in this state currently Byte 3 Bit 1 CUE NOT DONE A command was issued that requ
184. l s audio tracks are set otherwise Set Up Audio Profiles As an extra level of flexibility in managing the routing of audio tracks controllers can also set up predefined audio profiles which can be associated with individual clips as they are loaded in a channel for play out The main purpose of audio profiles is to support the playback of the same ID multiple times per day but with each playback following a different set of audio routing masks 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 32 Nexio AMP Protocol Up to 32 different audio profiles can be set up on a per server basis using the Set Audio Routing Profile CF 57 command Each profile would include settings for each of the primary secondary and tertiary output masks available Apply Audio Profiles Audio profiles are applied to an individual ID as it is loaded in a channel for play back Any selected audio profile overrides the channel s current output audio routing settings for the duration of the clip s playback To continue applying audio profiles the controller must override every cued or re cued clip at cue or play time The Select Preset Audio Routing Profile C1 16 command is used to affect the currently cued or playing ID in a channel The Select Preview Audio Routing Profile C1 17 command is used to affect the currently stacked clip waiting to play These commands work in conjunction with the Cue Up with Data 2x 31 and 4x 14 and Preset Preview In P
185. lay out results To be sure any size clip can be loaded in a channel and played out by itself Similarly any clip stored as a Media ID is capable of playing out a series of short cuts which are really just pieces of media from other clips However like ultra short duration clips multiple Media IDs are not supported in stacked play back mode To work around this a new set of protocol commands was created to allow a controller to generate a dynamic stacked list of clips short or long that the Nexio server can successfully play to air Using the Local Timeline Control CF 88 command a controller builds and maintains the list of clips while giving the Nexio server enough time to plan ahead so that it can retrieve the media s data from storage and load it into the channel for play out 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 33 Nexio AMP Protocol This has been successfully tested down to a list of 10 frame clips However it must be understood that this is not the same as stacked play back mode The standard cue up and stack commands are not used here This functionality is not compatible with those commands Up front a controller must decide if it is going to control a channel in normal stacked play back mode with its known time limitations or if it needs the flexibility to generate and manage the list of clips dynamically through the server The entire definition for the CF 88 command is explained later in the list of pro
186. layed on any port Oxn1 JPEG Oxn2 MPEG2 4 2 0 Oxn3 MPEG3 4 2 2 Oxn4 DV all types Oxn5 JPEG2000 Oxn6 DNxHD Oxn7 H 263 MPEG4 Part 2 Long GOP ASF Oxn8 H 264 MPEG4 Part 10 Long GOP AVC 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 159 Nexio AMP Protocol Oxn9 AVC Intra MPEG4 Part 10 I Frame AVC OxnA Apple Pro Res OxnB XDCAM HD 1440x1080 OxnC REDCODE OxnD Reserved OxnE Reserved OxnF Reserved The MSB nibble is used to identify the video resolution of the ID Data Video Resolution Nibble OxOn Default Assume all files may be played on any port Oxin SD Ox2n 720p Ox4n 1080i Ox8n 1080p For example an MPEG 4 2 2 clip recording in 1080i will have a value of 43 30 17 Compression Settings Request Syntax 3017 DATA DATA 1 byte bitmap indicating settings requested DATA 1 contains a bitmap specifying which information should be returned This command returns to the controller information about the selected port encoding parameters The controller specifies in DATA 1 which parameter information should be returned For example Compression Setting 1 returns video Compression rates COMPRESSION SETTINGS 1 VIDEO COMPRESSION Bytes 1 to 4 are the Video Compression Rate It is the echo of the data sent in the VIDEO COMPRESSION RATE command 20 31 Bytes 5 to 8 are the Video Compression Parameters It is the echo of the d
187. ler must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 72 Nexio AMP Protocol C8 4A Get ID Metadata Syntax C8 4A ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response DF 5F DATAO 94 or DO 00 if ID handle not found DATA 95 bytes see tables below for breakout Description This command returns the normal table of metadata associated with an ID handle See the following tables for the interpretation of the return data If the ID handle is not found on disk the server returns DO 00 Fields below shaded in gray are modifiable using the Set ID Metadata CF 44 command None of these fields is enabled for Unicode text Table 2 53 ID Metadata Structure mom mmm se 0 7 Code Base ID reference If Code equals ID handle then the clip is a parent clip Otherwise the Code field is the ID handle of the ID s parent clip AE NEN LLLI See table below it also includes an indication of aspect ratio 1 Video N Value Total size of GOP usually from 1 to 16 but can be larger if the clip is H 264 10 1 Video M Value Distance between reference picture frames in GOP possible values of 1 3 must be an equal divisor of Video N value 11 1 Video Bit Rate Use the information in this field only if the Exact Video Bit Rate 0 Data 20 21 It reports the compressed bit rate of the video portio
188. ller to know what type of system it is controlling the configuration of the server it is controlling and the types of media on that system It s also up to the controller to manage the amount of material on the Nexio storage system and when some of that media should be removed to make room for more The Nexio system includes a metadata field called the Kill Date This is purely an advisory field and does not actually delete the material on the indicated date However a controller can use it to help indicate when media is no longer required The Nexio protocol actually includes three different Erase ID commands The most useful to a controller is the Erase ID with Transaction C8 4F command It provides feedback to the controller as to the status of the media deletion whether it failed and if it didn t why it didn t 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 21 Nexio AMP Protocol There are four primary reasons why an attempt to delete media fails e The clip doesn t exist on the system e The clip is protected from deletion by a subclip Sometimes these subclips can be invisible to the controller e The clip has the Delete Protect special attribute set This requires that a controlling application has set the attribute e The clip is currently loaded in a server channel and the clip protection logic is enabled on the server system This requires specific LLM registries be set Based on the controller s coll
189. ly 0x0010 Letter Box Top Aligned 16 9 to 4 3 only 0x0011 Top Aligned 16 9 frame 4 3 to 16 9 only 0x0012 Top Aligned 14 9 frame 4 3 to 16 9 only Added Bits 0x2000 Forces SD clips to be 4 3 0x4000 Forces SD clips to be 16 9 0x8000 Overrides any AFD data present The first group of values represents the aspect ratio conversion to be applied to the clip as it is played to air in a channel whose aspect ratio is opposite to that of the clip These settings also affect the AFD data inserted into the clips on play out if the clip had no AFD data to begin with or the AFD override setting is enabled It s important that the ARC applied to a clip match its current aspect ratio or else the setting will have no effect and the AFD data output by the server will be wrong For example a 4 3 clip should not be assigned the Letter Box ARC setting The second group of values are additive to the first group That is if the extra settings are desired the values will be added to the selected ARC mode applied to the clip 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 81 Nexio AMP Protocol No more than one of the first two values Ox2000 and 0x4000 may be selected for any one clip These only apply to SD clips and have the resulting consequence of forcing the clip to be one aspect ratio or the other For example an SD clip may have been ingested into a channel mistakenly configured for the 16 9 aspect ratio As it records the intern
190. ly plays for 5 seconds CF 88 OC 01 OD 00 01 40 15 01 00 40 05 00 00 01 is the sub code for modifying an existing entry OD is the data bit mask for entry ID 0x01 starting timecode value 0x04 and duration in timecode value 0x08 It s important for any controller playing clips to air using this Local Timeline Control set of commands to keep a close watch on the activity of the channels they control The timing of changes is critical and it is strictly under the control of the controller The controller should also not expect full transport control of the timeline while in this local timeline control mode It is intended as a play out only control However there are two possible configurations for this feature In the default configuration only the following transport commands are allowed in local timeline mode Play Shuttle Forward in the linear speed range Stop and Eject There is no reverse play back There is no ability to cue to a timecode position within the timeline And once a timeline is fully played out the timeline list is auto deleted Any subsequent Get First Entry ID sub code commands sent will only return the currently playing or loaded entry In the more advanced mode it is possible to use reverse play back commands it is possible to cue to an absolute timecode position within the timeline and the events in the timeline are not auto deleted when the end of the timeline is reached To set this advanced mode the controlle
191. ly recommend gaining access to our new software releases as soon as they are available General Information This document reflects the protocol implementation in the LLM as of May 2014 It includes the latest protocol updates released with the Nexio AMP 7 5 Software Release 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 9 Nexio AMP Protocol While this manual is targeted toward the Nexio AMP and Volt Servers most of the protocol commands detailed in this manual are backward compatible to previous Nexio and VR products For the most part there are no major differences in how the different servers respond to automation commands They make use of the same basic command sets structures and timeouts The only real difference is in feature development and bug fixes Where possible this document will indicate when commands were first implemented and make note of the applicable software release where they were introduced Control Communication There are three pathways for a controller to communicate with the Nexio Servers serially through RS 422 or via Ethernet through TCP and UDP And while the native Nexio Server protocol supports all three of these the VDCP specification only supports control over RS 422 RS 422 Control RS 422 communication with the Nexio servers is configured at 38400 baud 1 start bit 8 data bits ODD parity and 1 stop bit This method requires that the content of server client conversations bears t
192. mation CF AO Get Slow Access Metadata Syntax CF A0 BC DTATYPE DTASPEC MODE ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer total amount of data to follow For the following described uses of this command this value will always be 10 DTATYPE 1 byte unsigned integer For the following described uses of this command this value will always be 01 DTASPEC 6 bytes indicating the DTA specification For the following described uses of this command the DTA spec represents in hex the server s IP address as the first 4 bytes MSB first and the server s TCP port as the last 2 bytes MSB first MODE Bitmap indicating a particular storage space associated with the ID handle ID 8 byte ID handle Response D4 AO TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 91 Nexio AMP Protocol Description One of the purposes of this command is to retrieve metadata or files stored in special user data segments on the Nexio SAN These storage areas are useful for controllers wishing to store a lot of data associated with a particular ID It should be understood that this command can take up to 0 5 seconds to read from the LLM Controllers should first use the Get Slow Access Data Tag C9 C9 command to quickly confirm if there is any data to be read and or if that data has changed Prior to issuing this command the controller needs to create a
193. mber of different profiles saved per Nexio is 32 Each profile includes values for the three different audio routing masks PARAMETER defines which mask is requested Table 2 41 Audio Routing Parameter Parameter Parameter Name 0x00 Output Mask Primary 0x01 Output Mask Secondary 0x02 Output Mask Tertiary The VALUE returned will always be 32 bytes one byte representing each routable audio track associated with a clip The structure of these 32 bytes is based on the audio track tags as defined at the top of this chapter in the section on the Audio Track Router Note This command was introduced as part of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release and does not function in prior released software CE 57 Set Audio Routing Profile Syntax CF 57 BC PROFILE PARAMETER VALUE BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow PROFILE 1 byte unsigned integer valid values between 00 and 31 PARAMETER 1 byte unsigned integer VALUE 32 bytes representing audio routing mask Response 10 01 or DO 57 if invalid values set Description This command is used to set the data values of an audio routing profile The profile defines the output audio routing masks associated with a Nexio platform so that a controller can dynamically change the audio routing on the fly using the Preset Audio Routing Profile C1 16 and Preview Audio Routing Profile C1 17 commands The maximum number of different profiles saved per Nexio
194. meRateCod In addition Bit Mask 0x0100 includes an extra bit to help identify an alternate pixel aspect ratio in the channel All of these variables are defined with examples above in the Video Format Codes section A return value of OxFF in any of these three properties indicates that the particular channel does not support the associated property Bit 2 Note The one byte value returned in Bit Mask 0x0004 indicates the type of video card or cards in the server Bit 7 works with the other bits to indicate the two cards in the platform one of which is the accelerator card which supports AVC Intra play back Table 2 25 Video Card Type Bits Card Type 0 None 1 MA200 Volt and NX3601 2 MA400 NX3801 3 MA410 Volt 2 and Versio 4 6 Reserved 7 Accelerator NXCP Syntax C8 B1 MASK VALUE MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first VALUE 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to set a few of the server s special properties that are important in determining how the controller interacts with the server This command will assign the values from VALUE only to those bit fields that are set to 1 in MASK The following table details two values that affect a controller s connection to the entire server 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 43 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 26 Set Special Machine Properties Bit
195. ments part of the DTA modes The 2 bytes represent a bitmask of in use user data slots 23 Audio Track A series of 1 byte data per audio track up to 32 Compression Info 32 tracks to indicate each track s compression type and channel count see detail below 24 Audio Track Tag Info A series of 1 byte data per audio track up to 32 32 tracks to identify the content of each track using special audio tags See detail below Unicode Note Field 4 To make full use of the Unicode text fields available in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command The Video Info field packs into 128 bits a description of a clip s special video characteristics including its resolution frame rate and scan types It s a bitwise algorithm in which the first 96 bits are made up of the video format code used in several other commands to identify these attributes The remaining attributes provide an extra level of detail The LLM records this information in the Video Info field as valid video data arrives on the system What follows is an enum definition for parsing the 128 bit data represented LSB first fdefine VIDEO INFO FORMATS VERTICAL SIZ E CODES SCAN TYPES FRAM T enum VIDEO INFO BIT Format bits formatCode scanType VIDEO INFO FORMAT BASE 0 bit 4 formatCode where FRAME RATE C
196. mm ID NUMBER 4 bytes unsigned integer This is the identification number of a MSB first command or response This field should have different values for adjacent commands for example incremented mod 2 at every new command unless the command is a retry of the previous command i e resulting from a response time out In the latter case the retried command will bear the same identification number as the original failed command CHANNEL 1 byte unsigned integer This field indicates the Codec to which the command or response should be routed Valid channels are 0x00 Channel 1 0x01 Channel 2 0x02 Channel 3 0x03 Channel 4 DATAO DATA N 1 N bytes size depends on This field contains either a command or a command response It includes all parts except the checksum See the section on Command and Response Structures for details on the structure of commands and responses The controller is responsible for managing its own timeouts and retries It should ignore any responses that don t match the last command s identification If the controller does not receive a response that matches the last command s identification within the protocol s timeout it may either retry the failed command using the same identification number or proceed to the next command using a new identification number If the server receives two or more consecutive commands bearing the same identification numbers it will only execute and respond to the fir
197. munications All Rights Reserved Page 166 Nexio AMP Protocol BO 07 ACTIVE ID REQUEST The controller should monitor the current ID on a regular basis in order to be aware of which ID is playing 30 06 01 POSITION REQUEST The controller should monitor the timecode progression of ID playback on a regular basis 10 00 STOP This will terminate playback The IDLE status bit will be set high 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 167 Nexio AMP Protocol Unsupported VDCP Command List The following VDCP commands are not supported by Nexio servers Please review the VDCP manual for further reference to and definition of these commands Table 3 89 Unsupported VDCP Commands sc emoa omoa cox NAME 8c omoa omoa name o o s oc om isse 9 K o o sx oo opt Local enable 9 K ox ox sx 1a sOpt beleterromarhwe oa ack B C CMD 1 cmp 2 cope NAME Jec cmoa cMD2 NAME o2 1X 9X o Opt Freeze S cK 02 1X 9X 09 Opt Unfreeze 04 ACK Pec wba omoa cox NAME 8G omoi omoa NAME ror mum it som Preset Standardtime os ack Poa axax 27 ior Get Fromarchive Jo K CS o xm zs o Ger a oy xum 2a Opt SendToArchve fo K os zm Opt Select Logical Drive fo
198. must be in a PLAY CUED or STILL state or an error will be logged This is equivalent to JOG with 1 data 10 06 Continue Syntax 10 06 The CONTINUE command causes the ID currently in the STILL state or a PLAY state to exit that state and continue playing The output port must be in a PLAY CUED or STILL state or an error will be logged 10 07 Jog Syntax 10 07 FRAMES FRAMES 1 byte or 4 bytes indicating number of frames to jump forward or backward 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 137 Nexio AMP Protocol The JOG command causes the controlled device to move the specified number of frames forward or backward with respect to its current position The output port must be in a PLAY CUED or STILL state or an error will be logged SEND DATA 1 can be either one or four bytes A one byte field contains an 8 bit signed number 2 s compliment indicating the range from 128 to 128 frames A four byte field contains a 32 bit signed number 2 s compliment indicating the range from 42592000 to 2592000 frames The four byte field is large enough to jump to any relative position in a video file up to 24 hours in length Nexio Addendum An option is available in the Nexio AMP and XS servers that can automatically calculate smooth off speed play back based on a series of Jog commands sent by the controller Instead of jumping the specified number of frames forward or backward with every issued command the
199. n a server channel that has the ID reference protection enabled In order to retrieve the status of the delete operation the controller should use the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 millisecond intervals until it changes from TRANSACTION PENDING to one of the following e TRANSACTION SUCCESS e TRANSACTION NO FILE e TRANSACTION WRITE PROTECTED 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 97 Nexio AMP Protocol C8 4D If the status is TRANSACTION WRITE PROTECTED the delete failed because the spot is protected The reason why can be determined with the Get Transferred Field Count C4 BC command If the field count returned is OxFFFF FFFF then the spot is protected by either the Delete Protect attribute or by having subclips Any other result indicates the ID is protected by reference which typically means it is currently loaded in a channel somewhere on the Nexio system The first two bytes of the field count returned indicates the LLM node protecting the ID and the last two bytes indicate the controller connection number that set the reference Use the Get Transaction ID Handle C4 B4 command to retrieve the user assigned controller identification if set of the connection protecting the ID Query ID as Erasable Syntax ID Response TID Description C8 4D ID 8 byte ID handle D4 4D TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the comm
200. n of the clip See note below for interpreting values 50 Mb s 12 15 4 Start Start timecode of ID in format of FF SS MM HH If the timecode is NTSC drop frame the frames unit is padded by 40 frames where 40 00 00 01 represents a start time of exactly one hour 20 21 2 Exact Video Bit Exact report of the compressed bit rate of the video Rate portion of the clip The 2 bytes are returned LSB first This information replaces information provided in Data 11 as of the Nexio 6 0 Software Release 22 1 sd Reserved returned with zero O 23 1 Video Gain Video procamp value MSB first see Set ID Metadata command fior more detail on the values command for more detail on the values 25 1 Chroma Gain Video procamp value MSB first see Set ID Metadata command for more detail on the values 26 27 2 Hue Video procamp value MSB first see Set ID Metadata command for more detail on the values 28 29 2 Children Total number of subclips and Reference clips associated with the ID in format of MSB first 30 31 2 References Total number of Reference clips associated with the ID in format of MSB first 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 73 Nexio AMP Protocol 32 33 i 2 O Reserved returned with zeroes 34 1 Audio tracks This information is only valid for media with up to 8 audio deprecated tracks Controllers should instead use the Get Audio Track Information C8 CA command to retrieve the most accurate r
201. nStation IconKey InfoCaster InfoCaster Creator InfoCaster Manager InfoCaster Player InstantOnline Invenio Live Update mCAPTURE Magellan Magellan CCS Navigator Magellan Q SEE MultiService SDN NetPlus NetVX NewsForce Nexio G8 Nexio AMP ChannelView Nexio Channel ONE Nexio ClipSync Nexio Delay Nexio Digital Turnaround Processor Nexio Farad Nexio G Scribe Nexio IconKey Nexio IconLogo Nexio IconMaster Nexio IconStation Nexio InfoCaster Nexio InfoCaster Creator Nexio InfoCaster Manager Nexio InfoCaster Player Nexio InfoCaster Traffic Nexio InstantOnline Nexio mCAPTURE Nexio NewsForce Nexio NXIQ Nexio Playlist Nexio Remote Nexio9RTX Net Nexio TitleMotion Nexio TitleOne Nexio Velocity ESX Nexio Velocity PRX Nexio Velocity XNG Nexio Volt OPTO Panacea Platinum Playlist Predator II GRF Predator Il GX Punctuate Remote RTX Net QuiC Q SEE SD STAR Selenio Selenio 6800 SelenioNext Selenio X50 Selenio X85 Selenio X100 TitleMotion TitleOne Velocity ESX Velocity PRX Velocity XNG Versio Videotek SD STAR X50 and X85 are trademarks of Imagine Communications or its subsidiaries Altitude Express Connectus Enabling PersonalizedTV ICE Bro
202. ng each ID Handle a controller should use the Get Extended ID from ID Handle C8 C3 command to retrieve the ID s proper name List First ID List C1 4C LIST 1 byte unsigned integer based on table below See table below or DO 4C if none found 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total byte count of the data to follow 8 byte ID handle Extended ID in Unicode format when enabled This command returns the first existing ID of the specified list To retrieve the remaining IDs in the list a controller should follow up this command with the List Next ID List CO 4D command See the table below for the interpretation of the LIST data and the response syntax If no IDs are in the specified list DO 4C is returned 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 69 Nexio AMP Protocol Table 2 51 List First ID List Table List Description Return Data 0x01 Main ID Handle List D8 4C ID 0x02 ID Handles Added List D8 4C ID 0x03 ID Handles Deleted List D8 4C ID 0x11 Main Extended ID List DF 4C BC XID 0x12 Extended IDs Added List DF 4C BC XID 0x13 Extended IDs Deleted List DF 4C BC XID 0x21 Main ID Handle Extended ID List DF 4C BCID XID 0x22 ID Handles Extended IDs Added List DF 4C BCID XID 0x23 ID Handles Extended IDs Deleted List DF 4C BCID XID The Main lists 0x01 0x11 and 0x21 provide the same functionality as the List First ID Handle AO 14 command except t
203. ning IDs in groups of up to ten NEXT is called repeatedly until all IDs have been transferred Note Use of the BO 11 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Syntax 30 14 ID or BO 14 BC XID ID 8 bytes indicating clip ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow XID Extended ID This command returns the duration of the specified ID to the controller The format returns the frames in RETURN DATA 1 seconds in RETURN DATA 2 minutes in RETURN DATA 3 and hours in RETURN DATA 4 in BCD SEND DATA 1 8 contains the ID name Note Use of the BO 14 command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs 30 BO 16 ID Request Syntax 30 16 ID or BO 16 BC XID This command tells the controller whether the ID is currently in the get from archive list for the selected port and whether or not the ID is currently in the disk and the ARCHIVE This command allows the automation controller to ask if an ID it needs in the future for play out is in the DISK or ARCHIVE RETURN DATA 1 returned contains a bit map of the ID status a 1 indicates true and zero 0 indicates false RETURN DATA 1 returned must contain at least one byte The second byte of RETURN DATA 1 is optional and only needs to be present on systems that support those statuses SEND DATA 1 8 contains the ID name Note Use of the BO 16 command bears the format described in the section on Variabl
204. nique name for each connection it makes to an LLM This is useful for Nexio systems using the auto clip protection feature The self assigned identifier in this command allows other controllers to be aware of which controller is currently protecting a clip when using the Erase ID with Transaction C8 4F command The auto clip protection feature is turned off by default It prevents the deletion of clips that are currently loaded in a channel anywhere on the Nexio system It must be enabled on every server in the system to function correctly 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 49 Nexio AMP Protocol Channel Status Commands CO AC Get Logical Channel Syntax CO AC Response D1 AC CHANNEL CHANNEL 1 byte unsigned integer indicating channel number Description This command retrieves the currently selected channel where OzChannel 1 1 Channel 2 2 Channel 3 and so on up to 7 Channel 8 Syntax C1 AC CHANNEL CHANNEL 1 byte unsigned integer indicating channel number selected Response 1001 Description This command sets the currently selected channel for control Subsequent commands will be routed to the specified CHANNEL where 0 Channel 1 1 Channel 2 2 Channel 3 and so on up to 7 Channel 8 If a controller sets the channel to a number more than the actual channels available the channel will be set to the highest number available This is a good method for a controller to determine the total n
205. nnel server NTSC VBI OxAA37 4 channel server PAL VBI 30 10 System Status Request Syntax 3010 DATA DATA 1 byte bitmap indicating the status information requested DATA 1 contains a bitmap specifying which bytes should be returned This command returns to the controller information about the MAIN storage system DATA 1 is the bit map indicating which system information is returned 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 155 Nexio AMP Protocol DATA 1 Bit map for SYSTEM STATUS Extended SS1 SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM amp SS2 STATUS 6 STATUS 5 STATUS 4 STATUS 3 STATUS 2 STATUS 1 The EXTENDED SS1 amp SS2 bit is set true false to cause the SYSTEM STATUS 1 and SYSTEM STATUS 2 bits to select the extended short options respectively of the System Status 1 and 2 fields Nexio Addendum To provide backward compatibility for controllers who do not support the extended options for Storage Time Remaining there are two registry settings in HKCU Software asc audio video IIm control one is a DWORD value called Enable3X10Fix and the other is a string value called 3X10HardReturn e If Enable3X10Fix 0 the server returns the old 4 byte format This provides no support for the extended option for Storage Time Remaining e If Enable3X10Fix 1 the server returns the extended format for storage time remaining and largest contiguous block e If Enable3X10Fix 2 the serv
206. nses Response State 0x0000 TRANSACTION_PENDING 0x0001 TRANSACTION_SUCCESS 0x0002 TRANSACTION_NO_FILE 0x0003 TRANSACTION_DIRECTORY_FULL 0x0004 TRANSACTION_DISK_FULL 0x0005 TRANSACTION_DISK_ERROR 0x0006 TRANSACTION WRITE PROTECTED 0x0007 TRANSACTION INVALID FORMAT 0x0008 TRANSACTION_ABORTED 0x0009 TRANSACTION_FILE_CHANGED 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 100 Nexio AMP Protocol 0x000A TRANSACTION CONNECT FAILED 0x000B TRANSACTION NAME CONFLICT The status of a completed transaction will be remembered for a reasonable amount of time after its completion It is recommended that the controller should poll the transaction status at greater than 50 millisecond intervals until the status changes from TRANSACTION PENDING The new status will be the final one C4 B4 Get Transaction ID Handle Syntax C4 B4 TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying the Transaction ID to be queried Response D8B4ID or DO B4 if specified transaction ID does not exist ID 8 byte ID handle or other identification Description This command typically is used to retrieve a newly created clip s ID handle This command should not be used until a previous Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command has returned TRANSACTION SUCCESS This command is also used as part of the Erase ID with Transaction C8 4F command in which it returns a controller ID not an
207. nt Trim 99 CE li Erase Segment Trim by ID 99 C8 C5 Consolidate ID 100 C4 B3 Get Transaction Status 100 C4 B4 Get Transaction ID Handle 101 C4 BC Get Transferred Field Count 101 C4 BD Get Transaction Result 101 C4 A5 Change Notification 102 Cue Commands 104 2x 31 Cue Up with Data 104 Cx 86 Fast Cue Up with Data 105 4x 14 Preset In Point 106 4x 15 Preset Out Point 107 Cx AB Reverse Preset Out Point 107 40 20 Reset In Point 108 40 21 Reset Out Point 108 Ax 04 Preset Preview In Point 108 Ax 05 Preset Preview Out Point 109 AO 06 Reset Preview In Point 109 AO 07 Reset Preview Out Point 110 C1 16 Select Preset Audio Routing Profile 110 C1 17 Select Preview Audio Routing Profile 110 CO 02 Next Cue 111 CO 04 Play Next Cue 111 Ax 02 Cue Up to Record 112 C4 87 Set New Out Point 112 40 41 Set Auto Mode On 113 40 40 Set Auto Mode Off 113 Transport Commands 114 20 00 Stop 114 20 01 Play 114 20 02 Record 114 20 OF Eject 114 20 10 Fast Forward 114 20 20 Rewind 115 60 2E Get Variable Speed Sens 115 2x 1x Set Variable Speed Forward 115 2x 2x Set Variable Speed Revers 117 Cx 00 Incremental Jog 118 Cx 01 Jump Forward 118 Cx 02 Jump Backward 118 20 61 Full E E On 119 20 60 Full E E Off 119 C4 CD Timestamped Play and Record 119 C5 B7 Timecode Triggered Record 120 CF 88 Local Timeline Control 121 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 6 Nexio AMP Protocol
208. nt in the format of FF SS MM HH TC2 4 bytes indicating a second timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 or DO 11 if ID does not exist Description This command provides the same function as Erase Segment A8 11 except it does not require the clip being trimmed to first be cued in a Nexio server channel This command is used to erase or trim a portion of material within a specified clip TC1 specifies the starting timecode position and TC2 specifies the ending timecode position of the portion to erase All timecode positions within will be erased and deallocated The new in point out point and duration of the loaded ID automatically will be calculated and reflected in the ID database It is typical to use this command incorporating either the starting timecode or the ending timecode of the loaded ID so that it is trimmed from one side or the other Erasing segments in the middle of the loaded clip will cause black to play back during those timecode points DropFrame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 99 Nexio AMP Protocol C8 C5 Consolidate ID Syntax C8 C5 ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response D4 C5 TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying a Transaction ID associated with the command Desc
209. o start being played out of the selected port If the system is currently playing a spot and the next spot is already cued when a PLAY command is received then the current spot will be aborted and replaced by the new spot It is recommended that the port should remain in PLAY and continuously output the last frame of video audio mute of the ID if the media in play reaches the end of the ID and a STOP or another PLAY command has not been received This prevents drops to black if a few frame gaps are in between playing of IDs and permits easy verification of the last frame of video after an ID is recorded onto the disk In all other cases the disk should output black An example of a normal command sequence to play 4 spots is PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA Spot 1 PLAY Spot 1 start playing PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA Spot 2 This is sent right after Spot 1 starts playing PLAY Spot 1 ends Spot 2 start playing on next frame PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA Spot 3 This is sent right after Spot 2 starts playing PLAY Spot 2 ends Spot 3 start playing on next frame PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA Spot 4 This is sent right after Spot 3 starts playing PLAY Spot 3 ends Spot 4 start playing on next frame STOP Spot 4 ends Disk is Idle If this disk was to play out the next commercial pod and the program material was played out by another device the PLAY CUE or CUE WITH DATA command would be sent for the first spot in the next commercial pod right
210. ode parameter combination Invalid parameter list size COIN DW Rl WIN S For more information on the workflow and proper implementation of this command please review the section Short Clips Stacked Play Back at the beginning of this chapter It is important to note that the Local Timeline Control does not work the same as the normal stacked play back of clips Instead of using one of the cue commands 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 122 Nexio AMP Protocol timeline control makes use of the Preroll 20 30 command to cue the timeline The Set Automode On 40 41 and Off 40 40 commands are used to delete the currently active timeline And timeline playback mode is terminated by any normal cue up command or the Preroll command when the timeline is currently empty Local Timeline Control is also limited in its use of transport commands In the default set up only the following transport commands function in this mode Play Shuttle Forward in a linear speed range Stop and Eject Reverse does not work And once the timeline is fully played out the timeline is auto deleted And subsequent Get First Entry ID sub code will return the currently playing or loaded entry but nothing else There is also an advanced mode available to controllers This mode allows reverse playback It allows cueing to an absolute timecode position within the timeline And it does not auto delete
211. ode used to identify clip properties and the channels that can play them the ability to route individual audio tracks within clips and a new special playlist control method that supports clips as short in duration as 10 frames Unicode Implementation The Nexio server system is capable of handling clip IDs and other clip metadata information in Unicode This is a 2 byte per character system of entering strings of data in a system so that it is more compatible with languages from around the world The minimum requirement is that the Nexio system be configured for 64 byte IDs 32 Unicode and the extended fields feature which is the mandatory set up for all Nexio servers shipping today By default the Nexio servers do not interact with controllers using Unicode Instead the server treats the Unicode IDs and metadata fields capable of Unicode as though they are ANSI characters This preserves legacy operation for those controllers that have not made the transition to Unicode This is particularly true of VDCP controllers because the VDCP protocol does not specify support for Unicode In order for a controller to actually work with the Unicode characters it must first notify the LLM that all future communications will enable the Unicode feature This is done by setting the Unicode mask in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command When enabled the following text fields will be treated as Unicode Table 2 14 Unicode Supported Fields
212. of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to assign a time in the future when the next transport command issued to this channel should take effect The TC parameter is expressed in terms of the Timer 0 as returned by the Get Current Timer Value C1 A4 00 command For NTSC systems TC should always be in drop frame If the specified TC is past due or if it doesn t allow enough time for the control latency then the transport command that follows will be started asynchronously Therefore for synchronous operation TC should be at least current Timer 0 device latency max network delay Typically 2 seconds is enough The following transport commands are affected by this command 2002 Record 2211 Jog Fwd 2000 Stop 2212 Var Fwd 2001 Play 2213 Shuttle Fwd 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 119 Nexio AMP Protocol 2111 Jog Fwd 2221 Jog Rev 2112 Var Fwd 2222 Var Rev 2113 Shuttle Fwd 2223 Shuttle Rev 2121 Jog Rev 2010 Fast Fwd 2122 Var Rev 2020 Rewind 2123 Shuttle Rev C002 Next Cue Field accurate operation is guaranteed EXCEPT as follows e 2x 1x when going at more than 150 speed e 2x 2x when going at more than 150 speed e All decompression commands above when issued in E E state They will however synchronously terminate an ongoing recording This command cannot be used to schedule more than one transport command in advance and therefore is not recommended fo
213. oint Ax 04 commands The command work flow is as follows 7 Cue Up with Data 2x 31 or 4x 14 to load the first ID 8 Get Channel Status 61 20 until the CUED status bit is set 9 Select Preset Audio Routing Profile C1 16 10 Get Channel Status 61 20 until the CUED status bit is set again 11 Play 20 01 ID 12 Preset Preview In Point Ax 04 to stack next ID 13 Get Channel Status 61 20 until the PVW RDY status bit is set 14 Select Preview Audio Routing Profile C1 17 15 Get Channel Status 61 20 until the PVW RDY status bit is set again The selected audio profiles only apply as long as the clip is in the channel If the clip is re cued the audio profile needs to be reapplied Short Clips Stacked Play Back This section describes a feature introduced in the Nexio 5 7 1 Software Release It provides new logic to allow ultra short duration clips to play back to back out of a single Nexio channel During normal stacked play back out of a Nexio channel it is strongly recommended to use clips no shorter than three seconds Because of the time it takes to retrieve the data from storage and prepare a channel to stack the next clip so that it s ready to play it s been determined that the only reliable mechanism for playing out a list of clips back to back is to limit just how short a clip can be in such a playlist Any controller attempting shorter duration clips in this stacked play back mode will likely have undesirable p
214. one based on creating the extended ID CF C2 After creating the empty ID the controller must follow up with a series of transaction commands The first transaction command Get Transaction Status C4 B3 should be sent repeatedly at greater than 50 millisecond intervals until it returns TRANSACTION SUCCESS or an error When the transaction is successful the controller uses the Get Transaction ID Handle C4 B4 command to retrieve the ID handle that was auto generated during the transaction Once the empty ID is created the controller can use the Cue Up to Record Ax 02 command to load the file in an appropriate channel in preparation for recording After using the Get Channel Status 61 20 command to verify that the REC bit is set the controller can issue the Record 20 02 command to start the recording A controller can record the clip indefinitely by cueing the ID for record without setting a preset out value The recording will not stop until it is explicitly stopped If the controller knows the length of the recording it can issue the Preset Out Point 4x 15 command any time before or during the recording The recording will automatically stop at the specified preset Out Point The server is also capable of recording Sliding IDs also known as Looping Records These are media that record without end but only use up a specific amount of disk space When the specified duration is reached the record algorithm will loop back around to th
215. one of the Command types includes the ID in their parameters And even though the VDCP specification says there are no 90 command types the Nexio server does accept them as valid Just as the LLM accepts all the other non ID commands with the high bit set they behave exactly like their counterparts These command extensions are not included in the command table listed below Unicode and Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum It should also be noted that VDCP does not support the Unicode storage of text and as such will not ever enable the Unicode bit for communicating with the LLM as detailed in the Native Protocol chapter However the LLM will convert the incoming ANSI text to Unicode for storage in the MediaBase It will also convert it back when retrieving data for the VDCP controller In the case of dealing with variable length IDs which are stored by the LLM in Unicode the VDCP controllers should continue to treat the IDs as non Unicode in all the commands that require them In addition most Nexio Servers are set up to support variable length IDs extended IDs and the VDCP commands that support them IDs may be up to 32 characters in length If a VDCP controller tries to create an ID longer than that the ID will be truncated It is technically possible for a VDCP controller that does not support the variable length ID set of commands to continue to work with the fixed 8 character ID set of commands The 8 character IDs will be reflected in t
216. only visible ASCII characters allowed All 80 AO BO command types are identical to the corresponding OO 20 30 command types except that the 8 character padded ID is replaced with this ID encoding There are no 10 or 40 command types with IDs so 90 and CO command types will not be implemented The implementation of variable length ID major commands is optional but all disk systems that implement them should accept all commands equivalent to the 00 20 30 commands they implement Controllers may use all one type of ID encoding major command or mix them as long as the commands do not conflict Commands and replies should not exceed 100 bytes to limit the serial data transmission time and maintain frame accurate commands On commands involving multiple IDs ID List Next IDs Added no more than 80 bytes of ID data should be sent For example if each ID was 25 characters only three IDs should be sent in reply to a List Type Command This also implies 40 one character IDs One byte for the ID one byte for the length of the ID are the maximum number of IDs that may be sent in a list type reply 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 131 Nexio AMP Protocol Nexio Addendum Even though it is not defined that way in the VDCP protocol some controllers using variable length IDs set the high bit in the first byte of the command even in commands that do not include the ID in one of the command parameters For example n
217. ons All Rights Reserved Page 111 Nexio AMP Protocol Ax 02 Cue Up to Record Syntax AO 02 or A4 02 TC or A8 02 ID or AC 02 TC ID TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH ID 8 byte ID handle Response 10 01 Status bits set PRRL DIR during search then CUED STILL LAMP STILL when search is complete Codec mode Compression Description This command is used to cue the channel to a specified point and prepare the CODEC for recording given certain information The server will start recording at this point 4 frames after it receives the Record 20 02 command If nulls OOh are specified for the ID handle the server will create a unique ID in the form of nnnnnnn where n is any combination of integers 0 9 or letters A F Use the Get Loaded ID CO 03 command to retrieve this name after the cue is complete There are four different possible uses of this command AO 02 Arms the channel to start recording at the first frame of the loaded ID A402 TC Arms the channel to start recording at the specified timecode location within the currently loaded ID A8 02 ID Arms the channel to start recording at the first frame of the specified ID handle The recording will end when the media assigned to the ID is exhausted If the ID handle does not exist it will be created and the channel will be prepared to start recording at timecode 00 00 00 00 Unless followed by a Preset Out Point 40 15 comm
218. ontaining data command or response is required to act upon or further interpret the specific command CHECKSUM 1 byte unsigned integer The LSB of the sum of all the bytes in the data stream from CMD 1 to DATA N 1 In the two byte command structure the first byte defines the command group and the second byte is the command within that group Specifically bits 4 7 of the first byte identify the basic purpose of the command Table 2 4 Basic Command Groups Description 0 Controler Hghlevelconro amp iDquey 4 Controller Editing and random access play setup 6 Controller Sense requests TS 8 sever iD astarin SOS D Server Exendedsemeretum 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 13 Nexio AMP Protocol Server Sequence sense return Nexio Protocol Overview There are certain functions almost every controller using the Nexio Server Native Protocol must perform in order to effectively manage and control the servers The following pages attempt to detail some of the recommended methods for connecting to and controlling multiple server channels in a Nexio Server system There are a number of steps every controller should take before ever attempting to load a piece of media into a channel and sending the play or record command 1 Identifying the capability and purpose of every channel of every server under the controller s command 2 Retrieving the list of clips in the Nexio stora
219. ontroller must respond with an Ack 10 01 or else the notifications will stop being sent In addition if an Added or Deleted notification is sent the controller must respond with an Ack 10 01 and clear the appropriate ID list using the List First ID List C1 4C and List Next ID List C0 4D commands Notifications are serviced per controller session The session is created when the serial or Ethernet connection is established with the server The session that initiates the command is the same session that must clear the added or deleted lists in order to receive future notifications The format for the DATA parameter in Notification Numbers 0x02 and 0x03 are as follows 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 102 Nexio AMP Protocol TSTC Time of day time stamp indicating when the recording started or stopped in the format of FF SS MM HH LOCTC Timecode location of the recording when it started or stopped in the format of FF SS MM HH ID 8 byte ID handle Example Use of the Change Notification command in which all notifications are enabled The controller sends the following C4 A5 00 00 00 OF Set notification for all The server returns the following as each instance is encountered CF A6 01 00 Added IDs list changed CF A6 01 01 Deleted IDs list changed CF A6 11 02 01 02 03 04 00 00 00 00 25 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Indicates recording started CF A6 11 03 10 20 30 04 09 18 27 00 25 30 31 32 33
220. ontrollers after the fact Procamp Values The Video Gain Setup Chroma Gain and Hue Based on record parameters of values associated with an ID media changeable by controllers after the fact Children Number of subclips made from this parent Incremented as subclips are clip created from the ID Audio Tracks Number of discreet audio tracks Based on record parameters of media Record Date 16 bit number to indicate month day and Set at record time of media by year the media was recorded This field LLM continues to exist even though it has been superseded by an extended field Kill Date 16 bit number that pre determines the day User entry field settable at the media is scheduled to be labeled as record time and changeable any expired The media does not actually get time later deleted or become disabled on the indicated day For more detail including a complete listing of the normal set of metadata review the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command in the command listing below in this chapter The extended set of metadata is retrieved using the Get Extended Field C9 C3 command However this command retrieves the extended fields one field at a time A separate command must be sent to 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 17 Nexio AMP Protocol retrieve each field the controller is interested in retrieving The Set Extended Field CF CC command is used to change the metadata in one of the fi
221. or 32 byte ANSI IDs Fields below shaded in gray are modifiable using the Set Extended Field CF CC command Table 2 59 Extended Set of Metadata Field Numbers Number Field Description Max Size 0 Record Date Time A FILETIME structure representing the time 8 and date stamp of when the media was recorded 1 Codec Where The video server name and channel where the 19 Recorded media was recorded 2 Source 8 byte ID Used only in Nexio Browse 1 0 and older low 8 Handle res systems to link a low res clip to its matching high res clip s 8 byte ID handle 3 UMID Unique Media Identifier 64 4 Video Info Extended video format and frame rate in a bit 16 wise algorithm of 128 bits see detail below 5 Source Video Used only in Nexio Browse 1 0 and older low 4 Parameters res systems to indicate the video format bit rate and GOP of a low res clip s matching high res clip 6 GUID 128 bit global unique identifier 16 7 User Name UNICODE stored field indicating the individual 64 logged in to the Nexio system at record time 8 Department UNICODE stored field typically indicating the 64 department of the individual logged in at record time 9 Title UNICODE stored field typically indicating a 64 title associated with the clip 10 Reserved Reserved 12 11 Link UNICODE stored field for use with ClipSync 64 feature that stores the ID of media linked to the current ID for in sync dual playback
222. or shared use D1 BO STATUS or DF BO BC LABEL 0x07 Acquire local lock for exclusive use D1 BO STATUS or DF BO BC LABEL 0x08 Release local lock 10 01 0x09 Force release of local lock by all owners 10 01 Ox0A Query a local lock s owner DO BO DF BO BC EXCL LABEL Per Server There are two sets of lock commands depending on a controller s requirements The first five MODEs are limited in use to controllers that wish to set up channel locks but not necessarily know who owns which locks Because the lock ownership is handled per machine there is no real association between the channels and the locks Meanwhile the second group of MODEs provides per controller lock ownership They provide a direct correlation between the channels locked and the controller doing the locking This set of commands includes the ability to query as to which connection has a lock on any specific channel To acquire a lock in the Server Network Locks a controller would use MODE 1 or 2 whichever is appropriate for its use and then poll using MODE 0 with the same LABEL until the returned status changes from Request Pending If the channel has been successfully acquired the status will change to Owned Table 2 49 Lock Status Bitmap Mode 0 Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 0 0 0 0 0 Request Exclusive Owned Pending Requests for several independent locks can be pending at the same time beca
223. otal amount of data to follow 1 byte unsigned integer based on the extended field number in hex to be searched Data representing the criteria to search the extended field for a matching ID D8CBID or DO CB if no matching ID handle is found 8 byte ID handle This command allows a controller to search through a specified extended field for a specified search string Refer to the table shown in the Get Extended Field from ID C9 C3 command to determine the field number desired Only the first matching ID handle will be returned by this command Other matching ID handles can be retrieved through the Find Next ID Whose Extended Field Matches Criteria CO CB command If no matching ID handle is found the server returns DO CB To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 85 Nexio AMP Protocol C0 CB Syntax Response ID Description Unicode Note C8 84 Find Next ID Whose Extended Field Matches Criteria CO CB D8CBID or DO CB if no matching ID handle is found 8 byte ID handle This command returns the next matching ID handle based on the extended field search begun with the Find First ID Whose Extended Field Matches Criteria CF CB command Only one ID will be returned with this command To continue to receive matching ID handles repeat this command until the serve
224. ponse to transport commands It is important that the controller query every channel it controls to know if any are currently synchronized See the Set Channel Sync Mask C4 C8 command for the MASK definition 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 64 Nexio AMP Protocol C4 C8 Set Channel Sync Mask Syntax MASK Response Description Example C4 C8 MASK 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first 10 01 This command sets and unsets the ability to synchronize the play out of multiple channels in their response to transport commands A bit value of 1 in the MASK parameter indicates that the corresponding channel will become subject to all subsequent transport commands that are issued to its synchronous channel Typically for a 4 channel play out server channel 1 is linked to channel 2 while channel 3 is linked to channel 4 where channels 2 and 4 are the master channels which accept the transport commands The controller must first select the channel it wants to be master by using the Set Logical Channel C1 AC command The MASK then identifies itself and the channel or channels it is controlling via a bitwise definition The command as sent to channel 4 so that it is master over channel 3 bits 00001100 C4 C8 00 00 00 OC To reverse to normal operation so channel 4 only controls channel 4 bits 00001000 C4 C8 00 00 00 08 There is an independent sync transport mask in each channel so
225. pply the default audio routing If audio profiles do not exist on the machine then the channel uses the default audio routing or those set by the Set Audio Routing Parameters CF 55 command Note This command was introduced as part of the Nexio 7 0 Software Release and does not function in prior released software Syntax CO 02 Response 1001 Description In Sequenced or Stacked Playback mode this command causes a seamless switch from the currently playing clip to the next preloaded clip If there is no preloaded clip this command does nothing Syntax CO 04 Response 1001 Description This command enables the VDCP style stacked playback mode where an explicit call of this command is required to play the preloaded clip If this command has not been received before the currently playing clip ends the Codec will either stop on the last frame of the clip or the first frame of the next clip depending on the registry key VdcpStopOnNext In order to enable the use of this new stacked playback mode the Play Next Cue command must be sent instead of the Play 20 01 command to play the first clip in the stack If there is then no preloaded clip in the stack this command will do nothing Use of either the Cue Up with Data 2x 31 or Preset In Point 4x 14 command will cancel this mode This command is designed to work by itself and not in conjunction with the Play 20 01 and Next Cue CO 02 commands 2014 Imagine Communicati
226. r returns DO CB the indication that there are no more matching ID handles To make use of Unicode text in this command the controller must have set the Unicode bit in the Set Machine Control Options C8 B1 command Syntax ID Response MASK Description Get Special ID Attributes C8 84 ID 8 byte ID handle D2 84 MASK or DO 84 if no matching ID handle is found 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first This command returns the special attributes of the specified ID handle See the following table for the interpretation of the return data Attributes are cumulative when an ID has more than one matching property If the ID is not found the server returns DO 84 Table 2 67 ID Attributes and Descriptions Value Attribute Description 0x0001 Delete protected The ID is protected from deletion until this attribute is unset 0x0002 Sliding ID Indicates a circular recording in which the length is preset and material is automatically deleted from the front as it is recorded on the back 0x0004 Macro ID Indicates the media is a timeline made up of pointers to other pieces of media 0x0008 Alpha File Indicates a special file representing a character generator graphic 0x0010 Project File Indicates a special file used by editing applications to represent a container of timelines always with the Invisible attribute set 0x0020 Invisible ID Indicates the file is hidden from the normal media
227. r should use the Set Channel Properties CF B1 command for mask 0x00040000 and set the channel to a value of 1 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 35 Nexio AMP Protocol Standard Server Responses When a controller directs a protocol command to the LLM that does not specify a return of data the LLM will return an acknowledgement that it received the command or an error to indicate that it could not carry out the instruction The format of these standard responses by the LLM to the controllers is defined below 10 01 Syntax Description 10 01 When receiving a command from the controller requiring no additional data to be returned the server will send back this response as an acknowledgement It is up to the controller to ensure that it sends validly formatted commands to the LLM Any invalid commands will return the ACK response 14 12 NAK Syntax 11 12 ERROR ERROR 1 byte unsigned integer as indicated in the table below Description When a transmission error occurs the server will send back this response with an ERROR bitmap as defined below Table 2 20 Error Bitmap BIT7 BIT6 BITS BIT4 BIT3 BIT2 BIT1 BITO Timeout Framing Overrun Parity error Checksum Undefined error error error error command 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 36 Nexio AMP Protocol System Information Commands 00 11 Device Type Request S
228. r the synchronous termination of record or playback Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based Next Cue Support Support for the Next Cue command was added to the Nexio AMP line of products as of the 4 5 Release June 2008 C5 B7 Timecode Triggered Record Syntax C5 B7 SOURCE TC SOURCE 1 byte indicating timecode source TC 4 bytes indicating a timecode point in the format of FF SS MM HH Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to prepare a clip to start recording at a specified external timecode value The clip should already have been cued up to record in the channel before this command is sent and a record command is required after it is sent The SOURCE can be VITC LTC or both as defined in the following bit field structure Table 2 75 Record Timecode Source BIT7 BIT2 BIT1 BITO 000000 VITC LTC If multiple timecode sources are specified the recording will start when either source reaches the TC value For NTSC systems the TC value should always be in drop frame The TC value is in the format of FF MM SS HH where only the digits are matched against the incoming timecode All flag bits are ignored If the timecode value is never reached the controller must send an Eject 20 OF command to the channel to clear the recor
229. ral different properties as detailed in the table below Please note that some of the properties below are specific to the VR and the original Nexio servers and do not apply to the current line of server products Others are specific to the Nexio AMP Volt and XS servers as noted Table 2 22 Special Machine Properties Bit Mask DATA Description Software Release Response in Introduced Bytes 0 0x00000001 1 Determines whether hidden IDs All servers are included in media database queries If response is non 0 the hidden IDs are included in the ID lists 1 0x00000002 Variable Provides the LLM Version All servers returned as an ASCII string not including the zero termination 2 0x00000004 1 Identifies the video card or cards Nexio 6 5 Software installed in the server Release 3 0x00000008 1 Indicates if Timeline Service is All servers active If the response is non 0 the timeline service is currently connected to the channel and Media ID type clips are available for play out but not for stacked play out 4 0x00000010 Not supported 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 38 Nexio AMP Protocol 5 0x00000020 Indicates if the connected controller is making use of Unicode text for clip IDs and their extended metadata If the server returns O the server accepts protocol commands with the Extended IDs and fields in ANSI format and converts them into
230. ransfers A File Transfer Agent is required on every system that makes use of the FTP Copy commands Sense Commands 30 01 Open Port Syntax 30 01 PORT LOCK PORT 1 byte indicating port number LOCK 1 byte always set to O The Signal Ports consist of audio and video channels as configured by the device Any signal port can be controlled from any RS 422 control port with the following Port assignment commands OPEN CLOSE and SELECT Only one communications port can have a given signal port open at a given time The system commands are organized with reference to the Signal Port that they effect The ports consist of SIP Signal Input Ports range 1 to 127 and SOP Signal Output Ports range 1 to 127 SEND DATA 1 contains an 8 bit signed magnitude number representing PORT PORT 0 is not used SEND DATA 2 contains the port security mode For Nexio servers this must always be set to O for the unlocked mode PORT is a signed number representing the available signal ports for example 1 SIP1 1 SOP1 2 SOP2 This PORT number is also used with the PORT SELECT and CLOSE commands RETURN DATA 1 e An OPEN request in either mode for an unopened available signal port will result in a 1 port granted being returned in RETURN DATA 1 e An OPEN request in either mode for an opened and LOCKED signal port will result in a O port denied being returned in RETURN DATA 1 e An OPEN request in either mode for a port that has been opene
231. recoverable within the member but recoverable via mirroring null when m 1 The unrecoverable errors are the allocation units that are unrecoverable on either member and therefore play as black AO 1C Get Maximum Storage Lengt Syntax AO 1C Response 84 1C TC TC 4 bytes indicating timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH Description This command returns the length of the largest available contiguous storage area for an ID CO B2 Get Allocation Unit Size Syntax CO B2 Response D4 B2 SIZE SIZE 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Description This command retrieves the allocation unit size in bytes for the selected disk If no disk is selected the function will return the minimum over all the disks Cx C9 Get ID File Size Syntax C8 C9 ID or CA C9 ID TYPE ID 8 byte ID handle TYPE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first based on table below Response D8 C9 SIZE or DO C9 if ID handle is not found SIZE 8 byte unsigned integer MSB first 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 127 Nexio AMP Protocol Description This command retrieves the file size of the specified ID Depending on the TYPE selected the file size will be its exact disk size or its approximate transfer size If no TYPE is included with the C8 C9 command the SIZE returned is the approximate transfer size Because of the formatting process involved in transferring a file out of the Nexio system the file size on disk does not exactly ma
232. represents a clip s audio types Extended Field 24 represents a clip s audio tags For each field the controller will get or set 32 bytes of data one byte for each possible audio track that can be stored with a clip Even though a clip may have only been recorded with 4 or 8 audio tracks even though the maximum number of audio tracks that can be recorded on any Nexio server channel is 16 tracks and even thought the maximum number of audio tracks that can play out of any Nexio server channel is 16 tracks the audio track router interface supports up to 32 tracks This is to provide ultimate flexibility for storing multiple languages or multiple audio types with a single clip and then picking and choosing which of those audio tracks to route out of the server at play back out time 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 30 Nexio AMP Protocol The controller must remember to pair up any compressed audio tracks that require being stored on 2 tracks Dolby E Dolby Digital and Neural For example a clip with Dolby E stored on a clip s first and second tracks and its seventh and eighth tracks with PCM audio or nothing on all the rest of the tracks would have a series of 32 bytes in extended field 23 as follows 3D 3D 00 00 00 00 3D 3D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 and so on It s important to note that such pairs of audio tracks always need to start on the odd numbered track if operating in a O based numbering system such as th
233. ription This command purges the specified ID handle such that all of its video and audio material not included in subclips will be released from the system In effect it consolidates the ID down to only that media within it that are in use by its subclips During this process the server sets the Purged special attribute Mask 0x0040 for the ID The controller must use the Get Transaction Status C4 B3 command at greater than 50 millisecond intervals until it changes from TRANSACTION PENDING until it returns to TRANSACTION SUCCESS or an error If the specified ID handle is that of a subclip or of an ID handle that does not exist the command will fail with a transaction status of TRANSACTION NO FILE C4 B3 Get Transaction Status Syntax C4 B3 TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first identifying the Transaction ID to be queried Response D4 B3 STATUS or DO B3 if specified transaction ID does not exist STATUS 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first Description This command is used to follow up previous commands in which a transaction ID was set so that the controller can check the progress of the previous command s completion The controller is responsible for retrieving the transaction ID as part of the server response in the previous command and using that transaction ID as part of this command In response to this command the server responds with the current STATUS one of the following states Table 2 71 Transaction Status Respo
234. rol This assumes the controller has verified that the channel is capable of recording the desired media 40 41 Sets the channel into auto mode clearing the preset bits of In and Out Points 61 20 OF Checks the current status of the channel to ensure that it is in a state to load and play a clip CO CO Retrieves the channel s record parameters to determine if it matches the controller s needs C8 C1 03 01 01 32 00 00 04 01 If a change is needed this sets up the channel for the record parameters the controller desires This example specifies an MPEG2 I Frame 50 Mb s clip with 4 audio tracks and VBI enabled C4 B1 00 00 01 00 Retrieves the channel s record video format code and HD pixel aspect ratio an important additional step to verify the channel is in the correct video resolution and other HD related parameters CF B1 05 00 00 01 00 53 If a change is needed this sets the channel s record video format code and HD pixel aspect ratio This example specifies a 1080i NTSC clip CF C2 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 41 00 42 00 43 00 44 00 45 00 Creates an empty ID with the specified ID in this case ABCDE sent in Unicode By sending 8 null bytes for the ID handle the server will automatically create a unique ID handle The server will return a transaction ID to the controller 00 00 00 01 in this example C4 B3 00 00 00 01 Requests the status of the empty ID creation When the status changes from
235. roller only stores metadata in the Basic Latin set it is possible for a non Unicode controller to operate on the same Nexio server system without corruption of data Video Format Codes With the latest Nexio servers supporting so many different video resolutions formats standards and more it is very important that controllers know which channels record what type of clips and what clips can be played out of which channels The LLM is able to manage these different channel configurations and clip properties by the use of Video Format Codes Several protocol commands make use of these codes for getting and setting these properties As a result it is imperative that controllers learn how to parse this data so as to better prevent the wrong clip being loaded to the wrong channel The format code is represented by the following equation formatCode verticalSizeCode SCAN TYPES scanType FRAME RATE CODES frameRateCod The values in this equation are represented in the enum statements below enum VERTICAL SIZE CODE VERTICAL SIZE CODE 480 0 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 512 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 576 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 608 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 720 VERTICAL SIZE CODE 1080 VERTICAL SIZE CODES enum SCAN TYPE SCAN TYPE INTERLACED 0 SCAN TYPE PROGRESSIVE 1 SCAN TYPES he enum FRAME RATE CODE
236. rrent position of the timeline not be disturbed Neither should the clips in that window be deleted nor have anything inserted ahead of them The structure of the CF 88 command includes a series of parameters a byte count a sub code a data bitmap and finally the actual data The sub code indicates the actual function being performed by the command whether that be adding or deleting an item in the list requesting the current position of the timeline or making sure what s in the list Depending on the sub code selected the data bitmap might be nothing a single entry or a series of variables Adding clips to the timeline makes use of most of these variables What follows is an example of a timeline built from scratch using sub code 00 and three clip IDs called abc def and ghi CF 88 OF 00 8E 00 00 40 00 01 00 40 30 00 00 61 62 63 CF 88 OF 00 8E 00 01 40 00 01 00 40 30 00 00 64 65 66 CF 88 OF 00 8E 00 02 40 00 01 00 40 30 00 00 67 68 69 In this example all three clips are prepped to cue to the 00 01 00 00 mark and play for 30 seconds before automatically transitioning to the next OF 16 decimal represents the number of bytes to follow in the command The following 00 indicates sub code 0 8E represents the data bit mask which 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 34 Nexio AMP Protocol represents new entry ID 0x02 starting timecode value 0x04 duration in timecode value 0x08 and extend
237. s been completed The signal port can now accept a PLAY or RECORD command Byte 2 Bits 0 7 PORT ID The port ID currently selected If the port returned is not the port that the controller last selected then the controller needs to 1 close the incorrect port being returned if not zero and 2 open and select the needed port and re initialize it See addendum below Nexio Addendum Because setting the Variable Play bit is optional if a controller does not use this function there is a registry to disable the Nexio server s setting of this bit The DWORD setting LouthVariablePlayBit resides in the LLM s Control registry branch Its default value is 1 which enables the Variable Play bit If set to 0 the server will not show the Variable Play bit 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 151 Nexio AMP Protocol As of the Nexio 6 5 2 Software Release the Port ID byte will return a value of 0 if the channel is an input port and the LLM has entered a play only state and thus the input channel cannot record Status 2 Port Hardware Media Status Byte 1 Bit 0 PORT DOWN The selected port is inoperative See addendum below Byte 1 Bit 1 IDS ADDED New IDs have been added to the disk system by recording or transferring from an archive system and the controller of the port has not yet asked for that list of the IDs Byte 1 Bit 2 IDS DELETED IDs have been deleted from the disk and the controller o
238. scription D1 BO 00 Success D1 BO 01 Failed due to lock table being full DF BO BC LABEL Failed due to at least one other owner as specified in the LABEL returned parameter The Nexio applications NXOS and Nexio Remote currently support the Per Connection locks modes Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 68 Nexio AMP Protocol Mediabase Commands AO 14 Syntax Response ID Description AO 15 Syntax Response ID Description jon re Syntax LIST Response BC ID XID Description List First ID Handle AO 14 88 14 ID or 80 14 if none found 8 byte ID handle This command returns the first existing ID handle in the server s disk database This command should be followed by a series of List Next ID Handle AO 15 commands to retrieve the rest of the list If no IDs exist in the database 80 14 is returned After receiving an ID Handle a controller should use the Get Extended ID from ID Handle C8 C3 command to retrieve the ID s proper name List Next ID Handle AO 15 88 14 ID or 80 14 if at end of list 8 byte ID handle This command will follow a List First ID Handle AO 14 command or a previous List Next ID Handle command It returns the next existing ID handle in the server s disk database If no more IDs exist in the database 80 14 is returned After receivi
239. se 13 0x00002000 Identifies the current LLM s node number Nexio 4 5 Software Release 14 0x00004000 Indicates the number of CPU processors in the Nexio computer Nexio 5 0 Software Release 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 39 Nexio AMP Protocol 15 0x00008000 Returns an output channel s maximum video resolution for support of up down and cross conversion 0 SD only media no HD allowed 1 1080i or SD media allowed 2 1080i or 720p or SD media allowed 3 all of the above plus 1080p gt 3 all resolutions except 1080p Nexio 5 0 Software Release 16 0x00010000 Indicates if an output channel has E E routed to it from one of the input channels 0 E E from input channel 1 1 E E from input channel 2 etc until maximum input channel FFFFFFFF invalid value Nexio 5 0 Software Release 17 0x00020000 Variable Byte 1 Byte Count of data to follow Byte 2 A series of bytes indicating the video resolution and video formats the selected channel is capable of loading See notes below Nexio 5 7 0 Software Release 18 0x00040000 Identifies the current local timeline control mode to indicate if the local timeline control includes extra features See CF 88 command for more details Nexio 5 7 1 Software Release 19 0x00080000 32 Audio routing input mask for extended field 23 S
240. server instead calculates the resulting variable play speed based on the number of frames the controller requests over a series of Jog commands When the resulting play back speed is within an acceptable range the off speed play back will include audio scrub There is a registry setting that enables the smooth jog feature It s under the Control branch of the LLM registry When VdcpJogSmooth 0 the server reponds to the Jog command as it always has by treating the command the same of the native protocol command Jump Forward C1 01 and Jump Backward C1 02 When VdcpJogSmooth 1 the server implements the smooth jog control the same as the native protocol command Incremental Jog Cx 00 10 08 Variable Play Syntax 10 08 SPEED SPEED 24 bit signed binary 2 indicating a speed value based on scale below When the VARIABLE PLAY command is received the controlled device will start running in accordance with the speed and direction data defined in SEND DATA 1 SEND DATA 2 and SEND DATA 3 The output port must be in a PLAY CUED or STILL state or an error will be logged The port state will then be in PLAY SEND DATA 1 SEND DATA 2 and SEND DATA 3 contain a 24 bit signed binary 2 s complement number that represents the direction and speed at which the output signal port should play Scale 0x000000 still 0x010000 std play speed forward Ox7F0000 approximately 127 times std play speed forward OxFFOOOO standard play speed reverse 0
241. setting the properties on an individual clip basis if the audio input to specific channels is always the same source type the controller can prepare the channel so that all clips recorded on that channel are automatically assigned the correct values in extended field 24 In this way you don t need to modify every clip s metadata to assign the appropriate audio tags This is done using the Set Auto Detect Record Parameters CF CF command for bit mask 18 when a Nexio server makes use of the auto input resolution detection feature enabled by default with the Nexio 7 0 Software Release For Nexios which have not yet enabled auto input detection the command to use is Set Audio Routing Parameters CF 55 The format of the bytes used in these commands is the same as defined for extended field 24 Basically it s 32 bytes of data matching up an audio tag for every possible existing and virtual audio track Keep in mind if a value that is set up to get written to a clip is wrong that wrong value will get stored with the clip It is up to the controller to correct the bad data or risk having a possible corruption in the play out of the audio Set Up Channel Output Once the controller has prepared all the clips in the Nexio system with the appropriate audio properties it is now possible to dynamically route the audio stored within clips out on different tracks than what they were actually stored on The typical workflow is that one server channel might
242. splaying total time on system 2 D8 C7 FREE MBIT TOTAL MBIT FREE MBIT 4 bytes MSB first listing Megabits remaining on system TOTAL MBIT 4 bytes MSB first listing total Megabits available on system 3 D4 C7 BPS BPS 4 bytes MSB first displaying bits per second See note below 5 DA C7 FREE_TIME TOTAL_TIME FREE_TIME 5 bytes in format of FF SS MM HHHH displaying time remaining TOTAL TIME 5 bytes in format of FF SS MM HHHH displaying total time on system 6 D4 C7 EFS EFS 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first displaying the current extended fields size in bytes 7 D4 C7 TID TID 4 byte unsigned integer MSB first providing access to information about volume write errors 8 D1 C7 STATE STATE 1 byte unsigned integer where 0 is normal and 1 indicates the server has entered a play only mode where writes cannot be made to the storage 9 DC C7 FREE_TIME TOTAL_TIME FREE_TIME 6 bytes in format of FF SS MM HHHHHH displaying time remaining TOTAL TIME 6 bytes in format of FF SS MM HHHHHH displaying total time on system Other DO C7 No other information is returned Because of the way the Nexio server writes data to the storage system there may be a negligible change in available storage when configuring channels for less than 14 M bits per second MODE 3 Note This provides the aggregate record data rate needed for the currently selected record parameters on the currently selected disk If no disk is selected and disks with differ
243. ss converting clips from different video resolutions As a result for each resolution supported in the channel the data is added together in the MSB nibble Table 2 24 Video Resolution Nibble Data Video Resolution OxOn Default Assume all files may be played on any port Oxin SD Ox2n 720p Ox4n 1080i Ox8n 1080p For example all current Nexio channels on a server configured for 6 channels of SD would return the following information 03 12 13 14 In this example there are 3 bytes of data to follow each of which indicates the channel is capable of loading only SD clips which can be MPEG2 4 2 0 MPEG2 4 2 2 or DV Meanwhile a typical 3 channel server configured for 1 in 2 out based on a 1080i output might have the following for each channel 04 72 73 74 6B 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 42 Nexio AMP Protocol In this example there are 4 bytes of data to follow the first three of which indicate the channel is capable of loading SD 720p or 1080i clips which can be MPEG2 4 2 0 MPEG2 4 2 2 or DV and the last which indicates XDCAM HD clips are supported in 720p and 1080i This channel property only functions as of the Nexio 5 7 0 Software Release and later Bits 6 8 Note The values returned for Bit Mask 0x0040 0x0080 and 0x0100 are based on the video format code formula formatCode verticalSizeCode SCAN TYPES scanType FRAME RATE CODES fra
244. st to indicate volume level VOLn 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first to indicate volume level for specified audio channel n BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow Response 1001 Description This command sets the audio output gain level for one individual track or all tracks depending on which syntax is used Volume levels specified for tracks that do not exist will be ignored Volume values sent must be between 0 and 65534 Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 C1 54 Get Audio Routing Parameters Syntax C1 54 PARAMETER PARAMETER 1 byte unsigned integers Response DF 54 BC DATA or DO 54 if specified parameter is invalid BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow DATA 32 bytes of data Description This command is used to retrieve the audio routing configuration of the current channel There are five different parameters possible two for setting up the input configuration values and three for the output Table 2 40 Video Format Nibble Parameter Parameter Name Description 0x00 Input Mask HD 32 byte audio routing mask for HD ingest see caution below 0x01 Input Mask SD 32 byte audio routing mask for SD ingest see caution below 0x02 Output Mask Primary 32 byte audio routing mask 0x03 Output Mask Secondary 32 byte audio routing mask 0x04 Output Mask Tertiary 32 byte audio routing mask
245. st instance After which it will simply return duplicates of the first response for every subsequent instance without actually executing them This is to give the controller the option of retrying unacknowledged commands without the danger of having them executed repeatedly by the server TCP IP Control TCP IP communication is conducted on port 557 of the server unless otherwise specified and configured This method requires that the content of server client conversations bear the following format Table 1 2 TCP IP Message Format Feld Format Description OO O 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 11 Nexio AMP Protocol e em mm CMD 1 1 byte unsigned integer Contains Basic Command Group and Byte Count CMD 2 1 byte unsigned integer DATAO N bytes size depends on Optional One or more bytes containing data DATA N 1 command or response required to act upon or further interpret the specific command The checksum is not included For most command and control operations the controller must select a channel against which it wants to perform the task This is done with the Set Logical Channel C1 AC command The controller is responsible for managing its own timeouts and retries If for any reason a controller crashes or cables become disconnected the server will close the current connection and wait for a new connection at which time the controller can reconnect Dual LLM Control As of the Nexio
246. subclip will incorporate the timecode of the parent ID from the specified INTC to OUTTC The timecode type of the subclip will be derived from INTC and may differ from that of the Parent ID It is up to the controller to specify a valid Parent ID when creating the subclip Either way the server responds with an ACK 10 01 even if the Parent ID does not exist Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 95 Nexio AMP Protocol Command format violates the convention of data count embedded in LSN of CMD 1 CC B6 Redefine ID In Point Syntax CC B6 INTC ID INTC 4 bytes indicating the ID s In Point timecode in the format of FF SS MM HH ID 8 byte ID handle Response 10 01 or DO B6 if ID handle is not found Description This command redefines the In Point of the specified ID handle No material is moved or released in the process however the timecode type will change to that specified in INTC This command is useful in altering the start time of a clip without affecting the ID s length The controller should think of this command as striping a new timecode track onto existing material If the ID handle is not found the server returns DO B6 Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit h
247. t bit of the tens nibble of the seconds byte will be set high if the server is displaying field 2 video If the specified CODE is missing or invalid the server will return all nulls in place of timecode 74 04 00 00 00 00 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 48 Nexio AMP Protocol The following table lists the available codes Table 2 31 Source Timecode Codes wo viTc ite qo As of the Nexio AMP 4 5 release this command can provide embedded timecode information in the data returned including discontinuities in the timecode on play out However the channel s output timecode property must first be set using the 11 Bit Mask of the Set Special Channel Properties CF B1 command Discontinuities in timecode during recordings are not reported dynamically Only on play out If the full embedded timecode implementation is not enabled the server operates in legacy fashion returning the SOM based timecode as though it were the Sony LTC type Drop Frame Timecode Note In the timecode syntax of FF SS MM HH the frames unit has a base value C8 BO Syntax CONTROL Response Description of 40 to indicate drop frame timecode in NTSC PAL timecode and non drop frame NTSC are 0 based Set Controller ID C8 BO CONTROL 8 byte unsigned integer MSB first 10 01 This command allows a controller to assign an ID for the current controller connection The controller need only select a u
248. tarting from low LTC to high Time of Day If no source is selected or if neither of the selected sources receives valid timecode information then the timecode is determined by the current location of the channel this is the default To support the input of LTC the optional NXUSBLTC device must be connected to the server feeding timecode to the desired input channels Example To ignore all external timecode C1 B7 00 To record from either VITC1 or VITC2 with VITC1 having priority Cl B7 06 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 57 Nexio AMP Protocol CO 50 Get Audio Status Syntax CO 50 Response D4 50 NUMBER RES SAMPLES NUMBER 1 byte unsigned integer indicating the number of audio channels enabled RES 1 byte unsigned integer reserved and currently set to zero SAMPLES 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first indicating the sample rate of the audio Description This command retrieves a channel s current audio information The return data indicates the number of active audio channels and their current audio sample rate CT 521 Get Audio Levels Syntax C151 CODE CODE 1 byte unsigned integer as indicated in table below Response D4 51 CH1 CH2 or D8 51 CH1 CH2 CH3 CH4 or DF 51 BC CH1 CH2 CH16 CHn 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first as defined in tables below BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating total amount of data to follow Description This command returns the current audio levels and gain
249. tch its size in transfer Table 2 82 Get File Size Types Type Value Returned 0x0005 Exact disk size 0x0006 Approximate transfer size The SIZE returned by the server is a 64 bit value represented MSB first If the ID handle is not found the server returns DO C9 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 128 Nexio AMP Protocol Chapter 3 VDCP Protocol General Information Note This portion of the document was copyrighted by LOUTH AUTOMATION INC It has been edited with permission to reflect the precise Nexio implementation of this protocol This document coincides with LOUTH s 2003 Protocol Manual Any Nexio specific additions to the text will be preceded with the declaration Nexio Addendum The video disk communications protocol VDCP uses a tightly coupled master slave methodology The controlling device will take the initiative in communications between the controlling device automation and the controlled device server The topology will be point to point The video disk protocol conforms to the OSI open system interconnection reference model Layer 1 is the physical layer which consists of the electrical and mechanical specifications Layer 2 the data link level covers the synchronization and error control for the information transmitted over the physical link Layers 3 and 4 provide network functionality and are not applicable Layer 5 the session layer provides the control s
250. te according to this table Table 2 65 Video QA Status Bits Meaning None Passed Failed N H IO 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 83 Nexio AMP Protocol 3 Analyzing 4 Pending All clips arrive in the system with an initial state of 0 If a QuiC media analyzer is attached to the server system it will monitor the system for new media and analyze it and report back information to this field Using the Audio Track Router interface introduced with the Nexio 6 0 Software Release it is possible define existing audio tracks and attach additional audio tracks to recorded media so that they can be routed on play out to different tracks depending on audio compression and language needs Extended Fields 23 and 24 help manage the information associated with each track The Audio Track Compression Info field reports the compression information associated with every possible audio track in a clip The structure of the field is broken down into one byte per audio track up to a maximum of 32 Table 2 66 Audio Track Compression Info Description Indicates a track containing compressed audio which requires being stored within a pair of tracks Neural DTS Dolby Digital AC3 and Dolby E Indicates the number of actual audio tracks stored within the compressed audio track This information is mandatory for all compressed audio PCM 0 Indicates t
251. tem which allows building a list of clips or pieces of clips that are as short as 10 frames in length Normal stacked play back requires clips no shorter than 3 seconds in length The Local Timeline Control command is more than just a single command It s actually several different commands built into one The idea is that the controller prepares a playlist of clips starts them playing back and then dynamically manages the list as it plays to air And the controller does it all with the CF 88 command There are three different sets of data managed within this command the data bitmap variables the sub code functions and the error code status The data bitmap identifies the parameters used within the functions Table 2 76 Timeline Data Bitmap Bit Mask Size Description 0 0x01 2 Entry ID MSB first 1 0x02 2 New Entry ID MSB first 2 0x04 4 Timecode in point 3 0x08 4 Duration timecode 4 0X10 8 8 byte ID Handle 6 0x40 Variable Transition effects descriptor not currently available 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 121 Nexio AMP Protocol 7 0x80 Variable Extended ID name The first two entry ID parameters refer to the placement of an ID within the timeline The first entry should be position 00 with each each incrementing by one up to a maximum entry ID of 255 No more than 256 entries can be managed within the timeline at any one time Th
252. tended option Byte 4 Bit 0 No audio or video of any nature unrecorded disk errors decode errors Byte 4 Bit 1 Excessive drift Byte 5 Bit O Clip stacked in Preview is ready to play Status 4 Port Settings One or more bits if multiple outputs are active should be set to a 1 to indicate the format of the active ports Status 5 Video Compression Type As of the Nexio 5 7 0 Software Release Nexio platforms support an optional configuration that provides the video compressions and video resolutions for each server channel This option must be enabled in the LLM registry LLM Control VideoStatusEnable When set to the default value of 0 the LLM reports Port Status as it always has When set to a value of 1 the LLM will provide informatio about what types of clips may be loaded in a particular channel That information is sent as a series of bytes Byte 1 Byte Count The total bytes of data to follow If O feature not supported Byte 2 LSB Nibble First video format supported by the port Byte 2 MSB Nibble Video resolutions supported by the port Byte 3 LSB Nibble Second video format supported by the port Byte 3 MSB Nibble Same video resolutions supported by the port Byte N LSB Nibble Last video format supported by the port Byte N MSB Nibble Same video resolutions supported by the port 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 153 Nexio AMP Protocol The first byte returned is a byt
253. ter a Play command 10 01 is received Controllers should not attempt to compensate for capstan run up ballistics when controlling a Nexio Sequenced or stacked playback in VDCP works exactly the same as Sequenced Playback in LEITCH Mode The Play Cue and Cue with Data commands have the dual purpose to be able to cue an ID whether the machine is in PLAY or in IDLE mode When in IDLE they will search and display the first frame of the ID A subsequent Play command will play the currently loaded ID If the Play Cue or Cue with Data commands are received while in PLAY the machine will continue to play the current ID and cue the new ID specified to have it on standby until another Play command is received Example 1 Recording Media The following is an example of recording a 30 second segment called SEGMENT1 on channel 1 30 01 RECORDPORT OPEN PORT If not already done this opens a signal port upon which to record RECORDPORT 81 20 22 RECORDPORT SELECT PORT Selects the opened signal port before recording RECORDPORT 81 AO 23 BC SEGMENT1 00 30 00 00 RECORD INIT Creates a new ID and assigns 00 00 00 00 as the first aliased timecode frame of that ID Record time is set for thirty seconds The CUED status bit will be set high 10 02 RECORD The server selects a contiguous free area of the disk storage large enough to hold the 30 seconds of material The recording will begin and the PLAY REC status bit will be set 2014
254. the Get Channel Status 61 20 command to determine when the transition from one clip to another has occurred The controller need only look for the PVW IN and PVW OUT bits to drop to know that the preview slot is available Sequenced playback is initiated with the Play 20 01 command As mentioned when the preset clip finishes playing there is an automatic transition to the preview clip if one exists A controller can trigger a premature transition to the next clip with the Next Cue CO 02 command Sequenced playback is terminated with a Stop 20 00 command or no more clips loaded in the preview slot What follows is an example using Nexio protocol for cueing and playing media in a stacked playlist For more detail on the commands and their proper usage please consult their individual descriptions later in this chapter Table 2 12 Cueing and Playing Media Protocol Description C1 AC 00 Selects the desired channel to control This assumes the controller has verified that the channel is capable of playing the desired media 40 41 Sets the channel into auto mode clearing the preset bits of In and Out Points 61 20 OF Checks the current status of the channel to ensure that it is in a state to load and play a clip 28 31 25 30 30 30 30 31 32 33 Cues up the specified clip to its first frame 61 20 OF Checks the channel status until the cued bit is set A controller should use this command regularly to ensure the channel
255. the previous ID that is cueing or cued should be aborted and the new ID cued for play out If the disk is idle when a cue command is received it should cue the ID for play out and wait for a PLAY command If the ID is not found then an error occurs and the status returns to its previous state When the command is received and validated that the disk can cue the CUE INIT bit in the port status is set When the cueing process is complete and the ID is available to play the CUE INIT DONE bit in the port status should be set The PLAY command may only be sent when the CUE INIT DONE bit is set or an error will be logged for the PLAY command When the PLAY command is received the material will begin playing on the next video reference interval If another CUE command is received prior to receiving a PLAY command the previous CUE will be aborted and CUE process will begin for the new ID The cueing bit may be cleared or left active once cued but both CUE INIT and CUE INIT DONE bits must be cleared when a PLAY or STOP command is received The port must be a signal output port or an error is logged and the port will remain in its previous state It is recommended that once the CUE INIT DONE bit is set the disk is cued and the disk is not playing a previous ID that the disk blacks until a PLAY STOP or CUE command is received This prevents any incorrect video picture from being played to air if there is a video disk switcher timing mismatch If still vi
256. the timeline at the end of play back To set this advanced mode the controller should use the Set Channel Properties CF B1 command for mask 0x00040000 and set the channel to a value of 1 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 123 Nexio AMP Protocol RAIDSoft Information Commands CO 81 List First Disk Syntax Response LABEL Description C1 81 CO 81 DC 81 LABEL or DO 81 if no disks found 12 byte string null padded This command returns the label of the first disk volume in the data array If there are no valid disks DO 81 is returned This command is followed up with the CO 82 List Next Disk command to retrieve the rest of the disk volumes if any List First Disk with Status Syntax MODE Response LABEL STATUS Description C181 MODE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating the command mode desired DC 81 LABEL or DD 81 LABEL STATUS or DO 81 if no disks found 12 byte string null padded 1 byte unsigned integer This command returns the label of the first disk volume in the data array with the option of also requesting the status of the disk array The MODE options are as follows Table 2 79 Disk Array Status Modes MODE Description Response 0 List only valid disks no status Same as DC 81 LABEL CO 81 command 1 List all disks with status of 1 Valid O DD 81 LABEL O1 Invalid 2 List all disks with extended status DD 81 LABEL STATUS
257. tions All Rights Reserved Page 22 Nexio AMP Protocol PST OUT bits also alert the controller if the currently loaded clip has a specified In and Out Point After that the controller need only send a Play 20 01 command to get the ID rolling after the pre determined latency has passed There is also a mechanism in the server protocol that allows a series of IDs to be played back to back in succession producing a seamless transition between each clip The commands responsible for this are e Preset Preview In Point Ax 04 e Preset Preview Out Point Ax 05 This sequenced or stacked playback works in conjunction with the Cue Up commands where one clip is cued into the Preset slot and the other clip is loaded into the Preview slot After the preset clip has completely played out the preview clip becomes the new preset and the preview slot is free to accept another ID This mechanism ensures that there will be an ID cued and ready for immediate play out at the moment that the current clip has completed If the preview slot is empty the currently playing clip will stop at its Out Point less one frame The contents of the preset and preview slots can be replaced by sending new preset or preview commands However a controller should be careful not to change the clip in the preview slot too close to the preset Out Point of the clip currently in the preset slot A controller should regularly check the channel s status bits using
258. tocol commands What follows is a basic workflow for how a controller might use the local timeline control Table 2 19 Local Timeline Workflow Protocol Command Description 40 40 Set Auto Mode Off Disengages local timeline control in case a timeline was already loaded 20 00 Stop Unloads anything that might be loaded in the channel 4041 Set Auto Mode On Engages local timeline control CF 88 Local Timeline Control A series of these commands are sent to set up the list of clips to be played in order 20 30 Preroll This performs the function of cueing the timeline Do not use the normal cue up commands 2001 Play Plays the timeline CF 88 Local Timeline Control During playback monitor status of the timeline It is also possible to add more clips to or remove clips from the timeline 20 00 Stop Send this command when the timeline is complete or when you want to stop the playlist 40 40 Set Auto Mode Off Disengage timeline control to turn off the feature The CF 88 command has multiple functions for building and managing the local timeline The controller has the option of building the list using the clips regular ID or its 8 byte ID handle They can add and remove individual elements in the list based on the element s position number They can even do this adding and removing of clips while the playlist is on the air However it is important that any clip within a 3 second window of the cu
259. tructure for communications between applications establishes manages and terminates connections sessions between cooperating applications Level 6 the presentation layer contains the control language dialect The command table and command description provide this functionality Command And Response Data communications between the CONTROLLING DEVICE automation and the CONTROLLED DEVICE server is performed in accordance with the following format Table 3 83 VDCP Command Structure Field Format Description STX 1 byte Start of text code hard coded to 02h BC 1 byte Byte count the number of bytes between the byte count and the checksum CMD 1 1 byte consisting of 2 Command 1 the Unit Address Nibble Bit 0 3 should be nibbles set to O for Nexio servers the Command Type Nibble Bit 4 7 defines the type of command being sent CMD 2 1 byte Command 2 the command code which identifies the syntax of the data if any that follows DATA 1 DATA N N bytes size depends Command data on command response CHECKSUM 1 byte The 2 s complement of the least significant byte of the sum of all command and data bytes from the first command byte to immediately before the checksum 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 129 Nexio AMP Protocol Bits 4 7 of the CMD 1 byte define the type of command sent by the controller They are broken up into the following command groups Table 3 84 VD
260. uese tracks and as a backup to the backup to play the Dolby E English and PCM English tracks then the controller would send the following commands in sequence CF 55 21 02 C1 00 C1 00 B1 00 B1 00 00 00 andsoon CF 55 21 03 C3 00 C3 00 B3 00 B3 00 00 00 andsoon CF 55 21 04 CO 00 CO 00 BO 00 BO 00 00 00 andsoon Then when the clip referenced earlier is loaded in this channel its seventh and eight tracks tag C1 which contain the Dolby E Spanish would be re routed to play out of audio tracks one and two The PCM Spanish found on tracks five and six would be re routed to tracks three and four see table below The Portuguese tracks on that clip would not be routed anywhere Table 2 18 Sample Track Routing Track Source Primary Secondary Tertiary Final Number Audio Mask Mask Mask Result 1 C3 C1 C3 CO C1 7 2 C3 C1 C3 CO C1 8 3 B3 B1 B3 BO B1 5 4 B3 B1 B3 BO B1 6 5 B1 00 00 00 00 6 B1 00 00 00 00 7 C1 00 00 00 00 8 C1 00 00 00 00 If instead the clip had no defined Spanish tracks all four of its Portuguese tracks would have played out of the channel s first four tracks based on the secondary routing table created above And if none of the clip s tracks had any tags defined the routing tables simply get ignored and the audio tracks as stored with the clip will play out the tracks as they were originally recorded The pass through setting is always the default unless a channe
261. umber of channels available on a server EE Syntax A021 Response 88 21 DID DID Unterminated 8 byte string Description This command returns the value set by the Set Device ID A8 20 command This command is useful in distinguishing machines within a large system A8 20 Set Device ID Syntax A8 20 DID DID Unterminated 8 byte string Response 1001 Description This command sets the server s Device ID for the current channel to the specified DID This command is useful in distinguishing machines within a large system Use the Select Logical Channel C1 AC command to select the desired channel 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 50 Nexio AMP Protocol co 03 ef Y MB o Ye To BER D Syntax co 03 Response D8 03ID or DO 03 if ID is not found ID 8 byte ID handle Description This command retrieves the currently loaded ID handle in the channel If no ID is loaded the server returns DO 03 A8 18 ID Status Request Syntax A8 18 ID ID 8 byte ID handle Response 81 18 STATUS STATUS 1 byte unsigned integer Description This command returns the status of the specified ID handle STATUS is defined by the following table Table 2 32 ID Status Report Status Description 0x00 ID does not exist 0x01 ID exists 0x02 ID is loaded 0x03 ID exists and is loaded 61 20 Get Channel Status Syntax 6120 DATA DATA 1 byte unsigned integer Response 7x 20 BYTES where x
262. urrently loaded ID s procamp values as stored in the ID s metadata The DEVICE parameter must match the previously set parameter by the Set Manual Procamp command but again for most clips this would equal 0 If procamp changes were made to the loaded clip and those changes were written to the ID s metadata using the Set ID Metadata CF 44 command the controller should ensure the changes took effect by polling the Get ID Metadata C8 4A command at greater than 50 millisecond intervals This confirmation of metadata will insure that no spikes occur in the video when the channel is reset CF 66 Set Manual Video ARC Syntax CF 66 DEVICE MODE HSIZE HPOS HCROP VSIZE VPOS VCROP DEVICE 1 byte unsigned integer indicating video stream affected MODE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first representing the ARC MODE HSIZE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first HPOS 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first HCROP 2 1 byte unsigned integers VSIZE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first VPOS 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first VCROP 2 1 byte unsigned integers Response 1001 Description This command allows a controller to interactively adjust the video aspect ratio conversion of a loaded ID before deciding whether to write those values to the ID s 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 89 Nexio AMP Protocol metadata There must be a clip loaded in the selected channel and that clip must have the opposite resolution of the
263. use MODE 0 looks for the specified LABEL So the various threads of the controlling application are not restricted to poll inside a critical section In order to avoid name conflicts between different controlling applications a possible strategy would be to precede all the names by the application s name except for the locks that eventually will need to be shared by all applications 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 67 Nexio AMP Protocol Per Connection Acquiring a lock in the Per Connection Local Locks is very similar in command structure to the Server Network Locks except instead of appending the controller s label to the lock s name the controller begins the lock process by storing its owner s label using MODE 5 The real difference is seen in how the LLM responds to the commands Because the Per Connection locks are local the result can be returned in the same command No polling is necessary Name conflicts are not as big of a problem either A controller can use the same lock when controlling channels on different servers because the lock names themselves are defined locally and not across the network In addition the Per Connection locks provide an emergency mode 9 that allows a controller to force the release of a lock by all connections and another mode 10 that allows a controller to query who owns a lock Table 2 50 Lock Status Bitmap Mode 6 amp 7 LLM Response De
264. very long time so long as it is within the limits of the disk storage The server will stop recording when such time has elapsed when it receives a Stop command or when the disk space assigned to the selected ID is exhausted 10 02 RECORD The server selects a contiguous free area of the disk storage large enough to hold the material The PLAY REC status bit will be set high 30 05 OF PORT STATUS REQUEST The controller should monitor the progress of the recording on a regular basis 30 06 01 POSITION REQUEST The controller should monitor the timecode progression of the recording on a regular basis 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 164 Nexio AMP Protocol 10 00 STOP When the desired length has been reached this command will stop the server from recording The ID s new duration will be updated in the internal database The IDLE status bit will be set high Example 3 Media Playback The following is an example of playing to air a single ID named SEGMENT1 30 01 PLAYPORT OPEN PORT If not already done this opens a signal port upon which to play PLAYPORT 01 20 22 PLAYPORT SELECT PORT Selects the opened signal port before playing PLAYPORT 01 AO 24 BC SEGMENT1 PLAY CUE If SEGMENT1 exists the server displays field 1 of the first frame assigned to that ID The CUED status bit will be high upon successful completion 1001 PLAY The server enters into play and will play from th
265. x07 6 1655 0x08 7 1778 0x09 9 1911 OxOA 0 2054 0x0B 2 2207 Ox0C 3 2371 Ox0D 5 2548 OxOE 7 2738 OxOF 9 2943 0x10 1 3162 0x11 4 3398 0x12 6 3652 0x13 9 3924 0x14 2 4217 0x15 5 4532 0x16 8 4870 0x17 2 5233 0x18 562 5623 O19 60 039 60 oco 604 ox79 6043 Ox1A 649 6494 Ox1B 698 6978 Ox1C 750 7499 oD 81 p 80 osp 806 8058 Odit 86 os 87 ose 866 Ox1F 931 Speeds above 11096 are dependent on drive performance and may not be exact SPEEDDATA values above Ox7F will translate to 930696 speed The commands that allow two bytes for SPEEDDATA provide for a much more precise value of speed For example with the one byte commands exactly 5096 playback is not possible By manipulating the two SPEEDDATA values in the two byte commands it is possible to set literally any speed value allowed The two byte commands use the following formula 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 116 Nexio AMP Protocol SPEED 10 SPEEDDATAx 32 2 4 SPEEDDATAy 256 10 SPEEDDATAx 1 32 2 _ 4 g SPEEDDATAx 32 2 The SPEEDDATA values as used in the protocol string are in hex Their values as used in the formulas above are in decimal The following table provides a few examples of the precision difference between the one byte formula and the two byte formula Table 2 74 2 Byte Speed Data Calculations SPEEDDATAx SPEEDDATAy 1 Byt
266. x800000 128 times std play speed reverse 10 OA EE Mode Syntax 10 0A MODE MODE 1 byte indicating mode of EE implemented SEND DATA 1 specifies the EE MODE to put the output in When SEND DATA 1 is zero The output should be put in the EE OFF mode EE OFF specifies that the input signal is not routed through to the output 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 138 Nexio AMP Protocol When SEND DATA 1 is a value of one The output should be put in the EE ON mode EE ON specifies the input signal is always routed through to the output When SEND DATA 1 is a value of two The output should be put in the EE AUTO mode EE AUTO specifies the input signal is routed through to the output when the video port is not in play mode and the playing material is routed through to the output when the video port is in play mode This is an immediate command that takes effect on the current or selected video port only Preset Select Commands AO 1D Rename ID Syntax AO 1D BC XID BC2 NEWXID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID BC2 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data to of the new ID NEWXID New Extended ID This command renames an ID in the video disk from the Original ID to the New ID The Original ID will no longer exist once the command is executed Video data does not need to be changed The disk must put the Original ID in the IDs Delete List and the
267. y in the Control Branch The DWord registry setting is VdcpUnloadRecordComplete Set this registry to 1 to enable the option to unload clips at the end of a recording whose duration was preset By default this option is turned off set to 0 so as not to interfere with existing VDCP controller logic Syntax 20 2E ID or AO 2E BC XID ID 8 byte ID BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID The SYSTEM DELETE ID command is used to remove material from the disk system and all other disk systems on its network or any other disk systems that it communicates with This command is to be used in situations where several disk systems may communicate with one another and transfer files between them The disk system that receives this command must broadcast it on its network or communication channel to other disk systems it communicates to All other disk systems that receive the command must act on itin the same way When a piece of material is no longer needed it must be removed from all disk systems in the network Removing the material from all of the systems will ensure that only the newest version of an ID will be used on any disk in the system In a typical configuration there may be one or more disks that material is dubbed into originally that are considered the library disk s There would also be one or more playout disks on the network that would transfer the needed files from the li
268. yntax 00 11 Response 12 11 CODE CODE 2 byte unsigned integer MSB first as seen in table below Description This is a legacy command that is more relevant to the old VR and original Nexio server platforms It is recommended that controllers retrieve the below information through other protocol commands for current shipping products If sent to the server however it will return one of the following codes Table 2 21 Server Types Code Description OxAA11 2 channel server FILM OxAA12 2 channel server NTSC OxAA13 2 channel server PAL OxAA15 2 channel server FILM VBI OxAA16 2 channel server NTSC VBI OxAA17 2 channel server PAL VBI OxAA31 4 channel server FILM OxAA32 4 channel server NTSC OxAA33 4 channel server PAL OxAA35 4 channel server FILM VBI OxAA36 4 channel server NTSC VBI OxAA37 4 channel server PAL VBI The information regarding number of channels returned only indicates the number of video channels capable of playing back material Nexio servers can include one or two Record Only channels in addition to the number indicated in the command response To accurately determine the total number of channels in a Nexio AMP Volt or XS server a controller should instead use the Set Logical Channel C1 AC command to attempt to control the highest number channel possible If the server does not have that number of channels the response to the Get Logical
269. zation Syntax 20 2C ID SOM DUR or AO 2C BC XID SOM DUR ID 8 byte ID SOM 4 bytes indicating start timecode of clip DUR 4 bytes indicating duration of clip BC 1 byte unsigned integer indicating amount of data of the original ID XID Extended ID 2014 Imagine Communications All Rights Reserved Page 144 Nexio AMP Protocol This RECORD INIT WITH DATA command has all the features and requirements of the RECORD INIT command with the following changes The ID may already exist on the disk see addendum below If the ID exists on the disk the dub over starts at the start position given in SEND DATA 9 through 12 and has the duration given in SEND DATA 13 through 16 see addendum below If the ID does not exist in the disk a new media file is recorded for the ID and if the disk keeps timecode internally the start position given in SEND DATA 9 through 12 should be the timecode of the first frame of video SEND DATA 1 through SEND DATA 8 contain the ID SEND DATA 9 through 12 contain the desired start position within ID SEND DATA 13 through 16 contain the desired length in BCD Note Use of the AO 2C command bears the format described in the section on Variable Length IDs Nexio Addendum Cases 1 and 2 are not supported by the Nexio server As of the Nexio 5 7 0 Software Release there is a new option with Case 3 which will automatically unload the ID after it completes the recording This option is enabled in the LLM registr

Nexio AMP Protocol 7.5 Developers Guide

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