Facility Control

I'm trying to create a very simple Dashboard custom panel to cue and play clips in Sienna's VirtualVTR app. VVTR supports VDCP, and I've successfully set it up as a VTR device on our Vision switcher. However, when I use the sample VDCP panel I'm unable to get Dashboard to communicate with VVTR.

Part of the problem seems to be with "Channels" -- whereas Blackstorm has up to four different channels and VVTR does not. In OpenGear Debug window in Dashboard I see "Channel1 Requesting" repeated over and over. Does anyone have any insight into trouble shooting this?

Hi Ryan,

While our switchers have created many different versions of their VDCP communications libraries to handle all of the variations in the different devices, the DashBoard implementation targeted only the interaction used for BlackStorm.

In terms of troubleshooting, if the VirtualVTR does not support channels, what are you supplying as a channel? Have you tried 0?

If you are able to capture the TCP/IP traffic going to/from the VirtualVTR through something like Wireshark, it might be helpful to compare the differences between the messages coming from the switcher to control the VTR vs. the messages from DashBoard.

Or, if the virtual VTR has a log of the messages it has received and any issues, that might provide you more information (I know BlackStorms do this).

James

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Thanks James.

When I set up our Vision switcher to communicate with VirtualVTR there were two options of VDCP protocol in the COMS setup page (on the Vision); "VDCP" and "VirtVTR." Because we already have Blackstorm working with the Vision I noted that the Remote COMS settings for Blackstorm channels used "Blackstorm" rather than "VDCP" and so I chose "VirtVTR" for VirtualVTR and it worked. I went back and tried using "VDCP" and it did not work; I got a "VTR Timeout" error on the Vision panel, so I'm assuming that "Blackstorm" and "VirtVTR" are examples of the different versions of VDCP communications libraries you mentioned.

In terms of "Channels" on VirtualVTR it's different from Blackstorm in that each instance of VirtualVTR can only play out one video at a time, so in essence there's only one "Channel" per. I have tried supplying 0 and Dashboard still tries to call Channel 1. I'm going to dig deeper in to this and try your suggestion of sniffing the TCP/IP traffic with Wireshark.

I appreciate your insight in to this. Thank you.

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James - I mispoke before; relooked at our Vision switcher and Blackstorm is using VDCP. The "Blackstorm" I was referring to was the Remote label in COMS.

In Dashboard I'm trying to get just one button to work using VDCP to cue a clip on VirtualVTR. I create a button, add a task, choose VDCP as Task Type, enter the IP of VirtualVTR and the port number, set the Command to "Cue Clip," and enter the proper Clip ID. However, no matter what number I use for the "Channel" I get no feedback at all in the openGear Debug Information window. Whereas when I use the VDCP sample panel from Dashboard U I get lots of feedback in openGear Debug. Am I missing something fundamental in my setup here?

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I suppose that depends on the nature of the "Feedback" you're getting.

Is it actually able to control it through the sample panel or just provide more descriptor failure messages?

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Not able to control it through the sample panel, just providing more descriptor failure messages. I get a "java.net.SocketTimeoutException" as well as others.

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Not able to control it through the sample panel, just providing more descriptor failure messages. I get a "java.net.SocketTimeoutException" as well as others.

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Okay. I wouldn't worry too much about it if the sample panel isn't able to control the device.

Looking at the spec sheet, it seems that TCP/IP control is generally expected to be done through the "Sienna Protocol" and not VDCP.

I chatted with the Switcher team and they confirmed for me that they use the Sienna Protocol when the switcher is configured to talk to a VirtualVTR. We took a quick stab at getting the switcher to control it via VDCP over TCP/IP from the switcher but were unsuccessful.

Your fastest path to success is likely to use the Sienna Protocol (you'll have to contact them for the documentation). You should then (in theory) be able to do what you want through rosstalk.sendMessage, rosstalk.sendAsBytes, or rosstalk.sendBytes.

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Thanks James. I've emailed Sienna asking them for documentation.

Worth noting that in VirtualVTR preferences there's a check box for "Use VDCP protocol" as well as a "Control via TCP/IP" check box. I've attached a screengrab for reference.

I've also attached a screengrab of our Vision panel's COM page; showing the correct config I'm using to control VirtualVTR from that switcher.





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Yup. We tried selecting "Use VDCP Protocol" but were still unable to control it through the switcher via TCP. It's possible that the VDCP interface is only enabled through serial and not TCP. Sienna would be better equipped to answer that than I am.

I still suspect that you'll have better luck using the rosstalk.sendMessage ogScript commands and the Sienna Protocol directly once you have access to the protocol docs.

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Gotcha, thanks again for your help with this, James. Once I hear back from Sienna I'll share any insight they provide. In the mean time I'll read up on the rosstalk commands you mentioned.

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Quick summary:

rosstalk.sendMessage is just a simple way to send ASCII commands over a TCP/IP connection. Most devices that can be controlled via a "raw socket" or "telnet" and used text-based commands can be controlled using these messages.

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James - I finally had more time to explore this topic further and am now able to control VirtualVTR using Dashboard. The basis of control using the rosstalk.sendMessage function. Had to dig around the VirtualVTR manual but I found the TCP/IP protocol info for it.

Just as an example, to play the currently loaded clip I created a button that executes the following when pressed:

rosstalk.sendMessage('IP OF VVTR MACHINE', 12345, 'COMMAND;PLAY');

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Hi Ryan.

Glad things are working for you. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

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