Production Switchers

So I'm working on a new engineering project at work and I'm running into a bit of a roadblock.

We currently have a Media Studio that is running a BM ATEM 4 M/E, a BM 40x40 and a BM Talkback that is currently handling signal flow for Tally to some BM G2. Don't blame me, I didn't build the studio but I am fixing it. Lol.

I want to swap out the ATEM for one of the spare Carbonites that we have since it'll provide more of the features we need in the studio, which is 50% filming and 50% broadcast.

The current issue I am running into is I want to maintain the signal flow for the Tally on return SDI to the G2's, I want to remove the ATEM completely and swap it for the Carb. As it stands, the ATEM currently sends the Tally signal back through embedded SDI and I'm trying to find a solution that will convert the Carb's GPIO signal to embedded SDI. Real estate is at a premium currently and there's little chance I'll be able to run different cables.

I saw Skaathoj had a SDI-GPI link that would have worked exactly as I needed, but it seems as though they don't produce it anymore. I'm looking for alternatives that will do what I'm looking for. I know they have a ETH-GPI system, but I have no idea how I'd integrate that into the BM Talkback as I can't find any online documentation about it or have found anyone who's done something similar. 

If anybody had info on how it would work that would be great. Other than that, different solutions would be appreciated also. If it helps any, the guys that run the studio do all of their shading in camera, they don't even use the BM software to shade so if I lose the ATEM completely, it will not effect our work flow. 

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Andrew Marchand
Live Broadcast Engineer
Toronto Canada
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Hi Andrew,

we used to operate an atem constellation 8K with BMD URSA broadcast G2 cameras ( the full rig with camera fiber and studio fiber ). 

we also have an Ultrix and we recently switch from ATEM to an ultrix Acuity. But before that we sometimes used some third party switchers. 

To induce tally into the URSA you can use the sub D 25 of the studio fiber converter and send a contact closure between the right pins ( see pinout in the manual) 

there is only one trick you must put a 9v power into the contact closure. the each « CCU » is wating for a powered contact.

regarding the coms, you need to feed the return input with a signal including 16 embedded audio channels ( I don't remember which channels are replaced by the coms talk and listen feeds… you need to have a signal with those channels populated so that the BMD is able to replace it) 

then you can connect your listen and talk feed into the CCU sub D 25. Another little trick: there is a wrong info the pinout document the talk and listen pins are inverted… ( pinout for mic is actually pinout for headset and headset is mic) I don't know if they update the manual…

for the shading operation an atem switcher is mandatory. 

so to sum up

tallies 

output contact closure from your carbonite and feed a studio fiber converter with those contacts puting a 9V power for each CCU ( take care to not put powerthe GPO on the carbonite side!!) 

Coms and shading 

I recommend to have a Atem ( with talkback functionality) to do the gateway 

feed the atem with a carbonite PGM ( it will be your video return feed for the cams) it will be used to do the shading operation 

and connect your com matrix in analog on the CCUs sub D 25 ( be cautious with the pinout) 

hope this helps 

best regards 

boris 

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Boris salhaji
EIC
France Télévisions
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Wow, thank you Boris, this is actually a well thought out and perfectly explained solution to the problem I'm having.

However, there's a bit too much risk involved in it. I'm technically a contractor for a corporate environment and I have to make sure I'm building everything to essentially be idiot proof. 

The fellas that run the studio do all their shading in camera. They have a comrex comm system and really only use the Talkback for the camera send and return feeds. I'm thinking since the solution you provided is a bit involved, they might get wary about it. 

It seems as though the best path forward is to just purchase a GPIO tally system since we already have the comms in place.

This guy might be the solution I'm looking for. 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1698517-REG/avmatrix_ts3019_6_ts3019_wireless_multi_camera_tally.html

I'd love to put in the Ultrix we have, but the 40x40 is more user friendly and the studio guys are more creative types and less broadcast.

Unfortunately I wasn't around when they built the studio a few years ago but it's my mess to fix now. 

Thanks again for the solution! I'm sure someone who's in my same situation will find it highly helpful 

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Andrew Marchand
Live Broadcast Engineer
Toronto Canada
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-18-2024 04:01
From: Boris salhaji
Subject: Carbonite GPIO to BM Talkback for Tally down SDI

Hi Andrew,

we used to operate an atem constellation 8K with BMD URSA broadcast G2 cameras ( the full rig with camera fiber and studio fiber ). 

we also have an Ultrix and we recently switch from ATEM to an ultrix Acuity. But before that we sometimes used some third party switchers. 

To induce tally into the URSA you can use the sub D 25 of the studio fiber converter and send a contact closure between the right pins ( see pinout in the manual) 

there is only one trick you must put a 9v power into the contact closure. the each « CCU » is wating for a powered contact.

regarding the coms, you need to feed the return input with a signal including 16 embedded audio channels ( I don't remember which channels are replaced by the coms talk and listen feeds… you need to have a signal with those channels populated so that the BMD is able to replace it) 

then you can connect your listen and talk feed into the CCU sub D 25. Another little trick: there is a wrong info the pinout document the talk and listen pins are inverted… ( pinout for mic is actually pinout for headset and headset is mic) I don't know if they update the manual…

for the shading operation an atem switcher is mandatory. 

so to sum up

tallies 

output contact closure from your carbonite and feed a studio fiber converter with those contacts puting a 9V power for each CCU ( take care to not put powerthe GPO on the carbonite side!!) 

Coms and shading 

I recommend to have a Atem ( with talkback functionality) to do the gateway 

feed the atem with a carbonite PGM ( it will be your video return feed for the cams) it will be used to do the shading operation 

and connect your com matrix in analog on the CCUs sub D 25 ( be cautious with the pinout) 

hope this helps 

best regards 

boris 

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Boris salhaji
EIC
France Télévisions
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We have a Carbonite Ultra that we use with BMD cameras and have solved the tally using a small NodeJS script and the TSL protocol.
The Carbonite sends the tally information to the script that is running on the computer where we have the Dashboard. The script uses one of the ME:s on a BMD mixer to trigger both red and green tally.
The BMD switcher controls the cameras and embeds talkback as well.

This is the script:

const UMD = require('tsl-umd');
const { Atem } = require('atem-connection')
const atemSwitcher = new Atem({ externalLog: console.log })

var atemAddress = '192.168.14.6'
var me = 0 // 0 = ME1, 1 = ME2
var tslPort = 5002

atemSwitcher.connect(atemAddress)
atemSwitcher.on('connected', () => {
  console.log('Connected to ATEM')
})

var umd = new UMD(tslPort)
console.log('Listening for TSL UMD on port ' + tslPort)

umd.on('message', function(tally) {

  // Print message
  // console.log('Tally address: ' + tally.address + ' Tally label: ' + tally.label + ' Tally address: ' + tally.address)
  // Swithing on PGM row
  if (tally.label.includes(':') && tally.address == 25) {
    var input = parseInt(tally.label.split(':')[2])
    if (input > 20) input = 20
    console.log('PGM: ' + input)
    atemSwitcher.changeProgramInput(input,me)
  }

  // Switching on PRV row
  if (tally.label.includes(':') && tally.address == 26) {
    var input = parseInt(tally.label.split(':')[2])
    if (input > 20) input = 20
    atemSwitcher.changePreviewInput(input,me)

    // If dissolving, red tally on prv row
    if (tally.tally2 == 1) {
      console.log('Dissolve: ' + input)
      atemSwitcher.setTransitionPosition(5000,me)

      // else green tally
    } else if (tally.tally1 == 1){
      console.log('PRV: ' + input)
      atemSwitcher.setTransitionPosition(0,me)
    }
  }
})

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Jimmy Spets
We Are One Church
Stockholm Sweden
------------------------------

Andrew-

I was in a similar situation when trying to get tally from our Ross Vision QMD-X to our BM URSA G2's. I purchased the Skaarhoj SDI-GPI link you mentioned and it has worked great and done exactly what I needed. I too was surprised they discontinued it. 

However, I do have a potential solution: You could look into purchasing the Skaarhoj ETH-GPI along with the ETH-SDI. Feed your contact closures into the ETH-GPI and you should be able to send the GPI trigger info via IP to the ETH-SDI which you then feed to your camera returns. This will require some configuration in Unisketch OS, which is the internal configuration on Skaarhoj devices. Each GPI trigger on the ETH-GPI manipulates a binary value called a "Flag", ie inactive=0 and active=1. The ETH-GPI is configured as a TCP Server which sends the flag values to the ETH-SDI. You do need to configure the ETH-SDI to look for the ETH-GPI's IP Address. This should work theoretically because they have a video where GPI triggers are sent over IP from one ETH-GPI and read back on another. So ETH-GPI to ETH-SDI should work as well. I HIGHLY recommend watching this video from Skaarhoj for a more thorough demonstration: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hAzCq6WMvU

It MAY be possible to send tally directly from the Carbonite to the ETH-SDI via IP without needing a ETH-GPI. I direct you to Pg. 4 of the "ETH-SDI Link" PDF I attached. I do know there is a Skaarhoj integration with TSL. You would need to ask Skaarhoj directly about this as they would know for sure.   

You can contact Skaarhoj support and they can verify if any of this will work. They are VERY good at responding to inquiries despite being on the other side of the world: support@skaarhoj.com

    

Hope this helps!

-Bob

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Bob Ramsay
Germantown Municipal School District - Germantown High School
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