It’s possible to connect the Imagine Communication SNP directly with a Panasonic Kairos without the need for external switches or clocks.
Turn the SNP on using the small switch located on the front left of the Unit. Wait until the unit is booted -the running man will be skipping across the screen – please be patient for the unit to boot as this can take some time.
Set the IP address of the 1G management interface. Use the dial on the front, you will need to select ‘System Information’>’ System Control’ and then set the IP address. Don’t forget to scroll down and select save config at the bottom of the list.
Once the IP address is set you should be able to ping the network port once a cable is connected to the management port on the back of the SNP. (This is the port that you have just set the IP address for.)
Login to the web interface using the IP address set in the previous step. The default login credentials are:
Username: admin
Password: password
Once you have logged in, the first step is to check that the licenses are applied in the right places. Go to the ‘Tools’ menu, and then from the dropdown list you need to select the tab ‘License Management’. Check that ‘Sync/Remap/STAT Personality’ is enabled on all the processors which you wish to use to convert SDI to or from IP. Each processor will handle 8 spigots, so you may not need to enable all four. Any left over processors can be used for other things. Once finished you need to click save and close the menu to return to the main screen.
Next, you will need to go back to the ‘Tools’ tab and this time select ‘Configure Element’ from the dropdown menu. There are a number of tabs in this section that will need configuring. Select the ‘Reference’ tab first.
Under Genlock>Configuration set the output frame rate to match your production – depending on whether you are running at 50Hz or 60Hz. Next scroll down to PTP>Configuration and manually specify a PTP domain. This can be anywhere between 0 and 127.
You then need to make sure that the PTP Mode is set to ‘Master/Slave’, and then scroll down to PTP>Master Parameters. Ensure that Priority 1 is set to 1 and Priority 2 is set to 2. Then click the ‘Apply Genlock’ and ‘Apply PTP’ Buttons at the bottom.
Next select the IP WAN Tab. This is where you configure the network addresses of the 100G Media Interfaces on the back of the SNP. Depending on whether you have a single 100G link between the Kairos and the SNP or are using both the links for redundancy will depend on whether you need to set the Primary IP address or both the Primary and Secondary. The IP addresses for each of the 100G Media Interfaces should be on different IP ranges and preferably also be in a different subnet range from the Management port being used to access the Web Interface of the SNP. Click Apply WAN at the bottom. You can now close this tab and return to the main screen.
On the main screen in front of you, you will see a selection of small rectangular boxes each one of which represents 4 of the Micro BNCs on the back of the Unit. This is also referred to as a Spigot. Each group of 4 BNCs can be configured to convert SDI to IP or IP to SDI. At this stage you can configure your 32 inputs or outputs to meet the requirements of your show. Have a think about how you are going to use the Kairos and how you are going to allocate the number of Inputs and Outputs. It is easier to make changes now, than it will be later on down the line.
To configure a source to be encapsulated from SDI to IP you need to select Spigot you want to set up, which will bring up a window with 4 tabs. You need to select the 4th tabs named ‘Output’. Under IP Video Configuration you need to ensure the tickbox is selected for ‘Video IP Transmitter Enable’. You then need to scroll down to Primary IP address and enter the Multicast address that you would like to send the IP Video Stream to. Underneath this box you can set the Port Number you would like to use in the box underneath. Make sure you are using a unique multicast IP address for every single on of your IP Flows.
Next scroll down to ‘IP Audio Configuration’ and check the box next to Audio IP Transmitter Enable. In a similar fashion for how we did for the Video IP section you will need to enter a unique multicast address and port number in the Audio Configuration section. This must not be the same as the Video address or Port Number.
Under ‘Routing Control’ – just below the Video and Audio configuration section – you will see the number of audio channels that will be converted to IP. Make sure this number matches the number of Audio channels that the Kairos is expecting to receive in its system settings menu. Click ‘Apply’ at the bottom of the window and then close it.
Handy Hint – Within the video tab there is a test pattern generator which is enable by checking the TSG Enable box, which will allow you to Ident your IP streams should you need to use this function. Scrolling down to the bottom of the Video tab, you will also find an option to add a label to this test pattern.
These steps can be repeated for every Spigot that you wish to configure to convert SDI to IP.
The process to convert an IP output from the Kairos back to SDI is very similar. Once you have configured the required spigots to be in IP to SDI mode by selecting the relevant rectangular box, you will need to select the Input tab of the window that pops up rather than the output tab. Once in the input tab you need to find the IP Video Configuration section and enable the check box for Video IP Receiver Enable.
You then need to set the Receiver Video Standard (just underneath) to match the output of the Kairos that you would like to de-encapsulate. You need to tell the SNP what standard to expect from the Kairos. In the box labelled Primary IP address you enter the Multicast address that the feed from the Kairos is being sent to. You also need to specify the Port number underneath. Both the Primary IP and the Port Number must match the configured output on the Kairos. There is also a box called ‘Primary Multicast Source’. In this box you need to enter the IP address of the Media Interface on the back of the Kairos. If you are not using Source Specific Multicast simply enter 0.0.0.0.
Scroll down to the IP Audio Configuration. Ensure the Audio IP Receiver Enable box is checked. Match the number of audio channels to the same as is configured on the Kairos. As before enter the Primary IP address and Port Number of the Audio flow from the Kairos Output that accompanies the Video Stream.
These steps can be repeated for every Spigot you wish to configure for IP to SDI.
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