📄 Blackmagic/Haivision backpack

Blackmagic remote control

This article will describe a typical use case “Remote control of a wireless camera”, here on a Blackmagic URSA G2.

This event was covered by AVEO, APR , and LENI (France).

We will cover:

  • Blackmagic URSA G2 camera control
  • Haivision integration through their Data Bridge
  • RIO with RSBM (Blackmagic SDI interface)
  • RCP
  • Tally input from an ATEM and routing to the remote camera through RCP and RIO

Backpack setup:

You can see:

  • The RIO and the RSBM (blue boxes), provide camera control and tally output
  • The Haivision encoding video and providing the Data Bridge to link RCP/RIO through the Haivision tunnel.

  • The camera wired to the backpack:

    • power supply to a hot swap battery system
    • SDI out, going to the Haivision encoder
    • SDI in, coming from RIO/RSBM providing control of the camera and tally

The Blackmagic URSA G2 could be controlled through IP with the latest camera update. But unfortunately, there is no tally in the IP protocol of the camera. So if you need tally, the only possibility is through SDI (input on the camera). And this requires a RSBM to provide an SDI to your RIO.


RIO setup

Checking for update

It's always a good idea before a new season if you have time, to check for new updates.

You have all the new features and bug fixes. But it also helps find and fix the new ones. So you're helping the Cyanview community!

I updated my RIO:

And my RCP:

You can update through the admin page (online, through internet) or you can find update files for offline usage here to download on your computer

  • online update consists of clicking on a new version, the RIO/RCP downloads and install it
  • Offline update starts by downloading the file on a computer, and then you drag and drop the file on the webpage of your device

RIO: Camera configuration

You can find more info here

I started with creating a Blackmagic bus:

If our camera ID was 1 (the default), this “blackmagic bus” could've been skipped. But this step allows us to select later on the correct camera ID.

  • In [Interface : Port], I selected my RIO (50-82) and on which port it's plugged (here, port 1, leaving my second port free)
  • In IDs, I ensure to select a range big enough to contain my camera ID (my cam is ID 10, so 1-12 fits perfectly)

Now I can create my camera:

 

I have:

  • a cam name (CAM1) and a cam number (1) to distinguish them properly
  • a brand/model matching my camera (Blackmagic and SDI)
  • and the interface here is the Blackmagic bus I created earlier, and I selected my cam ID (10)

This is green, so it's properly configured.

Note that in IP, the control is bidirectional. But here, we chose SDI for the tally capability that is missing from IP. In SDI, the control is unidirectional. So “green”, it just means that the camera is properly configured and that RIO and RSBM are working. But not that we have camera control:

  • if your SDI cable is broken
  • if your camera ID is not ID 10 (like we configured)
  • if your lens is not properly configured (“iris auto”, for remote control, servo active, etc.) So always check from RCP, and change anything like tally or iris to see if it works.

Note that you could go for Blackmagic IP and add an external tally light:

Note that we didn't set up anything about

  • tally, as it's handled by the camera itself in this case (through SDI)
  • external lens, as the iris/lens is controlled through the camera (SDI).


RIO/RCP REMI setup

The REMI is the protocol used between RCP and RIO.

It works:

  • in LAN (Ethernet, Fiber, Wi-Fi)
  • through Internet (Ethernet, 4G, etc.)
  • RF

And in our case here: through the Haivision Data Bridge.

The advantage of the data bridge in our case is that:

  • Video and telemetry are “linked” (you don't have a situation where you have video, but no telemetry)
  • No hassle with 4G modems and SIM as you're using the Haivision data plan

RCP/RIO allows you to control serial/SDI cameras through an IP tunnel remotely. But it's also interesting for IP cameras as our REMI is optimized for remote control: low bandwidth, reduced latency, etc. Camera protocols are rarely designed to work remotely with latency and packet drops. Adding a RIO on the camera side helps in these situations (PTZ, etc.)

We add a REMI tag (mix between a group and a password) in our RIO:

I add the same tag in my RCP:

And now the RCP automatically discovers and lists RIOs, RCPs, and shared cameras:

Once the cam is selected, it's imported into my RCP and I can control it:

NOTE
You see that in RCP, it's an Imported camera. It's because the camera is really controlled by the RIO. The RCP is just sending/receiving information through REMI, but the camera control with the camera protocol is done on RIO side. Reducing latency and improving stability.


Haivision Data Bridge

This is not covered here, as it's too specific to your kit and setup.

You can find more information in this integration guide

But it more or less looks like this in our setup:


Tally input from ATEM

You can find more info on this guide

You can see:

  • I added my ATEM in the component section
  • I set up a name (ATEM, could be whatever you want)
  • The IP (192.168.88.1) of my ATEM, ensures it matches your RCP network
  • I link my camera 1 to input 1, this allows us to properly route tally
  • I set up tally red and green to “AUTO” to receive tally from ATEM

And that's all, RCP will now receive tally info and route it to your camera.

NOTE
I don't link my RCP to any output, as I just have 1 cam. But if you have more than one cam, you can preview your RCP cam selection on an aux output

I used “AUTO” here to use the tally from the ATEM. This supports picture in picture, etc. In more complex tally setup (like a music festival), you could configure multiple outputs (output 1 for giant screen, output 2 for Instagram live, etc.) as tally and then the RCP will deduce tally itself.