Alcorn Mcbride Digital Video Machine 4 User manual

Digital
Video
Machine
User’s Guide
by Alcorn McBride Inc.

Digital Video Machine 4
User’s Guide
Alcorn McBride Inc.

Document Revision 1.0
April 2006
Copyright 1996-2006 Alcorn McBride Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Video Machine 4
and the other Machine product line names are trademarks of Alcorn McBride Inc. Windows
is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. Pioneer is a trademark of its owners.
Every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained in this
manual, and the reliability of the hardware and software. Errors sometimes can go
undetected, however. If you find one, please bring it to our attention so that we can correct
it for others.
Alcorn McBride Inc. reserves the right to make changes to these products, without notice,
in order to improve their design or performance.
Applications described herein are for illustrative purposes only. Alcorn McBride Inc.
assumes no responsibility or liability for the use of any of these products, and makes no
representation or warranty that the use of these products for specific applications will be
suitable without further testing or modification.
Our equipment is not intended for use in applications where a malfunction can reasonably
be expected to result in personal injury or damage to equipment. Customers using or
selling Alcorn McBride Inc. products for use in such applications do so at their own risk, and
agree to fully indemnify Alcorn McBride Inc. for any damages resulting from such improper
use or sale.
Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories.
Product Design:
Scott Harkless, Jim Carstensen, Jeremy Scheinberg, Martin Chaney, Chris Harden, and
Steve Alcorn.
Alcorn McBride Inc.
3300 S. Hiawassee, Suite 105
Orlando, Florida 32835
TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
http://www.alcorn.com
[email protected]

Table of Contents
Welcome! ................................................................................. 1
Features ........................................................................................................................2
Technical Support .........................................................................................................3
Getting Started ........................................................................ 5
Give AMI Terminal a Try! ..............................................................................................5
How Do I Configure the DVM4?....................................................................................6
How Do I Make My Own MPEG File?...........................................................................6
How Do I Put My Media Files onto the DVM4? ............................................................6
Multiple DVM4’s with Same IP Address:.......................................................................7
How Do I Synchronize Channels on the DVM4? ..........................................................7
Most Importantly!...........................................................................................................7
Rear Panel................................................................................ 9
Composite Video (Breakout Cable) ..............................................................................9
Unbalanced Audio (Breakout Cable) ............................................................................9
Digital Audio (Breakout Cable)......................................................................................9
High-Density RGB (Breakout Cable) ............................................................................9
Ethernet Connector .....................................................................................................11
USB Connector ...........................................................................................................11
RS-232 Serial Connector (9-pin).................................................................................11
VGA Monitor Output....................................................................................................11
Detailed Command Summary .............................................. 13
Pioneer / AMI Protocol ................................................................................................13
Select File to Channel....................................................................................14
Play ................................................................................................................14
Loop Play .......................................................................................................15
Still .................................................................................................................15
Pause .............................................................................................................15
Stop................................................................................................................15
Audio Control .................................................................................................16
Video Control .................................................................................................16
Video Mode ....................................................................................................16
Video Colorspace...........................................................................................16
Video Aspect Ratio ........................................................................................17
Image Control.................................................................................................17
Image Location...............................................................................................17
Banner Text....................................................................................................17
Banner Font ...................................................................................................18
Banner Color ..................................................................................................18

Banner Location ............................................................................................ 18
Banner Velocity ............................................................................................. 18
Current Status ............................................................................................... 19
Current File.................................................................................................... 19
Device ID Set................................................................................................. 19
Firmware Version Request ............................................................................ 19
IP Address Set............................................................................................... 19
Gateway Address Set.................................................................................... 20
Subnet Mask Set ........................................................................................... 20
Assign Channel to Group .............................................................................. 20
Select File to Group....................................................................................... 20
Play Group..................................................................................................... 20
Loop Group.................................................................................................... 21
Still Group...................................................................................................... 21
Pause Group ................................................................................................. 21
Stop Group .................................................................................................... 21
Reset Video Channel..................................................................................... 21
Reset System ................................................................................................ 22
Set Time Zone ............................................................................................... 22
Set Longitude ................................................................................................ 22
Set Latitude ................................................................................................... 22
Set Time ........................................................................................................ 22
Set Date......................................................................................................... 22
Set Daylight Saving Time Support On/Off..................................................... 23
Set Daylight Saving Time Type ..................................................................... 23
Set Scheduler Logging On/Off ...................................................................... 23
Send Serial String.......................................................................................... 23
Error Codes ................................................................................................... 23
General Command Summary................................................25
Ethernet Control.....................................................................29
Hardware and Software Requirements ...................................................................... 29
AMINet Protocol ......................................................................................................... 29
Control Message Format ............................................................................................ 29
Control Message Checksum ...................................................................................... 30
UDP Message Layer .................................................................................................. 31
Control Message Response ....................................................................................... 31
Serial Control – RS232 ..........................................................33
Playlists ..................................................................................35
Playlist Engines .......................................................................................................... 35
Playlist Channels ........................................................................................................ 35
Extra Commands........................................................................................................ 36
Example Playlists ....................................................................................................... 38

Single Channel Playlist Example ...................................................................38
Playlist Example using ‘AND’ operator ..........................................................39
Playlist Example using ‘AFTER’ operator ......................................................40
Playlist Example – Synchronizing Channels..................................................41
Scheduler............................................................................... 43
The Basic Idea for Commands ...................................................................................43
File Format / Tutorial...................................................................................................43
Fields in Detail................................................................................................45
Restrictions ....................................................................................................49
Comments & Whitespace ..............................................................................49
Order of Operations .......................................................................................50
Double Occupancy: When Two Events Occupy the Same Slot ....................50
Loading New Schedules on the DVM4 ..........................................................52
Logging .......................................................................................................................53
Transferring Files to the DVM4 ............................................ 55
Transferring Files using Ethernet................................................................................55
Transferring Files using the Removable Drive............................................................55
Networking Your DVM4......................................................... 57
Connecting to the DVM4 via Ethernet.........................................................................57
Connecting to the DVM4 directly from a PC ..................................................58
Connecting to the DVM4 Over a Local Area Network (LAN) or the Internet .60
Update Operating System...........................................................................................61
DVM4.INI................................................................................. 63
AUTORUN.INI......................................................................... 65
Automatic Updates from CD’s, DVD’s, and USB devices.. 67
Drive Configuration and Update..................................................................................67
File Names ............................................................................. 69
Test Files.....................................................................................................................70
Power-Up Operation.............................................................. 71
Making Videos ....................................................................... 73
What Is An MPG File?.................................................................................................73
How Do I Make an MPG File? ....................................................................................73
The MPEG-2 Program Stream.......................................................................74
What is a Variable Bitrate? ............................................................................74

Index .......................................................................................75

Welcome
Welcome! 1
Welcome
Welcome!
Thank you for purchasing The Alcorn McBride Digital Video Machine 4™. The DVM4 is an
affordable 4-Channel solution for independent and synchronous video playback. Along with
this, it gives you the ability to apply text and graphics overlays on your videos. You will find
that the DVM4 was designed to offer an abundance of features for a variety of themed
entertainment and retail solutions.
We hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

2 Welcome!
Features
The Digital Video Machine 4 offers a wide range of features including:
• Plays high resolution MPEG-2 Video on 4 individual channels.
• Synchronization of multiple channels.
• Composite, RGB and YUV outputs.
• Plays hours of video from removable drive.
• 2 Channels of audio available as Unbalanced or Digital S/PDIF.
• Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround Sound bitstream output.
• NTSC, PAL, 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, and 1080i output resolutions.
• Converts NTSC and PAL source material to all available output resolutions.
• Serial RS-232 Control is Pioneer compatible.
• Ethernet Control via UDP.
• Clips loaded via Ethernet, USB, DVD (optional), or removable hard drive.
• Real-time scheduler.
• Advanced Playlist features.
We occasionally provide new operating systems with bug fixes and feature
upgrades. To get the latest DVM4 operating system, go to
www.alcorn.com/products/dvm4/software.html.

Welcome
Welcome! 3
Welcome
Technical Support
You can obtain information about specifying, installing, configuring, updating and
programming your Alcorn McBride Digital Video Machine 4 from several sources in
the table below.
For… Contact… When?…
Telephone Support [phone] M-F 9am–6pm (EST)
Fax Support [phone] M-F 9am-6pm (EST)
Knowledge Base http://www.alcorn.com/kb Any Time
e-mail Support [email protected] Any Time
Software/Firmware
Updates
http://www.alcorn.com/support Any Time

4 Welcome!

Getting Started 5
Getting Started
Give AMI Terminal a Try!
Want to make your introduction to the Digital Video Machine 4 a breeze?
Download AMI Terminal - Alcorn McBride’s latest PC software for
communicating with the DVM4 and other products. This Windows application
allows you to easily configure and control your new DVM4 with the click of a
mouse button.
This easy-to-use application can be downloaded from www.alcorn.com in the
support/software section. It is also available on the DVM4’s Web and FTP
interfaces.

6 Getting Started
How Do I Configure the DVM4?
The easiest way to configure the DVM4 is via remote control. There are a
variety of Serial and Ethernet commands that allow you to configure video
output settings, IP Address information, FTP passwords, and much more. To
make this a little easier, we have designed a variety of applications (ie. AMI
Terminal) that allow you to control the DVM4 with a simple graphical interface.
Once you configure the DVM4 for your application, it will store the
configuration permanently.
How Do I Make My Own MPEG File?
MPEG2 video is pretty complicated. If you’ve never encoded it before, we
recommend hiring an encoding house to do it. You can buy your own encoding
system, but don’t be cheap. The last thing you want is to find out the encoding
system you purchased has a bug that causes the video to glitch, audio to drift,
pixelation, etc… The encoding house uses their equipment to optimize the
parameters and filtering of your video to achieve the best possible result. If you
want to make your own, our customers have had positive results with the LSX
MPEG Encoder by Ligos and Optibase’s hardware-based encoder. Darim’s
DVMPEG is a good encoding solution along with PixelTools’ multiplexer.
How Do I Put My Media Files onto the
DVM4?
One way is to buy a Removable Drive Bay (sold separately) and learn to install
it into your computer. Then you simply pull the drive out of your DVM4 and
put it into the computer’s new removable drive bay. Then you’ll be able to see
(in Windows) another drive letter (like D:\) appear on your PC. Then Drag and
Drop the video files onto the drive while using Windows Explorer. All media
content is located in the “\Media” folder. You will see additional sub-folders for
different media types such as “videos”, “banners”, “images”, “playlists”, and
“schedules”.
You can also use File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is a way of copying files
over an Ethernet Cable (like the special red one that came with your DVM4). If
you configure your computer to communicate with the Ethernet interface, you’re
ready to use the DVM4’s FTP interface. You can use any FTP program you like
to talk to the DVM4’s FTP interface. We frequently use WS FTP(shareware),
Cute FTP(shareware), and even the DOS FTP (which comes on most PC’s).
If you don’t know how to use FTP programs to put the files on your DVM4,
there are plenty of tutorials on the web. Just visit your favorite search engine
and type in “FTP tutorial”. Also see the File Transfers section in the manual.
A basic guide to using DOS FTP follows.

Getting Started 7
Multiple DVM4’s with Same IP
Address:
If you use the same computer to talk to several DVM4’s straight from the
factory, you’ll need to do the following:
Each time you communicate over Ethernet with a different DVM4, open a DOS
window. Type arp -d 192.168.0.254 Press Enter. (This is assuming the
DVM4 is set up to the default IP address). It clears away old IP address
relationships that can cause problems like delays while connecting when using
FTP, web browsers, etc… Once you change your IP Addresses for the DVM4’s,
you won’t have to do this anymore.
How Do I Synchronize Channels on
the DVM4?
The DVM4 uses a grouping structure for playing videos in sync. First, you have
to assign the channels you want to be in sync to the same group. Once this is
done, you can use the Group commands, such as Group Play or Group Search
to control the members of that group.
Here is a quick example using Serial control:
1*AG <CR> Assigns all 4 channels to Group #1
11UG <CR> Search Video #1 to members of Group #1
1PG <CR> Play all channels in Group #1
This small series of commands will cause all 4 channels to play the
vid00001.mpg test clip in sync with each other.
Most Importantly!
Read the rest of this manual. Information like how to name your files, the
power of playlists, serial control, etc… are all right at your fingertips. The few
minutes you invest will save you hours of time. Enjoy!

8 Getting Started

Rear Panel 9
Rear Panel
Composite Video (Breakout Cable)
There is one RCA Composite Video connector available for each channel of the
DVM4. These can be found on the 25-Pin Breakout cable provided with the
DVM4. Be sure that this cable is securely connected in the connector labeled
“Audio/Video Breakout”.
Unbalanced Audio (Breakout Cable)
Each DVM4 channel has two analog RCA connectors located on the 25-pin
breakout cable.
NOTE: These connectors are not functional when a Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstream
is being played.
Digital Audio (Breakout Cable)
The breakout cable also provides one RCA digital audio connector for each
channel. These connectors will output S/PDIF and Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstream
audio signals.
High-Density RGB (Breakout Cable)
The HDB-15 Female connectors found on the second breakout cable provide
RGB, YUV, S-Video, and Composite video plus H-Sync and V-Sync. The
pinouts for this connector depends on which video mode is currently active. See
the diagrams on the next page. It is important to verify your monitor
can display the currently selected Video Mode (NTSC by
default). Not all monitors are capable of displaying all of these
modes.

10 Rear Panel
RGB Mode Pinout
Component (YUV) Mode Pinout
Composite Mode Pinout

Rear Panel 11
Ethernet Connector
This RJ-45 connector provides connection for a standard 100-Base TX Ethernet
cable. This cable would normally be connected to a hub, but may also be
connected directly to a PC’s Ethernet card using an Ethernet null, or “cross-
connect” cable, which is included with the DVM4.
Ethernet is the primary mechanism for transfer of video data into the DVM4,
and may also be used for control and monitoring. The DVM4 is shipped with a
factory default IP address of 192.168.0.254, which is useful for transferring
video across an Ethernet LAN, but must be changed if the Digital Video
Machine 4 is to be connected to a router on the Internet. Refer to the
Networking Your DVM4 section of this document for more information.
USB Connector
This connector can be used as an alternate method of loading files on the
DVM4. Simply connect a USB storage device to the DVM4 with a
command0.bat file, and the files will be copied to the DVM4 upon start-up.
RS-232 Serial Connector (9-pin)
This port is one of the main methods of controlling the DVM4. With the
included Null Serial Cable, you can control the DVM4 with the Pioneer /AMI
serial protocol specified in this manual.
VGA Monitor Output
This connector provides the VGA output of the DVM4. This output is helpful
for controlling the DVM4 locally as well as gathering information. Things such
as OS version, Network Information, and communication logs can view from
here. To use this output, simply connect a standard PC monitor that is able to
handle an 800x600 @60Hz display format.

12 Rear Panel