Black Box VIDEOPLEX 4000 User manual

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VIDEOPLEX
4000 API
MANUAL
VSC-VPLEX4000
APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE MANUAL
POWER
INPUT
STATUS
POWER
INPUT
STATUS
VIDEOPLEX4000 VIDEO WALL CONTROLLER
PRO AV SOLUTIONS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 VideoPlex4000 API...................................................................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Rest API.....................................................................................................................................................................................................3
2. DEVICE PROPERTIES.................................................................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Serial Number...........................................................................................................................................................................................4
2.2 System Into...............................................................................................................................................................................................4
2.3 System Health ..........................................................................................................................................................................................5
2.4 Friendly Name...........................................................................................................................................................................................6
2.5 Network Settings......................................................................................................................................................................................7
2.6 Password ..................................................................................................................................................................................................8
2.7 Smoothness..............................................................................................................................................................................................9
2.8 No Signal Behavior.................................................................................................................................................................................10
2.9 Preferred Input........................................................................................................................................................................................11
2.10 Active Input ...........................................................................................................................................................................................12
2.11 Save Settings ........................................................................................................................................................................................13
2.12 Reset Settings.......................................................................................................................................................................................13
3. INPUT PROPERTIES.................................................................................................................................................................... 15
3.1 Input Current Timings ............................................................................................................................................................................15
3.2 Input Preferred Timings.........................................................................................................................................................................16
3.3 Input EDID ...............................................................................................................................................................................................18
3.4 Input EDID Create ................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
3.5 Input EDID Reset.....................................................................................................................................................................................20
3.6 Input HDCP Enable.................................................................................................................................................................................21
3.7 Input HDCP Status .................................................................................................................................................................................22
3.8 Input Maximum Link Rate......................................................................................................................................................................23
4. OUTPUT PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................................................................ 25
4.1 Output Crop.............................................................................................................................................................................................25
4.2 Output Transform...................................................................................................................................................................................26
4.3 Output Enable .........................................................................................................................................................................................28
4.4 Output Current Timings.........................................................................................................................................................................29
4.5 Output Preferred Timings......................................................................................................................................................................30
4.6 Output Default Timings .........................................................................................................................................................................31
4.7 Output Timing Source............................................................................................................................................................................33
4.8 Output Current Timing Source..............................................................................................................................................................34
4.9 Output Image Source.............................................................................................................................................................................35
4.10 Output Genlock Source........................................................................................................................................................................36
4.11 Output Genlock Status.........................................................................................................................................................................37
4.12 Output HDCP Status.............................................................................................................................................................................38
4.13 Output Link Training Result .................................................................................................................................................................38
5. DISCLAIMER/TRADEMARKS ..................................................................................................................................................... 40
5.1 Disclaimer ...............................................................................................................................................................................................40
5.2 Trademarks Used in this Manual ..........................................................................................................................................................40

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 VIDEOPLEX4000 API
This document describes how to interact with the VideoPlex4000 over Ethernet using the REST API.
1.2 REST API
The VideoPlex4000 can be configured by issuing HTTP GET and POST requests over Ethernet. HTTP is a standard protocol which
is supported natively by many different programming languages. As such. no Black Box proprietary libraries or drivers are needed
to communicate with the VideoPlex4000 using this interface.
All GET requests and POST responses are encoded in JSON, which is a flexible and compact format also supported by many
programming languages. For GET requests, the contents of the JSON response depends on the API call (see reference). If an error
occurs something similar to the following will be returned:
{ “Success”:false, “ErrorMessage”:“Invalid input”, “ErrorCode”:-9 }
In this case, the error code is -9, which resolves to the string “Invalid input”. This is a common error that will occur if a GET request
is issued on a API call that requires an input number but none is given or is out of range.
Likewise, for POST responses, errors are indicated as above. In the case of success, the following response will be returned:
{ “Success”:true }
Regardless of error or success, the HTTP status code returned is always 200; the body contents must be parsed to detect errors.
The functions generally fall into one of 3 categories: Device, Input and Output. The Device functions are settings that affect the
device as a whole, the Input and Output functions can be set on a per input or output basis.
If a password is set on the device, then all POST requests must have a “Password” member that matches the password that has
been set. See Password.cgx for more details.

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
2.1 SERIAL NUMBER
Get Serial Number
GET/SerialNumber.cgx
Get the unique serial number of the device.
Example URI
GET/SerialNumber.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“SerialNumber”: “123456789000DA”
}
2.2 SYSTEM INFO
Get System Info
GET/SystemInfo.cgx
Get the firmware, config, hardware and FPGA version numbers of the device, along with the build date and time of the application
and bootloader.
Example URI
GET/SystemInfo.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“FirmwareVersion”: 261,
“ConfigVersion”: 256,
“HardwareVersion”: 1,
“FPGAVersion”: 5,
“ApplicationBuildDate”: “Apr 20 2016”,
“ApplicationBuildTime”: “13:12:50”,

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
“BootloaderBuildDate”: “Apr 20 2016”,
“BootloaderBuildTime”: “14:55:01”
}
2.3 SYSTEM HEALTH
Get System Health
GET/SystemHealth.cgx
Get power supply state and temperature.
Example URI
GET/SystemHealth.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“PowerSupply”: {
“IO”: true,
“1.8V”: true,
“1.2V”: true
},
“Temperature”: {
“Average”: 34.312,
“Maximum”: 39,
“Minimum”: 23
}
}

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
2.4 FRIENDLY NAME
Friendly name is a user-configurable name used to identify the device. This is the name that will appear in Windows Explorer
Network section under Other Devices.
Get Friendly Name
GET/FriendlyName.cgx
Example URI
GET/FriendlyName.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“FriendlyName”: “VideoPlex4000”
}
Set Friendly Name
POST/FriendlyName.cgx
Example URI
POST/FriendlyName.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“FriendlyName”: “My Fx4”
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
2.5 NETWORK SETTINGS
Get Network Settings
GET/NetworkSettings.cgx
Get the current network settings. If the device is using a static IP address, then the values returned are those configured manually.
If the device is set up to use DHCP, then the values returned are those obtained from the DHCP server. The MAC address is
unaffected by the IP configuration and is simply returned for information.
Example URI
GET/NetworkSettings.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“MACAddress”: “00:55:DA:40:02:DA”,
“DHCP”: false,
“IPAddress”: “192.168.1.2”,
“Gateway”: “192.168.1.1”,
“Subnet”: “255.255.255.0”
}
Set Network Settings
POST/NetworkSettings.cgx
For dynamic IP address assignment set DHCP to true, the other fields are then not required. For static IP address configuration set
DHCP to false and specify an IPAddress, Gateway and Subnet.
Example URI
POST/NetworkSettings.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“DHCP”: false,
“IPAddress”: “192.168.1.2”,

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
“Gateway”: “192.168.1.1”,
“Subnet”: “255.255.255.0”
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
2.6 PASSWORD
Set Password
POST/Password.cgx
Password protect the VideoPlex4000. Once a password is set, all future post requests must contain a “Password” member
that matches the password that has been set. If the password does not match, ERR_INVALID_PASSWORD will be returned. To
change an existing password, the old password must be provided as a “Password” member and the new password provided in
“NewPassword”. If the password is forgotten, it must be reset via the USB interface. To remove password protection, set an empty
string.
Example URI
POST/Password.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“NewPassword”: “secret”
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
2.7 SMOOTHNESS
Get and set the scaling optimization for video or text.
Set Smoothness to 0 for text optimization. Set Smoothness to non-zero for video optimization.
Get Smoothness
GET/Smoothness.cgx
Example URI
GET/Smoothness.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Smoothness”: 0
}
Set Smoothness
POST/Smoothness.cgx
Example URI
POST/Smoothness.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“Smoothness”: 0
}

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
2.8 NO SIGNAL BEHAVIOR
Get and set the no signal behavior of the outputs if no inputs are connected.
Set to true if outputs should not output a signal if no inputs are connected.
Get No Signal Behavior
GET/OutputNoSignal.cgx
Example URI
GET/OutputNoSignal.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“NoSignal”: true
}
Set No Signal Behavior
POST/OutputNoSignal.cgx
Example URI
POST/OutputNoSignal.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/jso

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
Body
{
“NoSignal”: true
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
2.9 PREFERRED INPUT
Get Preferred Input
GET/PreferredInput.cgx
Get which input is preferred. Note that if the selected input has no signal, it may fall back to using a different input. ActiveInput.cgx
can be used to get the currently selected input.
Example URI
GET/PreferredInput.cgx
Response 200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Input”: 0
}
Set Preferred Input
POST/PreferredInput.cgx
Select which input is preferred as the active source. If the selected input is not available, it will fall back to inputs in the following
order: 2, 0, 1. A value of null can be used to indicate no preferred input.

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
Example URI
POST/PreferredInput.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“Input”: 0
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
2.10 ACTIVE INPUT
Get Active Input
GET/ActiveInput.cgx
Get which input is currently being used as the source. If none of the inputs have a signal, then a value of null will be returned.
Example URI
GET/ActiveInput.cgx
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Input”: 0
}

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
2 .11 S A V E S E T T I N G S
Save Settings
POST/SaveSettings.cgx
Commit settings to flash memory, this must be called so settings are restored upon device reboot.
WARNING: Don’t call this too frequently because there is a limited number of write operations support for the lifetime of the device.
The VideoPlex4000 supports a minimum of 10K, typically 100K.
Example URI
POST/SaveSettings.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
2.12 RESET SETTINGS
Reset Settings
POST/ResetSettings.cgx
Reset all settings, apart from the network settings unless specified. To reset network settings at the same time, ResetIP must be
true.
WARNING: The default network settings have DHCP enabled. If ResetIP is true and a static IP address was configured, this will be
reset to DHCP enabled and your current IP address may change.
Example URI
POST/ResetSettings.cgx

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CHAPTER 2: DEVICE PROPERTIES
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“ResetIP”: false,
“ResetFriendlyName”: true
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}

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CHAPTER 3: INPUT PROPERTIES
3.1 INPUT CURRENT TIMINGS
Get Input Current Timings
GET/InputCurrentTimings.cgx{?input}
Get the current timings of the specified input. For an SDI input, an extra option of SDILevel is available to indicate level A or level B.
Example URI
GET/InputCurrentTimings.cgx?input=0
URI Parameters
Hide
input number(required)Example:0
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“HorFrequency”: 67432,
“VerFrequency”: 59939,
“PixelClock”: 148351478,
“Flags”: 0,
“HorAddrTime”: 1920,
“HorRightBorder”: 0,
“HorFrontPorch”: 44,
“HorSyncTime”: 88,
“HorBackPorch”: 148,
“HorLeftBorder”: 0,
“VerAddrTime”: 1080,
“VerBottomBorder”: 0,
“VerFrontPorch”: 4,
“VerSyncTime”: 5,
“VerBackPorch”: 36,
“VerTopBorder”: 0,
“SDILevel”: “A”
}

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CHAPTER 3: INPUT PROPERTIES
3.2 INPUT PREFERRED TIMINGS
Get and set the input preferred timings.
Get Input Preferred Timings
GET/InputPreferredTimings.cgx{?input}
Example URI
GET/InputPreferredTimings.cgx?input=0
URI Parameters
Hide input number(required)Example:0
Response 200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“HorFrequency”: 67432,
“VerFrequency”: 59939,
“PixelClock”: 148351478,
“Flags”: 0,
“HorAddrTime”: 1920,
“HorRightBorder”: 0,
“HorFrontPorch”: 44,
“HorSyncTime”: 88,
“HorBackPorch”: 148,
“HorLeftBorder”: 0,
“VerAddrTime”: 1080,
“VerBottomBorder”: 0,
“VerFrontPorch”: 4,
“VerSyncTime”: 5,
“VerBackPorch”: 36,
“VerTopBorder”: 0
}

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CHAPTER 3: INPUT PROPERTIES
Set Input Preferred Timings
POST/InputPreferredTimings.cgx
Example URI
POST/InputPreferredTimings.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“Input”: 0,
“HorFrequency”: 67432,
“VerFrequency”: 59939,
“PixelClock”: 148351478,
“Flags”: 0,
“HorAddrTime”: 1920,
“HorRightBorder”: 0,
“HorFrontPorch”: 44,
“HorSyncTime”: 88,
“HorBackPorch”: 148,
“HorLeftBorder”: 0,
“VerAddrTime”: 1080,
“VerBottomBorder”: 0,
“VerFrontPorch”: 4,
“VerSyncTime”: 5,
“VerBackPorch”: 36,
“VerTopBorder”: 0
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}

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CHAPTER 3: INPUT PROPERTIES
3.3 INPUT EDID
Read or write the entire EDID for an input. The contents of the EDID are Base64 encoded.
Read Input EDID
GET/InputEDID.cgx{?input}
Example URI
GET/InputEDID.cgx?input=0
URI Parameters
Hide input number(required)Example:0
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“EDID”:”AP
}
Write Input EDID
POST/InputEDID.cgx
Example URI
POST/InputEDID.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“Input”:0,
“EDID”:”AP
}

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CHAPTER 3: INPUT PROPERTIES
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
3.4 INPUT EDID CREATE
POST/InputEDIDCreate.cgx
Create an EDID for a specified input. This will create an entire EDID and will not reuse any part of the existing EDID.
Extension must be “None” for no extension, “CEA-861” for a CEA-861 extension or “DisplayID” for a DisplayID extension.
Mode must be “HD” for up to and including 1920 x 1080 modes, “UHD” for up to and including 3840 x 2160 modes, “4k” for up to
and including 4096 x 2160 modes and “Custom” to set a custom mode.
Name is optional but must be no more than 13 characters. It can be used by the source to identify what it is plugged in to.
If using a custom mode, the “Custom” object is mandatory. Otherwise, it will be ignored.
Example URI
POST/InputEDIDCreate.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json
Body
{
“Input”: 0,
“Extension”: “CEA-861”,
“Mode”: “Custom”,
“Name”: “CustomHDEDID”,
“Custom”: {
“Timings”: {
“PixelClock”: 148351478,
“Flags”: 0,
“HorAddrTime”: 1920,
“HorRightBorder”: 0,
“HorFrontPorch”: 44,
“HorSyncTime”: 88,

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CHAPTER 3: INPUT PROPERTIES
“HorBackPorch”: 148,
“HorLeftBorder”: 0,
“VerAddrTime”: 1080,
“VerBottomBorder”: 0,
“VerFrontPorch”: 4,
“VerSyncTime”: 5,
“VerBackPorch”: 36,
“VerTopBorder”: 0
},
“SupportYCbCr4:2:0”: true,
“SupportYCbCr4:2:2”: false,
“SupportYCbCr4:4:4”: true
}
}
Response200
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Body
{
“Success”: true
}
3.5 INPUT EDID RESET
POST/InputEDIDReset.cgx
Reset the EDID to default for a specified input or all inputs. To reset a single input’s EDID, Input must be a number. To reset all input
EDIDs, Input must be “All”.
Example URI
POST/InputEDIDReset.cgx
Request
Show Headers
Content-Type: application/json