The MONITOR panel shows a fixed image for each video source, so the user can easily identify each of the available options. HDVmixer supports up to 6 different video sources, as can be seen in the MONITOR's panel image.
5 of the video input feeds are user selectable, the sixth is always AUDICOM's own video playout signal. The sources for each of these inputs can be any combination between: webcams, professional camera inputs via Blackmagic capture cards, IP cameras, RTMP video streams, or even window desktop's captures (server's PC windows form). The later option is useful to generate virtual sources based on Skype Video or from a web browser. The video sources are defined in the application server.
The features available in the MONITOR's panel are:
- A user defined name is assigned to each source. This name is shown above of each source to easily identify each signal. The name can be modified by double clicking the name labels of any source
- Display a reference image of each video source
- Select up to 4 video sources that will be used in the SET composition
MANUAL SELECTION OF VIDEO SOURCES
Besides showing the various sources, the MONITOR panel is used to manually select which sources will feed the built-in video mixer.
Keep in mind that the following definitions: A SET in HDVmixer terminology is a particular configuration of the video mixer, which produces a specific video output composition. Several SETs compositions can be stored in HDVmixer as TEMPLATES, which can be easily go on-air with a single click.
HDVmixer's built-in video mixer is capable of handling up to four simultaneous video feeds. The video mixer's input channels are identified with letters 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D'. Each SET template defines the position and size of each of these four input channels in the video output (PROGRAM).
Most scenes will probably use one or two video sources, as it is rare in Multimedia Radio/TV applications to have more than two sources simultaneously on-air. The most widely used configurations use a single source at a time. For example, the most simple SET of all would be one that configures the video mixer to output channel 'A' input at 100% size. A more advanced SET would be one where a music video and a talent are displayed in a PIP (picture-in-picture) composition. If AUDICOM's playout video is set on channel 'A', and the talent camera on channel 'B', then we can easily configure a SET template that shows input channel 'A' at 100%, and channel 'B' in the upper right corner of the image with a size of 25%.
To define which of the 6 existing video sources will be used in the SET composition HDVmixer has a 6:4 video input matrix. Each of the 6 sources has a series of 4 buttons that assign that input source to any of the four video mixer input channels. These buttons have the legends 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' on top of each video source in the MONITOR's panel (as seen in the image on the right).
These buttons allow the user to quickly see which inputs are been used by the video mixer at any given moment in time. If all four buttons in a particular source are grayed, this means that the video source is not been assigned to any of the channels in the video mixer. While any of these buttons is illuminated, then it indicates that that video source is assigned to that particular mixer channel. For example, if all the 'D' buttons are gray, this indicates that channel 'D' is not been used (it has no input source assigned). On the contrary, if button 'A' is lit for source 5, it means that the video of source 5 has been assigned to the video mixer's channel 'A'. Any of the 4 channels in the video switcher can be assigned to any of the 6 available video sources.
HDVmixer's video input matrix feature allows the software to be used not only in automatic mode, but as a conventional video mixer under manual operation. The video operator can 'punch' any video source to the output as required, not needing to configure a specific SET template for each of these scenes. Since in manual operation, the operator can set up a generic template with a SET where the channel 'A' is set at 100%, and then the video source selection is made using the input matrix (using the channel selection buttons available in each of the sources).
