ADENA Hack: How to use the DS-X09’s Multi-view Maker?

AREC Multi-view Maker is a free control application made for Windows to control and configure the DS-X09 Media Decoder. You can download this application from our website, www.a-dena.com -> Resources -> Firmware & Applications. After you download and install it, simply run the application and enter the IP address, username and password of your DS-X09. 

The first page that will open afterwards, called ‘Source’, is used to configure your network video sources. You can assign names for easier recognition of sources, and input their primary and secondary RTP, RTMP, RTSP, or NDI|HX URLs. You can have up to 96 network sources in the list and switch between them easily on the ‘Control’ page of the app. 

This page is used to configure and switch between themes — combinations of layouts, overlays, and backgrounds, preview any of the individual sources, as well as the mixed video that the DS-X09 outputs via HDMI. Thus, to use the device, simply customise one of the 5 available themes by pressing a paper and pen icon next to them. 

To adjust a source’s position, simply left-click on it and drag it or use the X-Y coordinates at the bottom of the page. You can resize the source by dragging its bottom-right corner or by specifying the W-H parameters. Just as in our Layout Editor app, you are able to change crop modes for your sources, selecting letterbox, fit to width, fit to height, or fill modes, and also change the source order, putting it in front or behind of other sources. Also, when you select a source, you can enable or disable its audio input by using the tick box in the bottom-left corner of this page. You can use the ‘Add’ and ‘Delete’ buttons to either add or remove sources from a theme. You can rename your theme on the right side of this page, as well as add or remove backgrounds from themes. Simply click on the image you would like to use. When you finish customising a theme, press ‘Save’ to apply changes, and then click on the newly customised theme to output it on the DS-X09.

Would you like to know more about the DS-X09 or other AREC hardware and software products? Let us know at www.a-dena.com and we will gladly answer your questions.

"Who's that Pokemon?" AREC Product Launch Webinar Recordings

Dear ADENA Partners, in case you missed our webinar, you can watch the recordings on our YouTube channel. The recordings are available in English, Spanish, and Russian, and you can access them through the links below.

Also, if you would like a personal demonstration of any of the new products or other AREC/RADA devices, make sure to request it through our website www.a-dena.com!

ADENA Hack: How to use NDI Bridge to convert Full NDI to NDI|HX

You may know that NDI exists in two main versions - Full NDI and NDI|HX. There are certain differences between these two versions - for example, NDI|HX sends compressed data and uses far less bandwidth. The differences make the two versions incompatible and typically devices would only support one version of NDI. AREC Media Stations with NDI support, including LS-860N and LS-US2N, were built to support NDI|HX, and so typically devices using standard NDI cannot be connected to them. However, there is a way to convert them via NDI Bridge, an essential tool that is included in the NDI package. To use it, simply download and install the latest version of NDI Tools from https://www.newtek.com/

Open the NDI Tools and select Bridge. It will open with a page similar to this:

While in this guide we focus on using the NDI Bridge to convert standard NDI to NDI|HX, the app can also be used to make your NDI sources available over the Internet and to connect NDI sources from other networks. To convert NDI signals, however, click on ‘Local’. Start by adjusting the name of your bridged connections in the ‘Bridge Name’ field. Next, click on ‘Encoder Settings’ and change the output mode to ‘NDI|HX’. All AREC stations, except the upcoming LS-410, use only h.264 video compression, so make sure to select it. You must also select the stream’s bitrate in ‘Quality’. Since 4Mbit is sufficient for Full HD, you can select ‘Low’. After adjusting these settings, press ‘Start’, and you will be able to see a list of bridged connections appear in your network. To use these bridged connections on AREC stations, open the ‘Administrator’ web page of your station, click on ‘Media I/O’ -> ‘Network Device Manager’ and scan for new devices. If your station is in the same network as your computer running NDI Bridge, you will be able to see the NDI|HX bridged connections appear in the list.

One important thing to note is that bridged connections use the computer running the app as a tunnel. Whenever another device is trying to pull an NDI source from it, its network traffic load will grow. You can monitor how much bandwidth the computer is consuming in the field called ‘Bandwidth’.

If you would like to know more about how you can use NDI or other technologies with AREC, please contact us at www.a-dena.com and we will be happy to assist you.