User Guide Epiphan Pearl-2 Pearl-2 Rackmount Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin Release 4.7.
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What's new in release 4.7.1? Firmware 4.7.1 is a maintenance release that includes an important stability fix for AFU for your Pearl-2 and an important BIOS update. What's fixed AFU to SFTP server stability improvement The stability of automatic file uploads (AFUs) to SFTP servers has been improved. BIOS update to resume status after a power cycle This BIOS update corrects the power cycle behavior of Pearl-2's purchased after August 2018 and older units that were updated with the last BIOS update.
Table of contents What's new in release 4.7.
Connect to the Admin panel 64 Connect using the Epiphan discovery utility 66 Connect using a DNS-based service discovery 67 Connect using persistent static IP address 68 Switching / mixing using the Admin panel 69 Epiphan Live 71 About Epiphan Live 71 The Dashboard interface 72 Access Epiphan Live using a web browser or mobile device 74 Access Epiphan Live from the Admin panel 75 Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface 76 Switching / mixing using Epiphan Live 84 You
Preview the video output port 125 Disable the video output port 126 Disable or enable audio and output port volume 127 Display and reposition the audio VU meter 128 Rename a video output port 129 Mirror the video output port display 130 Feature add-ons 4K feature add-on Set up Kaltura CMS integration 132 135 137 Enable CMS and register with Kaltura 137 Disable or deregister the device from Kaltura 139 Change the resource name used for Kaltura 140 Reassign a registered resource 141 Conf
About automatic channels Auto A and Auto B Channel configuration 193 196 Configure auto channels 197 Create a channel 197 Add video sources or a channel as a source 201 Add an audio source to a layout 205 Duplicate a channel 206 Rename a channel 207 Delete a channel 208 Preview channel 209 Add or remove channel metadata 212 Configure encoding 213 Codecs and file format compatibility 213 Configure video encoding 215 Configure audio encoding 220 Multi-encoding and channel as a sour
Tested RTSP-based IP cameras 274 Supported web cameras 276 Connect an RTSP source 276 Connect an AV.
MPEG-TS streams using UDP push 325 Multicast streaming using RTP/UDP 327 Viewing with Session Announcement Protocol (SAP) 328 Stream to Kaltura CMS 329 Set up a channel for a scheduled webcasting event 329 Use RTMPS for a Kaltura webcasting event 331 Stream to a media player or smart TV Stream using UPnP 333 333 Enable UPnP 334 Disable UPnP 337 Viewing with UPnP 338 Play directly to a media player 340 Auto-restart playback to a UPnP device 340 Change UPnP device name 341 PART 4: Re
Delete recorded files FTP and automatic file transfers 372 374 About Automatic File Upload (AFU) 374 Choose files to include in AFU 375 Enable AFU and set parameters 377 Configure AFU to FTP server parameters 380 Configure AFU to RSync server parameters 381 Configure AFU to CIFS server parameters 383 Configure AFU to SCP client parameters 384 Configure AFU to SFTP server parameters 386 Configure AFU to AWS S3 parameters 389 Configure AFU to WebDav server parameters 390 AFU or copy to U
Troubleshooting 448 Limitations and known issues 460 Previous releases and features 464 Software license 466 xii
Pearl-2 User Guide Start here Start here Welcome, and thank you for buying Epiphan Pearl-2™, Pearl-2 Rackmount™ or Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin™. You'll find information on how to set up and use all three models in this user guide. When you see the name Pearl-2 used in this guide, it means that the content applies to all three models. Differences are explicitly called out. For a product description, see What is Pearl-2?.
Pearl-2 User Guide What is Pearl-2? This guide assumes that all feature add-ons for Pearl-2 are activated. If a documented feature or task is only available when a specific feature add-on is activated, it is indicated by a link to the activation page for that feature add-on. For the 4K add-on, the link is 4K . What is Pearl-2? Pearl-2 is a versatile live video production device that's a video encoder, video streamer, live switcher, and video recorder all in one. Pearl-2 comes in three models.
Pearl-2 User Guide Feature add-ons Pearl-2 does not capture from HDCP encrypted sources. Feature add-ons Pearl-2 offers add-on features so you can do even more with your system. Start from the base model of Pearl2 and add feature add-ons for extra functionality. See Add-ons overview for details about the availability of add-ons for your system, as well as instructions to purchase and install add-ons.
Pearl-2 User Guide Front and back view Pearl-2 Front and back view Pearl-2 Table 1 Pearl-2 front panel descriptions Label Name Description Touch screen front panel Used for confidence monitoring and simple configuration, obtaining display system information, and starting/stopping recordings and streams. For connection of external hard drives, flash drives or control USB 3.0 port interfaces, see AFU or copy to USB. Web cameras cannot be connected to this port, only the ports on the rear. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Front and back view Pearl-2 Table 2 Pearl-2 back panel descriptions Label Name Description The four XLR ports can function as two, professional line level left/right stereo pairs (XLR A pair and XLR B pair) or as four mono XLR audio in inputs, see AV inputs. The XLR ports are professional line-level inputs and are calibrated for + 4.0 dBu signals. Four HDMI 1.4 ports that connect HDMI and DVI signals to Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Label Name RJ-45 Ethernet Power jack Front and back view Pearl-2 Description Auto-sensing gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Base-T network port. See Configure network settings for setup instructions. Plug the supplied 120/240 V AC power cable in here. 1 Requires 4K feature add on The SDI ports on the back of Pearl-2 can be delicate. Be careful to avoid sharp impacts or pressure such as balancing the system on its back with the SDI ports against a hard surface.
Pearl-2 User Guide Front and back view Pearl-2 Pearl-2 Rackmount and Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin consists of two completely independent Pearl-2 systems, each with identical sets of controls and ports. Table 3 Pearl-2 Rackmount front panel descriptions Label Name Description Touch screen front panel Used for confidence monitoring and simple configuration, obtaining display system information, and starting/stopping recordings and streams. Two other USB ports are located on the back.
Pearl-2 User Guide Label Name Power button and LED Front and back view Pearl-2 Description Press once to power on. Double-press to initiate a graceful system shutdown. Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin consists of two completely independent Pearl-2 systems, each with identical sets of controls and ports.
Pearl-2 User Guide Front and back view Pearl-2 Table 4 Pearl-2 Rackmount and Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin back panel descriptions Label Name Description Power jack Plug the power supply in here. Always use the provided power supply. HDMI in Connect HDMI and DVI signals. 4K HDMI in Connect up to 4K1 HDMI signals. SDI in Connect SDI signals.
Pearl-2 User Guide What's in the Box? What's in the Box? Pearl-2 Pearl-2 Rackmount Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin The standalone Pearl-2 model is shipped in a hard shell case that you can re-use for storing or moving the system between jobs. Cable storage is located under the custom foam tray that holds Pearl-2 in the case. Inside the box with your Pearl-2 system, you'll find the power cable and the following items. Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin comes with two sets of cables: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide What's in the Box? Table 5 Cables (power cable not shown) Image Name SDI cable HDMI cable Description Connect SDI sources to the SDI ports (12G-SDI capable). Connect HDMI or DVI (using adapter) sources to the HDMI ports. DVI (female) to HDMI (male) Connect DVI sources to the HDMI port. adapter RJ-45 Ethernet cable Connect Pearl-2 to your network.
Pearl-2 User Guide Quick start Quick start This quick start uses the default settings where possible so you can quickly start using your Pearl-2. The instructions apply to all Pearl-2 models; however, rackmount installation is not included here, see Rackmount installation. For the Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin , you cannot plug a source into one system and use it from the other. Before you start, make sure you have: l A video source such as a camera or a computer and cables to connect them to Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Quick start 1. Turn on your camera or video source and connect the output to one of the video input ports labeled "A" on the back panel of Pearl-2. 2. (Optional) Connect a second video source to one of the video input ports labeled "B". 3. (Optional) Connect audio to the XLR left/right stereo pair audio input ports on the back of Pearl-2 or to the RCA stereo pair audio input ports. 4. Connect the Ethernet cable to Pearl-2 and to your network. 5.
Pearl-2 User Guide Quick start 2. Using a browser on the admin computer, go to one of the following URLs to preview the channel. For Auto A: http:///preview.cgi?channel=1 For Auto B: http:///preview.cgi?channel=2 For example:http://192.1.10.100/preview.cgi?channel=2 3. (Optional) Open a new tab in your browser and enter the URL to login to the Admin panel. http:///admin For example:http://192.1.10.
Pearl-2 User Guide Quick start Record the channel The channel is set up and streaming. This may be all you need, but if you like, you can also record the stream. You can choose to initiate and control channel recording from either the touch screen or the Admin panel. To control recording from the touch screen: 1. From the Grid view, tap the channel you want to record. The Channel view appears. 2. Tap the red dot to start recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Quick start 3. Refresh the page. Click Recording again in the Channels menu or reload the browser page. The page reloads and a file list appears that shows your newly recorded content. 4. Click the file name to download and view your recording. What’s Next? Now that you have a source setup and are ready to stream, you can fine-tune the system to your exact requirements.
Pearl-2 User Guide Live video mixing / switching Live video mixing / switching Create dynamic content for your viewers to watch while you record and stream your program using Pearl-2. Using the custom layout editor, you can create different layouts, like picture in picture or side-by-side views of a camera and slides, then easily switch between layouts with either a tap on the touch screen, using Epiphan Live on a mobile device, or from the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Monitoring audio Monitoring audio Pearl-2's front panel includes a 3.5 mm audio jack for monitoring audio. You can plug external speakers or headphones into the 3.5 mm audio jack. To monitor the audio for a channel, just select the channel using the touch screen. The audio you hear depends on which layout is currently live because different layouts can have different audio sources configured. Adjust the volume Tap the headphones icon on the touch screen to adjust the volume.
Pearl-2 User Guide Monitoring audio Audio VU meter A VU meter on the touch screen shows the audio levels for the selected channel. The value is displayed in dBFS (decibels relative to full scale). Colored bars represent the audio level. Channels that have stereo audio display two bars. The top bar is the left audio channel and the bottom bar is the right audio channel.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Selecting an audio source Admin Panel: On the audio input source's configuration page when you select the input source from the Inputs menu. You can also add the VU meter to appear on the video output ports, see Disable or enable audio and output port volume. l Epiphan Live: See Monitor video and audio input sources Selecting an audio source You can choose the audio source for a channel using the Admin panel and can have a mix of several different audio sources.
Pearl-2 User Guide Selecting an audio source Audio source Input Gain port XLR Nominal RCA Not recommended. USB Nominal Professional mixer USB microphone Not recommended. Dynamic, condenser, or electret microphones To connect microphones to the pro line level XLR inputs, you must XLR use an external preamp to boost the microphone signal enough to provide the proper line level signal at the XLR input port, see Connecting microphones to the XLR line level inputs.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connecting microphones to the XLR line level inputs 4. (Optional) Adjust the gain for an audio input source, select the input port from the Inputs menu and adjust the amount of gain on the configuration page for the audio input port. Click Save when you're done. For more details, see Adjust audio gain and delay. Connecting microphones to the XLR line level inputs The four XLR analog audio input ports on Pearl-2 are professional line level inputs rated at + 4.0 dBu up to 12.
Pearl-2 User Guide Remote login access Remote login access Securely login to the cloud versions of the Admin panel and Epiphan Live remotely from anywhere you have Internet access. Perform off-site rescue troubleshooting, channel configuration, control streaming and recording, and more using your favorite web browser over a secure connection to the Internet. You don't need to be on the same, local network as Pearl-2. This section contains what you need to remotely access Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide About remote login and control using AV Studio Remote login access to your Pearl-2 is available as soon as you create a free AV Studio account and pair a channel (or channels). When you've paired a channel to your AV Studio account, you can do things like: l Start and stop channel recording directly in AV Studio. l Preview the channel status. l Set the channel bitrate, frame rate, frame size, and resolution directly in AV Studio.
Pearl-2 User Guide Enable or disable AV Studio remote login l A secure propriety tunnel over port 443 is used to access the Internet. l You can pair any channel you want to your AV Studio account and you don't have to pair all your channels. Channels stay paired until you manually unpair the channel. l The file recording type for the channel you are controlling and recording using AV Studio must be set to MP4 and the maximum file size supported is 500 MB.
Pearl-2 User Guide Pair a channel with AV Studio To enable or disable AV Studio remote login for a channel: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Maintenance. The Maintenance page opens. 3. Uncheck Enable AVStudio to disable AV Studio remote login or leave it checked to use this feature with Pearl-2, then click Save. Pair a channel with AV Studio You can pair one or all your channels to your AV Studio account.
Pearl-2 User Guide Control recording using AV Studio 3. Copy the Device ID for the channel you want to pair. 4. On another tab in your browser, login to your AV Studio account at https://go.avstudio.com 5. In the top header bar, click the plus sign beside Encoders. The encoder pairing page opens. 6. Paste the Device ID in to the ID field and give your channel a name, then click Verify. Your channel is now paired with your AV Studio account.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure channel encoding using AV Studio 1. Login to your AV Studio account at https://go.avstudio.com 2. In the top header bar, click Encoders. The list of encoders opens. 3. Select the row for the channel you've paired to your AV Studio account and click Details in the thumbnail or click the three dots and choose Details. The Encoder Details page opens. 4. Click Start recording to remotely start recording the channel on Pearl-2. The button changes to Stop recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Configure channel encoding using AV Studio Bitrate: If using the H.264 video codec, you can increase or decrease image quality by increasing or decreasing the channel's Bitrate value. Video with a high level of motion and high resolution, such as sporting events, requires a higher bitrate. l Limit frame rate: You can choose a specific frame rate for your channel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Access cloud versions of the Admin panel and Epiphan Live Access cloud versions of the Admin panel and Epiphan Live Perform remote configuration and rescue troubleshooting using the web version of the Admin panel. You can access the cloud Admin panel from any location with access to the Internet after you've paired a channel to your AV Studio account, see Pair a channel with AV Studio. Use the same login credentials for both versions of the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Access cloud versions of the Admin panel and Epiphan Live See The Admin panel and Epiphan Live for details about how to use these interfaces and how to access the local web versions.
Pearl-2 User Guide Specifications Specifications Topics include: l AV inputs l Tech specs l Optimum CPU performance AV inputs When using Pearl-2, we recommend a maximum of six 1080p sources in up to 6 full HD channels or having up to four 4K sources4K in a single channel for best performance. Only content that is not HDCP-protected is captured from HDMI and USB video sources. Pearl-2 supports the following AV inputs.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tech specs Input port Qty Details The XLR inputs accept balanced and unbalanced, pro line level signals (+4.0 dBu) up to to 12.3 VRMS , +24 dBu. XLR3 4 By default, the four XLR ports operate as two stereo left/right audio pairs (XLR A pair and XLR B pair). You can configure the ports to operate as independent mono inputs using the Admin panel, see Configure audio ports for stereo or mono.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tech specs (4) XLR Pro line level + 4.0 dBu (or 2 stereo pairs left/right) accept balanced and unbalanced analog signals. No phantom power. Connectors (balanced or Audio Input unbalanced signals) (1) Stereo RCA (Consumer line level, - 10 dBV) (2) SDI audio3 (4) HDMI audio (2) USB audio Analog audio XLR Max signal: 12.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tech specs Connector (1) 10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 MPEG-TS, and FLV RTSP over TCP/UDP Streams Multi-Publish to Streaming Server / CDN (RTSP, RTMP, RTMPS) IP Network Interfaces HLS - Native Apple HTTP/HTTPS stream for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Multicast Streams Network Discovery / Announce Network security RTP, MPEG-TS & RTP and MPEG-TS over UDP UPnP, SAP 802.
Pearl-2 User Guide Optimum CPU performance Time Synchronization NTP, TIME (RFC 868), PTP v1 (IEEE-1588-2002 V1) Power use 0.8 A, 100-240 V ac Operating temperature 32° to 122° F (0° to 50° Celsius) Pearl-2: 11.81" × 9.45" × 3.54" (300mm x 240mm x 90mm) Product Dimensions Pearl-2 Rackmount: Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin: 19 ⅛” x 3½” x 10 ⅞” (498 mm x 89 mm x 276 mm) Pearl-2: 8.38 lbs (3.8 kg) Product Weight Pearl-2 Rackmount: 12.1 lbs (5.5 kg) Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin: 14.6 lbs (6.
Pearl-2 User Guide Optimum CPU performance If the system load is higher than recommended, you can: l Disable the video output port (if unused). l Remove unused channels or layouts. l Reduce the number of channels created. l Ensure video sources come in at the right resolution so that Pearl-2 doesn't have to up scale or down scale the video source.
Pearl-2 User Guide User interfaces User interfaces Pearl-2 has three user interfaces: l Touch screen: Easily accessible on the front panel of Pearl-2, the touch screen is primarily used for confidence monitoring, live switching, and one-touch recording and streaming control, see About the touch screen. l Admin Panel: A web-based user interface that's primarily used to perform system set up and administrative tasks for your Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide The touch screen The touch screen Use the touch screen to switch layouts, start and stop recording and streaming, configure network settings, load configuration presets, and to view configured channels, audio meters, and system information.
Pearl-2 User Guide About the touch screen In this example, the grid view shows two video sources, which are plugged into video input ports A and B on Pearl-2 and are displayed in auto channels Auto-A and Auto-B, respectively. If no video sources are connected, or your sources aren't sending a signal, the grid view shows no signal images. See About automatic channels Auto A and Auto B for more details about auto channels. Tap a channel on the grid view to select it and go to that channel's view.
Pearl-2 User Guide The Channel view By default, the touch screen and all features except viewing the CMS Events screen are enabled. You can disable the touch screen and define which features are enabled on the touch screen. If the touch screen is configured to not show channel previews, tap anywhere on the screen to go to the system settings screen. See Configure the touch screen for details. To see the CMS Events screen and icon, see Enable CMS and register with Kaltura.
Pearl-2 User Guide The Channel view Table 10 Parts of the touch screen for the individual channel view Item Description 1 2 3 4 5 Channel name. Streaming status. Gray means streaming is stopped, flashing blue means streaming is in progress. The streaming timer shows the length of time that streaming has been in progress. Recording status. Bright red and flashing means recording is in progress. The recording timer shows the length of time that recording has been in progress.
Pearl-2 User Guide Record a channel using the touch screen Item Description 13 14 Single touch streaming and recording control icon. See One Touch streaming and recording control System settings icon. See View system information using the touch screen. Record a channel using the touch screen Use Pearl-2's touch screen to easily start and stop recording of a channel. Simply tap the recording control button that appears in the channel view.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream a channel using the touch screen Pearl-2 also features One Touch, which lets you control recording and streaming of multiple channels and recorders at the same time with the touch of a button. See One Touch streaming and recording control for more information. Stream a channel using the touch screen Use Pearl-2's touch screen to easily start and stop streaming a channel. Simply tap the streaming control button that appears in the channel view.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using the touch screen Switching / mixing using the touch screen Switching live video inputs, or video mixing, is simple and intuitive using Pearl-2's touch screen. After you select the channel you want to live switch, just tap the layout switching icon to open the convenient switcher on the touch screen. All custom layouts that are configured for the channel display in the carousel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using the touch screen 3. Tap any layout that appears in the carousel to load it in to the Preview panel. 4. Tap Apply or double tap inside the Preview panel to switch that layout to the Live panel. 5. Tap another layout in the carousel to load it in the Preview panel so that it's ready for the next time you switch layouts.
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control 6. Tap Back to exit the Live Switcher view. One Touch streaming and recording control You can easily control streaming and recording from the touch screen on Pearl-2 with the press of a single button.
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control Table 11 One Touch control screen components Label Description Start/stop button: Press the One Touch control button to start 1 or stop streaming and recording for all specified channels and recorders. The number of recorders and/or channels that are actively 2 recording (the first number) over the total number of channels that are configured for One Touch recording (the second number).
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control In the example above, One Touch control has been activated and all six out of the six total channels and/or recorders are recording successfully. There is no streaming activity because there are no channels configured for One Touch streaming. An error icon displays if there's a problem with the streaming and/or recording settings for one or more of the channels and recorders.
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Touch Screen. The Touch screen configuration page opens. 3. Click Single touch control and select either Default, Start Screen or Locked. 4. Click Apply. If you chose Start Screen or Locked, the touch screen automatically refreshes to display the One Touch control screen.
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control b. Click change, and then check Single touch control on the options page to enable the channel for One Touch control. Uncheck the check box if you don't want to include that channel for One Touch control. c. Click Apply. 3. To enable or disable Single touch control for a recorder.
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control a. From the Recorders menu, select the recorder you want. The Recorder Setup page opens. b. Click change, and then check Single touch control on the options page to enable the recorder for One Touch control. Uncheck Single touch control if you don't want to include that recorder for One Touch control. c. Click Apply. To learn how to configure your channels for recording, see Record.
Pearl-2 User Guide One Touch streaming and recording control Specify channels for One Touch streaming Channels are not enabled for One Touch streaming by default. You can enable and disable One Touch streaming control for individual channels using the Admin panel. To specify channels for One Touch streaming: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select the channel you want and click Streaming. The Streaming page opens. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen 5. Click Apply. To learn how to configure your channels for streaming, see Stream. Configure the touch screen The touch screen on Pearl-2 is enabled by default and all its features are available. You can disable the entire screen or some of its features using the Admin panel. For information about how to connect to and use the Admin panel, see The Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen Disable or enable the touch screen You can enable or disable Pearl-2 from displaying anything on the touch screen. The touch screen remains touch-sensitive even when the display is disabled. To disable or enable the touch screen display: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Touch Screen. The touch screen configuration page opens. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen To hide or show the channel previews on the touch screen: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Touch Screen. The touch screen configuration page opens. 3. Uncheck Show preview to disable channel previews from displaying on the touch screen. Check Show preview if you want to enable channel previews on the touch screen. 4. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen 2. From the Configuration menu, click Touch Screen. The touch screen configuration page opens. 3. Uncheck Show system status to prevent the system status screen from opening on the touch screen. Check Show system status if you want to enable the system status screen to open on the touch screen. 4. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen 3. Uncheck Allow settings and configuration preset changes to disable configuration from the touch screen. Check the check box if you want to enable configuration from the touch screen. 4. Click Apply. Disable or enable recording, streaming and switching from the touch screen Recording, streaming, and live switching control using the touch screen on Pearl-2 is enabled by default.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen 3. Uncheck Allow start/stop recording and streaming to disable recording, streaming, and live switching control from the touch screen. Check the check box to enable recording, streaming, and live switching control. 4. Click Apply. Set the touch screen timeout Initially, the touch screen is always on for easy monitoring. However, you can set the touch screen to shut off after a given amount of time.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen 3. Enter the number of seconds before the touch screen automatically shuts off in the Timeout field. A value of 0 keeps the touch screen on at all times when the system is on. 4. Click Apply. Set a 4-digit PIN security code You can set a 4-digit PIN code to protect the touch screen of Pearl-2 from unauthorized access. By default, the PIN is not set.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure the touch screen 2. From the Configuration menu, click Touch Screen. The touch screen configuration page opens. 3. Enter a 4-digit PIN code in the PIN field. Record the PIN code in a safe location for future reference. You need this PIN to access the touch screen of your Pearl-2. 4. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide The Admin panel The Admin panel The Admin panel is used primarily to set up your Pearl-2 and perform administrative tasks. Most tasks in this user guide are performed using the Admin panel.This section contains what you need to get started using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide About the Admin panel Table 12 The Admin panel Label Name Description The channels that are available for the current configuration of your Pearl-2 are listed. Select a channel to access the drop down list of 1 Channels menu options that are available to configure channel encoding, add video and audio source, create layouts, perform confidence monitoring, record the channel, and more.
Pearl-2 User Guide Label Name Connect to the Admin panel Description Recorders you add to your Pearl-2 are listed. Select a recorder to open 2 Recorders menu the status page and list of related recordings for that recorder. You can start and stop recording, as well as configure the recorder settings from this page. 3 Inputs menu 4 Output ports menu The available video and audio input ports on your Pearl-2 are listed. Select a port to open the configuration and status page for that port.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connect to the Admin panel 1. Get the IP address of Pearl-2. Do one of the following: a. From a single channel view or grid view, tap the system settings (gears) icon, then tap System Status, or b. If your system doesn't have any channels showing, tap the touch screen anywhere to go to the system settings screen, then tap System Status. 3. When you have the IP address of your Pearl-2, enter the following into the address bar of your web browser to launch the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connect using the Epiphan discovery utility Connect using the Epiphan discovery utility Epiphan provides a utility for discovering Epiphan systems on your network. The Epiphan network discovery utility is a 32-bit Windows executable that works on most 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems. Download and install the utility via this link: https://www.epiphan.com/downloads/NetworkDiscovery.exe. To access the Admin panel using the Epiphan discovery utility: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connect using a DNS-based service discovery Connect using a DNS-based service discovery Pearl-2 uses DNS-based messages to advertise details about itself, including its host name. With a compatible utility installed on your computer, you can access the system simply by typing its serial number and the suffix ".local" into the address bar of your browser. The following table lists the compatible systems and Bonjour Print Services software needed.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connect using persistent static IP address http://.local/admin For example: http://95dd40d5.local/admin If HTTPS is enabled on Pearl-2, replace http with https in the URL. 3. Enter your user name and password when prompted, then click OK. The administrative user name is admin. Initially no password is set. To set a password, see User administration. 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using the Admin panel 1. Establish an Ethernet connection between Pearl-2 and the workstation using one of the following methods: a. Connect Pearl-2 to a local Ethernet network shared with the workstation. b. Connect Pearl-2 directly to the workstation’s Ethernet port using either a regular or a crossover Ethernet cable. 2. Record the network settings of the workstation that are used to connect to Pearl-2 so that they can be restored later. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using the Admin panel 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Layouts. The layout editor page opens. 3. In the layouts list, the layout with the big red circle beside it is the currently chosen "live" layout. 4. To switch to a different layout as the active "live" layout, click the gray circle beside the layout you want to make go live. The circle turns red to indicate that it's now the active "live" layout.
Pearl-2 User Guide Epiphan Live Epiphan Live Epiphan Live is a friendly and easy to use web and tablet interface designed for confidence monitoring of channels and sources, switching between layouts while recording and streaming, and to easily stop or start streaming and recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide The Dashboard interface Operating system or mobile device Supported web browser(s) l Google Chrome l Microsoft Edge l Google Chrome l Safari l Google Chrome l Google Chrome l Google Chrome l Safari Windows Mac Linux Android phone or tablet iPhone or iPad Most instructions assume that a touch screen device is used; however, you can tap or click, depending on your device. Text scaling using Google Chrome for Android is not supported.
Pearl-2 User Guide The Dashboard interface Table 14 Elements in the Dashboard interface Number Title Description l Warning – This icon displays only if there are any configuration errors in your channels, sources, streams or recordings. Clicking the icon displays more detail about the 1 errors. Dashboard header icons l Save – Save the current Dashboard layout. Tap Save to preserve the current layout.
Access Epiphan Live using a web browser or mobile Pearl-2 User Guide Number Title device Description latest Dashboard layout when they refresh their Epiphan Live page. The latest saved layout displays the next time you log in. l Menu – Access links to the Switcher view, Recordings, and Admin panel. 2 3 Dashboard monitoring panels Configurable panels for confidence monitoring. You can set each panel to display a source, channel, output, or basic system information. Panels are empty by default.
Pearl-2 User Guide Access Epiphan Live from the Admin panel 1. Enter the following into the address bar of your web browser. a. For a web browser on a computer, enter: http:///admin/m b. For a web browser on a mobile device, enter: http:// 2. Enter your administrator or operator credentials when prompted.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface The Dashboard interface in Epiphan Live is where you can do confidence monitoring, as well as start and stop streaming and recording for your channels.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface Up to 8 Epiphan Live preview panels can be open at the same time. The limit of 8 live preview panels applies across all open instances of Epiphan Live, including multiple users accessing Epiphan Live simultaneously from different web browsers, or duplicate instances of the same Epiphan Live interface open on multiple browser tabs at the same time. To configure Dashboard panels: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface You can navigate between 3 separate sets of Dashboard panels by selecting the circle icons along the top of the first row of panels. Monitor video and audio input sources Use the Dashboard to monitor your video and audio inputs. The video inputs section of the Dashboard lists all inputs configured on your Pearl-2 and displays the video resolution. l A green dot means that the video source is connected and a signal is received.
Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard Pearl-2 User Guide interface l A grayed-out audio source means that the audio source is not used in any channels. l A triangular warning icon means there is a source configuration issue that needs attention. Click the audio source name to display the warning message. l A green dot means the source is connected and the accompanying VU meter shows the audio level. The audio VU meter uses quasi-peak ballistics with samples averaged every 10 ms.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface Show or hide audio inputs You can pick which audio inputs display in the Dashboard view. Just tap the Audio inputs header and then check the checkbox next to the name of each source you want showing in the Dashboard view. Tap Save when you're done. The Dashboard audio input list updates automatically. Monitor and setup the output port source and audio The Dashboard lists the output ports along with the resolution and frame rate.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface By default, video output ports are configured to maintain aspect ratio, use the display's default resolution, include audio at 100% and they don't include the audio VU meter. You can change these defaults in the Admin panel. See Video output ports to learn more about advanced-level video output configuration using the Admin panel. To configure a video output port and enable or disable the audio: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface 3. To enable or disable audio for the output port, tap the speaker icon to toggle audio On and Off for the port. A green icon means audio is enabled. A gray icon means audio is disabled. Control streaming and recording From the Epiphan Live Dashboard, you can control streaming and recording for channels using the buttons in the Channels section.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream, record, and monitor using the Dashboard interface If multiple streams are configured for a channel, a pair of control buttons is displayed for each stream. Click the channel name to open a preview thumbnail view. When you're ready to start streaming and recording the channel, tap the streaming and recording control buttons. Tap the buttons a second time to stop streaming and recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using Epiphan Live Recording using multi-track recorders From the Admin panel, you can create multi-track Recorders to capture multiple channels and audio sources in a single recording. You can then select which combination of video and audio sources to extract from the recording. This feature is useful when you're capturing a video source and multiple languages from different audio sources.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using Epiphan Live About the Switcher interface The Switcher interface is accessed from the Menu button in the top right corner of the Dashboard interface. See The Dashboard interface. Table 16 Elements in the Switcher view Number Title Description A list of channels configured on your Pearl-2. When a channel is selected, 1 Channel selector you can switch between the different layouts that are configured for that channel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Number Title Switching / mixing using Epiphan Live Description panel. Note that the layout selected for the Preview panel has a green border and the layout in the Live panel has a red border. When selected, the layout in the Preview panel replaces the layout in 6 Switch button the Live panel and is immediately reflected in your active stream and recordings.
Pearl-2 User Guide Switching / mixing using Epiphan Live All the layouts for the selected channel are displayed in a carousel along the bottom of the screen. The layout that is live is displayed in the Live panel on the right side of the interface, see About the Switcher interface. 4. In the carousel, tap the layout that you want to switch to next. That layout displays in the Preview panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Your recordings 5. Tap the Switch button to move the layout that is currently in the Preview panel to the Live panel. Load another layout into the Preview panel so that it's ready to go live the next time you tap Switch. Your recordings All recordings made using Epiphan Live are saved to the Your recordings panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Number Title Your recordings Description Select a From and a To date from the pop-up calendar to create a date 1 Date selector range. Then tap Apply. Only recordings that were recorded within that time frame appear in the list below. 2 File details Each heading in the list gives information about that category. Selecting Date organizes the list chronologically by the date the recording began.
PART 1: Setup This section contains tasks that are needed to get your Pearl-2 configured to connect to your local network, make system settings, add passwords, make backups of your configuration, and covers how to access status information and monitor the performance of your Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rackmount installation Rackmount installation All Pearl-2 models can be used in desktop mode, with the system placed on any flat, stable surface. They are also all rackmountable into fixed racks or portable rack cases like the one depicted below. If you purchased Pearl-2 Rackmount or Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin, you can install your system directly into a 19-inch rack. For the smaller, portable Pearl-2 model, you can purchase our optional rackmount shelf for installation in a rack.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure network settings Configure network settings Pearl-2 uses DHCP to obtain an IP Address over an Ethernet-based network by default; however, you can easily change the network settings.
Pearl-2 User Guide Port (or range) Network ports used by Pearl-2 Protocol Description using the Admin panel, see Configure HTTPS. For RTSP/TCP and RTSP/HTTP streaming on your network (where x is the number of channels configured). The number of ports used depends on how many channels you have with RTSP streaming enabled. See Stream content using HTTP, HTTPS or RTSP. Note that client video players choose 554 to 554+(x-1) TCP whether they are using RTSP/TCP, RTSP/HTTP or RTSP/UDP.
Pearl-2 User Guide Verify IP address and MAC address of Pearl-2 Verify IP address and MAC address of Pearl-2 There are two ways to view the current IP address and MAC address of your Pearl-2: l From the Network configuration page using the Admin panel. l From the Settings menu using the touch screen on Pearl-2. Table 18 Network Information Item Description/Options A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier for the MAC Address network interface.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure a static IP address 2. Tap System Status to see the System Status page. 3. Tap Back to return to the System Settings screen, or the Home icon to return to the channel view. If the system settings control icon won't appear when you tap the touch screen, it may be disabled. See Configure the touch screen to enable system information.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure a static IP address 2. From the Configuration menu, select Network . The Network configuration page opens. 3. Choose No from the Use DHCP drop-down and enter your networking information in to the required fields. Click Apply when you're done. Table 19 Static IP Address Fields Label Use DHCP IP Address Description Select Yes to dynamically obtain an IP address at boot up or select No to use the configured static IP address.
Pearl-2 User Guide Label Configure a static IP address Description by Ethernet at the network layer. It’s best for all nodes in your network to use the same value. Only change the MTU value if you know that other nodes use a different value. The default gateway and DNS Server fields cannot be left blank. If you do not have a default gateway or a DNS server for your network, enter the static IP address in those fields. 4. Reboot Pearl-2 when prompted.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure DHCP Apply when you're done. The default gateway and DNS Server fields cannot be left blank. If you do not have a default gateway or a DNS server for your network, enter the static IP address in those fields. Configure DHCP If you need to switch Pearl-2 from using static IP address allocation to using dynamic allocation with DHCP, you can do this three different ways: l Restore factory settings, which clear all your custom settings. See Perform a factory reset.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure DHCP To manually select DHCP as the network type using the Admin panel: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, select Network. The Network configuration page opens. 3. Choose Yes from the Use DHCP drop-down and change the MTU Size if needed, then click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Change the HTTP/HTTPS port values Change the HTTP/HTTPS port values On Pearl-2, the default HTTP port is 80 and the default HTTPS port is 443. If the default ports used by Pearl-2 are not available on your network, you can change them using the Admin panel. Consult your system administrator for the correct port values to use for HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Ensure that the port value you choose is unique and is not currently assigned on Pearl-2, see Network ports used by Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Perform network diagnostics and try to ping the IP address or use traceroute to determine the path taken to the IP address. However, note that not all networks support ping and traceroute. If you are unable to resolve your networking issues, contact your network administrator and provide them with the IP address and MAC address of your Pearl-2; otherwise, contact Epiphan Video support for assistance. To ping or traceroute an IP address: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Disable the network discovery utility Disable the network discovery utility The proprietary network discovery utility can be used to discover Epiphan systems on your network, see Connect using the Epiphan discovery utility. The discovery utility uses port 5557 to discover the Pearl-2 devices on your network. You can disable Pearl-2 port 5557 using the Admin panel so that your Pearl-2 is not discoverable on that port. To disable the discovery utility port 5557 using the Admin panel: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure network security Configure network security Pearl-2 supports 802.1x network security. You can choose the authentication method, upload user certificates and private key, as well as manage signed CA certificates using the Admin panel. You can also configure Pearl-2 to use HTTPS. Topics include: l Configure 802.
Configure 802.1x network security and manage user Pearl-2 User Guide certificates 4. (Optional) Check Verify server's identity. 5. Choose an Authentication method if you selected EAP-TTLS as the EAP method. The authentication method is automatically selected if PEAP or EAP-TLS is the EAP method. Table 21 Authentication methods EAP method Authentication method PEAP EAP-MSCHAPv2 EAP-TLS TLS EAP-MSCHAPv2 EAP-TTLS TLS PAP 6. Enter the network access User name and Password to use for this device.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manage CA and self-signed certificates 8. Click Apply when you're done. 9. Reboot Pearl-2 when prompted. After the system has finished rebooting, log back in to the Admin panel as admin and verify that all changes were applied. If you need to delete the user certificate or private key, click Delete certificate. Manage CA and self-signed certificates You can view the list of CA and self-signed certificates that come preloaded on Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure HTTPS 5. To delete a CA or self-signed certificate that you've uploaded, click Choose File and select the certificate you want to delete from the list. Then click Delete. When you're done, click Apply. 6. Reboot Pearl-2 when prompted. After the system has finished rebooting, log back in to the Admin panel as admin and verify that all changes were applied.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tether to a mobile network 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, select Security. The Security configuration page opens. 3. Under HTTPS configuration, check Secure connection (HTTPS). 4. (Optional) Change the default HTTP and the HTTPS port numbers. Consult your network administrator. 5. (Optional) Upload a new certificate and private key as required. You can request those from your network administrator.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tether to a mobile network Here's how network failover works. You can choose to prefer the Ethernet network or the tethered (i.e. mobile hot spot) network. If the preferred network connection goes down, Pearl-2 switches to the backup network. For example, if you chose the Ethernet network as your preferred network, you will switch over to the tethered mobile network if the Ethernet network fails.
Pearl-2 User Guide Label Tether to a mobile network Description/Options When chosen, the system tries to use the Ethernet network first. It switches to use Prefer ethernet the mobile network (tethering) when the Ethernet network is no longer available. To prevent viewer interruptions, mobile data will continue to be used until the mobile network is down or publishing is restarted. When chosen, the system tries to use the mobile network (tethering) first.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure date and time Configure date and time Pearl-2 uses the current date and time in naming recorded files and when synchronizing and timestamping inputs from multiple sources (i.e. when synchronizing an audio and a video source). The Admin panel lets you specify date and time settings to ensure they are correctly configured for your time zone and your network.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure date and time Table 23 Date and Time configuration options Label Description/Options Time Zone The currently selected time zone. Enable time Whether or not a time synchronization protocol is being used for setting time. If not synchronization selected, time is set manually. Protocol The time synchronization protocol. Service IP Address The time synchronization server address. Set time manually Date Time Whether or not time is set manually.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure date and time If the system settings control icon won't appear when you tap the touch screen, it may be disabled. See Configure the touch screen to enable system information. Configure a time server Pearl-2 uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP) server from the National Research Council of Canada by default. You can change to a different time server using the Admin panel. Contact your system administrator for the time synchronization server settings you should use.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure date and time 4. Select Enable time synchronization and choose the time synchronization protocol from the Protocols drop down. a. If NTP is selected, enter the IP address or server name for the NTP server in the Server IP Address field. b. If RDATE is selected, enter the IP address or server name for the RDATE server in the Server IP Address field and select an Update interval. c.
Pearl-2 User Guide Audio input ports Audio input ports You can connect external audio devices like audio mixers directly to the audio input ports on Pearl-2. There are: l Four XLR professional line-level inputs + 4.0 dBu up to 12.3 V RMS, (+24 dBu) that support balanced and unbalanced signals.
Pearl-2 User Guide Assign audio sources to an input 3. Do one of the following. a. To make the ports function as a stereo pair, check Stereo pair and click Apply. b. To make the ports function as separate mono ports, uncheck Stereo pair and click Apply. When mono is selected, two sets of parameters and two audio VU meters appear on the configuration page - one for each audio input port on Pearl-2. Parameters that are listed only once on the page applies to both ports.
Pearl-2 User Guide Adjust audio gain and delay 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin. See Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Inputs menu, select the shared audio source. The audio configuration page opens. 3. From the Input menu, select the audio source and click Apply. Adjust audio gain and delay Pearl-2 does not introduce audio delay and has near-zero latency when capturing.
Pearl-2 User Guide Adjust audio gain and delay If the gain of your analog audio signal needs adjustment, monitor the audio levels using the VU meter and headphones, then add some gain using the Admin panel. As a rule, each 10 dB of gain doubles the perceived loudness of the audio signal. Adjusting the Input Gain for an analog audio source affects the volume for that audio source in recordings, streamed output, video output ports, and in the headphone jack.
Pearl-2 User Guide Mute audio 2. From the Inputs menu, select an audio source. The audio configuration page for the audio source opens. 3. In the Input Gain field, select the amount of gain to apply to the audio source. 4. In the Audio delay field, enter a value between 300 and -300. A positive value adds delay to the audio signal. A negative value adjusts the audio to start earlier. 5. Click Apply. Mute audio You can mute any audio input port using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Mute audio Audio input Shared audio (Admin panel) input resources Results In mono mode (Analog B audio Left muted): Both the XLR-B left and RCA left ports are muted. The XLR-A right and RCA right ports are not muted. In mono mode (Analog B audio Right muted): Both the XLR-B right and RCA right ports are muted. The XLR-A left and RCA left ports are not muted. To mute an audio source: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Mute audio 4. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Video output ports Video output ports Video output ports on Pearl-2 let you connect external displays for confidence monitoring. You can use the Admin panel or the touch screen on Pearl-2 to send any video source or channel to the video output port with (or without) the audio.
Pearl-2 User Guide Video output port resolution Using the video output port takes CPU cycles and adds to the overall load on your Pearl-2. For optimum performance, keep displays disconnected from the video output port if you're not using them. Setups that already put a heavy load on the system's CPU may be negatively impacted if the external video output port is used. You can change the video output port defaults and send any video source or channel to the port using the Admin panel or Epiphan Live.
Pearl-2 User Guide Show a channel or video source on the output port Aspect ratio legend Aspect Ratio 4:3 16:9 16:10 (8:5) 5:4 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Show a channel or video source on the output port 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Outputs menu, click the output port (HDMI 1 or HDMI 2). The video output port configuration page opens. 3. In the Source field, select a channel (prefixed by the word Channel) or a video source (prefixed by the word Input). 4. In the Resolution field, select the resolution for the video output port.
Pearl-2 User Guide Preview the video output port 5. Do one of the following: a. Check Keep aspect ratio check to have the system maintain the correct aspect ratio. If the aspect ratio is different between the source and the chosen display aspect ratio, black bars are automatically inserted at the top and bottom or left and right sides of the video. b. Uncheck Keep aspect ratio check to have the system stretch the source to fit the aspect ratio of the display. 6.
Pearl-2 User Guide Disable the video output port If the video output port is showing a source and that source has no signal, the source's no signal image is displayed. If the video output port is showing a channel and that channel is unavailable or has no signal, a no signal message is shown for 2.5 seconds, then the display output is changed to a black screen. You can also preview video output ports using the Epiphan Live control interface.
Pearl-2 User Guide Disable or enable audio and output port volume Disable or enable audio and output port volume If you're displaying a channel as the source for your video output port, audio for that channel is also encoded and sent over the port by default. You can disable the audio on the output port using the Admin panel. You can also adjust the volume of the audio on the video output port using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Display and reposition the audio VU meter 4. When audio is enabled, the Audio volume field appears. To adjust the volume, enter a value between 0 and 100. 5. Click Apply. You can also disable or enable audio on the video output port and adjust the volume using Epiphan Live, see Monitor and setup the output port source and audio.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rename a video output port 2. From the Outputs menu, click the output port (HDMI 1 or HDMI 2). The video output port configuration page opens. 3. In the Audio meter field, choose an option. Value Description do not display No audio meter is displayed. left top corner Audio meter is displayed at the top left side of the display. right top corner Audio meter is displayed at the top right side of the display.
Pearl-2 User Guide Mirror the video output port display 4. Press Enter using your keyboard to save the changes. You must press Enter to save the new name. The Apply button does not save the source name change. Mirror the video output port display You can use the Admin panel to mirror the original video source on the output port so that it appears reversed on the connected display. To mirror the video source on the video output port: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel.
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Pearl-2 User Guide Feature add-ons Feature add-ons Pearl-2 offers add-on features so you can do even more with your system. Start from the base model of Pearl2 and add feature add-ons for extra functionality. See Add-ons overview for details about the availability of add-ons for your system, as well as instructions to purchase and install add-ons. Where you see this symbol 4K in the guide, that means the feature or function applies only if you have activated the 4K feature add-on.
Pearl-2 User Guide Feature add-ons Shop now You can go to the add-ons store page on the Epiphan website at epiphan.com/add-ons to purchase feature add-ons or navigate there from the Admin panel. From the Firmware Upgrade page in the Admin panel, click Shop now to go to the add-ons store page to select and purchase available add-ons. You can also click Purchase beside any feature add-on that's listed on the Firmware Upgrade page to go to the epiphan.com website and purchase that specific feature.
Pearl-2 User Guide Feature add-ons Even if you have already purchased a feature, the Purchase button remains next to the feature until you have activated the feature and the system is rebooted. To determine if a feature with a Purchase button next to it has already been purchased, click Install purchased add-ons. If no add-ons are ready to be activated and installed, a message appears.
Pearl-2 User Guide 4K feature add-on 4K feature add-on If you have the base model of Pearl-2, you can add the 4K feature add-on.
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Pearl-2 User Guide Set up Kaltura CMS integration Set up Kaltura CMS integration When you register Pearl-2 as a resource for the Kaltura Content Management System (CMS), you can use Pearl-2 to automatically record scheduled VOD events, record manual (ad hoc) events, and schedule webcasts. When your event ends, your files are automatically uploaded to Kaltura and appear in your Kaltura media list.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Your Kaltura administrator secret l Your Kaltura user ID Enable CMS and register with Kaltura Important considerations l It's possible to enter an invalid user ID when registering Pearl-2. In that case, any VOD recordings and webcasting event recordings do not appear listed in your MediaSpace. Deregister Pearl-2 and reregister using the correct user ID, see Disable or deregister the device from Kaltura.
Pearl-2 User Guide Disable or deregister the device from Kaltura Disable or deregister the device from Kaltura You can disable CMS for a registered Pearl-2 using the Admin panel and still select Pearl-2 as a resource using Kaltura MediaSpace. However, the events schedule won't synchronize on Pearl-2 and any events that are scheduled to start while CMS is disable do not start on Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Change the resource name used for Kaltura 3. To disable CMS, select none from the Choose CMS drop down and then click Apply. 4. To deregister Pearl-2, click Deregister device. Change the resource name used for Kaltura Using the Admin panel, you can change the resource name that's assigned to Pearl-2 while it's registered with Kaltura. Each Pearl-2 is assigned a unique resource name that includes the serial number of the device by default.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Reassign a registered resource If there's only one other registered resource with that name, you're prompted to choose whether or not to take over the events for that other resource. If you do take them over, Kaltura transfers all scheduled events from that other device over to Pearl-2. l If more than two other resources are already registered with the same resource name in Kaltura, the name change fails. You're prompted to choose a different resource name and try again.
Pearl-2 User Guide Reassign a registered resource This works well when you want to change the encoder in a room but retain all the existing schedules and recordings that are associated with the encoder for that room. Alternatively, you can avoid having to register the replacement Pearl-2 with Kaltura. If you apply a configuration preset to set up the replacement Pearl-2 with the settings from the currently registered Pearl-2, the replacement Pearl-2 assumes the identity of the registered resource.
Pearl-2 User Guide Reassign a registered resource 3. From the Choose CMS drop down, select Kaltura and then click Apply. 4. Enter your Partner ID, Administrator secret, and User ID that you got from Kaltura. 5. Change the Resource name to the resource name of the Pearl-2 you are replacing and click Register device. 6. When you're prompted to take over the events from the existing resource with that same name, click Yes.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration presets Configuration presets Configuration presets are the perfect solution for backing up your system configuration, for situations where you have changing configuration requirements for your Pearl-2 or when you are managing a number of systems and you want them to have similar configurations.
Pearl-2 User Guide About configuration presets Network Channels EDID Output ports Touch screen CMS You can create and apply any saved configuration preset from the Configuration menu when you select Maintenance using the Admin panel. A special Factory default configuration preset, which cannot be erased, is included in the list of configuration presets. Use that to return to the factory setup without destructively erasing any saved recordings or media files you've uploaded.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration preset considerations Session 1 presenter data plus the conference IP and background image address Session 2 presenter data plus the conference IP and background image address Session 2 preset After applying a configuration preset, recorded files from the previous session remain present on the system.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration preset considerations Access to presets and privacy considerations l Recorded files are not removed when you apply a configuration preset. Any user with access to Pearl-2 has access to all the saved recordings, channel layouts, etc that are associated with an applied configuration preset. l Configuration presets can be overwritten and deleted without a password. Users who are logged in to the Admin panel can remove or change an existing configuration preset.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration preset considerations Configuration presets that contain the channels configuration group specify the channels in the preset by their index number. This means if you have channels 1, 2, 3 and 4 when you save your preset, applying that preset will overwrite the configuration of your current channels with indexes 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration preset considerations Overwritten channel files are still available. To access and download/delete these recorded files, enter the following into the address bar: http:///admin/channelN/archive or http:///admin/recorderN/archive, where N is the index of the removed channel/recorder. For example, if a Channel with index 3 is no longer present, its corresponding files can be accessed by entering the following into the address bar: http://192.168.0.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration preset considerations Orphaned Kaltura resource registrations and duplicate resources Returning Pearl-2 to the factory defaults using the factory default configuration preset or performing a factory reset does not delete the registered resource instance in Kaltura CMS. In that case, you can reregister your Pearl-2 using the same resource name and take over for the resource instance that is still registered in Kaltura, see Reassign a registered resource.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration groups Configuration groups The following table describes what settings are saved with each configuration group. Table 28 Configuration group definitions Group Name Symbol Settings included in the configuration group Date and time settings, serial port settings, remote support settings, custom System disk check schedule, access passwords, deny/allow lists and LDAP configuration settings. Network Inputs Network settings and tethering configuration.
Pearl-2 User Guide The Factory default configuration preset The Factory default configuration preset You can apply the default factory configuration preset to Pearl-2, which resets most of the settings in each of the main configuration groups. Applying the factory default configuration preset is similar to a factory reset, but a Factory reset is more invasive. This table describes the differences.
Pearl-2 User Guide Create a configuration preset Returning Pearl-2 to the factory defaults or performing a factory reset does not delete the registered resource instance in Kaltura CMS. You can reregister your Pearl-2 using the same resource name and take over for the resource instance that is still registered in Kaltura, see Reassign a registered resource.
Pearl-2 User Guide Apply a configuration preset using the Admin panel 2. From the Configuration menu, click Maintenance . The maintenance page opens. 3. In the Configuration presets section, enter a name for your configuration preset in the Name field. 4. Check the configuration groups you want to include in the preset. For a full system backup, select all groups. 5. Click Save. Your configuration preset appears in the list.
Pearl-2 User Guide Apply a configuration preset using the touch screen You can verify which configuration groups are included in a preset by looking at the list to the right of the configuration preset name. The term 'all' means all groups are included. Otherwise groups are listed individually. You may apply multiple presets one after another.
Pearl-2 User Guide Apply a configuration preset using the touch screen Configuration presets that only contain the network configuration group can also be applied using an alternative method, which is described at the end of this topic. To apply a configuration preset using the touch screen: 1. Tap the gear icon to open the System settings screen. If the control icons aren't showing, tap anywhere on the touch screen. 2. Tap Configuration Presets. A list of all the saved presets appears.
Pearl-2 User Guide Export and import configuration presets Alternatively, you can apply a configuration preset from the Settings when you choose Network, and then tap Network Presets to display the list of saved configuration presets that you can choose from. Configuration presets that contain only the network configuration group are listed when you use this method.
Pearl-2 User Guide Export and import configuration presets 3. In the Configuration presets section, click the Download button next to the configuration preset you want to export. The configuration preset file (with extension .preset) is saved to your admin workstation (in your browser's download folder). Import a configuration preset To import a configuration a preset: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Maintenance.
Pearl-2 User Guide Update a configuration preset What's next After you upload a configuration preset file, you must apply the configuration preset to Pearl-2. To apply the configuration preset, see Apply a configuration preset using the Admin panel or Apply a configuration preset using the touch screen.
Pearl-2 User Guide Delete a configuration preset 3. Copy the name of the preset you want into the Name field and select the configuration groups to include, then click Save. 4. Click OK when prompted to overwrite the existing configuration preset with the new one. Delete a configuration preset You can delete all configuration presets at once by doing a factory reset, or you can delete individual configuration presets from the Maintenance page. You cannot delete the Factory default configuration preset.
Pearl-2 User Guide User administration User administration Pearl-2 has three configured users: admin, operator, and viewer. By default, none of these users have passwords assigned. For higher security, we recommend setting admin, operator and viewer-level passwords on Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide User types and privileges Administrator The admin account is used for all system configuration and has full access to all configuration features. The default user name used to log in to Pearl-2 is admin. Operator The operator account allows users limited Pearl-2 configuration control. The default user name used to log in to Pearl-2 is operator.
Pearl-2 User Guide User types and privileges Viewer The viewer account is for all users who are permitted to view the streamed channels. The default user name used to log in to Pearl-2 is viewer. If no password is assigned, then viewers are not prompted for a user name and password to view a channel. The viewer user name and password prompt appears only if a viewer password is set.
Pearl-2 User Guide Action or Menu Option User types and privileges viewer operator admin ü ü Source Operations View Source Configuration ü Rename Source Configure Source ü ü View Source Snapshot ü ü Network Security Configure 802.
Pearl-2 User Guide Action or Menu Option Set or change user passwords viewer operator admin Configure the Touch Screen ü Configure Serial Port Flow Control ü Upload Branding Images ü Select Branding Template ü Enable Remote Support ü Backup Device Configuration ü Restore Device Configuration ü Restore Factory Configuration ü Reboot Device (via Admin panel) ü Shutdown Device (via Admin panel) ü Configure Time Until Next Disk Check ü Perform Disk Check ü View Disk Information ü
Pearl-2 User Guide Remove user passwords Passwords are case sensitive and can use all alpha-numeric keys in the ASCII range. Your password can be up to 255 characters long, but should not include any spaces. Contact your system administrator for your organization’s specific password requirements. In addition to setting global passwords for viewers, you can also set access passwords and IP restrictions on a per-channel basis from the channel's Streaming page, see Restrict viewers by IP address.
Pearl-2 User Guide Overcome lost passwords a per-channel basis. Clearing a user’s password will cause that user to be logged out. Be ready to log back in with the new admin password. If viewers are watching the broadcast when the viewer password is cleared they will be logged out. Viewers may need to refresh their browser window or press play in their media player to trigger the login prompt. To clear a user’s password: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure LDAP user authentication Alternatively, you can regain access to Pearl-2 if you apply the factory default configuration preset using the touch screen, Apply a configuration preset using the touch screen. The factory default configuration will change the current settings on Pearl-2, see The Factory default configuration preset. Configure LDAP user authentication You can use the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to authenticate users.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure LDAP user authentication 4. In the Server address[:port] field, enter the server IP address and (optional) port for your LDAP server. For example, 192.168.1.101:389. 5. In the Connection encryption drop-down, choose the type of encryption used by your LDAP server (if any is used). Connection encryption Description/Default port used No Encryption No encryption is used to connect to the LDAP server. The default port is 389.
Pearl-2 User Guide Change the logged-in user 11. In the Viewers (group DN) field, specify the distinguished name of the group users must be part of to be logged in as a viewer. Users must have the member or unqueMember attribute for the specified group to be granted Viewer access. If left blank, LDAP is not supported for Viewers (but can still be used for Administrators and Operators). 12. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Restrict viewers by IP address The following table describes what happens when an IP address is added to the allowed and denied IP address lists. Item Description Users connecting from addresses in this list are permitted to view broadcasts from the system, provided their IP address is not in the Deny IP’s list. Allow IP's To allow all except IP addresses in the deny list, if any, leave the field blank.
Pearl-2 User Guide IP restriction examples To restrict viewer access to watch streams on a specific channel by their IP address: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Streaming. The channel's streaming configuration page opens. 3. From the Stream access control drop-down, select Use these Settings to enable local password and Allow/Deny IP lists are enabled. 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Example IP restriction examples Description individual address. The allow list looks as follows: Allow: 192.168.1.200-192.168.1.250 Note that we could have specified two of the IP addresses in the previous example as a range. Putting the first two examples together, we want to permit access to IP addresses in the range of boardroom computers (192.168.1.200192.168.1.250) and also want to add the desktop, laptop and tablet computers of the CEO (IP addresses 192.168.1.50, 192.168.1.
Pearl-2 User Guide IP restriction examples Table 33 Example deny lists Example Description Another simple allow/deny list is to use the list of known IP addresses to list specific denied IP addresses. All other addresses are allowed access to the broadcast. For example imagine your system is accessible on your local area network (LAN) and you want to allow any computer on the LAN can access the stream Deny list with distinct IP addresses except your publicly-accessible boardroom (with IP address 192.
Pearl-2 User Guide Status and monitoring Status and monitoring Pearl-2 lets you monitor audio and check the status of your channels, live streams, and recordings. Topics include: l Monitoring audio l Channel monitoring using the touch screen l View system information using the touch screen l View system information using the Admin panel l View 802.
Pearl-2 User Guide Status and monitoring Channel monitoring using the touch screen Have complete confidence about what you're capturing, streaming, and recording. Up to 6 channels are displayed in the grid view, depending on how many channels you have configured. The grid view opens by default when you turn on Pearl-2. If necessary, tap the touch screen once to turn it on and tap again to display the controls.
Pearl-2 User Guide Item Status and monitoring Description Streaming has an error and recording is started. Streaming is disabled and recording is started. TIP: You stop and start recording from the individual channel view. Each channel has an audio VU meter that uses quasi-peak ballistics with samples averaged every 10 ms. The maximum average audio level in each 100 ms period is displayed using colored bars.
Pearl-2 User Guide Item Status and monitoring Description Gray means streaming is stopped. Flashing blue means streaming is in progress. Streaming has an error. Streaming timer The streaming timer shows the length of time that streaming has been in progress. Recording indicator appears in the top-right corner: (no dot) Recording is disabled. Gray means recording is stopped. Recording status Flashing red means recording is in progress. Recording has an error.
Pearl-2 User Guide Status and monitoring .
Pearl-2 User Guide Status and monitoring 1. Tap the gear icon. If the control icons aren't showing, tap anywhere on the touch screen. 2. Tap System Status to see the System Status page. 3. Tap Back to return to the System Settings screen, or the Home icon to return to the channel view. If the system settings control icon won't appear when you tap the touch screen, it may be disabled. See Configure the touch screen to enable system information.
Pearl-2 User Guide View system information using the Admin panel Get useful information about your Pearl-2 and configured channels from the system information page. You can view your current firmware level, the system hardware version (if available), and currently configured channels. To view system information using the Admin panel: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Info. The system information page opens. View 802.
Pearl-2 User Guide . Table 37 Network status messages Status Message Description Pearl-2's IP address is unavailable, DISCONNECTED for example when 802.1x is not enabled on Pearl-2. 802.1x: PROGRESS Connection to the 802.1x network is in progress. Pearl-2 has successfully 802.1x: PASSED authenticated on the 802.1x network. 802.1x: FAILED Authentication on the 802.1x network failed. If you attempt to connect to a network that isn't 802.1x enabled when 802.
Pearl-2 User Guide 2. From the Output ports menu, click the output port (HDMI 1 or HDMI 2). The video output port configuration page opens. Table 38 Possible video output status messages Message Disabled Display is not connected Source is currently unavailable Starting ... Running at w×h Description This video output port is disabled in the configuration. See View the video output port status.
Pearl-2 User Guide See FTP and automatic file transfers to learn how to configure AFU settings using the Admin panel. Table 39 AFU status touch screen components Label Name Description Indicates the AFU status: 1 Status l Waiting l Disabled l In Progress – files are in queue to be transmitted for upload according to specified time interval – within the next 6, 12 or 24 hours. See Enable AFU and set parameters l Error – an error has occurred with the AFU.
Pearl-2 User Guide To access the Automatic File Upload status using the touch screen: 1. Tap the gear icon. If the control icons aren't showing, tap anywhere on the touch screen. If the gear icon is not visible on the touch screen, tap the screen once to activate the control buttons. If the system settings button is still not visible, it is disabled in the system's touch screen configuration. See Configure the touch screen to enable system information. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide To close the system information screen, tap Back in the upper-left corner of the screen to return to the System Settings view, or tap the Home icon to return to the channel view. View Kaltura events Using the Admin panel, select the Events menu to see up to 90 days of upcoming scheduled events and up to 90 days of ongoing and completed events for this Pearl-2 resource. Click the page arrows at the bottom of each list to navigate through multiple pages.
Pearl-2 User Guide If the time and zone settings of Pearl-2 are out of synchronization with Kaltura's scheduling server, an error appears on the Events page when you refresh the schedule. Configure the time settings on Pearl-2 to match the time and zone of Kaltura's scheduling server, see Configure date and time. From the touch screen on Pearl-2, you can tap the Scheduled events icon at any time to display the Events screen. The icon only appears when Kaltura CMS is enabled on Pearl-2.
PART 2: Capture Capturing is the process of taking the signals from your video and audio sources and encoding them so they're ready for streaming and recording. You add the captured video and audio to channels, which you customize for live streaming, switching, and recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide What is a channel? What is a channel? Your video and audio sources that are connected to the input ports on Pearl-2 can be combined and added to channels, which you can stream and record. A channel is essentially an encoding instance that you associate with your video and audio inputs to produce outputs such as video recordings and streaming destinations. And you can create multiple channels.
Pearl-2 User Guide Channel layout examples Important note for channels with multiple layouts When a channel has only one layout and that layout has only one video source, the default channel name is the same as the name of the video source. So for example, a channel with one layout that has HDMI-A in it is named HDMI-A by default. When you add a second layout to the channel, the channel name automatically changes to a generic name Channel X, where X is the channel index number.
Pearl-2 User Guide Layout example Channel layout examples Description One video source (a slideshow presentation in this case), with a green background matte. To get this look: Using the custom layout editor, select a background color. Add a video source to the layout and size appropriately, leaving the background matte visible. One video source with a logo (.png with transparency) in the bottom left corner. To get this look: Upload an image with transparency.
Pearl-2 User Guide Layout example Channel layout examples Description Two video sources (one cropped to a new aspect ratioCrop a video source), a background image, and a logo. Make sure the background image has the correct aspect ratio. To get this look: Upload your background and logo images (you can do this from the Media page or the Layouts page for the channel). Using the custom layout editor, add the background image to the layout and stretch it to fill the entire layout area.
Pearl-2 User Guide About automatic channels Auto A and Auto B Layout example Description One 4x3 video source in a 16x9 frame with a green background matte. To get this look: From the Encoding page for the channel, make sure that the 16x9 frame size is selected. Then using the custom layout editor, select a background color. Add a video source to the layout and stretch to the full height of the screen, leaving the background matte visible.
Pearl-2 User Guide About automatic channels Auto A and Auto B You can start viewing the channel immediately on the touch screen or using an web browser on the same LAN or network as Pearl-2. Browse to the following URL: For Auto A: http://.local/preview.cgi?channel=1 For Auto B: http://.local/preview.cgi?channel=2 For example:http://d560515f.local/preview.
Pearl-2 User Guide About automatic channels Auto A and Auto B For example, if you attach an SDI source to the "SDI-A" slot and then HDMI into the "HDMI-A" slot, Auto A will show HDMI and use HDMI audio. If the HDMI video signal is lost or you manually select the SDI audio source using the custom layout editor, Auto A will switch to SDI video with SDI audio. If all the connected sources lose signal at the same time (i.e.
Pearl-2 User Guide Channel configuration Channel configuration Channels let you encode your video and audio sources so they can be live streamed, recorded, and switched if you create multiple layouts using the custom layout editor. Before using a channel, you should check the channel settings. You can fine-tune your channel to maximize the quality of your live streams, minimize the amount of bandwidth used, and ensure your video and audio encoding settings are optimized for your event.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure auto channels Configure auto channels Auto channels are included with Pearl-2 to make setup quick and simple. However if you want to set custom encoding or streaming configuration for the channel, you can configure it like any other channel. To further configure automatic channels Auto A and Auto B: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 3. From the Channels menu, click Auto A or Auto B. The channel's status page opens 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Create a channel The default encoding settings for a channel are: l l Video: H.264, 1920x1080@30 fps, auto bit rate Audio: AAC, 48kHz stereo, 320 kbps If the channel's video source doesn't have a 16:9 aspect ratio, the system automatically detects the correct aspect ratio and updates the layout after you leave and return to the custom layout editor page. This happens because the channel's encoding page has Use current signal resolution as frame size selected by default.
Pearl-2 User Guide Create a channel 3. Click Add new item and select Video Source. 4. From the Source settings, select a video source in the Source drop down.
Pearl-2 User Guide Create a channel For best results, Keep aspect ratio when scaling should be checked under Source settings. The selected video source appears in the layout area. 5. Click and drag the red and white handles on the corners of the source to re-size it in the layout editor area. For a single source channel, it should fill the entire layout area.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add video sources or a channel as a source If a channel is selected as a video source, the corresponding audio for that channel is selected by default. 7. Click Save. Your channel is ready for basic streaming and recording. Because this is a single-source channel with only one layout, the channel's name is updated to display the source’s name next time you view the channel. Click the channel name to refresh.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add video sources or a channel as a source If more than one video source is added to a channel, we recommend configuring the channel encoding to use a fixed resolution as the frame size instead of automatically using the resolution of the video source as the frame size (default). A fixed channel resolution ensures that your channel displays properly at a fixed resolution.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add video sources or a channel as a source For best results, check Keep aspect ratio when scaling in the Source settings. The selected video source appears in the layout editing area. 6. Click and drag the red and white handles on the corners of the source to re-size it in the layout editor area. Alternatively, enter a value in the fields along the side and bottom of the layout editing area to resize the selected item.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add video sources or a channel as a source 7. Select an audio source from the list of audio sources. If a channel is selected as the video source, the corresponding audio for that channel is selected automatically by default. 8. Click Save. A note about item positioning and sizing There are four ways to position and size items in the layout area 1. using the mouse 2. using the keyboard 3. using the manual positioning values with percents 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add an audio source to a layout back to percents by typing a percent. See Resize and position items using percents or pixels for more information. Add an audio source to a layout You can add multiple audio sources to the layouts for a channel using the Admin panel. Each layout can have the same audio sources in them or you can choose different audio sources. By default, audio is enabled for the channel on the channel's encoding page.
Pearl-2 User Guide Duplicate a channel 4. Check the audio source that you want to use for the layout and click Save. What's Next You can check the audio encoding settings for your channel and ensure that audio is enabled, see Configure encoding. To adjust the gain for an audio input source, see Adjust audio gain and delay. Duplicate a channel You can duplicate any channel you've created. All settings in the channel you duplicate are recreated. To duplicate a channel: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rename a channel 4. Click Duplicate this channel. The duplicate channel is created and assigned the next sequential number in the Channel menu. 5. Click Save. Rename a channel Channels are created with the same name as their video source by default. When a second layout or a second video source is added to the channel, the channel name changes to Channel X, where X is the index number for the channel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Delete a channel 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click any of menu options for the channel. For example, click Metadata. 3. Click on the channel name that appears at the top of the page. The text turns red. 4. Enter the new name using alphanumeric characters. We recommend using underscores to separate words rather than using spaces. 5. Press Enter using your keyboard to save the new name. Delete a channel You can delete a channel using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Preview channel 3. Click Delete this channel and click OK when prompted to delete the channel, or click Cancel. Preview channel You can open a live preview of a channel in your web browser to see any configuration changes you make to the channel as you make them. Web browsers that support HTML5 and Flash are supported.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Preview channel PCM audio encoding at 48 kHz is not supported. A live broadcast preview link is not provided for a channel that is configured for PCM audio encoding with a sampling bitrate of 48 kHz. l If HTTPS is configured for Pearl-2, the live broadcast URL will start with https instead of http. Preview a channel from the Info page The Info page has preview links for all the channels that are configured on Pearl-2. To preview a channel from the Info page: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Preview channel 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Status. The Status page opens and a live preview snapshot appears below the Stream info. 3. Right-click the Live Broadcast link and select Open in a new Tab or Open in a new Window. Preview all channels at the same time Pearl-2 has a special preview mode that lets you see all configured channels at once. The resulting web page can be very large.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add or remove channel metadata Add or remove channel metadata When you configure metadata for a channel, that metadata is embedded in all channel recordings and streams. You can specify the following metadata that the media player displays for your viewers: l title of the presentation l company website l presenter’s name l copyright date or other labels such as proprietary information, preliminary etc.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure encoding Configure encoding You can modify the encoding settings for each channel. The encoding settings let you fine tune your channel recording or live stream. You can select a specific frame size, bit rate, audio or video codec, and more.
Pearl-2 User Guide Value Codecs and file format compatibility Description MP3 provides a common audio format for audio storage. Supported sampling bitrate values are: 22 kHz, 44 kHz and 48 kHz. Setting the channel bitrate to match the audio source's bitrate provides the best sound quality and avoids audio resampling. Most digital signals (HDMI or SDI sources) use 48 kHz. For analog signals, 44 kHz provides a good quality MP3 audio sample.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure video encoding Video Codec selected Audio Codec selected H.264 AAC MJPEG No audio codec RTSP FLV MPEG-TS ü ü ü MJPEG ü The following table displays the compatibility between the video/audio codecs and the supported recording formats. Table 43 Video/audio codecs for formats for recording Video Codec Audio Codec selec- selected ted H.264 No audio codec H.264 MP4 and MP4-Frag- AVI MOV MPEG-TS ü ü ü ü PCM ü ü ü H.264 MP3 ü ü ü ü H.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Configure video encoding Bitrate: If using the H.264 video codec, you can increase or decrease image quality by increasing or decreasing the channel's Bitrate value. Video with a high level of motion and high resolution, such as sporting events, requires a higher bitrate. By default, Pearl-2 automatically uses the incoming video source frame size as the frame size for streaming and recording when the channel has only one layout with a single video source.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure video encoding Table 44 Video encoding settings Setting H.264 Description H.264 is the default codec and provides high quality video while using low bandwidth. This is the preferred codec for the system. This codec is suitable for streaming and recording video, however you get Motion JPEG lower quality images and it requires a large amount of bandwidth. Motion JPEG does not support audio.
Pearl-2 User Guide Setting Configure video encoding Description H.264, then you can set the bitrate to improve the image quality. For example, an HD Blu-ray video is typically in the range of 20 Mbps, whereas a standard-definition DVD is usually 6 Mbps. If you're unsure what bitrate value to use, start at 5000 kbps (slightly less than a typical DVD) and test to see how this looks for your viewers. To configure video encoding for a channel: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Item Configure video encoding Options Main: Choose this option for standard-definition broadcasts. High: This is the default. Choose this option when video is viewed for broadcast and disk storage applications, particularly for high definition television application such as Blu-ray disk storage format and HDTV broadcast service. 3. Configure the frame size, do the following: a. Uncheck Use current signal resolution as the frame size.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure audio encoding Configure audio encoding If your channel includes audio sources in any of the layouts, then AAC 48 kHz is set as the default audio codec for the channel. You can choose a different audio codec for a channel using the Admin panel. The following table lists the supported audio codecs and bitrates.
Pearl-2 User Guide Multi-encoding and channel as a source 2. From the Channel menu, select a channel and click Encoding. The encoding configuration page opens. 3. In the Audio settings, ensure that Enable audio is checked to include audio in the channel. 4. From the Audio format drop down, select an audio codec (AAC, MP3, or PCM). 5. From the Audio channels drop down, choose mono or stereo (default).
Pearl-2 User Guide Multi-encoding and channel as a source settings for CDNs that don't use adaptive bitrates. l Or record the same channel simultaneously at different resolutions, like 4K and full HD. For example, take a scenario where you want to record a video at 1080p and 8 Mbps, while simultaneously live stream the same video online 720p and 1 Mbps. You can create your custom layouts and do all your switching in one channel (i.e. Channel 1) and then configure Channel 2 to use Channel 1 as a source.
Pearl-2 User Guide Custom layout configuration 5. For Channel 2's audio source, choose Channel 1 if not already selected by default. 6. Set encoding and streaming settings for channel 2. Using this process, you can again use the same video you’re recording on Channel 2, and stream it at a different bitrate and frame size.
Pearl-2 User Guide About the custom layout editor You access the custom layout editor using the Admin panel when you select your channel from the Channels menu and click Layouts. To add or delete a layout, see Add or edit a custom layout. Layout selector When you open the custom layout editor for a channel, a list of layouts appears at the top. You can create and delete layouts, duplicate layouts, choose which layout to preview and edit, and select the active live layout for live switching.
Pearl-2 User Guide About the custom layout editor The main layout area has the same frame size and aspect ratio as the encoding setting of the channel. As you add items to the layout, they appear in the layout editing area. The currently selected item is presented in full color. Unselected items appear transparent. To change the settings for an item, click an item in the item list that appears below the layout editing area. The settings for that item appears.
Pearl-2 User Guide About the custom layout editor 1. using the mouse 2. using the keyboard 3. using the manual positioning values with percents 4. using the manual positioning values with pixels To use the mouse: Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings).
Pearl-2 User Guide Resize and position items using percents or pixels If an Auto channel is selected as a video source, then Auto A or Auto B audio is selected by default. You can have multiple audio sources in a layout. The audio sources are mixed together at the same volume level as one another. When setting the audio gain for your channel, add all your audio sources to your layout first, then set level of gain for your audio sources appropriately. When you're done all your changes, click Save.
Pearl-2 User Guide Resize and position items using percents or pixels Percent values are used in adjustment boxes by default, and can be converted to pixels by simply overwriting the percent value in a given adjustment box and replacing it with a pixel value. When entering percent values, ensure the suffix "%" is added to your value (i.e. "20%"). When entering pixel values, ensure the suffix "px" is added to your value (i.e. "200px").
Pearl-2 User Guide Resize and position items using percents or pixels Table 46 Adjustment boxes for item resizing and positioning Item Description The area of your layout item. The 4 red/white dots represent the boundaries of your layout item. 1 There may be some black space between your item and its boundaries if Keep aspect ratio when scaling is enabled (see Add an image to a layout). 2 The percentage of blank space (or number of pixels) from left to right on the layout's horizontal axis. (I.e.
Pearl-2 User Guide Item Resize and position items using percents or pixels Description horizontal axis. (I.e. the item is displaced 10%, or 100px, from the bottom up). If using percents, this is the items percentage of total height on the layout's vertical axis. (I.e. the item takes up 80% of the layout's height – represented by a thin red bar to the left of the 6 percent box). If using pixels, this value is the item's height, in pixels, with a maximum pixel width (i.e.
Pearl-2 User Guide Resize and position items using percents or pixels In the example above, the presenter video source is resized to 60% of the layout's width and 70% of the layout's height (with aspect ratio maintained). (Alternatively, pixels could be used to resize the layout item in a similar fashion.
Pearl-2 User Guide Resize and position items using percents or pixels Alternatively, you can position your layout items using the keyboard by selecting the item with your mouse cursor, and pressing the arrow keys to move the selected item by 5% in any direction. You can also position your item with additional keyboard precision by holding Ctrl and pressing the arrow keys to nudge your item by a very small fraction in the direction of your choice.
Pearl-2 User Guide Resize and position items using percents or pixels Example 2: vertical positioning using pixels To position your layout item along the vertical axis, enter a percent or pixel value into either the top or the bottom adjustment box to shift your layout item downward or upward, respectively.
Pearl-2 User Guide Open the custom layout editor for a channel Open the custom layout editor for a channel 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor opens. 3. From the Layouts list, select the layout you want to edit. The layout editor updates to display the selected layout and the row for the selected layout is highlighted in green.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add or edit a custom layout Add or edit a custom layout If you want to do live switching on your channel for a more dynamic video presentation, then you need to add different layouts that you can switch between. We recommend that you rename your channel and layouts to something more intuitive rather than using the default names, see Rename a channel and Rename a layout. Creating layouts gives you full control over what's presented to your viewers.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add or edit a custom layout 3. Select a layout from the layout list or click Add Layout to create a new layout. If this is a new channel or layout, the layout area is empty and you see a black background matte. See Add video sources or a channel as a source 4. Click and drag the red and white handles on the corners of the video source to re-size it in the layout editor area.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rename a layout 5. Click Save when you're done or continue to add additional video sources to the layout, resize and crop each video source to exactly how you want them to appear. Rename a layout You can rename any layout, even the currently active layout. Layouts you create are automatically given a default name. The first layout is called Default. You can the name using the custom layout editor.
Pearl-2 User Guide Delete, move, or duplicate a layout 5. Enter a new name and press Enter. Delete, move, or duplicate a layout Layouts appear listed in the layouts list in the same order that they are presented on the touch screen. It's simple to re-order, remove, and duplicate layouts using the custom layout editor. Reorder layouts To move a layout: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Layouts.
Pearl-2 User Guide Delete, move, or duplicate a layout 4. Click OK. When using the switcher on Epiphan Live, refresh your browser if you still see a layout that was deleted. The deleted layout should disappear. Duplicate layouts If you're planning to use live switching, we strongly recommend you rename the channel rather than using the default channel name, see Rename a channel. To duplicate a layout: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set the background color l If the channel is streaming, the stream is stopped and restarted. l If the channel's recorder is recording, then recording is stopped and a new file is started. If you delete all the layouts in a channel until there is only one layout left and that layout has only one video source assigned, then the channel name changes back to the name of the video source.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add an image to a layout Add an image to a layout You can add images to a layout using the custom layout editor. Use images to create a background for your source, to add your corporate logo, or to add relevant information about the event you're streaming. Pearl-2 supports png (PNG) and .jpg (JPEG) images. You can upload images that are 16×16 pixels to a maximum image size of 4096×4096; however it's strongly recommended that you upload exactly the size you need to avoid image scaling.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add an image to a layout For best results, check Keep aspect ratio when scaling in the Source settings. 5. Your picture appears in the Picture settings preview and is added to the layout area. 6. In the layout area, use the mouse, the keyboard or the manual position value fields to position and resize your image. For background images, click and drag to fill the full layout area. For more details, see About the custom layout editor.
Pearl-2 User Guide Upload or remove an image using the Media page 7. Re-order the items in your layout by clicking and dragging items in the item list. To layer video sources over top of each other, like for background images or a transparent logo, you can click and drag elements that appear in the item list beneath Add new item and change their order. Items that are higher up the list appear over top items that are lower down the list. 8. Click Save.
Pearl-2 User Guide Upload or remove an image using the Media page For best results always upload images that are already the correct size needed in your layout. Background images should match the frame size of your channel (frame size is set in the Encoding configuration page). There are two ways to upload images. You can upload images using the Media page or drag and drop your image in to a layout using the custom layout editor, see Add an image to a layout.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add a text overlay Add a text overlay Text overlays are useful to add information like a title, location, or the date and time in to layouts in your channel. You can add text to any layout using the custom layout editor. The following tables lists shortcut codes that you can enter and the resulting content that appears on screen.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add a text overlay 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor opens. 3. Click Add new item and select Text. The new item is added to the layout editing area and to the top of the list of items. The Text settings also appear. You can change the order in which items appear on the layout editing area by re-arranging the order the items appear in the list beneath Add new item.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add a text overlay The resulting text is displayed: 5. Select the Font, Font size, and Text color. You can also change the default Line spacing in percentages. For a mono-spaced font, use Droid Sans Mono. Limitations: The maximum supported text size is 500 px. Padding values must not exceed the frame size. Do not enter negative padding values. 6. Resize the overlay text box using the padding settings.
Pearl-2 User Guide Custom system variables for text overlays Custom system variables for text overlays You can create your own custom system variables using the HTTP API, which you can then use in text overlays. This is useful to add custom overlay text that changes throughout the course of your live stream or recorded program.
Pearl-2 User Guide Crop a video source specific aspect ratio or size from a source, or select a crop that fits into your layout better than the full area of your video. To crop a source in your layout: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor opens. 3. Select a video source from the items list. The Source settings appears. 4. Click Crop.
Pearl-2 User Guide Crop a video source 5. The Crop window has several tools for creating the best crop possible. l Free form is the default crop mode. In this mode, you can change the size, aspect ratio, and position of the crop with minimal restrictions. l The red box with click-and-drag circular handles in the corners shows the cropped area that appears in the final layout. Only the content inside the box shows in the layout.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure chroma keying Configure chroma keying Pearl-2 supports chroma keying so you can add special effects to any video source in a custom channel. Add great looking effects such as animated lower thirds using a titler software or add a custom background using green screen. It's easy to get creative. With chroma keying, you can choose a specific color in your video scene and replace everything of that color with a different image or video.
Pearl-2 User Guide Performance considerations Performance considerations Chroma keying can impact the performance of Pearl-2 depending on factors such as how many chroma key sources you add, if you scale the chroma key video source using the custom layout editor, and your frame rate. For best performance, avoid excessive scaling of video sources that have chroma keying enabled. Cropping video sources that have chroma keying enabled helps reduce processing and optimizes the performance of Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide What is downstream chroma keying? To get an upstream key effect using Pearl-2, you can create custom layouts for each video source using the custom layout editor. Then set up chroma keying on just one custom layout. Only the video source that appears in the custom layout with chroma key enabled has the chroma key effect applied to it.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up chroma key for a green screen video source A common use of downstream keying is to display a persistent image, like a company logo, so that it always appears on screen. To get a downstream key effect using Pearl-2, you can enable the same chroma key effect on all your custom layouts. This way, the same chroma key effect gets applied to everything you stream or record.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up chroma key for a green screen video source Your chroma key source can come from a video camera or an effects computer connected to Pearl-2. The background you use can be from another video source, a still image that you've uploaded to Pearl-2, or from an effects computer. This example shows two camera sources connected to Pearl-2. The green screen appears in the video source connected to HDMI-A and the office background is from HDMI-B.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up chroma key for a green screen video source 4. Click Source and select the video source that you want showing through the background of your chroma key colored areas. For detailed steps, see Add video sources or a channel as a source. 5. In the layout editing area, click and drag to position the video. See the note after this procedure for positioning techniques. For best results, select the Keep aspect ratio when scaling checkbox from the Source settings box. 6.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up chroma key for a green screen video source 9. With the green screen video source selected, check Enable Chroma keying in the custom layout editor. The chroma keying options appear.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up chroma key for a green screen video source White, grey, and black are not recommended colors for chroma keying. Pearl-2 treats them as the same color with different luminance values. As such, chroma keying affects all shades ranging from white to black. 10. Click the eye dropper and then click on a color in the thumbnail image to choose the chroma key color.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up chroma key for a green screen video source 12. Click Save when you're done. A note about item positioning and sizing There are four ways to position and size items in the layout area 1. using the mouse 2. using the keyboard 3. using the manual positioning values with percents 4. using the manual positioning values with pixels To use the mouse: Click and drag to move the item.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides You can use the chroma key feature on Pearl-2 with Microsoft Powerpoint slides to add animated titles and other Powerpoint effects. The setup is really the same as using a dedicated titling software on an effects computer with Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides 2. Follow the steps in Add or edit a custom layout to create a custom channel. 3. From the custom layout editor, click Add new item and select Video Source from the drop down box. 4. Click Source and select the video source that you want showing in the background. For detailed steps, see Add video sources or a channel as a source. 5. In the layout editing area, click and drag to position the video.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides Cropping the Powerpoint computer video source helps optimize the performance of Pearl2. 8. In the layout area, position the Powerpoint video source over top the other video source. To optimize performance, avoid scaling the Powerpoint video source if you can.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides 9. With the Powerpoint video source selected, check Enable Chroma keying in the custom layout editor. The chroma keying options appear.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add chroma key titler effects using Microsoft Powerpoint slides 10. Click the eye dropper and then click on a color in the thumbnail image to choose the chroma key color. The background video image shows through all the colored areas on the chroma key video layer that match the color you select as the chroma key. 11. Adjust the chroma color selection and blend the edges to remove unwanted chroma effects or residual color. a.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 A note about item positioning and sizing There are four ways to position and size items in the layout area 1. using the mouse 2. using the keyboard 3. using the manual positioning values with percents 4. using the manual positioning values with pixels To use the mouse: Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings).
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 This example shows an HDMI camera connected to the HDMI-A port on Pearl-2 and an effects computer with titler software connected to the HDMI-B port. To the computer, Pearl-2 is treated just like an external display. You can connect the effects computer with the titling software to any supported port that is available on Pearl-2. To apply the chroma key effect to a single video source using Pearl-2: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 4. Click Source and select the video source that you want showing in the background. For detailed steps, see Add video sources or a channel as a source. 5. In the layout editing area, click and drag to position the video. See the note after this procedure for positioning techniques. For best results, select the Keep aspect ratio when scaling checkbox from the Source settings box. 6.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 Cropping the effects computer video source helps optimize the performance of Pearl-2. 8. In the layout area, position the effects video source over top the other video source. To optimize performance, avoid scaling the effects video source if you can.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 9. With the effects video source selected, check Enable Chroma keying in the custom layout editor. The chroma keying options appear.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 10. Click the eye dropper and then click on a color in the thumbnail image to choose the chroma key color. The background video image shows through all the colored areas on the chroma key video layer that match the color you select as the chroma key. 11. Adjust the chroma color selection and blend the edges to remove unwanted chroma effects or residual color. a. Enter a number in the Key threshold field to adjust the color selection.
Pearl-2 User Guide Add external titler software effects to Pearl-2 A note about item positioning and sizing There are four ways to position and size items in the layout area 1. using the mouse 2. using the keyboard 3. using the manual positioning values with percents 4. using the manual positioning values with pixels To use the mouse: Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings).
Pearl-2 User Guide Video and audio input sources Video and audio input sources The Admin panel automatically discovers all video and audio sources that you connect to the input ports on Pearl-2 and lists them in the Inputs menu of the Admin panel. RTSP sources need to be added manually to display in the Inputs menu (see Connect an RTSP source). When an RTSP source is added, a corresponding audio sources is always added to your custom layout editor even if the RTSP stream actually contains no audio.
Pearl-2 User Guide About connecting video and audio sources Changing the video or audio source that is being streamed or recorded can result in the recording stopping or the stream frame size changing depending on how your channel is configured. If the frame size changes, viewers may be disconnected and need to re-connect to the stream.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tested RTSP-based IP cameras Pearl-2's Admin panel automatically discovers all audio sources and displays them in the same section. An exception is for RTSP audio sources. When an RTSP input stream is connected to your Pearl-2, a corresponding audio source is automatically added to the list of audio sources for your channels, even if there is no audio in the RTSP stream, see Add an audio source to a layout.
Pearl-2 User Guide Tested RTSP-based IP cameras For example, to connect a Sony SRG300SE camera with an IP address of "192.168.0.160", your source URL needs to be entered as: "rtsp://192.168.0.160/video1" Or, if using a Q-See QCN8029Z camera, your source URL needs to be entered as: "rtsp://192.168.0.
Pearl-2 User Guide Supported web cameras Supported web cameras Pearl-2 supports most webcams and USB audio sources, such as USB microphones. The following list of web cameras have been tested for compatibility with Pearl-2. If your web camera doesn't appear in the list, that just means your model hasn't been tested. It's likely that it will work without any issues.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connect an RTSP source To connect an RTSP source to Pearl-2: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Inputs menu, click Add RTSP source. The RTSP input page opens. 3. Enter the Input URL, Username and Password for your RTSP source and select either UDP or TCP as the Preferred transport. If you're using another Pearl-2 as an RTSP source, see Stream content using HTTP, HTTPS or RTSP. 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Connect an AV.io video grabber Alternatively, you can view stream connection information when you click check at the bottom of the page. Connect an AV.io video grabber You can connect an Epiphan AV.io frame grabber to a USB input port just the same as you would connect a web camera. Pearl-2 treats the video source from the frame grabber just like any other video source.
Pearl-2 User Guide Preview a video source using the Admin Panel Use AV.io frame grabbers to connect extra HDMI, DVI, or SDI sources. Using AV.io HD, you can add up to two VGA sources to Pearl-2. You can set up and operate frame grabbers using the same Configure a video input source l AV.io HD: https://www.epiphan.com/userguides/avio-hd/Content/Home-AVioHD.htm l AV.io SDI: https://www.epiphan.com/userguides/avio-sdi/Content/Home-AVioSDI.htm l AV.io 4K: https://www.epiphan.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rename an input port Rename an input port The input port names are used when adding your video and audio sources to channels. A channel that has only one source is automatically assigned the same name as the input source by default. If you change the name of the input source, the channel name will update automatically to match. Sometimes it's helpful to configure the input port name to match the data it's capturing so that it's clear what the channel is capturing.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure a video input source 2. From the Inputs menu, click the source name. The configuration page for the source opens. 3. Click on the input port's name that appears at the top of the page. The text turns red. 4. Enter the new name using alphanumeric characters. We recommend using underscores to separate words rather than using spaces. 5. Press Enter using your keyboard to save the new name.
Pearl-2 User Guide DVI and HDMI signals DVI and HDMI signals The following options are available for DVI and HDMI signals via the HDMI port: 282
Pearl-2 User Guide DVI and HDMI signals Value Description Enable Enable this feature to convert an interlaced source signal to a non-interlaced deinterlacing signal. Enable 4K Selecting this option means that your 4K UHD1 source will be automatically downscaling4K downscaled to 1080p using Pearl-2's hardware. This menu allows you to choose a custom no-signal image for the channel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Value USB signals Description This menu allows you to choose a custom no-signal image for the channel. The Image drop-down list gives you the option to choose the default image or any image you have uploaded through the Add a custom No Signal image The timeout represents the number of seconds after losing the signal that the no- Timeout signal is displayed. You may change this number to adjust how soon you wish the no-signal image to appear after the signal disappears.
Pearl-2 User Guide Value USB signals Description This feature is useful for simultaneously dictating the resolution and fps at which Capture mode the camera is captured. The drop down list of available resolutions and frame rates changes depending on the attributes of the connected device. Brightness The brightness of the video can be adjusted by entering a numerical value from 0 to 100.
Pearl-2 User Guide Value USB signals Description is achieved. The contrast of the video can be adjusted by entering a numerical value from 0 to Contrast 100. Estimate values and view the result in the preview area until desired result is achieved. The vertical positioning of the video can be adjusted by entering a numerical Vertical shift value from -64 to 64. Estimate values and view the result in the preview area until desired result is achieved.
Pearl-2 User Guide RTSP sources RTSP sources RTSP sources are configured for connection to your Pearl-2 using the Source URL, Username and Password specific to your selected RTSP source. (See Connect an RTSP source for more information). RTSP sources can be further configured with a Preferred transport protocol (either UDP or TCP) and a custom "No signal" image. (See Add a custom No Signal image ).
Pearl-2 User Guide Add a custom No Signal image 6. Test that the No Signal image is correctly applied by disconnecting your source and previewing the channel(s) containing said source, see Preview channel.
PART 3: Stream Streaming is a powerful way to deliver live video content to your viewers. Stream to viewers, servers, and media players. Using the Admin panel, you can configure streaming in multiple formats to multiple destinations and devices, such as web browsers, media players, set-top-boxes, Smart TVs, and Content Distribution Networks. Pearl-2 is flexible, easy to setup, and supports all the standard codecs, as well as the most common media players.
Pearl-2 User Guide What is streaming? What is streaming? After you connect your camera, audio source, and set up a channel that consists of a single video source or a whole switched program with multiple custom layouts, it’s time to stream your content and share that with your viewers. Pearl-2 provides many different options for streaming, including unicast, multicast, CDN, SAP, UPnP, RTMPS and more.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream settings for video and slides Stream settings for video and slides Stream setup is a matter of balancing quality and system resources. When choosing your stream settings, it's important to consider the type of content you're streaming. For fast moving video, choose a higher bitrate and frame rate. If you're streaming a slide presentation, you can save bandwidth and system processing by lowering the bitrate and frame rate.
Pearl-2 User Guide View supported streaming formats Option Bitrate Setting 4 Mbps for HD; 6 Mbps for Full HD; 12 Mbps for Audio format 4K UHD4K AAC 44 KHz View supported streaming formats When you set up your channel, the system generates and displays a list of available video formats and standards specific to the selected audio and video codecs that you configured for your channel. You can view the available streaming formats from the channel status page using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Streaming a channel directly to viewers Streaming a channel directly to viewers You can stream any channel on Pearl-2 directly to your viewers on your local network, who can tune in and watch your program using their web browser or media player. Quickly stream content to viewers simultaneously. Pearl-2 is ready to stream content directly to viewers on the local network using the default streaming settings as soon as you've powered on the system and configured a channel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream content using HTTP, HTTPS or RTSP o Disable and enable direct channel streaming o Restrict viewer access to channel streams o Stream content using HTTP, HTTPS or RTSP o Change HTTP and RTSP streaming port values o Stream content using HLS (HTTP/HTTPS) o Stream using UPnP Stream content using HTTP, HTTPS or RTSP The easiest way to deliver your content to your viewers is to give them the live broadcast URL of the channel. You can get that using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream content using HLS (HTTP/HTTPS) Access Method URL Format rtsp://:/stream.sdp Where IP address is the IP address of the system, the port number for the channel is found on the Info page, and the channel number is provided from the Admin panel. To retrieve the stream URL for your viewers: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channel menu, select a channel and click Status. The Status page appears. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Directly share stream URLs with viewers 2. From the Channels menu, select the channel containing video you want to stream and click Streaming. The Streaming configuration page opens. 3. Check HTTP Live Streaming and click Apply. 4. From the Channels menu, click Status. The channel's status page opens. 5. Provide the HLS stream link to your viewers.
Pearl-2 User Guide View the live broadcast URL using a web browser 3. Copy the URL and provide that to viewers. Viewers can now view the stream using a digital media player or browser, see View the live broadcast URL using a web browser and View the streaming URL using a media player. HTTP only is used for MPEG-TS and FLV streaming. HTTPS is not supported.
Pearl-2 User Guide View the live broadcast URL using a web browser If the channel you're streaming is configured with 48 kHz audio, some web browsers may not work. In this case, we recommend viewing the channel steam using a media player instead. The live broadcast URL appears in two places in the Admin panel: l On the channel's status page. l On the Info page from the Configuration menu. To locate the IP address for the broadcast, see Directly share stream URLs with viewers.
Pearl-2 User Guide View the live broadcast URL using a web browser A page opens displaying the live broadcast and the broadcast URL. Copy the URL and share that with your viewers. To watch a stream using a web browser and the live broadcast URL: 1. From your web browser, enter the IP address of the live broadcast stream. If the IP address of the broadcast is 172.20.1.33, then browse to: http:// 172.20.1.33/preview.cgi?channel= 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide View the streaming URL using a media player View the streaming URL using a media player You can share a channel's streaming URL with viewers so they can watch your live stream using their favorite media player, like VLC. Your viewers must be on the same network as Pearl-2 to watch a channel stream using a stream URL. The different stream types available for channels include: RTSP, MPEG-TS, and Flash streams, see View supported streaming formats.
Pearl-2 User Guide Restrict viewer access to channel streams rtsp://49E7B8E4.local:554/stream.sdp 4. Press Play to watch the stream in the media player window. Restrict viewer access to channel streams Pearl-2 can restrict access to all viewer streams from the channels on Pearl-2 using global viewer passwords and IP allow/deny lists. See Set or change user passwords and Restrict viewers by IP address.
Pearl-2 User Guide Restrict viewers by IP address To return the channel to the global access control settings, select Use global settings from the drop down and click Apply. The configuration fields are disabled and any changes to the configuration fields are not saved. Global LDAP settings are always enforced. Any local settings are in addition to LDAP sign on. 5. (Optional) Specify a password for viewers of this channel. The password is masked as you enter it.
Pearl-2 User Guide Item Restrict viewers by IP address Description system, provided their IP address is not in the Deny IP’s list. To allow all except IP addresses in the deny list, if any, leave the field blank. You can use the Allow list by itself, or in conjunction with the Deny IP’s list as an exception to a rule in the allow list. Users connecting from addresses in this list are not allowed to view broadcasts from the system, unless their IP address is in the Allow IP’s list.
Pearl-2 User Guide IP restriction examples 2. From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Streaming. The channel's streaming configuration page opens. 3. From the Stream access control drop-down, select Use these Settings to enable local password and Allow/Deny IP lists are enabled. 4. (Optional) Enter a password for the viewer in the Viewer Password field. 5.
Pearl-2 User Guide Example IP restriction examples Description Allow: 192.168.1.200-192.168.1.250 Note that we could have specified two of the IP addresses in the previous example as a range. Putting the first two examples together, we want to permit access to IP addresses in the range of boardroom computers (192.168.1.200192.168.1.250) and also want to add the desktop, laptop and tablet computers of the CEO (IP addresses 192.168.1.50, 192.168.1.51, and 192.168.1.75, respectively).
Pearl-2 User Guide Change HTTP and RTSP streaming port values Table 57 Example deny lists Example Description Another simple allow/deny list is to use the list of known IP addresses to list specific denied IP addresses. All other addresses are allowed access to the broadcast.
Pearl-2 User Guide Change HTTP and RTSP streaming port values For RTSP streaming directly to users on your LAN, the only information that's needed to view the broadcast is the URL and the RTSP port number used to stream the broadcast. HTTP port numbers are used for FLV and MPEG-TS streaming methods. To set the HTTP and RTSP streaming ports for streaming to viewers on the local network: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Disable and enable direct channel streaming Disable and enable direct channel streaming When you create a channel, the channel's streaming URLs are enabled by default. The channel streaming URLs are listed on the Status page for the channel, which you can share with viewers. You can disable channel streaming using the channel's streaming URLs from the Streaming configuration page using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Streaming to a server Streaming to a server Your Pearl-2 streams to a server when you want to use a CDN or Multicast. Streaming a channel to CDNs and multicast streaming is available only when the H.264 codec is configured as the channel encoding, see Configure video encoding. By default, no server streaming is configured. See Stream to a CDN and Stream using multicast for details on configuring one of these two options. Publishing Options Use this option to...
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to a CDN To stream video outside of your LAN, use a CDN or configure port forwarding on your router. Consult your Network Administrator to set up port forwarding. Stream to a CDN A Content Delivery Network (CDN) relies on geo-diverse CDN servers to receive and disperse web content to the CDN server closest to the user. The closer the server is to the user, the faster the content is delivered.
Pearl-2 User Guide Start and stop streaming to a CDN To publish content to a CDN provider, ensure you have: l a path to the mount point or an XML configuration file (provided by the CDN provider) l verify which transport protocols your CDN supports l select the H.264 codec from the channel's Encoding page You can control when streaming to a CDN is enabled by using the Admin panel or the touch screen. See Start and stop streaming to a CDN.
Pearl-2 User Guide Start and stop streaming to a CDN To set up a stream using the Admin panel, click New stream and follow the instructions for how to Stream to a CDN. 3. Click Start at the top right corner to start that stream, or click Start all at the top of the page to start streaming all streams that are configured for that channel. 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up a stream using RTMP or RTMPS push For details to start and stop streaming using the touch screen, see Stream a channel using the touch screen. For details to start and stop streaming using Epiphan Live, see Control streaming and recording. To learn how to use One Touch feature to control your recording and streaming across any number of specified channels and recorders simultaneously with the touch of a button, see About One Touch streaming and recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up a stream using RTMP or RTMPS push certificate it receives from the CDN to establish a secure RTMPS connection. The connection will fail if Pearl-2 can't find the CA certificate of your CDN in it's list of certificates. Pearl-2 has the CA certificates for many of the major CDNs already installed.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up a stream using RTSP announce The CDN provider assigns a user name and password to authenticate the publisher. Contact the CDN provider for your log in credentials. Some CDNs, like YouTube and Facebook Live, do not require you to enter your log in credentials here. 9. (Optional) Rename the stream. Click the current name and enter a different name, then press Enter. 10. Click Apply. 11.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to a CDN using an XML profile 6. (Optional) Uncheck Single touch control if you don't want this stream to be started and stopped using One Touch streaming and recording control (checked by default). 7. Enter the following parameters: l The URL of the ingestion point provided by the CDN or media server. l Select the Transport type as either UDP or TCP. Consult your CDN provider to find out which transport protocols the CDN supports.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to a CDN using an XML profile 3. Click New stream and select Use profile XML. 4. Select the XML file that was provided by your CDN provider, then click OK. The new stream is created using the default name Stream 1 and the configuration from the XML file is applied. 5. Click Apply. 6. To start streaming, click Start or click Start all to simultaneously start this stream and any other streams you have configured for this channel. 7.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to Wowza Streaming Cloud Stream to Wowza Streaming Cloud To set up streaming via Wowza Cloud, you first need to sign in to the Wowza Streaming Cloud web site and create a new Live Stream (when asked to select a camera or encoder type, select Epiphan). Once the stream is created, you'll see a Connection Code on the stream's Overview page. This code is required to complete the streaming set-up process. 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to Wowza Streaming Cloud 6. Click New stream and select Wowza Streaming Cloud. The new stream is created using the default name Stream 1 7. Enter the Connection code from the Wowza Streaming Cloud set-up. 8. Click Set to pair the channel on Epiphan's encoder with the live stream on Wowza Cloud. Once validated, the stream name you configured in the Wowza Cloud appears.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to Wowza Streaming Cloud 9. To start streaming, do the following: a. Click Start Transcoder state. If you log into your stream on Wowza Cloud, you'll see the stream is started but no video is detected. Alternatively, you can start the transcoder using the Wowza Cloud interface, by clicking Start Stream. This action starts your session charges with Wowza Cloud. b.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to Original Livestream After clicking either Transcoder or Publish Start buttons, there can be a short delay before the stream is established. See Start and stop streaming to a CDN for instructions to start streaming from the touch screen or see Control streaming and recording for instructions to use Epiphan Live.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to Original Livestream 7. Click New stream and select Original Livestream. 8. Enter the channel name in the Short channel name field. 9. Enter your Original Livestream Username and Password , then click Apply. 10. Click Start to start that individual stream or Start all to simultaneously start this stream and any other streams you have configured for the channel. After clicking Apply, there may be a short 2-3 minute delay before the live stream is displayed.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream using multicast See Start and stop streaming to a CDN for instructions to control streaming from the touch screen or see Control streaming and recording for instructions to use Epiphan Live. Stream using multicast A multicast stream consists of one stream distributed to many viewers via a multicast-capable network. You are only able to broadcast to one multicast network at a time, but you may broadcast to a multicast network and any number of non-multicast CDNs.
Pearl-2 User Guide MPEG-TS streams using RTP/UDP push 4. Enter the destination multicast IP address where the broadcast can be viewed. A IPv4 multicast address range is an address between 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255. Contact your System Administrator for the specific address to use. 5. Enter the destination port number through which the media will stream. 6. (Optional) To advertise your stream to a media player over a local network, do the following: a.
Pearl-2 User Guide MPEG-TS streams using UDP push in cases where folders are not displayed, use dot separator hierarchy to help your viewers filter out unwanted streams by category. 7. Click Apply. 8. Click the Info menu option of the Admin panel. An Info page opens displaying stream information. To view the stream from a media player, open the URL in a media player, for example: rtp://@ip:port or in the case of the sample configuration in the figure shown above: rtp://@226.10.24.
Pearl-2 User Guide MPEG-TS streams using UDP push 5. Enter the destination multicast IP address where the broadcast can be viewed. A IPv4 multicast address range is an address between 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255. Contact your System Administrator for the specific address to use. 6. Enter the destination port number through which the media will stream. 7. (Optional) To advertise your stream to a media player over a local network, do the following: a.
Pearl-2 User Guide Multicast streaming using RTP/UDP in cases where folders are not displayed, use dot separator hierarchy to help your viewers filter out unwanted streams by category. 8. Click Apply. To view the stream, open the URL in a media player, for example: udp://@ip:port For example: udp://@226.10.24.32:7000 To view the stream when SAP announce has been set and the stream is advertised from a media player, settop-box or Smart TV, refer to Viewing with Session Announcement Protocol (SAP).
Pearl-2 User Guide Viewing with Session Announcement Protocol (SAP) Audio and video use nearby port numbers (and ). The minimum distance between audio and video ports must be 2. 6. Click Apply. An SDP file is generated. 7. From the channel's Status page, click the SDP file to download it. Provide the SDP file name and location if prompted. 8.
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to Kaltura CMS This VLC example shows two streams D2P83658.vga and D2P83658.video, which are organized in a folder by their group name. Stream to Kaltura CMS You can stream a channel of your choice to a webcasting event in Kaltura using RTMP or RTMPS.
Pearl-2 User Guide Set up a channel for a scheduled webcasting event sends an RTMP stream to both the primary URL and the secondary backup URL associated with that event. If the primary URL stream fails for any reason, Kaltura automatically switches over to the backup URL. The channel you're streaming should have at least one layout, see Create a channel. For the correct encoding settings to use for the channel, see Kaltura's requirements.
Pearl-2 User Guide Use RTMPS for a Kaltura webcasting event To monitor the health of the live streaming event, go to the Channel view using the touch screen, see Channel monitoring using the touch screen. You can also monitor the active channel during the event using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Use RTMPS for a Kaltura webcasting event 332
Pearl-2 User Guide Stream to a media player or smart TV Stream to a media player or smart TV Your Pearl-2 can use UPnP and SAP to stream to set top boxes, digital signs, smart TVs and other digital media players. The following table gives an overview of each option. Publishing Options Use this option to... Using the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) networking protocol, your Pearl-2 UPnP can be discovered and can stream to software and hardware media players, set-top-boxes and Smart TVs with ease.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Play directly to a media player l Auto-restart playback to a UPnP device l Change UPnP device name Enable UPnP To choose recordings or live streams from your media player, see Play directly to a media player. Enable UPnP For security reasons, UPnP is disabled for Pearl-2 at the device level and for each channel by default. You can enable UPnP to allow digital media players on the network to browse for recorded media files or live streams on your Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Enable UPnP If no live stream is available that meets the criteria for UPnP, a message is displayed in the Play on service start section of the page. Otherwise, the Play on service start section shows a drop-down list of what can be streamed. Enable UPnP for channels and recorders After you enable UPnP for the device to allow live stream and recorded file sharing, you need to enable sharing for each channel and recorder you want to share.
Pearl-2 User Guide Enable UPnP If you have not already enabled UPnP for the device, the message "UPnP live video sharing is not enabled with this device, to fix it, click here" appears. Click to fix it click here. The UPnP service will start when you click Apply. 2. For channels (recorded files): a. Click Recording for a channel. The channel's recording page opens. b. Click change under Recorder Setup. The recording setup options opens. c. Check Share via UPnP and click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Disable UPnP c. Check Share via UPnP and click Apply. If you have not already enabled UPnP for the device, the message "UPnP live video sharing is not enabled with this device, to fix it, click here" appears. Click to fix it click here. The UPnP service will start when you click Apply. You can now browse for your server from your digital media player. Disable UPnP By default, UPnP sharing is disable for the device, and for each channels and recorder.
Pearl-2 User Guide Viewing with UPnP To disable UPnP globally for the device: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 3. From the Configuration menu, click UPnP. The UPnP configuration page opens. 4. Uncheck Share live video through UPnP to stop sharing live video. 5. Uncheck Share recorded files through UPnP to stop sharing recorded files. 6. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Viewing with UPnP For example, when browsing from a Windows computer, you will see a list of media devices that includes Pearl-2: Live streams When you open the device from Windows Media Player, you'll see a list of the available channels you can stream under the Videos tab. From other digital media players, the channel list can be under a Live Streams folder. With Windows Media Player, double click to open any channel and press Play to start the stream.
Pearl-2 User Guide Play directly to a media player UPnP can also be used to directly play a recording to the digital media player, or to set a media player to automatically play a particular live stream after reboot of Pearl-2. See Stream using UPnP and Play directly to a media player. Play directly to a media player If your digital media player is UPnP enabled, Pearl-2 can play direct the media player to play recorded files, without browsing through menus in the player.
Pearl-2 User Guide Change UPnP device name Change UPnP device name You can configure the UPnP server name that appears for your Pearl-2. By default, if you left the server name field blank when enabling UPnP, the server name is the system's serial number. To change the UPnP server name: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 3. From the Configuration menu, click UPnP. The UPnP configuration page opens. 4. Highlight and delete the text in the Server name field, if any. 5.
PART 4: Record Pearl-2 encodes the video and audio it captures. You can stream your content and record it at the same time. You can even stream your switched program using a lower quality stream (i.e. 1280×720 at 2Mbps) and at the same time, make high quality recordings of each of the video inputs at full frame with a high bitrate for future re-use and post-processing. Recorded files are stored on Pearl-2's hard drive.
Pearl-2 User Guide About recording About recording You can record each of the channels on Pearl-2 as AVI, MOV, MPEG-TS, MP4, or MP4-Fragmented. You can also setup multi-track recorders, see Recorders. Recording using Pearl-2 is robust. If an accidental system shutdown occurs while recording is in progress, your recordings are gracefully closed off so they are still playable. Physically unplugging a video source from the input port or otherwise interrupting the signal does not stop recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Operating System Windows Record a channel Tested Players l Playback Pro 2.3.2 l Final Cut Pro 10.3.2 l Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 l QuickTime 7.6.6+ l VLC 2.2.6 l Windows Media player 12+ l Movies & TV (Windows 10) l Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015 l MPlayer l VLC 2.2.2 l Google Chrome 37+ (works with MOV and MP4 files using H.
Pearl-2 User Guide Record a channel To start and stop channel recording using the Admin panel: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin or operator, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select the channel and click Recording. The channel recording menu opens.
Pearl-2 User Guide Record using One Touch control 3. Click Start to start recording the channel and click Stop to stop recording. If the Start button is not active, there are no active sources for this channel or recorder. Check your inputs to ensure signals are working as expected. You can navigate away from the recording page without affecting the recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure recording settings, file size and type If the One Touch control icon is not visible on the touch screen, tap the screen once to activate the control icons. If the control icons are still not visible, they are disabled. See Configure the touch screen. 4. From the One Touch control screen, tap Start to begin recording and tap Stop to end recording. Configure recording settings, file size and type Recordings are saved as AVI files by default.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure recording settings, file size and type When a recording reaches the file length of 30 minutes or 500 MB (whichever comes first), the system closes the current recording file and immediately opens a new one. No recorded data is lost. Tip: If you don’t know what size to select, do some test recordings to get an idea of the file sizes you can expect.
Pearl-2 User Guide Label Configure recording settings, file size and type Description / Options files from the file name because both use the .mp4 extension. l MPEG-TS: Choose for UPnP playback. Does not support PCM audio encoding. l MOV: A progressive version of MOV. Generally used for playback on Mac OS. This type of MOV has the best compatibility with video players and editors. Specifies how the recordings are named. Recording files start with the given prefix followed by the date and time.
Pearl-2 User Guide Restart recording 4. Change the default recording file settings. l Time limit: Select a value from 5 minutes to unlimited. l Size limit: Select a value from 50 MB to 64 GB. l File type: AVI, MPEG-TS, MOV, MP4, or MP4-Fragmented. 5. (Optional) Enter a prefix for the recordings. All new recorded files for this channel or recorder will be prefixed using the text you enter. 6.
Pearl-2 User Guide l The recording reaches the configured time or size limit. l The channel or recorder name is changed. l Changes are made to the stream. Restart recording You can manually force a recording that's in progress to save to a file and continue recording in a new file from that point forward without any loss of content. This is useful if you need to download a recording since you cannot download recordings that are in progress. To restart recording to a new file: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Recorders Recorders Using recorders with Pearl-2, you can record multiple channels together in a single multi-track file. Recording multiple channels at the same time ensures that all your recordings start and stop at the same time. After recording stops, you can automatically use one of the system's file synchronization methods to copy the recordings off the server, or you can use our built-in tool to split the file into individual tracks for postprocessing.
Pearl-2 User Guide Select channels to record 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Recorders menu, click Add recorder. Select channels to record When you create a new recorder, it records all the channels configured on Pearl-2 in the single multi-track file by default. If you create new channels, they are automatically added to the recorder. You can choose which channels the recorder includes in the multi-track file using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Start and stop a recorder 4. Check the boxes next to the channels you want to include, and click Apply. Channels with no active video source are displayed in italics. You can include these channels in your channel selections for the recorder. Start and stop a recorder You can start and stop recorders from the recorder's configuration page using the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rename a recorder 2. From the Recorders menu, select a recorder. The recorder configuration page opens. 3. Click Start to begin recording and click Stop to end recording. You can navigate away from the page without affecting the recording. Rename a recorder To rename a recorder: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Recorders menu, select a recorder. The recorder configuration page opens. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Duplicate a recorder You must press Enter to save the recorder name change. Duplicate a recorder You can duplicate any recorder you've created. All settings in the recorder you duplicate are recreated. To duplicate a recorder: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Recorders menu, select a recorder. The recorder configuration page opens. 3. Click Duplicate this recorder .
Pearl-2 User Guide Delete a recorder 3. Click Delete this recorder and click OK when prompted.
Pearl-2 User Guide Record to Kaltura CMS Record to Kaltura CMS You can register Pearl-2 as a resource on the Kaltura Content Management System (CMS) and use Pearl-2 to automatically record scheduled VOD events. You can also manually start and stop recording ad hoc events with a simple tap of the touch screen on Pearl-2. Pearl-2 makes it easy to live stream or record multiple sources to an event.
Pearl-2 User Guide About recording to Kaltura CMS For example, if you have a main camera and a presentation laptop that you want to capture as a multi-source recording, you'd create two channels on Pearl-2: one for the main camera and another one for the presentation laptop. To learn how to create a channel, see Create a channel. Scheduled events start and end automatically. No manual intervention is required.
Pearl-2 User Guide l About recording to Kaltura CMS To monitor the health of the event, you can go to the Channel view using the touch screen, see Channel monitoring using the touch screen or monitor channels using the Admin panel. For scheduled events, you can monitor the channels from the Events screen using the touch screen, see View Kaltura events.
Pearl-2 User Guide Select channels for VOD event views You cannot start and stop an ad hoc event from the Events screen on Pearl-2. Scheduled VOD events have priority over ad hoc events. If an ad hoc event is still in progress when it's time to start a scheduled VOD event, the ad hoc event is stopped and the scheduled VOD event starts.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually start/stop scheduled VOD events 2. From the Configuration menu, click CMS. The Content management system configuration menu opens. 3. Under VOD event channels, check the channels to include. 4. (Optional) Select a different Main entry channel for multi-view recordings. 5. Click Apply. Failing to apply the changes could result in recording unwanted channels.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually start/stop scheduled VOD events You can preview the channels that are included for a scheduled event using the Events touch screen. Or you can tap the Scheduled events icon at any time to display the Events screen. The icon only appears when Kaltura CMS is enabled on Pearl-2. To manually start a scheduled event that hasn't started yet using the Admin panel, click Start beside the scheduled event from the Events menu.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually start/stop an ad hoc event A Stop button appears beside the event while the event is recording. You can click that to stop recording the event before the scheduled end time. In the Admin panel, you can click Refresh schedule at any time to manually update the events listed on the Events page. After the event ends, it may take a while for content to show up in Kaltura's media lists, depending on how busy the Kaltura CMS system is at that time.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually start/stop an ad hoc event Each channel recorded on Pearl-2 is uploaded as a separate file and appears in Kaltura's media list. The name of each file includes the name of the channel plus the date and time the file was recorded.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually start/stop an ad hoc event 2. From the Configuration menu, click CMS. The Content management system configuration menu opens. 3. Under Metadata, enter the information you want associated with this ad hoc event and click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manage recorded files Manage recorded files Your recordings are stored on the system's internal hard drive. Although there's a lot of space on the hard drive, it's good practice to remove old recordings to free up space before the drive if full. If there's no more free space for new recordings, new recordings will overwrite the oldest recordings on the hard drive. There are a variety of ways to automatically transfer files from the system to local network storage.
Pearl-2 User Guide Download recorded files manually Files that are part of the same recording session are listed one after another. Three dots appear between files of different recording sessions. The file currently being recorded (if applicable) is shown at the top of the list. It cannot be modified or downloaded until it has finished recording. 4. If there are no recordings, a message indicates there are no recorded files for this channel or recorder.
Pearl-2 User Guide Join recorded files together 3. To download an individual file: a. Click the name of a recording file to download it. 4. To download multiple files: a. Select the check box next to the recordings you wish to download from this channel or recorder. b. Click Download Selected to download a zip file containing the selected recordings. Join recorded files together After recording files on Pearl-2, you can join two or more files together.
Pearl-2 User Guide Extract tracks from a recording 3. Repeat the process and specify the file you want to join to the first file. You can keep adding as many files as you want to join together. For example, specifying a second file looks like this: ffmpeg -i C:\Users\JoesComputer\downloads\Program_A_May11_16-24-56.avi -i C:\Users\JoesComputer\downloads\Program_A_May11_12-26-14.avi 4. Use the -c copy command to specify the output file.
Pearl-2 User Guide Extract tracks from a recording 4. Select the tracks you want to extract. Tip: To deselect all tracks, click the check box for the top track, then hold SHIFT and click the check box for the bottom track. 5. Click Extract tracks. A copy of the recording is created with only the selected tracks. Only one copy is saved per original recording. If you create a second copy, it will overwrite the previous one.
Pearl-2 User Guide Rename recorded files Rename recorded files Recording files are named based on the file name prefix specified during configuration. You can change the recording file name using the Admin panel. You can also change the default name that Pearl-2 assigns recordings, see Configure recording settings, file size and type for information about setting file name prefixes. To rename recordings: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Delete recorded files 3. Do one of the following: a. To delete a single recording, click the X icon to the right of a recording and click OK when prompted. b. To delete multiple recordings, check the check box beside the recordings you want to delete and click OK when prompted. c. To delete all recordings for the selected channel or recorder, click Delete Selected and click OK when prompted. The list may not update immediately.
Pearl-2 User Guide FTP and automatic file transfers FTP and automatic file transfers Pearl-2 can be configured to automatically upload recordings from local storage to a network storage location or an attached USB drive. We call this Automatic File Upload or AFU for short. You can also configure Pearl-2 to act as an FTP server, allowing you to manually or automatically connect to Pearl-2 and download recordings.
Pearl-2 User Guide Choose files to include in AFU l Automatically create a folder for your recorded files using the channel or recorder name. l Save recordings to a folder that's labeled using the Pearl-2 serial number. Automatic File Upload (AFU) is not enabled by default. You must enable this feature for each channel or recorder that you want included in automatic file transfers. A log file of all file transfers is created that you can view anytime from the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Choose files to include in AFU If no channels or recorders are configured as a part of AFU, the following message appears in the Automatic File Upload configuration page. Do not configure AFU for a channel that is paired with AV Studio. To add a channel or recorder to your AFU schedule: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. Do one of the following: a. To add a channel, select the channel from the Channels menu and click Recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Enable AFU and set parameters 4. Check Automatic file upload and click Apply. What's Next After you've enabled AFU for your channels and recorders, enable AFU and configure the AFU settings for the location type (i.e. FTP, USB, AWS, etc). Enable AFU and set parameters After configuring the channels and recorders you want included in your Automatic File Upload (AFU) schedule, you must enable AFU and configure the frequency of file transfers.
Pearl-2 User Guide Enable AFU and set parameters Table 60 AFU Interval Options Name Description The system uploads each file after it stops recording it. You can control file size On file rotation and length to determine when files are done recording. You can also use the reset button to close the current file and open a new one. See Configure recording settings, file size and type. Every hour The system uploads completed recordings every hour.
Pearl-2 User Guide Enable AFU and set parameters If your screen does not indicate that AFU is enabled for at least one channel or recorder, return to Choose files to include in AFU 3. Check Enable Automatic File Upload. 4. Select how often automatic updates take place. 5. (Optional) Enter the remote path. If no path is specified, the files are copied to the root folder of the destination file system. If AFU to your server fails, check the server configuration and permissions. 6.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Configure AFU to FTP server parameters Check Mark file as downloaded to have the color of the file link in the recording list change to show the files are downloaded. This only applies if the files are not deleted after upload is complete. l Check Create a subfolder for each channel to save the downloaded files in to a folder. Use either the channel or recorder name.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to RSync server parameters Prerequisites l Channels and recorders are already added for AFU, see Choose files to include in AFU l AFU is enabled and the parameters configured, see Enable AFU and set parameters. To set the FTP server parameters for AFU: 1. From the Automatic File Upload configuration page, select FTP Client as the protocol transfer type. 2. Specify the target Server address.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to RSync server parameters Table 62 RSync Automatic File Upload Configuration Parameters Name Server address Description The IP address (or fully qualified domain name) of the RSync server. Server module The name of the shared folder on the RSync server. Login Username for the RSync server. Password Password for the RSync user. Checksum Select to enable checksum checking during file transfer.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to CIFS server parameters 4. Specify a username for the RSync Server in the Login field. The user must have write permissions for the module. 5. Specify the password for the user in the Password field; the value is masked by dots. 6. If desired, select the Checksum check box to add a checksum validation to the transfer between the system and the recipient server. 7. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to SCP client parameters 2. Specify the target Server address. If your system is configured with DHCP or has a valid DNS configuration (see Configure DHCP), you can use the server’s fully qualified domain name instead of the IP address. 3. Enter the target Server port, if you have configured the server to use something non-standard. Leave this value blank to use the default port. 4. Specify the Server share.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to SCP client parameters Table 64 SCP Automatic Upload Configuration Parameters Name Description Server address The IP address (or fully qualified domain name) of the destination server. Server port The SCP port used by the target server. Standard port is 22. Login Username for the SCP server. Password Password for the SCP user.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to SFTP server parameters For secure copy you can upload an SSH identity for your Pearl-2. This key must be trusted by the destination server. Details for generating the key and setting up this trust are beyond the scope of this document. 6. (Optional) Set up SSH identity for SCP and SFTP clients. If no identity is uploaded, or to upload a new identity (overwrites the old identity): a.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to SFTP server parameters Table 65 SFTP Automatic Upload Configuration Parameters Name Server address Description The IP address or fully qualified domain name of the SFTP server. Server port The port used by the target SFTP server. Standard port is 22. Login Username for the SFTP server. Password Password for the SFTP user. Causes files to be named with .part extension on the server during active upload.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to SFTP server parameters 4. Enter the SFTP account username in the Login field. 5. Enter the SFTP account password in the Password field. The characters are masked with dots. Alternatively, you can choose to use a private key instead of a password for authentication. 6. Select Use temp file to name files with a temporary filename extension (.part) on the server until upload is complete. For secure file transfer, you can upload an SSH identity for your Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to AWS S3 parameters Configure AFU to AWS S3 parameters You can automatically upload recordings to an Amazon Web Server (AWS) when you select AWS S3 as the AFU protocol transfer type using the Admin panel. The following table describes the parameters to configure AFU to a bucket on Amazon Simple Storage Solution (S3).
Pearl-2 User Guide Configure AFU to WebDav server parameters 2. Specify the AWS Region Code and the data storage Bucket where you want to upload the file. 3. Enter your AWS Access Key Id and Secret Access Key to authenticate access to the AWS S3 data storage bucket. 4. In the Session Token field, enter the temporary token you got from the AWS Security Token Service (STS). 5. Click Apply.
Pearl-2 User Guide Name Configure AFU to WebDav server parameters Description / Options Causes files to be named with .part extension on the server during active upload. When Use temp file the upload completes, the file is renamed to the appropriate extension (.mov, .mp4 or .avi). Prerequisites l Channels and recorders are already added for AFU, see Choose files to include in AFU l AFU is enabled and the parameters configured, see Enable AFU and set parameters.
Pearl-2 User Guide AFU or copy to USB upload is complete. 8. Click Apply. AFU or copy to USB Pearl-2 has USB 3.0 ports that you can use to copy recordings from internal storage to external USB flash drives or hard drives. Use this to conveniently provide speakers with a copy of their presentation before they leave the presentation venue.
Pearl-2 User Guide Do a one-time copy/move all recordings to USB storage device 1. From the Automatic File Upload configuration page, select External USB Drive as the protocol transfer type. Table 68 If your Automatic File Upload setting conflicts with your new USB device setting, a message is displayed. Click the fix it link and click Apply. The fix it link disables any other type of automatic file upload you have configured.
Pearl-2 User Guide Do a one-time copy/move all recordings to USB storage device Table 69 One-Time Move/Copy File Transfer Options Name Description If checked, the transfer process creates a sub-folder with the system’s create subfolder with serial number on the USB drive. This is useful if you are using the same serial number () drive to collect recordings from multiple systems and want to know which system they came from.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually copy recordings to USB storage device 3. Select used for one-time move/copy of the recorded files (upon insertion). If a conflict is reported regarding the Automatic file upload settings, click Fix it or go to the Automatic File Upload configuration page and either disable automatic file upload or switch to a non-USB based upload type. 4. Check the options you want to use for the one-time move/copy file transfer and click Apply. 5.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manually copy recordings to USB storage device If a conflict is reported regarding the Automatic file upload, click Fix it or go to the Automatic File Upload configuration page and disable automatic file upload or switch to a non-USB based upload type. 4. Insert your USB storage device into an available USB port on Pearl-2 and do one of the following: a. To download files for a specific channel, click Recording from the Channels menu. b.
Pearl-2 User Guide View available USB storage space View available USB storage space When you insert a USB storage device into an available USB port and select an External USB Drive action other than ignored (i.e. manual copy, automatic copy, etc), the total and free space are calculated and displayed in the Admin panel. When you insert your USB storage device into an available USB port, an External storage usage information tab appears at the bottom of the menus panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manage the AFU queue 3. Click Show log of automatic file upload. The log page opens. If no logs are present, the page is blank. 4. Click the browser's back button when you are done. Manage the AFU queue The AFU queue displays a list of recording files waiting to be uploaded. Individual file details can be viewed using the Admin panel. View the AFU queue You can view the list of files that are queued for automatic upload using the Admin panel. To view the AFU queue: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manage the AFU queue Change how the AFU queue displays You can change how the AFU queued content is displayed using the Admin panel. To change how the AFU queued content is displayed: 1. Navigate to the bottom of the upload queue list and select either Newer 5 or Top of the List to change how the content in the AFU queue displays. The upload queue can display only 15 files at one time. Additional content is still stored and is viewed in increments of five files when you select Newer 5.
Pearl-2 User Guide Manage the AFU queue Delete content in the AFU queue Files can be deleted from the upload queue, either individually or as a group. To delete content from the upload queue: 1. Navigate to the bottom of the upload queue and click Empty Queue to delete the entire upload queue, or click the red 'X' icon at the end of each row to remove files individually. There is no confirmation prompt after clicking Empty Queue. The queue is immediately deleted.
Pearl-2 User Guide Local FTP server Local FTP server Pearl-2 can act as an FTP server, allowing you to manually or automatically connect to the system and download recordings. Depending on configuration of the FTP server, you may also be able to remotely delete files after download, maximizing available system storage. When using an FTP server to download a file, it is possible to start the download while that file is still in the process of being recorded. This results in an incomplete file.
Pearl-2 User Guide Local FTP server 3. To enable or disable the FTP server, do one of the following: a. Check Enable FTP access and select a user from the FTP user name drop down. Then click Apply to enable the FTP server. b. Uncheck Enable FTP access and click Apply to disable the FTP server. The ftp password is the regular access password for the selected user. See User administration for details on user names and passwords. 4. To allow or disable FTP users to delete files, do one of the following: a.
Pearl-2 User Guide Local FTP server l Channel folders are labeled video (i.e. video3 for channel 3) l Recorder folders are labeled videom (i.e. videom1 for the first recorder). Prerequisites l The IP address of your Pearl-2, see Verify IP address and MAC address of Pearl-2 l An FTP tool l The username and password for your FTP user, see Configure the local FTP server In the following example, the IP address of Pearl-2 is 192.168.1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Local FTP server 8. If enabled in the FTP configuration page, delete the file after downloading it by issuing the delete command, or using your tool’s delete mechanism. If the delete command is not enabled, attempting to delete a file will result in an Unknown Command error.
PART 5: Maintenance Keep your Pearl-2 running smoothly and operating with the latest firmware. Learn the maintenance features of Epiphan Live and different ways you can configure and operate Pearl-2 using third party tools over HTTP/HTTPS or RS-232.
Pearl-2 User Guide Power down and system restart Power down and system restart You can perform the following tasks: l Reboot using the Admin panel l Power off the device using the Admin panel l Power off the device using the power button Reboot using the Admin panel To reboot Pearl-2 using the Admin panel: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Configuration menu, click Maintenance. The maintenance page opens. 3.
Pearl-2 User Guide Power down and system restart 3. Click Shutdown Now and click OK when prompted. Power off the device using the power button You can manually shut down Pearl-2 using the power button. The power button for Pearl-2 is found on the front. To power off Pearl-2 manually, double-press (two successive fast presses and releases) the power button to initiate a safe power down. If the system is unresponsive, press and hold the power button for 4 seconds to force an immediate power down.
Pearl-2 User Guide Backup your Pearl-2 setup Backup your Pearl-2 setup Configuration presets are the perfect way to backup your Pearl-2 setup so that you can reapply it later without worrying if someone changes your settings or does a factory reset. You can create a configuration preset from the Configuration menu when you select Maintenance, see Configuration presets.
Pearl-2 User Guide Perform a factory reset Perform a factory reset Use the Admin panel to perform a factory reset and restore the configuration of your Pearl-2 to the manufacturer's original default settings. Performing a factory reset erases all your input port settings (video and audio), channels, configuration presets, network settings, all locally saved media files and recordings from Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Firmware upgrade Firmware upgrade When you register your product with Epiphan, you can choose to receive email notifications whenever firmware updates are available. To take advantage of exciting new features and important fixes for your Pearl2, install new firmware whenever the system indicates that a firmware update is available.
Pearl-2 User Guide Firmware upgrade Update the firmware Schedule a time to when you can update the firmware without negatively impacting viewers or automatic file upload and recording schedules. It's good practice to make a backup of your current configuration before applying a firmware update so that you can revert to the previous firmware if needed, see Create a configuration preset. You should also clear your web browser's cache after the update is complete.
Pearl-2 User Guide Firmware upgrade Do not interrupt power to the system during the firmware upgrade. 5. When the firmware update is complete, a message lets you know that Pearl-2 is going to reboot. Wait for the system to restart. 6. After the system reinitializes, go to the settings for your web browser and clear your web browser's cache. 7. Connect to the Admin panel and login as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 8. From the Configuration menu, select Firmware Upgrade.
Pearl-2 User Guide Firmware upgrade BIOS update If Pearl-2 requires a BIOS update, a BIOS Upgrade section appears on the Firmware update page in the Admin panel. We recommend performing the BIOS update whenever they become available to ensure optimum performance of your device. The BIOS Upgrade section appears on the Firmware Update page only when your Pearl-2 system requires a BIOS update. To perform a BIOS update: 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Firmware upgrade Do not interrupt power to the system during the BIOS update. 5. When the BIOS update is complete, a message lets you know that Pearl-2 is going to reboot. Wait for the system to restart. 6. After the system reinitializes, go to the settings for your web browser and clear your web browser's cache 7. Connect to the Admin panel and login as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 8. From the Configuration menu, select Info and confirm that the date of the BIOS has updated.
Pearl-2 User Guide Support Support Your Pearl-2 comes with a one-year complimentary support plan starting one year from the original product shipment date.
Pearl-2 User Guide Support 3. Check Permanent Logs and click Apply. 4. Click Maintenance again to refresh the maintenance page and click Download permanent logs. A zip file containing system downloads. 5. From your browser, run the allinfo script. A file is saved to your computer. http:///admin/allinfo.cgi 6. Share the log files and the allinfo results with Epiphan support.
Pearl-2 User Guide Support Configure remote support Remote support is enabled on Pearl Mini by default and allows the Epiphan support team to remotely access Pearl-2 to help you troubleshoot issues and reset lost admin passwords. Your network must allow access to the Epiphan maintenance server, which has the domain name epiphany.epiphan.com. Pearl-2 must be able to resolve this domain name to connect to the Epiphan maintenance server for remote support. Remote support uses ports 22 and 30.
Pearl-2 User Guide Support 6. Test that Pearl-2 can access the maintenance server: a. From the Configuration menu, click Network. b. In Network Diagnostics, enter epiphany.epiphan.com and click ping. c. The result of the ping should show an IP address for epiphany.epiphan.com. Report any packet losses to Epiphan support. 7. If Pearl-2 can't reach the maintenance server, check the network settings (see Configure DHCP) to ensure DHCP is selected or a DNS server is listed, then try again.
Pearl-2 User Guide Storage space maintenance Storage space maintenance Pearl-2 has a solid-state storage drive for storage of recordings. Occasionally, some maintenance is required. Topics include: l Check internal storage space l Schedule disk check l Perform disk check Check internal storage space You can check how much internal storage space is available on Pearl-2 using Using the Admin panel and from the touch screen.Pearl-2 has a 512 GB SSD.
Pearl-2 User Guide Storage space maintenance For example, let's say the restart setting is set to 50 and the months setting is set to 6. If six months pass and less than 50 restarts happened, a disk check will occur on the next restart. However if you do 50 restarts in one month, the disk check will happen after the fiftieth restart. Disk check occurs during start up and can cause a lengthy delay in starting up the system. To set the disk check schedule: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Storage space maintenance 4. When the disk check is complete, the main page returns and a summary is shown.
Pearl-2 User Guide Third party integration Third party integration Pearl-2 has a comprehensive set of APIs to allow integration with third party tools. You can use either the HTTP/HTTPS or RS-232 commands to configure your system exactly how you need it. You can start and stop recordings, configure meta data on a channel, or even change a channel's frame size and encoding settings using the API.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port Pearl-2 has an RS-232 / serial port control interface for integration with existing control room and board room equipment. Important considerations l Each command sent to Pearl-2 over RS-232 must be terminated with a line feed (LF) character (ASCII code 10). Make sure that your software adds the line feed to each command. l For values with spaces, enclose the value in quotation marks.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port To enable broadcasting audio on channel 2: SET.2.audio=on SAVECFG To disable broadcasting audio on channel 2: SET.2.audio="" SAVECFG Connect and configure the RS-232 port To connect your control equipment to Pearl-2, you need a standard RS-232 cable. To connect the serial port cable: 1. Attach the RS-232 cable to the control interface. 2. Connect the RS-232 cable to the back of the system.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port Label Description / Options None No flow control is used. Only select this if your control terminal doesn't use a handshake. 4. Click Apply. Control Pearl-2 with RS-232 You can use the null-modem cable and your control terminal software to issue commands to Pearl-2, such as when to start or stop recording, and to retrieve or set the value of certain parameters.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port The following table describes the supported RS-232 commands. Table 72 Supported RS-232 Commands Command Name Description Recording Commands Starts recording for the provided channel or recorder. This can alternatively be accomplished with the following set commands: START. SET..rec_enabled=on START. SAVECFG If the channel is already recording, the current recording is continued.
Pearl-2 User Guide Command Name Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port Description system. Configuration Commands (see Configuration keys for third party APIs for available keys) GET.. Gets the saved value of a given parameter for the specified channel or recorder. GET.. SET.. Sets the value of a given parameter for the specified channel or recorder. The SET.. value is not saved until the SAVECFG command is sent.
Pearl-2 User Guide Command Name Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port Description l Stopped l Uninitialized The Uninitialized status is sent when there is an internal error. Check the system for more details.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands Pearl-2 has an HTTP API interface. You can swap the HTTP for HTTPS in the URL without affecting the API commands. The HTTP/HTTPS API is used for configuration and control by third party applications or scripts that send commands as a series of URLs. Commands are sent to one of two URLs and specify the target configuration item. Some commands require a channel or recorder name as an argument.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands For recorders, add 'm' before the recorder number (i.e. channelm1 for recorder 1), for example: http://
/admin/channelm/get_params.cgi?key Sample Set configuration settings: http:///admin/channel/set_params.cgi?key=value or https:///admin/channel/set_params.cgi?key=value For recorders, add 'm' before the recorder number (i.e.Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands wget --http-user=admin --http-passwd=pass123 http://192.30.23.45/admin/channel2/set_ params.cgi?publish_type=6&title=System%20Stream To start recording on channel 2: wget --http-user=admin --http-passwd=pass123 http://192.30.23.45/admin/channel2/set_ params.cgi?rec_enabled=on To stop recording on channel 2: wget --http-user=admin --http-passwd=pass123 http://192.30.23.45/admin/channel2/set_ params.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands Third party applications like wget If you’re using a third party application like wget to send commands to Pearl-2, always include the admin username and password when viewing or setting configuration items. Specify your Pearl-2’s IP address, password and the key(s) or value(s) you want to query using the following syntax.
Pearl-2 User Guide l Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands System variable commands can be issued at a frequency of 5 per second, and up to 6 variables may be set in a single command (for example, variables "gpsvar1", "gpsvar2" and "gpsvar3" can be updated in a single command, five times per second). After issuing a set command, all channels using the specified variable(s) are updated. The frequency of commands issued is not influenced by the number of channels on Pearl-2.
Pearl-2 User Guide Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands Example: "http://192.168.0.129/admin/get_variables.cgi?gpsvar1" returns: "gpsvar1=N103 68201 W765 29712" To "get" a list of all variables saved to Pearl-2: http://
/admin/get_variables.cgi Example: "http://192.168.0.129/admin/get_variables.Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Configuration keys for third party APIs Using HTTP/HTTPS or RS-232, you can send query and configuration commands to Pearl-2. For the RS-232 and HTTP/HTTPS syntax, see Controlling Pearl-2 using RS-232 / serial port and Controlling Pearl-2 using HTTP/HTTPS commands. Using a "SET" command in RS-232 must always follow with the "SAVECFG" command for the new configuration setting(s) to take effect.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs l RTMP push configuration keys (Publish type 6 and 7) l Livestream configuration keys (Publish type 8) l Content metadata configuration keys You can also see the list of supported keys from Pearl-2 when you browse to the following URL, where
is the IP address of Pearl-2: http:///admin/http_api.cgi System-level settings keys (read-only) The following read-only system-level setting keys are supported.Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Table 75 Supported Read/Write System-level Settings configuration keys Key Values Description frmcheck_ on To enable firmware update checking, set to on. enabled empty string ("") To disable firmware update checking, set to an empty string (""). description string Enables or disables automatic firmware update checking. To give this system a name in the Epiphan discovery utility, specify a description string.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Key Values Description screen. empty string ("") To enable system info from the touch screen, set to on. To disable system info from the touch screen, set to an empty string (""). Enables or disables channel preview on the touch screen. touchscreen_preview on To enable preview on the touch screen, set to on. empty string ("") To disable preview on the touch screen, set to an empty string ("").
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Key Values Description rec_prefix string Specifies a prefix for the recorded filenames. rec_sizelimit integer Specifies the file size limit, in kilobytes (kB). string (no quotes) Specifies the time limit before a new recording file is created. hh:mm:ss For example, for 3 hour recordings, use 3:00:00 on Specifies whether or not recordings should be available over off UPnP.
Pearl-2 User Guide Key Configuration keys for third party APIs Values Description separated list of IP addresses and/or To restrict access, provide a list of denied IP addresses. ranges. To clear denied IP restriction, set to an empty string (""). empty string("") UPnP configuration keys The following settings are supported for UPnP streaming.
Pearl-2 User Guide Key streamport Configuration keys for third party APIs Values Description 1000...65535, Specifies the port used for streaming. Note port 5557 is used but not 5557 for network discovery and cannot be used for streaming. Overrides the global stream access settings or uses global ac_override on empty string ("") stream access settings. To use global stream access settings, set to empty string ("").
Pearl-2 User Guide Key slicemode vbitrate vbufmode vencpreset Configuration keys for third party APIs Values Description on Enables or disables H.264 slicing for RTP. To enable slicing, set empty string ("") to on. To disable slicing, set to empty string (""). Integer 1 (low delay) 2 (storage) For low delay when streaming, specify 1. For best results or recording, set to 2. Specifies a video encoding preset. 5 (Hardware For software, set to 0.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Table 84 Supported channel layout configuration keys Key Values active_layout integer Description Specifies which layout is currently active for the specified channel. Audio configuration keys The following audio configuration keys are supported. For more information on individual items listed, see Configure channel encoding.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Stream publishing configuration keys The system supports the following stream publishing settings. For more information on publishing the stream, see What is streaming?. Table 86 Supported Stream Publishing configuration keys Key Values Description Starts or stops streaming to CDN servers (RTSP, RTMP type streaming including Original Livestream and Wowza Cloud). publish_enabled on See Stream to a CDN.
Pearl-2 User Guide Key Configuration keys for third party APIs Values Description Use udp or "" for udp transport Use tcp for tcp transport. rtsp_username string Specifies the username for the RTSP server. rtsp_password string Specifies the password for the RTSP server. RTP/UDP configuration keys (Publish type 3) The following settings are supported when the publish type is set to RTP/UDP. For more information on RTP/UDP and these settings, see What is streaming?.
Pearl-2 User Guide Key sap Configuration keys for third party APIs Values Description Enables sharing of recorded files via SAP. on empty string ("") To enable sharing files over SAP, set to on. To disable sharing files over SAP, set to an empty string (""). sap_channel_no integer Specifies the SAP channel number. sap_group string Specifies the SAP group name. sap_ip string Specify the SAP annoucement IP.
Pearl-2 User Guide Configuration keys for third party APIs Content metadata configuration keys The following keys are available for configuration of the content's metadata. Table 92 Supported Content Metadata Configuration Keys Key Values Description Specifies the name of the author for the stream/recording. author string Refer to description above on handling white space (spaces) in the string. Specifies a comment for the stream/recording.
Pearl-2 User Guide Troubleshooting Troubleshooting In addition to fine tuning channel settings such as frame rate, resolution and bit rate to ensure optimal use of resources while streaming a quality video, there may be circumstance when you must fine tune the video input source. It's good practice to backup your configuration settings so that you can revert back to a good configuration if the changes you made are not desirable, see Configuration presets.
Pearl-2 User Guide Troubleshooting Quick Reference Use the follow quick reference table for help if you are experiencing problems or unexpected behavior from your Pearl-2. Table 93 Troubleshooting Quick Reference Problem Action(s) to Resolve The most likely problem is that the 4K Feature add-on is not 4K features not working activated. You can lean more about activating this feature here: 4K Check each source's input from the source preview in the Admin panel.
Pearl-2 User Guide Problem play audio. Action(s) to Resolve support audio that's encoded using 48 kHz MP3 or 48 kHz PCM. Reconnect your RTSP source to reset desynchronized Timestamps between Pearl-2 and an timestamps. Verify that you are using a local NTP server on RTSP source are not synchronized. your Pearl-2 as a time synchronization server for your RTSP source, see Configure a time server. Too much noise is present in the audio output.
Pearl-2 User Guide Problem Action(s) to Resolve 1. Increase the Limit frame rate value and/or decrease the Bitrate value in the Encoding menu. See Configure encoding. 2. Reduce the number of actions happening simultaneously on the system (i.e. if streaming, recording, and copying files, consider waiting to copy expected. files until after streaming and recording are complete). 3. Enter a low negative value (i.e. -5) in the Frame Grabber's Vertical Shift field. 4.
Pearl-2 User Guide Problem Firmware upgrade fails. Action(s) to Resolve Reboot the system and try again. If the problem persists, contact Epiphan support at support@epiphan.com. Depending on the media player used, there could be different issues. If you encounter a playback issue, try using a different media player. Some issues we know of include: 1.
Pearl-2 User Guide Problem Action(s) to Resolve on is configured to display working, but not appearing on the connected 4K different display. monitor Ensure there are no USB sticks inserted into the USB ports System is not starting up correctly during power up. They may be conflicting with the internal hard drive, causing unexpected behavior. There are several possible causes of poor performance on web cameras: l The camera itself might be malfunctioning.
Pearl-2 User Guide Borders are added to the top and bottom of the image to preserve the wider ratio of the input. For example: l Input signal resolution is 720×480 (a 3:2 aspect ratio) l encoded resolution is 1280×800 (a 16:10 aspect ratio that is wider than the input resolution) Borders are added to the left and right of the image to preserve the narrower ratio of the input.
Pearl-2 User Guide 4. Make note of the input signal resolution. 5. From the Channel's menu, click Encoding for the channel. The Encoding page opens. 6. You can either check Use current signal resolution as frame size or you can choose the frame size resolution from the list. a. If the source resolution appears in the list, you can choose any resolution that's listed on the same line (i.e. with the same aspect ratio). b.
Pearl-2 User Guide 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Channels menu, select the channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor page opens. 3. In the layouts list, select the row for the layout you want. 4. In the items list below the layout editing area, select the video source. The video source settings appear. 5. Uncheck Keep aspect ratio when scaling. 6. In the layout editing area, click and drag to stretch the video source to fill the frame. 7.
Pearl-2 User Guide In that case, you can manually upload an EDID and force Pearl-2 to use a specific set of attributes for a specific HDMI input port. All video sources you connect to that HDMI input port will use the EDID you've manually assigned to the port. EDID changes remain in effect for the HDMI input port until you replace the EDID with another one or specifically choose to restore the factory EDID for that specific HDMI input port.
Pearl-2 User Guide unsure, restoring to factory default is the best approach. To restore the default EDID:. 1. Login to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel. 2. From the Inputs menu, select the source you want to restore. The source configuration page opens. 3. Scroll to the EDID section and click restore. 4. When the default EDID is applied, the page updates to reflect success or failure.
Pearl-2 User Guide 3. In the layouts list, select the row for the layout you want. 4. In the items list below the layout editing area, select the video source. The video source settings appear. 5. Check Keep aspect ratio when scaling and click Save. Remove the combing effect on images When frames are interlaced, artifacts from one frame may appear on the next frame. This happens when a fast motion video is interlaced.
Limitations and known issues This section includes known issues or limitations that affect functionality or usability and ways that you can work around these limitations. Affecting encoding l Limitation: When Pearl-2 is overloaded, video frames or audio samples can be dropped causing variable frame rate and audio cracks. Workaround: Pearl-2 is a powerful system capable of many simultaneous tasks, but like any other computing device, it has finite resources.
l The ability to perform an FTP Delete cannot be disabled, even after using the Disable FTP Delete command in the FTP session. Workaround: Ensure that access to control of the FTP session is restricted to those aware of decisions about deleting the stream. l Extracting tracks from an .MP4 recording when there isn't enough storage space for the extracted files causes the extracted files to become corrupted.
l The special preview mode that lets you preview all channels at once using a web browser isn't functioning. Workaround: Preview individual channels using different tabs in your web browser. l If you've created more than five channels on Pearl-2, it's possible to select more than the maximum number of five channels supported by Kaltura for scheduled VOD and manual (ad hoc) events. Only the first five channels will list for an event in MediaSpace.
Affecting other areas l AFU to Amazon Web Services S3 Simple Cloud Storage transfer sometimes does not recover after the network connection is cut. The expected behavior is that the file transfer would restart, but there is sometimes a time desync that results in a failed transfer. Workaround: If the network connection is severed during a AFU transfer, the process must be restarted from the beginning, and the transfer must proceed without interruptions to the network.
Previous releases and features This section outlines the features introduced with previous product releases. Release 4.5.1 l Constant volume for layouts with multiple audio sources l Stereo and mono analog audio selection l Assign XLR B/RCA audio sources to an input l Mute audio l Remote login l Channel as a source l Mirror the video output l Some important UI terminology changes Release 4.4.
l Audio delay control l Epiphan Live recordings management Release 4.0.1 l Launch of Pearl-2 Rackmount models l 4K add-on Release 4.0.
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