Planning Your Videohub Installation
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Planning your Compact Videohub Installation
Compact Videohub is a small router and is perfect when you need a bigger router in a small size, such as
in creative post facilities and broadcast trucks. It features 40 SDI inputs, 40 SDI outputs, reference input,
redundant power supply connections and powerful Videohub routing control software for Mac OS X
and Windows.
All SDI connections support auto detection of SD, HD or 3 Gb/s SDI, and reclocking on all SDI inputs.
Simultaneous routing of 2K, HD, SD video and DVB-ASI are supported with Compact Videohub.
Remote router control is performed via 10/100Base-T Ethernet, serial or USB 2.0 and then shared over an IP
network in much the same way as USB printer sharing.
If router control is performed via Ethernet, the integrated “Videohub Server” is used and you need only
provide an Ethernet cable to connect Compact Videohub to your Ethernet network switch.
If router control is performed via USB 2.0, you must nominate a computer to be the “Videohub Server” and
to perform Videohub sharing via USB. You can use almost any computer for the Videohub Server, such as
an editing workstation, and you don’t need a dedicated or powerful computer for this task. However the
Videohub Server computer must remain powered on at all times so that Videohub settings can be modified.
If your Compact Videohub is too far away to connect via USB, or if you do decide to use a dedicated server
computer, this could be a great use for an old Mac OS X or Windows computer which is no longer fast
enough for other work. Alternatively you could use a very small computer, such as a netbook or Mac Mini,
which can be hidden in an equipment rack along with your Compact Videohub. You will need to provide a
standard USB 2.0 type A-B male cable to connect Compact Videohub to the server computer.
Third party router controllers can control Compact Videohub via Ethernet, or as an RS-422 slave device, for
router crosspoint switching. The Videohub Ethernet protocol, RS-422 protocol and RS-422 pinout diagram
are documented in the Developer Information section of this manual.
Occasional firmware updates can be downloaded from the Blackmagic Design website. Programmable
firmware can provide new features, compatibility with new hardware and support for new formats.
The Videohub firmware update utility runs on Mac OS X and Windows computers and uses a USB 2.0
connection to Compact Videohub. You will need to provide a standard USB 2.0 type A-B male cable.