TC Electronic DB6, Manual

Page 1: ...DB6 Single Multi AES English Manual Applies to DB6 firmware version 1 30 TC Icon version 7 50 Last manual update 2014 03 05...

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Page 3: ...ing DB6 status information 23 Clock section 23 Status section 23 Setting up audio and syncing 25 I O Setup DB6 Single and Multi SDI 25 I O Setup DB6 AES 27 Setting up audio dithering 29 Setting up GPI...

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Page 5: ...fied per sonnel Caution You are cautioned that any change or modifi cations not expressly approved in this manual could void your warranty EMC EMI This equipment has been tested and found to comply wi...

Page 6: ...ccess the growing FAQ database for this product visit the web page www tcelectronic com support Getting support If you still have questions about the product af ter reading this manual please get in t...

Page 7: ...r Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems TC Icon software is free and can be in stalled on multiple computers Downloading and installing TC Icon software is described in this section of the...

Page 8: ...he support page look for TC Icon software and click the button repre senting the latest version of the TC Icon soft ware for Microsoft Windows Depending on your browser type and con figuration a dialo...

Page 9: ...n TC Icon will try to establish connections to all connected TC devices on a local network in cluding your DB6 If a connection cannot be established please refer to Networking basics and troubleshoot...

Page 10: ...log may be shown asking you what you want to do with this file Choose Save The software will be downloaded to your browser s default download location Usually this is the Downloads folder for your use...

Page 11: ...leshoot ing on page 16 If you experience technical problems during software download or installation please ask a person with administrator privileges on this com puter for assistance Updating TC Icon...

Page 12: ...C3 metadata recommendations in new ATSC and EBU guide lines means that there are fewer things that can go wrong the dynamics processor built into the AC3 decoder known as DRC is still one of the place...

Page 13: ...ing card can process and meter one audio stream while a DB6 Multi equipped with two additional signal processing cards can process three independent SDI audio streams As you can easily see DB6 is a he...

Page 14: ...e high quality hardware as well as the same powerful software algorithms Instructions on upgrading a base DB6 Multi with one or two Transmission 3G cards are not part of this manual They are provided...

Page 15: ...ndards More presets will be made available as part of software updates and from the TC website These presets are based on information from broadcasters around the world If you feel that an important p...

Page 16: ...synchronization to the currently connected signal source has been achieved LED color indication Status Off Startup no lock achieved Green An SDI stream has been detect ed at the corresponding input an...

Page 17: ...set Ethernet communi cation between DB6 and a computer during op eration To do so proceed as follows During operation insert a straightened paper clip or a similar object into the Reset hole on the fr...

Page 18: ...d DB6 AES has no SDI Out ports Connect the downstream SDI device to an SDI Out socket on DB6 Use a coaxial cable with BNC connectors with a nominal impedance of 75 Ohms AES 3id In Ports none none 8 DB...

Page 19: ...gs A Scene includes all settings for both Engines on a processor card signal routings to and from these Engines Recalling a Scene is equivalent to a total recall All the settings that make up a Scene...

Page 20: ...a subnet issue or an IP address conflict In this case please refer to the following sections Subnet mask and TCP IP addresses The subnet mask is a number that defines a group of computers or other de...

Page 21: ...ork administrator To find and change the TCP IP address and the subnet mask on a computer running Windows Go to Control Panel Network Connections In ternet Protocol TCP IP Set the TCP IP address To fi...

Page 22: ...scribed in the section Front panel reset button on page 13 If the serial number of a particular DB6 ends with 00 the default IP address for this device will be 192 168 1 100 as 00 is not a valid IP nu...

Page 23: ...are and the TC Icon software editor available at the time of production are supplied with your DB6 However from time to time software updates are made available by TC containing both bug fixes and new...

Page 24: ...functions Use the page buttons on the left edge of the TC Icon window to select specific pages TC Icon modes Base and Device operation The TC Icon software has two operation modes Base and Device ope...

Page 25: ...ow buttons on the Fader Group se lector to select the User Fader Group Click the Fader Asgn button on the left edge of the TC Icon software window Click the label of a fader that you want to as sign t...

Page 26: ...in one network In a more complex setup where several net worked computers are running TC Icon software each of these computers can be used to connect to a DB6 If your setup contains multiple DB6 unit...

Page 27: ...chieved If no synchronization has been achieved a red LED will be shown in this field Sample Rate indicator Shows the detected sample rate of the signal DB6 is synced to Status section Power indicator...

Page 28: ...he Power Warning parameter Off setting A failing power supply is not reported in the Icon remote app Warning setting A failing power supply is indicated by a yellow Power label in the respective DB6 F...

Page 29: ...ector Use the Audio Groups selector to select audio groups for metering and processing Available settings are Groups 1 2 and Groups 3 4 Please note that the DB6 always receives two of the audio groups...

Page 30: ...format and not consider locking to SD or 3G signals This re sults in optimal lock up time for HD signals 3G only setting When you set the Rate Detect Mode parameter to 3G DB6 will only accept the 3G f...

Page 31: ...to its inter nal referenced master clock at 48 000 kHz Bypassed yellow LED Warning By passed is displayed when the DB6 hardware bypass relay has been activated Sample Rate indicator The Sample Rate in...

Page 32: ...sample slips downstream and on the inputs which may still receive audio so the audio quality is not significantly reduced In some borderline cases it may not be possible to calculate the last good inc...

Page 33: ...her page to set up if and how audio signals should be dithered Dither out parameters Use the four Dither out parameters 1 2 3 4 5 6 and 7 8 to configure dithering for each pair of audio signals Availa...

Page 34: ...nput signal is applied Setting the GPI Preset Recall parameter to an odd number 3 or 7 enables normal operation and preset recall via Ethernet and the TC Icon software as long as no GP input signal is...

Page 35: ...d Bank 2 Select the Preset Bank pairs 1 2 3 4 etc using the Preset Recall Scene Bank parameter 16 Presets DUAL setting Select one of sixteen Presets using GPI1 and GPI2 This mode uses 8 state on GPI1...

Page 36: ...PO go to the Frame Sys tem GPI O GPO page DB6 GPO page Two relay based general purpose outputs are available Use this page to configure them GPO 1 and GPO 2 parameters Use the GPO 1 and GPO 2 paramete...

Page 37: ...elect the Library tab Select the Recall page Select the subpage for the setting type you want to access Scene to recall a Scene preset Route to recall a Routing preset E ngine 1 or E ngine 2 to recall...

Page 38: ...ater an inverted Info tag will appear at the bottom of the large Preset Recall button allow ing the user to access this additional information see Preset information on page 33 To add information to a...

Page 39: ...If it isn t already select the device you want to control using the Select page see TC Icon modes Base and Device operation on page 20 Select the Library tab Select the Bank page Select the subpage f...

Page 40: ...features Updating the firmware of your DB6 requires a computer with the TC Icon software in stalled In TC Icon you can select a previously downloaded DB6 firmware icon with a tca suffix and apply it...

Page 41: ...Updating DB6 firmware English Manual 2014 03 05 37...

Page 42: ...asking you what you want to do with this file Choose Save The software will be downloaded to your browser s default download location Usually this is the Downloads folder for your user ac count In Win...

Page 43: ...file is located Example Assuming that your hard disk drive has the letter c you extracted the downloaded tca file to the folder db6 on the drive root see pre vious steps the correct path would be C d...

Page 44: ...ally After the ZIP file has been extracted you will see a tca file in the Finder In the next steps you will select this tca file in the TC Icon software to transfer it to DB6 For the first example we...

Page 45: ...play ad ditional information To apply the update select the downloaded tca file and click the Update SW button Confirm that you want to perform the update by clicking the Yes button A confirmation mes...

Page 46: ...ics and troubleshooting on page 16 Assigning devices to the available slots You need to assign a device to a slot of the TC Icon software to control it Each instance of the TC Icon software can contro...

Page 47: ...r page to define the TC Icon software s interface colors Color Scheme parameter Use the Color Scheme parameter to select a predefined color scheme You can select a pre defined color scheme from the li...

Page 48: ...e processing delay is only 0 8 ms less than 1 40th frame Therefore no extra delays are required to maintain A V sync Use the UpCon module in Transmission or Ingest to ensure the availability of an uni...

Page 49: ...any Loudness adjustment should be applied Please note that this setting is independent from format conver sion as specified using the Format Convert pa rameter All setting To apply Loudness adjustmen...

Page 50: ...6 Bit Dither settings should be preferred when dither is managed actively by an upstream device such as the server or switcher To base format detection on audio set the De tect parameter to a dB based...

Page 51: ...se buttons are not intended for use during normal operation they should only be used during setup phase when the algorithm s set tings are tuned UpCon Level section Left Front Center Right Front Front...

Page 52: ...the surround channel This should nor mally be set between 0 and 20 ms Sr Contour Style parameter Use the Surround Contour Style parameter for surround channel extraction For best results set this para...

Page 53: ...oudness is not al ways the same as when the program is heard in 5 1 If a majority of a station s listeners use mono or stereo speakers the Downmix setting leads to greater listener satisfaction Loudne...

Page 54: ...eter on the ALC page For instance if Target Level is set at 21 LFS and Freeze Level is set at 15 dB positive gain if enabled will be gradually nulled when level falls below 36 LFS Freeze Hold paramete...

Page 55: ...ing If a threshold is exceeded in one of the Main channels all Main channels are limited If the threshold is exceeded on the LFE chan nel LFE is limited independently All setting If a threshold is exc...

Page 56: ...th third party equip ment adhering to the same global standard Fol low the guidelines given to allow audio produced for different purposes to be mixed without low dynamic range material such as commer...

Page 57: ...tform and with predict able results when the program is transcoded to another platform LM6 therefore color codes loudness making it easy to identify target level green below the noise floor level blue...

Page 58: ...configure what information is displayed click the Setup button Working with LM6 presets LM6 presets define parameters such as target loudness noise floor and overload conditions You can use TC Icon s...

Page 59: ...to comply with BS 1770 and to have its average loudness reading be compatible with Program Loudness in LM6 Even used just on speech Leq A is not a precise approximation to perceived loudness so pleas...

Page 60: ...well balancing has been per formed and if too much or too little compres sion has been applied If a journalist or video editor isn t capable of arriving at a suitable LRA he could be instructed to ca...

Page 61: ...to raw ITU R BS 1770 and the first revision of ATSC A 85 LM6 makes use of optimized statistics process ing in order to display a sliding loudness value a prognosis as quickly as possible after a reset...

Page 62: ...controls how long each revolution of the Radar display takes You may zoom between the settings during run time as long as the history isn t reset Pressing the Reset button on the Radar page will reset...

Page 63: ...play on the right hand side of the display on or off When Preset View is on the two signal process ing engines and the two LM6 instances are dis played on the right hand of the display with the curren...

Page 64: ...M Even when used just for speech Leq A is a poor choice and it performs worse on music and effects An appropriate choice for a low complexity ge neric measurement algorithm which works for listening l...

Page 65: ...time up dates It should be noted how the optimum size of this window varies from study to study possibly be cause the objective of a running display hasn t been fully agreed upon Formal evaluation of...

Page 66: ...mary LM6 is part of a holistic and universal ap proach to loudness control starting at with the production or live engineer When she re alizes the dynamic range at her disposal less processing is need...

Page 67: ...TC Electronic broadcast products loudness and more Mobile Device SPL test youtube com watch v SEgA6h3rASk This clip allows users to test their own mo bile device wrt optimum mobile platform tar get l...

Page 68: ...net work can be used to pull down the voltage as suggested in Fig 3 4 GPI installation Selection between up to 8 presets is achieved by feeding the processor a DC voltage to the GPIO D SUB connector T...

Page 69: ...s open 4 0 602 1 93 1 99 2 05 clos clos open 5 0 548 1 75 1 81 1 87 open open clos 6 0 491 1 56 1 62 1 68 clos open clos 7 0 439 1 40 1 45 1 50 open clos clos 8 0 402 0 00 1 33 1 38 clos clos clos Tab...

Page 70: ...arranty Parts and labor 2 years Extended Warranty program available EMC Complies with EN 55103 1 and EN 55103 2 FCC part 15 class B CIS PR 22 class B Safety Certified to IEC 60065 EN 60065 UL 6500 and...

Page 71: ...h standards SMPTE 259M 292M 424M 425M Audio input output selection SDI group 1 2 3 4 3G stream 1 3G stream 2 Interface function de embed embed Synchronous bit transparent Input Return Loss Typ 17 dB 1...

Page 72: ...16 in 16 out Interface function Synchronous bit transparent Jitter Rejection Engine TC developed JET technology Jitter tolerance input AES3 2009 master and slave input Jitter Rejection Filter 3 dB 10...

Page 73: ...Technical specifications English Manual 2014 03 05 69...

Page 74: ...Technical specifications 70 DB6 Single Multi AES Firmware version 1 30...

Page 75: ...Technical specifications English Manual 2014 03 05 71...

Page 76: ...Technical specifications 72 DB6 Single Multi AES Firmware version 1 30 Item No E60537014...