Contemporary Research QMOD-HDSC Manuale utente

Contemporary Research 1 QMOD-HD

Product Manual

QMOD-HDSC

QMOD™ HDTV Modulator

January 22, 2012

Control Firmware 4.9

Encoder Firmware 02E5

Contemporary Research 2 QMOD-HD

Table of Contents

Table of Contents.................................................................................................................................................... 2

Overview ................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Features............................................................................................................................................................... 3

Specifications.......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Setup Tips ............................................................................................................................................................... 6

Front Panel Setup ................................................................................................................................................... 7

Front Panel Menus .................................................................................................................................................. 7

Tips & Troubleshooting......................................................................................................................................... 10

RS-232 Control Protocol ....................................................................................................................................... 12

RS-232 Commands ............................................................................................................................................... 13

Control Commands.................................................................................................................................................13

Terminal Communication Commands .......................................................................................................................13

RS-232 Cable Connections ................................................................................................................................... 14

Single QMOD-HD ...................................................................................................................................................14

QMOD-HD Daisy-Chain ...........................................................................................................................................14

Rack Mounting ...................................................................................................................................................... 15

RK1 Single Unit Rack Mount ....................................................................................................................................15

RK2 Side-by-Side Rack Kit.......................................................................................................................................15

RK2 Dual Rack Kit, with Tie Bar Mounting.................................................................................................................15

Safety Instructions ............................................................................................................................................... 16

Limited Warranty and Disclaimer......................................................................................................................... 17

Contemporary Research 3 QMOD-HD

Overview

CR QMOD™ technology is opening the door to new HDTV applications. Create your own on-site HDTV

broadband distribution system using a variety of HD, SD, and AV sources with the Contemporary Research

QMOD-HD HDTV Modulator. No matrix routers or IP resources required, just tune in with standard displays

or CR HDTV tuners.

Compact and easy to integrate, the QMOD-HDSC features an internal, in-stream HD scaler for digital signage

applications. PC video fed through the RGBHV (or Component) input is automatically scaled to either 1080i

or 720p output settings. In addition, the video can be zoomed in and out and positioned so that signage can

be presented edge-to-edge when tuned by displays. An RGB Out HD-15 connector allows monitoring of

incoming VGA.

The QMOD-HDSC also accepts Component, S-Video, and Composite video and stereo, and coax/optical

digital audio. GPI inputs can trigger EAS broadcasts fed to the Composite input and assigned audio input.

Features

Super-easy scaling for VGA or Component input up to 1920x 1080 (see resolution list in

Specifications), Auto-scales by resolution, format in few simple steps:

Horizontal - Up/down arrows zoom and shrink, left/right move image on horizontal axis

Vertical - Up/Down rows move image up and down, Left/Right zooms and shrinks vertically

Clock Phase –adjust scanning to optimize image

QMOD-HDSC automatically saves formatting for each resolution (different refresh rates are

saved as unique presets)

Provides EDID data to support Apple and Windows 7 high-resolution connections (with upcoming

firmware update)

Accepts NTSC composite video, user can switch between NTSC video and HD input, or use GPI inputs

to switch to EAS video/audio input

Employs pro-grade HD encoding that minimizes artifacts for motion video and signage “tickers”

Merges audio with video from analog stereo, digital optical and coax inputs

Creates an HD 720p/1080i or SD 480p/480i MPEG-2 stream with MPEG1 stereo audio for broadcast

Delivers a fully agile QAM 64/256 digital cable channel 2-135

Amplifies for distribution over an on-site broadband cable system with adjustable output level,

compatible with all cable format broadband systems

Sets up with front-panel buttons and easy to use menus, including inputs, encoding, channel, and RF

options

Integrates with RS-232 control and feedback with simple ASCII commands

Saves power and rack space using efficient design, fan-free cooling, and compact enclosure

Includes compact switching power supply

Mounts in optional 1RU single (RK1) or dual (RK2) 19” rack kits

Meets RoHS safety and California energy standards

New –Free option to drive 2-4 QMOD Modulators from a 12 VDC 4A power supply. Check website or

CR Sales for info.

Contemporary Research 4 QMOD-HD

Specifications

Physical

Size: 8.5” [216mm] wide x 1.73” [62mm] height (1RU) x 6.0” [153mm] deep

Weight: 1.5 lbs [0.68kg]

Temperature: +32° to 122° F operating temperature, convection cooled

Mounting: Rack mounting for one or two units side-by-side optional (RK1, RK2)

Front Panel

Power button

Setup, Select and directional buttons for front-panel setup

Menu LCD, 2 lines of 20 blue characters each

Scaling

In-stream onboard scaler supports the following resolutions from the RGB or Component

inputs:

1920x1080p at 59.94/60Hz

920x1080i at 29.97/30 Hz, 25 Hz

1440x900 at 60 Hz

1280x1024 at 60 Hz

1360x768 at 60 Hz

1280x768 at 60 Hz

1280x720p at 59.94/60 Hz

1152x864 at 75Hz

1024x768 at 60, 75 Hz

800x600 at 60, 75 Hz

720x576p at 50 Hz

720x480p at 59.94/60 Hz, 50 Hz

640x480 at 60, 75Hz

Refresh rates separated by a comma are saved as separate presets

More resolutions added as needed via firmware updates

EDID

Supports EDID data (upcoming firmware update)

Encoding

MPEG2 Profile: MP@HL for HD, MP@ML for SD

1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i resolution, depending on input

Video Encoding bitrate 18 or 25 Mbps

MPEG1, Layer 2 audio

Modulation

Latency

Switchable 64/256 QAM, J83 Annex B, Interleaving Modes (128,1)

MER 38 dB typical

360 ms@720p, 660ms1080i, includes all processing and tuning

HDTV modulators experience more latency, as the media is converted to

MPEG2 and QAM, then distributed over RF.

Compliance

FCC Class B, ROHS, meets California standards

Contemporary Research 5 QMOD-HD

Rear Panel

Power

RS-232

Video Inputs

RGB Output

Audio Inputs

RF Out

2.1mm coaxial jack (inside center conductor positive)

0.8 A maximum, 11.5 to 13.5 VDC, 12 VDC typical

DB-9 male, RS-232 data link to control system

300 to 19,200 baud (9600 default), 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit

RGB: RGBHV DB-15 female

Component: RCA Pr, Pb, Y (1080i/720p/480p/480i), available if RGB not wired

S-Video: Y(Composite), C (Blue Pb) 480i, available if RGB/Component not wired

Composite: RCA female (480i), can be switched with HD input manually, via RS-232, or

with EAS GPI inputs

RGBHV DB-15 female buffered

Digital SPDIF: Coax and TOSlink optical output, PCM 48K sample rate

Analog L and R: 2 stereo RCA female jacks

Inputs assignable to video inputs

‘F’, female, 75 ohm impedance

Agile, channels 2-135 (48-860 MHz), standard, HRC, or IRC spacing

6 MHz bandwidth fits any open channel without interference to adjacent channels

1 KHz resolution, +/- 30 ppm accuracy, +/- 35 ppm stability

29 dBmV typical output power, attenuated in 5 steps, approx 4 dB

Includes

PS12-1 Switching power supply, 1A 12 VDC, fits in typical AC power strips

Options

RK1 Single Rack Kit

RK2 Dual Rack Kit

CC-232 RS-232 Cable

Firmware

4.9 adds 1080p, EDID, and improved scaling for all settings

4.7 fixes bug at Component setting, lengthens menu time-out to 16 seconds

Contemporary Research 6 QMOD-HD

Setup Tips

Test Setup

Before connecting to a full RF distribution system, set the system up offline.

Connect PC or Signage player to VGA In (or Component)

Set HDSC to RGBHV (or Component, Channel 2, RF Level 13, 1080i or 720p

Connect RF Out to an HDTV RF In, set the TV to scan for Cable. The set should find Channel 2

quickly, EXIT scanning

If the PC is off or the input doesn’t match, you should see a color screen on the TV.

As a general rule, use the QMOD resolution that is the closest to the input resolution. For example, a

1080i video will look better at 1080i than downscaling to 720p.

The reason you want to use a test setup first is to test and format scaling and formatting first. Once you

know the setup is correct, there’s a lot less to resolve across the system. The major time-saver is setting

horizontal, vertical, and clock phase visually on a local TV. Trying to do this when the TVs are a few hundred

feet away is very difficult.

Testing Resolution

Once the PC is running and the input is selected, the QMOD-HDSC will tell you the resolution on the bottom

line of the front-panel display. You’ll get one of three messages:

RGBHV: 1024 x 768 60 –the PC resolution is in the HDSC list. You should see the PC on the TV.

The display is an exact scan of the input video –on some VGA cards, this can be different than what

the card states it is.

RGBHV: NO SIGNAL –the input may be incorrect, or the PC isn’t outputting on the VGA out, or a

bad cable

RGBHV: Unknown SIG –the scaler sees the output, but it does not match the current list in the

HDSC. See list on page 4. Call CR Support and we’ll work on adding the resolution, if possible

Formatting

Hit SETUP and use the arrows to follow the menus in sequence:

Scale Horizontal

The internal in-stream scaling engine handles a number of tasks for you –converting VGA to

video 1080i/720p, shaping VGA resolutions to 16:9, and compensating for overscanning by TV

sets. For all that, the process is very intuitive and easy to perform.

At the Horizontal menu, press the SELECT button to start the process –you will see a white bar

in the middle of the QMOD display.

- Up zooms the video horizontally, while Down scales the video down

- Left moves the video left, Right moves the image right –line up the left side first, then zoom out

to line up the right edge

- The solution is automatically saved for that resolution. Repeat for other resolutions, if needed.

- If you get a crosshatched “green screen”, hold the Up arrow and click SETUP. That will restore

settings. The usual cause for the screen is shrinking the video to extreme settings.

Scale Vertical

At the Vertical menu, press the SELECT button to start the process –you will see a white bar in

the middle of the QMOD display.

- Up moves the video up, while Down moves the video down

- Left zooms the video out vertically, Right scales the video down

- The solution is automatically saved for that resolution. Repeat for other resolutions, if needed.

CLK Phase

This menu tweaks how the scaler scans the video.

Select values 0-7 and select the best scan result –differences show up more with static images

rather than videos.

Contemporary Research 7 QMOD-HD

Front Panel Setup

There are a number of parameters that can be set by front-panel Setup commands. In normal operation the

Up/Down arrows select channels, and the Left/Right arrows adjust volume.

Pressing Setup enters the setup menus, shows last menu accessed

Pressing Up and Down arrow keys steps through the QMOD-HD options

Pressing Left and Right keys steps through options for each front-panel menu

Press Select to save desired option

Pressing Setup ends menu item editing or exits the front-panel setup mode

Front Panel Menus

Parameters

Basic Settings

In most cases, the menus below will work for most displays at sites.

Video Input

This selects the appropriate input:

- RGBHV (1080i, 720p, 480p)

- YPbPr (1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i)

- Video (automatic ally uses 480i)

- S-Video (automatically uses 480i)

Video Format

Sets the video resolution for the RGBHV/Component inputs. Video and S-Video inputs

are automatically set to 480i.

- 1080i - 480p

- 720p (default) - 480i

Channel

XXX

Left/Right steps through channel numbers (use Left to access high channels)

Cable Format

Standard cable frequencies (default)

HRC –same as Standard, channels 5 and 6 slightly different

IRC –All channel frequencies are different than the standard cable setting

RF Level dB

Sets the output level of the RF output, in dBmV

- 29 (default) -17

- 25 -13

- 21 -9

Audio Input

Digi (Digital) Optical

Digi Coax

Analog (default)

No Vid Color

Displays a color background when there is no video input, or the resolution doesn’t match the

QMOD settings.

- Orange

- Purple (default)

- Green

QAM Type

Today, most displays are set to tune 256 QAM. If a site has some very old displays, they might

only be able to tune in channels set to 64 QAM. Continuous Wave is often used to test the

channel with a meter.

- 64

- 256 (default)

- CW (Continuous Wave)

Contemporary Research 8 QMOD-HD

In most applications, the basic settings on the previous page will work fine with all displays. Of course, there

are exceptions to every rule that often arise with older displays with archaic firmware, which is why we offer

a variety of encoder options and settings. A few examples include:

Older LG sets need to see the MPEG stream encoded at 18 mbps (19.4 mbps total).

Newer displays don’t need channel data, older sets need to see the CVCT data table.

Some displays want to see certain PMT data, while most ignore almost all values.

Parameters

Quality Settings

These adjust the overall quality of encoding

Trig Lev

This is a cable compensation setting that adjusts output for different Component or RGBHV

cables. To see the difference in quality you’ll need a test chart from a Sencore or other HDTV

signal generator. Adjust using the same cable you’ll use for the installation.

The settings are 1-4, with 2 as the default.

Video Bitrate

This adjusts the quality of the encoded video, in mbits per second. For typical HD satellite/cable,

18 the best solution, as the receiver’s video output rarely exceeds 12 mbps, and old and new

display tuners will tune that in. For very good HD video sources, such as from HDTV studio feeds

on SDI or Component, 25 may produce visible improvement. Note that some older display tuners

don’t expect to see a video stream larger than 19.4, and you may need to go down to 18 for

those sets. The lower settings are for special applications and are rarely used in normal systems.

- 11, 13, 15, 18 (default ) , 25

MPEG Metadata

When you work with a variety of displays, old and new, you may need to change the settings

below to assure all tune the channels equally. The settings below select the type of metadata

included in the MPEG video stream.

PMT Type

Program Map Table Presets. This setting includes four presets that include various minor data

we’ve used in past installations. When a display can’t scan the channel, and you know the other

RF settings are valid, try changing the PMT type. This setting is also useful when most of the sets

tune in fine, except for few.

0-3 (0 is default)

CVCT

Default Cable Virtual Channel Table

On - Turns on virtual channel and short name in MPEG stream, if present

Changes QMOD display Channel to virtual channel

An “*” will appear at the end of the channel if it is virtual

Off - Turns off CVCT data, changes display back to Channel: <Physical>.1

Tip: Turn off CVCT when creating virtual channel, then turn on when complete. TVs will need to

re-scan to find the channel.

EIT

Event Information Table

On, Off (Default)

Default=HDTV-Over Coax [G] (Shows in Guide in HDTV tuners)

Time/Date is fixed. May affect TV’s time and date.

Few displays need this data, generally keep off

Chan Major

Sets the Major portion of the virtual channel.

Press right or left arrow to start editing, use Up and Down arrows to select digit.

When Major is set to “000”, QMOD reverts to <Physical>.<Minor> mode

Chan Minor

Sets the Minor portion of the virtual channel.

Press right or left arrow to start editing, use Up and Down arrows to select digit.

Chan Name

Enters channel short name, up to 7 characters. “QMOD” is default text.

Press right or left arrow to start editing, use Up and Down arrows to select character.

Contemporary Research 9 QMOD-HD

Scaling Tools

The QMOD-HDSC will automatically identify and display PC/Component signals that match the

listed resolutions. From there, you can refine the scanning and formatting of the signals with the

tools below.

-You can choose to output the video at 1080i or 720p, the unit will up and downscale

-If there is no signal present, the QMOD will display “No Signal”

-If the QMOD-HDSC can’t match the signal to the resolution list, it will display “Unknown Sig”

CLK Phase

This menu tweaks how the scaler scans the video.

Select values 0-7 and select the best scan result.

Scale Horizontal

The internal in-stream scaling engine handles a number of tasks for you –converting VGA to

video 1080i/720p, shaping VGA resolutions to 16:9, and compensating for overscanning by TV

sets. For all that, the process is very intuitive and easy to perform.

At the Horizontal menu, press the SELECT button to start the process –you will see a white bar in

the middle of the QMOD display.

- Up zooms the video horizontally, while Down scales the video down

- Left moves the video left, Right moves the image right

- The solution is automatically saved for that resolution. Repeat for other resolutions, if needed

Scale Vertical

At the Vertical menu, press the SELECT button to start the process –you will see a white bar in

the middle of the QMOD display.

- Up moves the video up, while Down moves the video down

- Left zooms the video out vertically, Right scales the video down

- The solution is automatically saved for that resolution. Repeat for other resolutions, if needed

Measure

Displays the horizontal and vertical frequency of the input, for example:

oH:33.715K V: 29.97 for 1080i

oH:44.955K V: 59.94 for 720p

oH:31.469K V: 59.94 for 480p

oH:15.734K V: 29.97 for 480i

If you see an “Unknown Sig” message on your QMOD, note the signal values in Measure and

call CR Support. We are constantly updating our list of resolutions.

Firmware

Shows version

QMOD-HDSC VX.X NNNN

VX.X = Control Firmware

02E5 = Encoder Firmware

Touch Right Arrow –J83B XXXXXXXXX=QAM Processor Firmware

Hold down Right Arrow, then click SETUP to reset QMOD to default settings

Contemporary Research 10 QMOD-HD

Tips & Troubleshooting

Symptoms

Solutions

Error Codes

Encoder Error

“R” appears at top left of front panel display, notes the encoder is resetting:

Usually the VGA or scaler output is not set to 1080i/720p 59.94 Hz –Use

the Measure menu to see the H and V frequency

Press the left and right arrows together to reset the QMOD

If neither fixes the condition, call CR Support

“X” appears, notes there is no communication with the encoder

If you check the Firmware menu, the last 4 characters will likely be

“0000” instead of “02E5”

Call CR Support

No composite video signal

“V” Appears when there is no video input, often for RGBHV when

receiving a Component source

No FPGA firmware (QAM)

“xxxxxxx” appears when you use the firmware loader, or press the right

arrow when you view the firmware version on the QMOD.

V X.X = Control Firmware

02E5 = Encoder Firmware

J83B and following = FPGA firmware

“xxxxxxx” means that the FPGA firmware is incomplete or corrupted.

Re-install firmware or call CR Support if you can’t update.

Green screen

That’s good news – it means the TV is receiving the channel from the QMOD. The

green (or blue, purple) background means that there is no video input or the

resolution of your source doesn’t match the QMOD settings.

Black Screen or No Signal

Reset the QMOD by pressing the Left and Right arrows together.

Component

No video –check input wiring and settings

Tip –you can use RCA to HD15 cable to connect YPbPr

Press left and right panel buttons together to reset encoding

Tuning Issues

Displays not finding channel in scanning, or have problems locking on to channel.

Update QMOD Firmware

Check CRWWW.COM, Downloads for the latest firmware, download, and install.

Update Settings

The update won’t affect your current settings. Make sure you are set to Vid Bitrate

18, CVCT On, QAM 256, PMT 0.

Test offline

Test a sample TV connected directly to the QMOD to eliminate problems in the RF

system.

Can’t tune channel

This is generally a result of a problem in the “digital handshake” between the

modulator and the TV’s digital tuner. Modern sets such as LG accept a wide range

of settings in the channel and metadata.

Old TV –try 64 QAM, also note that many old TVs have very poor tuning

capabilities.

Old TV Firmware- TV brands update their firmware as well.

If the display tunes offline, then there are problems in merging the QMOD

with the RF system.

Call CR Support

No audio

Check audio inputs and wiring

Set source digital source output to PCM

Some Sharp displays lack the standard QAM codec to play MPEG1 stereo, those

models should be avoided for commercial sites.

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