Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G with 1G Ethernet.

Hello!

We are testing our first version of ST2110 equipment with the help of the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G". Currently, our ST2110 equipment only works with 1G Ethernet and only supports PAL-422-10bits and 720p50-420-8bits formats.

First, tests were tried with the Blackmagic transmitter, connecting (CAT6 ethernet cable) directly to the 1G Ethernet interface of my computer to analyze the packets with Wireshark. Other tests were also done using an intermediate switch/router. From these tests we have the following doubts/questions:
- QUESTIONS 1. From what is seen in the documentation and seeing the "SDI INPUT LOCK" LED, it seems that the SD formats (PAL/NTSC) are NOT supported, nor are the 720p23.98, 720p24, 720p25, 720p25 and 720p30 formats. It only seems to support formats larger than 720p30 ... QUESTION-1.A: Formats smaller than 720p50 are not supported? ... QUESTION-1.B: Would it be possible to support PAL (which is the one used by our equipment)?
- QUESTIONS 2. We have tried different tests, with different SDI inputs (PAL, 720p50, etc), with different Blackmagic configurations (using the "Blackmagic Converters Setup") and with different versions of "Blackmagic_Converters_Windows" (with the latest being "10.1.1", and with the first one that this Blackmagic supports, which is "10.0") I can't see any packets from the ST2110 streams with Wireshark (video, audio, ancillary), nor related to SAP/SDP. On the other hand, I do see packets related to IGMPv3 (multicast) and PTPv2 (where I configure the Blackmagic to be the "master" of the PTP). Maybe I don't see the ST2110 stream packets because I have a 1G Ethernet interface on my computer ... QUESTION-2.A: Is that so, that is, does it not work because it uses a 1G Ethernet interface or should it still see the ST2110 packets with Wireshark?

On the other hand, we have another series of doubts/questions related to the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G". They are the following:
- QUESTIONS 3. Since our work environment (our ST2110 equipment and the computer) only works with 1G Ethernet ... QUESTION-3.A: Is there any option to be able to work at 1G Ethernet with the Blackmagic? ... QUESTION-3.B1: And if it were possible to work with 1G Ethernet, how would it have to be configured and what video formats to work with? ... QUESTION-3.B2: And if it were not possible to work with 1G Ethernet, with what minimum Ethernet rate would it be necessary to work, and with what video format (perhaps 720p50)?
- QUESTIONS 4. I understand that it supports 422-10bits for the ST2110, since 422-10bits is what is used for SDI ... QUESTION-4.A: Is that right, does it support 422-10 bits? ... QUESTION-4.B: But would it support other cases, such as 420-8bits? ... QUESTION-4.C: Does it only support 422-10bits?
- QUESTIONS 5. From the tests tried with the PTPv2 configuration, we are not sure that Blackmagic works correctly when there is another master clock that has a higher priority than the Blackmagic one (for example, with a lower "Priority 1"). In that case, by the Best Master Clock Algorithm (BMCA) protocol, the Blackmagic should behave as a slave, but it does not seem to behave that way ... QUESTION-5.A: Is this normal or are we configuring something wrong?
- QUESTIONS 6. We have some doubts with the configuration of some aspects of the "Blackmagic Converters Setup" ... QUESTION-6.A: How would configuring "Setup" -> "Date and time" influence the tests tried? ... QUESTION-6.B: How would configuring "2110" -> "NMOS Registry" influence the tests performed?
- QUESTIONS 7. For SDI reception and transmission (Narrow) of the ST2110. I understand that it is transmitted when stable SDI input is received (with "SDI INPUT LOCK" led on), and that the addresses and ports are configured in "Multicast Address" ("Blackmagic Converters Setup") ... QUESTION-7.A: Is this true or does it work in another way? How does it work?
- QUESTIONS 8. For reception of ST2110 and transmission of SDI ... QUESTION-8.A: I understand that you can only receive one ST2110 stream (video/audio/ancillary), but how do you know which stream it is if there are multiple streams? ... QUESTION-8.B: How do you know the IP address and port of the streams (video/audio/ancillary) that you must take into account to output through SDI? ... QUESTION-8.C: Do you only consider one stream and not see more? how does it work? ... QUESTION-8.D: On the other hand, when you output via SDI, when is the ST2110 input stable for a while ("IP INPUT LOCK" led on) or does it works another way? how does it work?
- QUESTIONS 9 ... QUESTION-9.A: For ST2110 transmissions and ST2110 receptions, does it support only multicast or also unicast? ... QUESTION-9.B: If it supports unicast, how do we know Blackmagic's IP address/port (I could know it by spying on the packets but I don't see it being practical) to send ST2110 to it?


Sorry for so many doubts/questions ("QUESTIONS 1" to "QUESTIONS 9"), but we need you to answer them to be able to continue advancing in our project. The most important question is whether we can somehow work at 1G Ethernet with Blackmagic, and if so, how to do it.

Thank you so much!!
Daniel.

[Gary Adams]

Hello Daniel. Most of your questions are answered on our specifications page. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... W-CONIP-04.

Based on the specs a 10G Ethernet is required. I’m not able to go through one by one but that should cover it. I hope this helps.

Gary

Hello Gary!

Thanks for replying so quickly and thanks for the help!

Regarding what is seen in the specifications of the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G", I still have doubts/questions, but I am going to focus on only two doubts/questions: SD-SDI support (PAL and NTSC) and 1G Ethernet support.

Regarding the support of SD-SDI (PAL and NTSC), I still have doubts/questions about whether or not it supports SD-SDI formats (PAL and NTSC), it is not entirely clear to me. I see the following:
- On the one hand, it seems that SD-SDI is supported for these reasons. In the product specifications there is a place where it is said that it is supported, specifically in "SDI Video Rates" when it says this: "SDI video connections are switchable between standard definition, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 2K DCI, Ultra HD and 4K DCI". I also see that on sales pages for the same product it says that SD-SDI is supported, such as in thomann (.de), where it says it supports "SD video standards: 525i/59.94 NTSC, 625i/50 PAL".
- On the other hand, it seems that SD-SDI is not supported, as can be seen on other sites in the product specifications, such as in "SDI Compliance" that the SMPTE 259M (SD-SDI) standard is not included. And it has also been seen testing on the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G" that we have, which seems to not support SD-SDI, since the "SDI INPUT LOCK" LED does not light up.
- In short, it is not entirely clear whether or not it supports SD-SDI (PAL and NTSC).

Regarding 1G Ethernet support I also still have doubts/questions. In the specification it is said that the interface is 10G Ethernet, but in principle, I think that although the interface is 10G Ethernet it should also support smaller rates like 1G Ethernet, which in principle would "force" everyone to work on 1G Ethernet . Another thing I see in the specification is "SMPTE ST-2110 IP Video Inputs/Outputs: 1 x 10G Ethernet", where perhaps this limits that to use ST-2110 you always need 10G Ethernet... is that correct?

In summary, I still have doubts/questions with the support of SD-SDI (PAL and NTSC) and with the support of 1G Ethernet. Are they supported or not supported?

Thank you so much!
Daniel.

Yes - 10Gbs Ethernet is required for uncompressed 2110 working with standard broadcast HD video. BMD equipment is uncompressed for HD (BMD only uses light compression for 2160p59.94/60 format video, to get it into 10Gbs Ethernet bandwidth). I've not seen any SD 2110 set-ups - I'm not sure anyone is really building equipment for new technology SD production?

720p30 and below aren't mainstream broadcast production formats (they're really limited to streaming distribution) so aren't really relevant to 2110 production.

4:2:0 isn't used in standard baseband production either - SDI/HD-SDI/3G-SDI etc. and standard uncompressed 2110 are 4:2:2. You wouldn't expect to encounter 4:2:0 signals in live production within a studio.

4:2:0 is used in some low quality file-based and tape-based codecs (low bitrate XD Cam HD EX for instance, or 625/50 DVCam) - but not for live signals around a studio. Its other use is for final-leg transmission/streaming or lower quality contribution sources (you see 4:2:0 h.264 used with SRT protection for instance for lower quality sources, or low bitrate SNG stuff using 4:2:0).

Hello!

Thanks Stephen for the information about 10G-Ethernet, PAL/NTSC/720p30 and 4:2:0 formats!

The idea is to be able to improve our 2110 equipment and be able to reach 10G-Ethernet, HD/3G and 4:2:2-10bit formats.

Currently we only have it developed for 1G-Ethernet, PAL-4:2:2-10bits and 720p50-4:2:0-8bits. We thought that using the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G" equipment could help us check the correct functionality of our current equipment, and we believed that it could work with 1G-Ethernet and with PAL-4:2:2-10bits. For this reason, we insist on knowing if the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G" device can work with 1G-Ethernet and with PAL-4:2:2-10bits, or at least if it can work with some of the two (1G-Ethernet or PAL-4:2:2-10bits).

In summary ... Is there any option for "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G" to work with 1G-Ethernet or with PAL? Or does it not support 1G-Ethernet or PAL at all, and only works with 10G-Ethenet and HD formats?

Thank you so much!
Daniel.

Currently we only have it developed for 1G-Ethernet, PAL-4:2:2-10bits and 720p50-4:2:0-8bits. We thought that using the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G" equipment could help us check the correct functionality of our current equipment, and we believed that it could work with 1G-Ethernet and with PAL-4:2:2-10bits.

No SD format support is listed for any of the BMD 2110 devices in their Tech Specs. The lowest resolution and frame rate combination supported format is 720p50 4:2:2 10-bit. I don't know of any ST.2110 installation that is running SD. (And 720p50 4:2:0 isn't really a format used in production at baseband, so you wouldn't expect support for that)

For this reason, we insist on knowing if the "Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G" device can work with 1G-Ethernet and with PAL-4:2:2-10bits, or at least if it can work with some of the two (1G-Ethernet or PAL-4:2:2-10bits).

I'm only reading the product page - but it clearly excludes the 625i50 "PAL" and 525i59.94 "NTSC" SD-SDI formats. BMD lists SD-SDI support on other products like their SDI<->HDMI micro converters - so I'm expecting they are unlisted because the ST.2110 BMD products don't support SD formats.

I haven't looked in detail to check if the ST.2110 standards family includes SD support (I wouldn't be surprised either way).

[Gary Adams]

To be clear our 2110 IP products do not support standard definition 526 or 625 signals. 720p50 is the lowest mode supported. Our devices require a 10G Ethernet connection to support all of the signals listed on the specifications page.

Gary