ATEM VISCA PTZ control (again)...

Hi Guys,

My first post...

We installed a BMD ATEM Television Studio Pro HD at our Church a few months ago. Nice piece of kit...

We have had some fun and games getting cameras to work with it at 1080p50 though - and have had to return three types so far I think.

Anyhow - they were all camera problems not 'fully' compatible with the Specifications...

We have now installed 4 off Cisco/Tandberg TelePresence PrecsionHD 1080p12X Cameras (TTC8-02) hooked up via BMD HDMI to SDI converters to the ATEM and the visual side of things is absolutely brilliant. The first 'full' test drive was today! I had one of these cameras given to me a while ago and that made my mind up (after a few abortive attempts) to get some more compatible Cisco units!

No problem with hooking up the ATEM with the RS422 VISCA port either. I made my own RS422/RS232 converter box and (after a bit of fighting with the TX/RX wiring to/from the ATEM) got everything to work. The cameras are all hooked up in a daisy-chain.

Now to my issues:

1. After a power cycle, the ATEM still thinks there are four (4) cameras connected - but can only control the first one. Rescanning the VISCA chain and all is well again. I suspect this is down to the cameras 'forgetting' the daisy-chain arrangement and not the ATEM though (so this is a problem for me to post on the Cisco forum).

2. The Pan/Tilt from the ATEM (via the in-built trackball) is incredibly 'lumpy'. Zoom is smooth though. I see there are a number of threads here stating that PT/VISCA control via the trackball is poor - but they do not state why and what the symptoms are. Is this 'lumpiness' a symptom of the ATEM? After a few attempts of 'playing' with the trackball I can generally get the camera to point where I want it to point...

I have also noted some disparity between the ATEM VISCA protocol manual and the Cisco equivalent for the camera - but I believe the Cisco documents are in error (as someone has posted a wireshark dump of some of the PTZ packets and they don't conform to the Cisco-stated protocol either). I believe, therefore, that the two PTZ protocols are compatible (but I will check in a short while with wireshark for my own peace of mind).

Any help gratefully received.

Regards,

Dave

Keep in mind that 1) Visca Protocol is not fixed. Every brand does it's OWN implementation based on the protocol described from Sony. But they are free to add or change settings or go a wider range by going outside the set parameters that Sony describes in there docu.

2) The Atem only can control Pan Tilt Zoom.. No Presets, No Focus, No shutter, No gain, No Iris, No Color Control.. So basically its fun they put it in there.. But it is kind of useless until proper implementation is made..

Hi there,

Bumping this old thread as I'm using the exact same setup and having troubles connecting the TTC-08's to the BMD Tele HD. I've read Davers post and the only difference I can see straight off the bat is that he's built his own converter.

Currently I've been wiring a DB9/RS232 connector directly to a RJ45 in order to send the signals, assuming there was 12V in there I didn't think I needed to have an active board to send the messages down the cable.

Can anyone assist me with this issue? The Tele HD isn't "seeing" the camera/s when connected and wondering if it's me or perhaps the unit, I've got some more cameras on the way providing it's this one that's not working.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've also sent Daver a PM in hopes he'll pick it up, but these seem to be fairly quiet Forums.

Let's hope!

Cheers all
Chris

Bump

I'm jumping in here because I'd love to get my PZT camera working with this control. I got an AVIPAS camera and their control is... lackluster.

If Blackmagic had a PZT offering // partnership I'd gladly buy their recommended / compatible camera...

Sorry, been away from this forum for a while. The ATEM is RS422, so you require an RS422 to RS232 converter for it to work. You also have to poke the PTZ button on the ATEM and use the ATEM menu to locate the cameras in the daisy chain.

However, the ATEM control of the PTZ cameras was terrible I am afraid.

I also looked at using the SDI Shield to extract the camera commands from the ATEM via the SDI stream, but the card is either 'broken' or deliberately 'crippled' so you can't extract the commands reliably. The last byte is missing under certain circumstances.

As a result, I gave up using the ATEM and built my own controller using an Arduino, a TFT screen, an RS232 interface, a joystick and some illuminated buttons.

At least three other people have made an operational camera controller using my design.

The schematics, manual and software is available online if you want me to post a link to it.

Dave

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... BRG2Q7qeYr.

Dave