Hyperdeck RS-422 Sony Protocol Questions

I'm a developer that is new to the Sony RS-422 protocol, but have been doing serial comms for years with RS-485/422.

I'm having some trouble making sense of the Blackmagic implementation and getting it to work in the Hyperdeck. I'm hoping some of those that seem to have a lot of experience with it on here like Baz can give get me pointed in the right direction.

1. I'm using a Hyperdeck Studio Pro with what I *believe* has 4.0 in it. I can't seem to find any way to verify in the menu what firmware version is loaded. I installed the Utility on Windows and did n't say anything about an upgrade... So I have to assume it is 4.0 unless someone can tell me how to verify the version.

2. The RS-422 DB9 seems to be the wrong gender to me. From all my reading of the protocol details I would expect the Hyperdeck to have a "Device" connector/pinout. Instead it has a "Controller" connector/pinout. Can someone explain this? I'm not sure if I have misinterpreted something somewhere...

3. I'm building a Controller implementation but so far have not been able to get control over the Hyperdeck. I have made sure to build a proper cable to do rossover cable to swap Tx/Rx lines since they both have Controller ports. I've set the baud got the serial port configured correctly. To send a PLAY command I send: 0x20 0x01 0x21. Is there anything I'm missing whith what I should be sending there? Also, I have the REM button on.

Any help or pointers, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Scott

Hi Scott,

I've worked on a project that converted GPIO to RS422 commands that works with both the Hyperdeck Studio and AJA KiPro units. I used the information found here, along with the BMD documentation.

I believe you've misinterpreted the info you've read about the DB9 connector. The one on the Hyperdeck Studio is correct. In fact, the one on the KiPro is the same.

For cabling, the wires must be connected pin-for-pin (i.e. pin 1 on one end is connected to pin 1 on the other end, pin2 to pin 2 and so on). The manual states this. Note that pin 5 isn't connected to anything. If you make/buy a cable like that, it will work. If you try make a crossover cable, you'll end up connecting Tx to Tx and Rx to Rx. It doesn't sound right, and it took me a while to get my head around it, but trust me, it works.

The play command is actually 0x20 0x01 (big endian, opposite to what you have). Plus, you must send the check sum after that, which is the low byte of the sum of the command and data bytes. The reference I listed above says to only do a checksum on the command, but I tried that and it didn't work until I included the data bytes. So, to send the play command, you must send 0x20 0x01 0x21.

I hope this helps.

James.

Thanks James,

I had a typo in the commands I send for PLAY, but I was actually sending the same as what you said.

The pinout vexes me though. The pinout of what is stated in the Blackmagic manual follows the pinout of a "Controller (Master)" port as well as the gender is that of a Controller port.

Pin Master Slave
1 Ground Ground
2 Rcv A Xmit A
3 Xmit B Rcv B
4 Xmit Common Rcv Common
5 Spare Spare
6 Rcv Common Xmit Common
7 Rcv B Xmit B
8 Xmit A Rcv A
9 Ground Ground

What other controllers have you driven the Hyperdeck with, so I can see what their pinout is? The Sony document I found seemed pretty clear that a VTR is normally a slave device and has a male connector on it and not the female.

The interface I built has a Female DB9 wired as a controller port which is why I had to build a crossover as two controller ports would not have the data Tx/Rx correctly mated.

Hey James,

I missed the link you had posted earlier. That is one of the same resources I have been using. Looking at the KiPro manual, the pinout on their unit is clearly indicated as being a Slave device. The pinout listed in the Blackmagic manual is the pinout of a master controller though. I wonder if Blackmagic put the pinout from the perspective of the device you are connecting to it rather than the Hyperdeck itself (that would be irritating).

You were able to use to the same controller and cable with both the KiPro and Hyperdeck though? If so, that may be the issue.

Thanks.
Scott

There were a couple things conspiring against me. Thanks for the reference to the KiPro. It wasn't until I referenced their manual to realize that the Blackmagic Hyperdeck pinout is presented in a VERY misleading way. The pinout functions are not the pinout for the Hyperdeck but for the Controller you are plugging into it.

The other issue I had was that TxA and TxB on my interface were flipped. The datasheet for the RS422 driver defined A and B opposite of how they are defined in the Sony protocol.

I'm now able to send commands to the Hyperdeck and it correctly acts on them. However the response data it sends to me in the ACK seems a bit weird from what I was expecting.

Sending PLAY, STOP, JOG commands I would expect to get back 0x10 0x01. What I'm getting back for all these is: 0xaf 0xdd 0x00. For grins I sent a malformed checksum to see what response I get and it was consistently: 0x77 0x3b 0xbf 0x03 0x00

Can someone verify what ACK commands you receive back from the Hyperdeck? I'm trying to make sure I don't have any other hardware issues here to sort out.

Thanks.
Scott

Hi Scott,

Thinking back to when I did this, I completely ignored the pin out in the Hyperdeck manual. I just looked at the Sony reference. I too was confused by the Hyperdeck manual and because I was focussing more on the KiPro, I just didn't bother looking at it. That said, using the same controller and cable, I can control both the KiPro and Hyperdeck. Note that even the KiPro has a female connector on the back of it.

As for the ACK and NAK issues you're having, have you got your transceiver connected correctly? The Hyperdeck should be sending the correct strings.

James.

Hi Scott,

As for the ACK and NAK issues you're having, have you got your transceiver connected correctly? The Hyperdeck should be sending the correct strings.

James.

I believe so. I tried reversing the RxA/RxB and got nothing back. I've got a new logic analyser coming in tomorrow so that will make it easier for me to see what exactly is coming out of the Hyperdeck.

Hi,

I have successfully connected to the HyperDeck and it is working pretty much as expected.
0xaf 0xdd is of course 1010 1111 1101 1101 which is almost exactly the opposite of what you would expect - ACK so it looks like you simple need to swop your input +- Parity and such might mean it's not exactly inverted

I am guessing that you figured this out in the past couple of weeks, but that is the issue I had

Simon

I got mine sorted out. I had a couple issues going. The biggest was that the Maxim datasheet had defined RxA/RxB and TxA/B polarities opposite of the RS422 standard. So once I did all the A/B swaps then things started working.

Thanks for the replies from everyone.

Scott

Hi,

So I have the basic protocol working and can do this things I need, but I have a couple of questions that are more "clip" related and as far as I know the basic Sony protocol does not support "clips" and I do not know if there is any extension to the Sony Protocol in the Hyperdeck.

I emailed the developers but have not heard back and don't know how long that might take.

In the meantime does anyone know any of the following:

1) How to determine the InPoint and OutPoint of the current (or a specific) clip. Get In and out points returns 0.

2) Can you trim or delete clips?

3) If you do so, does the time code leave a blank or does it shuffle down and so change the timecode of later clips

4) How do you play the current clip? If you send the play command it plays the rest of what is on the deck and doesn't stop at the current clip. Preview might work, but you have to set InPoints and OutPoints hence question 1). Pressing the front panel play button twice loops the current clip, but I want to do it via RS422 and just play once and stop (or return to start).

Is anyone else out there doing more than basic control using the Sony Protocol?

Thanks

Simon

Maybe you should use both protocols in conjunction , Ethernet and rs422 if possible , might give you more options , but still not sure about marking in and out from the Hyperdeck, didnt see this commands anywhere

I don't think the Hyperdeck Studio even has the option to play a clip and stop. At least mine doesn't do that.

I don't think the Hyperdeck Studio even has the option to play a clip and stop. At least mine doesn't do that.

you mean by RS-422 or by ethernet?
it should do it

I don't think the Hyperdeck Studio even has the option to play a clip and stop. At least mine doesn't do that.

you mean by RS-422 or by ethernet?
it should do it

I mean at all. It either goes onto the next clip or loops, depending on how many times the play button is pressed (if using the front panel), or continues to the next clip if sending commands remotely.

you might be right about that, now I understand you , you mean that keeps playing the playlist of clips and doesnt stop after the end of each.
maybe a way around this is that you can mark out using media express via the com port , that way should at least pause in that point