PTZ control on URSA G2

Greetings big brains!!

I have just gone to an all Blackmagic Design suite for the live production at our church and I'm loving it!

I have 2 URSA G2's on sticks in the back of the room. I am also adding 2 more on PTZ heads, 1 on stage and 1 hanging down from ceiling trusses.

Here is a list of equipment inline from source to source so you can see the workflow.

ATEM Television 4K8
ATEM Camera control panel
40x40 Videohub
4 - Hyperdecks
4 - Studio Fiber converters
4 - Camera Fiber converters
4 - URSA G2 Broadcast with Fujinon LA16x8BRM-XB1A

The PTZ equipment I have is a Salrayworks MT-PX85E Remote Controller with (2) MT-PT60B Robot Heads

I am going out of the back of the remote controller via the RS422 connectors into the PTZ port on the Studio Fiber. That signal should go over fiber to the camera. I am then going out of the PTZ port on the camera fiber into the RS422 on the robot head. I also have the LANC cable connecting the URSA to the robot head.

I......CANNOT get these things to talk!!!

I have wired it 3 separate times, I have messed with every combination of dip switches I can come up with and....nothing.

Does anyone have any experience with this setup?

Hopefully I'm missing something simple and I will gladly take a facepalm.

does your PTZ supporting VISCA protocol ?

does your PTZ supporting VISCA protocol ?

Yes, the Salrayworks hardware supports VISCA.

It doesn’t sound like you have it working at all if you’re still fiddling with dipswitches. Take the fiber converters out of the chain, get it working, then sort fiber issues.

Good Luck

It doesn’t sound like you have it working at all if you’re still fiddling with dipswitches. Take the fiber converters out of the chain, get it working, then sort fiber issues.

Good Luck

I took the Salrayworks MT-TX85E remote controller out of the equation and connected to it using the same path via the ATEM switcher and I have full control. I just can't get the MT-TX85E to talk.

By same path do you mean Atem RJ12-Fiber converter? If so you should only need to wire the TX/RX to match what the Atem is doing. My guess however is that the Atem is bypassing serial control from the switcher and talking to the camera fiber converter directly.

Good Luck

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[Gary Adams]

Howard is correct as usual. It is important to make sure you know all the pins and their signal. Always wire Transmit to Receive and Plus to Plus and Minus to Minus. There are some DE-9 to RJ45 out there but there are two ways to wire those based on if they are a sender or receiver end on the DE-9. Sometimes a Null Modem is necessary, but if you are wiring all RJ-45 make sure you follow the pins as an Ethernet Null Modem cable will not work. The Studio Fiber Converter DE9 as well as the Camera Fiber Converter DE9 are configured as Receiving Devices so it's the same pin configuration on each end. That may often require a crossover at the camera end but just follow the pinout designations and it should work. I hope this helps.

Gary

Thanks guys, these are great inputs. I will reconfigure and see what happens.

***UPDATE***
Ok, I found the thing that was holding up this process!

I ran some independent testing with all the equipment.

- I went out of the Salrayworks controller directly into the PTZ base and established that both components work.
- I then built the cables that I would use for final install using the RS422 to DE9 serial on the Studio fiber converter and camera fiber converter. I plugged the 2 cables together with a female-female adapter directly from the controller to the base and it worked. This told me that my cables are fine.
- I went back to the control room and plugged them in through the studio fiber converter and out of the camera fiber converter on the other end.......nothing.

So I called the tech support line and after explaining all of this discovered.......THE PTZ PORTS DON'T WORK!

The very kind person I talked to at Blackmagic read me some sort of internal doc that stated the software/firmware was never written for the PTZ ports on the studio fiber or camera fiber converter. So I guess these are just dead ports.......

I ended up having to run 2 separate homerun shots of CAT5 from the controller to each of the bases, 1 of those being about 300ft through the ceiling trusses.

Blackmagic.....PLEASE throw out a patch or firmware update to fix these things. It would be really nice to be able to use this the way it was designed and be able to send all of this over fiber.

[Gary Adams]

Hello Jeremey. The Studio/Camera Fiber Converter RS-422 ports do work and have for some time. I am guessing some old information was passed along about them not working. I'm fairly certain your issue can be easily resolved with Null Modem wiring. As I posted above, The Studio Fiber Converter DE-9 is wired as Receiver so probably a direct connection from your controller will work there. The Camera Fiber Converter DE-9 is also wired as Receiver, so assuming your camera DE-9 is wired as Receiver (commonly), there needs to be a Null Modem or crossover between Transmit and Receive. You should try that first.

Second, I have personally seen some PTZ camera RS-422 not using the "Sony" 9 pin standard where the + and - are opposite. There are two standards. So you may have to fiddle some more if that is the case. I only figured it out using a scope. But you may need to reverse + and - at the 3rd party equipment ends. Generally it's + to + but always it's Tx to Rx.

The VISCA port on the Fiber Converters only supports VISCA and is not pass through. You shouldn't have a problem with that but I always like to add that info. It should work. Just need to get the wiring right.

The "unofficial" document shows ATEM wiring through the Fiber Converters. Since your controller is proably wired as "sender" it probably doesn't need the Null Modem there.

I hope this helps. Gary