Main Frames of Ingest Control Center (The Latest)
The main screen of MCC is mainly divided into two parts; the left side shows the Ingests connected to MCC. The ingest frame on the left side of the main screen informs the user about its version and the computer name that the Ingest runs. When the user activates this frame, All the properties of the related ingest appear on the right side of the main MCC screen.
On the figure above, single Ingest is added to this MCC and Ingest with version 4.8.0.0 running on the computer (filter) is connected to the MCC and also is activated by the user. On the right side of the main screen you can also see all the actions related to this Ingest.
The user can check the status of the Ingest, the system performance of the computer that the Ingest runs (CPU, RAM, disc drives), the status of the encoder and its profile(s). You can control the status of the scheduler, if the recording mode of the Ingest is set to scheduler. You can also monitor the Log and the Alarms from the left side of the main MCC window.
The figure shown below is the main window of Metus Control Center before the Metus Ingest is added.
To connect any Metus Ingest to Control Center, the user clicks Add Ingest from the Project submenu as seen on the figure below. To detect the Ingest from MCC, the user should type the computer name that the Ingests runs, to Add Ingest window.
On the figure seen below, the ingest running on the computer with the name filter is added. You can also Enable Sound Alerts in case of any errors during Ingest recording. The sound alerts can be enabled on any warning, error and alarm.
On the figure shown below, the ingest is added to MCC, but has not been started yet.
The Metus Ingest Status and General System Performance Frame
When you click the Run button, the Metus Ingest is automatically started, as seen on the figure shown below. The state of Ingest: changes from Not Running to Running. The state of Connection: also changes from Disconnected to Connected.
In case when the encoder blasted, the Ingest can be blocked, so that you should click the Kill button to stop the Ingest application immediately. Click to “Yes” button on the Warning to close the Ingest.
You also see the general system performance of the computer that Metus Ingest and the Control Agent run. In case when the encoders become blasted, some of the system performance values increase enormously. To detect this problem, you should watch system performance of the computer that Metus Ingest runs.
MCC has a feature to detect the errors during Ingest recording. Using Get Screen Capture option, the user gets the screen view of the remote computer that the Ingest runs. Whenever the user clicks to Get Screen Capture button, the screenshot appears instantly on the screen.
By clicking Open Screen Watcher button, the user can get this screenshot on the different window as seen on the figure shown above. The user can adjust image size, get the screenshots at the certain time intervals and retrieve instant screenshot at any time by using controls at the top bar.
Encoders & Profiles Frame
As if the user changes the recording modes and starts/stops the encoders on the Ingest application, he can do all the actions on the MCC main window by activating the related encoder. On the figure shown below, Encoder 1 with the single profile (XDCAM HD) and also Encoder 2 with single profile (DVCPRO HD).
Recording Modes
There are three different recording modes depending on the recording style. You need to define the recording mode according to your recording requirements. Recording modes can be changed from a toolbar dropdown button as seen on the figure shown below. Recording modes are:
Quick: The recording mode must be quick mode if you want to start and stop the recording manually.
Schedule: The recording mode must be set to schedule mode to be able to record when you define the recording tasks as scheduled.
Batch: You need to set recording mode to Batch option if you want to enable batch recording option from VTR, DVCAM, etc. devices.
The user can do all the actions for the selected encoder with the buttons shown on the figure below;
Start selected encoder,
Stop selected encoder,
Pause selected encoder,
Split selected encoder; whenever the user clicks to this button, the encoding video and/or audio from the selected encoder will be splitted instantly.
Remove selected encoder; whenever the user clicks to this button, a warning message will appear on the screen. The selected encoder (Encoder1) and its profiles will be removed by clicking to “Yes” button on the warning.
Scheduler Frame
Scheduled recording tasks can be created with Metus Control Center. The scheduled task will record the desired encoder in desired format itself even you are not in front of the Computer. To schedule a task; Select the Scheduler mode from the drop down list on the Encoders window. Click Add button in the Scheduler window.
Once
You can schedule a task that is going to run only for once at the defined date and time. The recording will start and stop in between the desired start and stop interval only for once.
Periodic
You can schedule a recording task that can start and stop at a definite date and time. The length of the recording can also be defined in this window.
Predefined period
Hourly: It enables the scheduler to record hourly between the defined time intervals
Daily: It enables the scheduler to record daily between the defined time intervals. Metus Ingest will start and stop recording.
Weekly: It enables the scheduler to record weekly between the defined time intervals. Metus Ingest will start and stop recording in the defined day, between the desired start and stop time intervals weekly.
You can also adjust the record duration and file start / stop times.
On the figure shown above, Task1 is defined to run only for once between 05.04.2010 09:59:00 and 05.04.2010 10:49:00 for the duration of 50 minutes.
The other scheduler buttons are described as below;
Updates all the information on the Scheduler.
Removes the selected task from the Scheduler.
Opens the Scheduler Task window to change any settings on the setup.
Opens the Scheduler Task file which you saved earlier.
Saves the Scheduler Task as a file.
Log and Alarms Frame
There are two tabs, Log and Alarms, on the lowest side of the MCC window.
The Log Tab keeps the track of all logs (Info, Alarm, Warning, Error).
The Alarms Tab keeps the track of alarms. On the figure shown below, you see an alarm because of the CPU usage.
We set the Enable alarm option from System Performance Settings on Metus Content Agent if the CPU usage is 80%. As you see, the CPU usage is 85% on the MCC window and therefore an alarm appears on the Alarms list.
