Cabling

Preface

Check out the video tutorial for cabling and inputs.

Maximum Cable Range

Each to the tracking engine and assuming the use of high quality and shielded ethernet cables without active extensions, for example fiber converters.

Source	Length	Signal Type
Sensor Camera	70m	1 Gbit ethernet
IMU	50m	RS-422 serial
Canon lens data	70m	RS-422 serial
Fujinon lens data	15m to 20m	RS-232 serial
External Encoder	70m	Differential quadrature
Signal Collector Box	70m	1 Gbit ethernet

Diagrams

Signal Collector Box

Signal Collector Box with External Encoders

Without Signal collector Box

Without Signal collector Box with External Encoders

For more information about the Signal Collector Box, go to its Help Center page.

1 Power

Connect the Sensor Unit power cable to sensor camera and infrared ring light and use an appropriate 4-pin XLR adapter cable to connect to the power source. The Sensor Unit needs 12V 1A.

Sensor Unit power cable (camera and IR ring light)

Connection Type	Adapter	Source
XLR 4-pin	no adapter needed	camera body
Hirose 4-pin		camera body
D-Tap		camera body
Lemo 2-pin		camera body
AC power socket		any AC power socket

2 Sensor Camera

Connect a high quality and shielded ethernet cable (minimum cat 5e) to the sensor camera and a 1 Gbit capable ethernet port of the tracking engine. This must be a direct and exclusive connection.

3 IMU

Connect a TrackMen RS422/5 to USB converter to a USB port of the tracking engine and connect it directly with a high quality and shielded ethernet cable to the sensor units IMU. The data from the IMU is RS-422 serial and not IP-based.

TrackMen RS422/5 to USB converter to be put in a tracking computer’s USB port

4 Lens Data

What can you do if the Virtual output is blocked?

In some studio setups, the digital output of the lens is blocked by another system. Note that this “virtual” output is different from the analogue controls and the raw encoder output which may also be included in the same lens connection. The virtual output transmits the full data set of the lens and also allows full control, all via an RS-232 or RS-422 serial connection. This is a two-way-connection and not a mere sender, hence only one control device and one end device can be connected. The devices perform a handshake and the signal can never be split to two control devices.
There are two different cases:

The desired port is blocked by a zoom- or focus-demand. In general, these zoom- or focus-demands would use their own respective analogue pins in the connector and won’t require the digital output. They should be connected to the dedicated ports on the lens, rather than using the virtual connection. If the zoom- or focus-demand does not have a matching connector to switch to another port, either a 20pin-to-8pin-adapter cable or a two-way cable, that splits zoom-/focus-control and virtual output, should be used. Those cables are available from the lens manufacturer.
The desired port is blocked by a control and/or readout device such as a robotic camera control. This will indeed use the RS-232 or RS-422 serial connection and fight over the device control with the tracking engine. Even though there are tricks for both controlling the lens with the robotic and receiving tracking data from the same output, by carefully starting the devices and software in a certain order, this is not reliable and can not be used for production. Possible solutions to this are:
1. Many robotics and cranes receive the data from the lens and are able to loop them through to the tracking engine. The main requirements are: the system looping through must do so in a way that the data is genlocked, and it must be a format that the Pixotope tracking can understand, such as FreeD, TechnoDolly or Shotoku.
2. If no other connection is possible, external encoders have to be installed on the lens to work independently of the virtual connection.

4.1 Canon

Connect the Canon lens data connector to the Virtual output on the lens and a TrackMen RS422/5-to-USB converter to a USB port of the tracking engine. Connect both directly with a high quality and shielded ethernet cable. The data from the Canon lens is RS422 serial and not IP-based.

4.2 Fujinon

Connect the Fujinon lens data connector to the EXT output on the lens. Connect the Fujinon RS232-to-USB converter to a USB port of the tracking engine. Connect both directly with a high quality and shielded ethernet cable using the included ethernet adapters. The data from the Fujinon lens is RS-232 serial and not IP-based. RS-232 limits the cable range to max. 20m, which makes the use of an SCB preferrable.

Fujinon RS232-to-USB converter to be put in a tracking computer’s USB port

4.3 External Encoder(s)

Connect a Quadrature-to-USB converter for external encoders to a USB port of the tracking engine and connect it directly with a high quality and shielded ethernet cable to the external encoder connector. The data from the external encoder is differential quadrature serial and not IP-based.

External encoder for the use with an SCB

5 SDI Video

Connect an SDI cable with the film/broadcast camera video (Chief video) to the respective video capture card in the tracking engine. It may be taken from other sources like camera CCU or video matrix. It should be undelayed and a clean feed, with no on screen menu items or other elements in it.

There is more information about the Chief video input.

HD-SDI connector to Blackmagic Decklink video capture card in tracking engine

The Blackmagic Desktop Video Setup program comes preinstalled with the Tracking OS. It shows the current input format.

Blackmagic Desktop Video Setup accessible in *Menu* under *Multimedia*