14 M-2100 Automation Interface Protocol Manual
Section 1 — Automation Message Protocol
TX_START Command
There is another consideration for the TX_START command. It is recom-
mended that the audio component not be a hard cut as a normal practice.
The purely digital switch of the M–2100 will be clean, but the possibly dra-
matic change in audio energy is likely to cause artifacts such as pops and
thumps in the analog audio processing that may follow.
Therefore, any audio take transition is automatically changed to a Fade for
the audio component. A Take transition is upgraded to a Fade-Fade for
audio (but the video and key components, if any, remain as Takes). A Take-
Fade transition is similarly upgraded to an asymmetrical Fade-Fade, again
for the audio component only.
If a transition contains an audio component that is transitioned using a
Fade-Fade transition type, and a video and/or key component is transi-
tioned using a Take transition type, it is necessary to delay the Take to occur
at the minimum point (bottom) of the fade. Thus the switching of the video
and key components of a transition will be delayed if there is an audio com-
ponent in a transition.
This is an intolerable situation for the deterministic TX_START command.
To correct this situation, an additional delay constant, referred to as the
Transition Delay Constant, was introduced. As depicted in Figure 1, this
Transition Delay Constant is the guaranteed additional delay, after the
expiration of the Automation Determinacy Constant, to the point where the
new video/audio/key signals first appear on the program bus.
During this Transition Delay Constant, an audio component, if present, will
be fading down, At the end of the Transition Delay Constant, the video and
key cuts will occur (assuming a Take transition type) and the audio will be
at the bottom of the fade, beginning the fade up to the new source.
The Transition Delay Constant operates for all transition types and all
source components. The normal value of this constant is 6 fields, and is
fixed for all field rates. The Transition Delay Constant must always be equal
or greater than the Audio Fade Rate for a Cut, which is normally 100 ms (6
fields in 525 line rate, 5 fields in 625 line rate).
The Transition Delay Constant can be set using the VxShell command
transDelayConsCfgSee
and is not accessible via the Configuration
Manager.
The Audio Fade Rate for a Cut Constant can be set using the VxShell
command
cutAudioRateCfgSee ()
and is expressed as milliseconds. It
is not accessible via the Configuration Manager.
This audio cut rate value can be set to any value desired but will only apply
to a Take transition. All other transition types (fade-fade, take-fade, fade-
take) are set to a default value of 100 mS.