Appear X Platform

About

The Appear X Platform connector allows users to configure and display information from the Appear X10/X20 chassis and its associated module cards.

Important

This connector is the successor of the AppearTV X20 platform connector, which will be gradually phased out and will eventually become deprecated. For new greenfield deployments, we strongly recommend using this Appear X platform connector instead.

On the U.S. market, the same chassis is also offered under the Sencore brand, with the following model names: Sencore DMG-3200 (X10 chassis), Sencore DMG-4100, and Sencore DMG-4200 (X20 chassis).

The connector establishes an HTTP connection, utilizing the MMI, IpGateway, XGER, ASI, SDI APIs, and Prometheus endpoints to retrieve and configure device data. Information is exchanged in JSON format.

The connector operates sequentially, requesting data from the device, processing responses, and displaying the results. Users can send configuration requests and receive updated information in real-time.

Version Info

Range	Features	Based on	System Impact
1.0.0.x [SLC Main]	Initial version.	-	-

Product Info

Range 1.0.0.x

Card Type	Supported (Card) Firmware	API Version	Supported System Release
IP Switch Control (SWx)	SW 3.10	MMI API 4.1+	SR 5
IP I/O (SWx)	SW 3.22	IP Gateway API 1.31+	SR 7
IP I/O (IPx)	SW 3.22	IP Gateway API 1.31+	SR 7
SRT (IPx)	SW 1.12	IP Gateway API 1.31+	SR 10
IP 2022 Coder (ECx)	SW 3.12	XGER API 2.40+	SR 7
IP 2110 Coder (ECx)	SW 1.16	XGER API 2.40+	SR 7
SDI Decoder (ECx)	SW 6.2	XGER API 2.40+	SR 8
SDI Encoder (ECx)	SW 5.24	XGER API 2.40+	SR 7
SDI Transcoder (ECx)	SW 2.2	XGER API 2.40+	SR 8
SDI I/O (SIx)	SW 2.14	SDI API 2.17+	SR 7
IP JPEG XS TS Encoder (IPx)	SW 1.8	HipEnc API 1.2+	SR 8
IP JPEG XS TS Decoder (IPx)	SW 1.10	HipDec API 1.3+	SR 9
ASI I/O (SIx)	SW 2.14	ASI API 1.17+	SR 7
DVB-S/2/X (SRx)	SW 2.12	S2XIn API 2.40+	SR 7
DVB-S/2/X (SMx)	SW 3.22	S2XOut API 2.40+	SR 7
Scrambler (CAx)	SW 2.6	API 1.5+	SR 7
Descrambler (DSx)	SW 2.4	Descr API 1.1+	SR 7

Note

To create or remove the DVE for a card, toggle the DVE State column in the Module Overview Table within the element. By default not exported.

System Info

Range	DCF Integration	Cassandra Compliant	Linked Components	Exported Components
1.0.0.x	Yes	Yes	-	- Appear X Platform - IP IO - Appear X Platform - ASI IO - Appear X Platform - Coder - Appear X Platform - Demodulator - Appear X Platform - Modulator - Appear X Platform - Scrambler - Appear X Platform - Descrambler

Configuration

Connections

HTTP Connection

This connector uses an HTTP connection and requires the following input during element creation:

HTTP CONNECTION:

IP address/host: The polling IP or URL of the destination.
IP port: The IP port of the destination (default: 443).
Device address: The bus address of the device. If the proxy server has to be bypassed, specify BypassProxy.

Initialization

When you have created an element with this connector , navigate to the General > Authentication data page of the element, and specify the API account (username and password) that the element needs to use to gain authenticated API access.

Important

Only after a successful API login, will the element be able to establish proper communication with the Appear X platform API.

Configurable API Versions

It is possible to configure a specific API version for each card type. To do so, go to the General > Module Config page.

Increasing the API version will result in extra data being filled in if that API version is supported on the chassis.

Redundancy

When the Appear Chassis is configured with 2 MMI boards, the device is able to present the APIs DataMiner is consuming on IP interfaces of both MMI boards. This will allow DataMiner to implement API-level redundancy. It will automatically switch over to the secondary IP interface if it detects that the first one becomes unavailable or unresponsive.

To set up this API-level redundancy, go to the General > Redundancy page of an active Appear X platform element

Configurable API Polling

To tailor the API requests issued by DataMiner towards the Appear X platform API, go to the data page General > Poll Manager. You can enable or disable specific API endpoints as well as set a different polling frequency.

DCF Connections

External Connections

[IP Physical Ports] connection property of type [inout].
[IP Coder Interfaces] connection property of type [inout].
[IP JPEG XS Interfaces] connection property of type [inout].
[ASI Input Ports] connection property of type [in].
[ASI Output Ports] connection property of type [out].
[SDI Input Ports] connection property of type [in].
[SDI Output Ports] connection property of type [out].
[S2X Input Ports] connection property of type [in].
[S2X Output Ports] connection property of type [out].

How to use

General

This page displays the Chassis Cards Table, which contains one row per card in the chassis, detailing Serial, Name, Hardware, Software, Slot, Features, Licenses, and State information.

The following page buttons are available:

Authentication: Displays the current authentication status and allows you to specify a Username and Password to connect to the device.
Redundancy: The chassis can have two management boards with two separate IP addresses to communicate with. On this subpage, you can specify the redundant IP address and port to be polled for the second gateway in case the first IP gateway goes into timeout. If a redundant IP is configured, the connector will try and switch to this address if a timeout occurs.
Module Config: On this subpage, you can select the implemented API version per card. Increasing the API version for a card will result in extra data being retrieved from the device. For compatibility reasons, the lower API version can be selected to ensure a functional connector in case you are not running a higher API version yet.

Alarms

This page displays two tables, the Active Alarms Table and Alarms History Table. These contain information regarding the alarm Name, Severity, Time Set and, for cleared alarms in the history table, Time Clear.

Web Interface

The web interface page is only accessible when the client machine hosting the DataMiner Cube application has network access to the device web GUI.

Backplane Media

This page displays the Flow Sources Table, with information about the service ID, Name, Bitrate status, CC Errors, RTP Errors, and Slot of the flow source.

Note

All parameters within the connector that are named "Source" or "Source Selection" use display key references to this Flow Sources Table. To create or edit items, look up the correct flow source within this table and provide the display key as input.

Output Service Config

This page displays the content of all outputs configured with the chassis. Currently supported types: IP, SRT, Modulator.

To add a new service to an existing output, go to the Add Output Content subpage.

To replace the existing content of an output, edit the Source parameter [1705] within the Output Contents table. This action is the same as the Replace Content action from the web interface.

You can also configure and manage the following output-related content through the right-click menu:

PID component filtering
Component generation
Extra PMT descriptors

Output Redundancy Config

This page allows you to manage the redundancy settings per output or output service. Currently supported types: IP, SRT, Modulator.

The Redundancy Settings table contains details on which source is currently active and when or how to switch to the backup. The Redundant Sources table contains the configured backups per output.

Adding a new backup to an existing output or output service can be done via Add Input Backup Source.

Output Mapping Config

This page allows you to add extra PID mapping to existing outputs via the right-click menu. Currently supported types: IP, SRT, Modulator.

IP Ports

This page contains two tables with information about physical and virtual ports.

Several subpages are available with information on the IP interfaces connected to the ports:

IP Interfaces
IP Coder Interfaces (IP 2022/IP 2110)
IP JPEG XS Interfaces

ASI Ports

This page contains an overview of all ASI ports, indicating for each port whether it is configured as input or output. You can also adjust this configuration in the table.

SDI Ports

This page contains the Cards Info Table, SDI IO Physical Ports Table, and Status Table.

S2X Ports

This page allows you to manage the number of demodulators per port and tune the port according to the LNB Frequency, LNB DC Voltage, and LNB 22KHz Tone.

IP Inputs

This page displays the IP Inputs Table, with configurable information related to the IP inputs.

Via the Add Input page button, you can add a new input to the selected IP switch card. To do so, you must specify the Label, Type (Single or Seamless), Analyze Mode (DVB, MPEG, or RTP), Slot, and Interface ID, IP, and Port for the selected type.

IP Outputs

This page displays the IP Outputs Table, with configurable information related to the IP outputs.

Via the Add Output page button, you can add a new output to the selected IP switch card. To do so, you must specify the Label, Type (Single or Cloned), Service, Slot, and Interface ID, IP and Port for the selected type.

IP Output TS Status

This page lists all IP outputs with their respective effective bit rates.

Per output, the list of services with their outgoing configurations is shown, and per output/service, the list of PIDs with their outgoing configuration, bit rate, and CC errors is shown.

SRT Inputs

This page displays the SRT Inputs Table, with configurable information related to the SRT inputs. You can view the Input Status, with the Bitrate, and Socket State.

Note

The status information is only available through the Prometheus API endpoint on the chassis. To verify if the Prometheus setting has been enabled, go to the General > Module Overview Config page.

SRT Outputs

This page displays the SRT Outputs Table, with configurable information related to the SRT inputs.

SRT Output TS Status

For each output, you can see the Output Status, with the Bitrate and Socket State, as well as a list of services with their outgoing configurations.

In addition, per output/service, the list of PIDs with their outgoing configuration, bit rate, and CC errors is shown.

Note

Encoder Services

This page contains the Encoder Services, Audio Encoder Services, and VANC Services tables. The Audio Encoder Services table links the data with encoder services and audio profiles. The VANC Services table links the data with encoder services and VANC profiles.

The page contains the page buttons Add IP/SDI Encoder Service, Add IP/SDI Audio Encoder Services, and Add IP/SDI VANC Services, which can be used to add new entries to the tables.

The IP/SDI Options are applicable for the different card types, IP (ECx210) and SDI (ECx100). To delete one or more table entries, use the right-click menu.

Encoder Services - Overview

This page contains a tree control for the Encoder Services and Audio Encoder Services per encoder service.

Decoder Services

This page contains the Decoder Services and Audio Decoder Services tables.

The page contains two page buttons, Add Decoder Service and Add Audio Decoder Services, which can be used to add new entries to the tables.