Hi,

To genlock the tracking device and camera, you only need to connect the Genlock to the tracking device and the camera. This will ensure that the camera and tracking device record frames simultaneously.

Connecting the Genlock to the computer does not help in syncing the tracking and camera; it is useful for operations that occur after the tracking and camera images are received and rendered together. For example, in a multi-machine setup, you might want every computer to send out rendered frames at the same time. This kind of synchronization allows you to switch between different computers' rendered outputs without experiencing varying delays in the rendered images of different computers.

You can find more information about genlocking here: https://aximmetry.com/learn/tutorials/for-studio-operators/syncing-and-genlock/

If, for some reason, you do need to sync the computer in the cloud, could you elaborate on exactly why you need that?

Warmest regards,

I understand completely. So when you output from Aximmetry, you are outputting based on Genlock?

We do not plan to do this at this time, but in the future we plan to do multi-rendering in the cloud.

In that case, we believe it will be necessary to run Aximmetry on multiple servers. Genlock should be essential at this time.

Genlock is a hardware feature that forces the hardware to output frames at precise intervals matching the genlock signal. It does not play a role in how these frames are subsequently received or synchronized, as it cannot embed any additional information in the frames. When Aximmetry is genlocked, it outputs at the pace of the genlock signal, and that's all it does and can do. This is done by the capture card physically receiving the genlock signal and instructing Aximmetry when to output frames. Genlock-capable devices, like capture cards, typically perform this almost instantaneously. However, if you attempt to encode this genlock signal to send over the internet, it would lose its instantaneous nature and could no longer function as true genlock. Therefore, genlock can only be applied to devices directly connected to your genlock generator.

My understanding is that multiple AJA Bridge Live devices keep multiple SDI video streams in sync when transmitting these SDI videos across the internet between AJA Bridge Live devices. This synchronization is achieved through additional software solutions within the AJA Bridge Live devices. However, for this to work, the AJA Bridge Live devices at the source location must be connected to one genlock (Genlock 1), and the AJA Bridge Live devices at the target location must be connected to another genlock (Genlock 2). Without this, the different AJA Bridge Live devices won't be able to encode and decode their software solution simultaneously, resulting in fluctuating delays.

It's important to note that AJA Bridge Live genlocks are not related to the genlock used for cameras and tracking (although you can save costs by connecting the same genlock generator to all of them).

All this implies that the AJA Bridge Live devices at the target location need to be physically close to each other to connect to the same genlock signal. This is unfeasible in a cloud-based solution. Therefore, if you are performing multi-computer rendering in the cloud, then you can not benefit from using AJA Bridge Live devices.

Also note probably because of that the AJA Bridge Live's cloud solution uses Comprimato Live Transcoder's software, which, to my understanding, means that their software could decode the multiple AJA Bridge Live SDIs in sync if done by a single computer in the cloud. After this, you would need to ensure that these signals arrive and are processed in sync across various cloud computers.

Additionally, AJA Bridge Live and its cloud solution do not guarantee that the FreeD signal will stay in sync with the SDI signal. Therefore, even in single-machine cloud use, it cloud only synchronizes different SDI signals from the same location, while their tracking delays will still vary over time.

Warmest regards,

Hi,TwentyStudios

Thank you for your reply.

Cloud rendering is not an immediate need for our work, but we are in the process of researching it in anticipation of the day when we will need it for future work.

We considered SMPTE ST 2110 as a way to keying uncompressed data with Genlock and SDI signals perfectly synchronized, but it was not practical to operate over a network because it uses a lot of bandwidth. Therefore, it was necessary to use compressed data (SRT or NDI), and we thought that Aximmetry, which supports a variety of data, would be the most suitable for the rendering software.