Using Cinegy Software Concept
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Cinegy clients often wonder how to build an efficient and cost-effective infrastructure to meet their broadcasting needs. As a rule, it is a task for system integrators, but we made an attempt to describe a basic concept of using the Cinegy software on the same machine.
Let’s see how it’s done for Cinegy Capture. By design, the Cinegy Capture engine works on a dedicated powerful server for 24/7. It may be in a separate cooling room, but is still remotely controlled by an operator. In this case, there is no need in a powerful PC – either a weak laptop or a tablet may be enough, especially if a web control application is used.
A common approach in all Cinegy products is to be scalable to fit a complete workflow, i.e., some modules may run on powerful servers, while others – on a common PC, or in a virtual environment.
Cinegy Air is a vivid example of this scheme: there are powerful playout servers and common PCs for the Cinegy Air control application operators.
In some particular cases, the CAS and SQL server can run on a dedicated database server (i.e., use the virtual environment), Cinegy Capture Manager along with Cinegy Capture Archive Adapter – on a dedicated Cinegy Capture server, Cinegy Desktop and Cinegy Capture Control – on any common PC as well as a laptop. Cinegy Archive Browser, for example, can be installed on the NLE desk (Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere). This is not only stable, but a redundancy configuration.
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Note
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Please note, that this is just an example of how your workflow may be distributed. |
Despite the fact that this is an optimal configuration, of course, an all-in-one solution may be used and is successfully deployed by some customers.
Especially for demo purposes, this will be a perfect box. In this case, just a laptop can be connected for control applications or Cinegy Desktop.
Host Server Recommendations
The recommended operating system to use for host servers are Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019.
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Important
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Refer to the Cinegy Capture System Recommendations document for details on the supported SDI boards and hardware recommendations. |
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Important
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Visit the Cinegy Partner portal for topical and useful information on all the Cinegy products available. |
In general, Cinegy supports a wide range of SDI boards, but the choice depends on the specific workflow. For example, sometimes the 4K workflow is needed, sometimes – just HD, but many channels, and in other cases – RC VCR control, external timecode sources, etc.
As for the particular hardware, Cinegy is agnostic about it, i.e., the Cinegy software works on common IT equipment without limitations.
Anyway, every client’s hardware choice depends on a number of factors: codecs, compression, etc. So, for a cost-effective solution, please clarify client requirements, and we can provide you with approximate recommendations.
Finally, the little trick: when a particular server is selected, the CPU frequency is a more preferred characteristic than cores number (we do not recommend using more than 64 cores). However, in case when many parallel tasks (many channels) should be performed, the CPU number is preferred.