VBrick Systems MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Serial Port Passthrough

STB Admin Guide 37

Chapter 5

Serial Port Passthrough

Overview

Using serial port passthrough, STBs can provide full duplex, end-to-end transparent

passthrough of user data from an STB to a VBrick, or to other networked devices. The STB

has one serial port that can be used for passthrough. The serial port operates at its configured

baud rate (e.g. 300 to 115.2 Kbps). Some common applications include remote control of a

camera (pan-tilt-zoom), remote control of security doors, low speed data transport, or data

collaboration between PCs. Note that passthrough mode is used to send control information from

an STB to/from another device and may not support sustained data at higher data rates.

Topics in this chapter

Overview

How Passthrough Works

Using Telnet

How Passthrough Works

VBrick STBs can receive data on a particular TCP/IP port and transparently output that data

to a serial port. Conversely, any data input to a serial port can be passed through to other

devices connected to that TCP/IP port. Devices include VBrick appliances or special

applications connected to the appropriate TCP/IP port. This feature is called "Serial Port

Passthrough." The serial port is assigned port TCP 4439. A typical application is for two

VBricks connected to each other's TCP/IP port 4439. In this case, characters typed into a

terminal program attached to one VBrick's serial port appear on a terminal program atta ched

to the other VBrick's serial port. In this case, the TCP/IP network serves as an intermediary

between the serial ports of two VBrick appliances.

An STB is a Responder of passthrough connections. When configured as a responder it will

accept up to 64 connections from initiator appliances. It is possible to Disable Passthrough

Mode, so that the STB cannot respond to Passthrough requests. Since the medium used for

setting up Passthrough connections is a generic TCP/IP port, any IP device that is prepared

to connect to a VBrick's port can be considered as a Passthrough Initiator. The VBrick

Responder appliance will not know the exact nature of the device at the other end of the port.

Contents

Main Copyright FCC Notice About VBrick Systems Contents Preface 1. Installation 2. Configuration 3. Local Configuration Page Preface Organization Font Co nventio ns Related Documen ts Chapter 1 Installation Using the Command Prompt Using pman Initial Setup Connecting to the Network Setting the IP Address Finding the DHCP IP Address Assigning a Static IP Address PAL Configuration Model Numbers Chapter 2 Configuration Login Saving Changes Configuration Video Settings Start Mode MCS Location Receive Address Page Local UI Location Home Page Location/Home Page Enable Main Volume/Line 1 Volume RTSP Streaming Data Buffering Seconds RTP Data Port Buffer Check for Underflow Lowest Bitrate for Buffer Check Network Settings Network Ethernet Management Display Settings General Resolution General Settings Serial Port Security System System Update Language Hardware Page Chapter 3 Local Configuration Accessing the XML Configuration File Uploading from the STB Downloading to the STB Local Configuration STB Admin Guide 23 XML Configuration Examples The following examples show how to modify the xml configuration file ( Example of live MPEG-4 multicast entry with SDP addressing information. Title and Global Message Settings. Example of live MPEG-1 multi cast entry with IP address, port number, and channel number. Example of live MPEG-4 multicast entry with local SDP addressing information. Example of MPEG-4 RTSP stream with Auto selection streaming. Example of live MPEG-4 stream with forced UDP streaming. Example of MPEG-4 RTSP stream with forced RTSP interleaved (TCP) streaming. Local Configuration Example of MPEG-1 unicast entry with port address. Example of MPEG-2 unicast entry with port address. Example of MPEG-4 content from NXG server with IP address and program name. Example of MPEG-1 content from NXG server with IP address and program name. Example of RTSP MPEG-2 content from NXG server with IP address and program name. Example of MPEG-1 content from VoD-W server with IP address and program name. Example of MPEG-2 content from VoD-W server with IP address and program name. Example of MPEG-4 content from VoD-W server with IP address and program name. Chapter 4 System Upgrade Upgrading from v3.71 or Higher Installing the Download Application Page Before You Begin Running ETV-STB Download Page Editing a Configuration File Logging Upgrade Activities Upgrading from v3.70 or Lower Creating an FTP Server with IIS Using a Web Browser to Run the Update Removing Lock Files Verifying the File Transfer Additional Upgrade Steps for Local Mode Page Chapter 5 Serial Port Passthrough How Passthrough Works Serial Port Pinouts Using Telnet Page Page Chapter 6 Using the Set Top Box Start Mode Local Mode Local-Fullscreen Mode MCS Mode Using the IR Remote Using the Wireless Keyboard Accessing the Web Page Page Index