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Media Player

User Manual

revision 13.03.26 - 3.149.05

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Features

Standard Version

Pro Version

Introduction

Installing the Software

OS X

Windows

Activating Pro Features

Overview

Instructions

Troubleshooting

Configuring your Computer and Network

Receiving from Streambox Servers

Overview

Ad-Hoc live video from Streambox Live or Enterprise

Server

Using Channels to receive Live video from Streambox Live

or Enterprise Server

Playing Files from from Streambox Live or Enterprise Server

Receiving Live video from a Streambox Encoder

Receiving from Streambox ME Pro Encoders

Overview

Activating Streambox ME Pro Encoders

Playing a local file

Overview

Instructions

Outputting Video to 3rd Party Devices (HD-SDI / HDMI)

Overview

Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini Monitor

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Troubleshooting

Monitoring Multiple Streams using Channels

Overview

Configuration

Updating the Software

Configuring Advanced Settings

CONTACT INFORMATION

Technical Support

Corporate Headquarters

USA Sales and Information

International Sales and Information

Business Development

Features

Standard Version

● Free

● Windows® or Mac OS X®

● Receive live Streambox ACT-L3 streams

● Playback raw Streambox ACT-L3 files (*.actl3)

● Full HD with 1:1 pixel mapping up to 1920x1080

● Advanced SD upscaling

● Direct3d and OpenGL video hardware support

● Supports Streambox LDMP technology

● Support for licensed video streams from Streambox ME

Pro*

● HD or SD with optimized SD upscaling

● Automatic software update

● Supports most common Video formats and framerates

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● Receive streams from Streambox Live Server or Enterprise

Server

● 5 Configurable channels for receiving multiple streams

Pro Version

● Paid (Requires Product Key for activation)

● Includes all standard features

● Full-screen display

● Supports 3rd-party hardware output* (Blackmagic Design

UltraStudio Mini Monitor via Thunderbolt)

● NTSC/PAL output conversion (with 3rd-party hardware

output)*

● Teleprompter/Mirror Mode*

*Supported in OSX version only

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Introduction The Streambox Media Player is a software media player that

decodes and displays Streambox ACT-L3 transport streams and

files on a computer. The newest version fully supports both HD

and SD ACT-L3.

The Streambox Media Player can be a useful tool in the

Streambox workflow. The following are some examples of how

this product can be used:

● View live streams from Streambox Servers such as

Streambox Live Server or Streambox Enterprise Server

● Route file playback from Streambox Servers such as

Streambox Live Server or Streambox Enterprise Server

● Preview or play out ACT-L3 files

Installing the Software

OS X

Install the software using the provided installer, or copy the

StreamboxHDMP application to your Applications folder and run

the application. You may also create an alias by dragging the

copied file link to a location on the Dock.

Windows

Install the software using the provided installer. You may also

create a shortcut to the .exe.

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Activating Pro Features

Overview

Certain features of the Streambox Media Player are only available

to users who have paid for the Pro version, which is unlocked by a

Product Key. Once the Pro features are activated, the Media

Player cannot be transferred to another computer without

resetting the Product Key.

The Media Player can be activated either by selecting Register Pro

from the Streambox MPHD Menu or by enabling any of the Pro

features which are Full Screen, Blackmagic Output, and

Teleprompter Mode, all found in the View Menu.

Instructions

1. From the StreamboxMPHD

menu choose Register Pro

2. Enter the registration

information including the

Product Key*

3. Click OK. The Media Player

will contact the Streambox

Activation Server and validate the activation.

4. Verify that the software reflects the activation. From the

StreamboxMPHD menu click About and verify the version

is “Pro”.

The software should now be activated and Pro features should be

functional.

* If you do not have a Product Key contact Streambox Sales to

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purchase a product key for your software. If you need to transfer

the software to another computer, contact Streambox Support. A

current support contract on your software is required to permit

software transfers.

Troubleshooting

If the activation fails it may be for the following reason

● Unable to contact the server: the Media Player was not

able to contact the Streambox Activation Server over TCP

port 80 to validate the product key. Verify that you have

connectivity to the Internet and that TCP port 80

outbound traffic is not blocked.

● Make sure your serial used for correct product: Contact

Streambox Support to check that the key was generated

correctly.

Configuring your Computer and Network The Streambox Media Player receives ACT-L3 streams from

various sources. The default port for receiving and sending

stream information is UDP port 1770. For this feature to function

correctly the network firewall must be open to receive/send UDP

traffic through port 1770.

Receiving from Streambox Servers

Overview

The Streambox Media Player can receive streams from the

Streambox Live Server or Streambox Enterprise Server in several

different ways.

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Ad-Hoc live video from Streambox Live or Enterprise Server

The easiest way requires no setup on the Media Player itself.

Simply open the Media Player and a web browser, and use the

browser to connect to the Streambox Live Server at

http://live.streambox.com, or from any Streambox Enterprise

Server. Log into the server with your credentials and view the live

feeds on the “Live” tab.

To view a Live Stream, find your stream in the Live tab, and click

on the Action menu next to each one. You can select “View

Stream on Media Player” to start viewing an active stream from

the current point in time. You can also click the “View” button to

start the stream. Your web browser will create the connection to

the server for your Media Player, and the stream should appear

within 20 seconds.

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Using Channels to receive Live video from Streambox Live or

Enterprise Server

Streambox Media Player can be used to actively connect to

Streambox Enterprise Server and Streambox Live Server, in

addition to being used by those servers as a passive receiver

(decoder).

To actively connect, the IP address and port number used by the

server must be added to the channel settings (See the section on

Channel Settings), and the Login and Password fields must be

filled in, and the Reporter field must match the “Contributor”

metadata of the stream. The Streambox Live Server requires the

addition of the Group name in the Network1 field.

1. From the Settings menu select

Configure Channel #

2. In the Channel Configuration

dialog select Connect to Server

3. Enter the Streambox Server

information:

a. IP Address: The IP

address of the Server.

b. UDP Port: The

streaming port used by the server. If unknown, use

1770, the default.

c. Login: The login name of the user on the server

d. Password: The password for the user on the server

e. Reporter: The name of the contributor or reporter

that is associated with the stream you wish to

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receive

f. Network1: The network, group, or DRM of the

stream you wish to receive

NOTE: DNS is not supported by the Streambox Media Player; you

must input the actual IP address, not the human-readable domain

name.

The Media Player will log in to the server and match the fields in

these settings with the login and metadata on the server. If the

login is valid and the Contributor matches a stream, the Media

Player will initiate a stream sent from the server.

Playing Files from from Streambox Live or

Enterprise Server To view a Live Stream from the beginning, or to view an archived

ACT-L3 file, open the Actions menu and select “Play File on Media

Player.” This will cause the Live Server to begin sending you the

video stream from the start of recording. As your Media Player

begins to receive the file, it will start playing that file.

Receiving Live video from a Streambox

Encoder Streambox Media Player can work as a software version of the

Streambox Decoder. Accordingly the computer running the

Media Player must be set up as if it were a Streambox Decoder.

Adjust the Channel settings to Unicast (Waits for Data) mode.

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The following items need to be configured for this configuration if

the Media Player is inside a firewall and has an private-network IP

address

● Static IP set on the computer running Media Player

● UDP Port 1770 port-forwarded in firewall/modem settings

to same computer’s IP address

● Firewall/Modem open to receive/send UDP 1770 traffic

When the Media Player is launched it should display the

configured static IP in statistics bar on the left side. This IP should

be the configured IP of the computer that will receive the ACT-L3

stream.

NOTE: The software must be restarted for any network settings to

take affect.

Receiving from Streambox ME Pro

Encoders

Overview

Streambox Media Player software can function in the same way as

the rack-mounted Streambox Decoder hardware when it comes to

receiving live streams or playing files from Streambox ME Pro.

The ME Pro user must create a Decoder in the software (method

varies with platform-- please consult the Streambox ME Pro

manual for your platform) with the IP address of the computer

running the Media Player software.

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To receive a stream, the Media Player should be set to a channel

that’s in “Unicast (waits for data)” Mode. The “Port Number”

setting will determine which port on which the Media Player is

“listening” for incoming streams. The Stream is then sent to the

computer running the Media Player as if it was a Decoder. If

necessary, the network firewall and any firewall software on the

computer should be set set to permit incoming streams, and to

forward them to the internal IP address of the computer running

the Media Player.

Activating Streambox ME Pro Encoders

Streambox ME Pro Encoders must be activated with a Product

Key on each Streambox Decoder, Server, or Media Player that

they send to. In order to receive signals from a Streambox ME

Pro Encoder you must enter the Product Key and activate the

Streambox ME Pro Encoder on the Media Player using the

following steps.

1. Begin streaming directly to the player IP address from the

Streambox ME Pro Encoder.

2. When the signal is received by the Media Player you will

be prompted with an activation window for the Streambox

ME Pro Encoder.

Playing a local file

Overview

You can open a RAW ACT-L3 file (*.actl3) for direct playback using

the File menu.

Instructions

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1. Select Open File (⌘O) to open video file in the .ACTL3

format.

Select Open URL (⌘R) to open a valid URL (web address

beginning with http://, or ftp address beginning with

ftp://) to the location of the file. The Media Player will

contact the URL and being downloading and playing the

file.

2. The ACTL3 file will play from beginning to end and stop.

Playback cannot be paused, rewound, or jogged.

Outputting Video to 3rd Party Devices (HD-

SDI / HDMI)

Overview

The Streambox Media Player Pro is able to interface with 3rd

party output devices for broadcast quality video output in HD-SDI

or HDMI.

Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini

Monitor

1. Connect and install the

Blackmagic Design Mini

Monitor on the Mac.

2. Start the Streambox Media

Player

3. From the Settings menu

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select the Use BlackMagic H/W.

4. From the Settings menu select the Output and choose the

desired output mode.

5. Verify the output video is displaying to the external

display. The Media Player software window will not display

the video internally while the BlackMagic Hardware is

displaying the video.

Troubleshooting

If the display does not show up correctly try the following steps.

● Close and restart the Streambox Media Player application

(⌘Q)

● Restart the Mac

● Change display output mode

● Check for Streambox Media Player software updates

● Check for BlackMagic device software updates

Monitoring Multiple Streams using

Channels

Overview

The Streambox Media Player supports up

to 5 incoming video streams sent by

Streambox Encoders, Live Server,

Enterprise Server, or legacy Distribution

Servers. Each channel can be set to

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passively wait for an incoming stream, or actively to connect to a

Live or Enterprise Server to pull a video stream to itself, or

connect to an IP Multicast Network. Simply set up each channel

as you need and use the buttons in the lower right to switch

between channels.

Note: Channel switching cannot be used seamlessly due to the

required resync when selecting a channel, which may take up to

60 seconds.

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Configuration

1. To access the channel

settings, select the

Settings Menu and select

a channel. You can also

hold the Ctrl button and

press any of the number

keys, 1-5, to select the

numbered channel.

2. Once in the channel

settings, you can rename

the channel for your

reference. Then, select

any of the following:

Unicast receiver: This is the passive reception mode for the Media

Player. The UDP Port field is required for this mode. (Default is

1770.) This mode can be used with any Streambox Encoder or

live-streaming server except when using IP Multicast.

Connect to server: This is the active “pull” mode which can be

used with Enterprise Server and Live Server.

Join Multicast Group: This mode is for the uncommon case where

the Encoder is sending the stream and using IP Multicasting to

have the network routers replicate multiple copies of the stream,

on an on-demand basis. The Streambox Encoder must be in

Multicast mode as well, and utilizing the destination IPs in the

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range reserved for multicast use: The range includes the

addresses from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.

Updating the Software Streambox Media Player will automatically check for software

updates at startup. If an update is present, the user will be

prompted to upgrade the software at that time. The user can

force the software to check for updates at any time by accessing

the Streambox MPHD Menu and selecting Check for Updates

(⌘U)

Note: The computer running the Media Player application must

be connected to the internet for this functionality to work.

Configuring Advanced Settings Jitter is a setting which allows the Media Player

to recover from UDP transport packets arriving out of order. Open

the Network Jitter (⌘J) settings from the Settings Menu. The

Jitter setting creates an additional receive buffer which the Media

Player can use to re-order packets if necessary. It is recommended

to start with a value of 1-5 packets for jitter on networks where

packets may arrive out of order such as satellite networks,

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wireless networks, long range networks, or any connection that

transfers over the public Internet.

Note: Jitter and Autojitter settings

should only be used for receiving

of UDP transport streams.

Autojitter should not be used with

on products such as Streambox

Avenir, Streambox ME Pro, or any

encoder which includes LDMP or Auto-Bandwidth Negotiation or

LDMP.

Jitter2 is a setting on the decoder which creates a pre-buffer

to compensate for network delays. It is good to start with a

value of 1-5 packets for jitter2 on networks where packet

delays might occur. If extreme network delays are

expected, Jitter2 packet values can be increased.

Autojitter: Autojitter is a period of time in seconds in which the

Jitter buffer sizes are calculated on the receiver after the stream

is begun. During the Autojitter period, the stream will stutter as

the buffer changes size, the resulting video should not be used

during this period. It is recommended that Autojitter not be used

in general practice, though it is useful for testing to determine a

baseline of jitter values for a given connection. Those values

should be input manually and autojitter disabled after that test

measurement.

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CONTACT INFORMATION +1 206.956.0544 Tel

+1 206.956.0570 Fax

Technical Support

support@streambox.com

+1 206.956.0544, Option 5

Corporate Headquarters

1848 Westlake Avenue N Suite 300

Seattle, WA 98109

USA Sales and Information

sales@streambox.com

+1 206.956.0544, Option 3

International Sales and Information

internationalsales@streambox.com

+1 206.956.0544, Option 3

Business Development

bizdev@streambox.com

+1 206.956.0544, Option 3