Setting Up ST 2110

This page walks through commissioning a WATCHOUT node for ST 2110 video, in the order you do the work: install the board, configure PTP, configure each board's network ports, send an output, and receive a capture. For the concepts behind these steps, see ST 2110 Video Over IP.

Prerequisites

  • A Deltacast ST 2110 IP board (such as the DELTA-IP series) installed in a Runner node.
  • A network port on the node matching the board's link speed (typically 25 GbE) for the primary stream. A second port at the same speed for SPS redundancy.
  • A network switch that supports IGMP snooping and PTP pass-through. Without IGMP snooping, multicast floods the network.
  • A PTP leader (often called the PTP grandmaster) reachable from the board — a dedicated PTP appliance, a PTP-capable switch, or another professional device. WATCHOUT is PTP follower-only.
  • Deltacast VideoMaster drivers installed on the node. Verify the board appears in the node's hardware list before continuing.

1. Open the ST 2110 Interfaces dialog

  1. Open the Nodes window.
  2. Select the Runner node that holds the Deltacast board.
  3. From the node's actions menu, choose ST 2110 Interfaces.

If the dialog shows No ST 2110 interfaces found, the node has not detected a Deltacast IP board. Check that the card is seated, the Deltacast drivers are installed, and the Runner service is running on the node.

2. Configure PTP

The PTP section sits at the top of the dialog and applies to every ST 2110 board on this node.

  1. Turn on Enable PTP.
  2. Set PTP Domain to the domain number used by your PTP leader. Valid range is 0 to 127. The default is 127.

The PTP domain must match the PTP leader and every other ST 2110 device on the same network. A wrong domain looks like "no signal" with no error message.

WATCHOUT uses the SMPTE ST 2059-2 PTP profile. You do not select the profile in the UI. It is fixed.

WATCHOUT runs PTP as follower only (clock class 248). It never advertises as a leader. You must provide an external PTP leader.

3. Configure each board

Below the PTP section, each detected Deltacast board appears as a collapsible row. Open the row for the board you want to configure.

Each board has two toggles:

  • Use This Device turns the board on for ST 2110 traffic. Off-state leaves the board idle.
  • Use ST 2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching (SPS) turns on dual-network redundancy. With SPS off, the board uses only the primary port. With SPS on, the Secondary Port (Redundancy) section appears below the primary port.

Primary port

For each port you have two options:

SettingDescription
Use DHCPThe board asks the network for an IP address, subnet mask, and gateway. Simplest, but the board's address can change between boots.
ManualYou enter IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway. Recommended for production. Pick an address on the media network's subnet.

Use static (manual) addresses on the ST 2110 ports. Senders, receivers, and SDP files all refer to source IP addresses. A DHCP-assigned address that changes can break receivers without warning.

Secondary port (redundancy)

The Secondary Port section appears only when Use ST 2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching (SPS) is on. It has the same fields as the primary port.

The secondary port must connect to a physically separate network: a second switch, or a separate VLAN that does not share a link with the primary. Two cables into one switch is not redundancy. One switch failure takes both streams down.

4. Choose a redundancy strategy

StrategySetupSurvives
Single networkOne switch, one port per board, SPS offNothing
ST 2022-7 dual networkTwo switches, two ports per board, SPS onOne switch failure, one cable cut
Mixed (some boards SPS, others not)Possible, but plan with careDepends per board

For a show that cannot tolerate a frame drop, use ST 2022-7. For a show where a brief glitch is acceptable, single network is simpler and cheaper.

5. Apply and restart services

  1. Click Apply.
  2. WATCHOUT prompts: "ST 2110 settings have been saved. Services must be restarted for the new settings to take effect. Restart services now?"
  3. Click Restart services to apply the changes immediately. Rendering on this node stops briefly during the restart.

If you click cancel, the settings are saved but do not take effect until you restart the node's services yourself.

6. Configure a display output as ST 2110

The node's ST 2110 board is now configured. The next step is to route a Display through it.

  1. In the Devices window, select the Display to output.
  2. In Device Properties, open the Output section. In the Route row, set Device to ST 2110.
  3. Set Channel to the board's output channel number (starting at 1).
  4. Fill in the Stream Properties for the primary stream (see below).
  5. Optionally fill in the SPS Properties if the board has SPS enabled.

Stream properties

FieldDefaultNotes
Multicast Address239.1.32.32An IPv4 multicast address (224.0.0.0–239.255.255.255). Each output needs a unique multicast address.
Port20000UDP port. Each output needs a unique port within the same multicast address.
Time To Live (TTL)128Number of router hops before the multicast packet is dropped. Increase only if your receivers are across routers.

A simple convention is to keep TTL at the default and assign multicast addresses by Display number: 239.1.32.32 for Display 1, 239.1.32.34 for Display 2, and so on. Leave odd-numbered last octets for the matching SPS streams.

SPS properties

Fill in SPS Multicast Address and SPS Port only if the board has SPS turned on. The defaults are 239.1.32.33 and 20002.

The SPS multicast address must differ from the primary multicast address. WATCHOUT shows the error "SPS multicast address must differ from primary stream" if you try to save the same address for both.

7. Configure an ST 2110 capture

To receive an ST 2110 stream, add a capture source on the Runner node with the Deltacast board.

  1. Open the Devices window and add a Capture Device.
  2. Click Add Capture Source.
  3. Set Node to the node that holds the Deltacast board.
  4. Click Refresh, then choose the board's ST 2110 input from the Stream dropdown. Stream names containing "ST 2110" or "ST-2110" enable the ST 2110 fields below.

You then choose one of two connection modes: manual entry, or SDP file.

If the ST 2110 fields do not appear, the board's drivers may not be loaded, or the board may not be enabled in the ST 2110 Interfaces dialog.

Connection mode 1: manual entry

Type the sender's stream parameters into the form. Use this mode when the sender does not provide an SDP, or when you want the show file to be self-contained.

FieldDefaultNotes
Multicast Address239.1.32.32The sender's multicast address. Must match the sender exactly.
Port20000The sender's UDP port. Must match the sender exactly.
SPS Multicast Address239.1.32.33Optional. Fill in only if the sender uses SPS.
SPS Port20002Optional. Required if SPS multicast address is set.

Connection mode 2: SDP file

Paste or load the sender's SDP. WATCHOUT extracts the multicast address, port, video format, and SPS settings from the SDP text. This is the fastest and least error-prone way to set up a receiver.

Get the SDP from the sender.

For a WATCHOUT ST 2110 output, the Runner generates the SDP when the output starts. Use the Runner's "Capture SDP as File" action to save the SDP next to the show, then transfer the file to the receiver.

For a third-party sender, consult its documentation. Most senders expose the SDP through a web UI, an NMOS endpoint, or a file export.

Apply the SDP at the receiver.

  1. In the Add Capture Source dialog, turn on Use SDP.
  2. Either paste the SDP text into the SDP field, or click the file button to load a .sdp or .txt file.
  3. Click Add (or Update when editing an existing capture source).

If the SDP describes an ST 2022-7 stream (it contains a=group:DUP), WATCHOUT reads the secondary stream too and checks its address is a valid IPv4 multicast address. The Deltacast SDK parses the primary stream's SDP.

A valid ST 2022-7 SDP has two media sections and a session-level a=group:DUP primary secondary line. WATCHOUT uses the a=mid: tags to tell the primary section from the secondary one.

8. NMOS routing

WATCHOUT includes a built-in NMOS Controller for IS-04 discovery and IS-05 routing. Open it from the Nodes window: select the node, then choose NMOS Controller from its actions. The action is enabled only when that node runs the NMOS Controller service. It opens in a web view on the node at port 3025. WATCHOUT also interoperates with third-party NMOS controllers and registries.

Keep NMOS on a separate controller network, reached through the node's regular network adapters (not the board's two ST 2110 ports) — see NMOS in brief. NMOS is for routing, not transport: even with NMOS active, the video flows over the ST 2110 media network configured in steps 1–6.

Troubleshooting

For ST 2110 problems — no interfaces found, no packets at the receiver, intermittent black frames, wrong capture colors, PTP not locking, or settings not taking effect — see Network Issues → ST 2110.

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