TECHNICOLOR COM1000/COM2000 System Training Workshop COM1000/COM2000 System Troubleshooting Strictly Confidential
Welcome Welcome to the Technicolor COM1000/2000 System Troubleshooting workshop Your instructor is Mark Anderson The Technicolor MCS Management Team is: • Rob Rhodes – Director of R&D • Doug Strachota – Product Manager • Tony Watters – Sales Manager
Classroom Etiquette Please DO • Turn all cellphones to vibrate or off • Keep all conversations relevant to the current topic • Feel free to ask questions when needed Please DO NOT • • • • Talk on your cell phone Carry on side conversations Be afraid to ask questions Be disruptive to others in the class
Troubleshooting Defined The identification and resolution of problems, especially problems of a technical nature The process of solving problems, especially complicated problems in a system Philosophy To get to the root cause of a given system failure in the least number of steps possible by partitioning the system into manageable sections, using the symptoms to pick a starting point and following the signal through the various sections until the offender is identified
THE COM1000 HEAD END Front view of a COM200 chassis with 12 COM24 cards and a QAM6 installed
COM1000 HEAD END COMPONENTS COM24 COM24-FLX COM46 COM46-FLX GbE1 ATSC-8 QAM6 COM200
A COM1000 HEAD END MAY INCLUDE • COM24 cards • COM24-FLX cards • COM46 cards • COM46-FLX cards • QAM6/24 card • GbE-1 card • COM100/200 chassis • Off air receivers i.e. ATSC-8 • EAS system • Local content streamers i.e.
The COM2000 Head End Front view of a COM360 with six COM46 Cards and QAMS
COM2000 HEAD END COMPONENTS COM46 COM46-FLX COM24 COM24-FLX ATSC-8 QAM6 COM360
A COM2000 HEAD END MAY INCLUDE • COM46 cards • COM46-FLX cards • COM24 cards • COM24-FLX cards • QAM6 cards • COM360 chassis • Off air receivers i.e. ATSC-8 • EAS system • Local content streamers i.e.
THE COM1000/COM2000 INSTALLATION For troubleshooting purposes the COM1000/COM2000 installation can be split into three main sections. o The RF Plant o The Head End o The Distribution Network Our first goal in troubleshooting the system is to determine which of these three areas the problem most likely resides in.
THE RF PLANT All COM1000/COM2000 RF plants should be designed and installed following the practices outlined in the latest version of this DIRECTV document or the current replacement wherever possible.
THE RF PLANT The COM46 card has 9 tuners and is SWM ONLY, NO multiswitch RF plants can be used with the COM46 card This means that every COM46 card requires a complete SWiM 8 tap exclusively When adding COM46 cards in existing COM1000 systems with COM24 and/or COM24-FLX cards the rules and guidelines in the DIRECTV COM24/SWiM Use Cases and Installation Constraints document and the Technicolor COM24 and COM24-FLX Application Note 03132013 documents should be followed at all times
RF PLANT COMPONENTS The RF plant may include some or all of the following components: • The Dish/LNB and mount • Polarity locker/LNB power supply • Leveling amplifier • SWM module and power supply • Multi-switch panel and power supply • B Band converters • RF Splitters • Various cabling and connectors
P.S. – YOUR PROBLEM IS RF In 2010 - 2012 the number one system issue in the field investigated by Technicolor were RF plant related failures A solid RF plant is critical to your success.
CHECK THE SYSLOG Mar 11 06:57:04 com24-10-5 syslog: HDXEA: 1 Mar 11 06:57:06 com24-10-5 syslog: HDXEA: 0 Mar 11 06:57:14 com24-10-5 syslog: a: MOcount(1,4421624) Mar 11 06:57:17 com24-10-5 syslog: a: Status: RID=033081961030 CAM_ID=002299005104 Chassis=10 Slot=5 Temp=32,43 Fans=1,1 Power=2,1 Uptime=1187823 Auth=1 Paired=1 Tuners=6580964,9,-36; 3900930,3,-34; 0,14,-51 Mar 11 06:57:49 com24-10-5 syslog: a: MOcount(0,7897772) Mar 11 06:58:03 com24-10-5 syslog: HDXEA: 1 Mar 11 06:58:03 com24-10-5 syslog: HDXEA
CHECK THE SYSLOG Mar 11 07:06:50 com24-10-5 syslog: a: MOcount(0,7901373) Mar 11 07:07:03 com24-10-5 syslog: a: FilterPause(2, 2) Mar 11 07:07:03 com24-10-5 syslog: a: Tuner(index=0, quality=0, strength=0, errors=0, event=32) Mar 11 07:07:03 com24-10-5 syslog: a: Tuner(index=1, quality=0, strength=0, errors=0, event=32) Mar 11 07:07:03 com24-10-5 syslog: a: FilterPause(2, 4) Mar 11 07:07:03 com24-10-5 syslog: a: Tuner(index=2, quality=0, strength=0, errors=0, event=32) Mar 11 07:07:03 com24-10-5 syslog: a:
CHECK THE SYSLOG Mar 11 07:22:04 buildroot user.notice syslog: a: MOcount(9228,9225,461,9220,9216,9212,9211,9208) Mar 11 07:22:04 buildroot user.crit syslog: NDS.CDI HDXEA completed: 6 Mar 11 07:22:04 buildroot user.crit syslog: NDS.CDI HDXEA completed: 3 Mar 11 07:22:04 buildroot user.crit syslog: NDS.CDI DESC HDX_SetDescrambler: DEMUX_DESCRAMBLER_SET_CONTROL_WORD, fd=102, index=13, x_con=6, stream_pid=4144,rv=0 Mar 11 07:22:04 buildroot user.crit syslog: NDS.
CHECK THE SYSLOG Mar 11 06:57:07 buildroot user.notice syslog: a: CC errors index=0 CCtotal=12 Mar 11 06:57:07 buildroot user.notice syslog: a: CC errors index=1 CCtotal=2 Mar 11 06:57:07 buildroot user.notice syslog: a: CC errors index=2 CCtotal=151 Mar 11 06:57:07 buildroot user.notice syslog: a: CC errors index=6 CCtotal=7 Mar 11 06:57:07 buildroot user.notice syslog: a: CC errors index=7 CCtotal=55 Mar 11 06:57:08 buildroot user.err syslog: a: >>> Tuner(0) Lost Lock <<< Mar 11 06:57:08 buildroot user.
TOOLS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING The DIRECTV Advanced Installation Meter This device should be used for all aspects of the installation, verification and troubleshooting of the RF plant
VERIFICATION OF THE RF PLANT SWM or Multi-Switch RF Conditioning and Distribution When testing the RF plant connect the AIM to F connector on the cable feeding the COM24 card.
VERIFICATION OF THE RF PLANT SWM RF Conditioning and Distribution When testing the RF plant connect the AIM to F connector on the cable feeding the COM46 card.
VERIFYING THE RF PLANT WITH THE AIM Run the EIV Plus Test at the IRD to verify the signal to the COM46/COM24 card(s) If there are ANY failures during this test consult the DIRECTV Appendix A - MDU/Commercial Advantage Validation and Troubleshooting Procedure to identify and correct the failure.
TOOLS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING A DCI401MCS and a small television monitor with RF and HDMI inputs make an ideal troubleshooting tool for an RF based distribution network
VERIFICATION OF QAM OUTPUT COM200 Chassis The output of the QAM is checked at the F connector on the front of the QAM module
VERIFICATION OF QAM OUTPUT COM360 Chassis The output of the QAM is checked at the F connector on the front of the QAM module(s)
TOOLS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING Important information about the strength and quality of the signal can be obtained by using the DCI401MCS menu and selecting Settings/System Info.
TOOLS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING The VLC media player is an excellent tool for verification of an IP stream coming from a COM1000 system
VERIFICATION OF IP OUTPUT The IP output of a COM24 or COM24-FLX can be checked using the front Ethernet port.
VERIFICATION OF IP OUTPUT The IP output of the chassis is verified at the Gigabit Ethernet connector located on the rear of the COM200 chassis
VERIFICATION OF IP OUTPUT The IP output of the chassis is verified on the Gigabit Ethernet connectors located on the front of the COM360 chassis
VERIFICATION OF IP OUTPUT Multicasting a Video Stream The IPv4 multicast address range includes the addresses from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 To IP multicast a channel on the simple tune page set the following: Dest_IP_Address = 225.0.0.1 Dest_Port_Number = 123 Major_Number = 100 To play a multicast stream with VLC select the Media pull down then select Open Network Stream and enter UDP://@225.0.0.
VERIFICATION OF IP OUTPUT Unicasting a Video Stream The IPv4 private address ranges include: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 To IP unicast a channel on the simple tune page set the following: Dest_IP_Address = 10.0.0.1 Dest_Port_Number = 123 Major_Number = 100 To play a unicast stream with VLC select the Media pull down then select Open Network Stream and enter UDP://@10.0.0.
THE SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK The distribution network type could be: • RF based (coax wiring) • Z-Band (RF over cat5e or cat6 twisted pair) • IP based (cat5e or equivalent wiring)
THE SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK The components of the distribution network may include: • Ethernet switches, routers, etc • Combiners • RF amplifiers • Splitters • Various cabling and connectors • Pro:Idiom decryption device and/or set back boxes i.e DCI401MCS, Enseo, etc.
TELEVISIONS – THE GREY AREA There are known issues with televisions that prevent them from working properly with the COM1000/COM2000 and the DIRECTV signal. Some of these issues are: • No support for H.
OTHER INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS • Incoming AC power • System grounding • Equipment room environment (temperature, humidity, dust, etc.
COM1000/COM2000 System Toolkit Your COM1000/COM2000 troubleshooting toolkit should contain most if not all of the following: • COM24mdns.
IS THIS A TECHNICOLOR PROBLEM? For a COM1000/COM2000 system Technicolor is responsible for the signal from the input F connector on the receiver cards (COM24, COM24-FLX, COM46, COM46-FLX) to the output F connector on the QAM(s) if present or the Gigabit Ethernet connector(s) if there is no QAM in the system. In the case of the DCI401MCS Technicolor is responsible for the signal from the input F connector to the output F and HDMI connectors.
WHAT IS NOT A TECHNICOLOR PROBLEM? • Any part of the RF plant from the dish to the COM1000/COM2000 system • Any part of the management network including any PC, switch, router, etc.
The Path for Escalating Problem Resolution It is requested that all calls to Technicolor for support with the COM1000/COM2000 systems originate from the distributors. Technicolor will interface directly with dealers or end customers as required but prefers distributor involvement whenever possible.
Contacting Technicolor MCS The Technicolor MCS website: http://www.technicolor.com/en/solutions-services/connected-home/commercial-video-solutions The Technicolor MCS toll free support number: 1-855-297-5820 The Technicolor MCS email address: mcssales@technicolor.com Email to: Mark.Anderson2@technicolor.
Before Escalating Problems to Technicolor In order for Technicolor to understand and help you resolve customer field issues in a timely manner, we must have good information to understand the system configuration and the problem being described. Prior to contacting Technicolor you should be sure that the system is running the latest QAM and COM software versions (you will be asked). This information MUST come from the field.
Thank You
