Cisco Digital Media Encoder 1000 and 2000 Troubleshooting Guide

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Updated:October 30, 2006

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Cisco Digital Media Encoder 1000 and 2000

Table Of Contents

Cisco Digital Media Encoder 1000 and 2000

Contents

Overview

Troubleshooting Tips

Cisco Digital Media Encoder 1000 and 2000

Revised: October 2006

Contents

This troubleshooting guide covers the following topics:

•Overview

•Troubleshooting Tips

Overview

This document provides information on how to resolve some of the common problems that you might encounter with the Cisco Digital Media Encoder 1000 and Cisco Digital Media Encoder 2000. You may want to have the Cisco Digital Media Encoder User Guide on hand as many of the procedures in this document refer to that guide.

Troubleshooting Tips

Problem: My encoder will not power on and none of the front panel buttons work.

Resolution: Verify the panel lock switch on the back of the encoder at the lower right side of the unit is in the unlocked position.

Problem: I changed the settings for my encoder through the web page but the settings I changed are lost.

Resolution: Be sure to hit the Submit button at the bottom on the encoder Setup web page in order to store changes. Do not use the Back button in your web browser because it returns you to the previous screen with out saving your changes.

Problem: When I turn on my encoder, the LCD display shows "Booting...." but it does not boot.

Resolution: This is usually caused by incorrectly or incompletely shutting down the unit, either by forcing the power off using the front panel power button which is completed by pressing the power button for approximately 1 second, or by power interruption from a power outage prior to powering up the encoder. Leave the system on and wait 15 minutes. The system may eventually boot and will at that point work correctly again. If the LCD display has not been updated after 15 minutes, perform one of the following tasks to diagnose the problem:

Option A

•Remotely login to the encoder through the SCX web interface as shown in the Cisco Digital Media Encoder User Guide.

–If the login is successful and the encoder is controllable and functional through the SCX web interface, you can continue to use the encoder. At some time, you should contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center and request an RMA to fix a potential hardware problem with the LCD display.

–If the login is unsuccessful and the encoder does not respond to remote access, you should contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center and request an RMA.

Option B

•Power off the encoder.

•Connect an external monitor to the VGA port on the back of the unit and a keyboard and mouse.

•Power on the encoder.

–If the encoder boots up and you can operate the encoder through the mouse, keyboard, and monitor, you can continue to use the encoder. At some time, you should contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center and request an RMA to fix a potential hardware problem with the LCD display.

–If the encoder does not boot up you should contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center and request an RMA.

Problem: I am not receiving any audio.

Resolution: Make sure that you have selected the correct audio input source (balanced or unbalanced) when configuring the encoder settings. For more information on selecting the correct audio input source and which option to choose, see the Cisco Digital Media Encoder User Guide.

Problem: I am not receiving any video.

Resolution: Verify you have selected the correct video input source when configuring the encoder settings. For more information on selecting the correct audio input source and which option to choose, see the Cisco Digital Media Encoder User Guide.

Problem: I do not see any video playing through the monitor on the front of the encoder.

Resolution:

1. Verify you have selected the correct video input source when configuring the encoder settings.

2. Start encoding and look at the preview through the SCX software.

3. After verifying you have selected the correct video input, if you can view the video through the preview function of the SCX software and are still having a problem viewing any video, contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center to report a possible hardware failure. Prior to contacting Cisco verify your video source is operational connecting the video source to another viewing source such as an external monitor that is plug-compatible with your video source.

Problem: The audio is out of synch with the video when using a DVD as the source for an encoder operation.

Resolution: Using copy-righted material such as DVDs for high bit-rate encoding may result in the audio being out of synch with the video. Choose a lower bit-rate setting in the encoder properties. You may want to check a non-copy-righted DVD to see if you have the same problem.

Problem: I have pressed one of the A, B, or C buttons and then the Stream buttons on the front of my encoder but nothing is being encoded.

Resolution: By default these buttons are not assigned to an encoder format and must be configured to use. Login to the encoder through the Niagara SCX web interface and ensure that an encoder format has been selected for the A, B, and C buttons.

Problem: I have started a live stream encoding process but I am not able to view it from my PC.

Resolution: To ensure that the encoder is creating a live stream perform the following steps:

1. Connect a PC to the same local network to which the encoder is directly connected.

2. Open the decoder software that corresponds to your encoder format, such as Windows Media Player.

3. Access the stream from the encoder through http://<encoder IP address or DNS name>:<port #>.

The port number in the access URL must correspond to the encoder setting you have setup on the encoder. If you can successfully view the encoded stream, then you may have a downstream networking or streaming server problem. If you cannot view the encoded stream, check your encoder settings to make sure that you have selected the right video and audio source and the port number is correct.

Problem: I connected an XLR microphone to one of the balanced audio inputs on my encoder but no audio is being received.

Resolution: A microphone preamplifier needs to be installed between a microphone and the encoder. Microphone preamplifiers are widely available from audio/video resellers.

Problem: The video being encoded by the encoder is very choppy and the audio quality is bad.

Resolution: Check the CPU utilization on the encoder LCD display. If the utilization is > 75%, do one of the following:

•Lower the bit-rate setting of the encoder format by selecting a different encoder format. Information on this operation is available in the Cisco Digital Media Encoder User Guide. This function decreases the amount of information needed to be encoded thus lowering the CPU utilization.

•Reduce the window size of the encoder format. This function also decreases the amount of information needed to be encoded thus lowering the CPU utilization.

Either of the above selections lower the encoder CPU utilization but also lower the overall quality of the encoded stream.

Problem: Where do I view the encoder Activity Log and any Error Alerts?

Resolution: Login to the Niagara SCX web software on the encoder. Two different web pages are available through the top level menu that depicts the encoder Activity Log and Alerts. More information on these menu choices can be found in the Cisco Digital Media Encoder User Guide.