When using Drastic software on Windows, for some operations system settings must be altered to allow for the performance necessary for the workflow. This includes Net-X-Code  videoQC, 4kScope, HDRScope, FlowCaster and the Network Video Analyzer.  By default, Windows is designed for multiple, low performance loads and UI experience.  These changes allow Drastic software to get the required resources and performance required for consistent operation.

This article contains video tutorials on various Drastic Products including videoQC, 4kScope/NetworkVideoAnalyzer, Net-X-Code, MediaNXS and DrasticPreview.  To see all our tutorials, please visit our YouTube page.

FlowCaster creates a virtual I/O board for your creative software, desktop, real I/O board or NDI source that sends a high quality video signal through the network for display on a local monitor.  This article convers controlling and configuring FlowCaster through command line, its settings and via remote control.

Drastic conversion and capture software support single rate and multi rate file recording and conversion.  Up to 10 different bitrate/fps/size variants are supported per multi rate output.  The actual files may be TS, MP4 or DASH/Fragmented MP4 with associated MDP and HLS files for live replay of recording files, and automatic adaptation to varying connection conditions.

FlowCaster creates an Open I/O board Avid creative software like MediaComposer.  As a virutal video board, it can send the same high quality audio, video and captions from a real or virtual machine to wherever you are doing your creative work for output on a 'third monitor'.  This signal can be recieved by free software, like VLC and the HaiVision Pro Player, or by dedicated Drastic recievers for more features, like FlowCaster for IOS and Android, videoQC for Windows, macOS and Linux or even a variety of hardware decoders from Aja, HaiVision and others.  This article demonstrates configuring FlowCaster in Avid MediaComposer.

Net-X-Code supports loop recording of multi bitrate HLS streams from IP or SDI sources.  Setting this up requires configuration of the capture component and of the HLS adaptive bitrate settings.  This article covers the SDI and IP capture.  For the ABR setup, see https://www.drastic.tv/support-59/supporttipstechnical/303-multirate-hls-dash-setup

FlowCaster creates a virtual I/O board as a transmitter for Adobe creative software like Premiere and After Effects.  As a virutal video board, it can send the same high quality audio, video and captions from a real or virtual machine to wherever you are doing your creative work for output on a 'third monitor'.  This signal can be recieved by free software, like VLC and the HaiVision Pro Player, or by dedicated Drastic recievers for more features, like FlowCaster for IOS and Android, videoQC for Windows, macOS and Linux or even a variety of hardware decoders from Aja, HaiVision and others.  This article demonstrates configuring FlowCaster in Adobe creative software.

Drastic software outputs a lot of information when running.  Working with our APIs and command line tools, having the debug logging can help sort out interface and programming issues.  Storing these logs locally, off via a syslog server, can also help sort out issues by comparing the unexpected behavior to the corresponding time in the logs.

FlowCaster Quick Start for RTMP.  This article explains how to setup and test the FlowCaster output with streaming services like flowcaster.live, youtube.com and twitch.tv.

Most operating systems are not set up out of the box to handle heavy multicast loads. With some, multicast reception is actually disabled.  This article contains setup notes for the OS when using Net-X-Code, videoQC or 4kScope with network video sources.

FlowCaster Quick Start for SRT.  This article explains how to setup and test the FlowCaster output with freely available player tools.

Autodesk's creative software, Flame/Flare/Smoke/Lustre, support MediaReactor's file ingest so that the wide array of Drastic supported files can be read and used directly in your projects.  Autodesk supports two modes of import:  16 bit half float and 16 integer.  Each has its advantages and disadvantages, which will be discussed here.

Drastic software supports a number of IP video standards in videoQC, Net-X-Code and other products.  To access these streams, a URL style string is used to describe them.  For some sources, like RTSP, this string is fairly standard.  For others, like NDI, a URL style has been developed to allow those streams to be specified.  Currently, udp://, rtp://, srt://, rtsp://, ndi://, s2022:// and s2110:// are supported.  This document describes the URLs' format in more detail.  We have also added some applications specific notes for connecting our software to other applications.

NewTek's NDI^® interface is a powerful network video transport that allows simple, high quality video and audio signals to be transported across standard tcp/ip networks.  Drastic supports NDI^® in most of its products, including videoQC, 4kScope, sdiScope and the Network Video Analyzer.  This article contains information on setting up NDI^® sources in Drastic software.

videoQC can be called by external applications with command line parameters, keyboard/mouse, cut/paste and via a full REST/HTML command set. If there is already an instance of the application running, the parameters will be transferred to the running instance, and the called one will exit.  This is especially useful where the workflow requires the system to display particular aspects of a clip in an automated fashion.

Some Drastic software now supports the Blackmagic series of DeckLink and Intensity cards. Blackmagic has a wide range of current and legacy cards. This article lists the in house and third party tested Blackmagic cards and provides some useful operational tips.

Most Drastic software is available on Linux x86_64 as well as Windows (32/64) and OS-X (32/64).  Linux testing is done on RedHat, Centos and Ubuntu (Debian base), but due to the variety of flavors of these base distributions, it is important to check that all the required support libraries are included in your distribution.  This article outlines the absolute minimum packages required to run any Drastic software.

Drastic VVW and Titan Series DDRs, QuickClip, MediaNXS and DrasticDDR software can be used to capture single or multiple frames into a sequence of still images which can be played back in real time immediately after recording. These still image files can be stored into individual, time based directories, or into a single directory.

4KScope, videoQC, DrasticPreview, DrasticPreview Pro, and other OpenGL based apps can have trouble displaying the video in an OpenGL plane when connected via Remote Desktop Protocol or other remote control protocols.  To fix this problem, we supply special start files to be used remotely.

Drastic products like DrasticDDR and MediaNXS support a wide variety of time code sources. The default selectable configurations will usually be the correct ones for most standard workflows.  For other workflows, the time code sources can be more finely controlled. 

When using Drastic software on Windows, for some operations the network settings must be altered to allow for the performance necessary for the workflow. This includes Net-X-Code for UDP/RTP/RTSP streams, SMPTE 2022-6, and SMPTE 2110 streams, and any other workflow that requires high throughput from the Windows network stack.

AJA video boards generally include a Mixer Keyer element.  DrasticDDR, MediaNXS, and QuickClipXO do not directly control the Mixer Keyer, but they are designed to allow the user to use the Mixer Keyer alongside the main software.

Drastic's software products install and will run in demo mode, with a number of restrictions (10 second media duration, watermarks, length of run limitations, may not see the hardware, nag screens, auto-shutoff etc.). To remove these restrictions and access the full functionality of the software you will need to get at least a temporary license. 

The QuickClipXO interface is written in the Java programming language. It supports custom message strings which can be used to display alternate text for most of its controls and displays.

Drastic's videoQC support playing back a variety of network audio/video ip protocols including:  UDP, RTP, RTSP, SRT, NDI and SMPTE 2110/2022.  This document describes how to access network streams with videoQC..

4kScope can be set up to share an AJA board with products like Adobe Premiere, Avid Media Composer, Assimilate Scratch, Autodesk Flame, Digital Vision Nucoda, Grass Valley Edius, and others.  This mode is available on Windows, macOS/OS-X and Linux. This article explains how it works and how it can be set up.

All of Drastic's version 6 or greater software supports authenticating directly with Amazon via AWSAccessKeyId/SecretKey through an https transport. This is most useful for Net-X-Code's partial file restore system, but can also be used from videoQC, MediaNXS or MediaReactor.  Accessing these resources requires a second level of setup, beyond the basic software setup, and this article provides an overview on that process.

4KScope version 6 and greater includes a training mode for use at educational institutions that purchase 4KScope. It is also available free for personal use. In this mode, the various scopes can be accessed using internal multi pattern video to practice or learn how to use waveform monitors/vectorscopes.  All of the video scopes are enabled in this mode, and it does not require any hardware.

Net-X-Copy is part of the Net-X-Code server and Net-X-Convert/Proxy workstation software. It is designed to convert audio/video/media files to proxy or broadcast/post files, mix audio, extract metadata, and create one or more jpeg preview images.  It can also embed captions into output files like MXF and MOV, and replace the audio or video tracks of a source file during conversion. This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for this tool.

MRAnalyzer is a command line tool that compares an original media file with a compressed version of that file to determine the quality of the compression and note any major compression errors.  It supports the traditional PSNR as well as the more accurate SSIM and MS-SSIM.  It is part of the videoQC and Net-X-Code toolsets.  This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for this tool.

SMPTE2NET/SDI2NET is part of the Net-X-Code server software. These tools convert from SDI, SMPTE2110 or NDI to NDI, UDP, RTP, or SRT.  The include command line parameters that can do basic configuration for automated or remote operation.

ProRes itself is very well defined, and should be completely shift free in the YCbCr domain at 10 bits per component.  The transform to YCbCr from RGB can be specified within the compressed frame, and this same specification can be used to properly convert YCbCr to RGB.  With both 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 variants and the metadata/compatibility of the MOV container, ProRes should be an ideal format for post production.  This article explores why it often isn't.

ddrSetup is part of the ccConvert and Net-X-Code workstation and server software. ddrSetup is a command line tool that can do basic configurations for various Drastic softwares as well as command line licensing for headless servers via terminal/telnet/ssh/etc.

Drastic software can support up to 16 channels of audio.  These can be 16 mono channels,  8 stereo pairs or all channels in one, depending on the setup and file type. This article covers the kinds of audio that the software can produce, and the audio setups it is able to read automatically to combine multiple channels of audio with video. 

4KScope and HDRScope have the ability to use multiple inputs as individual inputs for some video capture board (like Aja, BlueFish 444 and some BlackMagic).  When setting it up this way, you will lose the ability to do multi cable input for dual link, qhd/4k and other modes.  Each input will be limited to on BNC.  This setup can be easily reverted when not needed

There are a huge variety of MXF types and directory styles.  This article goes through some of the most common types, and describes how they are used in MediaNXS (HD-SDI I/O software), videoQC (HD-SDI/VGA media player, with analysis, reports, scopes and more), and MediaReactor Workstation (Adobe/Apple/Avid/Scratch plug ins) software.

Net-X-Copy is part of the Net-X-Convert/Net-X-Proxy workstation and Net-X-Code server software. It is designed to convert audio/video files from one type to another and to perform partial file restores from indexed and non indexed files on disk, tape or cloud. This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for this tool.  A RESTful API is also available.

Version 6 of MediaNXS, Net-X-Code and MediaReactor all support native editing while ingesting for MXF files in Adobe Premiere.  All these formats are supported under Adobe Premiere without any extra plugins, just using the native MXF reader in Premiere. 

ccExtract is part of the ccConvert and Net-X-Code workstation and server software. ccExtract is designed to extract caption tracks from MXF, MOV, h.264, MPEG-2, TS, etc. to SCC/MCC, and to convert between standard caption formats like VTT, XML, EBU, SMPTE DCP, YouTube, Apple, Avid and others. This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for for this tool. A RESTful API is also available.

Drastic software supports the OpenMXF specification extension to the SMPTE MXF specification (SMPTE 377M). The advantage of OpenMXF is that while the file is still recording (open) you can read it in many popular servers and editing applications.

eMAM provides a number of integrations with Drastic products including Net-X-Code, Net-X-Convert, and Net-X-Proxy.  For most cases, the main configuration is done within eMAM itself. In the case of live capture, configuring the Drastic server to send messages to eMAM allows eMAM to detect new records and allow the user to start using them while they are still recording. This article has the details for that setup.

Connecting single and dual link inputs incorrectly can cause odd looking signals.  Here are each of the incorrect paths shown as they would be with a standard SMPTE bars input.

Net-X-Copy is part of the Net-X-Convert/Net-X-Proxy workstation and Net-X-Code server software. It supports, among other things, extracting an XMP XML of the metadata in a media file or series of media files. It extracts both the basic information for each channel and any camera/workflow specific metadata. This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for this tool.  A RESTful API is also available.

Drastic software supports a wide range of metadata elements.  These elements are stored within the actual media files when available, and also stored in a sidebar XMP file, using both the standard, and a custom DTD, with the Adobe specification.  Please see each file format's specification for its metadata.  The XMP file metadata format is outlined here.

Net-X-Copy is part of the Net-X-Convert/Net-X-Proxy workstation and Net-X-Code server software. It supports, among other things, extracting clips from a native card format from cameras like P2, C300/700, Red, XDCam, AVCHD, AS-02, AS-11, GV Infinity and others. It extracts a list of clips, and then a list of elements within those clips and any camera/workflow specific metadata. This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for this tool.  A RESTful API is also available.

Most Drastic DDR and video I/O products (like MediaNXS, DTReplay, SyncControl Pro) support a variety of GPI interfaces. Because of the variety of hardware and usage types, the GPI configuration is an advanced configuration. This document describes the setup and use of GPI devices with Drastic DDR, MediaNXS and other Drastic software.

HDRScope supports 8, 10, and 12 bit SDI inputs.  This article maintains a list of compatible hardware for 10 and 12 bit 4:4:4 RGB signals.  Please note, if the board is not on this list, it is likely limited to 8 or 10 bit YCbCr inputs. 10 and 12 bit 4:4:4 require direct SDK access to the board, and are therefore only available on AJA, Bluefish444, Blackmagic and Matrox boards.

On supported hardware, Drastic software provides control of any up or down video conversion.  This can be set up in real time from the QuickClipXO, MediaNXS, VTRIF, DTReplay or dTouch interfaces.  The parameters and advanced settings in the configurations are provided below.

Many of the tools in ccConvert, videoQC and Net-X-Code can be run as command line tools, as well as via REST API.  With command line tools, there are ways to set up automated processes, from interpreted languages (such as PHP and PERL), from full programming environments, and from batch files and watch folder utilities. This article describes setting up one such watch folder utility as a template for setting up your own workflows.

Drastic server software supports different front panel options:  The original 422 Jog/shuttle, the 4 line LCD with command keys and the newest touch screen VGAs.  This page describes the configuration for these front panels.

ccEmbed is part of the ccConvert and Net-X-Code workstation and server software. It is designed to take MCC or SCC closed caption files and embed them into output MXF, MOV, etc.  It supports re-wrapping the source audio/video, as well as converting while embedding.  This article contains the Linux/OS-X/Windows command line API for this tool.  A RESTful API is also available.

When working with RS-422 protocols (Sony 422, Odetics, Pioneer, VDCP, etc) it is often useful to directly monitor the incoming, return or both serial streams.  This is a cable that can be built to use two RS-422 ports to monitor one or both streams. 

All Drastic software uses a similar keyboard layout for control.  There are some variations for program-specific functions, but the general transport control is shared.  Currently supported software includes:

DrasticPreview, DrasticPreview Pro, QuickClipXO, DTReplayLive, MediaNXS, DTouch, VTRIF, CineDDR

Drastic Technologies' VTR and DDR products include the necessary conversion hardware for RS-232 (your computer's serial port) to RS-422 (broadcast VTRs and controllers).  If you are evaluating Drastic DDR software such as MediaNXS, you will need to set up this conversion to test the serial control capabilities of the system. 

Drastic products generally support closed captions.  Video I/O products can capture and play back closed caption information.  MediaReactor can convert closed caption formats along with the video and audio files.  videoQC products can decode and display both 608 and 708 captions for preview and confidence monitoring.  For some captions, default language/fonts can be set up, which are described here.

Drastic software supports a range of standard 3D LUT formats.  These include the following:  3DL, MGA, M3D, TXT, CUBE, DAVLUT and LOOK. Please see the article for more information.

Some versions of videoQC include the ability to re-wrap, convert and export all or parts of files they are playing.  This article explains how to set up profiles, set start and end points, and export to new files, using videoQC

Drastic software supports a range of standard 1D LUT formats for software conversion, and hardware input and output with AJA video boards.

Many modern productions require sending out multiple versions of shows to multiple groups.  A single, in process show, will require versions to be sent for captioning, audio composition/mixing, ratings, producer proof, edit check and QA.  To facilitate this, without using creative workstations, Net-X-Code allows you to set up to 10 targets and produce 10 watermarked/time coded/named versions of a show at one time.

All Drastic server digital disk recorder (DDR) products have a built in web server for local use. If you have a VVW Series, Titan Series, ClipRecorder, or IngestGate server, or the Network Control option for QuickClip version 3.x, then you can also use this web server from any network attached machine.

Net-X-Code can be run on local servers, local VMs or cloud based VMs.  The VMs can be using RedHat/Centos, Windows, Windows Server, or even Docker.  File access methods include local file systems, network shares (smb, nfs, etc.), or cloud storage (aws s3, google cloud, https, ftp),  Any mix is allowed for both conversion, capture and scanning/proxy generation.

The IndieCam cameras are small, light, HD and 2K recording RAW bayer pattern cameras.  They provide the raw data via HD-SDI by embedding it into a SMPTE standard signal that can be recorded by most uncompressed recorders.  Because the type marked by the recorder is SMPTE YCbCr 10 (v210 in general), the RAW data cannot be automatically detected.  To use these files in Assimilate Scratch and MediaReactor, the system must be set up to re-label these files.

Avid tools support MPEG-4 using QuickTime as well as using MediaReactor Workstation. QuickTime cannot handle newer MP4 formats like XAVC-S and MPEG-2 from Sony and other manufacturer's cameras. MediaReactor can, but when adding them to Media Composer/Newscutter/etc, you must specify which reader you want to use.  

We are always happy to receive product ideas, new file/codec format information and bug/issue reports.  To make these reports as effective as possible, please read the following article on what we need to know to solve the issue in the quickest possible way.

Drastic supports a wide variety of audio and video hardware for products such as MediaNXS, videoQC and DrasticDDR. The current product families Drastic supports are AJA, BlueFish444 and Blackmagic adapters for audio/video I/O, and AMD or NVidia for video processing. For a more detailed list of hardware and versions, please continue reading.

There are some flags that can be used to modify QuickClipXO.

Avid Interplay/MediaCentral provides a convenient method to share media and projects among a group of Media Composer stations or other Avid products.  Drastic's Net-X-Code Server supports direct communication with Avid Interplay servers, include checkin, direct write and edit while capture (EWC) when using the Net-X-Convert module (file to file) or Net-X-SDI (SDI/IP to file).

One of the file format plugins (dtx_aWMFDirect.d1x) for Windows 32 and 64 relies on Microsoft Windows' media components.  With some versions of Windows, like Vista Business or 7/8/8.1/10 KN, Microsoft does not include these components by default.  To fix this error, you can either delete the dtx_aWMFDirect.d1x and dt_WinMedia.d1x from the installation folder, which will disable WMV/ASF read/write, or install the missing components from Microsoft.  

Drastic software and hardware products support a wide variety of camera raw devices, from standard files like DNG/cDNG, through esoteric files like fhgDI, to new and emerging formats like MLV.  This article lists the supported raw files type, and which Drastic software they work best in.

In QuickClip, QuickClipXO, MediaNXS, DTouch, VVW Series DDRs and Titan Series DDRs, VTRs appear as EXT (external) channels. External channels can be set up in either LocalConfig, DDRConfig or the Drastic Setup Wizard utilities.  This page describes the settings in detail to allow customization or advanced setup.

Version 7 or greater Drastic software supports writing a proxy file at the same time as it writes the main file when transcoding files, capturing from IP compressed sources (NDI, RTP, UDP, RTSP, TR-01, TR-03), capturing from uncompressed IP streams (SMPTE 2022, 2110) and from SDI (12G/6G/3G/1.5G) or HDMI.  The proxy creation is available on a per channel basis, and is automatic once set up. The proxy can also use the Net-X-Player HTML5 player to play back the file while it is still recording, allowing for time code accurate clipping of the proxy or main file.

Visual viewing and comparison modes in videoQC.  Seamless split, dissolve, 3D modes and more.  These viewing modes are also available in MediaNXS, DrasticDDR and DrasticPreview Pro.

4KScope supports 8, 10, and 12 bit color in both YCbCr 4:2:2 and RGB 4:4:4 modes.  Correct measurement of signals require the correct setup of the bit depth, color format, primaries and transfer mode of the signal you are measuring within 4KScope.  This article covers the most common configurations.

All of Drastic's version 6 or greater software supports authenticating via OAuth 2.0 across an https transport. This is most useful for Net-X-Code's partial file restore system, but can also be used from videoQC, MediaNXS or MediaReactor.  Accessing these resources requires a second level of setup beyond the basic software setup, and this article provides an overview on that process.

Net-X-Code is normally run as on a server, where the parts of Net-X-Code run automatically as services. For some applications, only part of Net-X-Code needs to be run, or it only needs to be run some of the time. This article explains how to set up Net-X-Code server on Windows so that its parts can be run manually.

Drastic software supports a wide range of still image formats including TIFF, TGA, DPX, CINEON, PSD, SGI, VPB, ARI, RAW and others.  They are processed as a series of images to create a video stream.  How they are processed can be controlled by a number of configuration settings.

MediaReactor Workstation and MediaReactor Lite add support for a huge number of file formats to Avid Media Composer, including HEVC, AS-02, IMF, DNG, VRAW, CDX, YUV, and many more.  These files can include a mix of audio rates (normally 44.1, 48 or 96 kHz) and Media Composer requires some setup to allow them to be used in a standard project.  

Drastic software has a few requirements that are not included in the standard install of Ubuntu 14.04.  This article describes how to add them

4KScope supports both command line parameters and keyboard control.  This command line parameters can be used to allow 4KScope to open automatically on startup in the mode and size required. The keyboard commands can be used to capture compressed and uncompressed frames directly from the incoming signal.

Java on Dual Monitors - NVidia vs. Java.  There are setups required on some systems to allow QuickClipXO and VTRIF to display full screen on the second DVI or VGA monitor.