THE RELIABLE COMPANION TO YOUR HIGH PERFORMANCE CAMERA
Rodeo is an ultra-compact, rugged, video recorder, designed for RAW recording from high-performance video cameras. Rodeo is ideal for demanding applications such as volumetric capture, 4D face/body scanning, motion analysis and industrial trouble-shooting; and is an excellent choice for multi-camera setups. Rodeo features a CoaXPress 2.0 video interface, the standard popularly used in newer generation scientific and industrial cameras utilizing large format image sensors with high data rates. A broad range of cameras made by IO Industries and other camera manufacturers are supported.
DEPENDABLE HIGH SPEED VIDEO RECORDING
Rodeo’s FPGA-based recording engine supports a recording rate of 2 GByte/sec to an internal high-performance solid state drive. This drive stores recordings until they can be transferred through the 10GbE interface for further processing. At present, the maximum storage capacity is 1920GB, allowing long clips (or many shorter clips) to be recorded before the storage fills up. Video files are stored in an intra-frame lossless-compressed RAW format using the native bit depth of the camera’s output, up to 16-bit quality. Color video is not demosaiced until further into the workflow. Lossless encoding provides more efficient storage and smaller file sizes, allowing longer recording times and faster file transfer times through the network than fully-uncompressed files.
PRECISE SYNCHRONIZATION
Synchronization is critical in multi-camera arrays, especially in volumetric capture and other 3D reconstruction applications. Multiple cameras connected to multiple Rodeo DVRs can be precisely shutter-synchronized as well as time-synchronized. All frames from all cameras recorded together will have the same timestamps to correlate the images by. IEEE-1588 Precision time protocol (PTP) is supported through the 10GbE interface. Multiple DVRs can be synchronized to a PTP grandmaster clock, or one DVR can be operated as a master and distribute PTP time to the other DVRs itself. Other synchronization options include a SMPTE LTC input, a SMPTE tri-level sync input, and GPIO pins for synchronization between the DVRs as well as with external devices.
FAST 10G ETHERNET
One of the most convenient features of the Rodeo DVR is its 10G Ethernet connectivity. This interface is used for all configuration and operational control commands, and also for streaming live video to the control software. Best of all, this interface is used to rapidly transfer video recordings from the Rodeo DVR into a network-accessible shared folder. An SFP+ port is provided, allowing either copper cabling or long-distance optical connections with multi-mode or single-mode fiber.
LIVE VIDEO MONITORING
For low-latency live monitoring, the Rodeo DVR has an SDI video output capable of streaming Full HD at up to 60fps. When high resolution cameras are connected to the DVR, cropping and scaling features can be used to fit the camera’s resolution into the Full HD output, allowing anything from the full field of view down to a 1:1 pixel crop to be shown. A wide variety of infrastructure tools are available for transporting, multiplexing, converting and displaying SDI video signals, allowing many live streams from multiple Rodeo DVRs to be simultaneously displayed on one or more monitors. Live video streaming is also supported through the 10GbE interface, with adjustable control over the bandwidth used for this, so that the control PC can display live video from many Rodeo DVRs simultaneously.
FLEXIBLE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
The Rodeo DVR shares much of the same connectivity and software ecosystem as its close relatives, the IOI Volucam cameras. Whether Rodeo DVRs and CoaXPress cameras are used alone in a system, or together in a hybrid system with Volucam cameras, these tools make setup and operation of synchronized multi-camera video recording systems much simpler than ever. A typical configuration pairs each CoaXPress camera with an associated Rodeo DVR, which are connected to a 10GbE network switch and controlled from a single PC. If needed, Volucam cameras can be integrated seamlessly into the same configuration. SDI equipment can be used for low-latency monitoring of each camera through video screens and multi-viewers. IOI’s comprehensive control software, StudioCap-VC, can be used by the system operator, or the available SDK can be used to build custom software applications. The software configures the Rodeo DVRs and their attached cameras, as well as Volucam cameras as needed, and controls recording from all devices, all while displaying live video for real-time monitoring. Once recordings are completed, the files can be exported to a network-connected Export Server PC, after which they can be accessed by third party processing software.