HP offers well engineered PC products that include 3 years on site hardware support. The z840 and the z440 are supported for different TX uses, and the z440 and nVidia based laptops for tOG-Edit design use.

Due to the ever changing nature of hardware, the exact specification should be confirmed at time of order but the generic, qualified and approved HP hardware is available on our qualified pc specifications above.

The Dell R7910 packs a lot of punch into a small (but 79cms long) 2u footprint and, unlike the HPs, can be ordered with dual redundant PSUs. It is approved for SD, HD and UHD TX and freely available worldwide. The nVidia based Dell Precision M3800, M4800 and M6800 laptops are also approved for tOG-Edit design use.

Due to the ever changing nature of hardware, the exact specification should be confirmed at time of order, but generic, qualified and approved Dell hardware is available on our PC Specifications page.

Handheld, small and light, tablets are becoming the tool of choice for interactive presentation. The number of different tablets available is changing almost daily but essentially any tablet that supports a screen resolution of 1920×1080 and runs the Chrome browser should be suitable for use with tOG. RT Software has qualified the tablets below but for the latest information please contact your sales representative.

Qualified Tablets

Samsung Galaxy TabPRO  10.1 (wi-fi). This actually has a 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA) display.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. (UK p/n GT-N8010). This actually has a 1280 x 800 display.

Windows Surface Pro 2.

You will need Chrome web browser to be able to run the application.

Laptops

As laptops grow ever more powerful they are becoming a serious option for users looking for a portable alternative. Both HP and Dell manufacture 15” and 17” versions, suitable for tOG-Sports and tOG-Edit in many situations.

Whilst many laptops are suitably powerful a common problem has been overheating. Modern designs have largely addressed this
issue but RTSW do not recommend using a laptop for prolonged intensive use such as a VR studio application.

For video I/O RTSW support the AJA io-XT and io-4k solutions (see AJA Video Cards section) providing up to 4 streams of
video I/O via Thunderbolt connectivity.

Before purchasing a laptop please check the suitability with your RTSW Sales representative but the following guidelines should be observed:

When we moved our code from SGI onto the PC platforms in 2001 we chose nVidia as our GPU partner. Since then, nVidia has gone from strength to strength in the broadcast market and is now the clear market leader in the broadcast sector.

TX Qualified Products
For an application as critical as your TX we do not cut corners on hardware quality. The nVidia Quadro GPUs are the only boards actually manufactured to nVidia’s exacting standards, and the boards stay consistent over the product’s lifecycle. In addition there are performance enhancements over the seemingly similar lower cost GEFORCE products.

– For SD we recommend the Quadro P2000, P4000 and M4000
– For HD we recommend the Quadro P2000, P4000 and M4000
– For UHD we recommend the Quadro P5000 and M5000

The older Quadro K5200/K4200/K5000/K4000  cards are also supported.

tOG-Edit Qualified Products
For guaranteed compatibility and the highest level of support we always recommend using the same qualified nVidia Quadro GPU card for an off line tOG-Edit system as in the TX system. However, as Edit is less mission critical some of our customers choose to use the lower cost – but typically similar performance – nVidia GeForce / GTX series of GPU cards. These boards are based on the nVidia chipset but nVidia does not control the actual board design. For this reason there can be subtle changes not just between the different manufacturers but even throughout the life cycle of a specific board from a specific manufacturer. We therefore do not qualify these boards for TX and we are unable to test all permutations thus their use in an Edit workstation is at the customers risk.

We have experience of high end nVidia GPU boards with the Pascal architecture – GTX 1050ti, 1060, 1070,
1080, 1080ti and the Maxwell architecture – GTX 970, 980, 980ti. In addition both Pacal and Maxwell
versions of the Titan X are supported.

The Turing/Volta architecture cards – GeForce RTX 2060, 2070, 2080, 2080ti, the Titan RTX and the Quadro
RTX 5000, 6000 are not currently supported/qualified.

AJA has a long history of building high quality, reliable video devices for the video industry. With capabilities starting from single channel I/O to multiple, simultaneous I/O streams there is an AJA video card for every RT Software application:

We believe DVS has consistently delivered the very best in video capture and output boards. All the products we support are available in either SD or HD derivitives, with the move from SD to HD just a firmware licence upgrade away.

Supported Products

– Atomix LT
– Atomix LT 4BNC

Older products including the Centaurus 1 and 2 cards may well be supported, call to discuss.

Click here for the DVS web site review of board functionality,

Comments: DVS products are described as OEM products, which means they can sometimes be difficult to source. RT Software is an OEM customer with DVS and we can ship worldwide.

– For tOG Sports make sure RS422 option is included
– For 2 video inputs add the Multi-Channel option
– For GPI (2x in, 2x out) add the GPIO option (Atomix LT 4BNC ONLY).
– For audio and/or LTC add the appropriate audio/LTC board(s) (see notes below).

Please note:

– The Atomix LT supports 16 channels of audio (or 14 + LTC in and out). This requires 2 daughter boards.
– The Atomix LT 4BNC supports 8 channels of audio (or 6 + LTC in and out). This requires 1 daughter board.
– Only the Atomix LT 4BNC supports GPIs (2x in, 2x out)

RT Software’s tOG-Edit is a node based 3d editor, with all objects placed in an intuitive parent-child hierarchy.

tOG supports the import of 3d objects with the Autodesk® FBX® technology. FBX is one of the most widely used and supported platform-independent 3D data interchange solutions around. Our FBX import options allow designers the freedom to conceptualise, visualise and capitalise on their workflows by using the most popular and powerful 3d content creation applications on the market – such as Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3dstudioMax, Lightwave and Cinema4d – to design their masterpieces and simply export them to tOG 3d and into the real-time environment. A full set of tOG primitives compliment the modelling toolset within tOG.

Our FBX import options include embedded multi sub-object materials, position and scale information, animated object transforms, camera moves and lights. We support most image formats for import such as tif, tga, jpg, mov, avi, bmp and png, bitmaps which can be used as backgrounds, cyces, and virtual tv screens as well as textures on 3d objects.

tOG’s powerful animation features allow keyframes on nearly every parameter of an object from material and colour changes, transforms on all axis and even the amount of duplicates that form arrays. tOG’s timeline and editors provide all the flexibility demanded by the most meticulous 3d broadcast designers around, with full curve edit capabilities, out of range cycles and user scripting with Ruby.

And because it’s all real-time there’s no waiting for a test render to check vital frames, just scrub the time-bar for instant feedback to fine-tune complex moves or material properties.

Design Guide for tOG

Touchscreens are often a component in a tOG-Sports solution, but the truth is they can be used on almost any production.

Elections, big sporting events, social TV and news rooms all come alive with touchscreen technology, and often the touchscreen can take centre stage. Over the years we have become experts on touchscreens and can guide you through the myriad of choices there are. As always we carefully select and qualify the screens we are comfortable recommending to you.

Considerations when choosing touchscreens
With tOG-Sports the following resolutions are supported:
– Manager interface with VTR and clips.
1920 x 1080 (HD) screen.

For other projects most resolutions are useable.

Please note that due to poor driver availability touchscreen support under Linux is extremely limited.

Under Windows we support any touchscreen that is supported by Windows itself.

Under Linux our preferred touchscreen brand is U-Touch, but as we consider touch screen selection a critical part of a project please involve us in your discussions.

Call us for the latest information, examples of qualified Screens include:
16:9 – ELO SAW Screen 3239L
16:9 – ELO Resistive Screen 1939L
16:9 – NEC ClearTek II Capacitative Screen
4:3 – Smart Sympodium ID350
4:3 – Smart Sympodium ID370
4:3 – Smart Sympodium DT770
4:3 – ELO Resistive – 1739L 17″ LCD Open-Frame Touchmonitor
4:3 – ELO Resistive Screen 1939L 19″ LCD Open-Frame Touchmonitor
HD – U Touch UT65/INTLCD/OS 65″ Screen
HD – Samsung interactive eBoard 65″ Screen
HD – Samsung 460TS-2 46″ Screen
HD – HP 2310ti 23″ Screen (requires additional £100 driver)
HD – Pacer W22L100-CHA1/PTR BLK 22″ Screen
HD – DISPLAX Oqtopus 47″ multitouch table
HD – Iiyama T2250MTS

Considerations when installing touchscreens
All touch screens except capacitive (surface/projected) support stylus. Surface capacitive can be ordered with a tethered stylus that will work (it is hardwired to the screen).

We do not recommend mounting screens based on SAW technology into desks due to their sensitivity to spittle resulting in false touches – never good on air.

To help with mounting options we have a Touchscreen Mounting Guide.

Touchscreen Mounting Guide
With ELO screens we support Intellitouch and Accutouch technolgies.

In general we recommend either resistive or surface capacitive and are happy to assist in the selection of the right screen.

Extenders
It is a common requirement to locate the touchscreen some way from the truck or machine room. For such situations we recommend the AdderLink X2-Silver for RS232 touchscreens and the AdderLink X-DVI PRO Dl for USB touchscreens.
Numerous fibre extenders are available – note that USB extenders MUST support transparent USB.

tOG-Sports uses the Sony 9 pin and Odetics protocol to control video servers. The following devices are supportable and controllable by the tOG-Sports user interface.

Grass Valley – The K2 Dyno SD and HD devices are supported, with both 9 pin and Odetics protocols. The Odetics integration with the K2 allows clip information to be displayed in the tOGSports interface. This reflects the clip hierarchy complete with all directories on the K2. Clips can then be dragged and dropped on to the sports preview window which are then automatically queued up on the K2.

EVS – All SD and HD EVS XT and XS devices are supported, with both 9 pin and Odetics protocols.

Sony – All SD and HD DigiBeta tape decks are supported, including the older 500 series. Due to response times they are not well suited to live use. Although supported, the J Series are not frame accurate and not recommended.

BLT – The SMS SD and HD devices are supported with 9 pin protocol.

Avid – The AirSpeed SD and HD devices are in qualification.

This an area full of choice. And some big costs!

First of all – is trackerless VR a viable option. RT Software supports trackerless (Billboarded VR) and also image based VR allowing professional pan, tilt and zoom movements on regular (non-encoded) heads. Once the decision has been made to use physical tracking technology, then RT Software has worked with, and recommends:

Mo-Sys – Provides a range of ptz heads, jibs and retro fit encoders to most heads, jibs and cranes. Their “off the shelf” products provide a value for money solution to most requirements and their ability to fit encoders to “pretty much anything” is a true strength.

Vinten Radamec (Vitec Videocom) – Probably the most comprehensive range of tracking technology from under one roof. They offer heads for studio and OB use, manual and remote pedestals and are global distributors for the Ncam tracking solution.

Shotoku – Our first installation was in partnership with Deltacast for the News International studio in London with ptz heads, followed by tracked pedestals in Germany.

Telemetrics – We started working with Telemetrics in Iceland while installing a multi camera VR studio for the main commercial channel there. Their robust and innovative camera tracking solutions are a joy to work with.

Technocrane/Trackmen – The installation at SR in Germany was undoubtedly the most elegant crane-based tracking solution we have worked with. The results are astounding.

Ncam 

StypeGrip

Motion Analysis

The above is not necessarily a comprehensive list. We will work with any vendor offering a quality product and a published protocol against which which we can write the appropriate VR plug-in.