Grass Valley NV9000-SE v.5.0 - Manual (Page 55)

37
NV9000-SE Utilities
User’s Guide
Partitions
The crosspoint matrix of a router can be partitioned. Partitions can exist for several reasons. For
instance, some routers support more than one signal type. Thus partitioning is a way to allow
different signal types to coexist in one router.
A partition is usually called a physical level. This is in distinction from a virtual level which is
another NV9000-SE Utilities concept.
Principles of Partitions
1 A partition has a defined size and includes both inputs and outputs. It also has a defined par-
tition type. (See Partition Types , following.) The size is configured as a starting port number
and and ending port number for inputs and the same for outputs.
2 Signals can be switched only within a partition, never directly from one partition to another.
3 A router crosspoint matrix must be configured as having at least one partition. It can be the
entire matrix.
 If the entire matrix is a single partition, the matrix is not actually partitioned (i.e., divided
into parts). However, the configuration data base requires you to define at least one
partition.
4 Partitions may overlap. For example, if an NV8500 standard router has AES cards inter-
spersed with video cards, it is acceptable to define two partitions that overlap completely —
one video and one AES — and that occupy the entire crosspoint matrix space.
5 Not every port in a partition need be used.
6 The NV8500 hybrid routers have two distinct matrices: one for video and one for audio. The
matrix for audio is not a crosspoint matrix; it is a TDM “matrix” that for convenience is treated
as a crosspoint matrix. It is generally necessary to define one partition for the video and
another for the audio.
7 As is evident with the NV8500 hybrid routers, not every port in a partition is available. Each
disembedder card, for instance, has 16 unused or unusable audio ports. These ports are
numbered in the partition, but do not have any corresponding circuitry.
8 It is possible to overlay router partitions to implement both a stereo model for switching
audio and a “mono” model.
9 Partitions are defined in MRC or UniConfig, which configure routers. The same partitions
must also be defined — identically — in the router definitions in NV9000-SE Utilities.
Most NVISION series routers allow up to 4 partitions. The NV5128-MFR allows 8 partitions
because it supports many signal types.
Partition Types
These are the supported partition types, for NV8500 series routers:
Video Audio
Digital Video Asynchronous AES
Synchronous Audio
Synchronous Stereo Audio
For the NV8500 series, the term “synchronous audio” means audio that is switched according to
the timing of a video signal and a video reference. The term “asynchronous AES” refers to AES
signals that are independent of any video.