Working with Sources

Four words matter: a source, a slot, a tile and a widget.

The Four Words

• A source is a feed plus your settings for it, stored under its address. The name is yours, else the discovery name, else the address.
• A slot is the hole a feed goes in. Every layout has five.
• A tile is a box on a page, and the Layout menu counts them: Colorist (6 viewers) is six tiles. See Working with Layouts.
• A widget is the Designer’s word for what goes in a box: a source-viewer tile, a clock, a date, a studio clock, a logo, external audio bars, text or a scope.

What Sources Vector Takes

• NDI® — found by discovery, never typed. The list refreshes every two seconds, and Refresh Sources forces one.
• Blackmagic capture — included. A card plugged in later needs Blackmagic Inputs ({n}) — Rescan. Capture feeds have a BMD: prefix and share the NDI® feed list.

The Sources Palette

The Sources Palette is open on a run that remembers nothing.

The header shows Layout “{name}” - {n} slots.

The cells share the width down to 150 pt and then scroll.

A cell is a 64x36 thumbnail refreshed about every 700 ms, a #{n} title with an online or offline glyph, then the name.

An offline feed shows {label} (offline) in amber, and an empty slot shows (empty).

The control row assigns or empties a slot, opens its settings, republishes the source over NDI® and saves a still.

Assigning a Source

Three routes reach a slot.

1. The strip’s +, with a button per source Vector can see.
2. The Sources menu, where every row shows {name} ({url}).
3. The web control API. POST /api/viewers/{index} assigns and DELETE /api/viewers/{index} empties. Web Control API has the routes.

Where the Palette Is Remembered

sources.json is in Vector’s configuration directory, and it has the palette entries, the assignments keyed by layout name and every slot window.

An older file still loads, and anything it omits stays at its default. A file Vector can’t open is an error.

Slot Sizing

A slot’s window is the part of the frame it uses, so every box bound to that slot shows the same crop.

The cog opens Slot {n} — settings.

Shape: offers Native, 16:9 and 4:3.

Zoom runs from 1.0, which fits the frame, to 8.0 on a logarithmic rail.

Pan X and Pan Y move the window.

Reset window clears the window setting and shows which one it removed.

A slot you’ve never sized is fitted. The shape is a display aspect and not a fit: a 720x576 feed taken as 16:9 fills a 16:9 tile.

NDI® Discovery Server

Menu → Sources → Discovery Server Config opens NDI® Discovery Server Configuration.

NDI® discovery is mDNS by default, and mDNS doesn’t cross a router.

The window’s own words are Discovery servers allow NDI® source discovery across subnets.

Its controls are Use Discovery Server, a Server: field, Add All to Server List beside a scan of your own subnet on port 5959, and Save & Apply or Cancel.

Saving shows **Configuration saved.

Refreshing sources…**, and Vector rebuilds the finder without a restart.

The window shows its own settings file as Config file: {path}.

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