Best practices for configuring and pairing Pearl devices across campus with Epiphan Edge and a Content Management System (CMS)

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Getting to know your Pearl device
3. Pairing to Epiphan Edge 
   1. Create pairing USB stick
   2. Get pairing USB stick ready for pairing
   3. Pair your Pearl device to Epiphan Edge
4. Configuring your Pearl device
   1. Configure your Pearl device (best practice/typical setup)
   2. Register Pearl device with CMS platform
   3. Create Configuration Preset and upload it to Epiphan Edge team
5. Pair, update, and automatically configure your entire fleet
   
   1. Pair your entire fleet
   2. Register your Pearl devices
   3. Update your Pearl devices
   4. Apply a Configuration Preset across entire fleet
6. Finetune your CMS settings
   1. Define a resource/device name
   2. Modify other CMS settings

Overview

The Epiphan Pearl's remote recorder integration with CMS platforms like Panopto, Kaltura, YuJa, and Opencast provide a seamless multi-source recording and webcasting (not available via Opencast) experience. Connect multiple video and audio sources directly to the rear panel of a Pearl device, or ingest IP based streams. The web-based Admin panel interface lets you set up Pearl devices to the exact specifications required and register as a remote recorder with a CMS platform. Once registered, the Pearl device is available for scheduled, recurring, and unscheduled ad-hoc events.

Getting to know your Pearl device

Before You Begin 

Pearl devices come preconfigured with two channels (Pearl Nano only supports one channel). Each channel is treated as a separate video encoding instance, like having multiple recording and streaming devices in one box with audio for multiple source recordings and webcasts (Pearl Nano only supports one channel). The two preconfigured channels (one for Pearl Nano) are setup with auto-detection to get you started quickly - simply connect one or more sources to start capturing video!

Video sources and channels

Video sources connect directly to the video input ports on Pearl’s rear panel or via IP setup using the Pearl Admin panel. Simply connect your  video sources.

Pearl devices support:

Audio Sources

Audio sources connect directly to the audio input ports on Pearl’s rear panel, or you can simply use the embedded audio from a video source. Make sure you select the same audio sources on the layout for each channel using the Admin panel. 

Network ports

By default, Pearl devices use DHCP to automatically obtain an IP address over an Ethernet network. Simply connect Pearl’s RJ-45 port and/or connected USB to Ethernet** adapter to your local network. Ensure at least one network interface has access to the Internet.

_{**USB to Ethernet adapter Pearl Admin panel access is not supported. See Pearl Dual NIC / Helpful Information}

Network settings

You can configure Pearl’s network settings using the web-based Admin panel, enable 802.1x network security, configure LDAP, and more. If configuring entire fleet, you can use configuration presets to apply settings across many devices, requiring you to configure just one device manually in many cases.

Pairing to Epiphan Edge

In this section you will:

• Create pairing USB stick
• Get pairing USB stick ready for pairing
• Pair your Pearl device to Epiphan Edge

Methods to a Pearl device to Epiphan Edge

There are several ways to access your Pearl’s Admin panel or pair the device to Epiphan Edge.

This guide will use Automatic pairing using USB stick. See Pair, unpair, and delete a device to learn and use the other methods. See Pearl Nexus Quick Start if you're using a Pearl Nexus.

Below is a helpful video that speaks to this following process

Create pairing USB stick

1. Start by formatting a USB stick to exFAT, FAT32, ext2, or ext4.
2. Insert the USB stick into your computer and rename the USB drive to EPIPHAN (case-sensitive). 
3. Create a new folder on the USB stick. Name it EPIPHAN (case-sensitive).

 Get USB stick ready for pairing

1. Navigate to or create your Epiphan Cloud account and choose the team you’d like to pair your Pearl  to.
2. Click Pair device at the top right.
3. Click the Get pairing file button at the bottom. The pairing file should start downloading automatically.
4. Copy the downloaded file to the EPIPHAN folder** on the USB stick.
   _{**Failing to place the pairing file in the EPIPHAN folder will cause pairing to fail during the next steps}
   
5. Eject the USB stick from your computer.

Pair your Pearl device to Epiphan Edge

1. Insert the USB stick into the front of the Pearl device (rear USB port for Pearl Nano) to pair the device automatically.
   A successful pairing is indicated in the following ways:**
   
   

   Pearl Model	Successful Pairing	Unsuccessful Pairing
   Pearl Nano	Epiphan Edge settings on display or Pearl Admin panel show paired team name	Epiphan Edge settings on display or Pearl Admin panel show a pairing code
   Pearl Mini	Epiphan Edge settings on display or Pearl Admin panel show paired team name	Epiphan Edge settings on display or Pearl Admin panel show a pairing code
   Pearl Nexus	Using the front LED indicators a steady blue light is seen for some seconds	Using the front LED indicators a flashing red light is seen for some seconds
   Pearl-2	Epiphan Edge settings on display or Pearl Admin panel show paired team name	Epiphan Edge settings on display or Pearl Admin panel show a pairing code

   _{**You can use the Pearl network diagnostic tools from the display or admin panel, or for Pearl Nexus, see network status via the HDMI output (by default) if you think your network is encountering an issue. See Diagnostic Tools Pearl-2 or Pearl Mini, Pearl Nano, or Pearl Nexus}
2. Once successfully paired, navigate or log into your Epiphan Cloud account and click "all devices" under Epiphan Edge on the left side bar.
   
3. For more detailed information, enable "Detailed view" near to the top of Epiphan Edge
   
   You will see your first paired Pearl device. Rename the Pearl device by clicking on the device name then press enter after making a change.
   

Configuring your Pearl device

In this section you will:

• Configure your Pearl device (best practice/typical setup)
• Register Pearl device with CMS platform
• Create Configuration Preset and upload it to Epiphan Edge team

Pearl device Configuration (best practice/typical setup)

Typically, CMS events are predominantly isolated recordings and streams of audio and video in separate channels. For example, three video sources connected to a Pearl Nexus - one video source (auto tracking camera, professor camera, etc.) is the primary source while the other two video sources (document camera, room PC, etc.) are the secondary sources.

This might look like this:
So in this example, the CMS events operated by this Pearl device can deliver up three recordings and streams (depending on event, CMS settings, and chosen CMS). If this were a Pearl-2, up to six recordings and streams can be delivered.

We recommend to always associate the audio of the person speaking in the event to the primary video source when configuring your channel(s) in the Pearl WebUI.**

This might look like this:

_{**See Setup your Pearl encoder and Setup a Pearl Channel} ^{(translates well to other Pearl devices)}

Register Pearl device with CMS platform

1. Log into the Pearl Admin panel via Epiphan Edge, clicking the "Admin login" button
   
2. Navigate to Configuration, then CMS
   
3. Choose your CMS platform and click "Apply"
   
   Depending on your selection, you will need the following bits of information for the CMS platform, normally provided via the CMS platforms Web UI. For CMS specific instructions, click the name of the CMS platforms in the following chart
   

   CMS Platform	Required Fields	Leave these fields blank (till after configuration preset creation)
   Kaltura	-Service URL -Partner ID -Administrative secret or -Application token	Resource name
   Panopto	Service URL  Registration key	Device name
   YuJa	Service URL  Authentication token Username type User ID	Device name
   Opencast	Service URL Username Password	Device name
   Epiphan Edge	No required fields	N/A

4. Configure your CMS settings (leaving the Device/Resource name blank) and press Apply or Register Device button (depending on chosen CMS) at the bottom of the CMS page. The status of the registration should change.
   This might look like this:
   

Create Configuration Preset and upload it to Epiphan Edge team

1. Navigate back to Epiphan Edge, click on your paired Pearl device, then click "Presets"
   
2. Click "Create a configuration preset"
   
3. Name the configuration preset and click create.
   
4. Upload the configuration preset to the Team presets by clicking "Upload"
   

Depending on your setup, you can deselect groups of settings in the preset. For example, if you only wanted to apply Network settings from one device to another, but not any other settings like channels, inputs, etc, you could deselect these when you create the configuration.

Pair, update, and automatically configure your entire fleet

In this section you will:

• Pair your entire fleet
• Register your Pearl devices
• Update your Pearl devices
• Apply a Configuration Preset across entire fleet

Pair your entire fleet

Now you are ready to pair the rest of your devices to Epiphan Edge! See Pair your Pearl device to Epiphan Edge and simply:

1. Insert the USB stick in Pearl
2. Confirm pairing was successful
3. Repeat for the next device.

Register your Pearl devices

1. Navigate to Epiphan's Product Registration form and fill out the form.
   
2. After you register your device(s) and if you receive a message from the Epiphan website to check your email, please check your junk and filtered email for a confirmation email.**
3. Confirm the email

Update your Pearl devices

1. Navigate to Epiphan Cloud and click the select all devices button
   
   
   
2. At the bottom right of Epiphan Cloud, click the firmware upgrade button
   
3. Click "Update"
   
   
   
4. All your Pearl devices will update. Wait for them all to come back online.

Apply a Configuration Preset across entire fleet

1. Navigate to Epiphan Cloud
2. If applying a configuration preset across multiple different models of Pearl devices, click Filters then the model you will do first.
   
3. Click the select all devices button
   
4. Click the "Apply preset" button bottom right of Epiphan Cloud
   
5. Choose the preset you uploaded to the Team presets and click apply
   

Finetune your CMS settings

In this section you will:

1. Define a resource/device name
2. Modify other CMS settings

Define a resource/device name

1. Log into the Pearl Admin panel via Epiphan Edge, clicking the "Admin login" button
   
2. Navigate to Configuration, then CMS
   
3. Under the Registration section on the CMS page, provide a unique name in the resource/device name field
   
4. Click Apply at the bottom of the CMS page

Modify other CMS settings