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Third Party Control

Besides SKAARHOJ panels and Reactor, FlowGrid can be routed by third-party equipment. It speaks two of the industry’s standard router-control languages, so a hardware panel, a piece of control software or a Bitfocus Companion button can drive it directly.

Third-party control is a licensed feature. On the Free tier neither server starts, and external controllers cannot connect at all. See License Tiers.

Blackmagic Videohub

FlowGrid can pretend to be a Blackmagic Videohub. Anything that can control a Videohub — a hardware Videohub panel, Blackmagic’s own software, a Companion “Videohub” instance — can therefore control FlowGrid.

Point the controller at your FlowGrid’s IP address on port 9990. It appears as ‘Skaarhoj Flowgrid’, and on connecting it receives all your source and destination names, the current routing and any locks.

Four things behave differently from a real Videohub, and all four are worth knowing before you install one:

  • No levels. Videohub has no idea what a level is, so a route from a Videohub controller moves all of FlowGrid’s levels together. If a destination is currently in a breakaway, the controller shows it as Released, because there is no single source it could name.
  • Numbering is off by one on destinations. On the wire, destinations count from zero, so FlowGrid destination 1 appears as Videohub output 0. Sources count from one, with 0 reserved to mean Released. A controller that numbers destinations from zero is behaving correctly, not misconfigured.
  • Locks are output protection. Locking a destination on the Videohub panel protects it in FlowGrid, and protecting it in FlowGrid shows as locked on the panel. One lock, two places to release it.
  • Names are read-only. The controller can see your names but cannot change them. All naming stays in FlowGrid.

The Videohub server presents one FlowGrid instance. If you run several on one system, this is the first one.

SW-P-08 (Snell / Pro-Bel)

FlowGrid also speaks SW-P-08, the Snell/Pro-Bel router-control protocol that most broadcast control systems and automation platforms support. Point the controller at your FlowGrid’s IP address on port 2000.

Unlike Videohub, SW-P-08 understands levels — and it can address several FlowGrids over one connection:

  • The protocol’s Matrix number selects which FlowGrid instance you are talking to.
  • The protocol’s Level number selects which of that FlowGrid’s levels you are routing, in the order they appear in your configuration.

Both routing and tally messages are supported, so a control system can drive the router and read back on-air state.

SW-P-08 is the better choice when your plant has more than one level, or when one controller needs to reach more than one FlowGrid. Videohub is the better choice when you simply want a familiar panel or a Companion page on a single-level router.

Turning them on and off

Both servers are enabled by default and are configured in the FlowGrid device core’s settings, alongside its other options — not on the FlowGrid web page itself:

  • Videohub Server Enable and Videohub Server Port — default port 9990.
  • SW-P-08 Server Enable and SW-P-08 Server Port — default port 2000.

Changing these takes effect when FlowGrid restarts. Turn off the server you are not using — an open router-control port with no authentication is worth closing on a shared network.

One caution about mixed control

Do not let an external controller drive the same equipment that FlowGrid drives, behind FlowGrid’s back. Route through FlowGrid and everything stays consistent; route around it and two systems are commanding the same crosspoints independently, with results nobody can predict.

Troubleshooting

  • The controller will not connect at all — check the License card on the Health page first. On Free, Third party control reads ‘none’ and neither server is running.
  • Still will not connect — confirm the server is enabled, the port matches, and nothing on the network is blocking it.
  • Destination numbers look wrong by one — expected on Videohub. Destinations count from zero there.
  • A destination reads as Released on the panel but is clearly routed — it is in a breakaway, and Videohub cannot express that. Check it on FlowGrid’s own Routing page with Show levels on.
  • Routes are refused from the controller — the same reasons as anywhere else: the destination is protected, no cable is free, or the channel is switched off by the licence. Open the Logs page and watch as the controller tries.
  • Some sources appear unnamed and refuse routes — they are beyond your licence limit. Nothing is broken; see License Tiers.
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