Release Notes for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 Release 3.1 [Cisco MXE 3000 Series (Media Experience Engines)]

Table Of Contents

Release Notes for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500, Release 3.1

Introduction

Browser Requirements

Installation and Upgrade Requirements

Supported Deployment Models

Licensed Features

Important Notes

Feature Support Matrix

File-to-File Transcoding

Live Streaming (IP Capture)

Caveats

Using the Bug Toolkit

Open Caveats

Resolved Caveats

Related Documentation

Providing Documentation Feedback

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Release Notes for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500, Release 3.1

Revised: March 4, 2011

This document provides information about features and caveats for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 (Cisco MXE 3500), Release 3.1. See these sections:

•Introduction

•Browser Requirements

•Installation and Upgrade Requirements

•Important Notes

•Feature Support Matrix

•Caveats

•Related Documentation

•Providing Documentation Feedback

Introduction

Cisco MXE 3500 is an appliance that provides comprehensive transcoding services and integrates into the network to deliver the following media processing capabilities:

•Video content to be shared across the network to virtually any type of endpoint

•Innovative post production features that transform ordinary video content into studio quality output

•Collaboration with other applications delivered by Cisco's suite of media products

•Ingest of MPEG-2 Transport Streams (MPEG-2 video payload and AC3 or Layer II audio payload) and output of stream transcoded to WMV, Flash 8, or H.264 formats

•Extraction of an audio track from a video and performing speech-to-text transcription and graphic overlays (subtitles)

The Cisco MXE 3500 Resource Manager augments the capabilities of the Cisco MXE 3500 by intelligently load balancing job processing across multiple Cisco MXE 3500 devices and by delivering fault tolerance to deployment.

Browser Requirements

You must use one of following web browsers to access the Folder Attendant User Interface (UI) or Web UI:

•Firefox 3 or later. Firefox 3.5 is recommended.

•Internet Explorer 8 is supported.

Note When accessing Cisco MXE 3500 UIs, set your display resolution to 1280 x 1024 pixels for best results, or you may encounter issues with scrolling and display (CSCsu29805).

For information about the Cisco MXE 3500 components, see the User and Admin Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500.

Installation and Upgrade Requirements

The Cisco MXE 3500 is an appliance on which the Cisco MXE 3500 Release 3.0 software comes installed. This section includes the following topics:

•Supported Deployment Models

•Licensed Features

•Important Notes

Supported Deployment Models

You can deploy Cisco MXE 3500 in the following two configurations:

•Standalone Deployment—This deployment consists of one or more Cisco MXE 3500 devices running as individual devices, each with its own license, user interfaces, job profiles, and so on. This deployment supports one predefined administrative user. The following software product ID (PID) supports this deployment: MXE-3500-v3LIC-K9. See also the "Licensed Features" section.

•Resource Manager Deployment—This deployment consists of one or more Cisco MXE 3500 devices running as a single group with one set of user accounts, job profiles, licensed features, and user interfaces; additionally, this deployment includes the User Administration feature.

There are two types of Cisco MXE 3500 devices in a Resource Manager deployment: a single Cisco MXE 3500 Resource Manager and up to nine Cisco MXE 3500 Resource Nodes. The Resource Manager not only functions as a multidevice manager that load balances transcoding jobs across the Resource Nodes, but also functions as a Resource Node that performs transcoding jobs. The following software PIDs support this deployment:

–MXE-3500-31LIC-K9 (CISCO MXE 3500 Version 3.1 SW) (All Nodes)

–MXE-3500-RMLIC (CISCO MXE 3500 Resource Manager License)

–MXE-3500-RNLIC (CISCO MXE 3500 Resource Node License)

A Resource Manager license is required for the first Cisco MXE 3500 in a cluster.

A Resource Node license is required for each of the remaining Cisco MXE 3500s in a cluster.

All members of a cluster must have the same option licenses.

See also the "Licensed Features" section.

Licensed Features

This release supports the following additionally licensed features:

•MXE-3500-STLIC (Cisco MXE 3500 Speech To Text License)

•MXE-3500-GRLIC (Cisco MXE 3500 Graphics License)

•MXE-3500-LVLIC (Cisco MXE 3500 Live Transcoding License)

•MXE-3500-GLBLIC (Cisco MXE 3500 License Bundle (Includes: Graphics, Live))

Note Cisco MXE 3500 ships with a few general speaker profiles that are trained for common regional accents in the United States. You can obtain a speaker-independent profile on Cisco.com in the Video, Cable and Content Delivery > Media Experience Engines > Cisco MXE 3000 Series > Cisco MXE 3500 software download area.

For details about obtaining a license file to enable the software for your deployment, see the Deployment and Administration Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500. This guide also provides information about installing a license, configuring the Cisco MXE 3500, upgrading from a standalone to a Resource Manager deployment, and troubleshooting deployments. You can access the guide at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9892/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html

Note Before you request a software license on Cisco.com for your deployment, see the Deployment and Administration Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 for licensing requirements.

Important Notes

Power Cords and Power Supplies

There is one power cord shipped with the Cisco MXE 3500, and one power supply. If the customer orders the redundant power supply, there are two power cords and two plugs in the chassis.

Standalone and Resource Manager Deployments

The proper configuration of Samba server generally ensures that directory locations are accessible from all Hosts for both standalone and RM machines.

File Formats

•A maximum of 8 audio tracks is supported with QuickTime format.

•Re-wrapping is supported only for MPEG Encoder with an MPEG-PS input file (CSCsu08447).

Job Profiles

Cisco MXE 3500 ships with preconfigured Job Profiles. A Job Profile is a template that defines how jobs are processed, and it contains the settings that are required to process jobs from beginning to end. Job Profiles are optimized for different types of input media, encoding output, and distribution, and they align with modern distribution devices, such as iPod, iTunes, and so on. See the "Standard Cisco MXE 3500 Job Profiles" section in the User and Admin Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 to learn more about the preconfigured Job Profiles.

Caution We strongly recommend that you use the preconfigured Job Profiles and change settings only if you understand the consequences. Modifying preconfigured Job Profile settings or creating new Job Profiles with settings that media standards do not support can result in job processing failures or produce undesirable output.

User Interface

•The Live Capture feature using Capture Card hardware is not supported; related settings are nonfunctional (CSCsr96178).

•Tape jobs are not supported.

•Forensic Watermarking and Fingerprint features are not supported; therefore, related settings are nonfunctional.

•Configuration of Quicktime encoder setting is done through a direct access to the device, not through the Web UI. See the User and Admin Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 for more information.

•The User Administration and Profile Spaces features are not available with Cisco MXE 3500 standalone deployment. The User Administration feature is available only with a Resource Manager deployment. See also the "Supported Deployment Models" section.

IP Capture

•The maximum supported resolution of input stream is 1080i, and only MPEG-2 encoding is supported for input payload. The maximum resolution of output stream is 720p.

•We recommend that you configure an IP Capture job to use the Immediate mode. Otherwise, as the IP Capture job progresses, an intermediate file that continuously grows is created, filling up the disk storage and affecting the operation of the device.

•Take care when archiving the output of an IP Capture job on the local disk storage of the device or on an external storage device. As the IP Capture job progresses, an archive file that continuously grows is created, filling up the disk storage and affecting the operation of the device or external storage device.

Speech to Text

•You can obtain an additional speaker-independent speech profile Cisco.com in the Video, Cable and Content Delivery > Cisco MXE 3500 software download area.

•We recommended that the audio input is via a direct microphone /lapel microphone connection (LINE IN) to the camcorder/recording device. It is imperative that the video recording is carried out with quiet surroundings (low ambient noise). See Guidelines for Improving the Accuracy of Speech to Text in the Deployment and Administration Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 on Cisco.com for more information.

Feature Support Matrix

This section includes the following topics:

•File-to-File Transcoding

•Live Streaming (IP Capture)

File-to-File Transcoding

Table 1 lists the maximum number of input files that can be transcoded simultaneously into output files on a single Cisco MXE 3500.

Table 1 Maximum Number of Files for File-to-File Transcoding on Cisco MXE 3500

Video Resolution

Maximum Number of Input Files

Input: 1080p
Output: 1080p

4¹

Input: 480p
Output: 480p

9¹

¹For file-to-file transcoding using MPEG or H.264 encoder profiles with external multiplexer: Only one job can run at a time (CSCtf25130).

Live Streaming (IP Capture)

Table 2 describes maximum number of jobs that can be run simultaneously on a single Cisco MXE 3500.

Table 2 Maximum Number of Simultaneous Jobs for IP Capture on Cisco MXE 3500

Output

Encoder

Video Resolution

IP Webcast
Without Archive

IP Webcast
With Archive

File

WMV

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

2

2

2¹

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

2

2

2¹

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

9

9

9¹

Flash 8

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

1

1

1

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

9

9

9

H.264

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

1

1

1

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

1

1

1

Real

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

Not available

Not available

1

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

Not available

Not available

1

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

Not available

Not available

—

Flash 7

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

1²

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

1²

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

Not supported

Not supported

1²

Quicktime

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

1²

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

1²

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

Not supported

Not supported

1²

MPEG-2

Input: 1080i
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

1³

Input: 720p
Output: 720p

Not supported

Not supported

1³

Input: 480i (NTSC)
Output: 480p

Not supported

Not supported

1³

¹WMV Encoder Complexity must be set to 0.

²Works only in immediate mode, not in fast start mode. Limit the duration to only a few minutes, or RAM memory usage will exceed available memory, causing unpredictable behavior.

³Available only in standalone configuration.

Caveats

This section includes the following topics:

•Using the Bug Toolkit

•Open Caveats

•Resolved Caveats

Using the Bug Toolkit

You can search for problems by using the Cisco Software Bug Toolkit. Known problems (bugs) are graded according to severity level.

Before You Begin

To access Bug Toolkit, you need the following:

•Internet connection

•Web browser

•Cisco.com user ID and password

Procedure

Step 1 To access the Bug Toolkit, go to http://tools.cisco.com/Support/BugToolKit/action.do?hdnAction=searchBugs.

Step 2 Sign in with your Cisco.com user ID and password.

Step 3 To look for information about a specific problem, enter the bug ID number in the Search for Bug ID field, then click Go.

Tip For information about how to search for bugs, create saved searches, create bug groups, and so on, click Help on the Bug Toolkit page.

Open Caveats

Table 3 lists the open hardware caveats for Cisco MXE 3500 and includes severity 1, severity 2, and severity 3 caveats.

Because defect status continually changes, this table provides a snapshot of the defects that were open at the time of the release. For an updated list of open defects, access the Bug Toolkit.

Table 3 Open Caveats for Cisco MXE 3500

Identifier

Severity

Component

Headline

CSCtk09765

3

mxe_installation

Occasionally, Remote Desktop to Win VM is not working after installation

CSCtk14470

3

mxe_installation

MXE logging client not working in RM

CSCtk63501

3

mxe_installation

Configuration of host as < hostname > is not working

CSCtk75064

3

mxe_3500_file_in

Closed caption for file not working

CSCtl03225

3

mxe_3500_file_in

"Set \""two-field\"" as default parameter in pre-processor \""Progressive\"""

CSCtl07450

3

mxe_3500_ip_ingest

Sometimes live ingest stops working... igmpproxy issue -needs Linux reboot

CSCtl72654

3

mxe_3500_webui

MXE doesn't give error during saving job profile without encoder profile

CSCtl94905

3

mxe_3500_webui

"\""unexpected error\"" comes when saving FTP watch directory without passive"

CSCtn24392

3

mxe_installation

FTP server configuration failure on resource node.

Resolved Caveats

Table 4 lists the resolved caveats for Cisco MXE 3500.

Table 4 Resolved Caveats for Cisco MXE 3500

Identifier

Severity

Component

Headline

CSCtl22239

3

mxe_3500_file_in

Lip sync issues when large source files have some missing audio packets

CSCtl59198

3

mxe_3500_ip_ingest

Added a watchdog to prevent IP capture hangs

CSCtl60418

3

mxe_3500_webui

Remove CDN Options in Webcast Profile

CSCtl47369

3

mxe_3500_stt

Upgrade STT to Nuance version 10.X & Change transcript format

Related Documentation

For a list of available Cisco MXE 3500 documentation, see the Guide to Documentation for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9892/products_documentation_roadmaps_list.html

Providing Documentation Feedback

To provide feedback on this Cisco MXE 3500 document, or to report an error or omission, you can use the online, Embedded Feedback form that appears on the left side of the screen at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/video/mxe/3500/sw/3_x/release/note/mxe3500rn.html

Alternatively, you can send feedback to mxe-doc@cisco.com.

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What's New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

Subscribe to the What's New in Cisco Product Documentation as an RSS feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service. Cisco currently supports RSS Version 2.0.

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Cisco MXE 3000 Series (Media Experience Engines)

Release Notes for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 Release 3.1

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Table Of Contents

Release Notes for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500, Release 3.1

Introduction

Browser Requirements

Installation and Upgrade Requirements

Supported Deployment Models

Licensed Features

Important Notes

Feature Support Matrix

File-to-File Transcoding

Live Streaming (IP Capture)

Caveats

Using the Bug Toolkit

Open Caveats

Resolved Caveats

Related Documentation

Providing Documentation Feedback

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

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