This video describes the use of the Control Center to manually start and stop SDI feeds to be processed by the Blackbird Edge. An additional video will follow that describes the scheduling of these feeds.

Only account managers, site managers, and Blackbird support have access to the Control Center. Editor-level users will not have access to the Control Center. The Control Center is accessed through the gear icon after you log into Blackboard. You can either go directly to the Arrivals section or start at Configuration and navigate to Arrivals.

Once in Arrivals, you'll see the folder name for which all Blackbird feeds will arrive. For simplicity, we name this folder "SDI Inputs" as noted in the help tag or as also seen in the Settings tab of the SDI Arrivals tab. Take note that the settings for the Blackbird video have been set here as well. This includes the organization method, the format, and when to present Blackbird video. In the case of live events, "Immediately" is selected.

If you switch to the Source tab, you'll be tempted to start recording right away, which will work fine as I demonstrate here. The primary rule for SDI feeds is as follows: If you're recording in the Control Center, the Edge Direct graphical user interface will be locked out as a control point, as noted by the bold "Stop External" warning. Do not touch the Edge graphical user interface if recording from the Control Center.

A preferred method of recording your SDI feeds is under the Ingest Cue tab, as found under the SDI service. This view gives you more control over the Edge recording process. This includes the ability to rename clips and real names to a more accurate name and the ability to schedule your feeds, which is discussed in another video.

To change the clip name and the real name, click under the column in the associated row of the feed, change the name to the naming convention you desire, and press the Enter key to accept the change. Note: Do not use Unicode characters such as accents in your naming. Also, do not use double minuses, as these characters are not supported and will disrupt your feed.

To start recording your SDI feed, click on the "Record Start" target, and note that the recording will begin as seen at the top of the cue list. Note the view in Blackboard 4K as the feed arrives, and notice that the Edge GUI is locked out when the recording starts from the Control Center.