Video: External House Sync - Genlock

Steps

Genlock locks this server's GPU outputs to one common timing reference, so every projector or LED processor fed by the machine advances its frame at the same instant. On a server fitted with a sync card the reference can be an external house sync arriving on the BNC input, or the server's own internal clock. The Genlock page is where you choose which, pick the outputs that join the sync group, and confirm the card actually locked.

Before you start

• The server needs a sync card with a BNC input. Without one, the page reports that genlock is unavailable and nothing here applies.

• For an external reference, the house sync signal must be connected to the BNC input and running. The page tells you whether it sees one.

• Sign in as Admin. The GPU section is admin-only, and every control on this page is disabled for lower roles.

• Outputs can only be locked together if they run the same timing — the same resolution and refresh rate. Settle EDID and Outputs first; genlock will not reconcile mismatched modes.

1. Open the server's Genlock page

In the Hub, select the server in the Servers list, then click System Management in the button row beneath the server name. The server's Web Console opens in a Hub tab.

In the sidebar, under Configure, choose GPU. That opens the display-configuration tabs — EDID, Outputs, Genlock, Mosaic, Virtual Monitors, Desktop, Options. Pick Genlock.

2. Read what the card is doing right now

The Sync source row carries two separate pieces of information, and the difference between them matters more than anything else on the page.

• The dropdown is the request — what the server has been told to do.

• The text beside it, Card reports …, is the reality — what the sync card is currently running on, plus whether a house sync signal is present and at what frequency.

Below that, the GPU 1 line names what the timing is actually locked to, and each output is tagged either in the sync group or unsynced.

3. Understand the three sync sources

The default is Auto, and for most installations it is the right answer.

4. Open Advanced only if you need it

Advanced exposes the sync signal detail — Reference edge, Multiply / divide, Signal format, Sync interval, the Interlaced sync and Drive the BNC as an output modes, and Sync skew / Startup delay in lines and pixels.

Most installations never touch any of it. Leave the defaults unless a specific reference signal demands otherwise.

5. Choose the source and the outputs, then Apply

Set Sync source, then tick the outputs that should join the sync group under Outputs in the sync group. Select all N outputs ticks every one at once; it shows a mixed state while only some are selected, so it reads as a summary rather than a stale control.

Click Apply genlock. The button stays disabled until something actually differs from what is already configured.

Switching back is the same operation in reverse: choose External house sync (BNC input), tick all outputs, and Apply again.

6. Wait for the card to lock

Locking to an external reference is not instant. The page says so next to Refresh — Waiting for the card to lock the sync group — and counts down to the next automatic re-check, while the GPU line reads syncing – waiting for the card to report the timing locked.

Let it run. The page re-checks by itself; it pauses only if you leave unapplied changes on screen.

Done when

The GPU 1 line reads in sync with the external house sync on the BNC input with the reference frequency in brackets, every output you selected is tagged in the sync group, and Apply genlock has gone disabled again because there is nothing left to apply.

What this depends on