How To Configure Redundant TVE (TV Mix Engine) Blades
The Blade 4 TVE (TV Mix Engine) blade has a new redundancy feature. Two blades may be configured in a hot standby setup. Upon failure, the backup blade will take over in under 3 seconds and will keep all of the routes and mixing intact.
As of this writing, December 2024, this feature is compatible with the Arcus console.
This is different from the Auto Failover networking feature on Blade 4, which uses different network ports (A and B) and redundant network switches. If you are going to set up redundant TVE blades, we recommend setting the network ports on both TVEs to WNIP and WAN and only using the A port on each blade for WheatNet-IP.
If you are using redundant networks, where the blades plugged into port A are connected to one switch and the blades in port B are connected to a separate switch, place the Primary blade on the A network and the Secondary blade on the B network.
Configuration
To configure the blade, start with a fresh blade out of the box (or one that has been Factory Reset).
Set the Blade ID on both blades to the same number.
There are three choices for Blade Redundancy.
- Single - This is for a standalone blade that will not be paired with a redundant blade.
- Primary - This is for the primary blade in a redundant pair.
- Secondary - This is for the secondary blade in a redundant pair.
For the (network) Redundancy option, choose WNIP and WAN.
Set both blades to different IP addresses. These blades will be operating at the same time on the network, so they cannot be on the same address. If you are using the standard Wheatstone addressing scheme and have chosen the Auto function for the IP address, the last octet on the secondary blade will be automatically set to one higher than the primary.
Tip: If you are using auto addressing, skip the next blade ID number so you don't double-assign IPs.
After you click Submit on the front panel, the Blades will enter the system. One will show Primary and the other will show Secondary on the front panel. There will also be a green READY indicator on the front panel when the blades are synchronized and ready to fail over.
Now that the two blades are online, you will need to connect the console to both Blades. Open the Arcus GUI and connect to it.
Enter the Blade ID and the IP address of the primary and secondary Blades.
Also on this page is the Active Blade Heartbeat Timeout. The default is 5000 ms (5 seconds). We recommend using 2500 ms as a starting point; this will switch in fewer than three seconds.
Click Apply when you are done.
Tip: If you are using the Blade picker (button with the three dots), the GUI will only fill in the primary. You must type the secondary IP address so the console will connect to both blades.
Operation
You'll notice that the meters will track exactly the same on the front panel of both blades when they re operating normally. That's because the secondary blade is receiving and processing the same data as the primary, it's just not sending anything out.
When you start, the Primary will be marked as Active and the Secondary will be marked as Standby. If the Primary fails, the Secondary will become Active. When the Primary is returned to service, it will enter the system and be set to Standby and will be ready to serve if the other blade fails.
To manually switch the blades between Active and Standby, click the button on the Blade Admin tab of Navigator.
If it is necessary to replace a TVE Blade that has failed, install an unconfigured blade. When it starts, follow the same setup procedure - set the blade to the same ID and IP address of the failed blade and under Blade Redundancy choose the same type (primary or secondary) of the blade you are replacing, then submit. You will be prompted if you want to replace the blade (yes) and if you want to restore its configration (also yes). The configuration will be copied to the blade and it will enter the system and assume its role.
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