Parlé VBC 2800 Network API Control

Biamp Camera Controller Settings

Biamp Camera Controller will provide users with options for enabling or disabling the Ethernet port on the VBC 2800, and when the port is enabled, users will be able to configure the port for Static or DHCP TCP-IP configuration. In order to fully support the use of the Ethernet port, BCC will also provide the ability to configure date and time-related settings on the bar.

Network:

• Enable
• IP Address
• Netmask
• Gateway
• Primary DNS
• Secondary DNS

Primary and Secondary DNS can still be optionally specified when DHCP is enabled.

 

NTP – Setting time zone, setting the date/time, and setting NTP servers (2 of them).

• Time-related settings:
• Time Zone (drop-down selection of options)(use TZ Data references)
•  Date
• Time
• Enable/disable
• NTP server from DHCP enable or disable
• Server IP or host name (text input)

Additional:

• Troubleshooting information
  • Display the device MAC Address
    • Useful for IP assignment or registration/reservation
  • Connected (Carrier) – is the device connected or not?
  • Speed – 10/100/1000 duplicate/full-duplex.

 

 

Network Control

 

• SSH Enabled/Disabled - Enabled by default, enables or disables SSH services. If the service is disabled while a control user is logged in, their session should be ended.
• Telnet Enabled/Disabled - Disabled by default, enables or disables Telnet services. If the service is disabled while a control user is logged in, their session should be ended. 
• Hostname ("default - ParleVBC2800-serial")
• Control Enabled
• Username ("control")
• Password ("default - device serial")

Note: Username and password is required for both Telnet and SSH sessions. The default password(Serial #) may be changed/updated in Biamp Camera Controller as required. 

A factory reset of the Parlé bar will revert this value back to the serial until it is updated in Biamp Camera Controller.

 

 

Device Commands

The Parle VBC 2800 will respond to the following device command set if the control interface is enabled. 

 

The following commands are supported: 

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
DEVICE get serialNumber	To get the serial number of the currently connected device.	DEVICE get serialNumber	+OK "value":"31248700049"
DEVICE get version	To get the firmware version of the currently connected device.	DEVICE get version	+OK "value":"1.5.0"
DEVICE reboot	To reboot the device.	DEVICE reboot	+OK

 

 

Input Source Control 

The Parle VBC 2800 speaker output has the option to select (or mix) between the following sources: 

• Input #0 – USB Only – (was default in 1.5.0) 
• Input #1 – Analog Only 
• Input #2 – USB/Analog Mixed – default (from 1.6.0 onwards) 

Note that these settings persist between reboots. 

USB audio is stereo through to the speaker/ALS DSP processing blocks. 

Analog audio is mono but then duplicated through the router block to the speaker/ALS processing blocks. 

 

The following commands are supported: 

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
InputSource get input	Gets the currently selected input. The return value will be a single digit, which can be decoded below:  0: USB  1: Analog  2: USB/Analog Mixed (default in 1.6.0 forward)	InputSource get input	+OK "value":0
InputSource set input <input – 0...2>	Sets the currently selected input: The <input> uses the same decoding that the GET command uses. The user may only set a value in the range of 0 to 2 for this command.	InputSource set input 1	+OK

 

 

ALS Source Control

The Parlé VBC 2800 ALS output has the option to select (or mix) between the following sources: 

• Disabled (no audio is routed to the ALS output) 
• Far End Only (i.e. audio from USB Playback path of USB Host and/or Analog Input, depending on inputSource control) 
• Near End Only (i.e. audio from the microphone) 
• Far and Near End Mixed 

Note that these settings persist between reboots. 

USB audio is stereo through to the speaker/ALS DSP processing blocks. 

Analog audio is mono but then duplicated through the router block to the speaker/ALS processing blocks. 

Microphone audio is pre-AI noise reduction to minimize latency. 

 

The following commands are supported: 

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
ALSSource get input	Gets the currently selected input. The return value will be a single digit, which can be decoded below:  0: Disabled  1: Far End Only  2: Near End Only  3: Far and Near End Mix	ALSSource get input	+OK "value":0  0: Disabled  1: Far End Only  2: Near End Only  3: Far and Near End Mix
ALSSource set input <input – 0...3>	Sets the currently selected ALS input: The <input> uses the same decoding that the get command uses. The user may only set a value in the range of 0 to 3 for this command.	ALSSource set input 1	+OK

 

 

Analog Input Level Control

There are two independent ways to manage the overall analog input gain for the VBC 2800: 

Gain Settings: 

• Gain settings refer to the “pre-gain” added by the Analog Input codec 
• Gain settings are defined in dB 
• Gain settings range from 0.0 to 24.0dB in 3dB steps 
• Default gain is 0dB (i.e. unity gain) 
• Increasing gain will decrease input dynamic range 

Level Settings: 

• Level settings refer to the “digital” gain added by the internal DSP 
• Levels settings are defined in dB 
• Full level range is from –100.0 to 12.0dB 
• Default level is 0.0 dB (i.e. unity gain) 
• minLevel default is –100.0dB 
• maxLevel default is 0.0dB 
• Trying to use the set command to set the level outside of the minLevel and maxLevel commands will result in a bounds error from text processor 
• Using the increment and decrement commands to adjust the level when the increment (or decrement) will take it past maxLevel (or minLevel) will cause the set level to ceil (or floor) against the maxLevel (or minLevel) 
• Adjusting the minLevel or maxLevel commands will adjust the current level if it becomes outside the new limits 

 

Note that if the InputSource is USB Only, then the following commands will execute successfully, and the gain will be adjusted, but will not take effect until the input switch is changed to analog input or analog/USB mix mode. 

 

The following commands are supported: 

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
Get the analog input gain	Gets the level of the analog input gain setting.	AnalogInput get gain	+OK "value":6.0
AnalogInput set gain <float>	Sets the level of the analog input gain using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput set gain 3.0	+OK
AnalogInput get level	Gets the level of the analog input.	AnalogInput get level	+OK "value":-6.0
AnalogInput set level <float>	Sets the level of the analog input using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput set level –3.0	+OK
AnalogInput increment level <float>	Increments the level of the analog input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput increment level 1.0	+OK
AnalogInput decrement level <float>	Decrements the level of the analog input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput decrement level 1.0	+OK
AnalogInput get minLevel	Gets the minLevel of the analog input.	AnalogInput get minLevel	+OK "value":-100.0
AnalogInput set minLevel <float>	Sets the minLevel of the analog input using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput set minLevel –40.0	+OK
AnalogInput increment minLevel <float>	Increments the level of the analog min input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput increment minLevel 10.0	+OK
AnalogInput decrement minLevel <float>	Decrements the level of the analog min input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput decrement minlevel 10.0	+OK
AnalogInput get maxLevel	Gets the maxLevel of the analog input.	AnalogInput get maxLevel	+OK "value":0.0
AnalogInput set maxLevel <float>	Sets the maxLevel of the analog input using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput set maxLevel –6.0	+OK
AnalogInput increment maxLevel <float>	Increments the level of the analog max input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput increment maxLevel 10.0	+OK
AnalogInput decrement maxLevel <float>	Decrements the level of the analog max input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput decrement maxlevel 10.0	+OK
AnalogInput get mute	Get the analog mute state	AnalogInput get mute	+OK "value":false
AnalogInput set mute <true or false>	Mutes or unmutes the analog input, note that these changes only take apparent affect when in analog input or analog/USB mix mode.	AnalogInput set mute true	+OK
AnalogInput toggle mute	Toggles the mute state of the analog input.	AnalogInput toggle mute	+OK

 

 

Microphone ALS Input Level Control 

The level of the microphone input that is fed to the ALS output is controlled via this command, the following notes apply: 

• Level settings refer to the “digital” gain added by the internal DSP 
• Levels settings are defined in dB 
• Full level range is from –100.0 to 12.0dB 
• Default level is 0.0 dB (i.e. unity gain) 
• minLevel default is –100.0dB 
• maxLevel default is 0.0dB 
• Trying to use the set command to set the level outside of the minLevel and maxLevel commands will result in a bounds error from the text processor 
• Using the increment and decrement commands to adjust the level when the increment (or decrement) will take it past maxLevel (or minLevel) will cause the set level to ceil (or floor) against the maxLevel (or minLevel) 
• Adjusting the minLevel or maxLevel commands will adjust the current level if it becomes outside the new limits 

 

Note that if the alsSource is Disabled or Far End Only, then the following commands will execute successfully, and the gain will be adjusted, but will not take effect until the alsSource is switched back to Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes. 

The following commands are supported: 

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
MicrophoneALSInput get level	Gets the level of the microphone input.	MicrophoneALSInput get level	+OK "value":-6.0
MicrophoneALSInput set level <float>	Sets the level of the microphone input using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput set level –3.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput increment level <float>	Increments the level of the microphone input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput increment level 1.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput decrement level <float>	Decrements the level of the microphone input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput decrement level 1.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput get minLevel	Gets the min Level of the microphone input.	MicrophoneALSInput get minLevel	+OK "value":-100.0
MicrophoneALSInput set minLevel <float>	Sets the min Level of the microphone input using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput set minLevel –40.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput increment minLevel <float>	Increment the level of the microphone's min input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput increment minLevel 10.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput decrement minlevel <float>	Decrements the level of the microphone's min input by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput decrement minlevel 10.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput get maxLevel	Gets the max Level of the microphone input.	MicrophoneALSInput get maxLevel	+OK "value":0.0
MicrophoneALSInput set maxLevel <float>	Sets the maxLevel of the microphone input using <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput set maxLevel –6.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput increment maxLevel <float>	Increments the level of the microphone maxLnput by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput increment maxLevel 10.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput decrement maxlevel <float>	Decrements the level of the microphone maxLnput by <float> - note that these changes only take apparent effect when in Near End or Far and Near End Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput decrement maxlevel 10.0	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput get mute	Gets the microphone mute state	MicrophoneALSInput get mute	+OK "value":false
MicrophoneALSInput set mute <true or false>	Mutes or unmutes the microphone input, note that these changes only take apparent affect when in Near End or Far and Near End Only Mix modes.	MicrophoneALSInput set mute true	+OK
MicrophoneALSInput toggle mute	Toggles the mute state of the microphone input.	MicrophoneALSInput toggle mute	+OK

 

 

Camera Control

The Parlé  VBC 2800 camera can be controlled using the following commands:

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
Camera get streaming	This command returns whether the camera is currently streaming video. This is a read-only property.	Camera get streaming	+OK "value":1
Camera get autoframing	The camera supports an autoframing feature that automatically adjusts pan, tilt, and zoom to keep subjects in frame.	Camera get autoframing	+OK "value":1
Camera set autoframing <true or false>	Sets the autoframing state	Camera set autoframing true	+OK
Camera toggle autoframing	Toggle the autoframing state. Note: If autoframing is set to true, manual pan, tilt, and zoom controls will not take effect.	Camera toggle autoframing	+OK

 

USB Input Control

The Parle VBC 2800 USB input (Speaker and ALS path when applicable) can be controlled via the following commands. 

Connection and Streaming Status

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
USBIn get connected	Get the USB input connection status. This is a read-only property.	USBIn get connected	+OK "value":1
USBIn get streaming	Get the USB input streaming status. This is a read-only property.	USBIn get streaming	+OK "value":1

 

USB Output Control

The Parle VBC 2800 USB output (playback) can be controlled via the following commands. 

Connection and Streaming Status

Command Structure	Function	Example command:	Expected return:
USBOut get connected	Get the USB output connection status. This is a read-only property.	USBOut get connected	+OK "value":1
USBOut get streaming	Get the USB output streaming status. This is a read-only property.	USBOut get streaming	+OK "value":1

 

Subscription Service Control

The Parlé VBC 2800 supports a subscription mechanism that allows clients to receive notifications when specific parameters change. This enables real-time monitoring without constant polling. 

Note that you can only subscribe to attributes that are either read-write OR read-only but can change. For example, the camera minTilt, if fixed at –100 (read-only) and never changes, therefore you would not be able to subscribe to this setting. But the camera streaming setting is read-only but can change depending on the camera streaming state. 

Subscriptions are tied to the client's session and are automatically removed when the client disconnects. Clients must reestablish subscriptions after reconnecting. 

A maximum of 50 subscriptions per client is allowed. Subscription notifications are sent only when the value actually changes. The minimum notification interval is 100 ms

Further reading

• Biamp Camera Controller Software
• Camera controller help file
• Parlé VBC 2800 Overview
• Parlé VBC 2800 Audio Input and ALS
• Parlé Conference Bar FAQ