Use a specific EDID for the video input port

Applies to: Pearl-2, Pearl Mini, Pearl Nexus, Pearl Nano

Extended display identification data (EDID) is data provided by a video display device, like a monitor. The EDID describes the display's capabilities to a video source, such as the graphics card in a PC or other video output device.

In the device, the video source uses the EDID information to determine what resolutions, color depth, and other settings the monitor supports.

EDID is crucial for DVI sources.

The video input ports on the device have a factory set EDID. When you connect a video source such as a laptop or camera to the device, the video source sees the device as if it were a monitor. The EDID that's assigned to the input port is read by the video source to determine what video signal it needs to send to the device.

Usually, the video input ports on the device correctly emulate a monitor for the connected video source. However, there are times when you may need to upload a custom EDID, like when your source uses a custom set of display properties.

When you upload a custom EDID to an input port on the device, you can force the port to supply a specific resolution, color depth, etc to the connected video source.

Upload a new EDID

In most cases, the factory installed default EDID works fine for sources connected to the HDMI ports on the device. However, there may be times when a connected video source uses resolutions that you do not want to use. In that case, you can manually upload an EDID and force the device to use a specific set of attributes for a specific HDMI input port. All video sources you connect to that HDMI input port will use the EDID you've manually assigned to the port.

EDID changes remain in effect for the HDMI input port until you replace the EDID with another one or specifically choose to restore the factory EDID for that specific HDMI input port. A system-level factory reset does not remove a manually assigned EDID from the HDMI port.

To get a new EDID, contact Epiphan Support. When you have the new EDID, you can upload that using the Admin panel.

Upload a new EDID file using the Admin panel

• Connect to the Admin panel and log in as admin.
• From the Inputs menu, select the input port for which you want to upload the EDID.
• On the configuration page for that source, scroll to the EDID upload section and click Choose File.
• Browse to the location where the custom EDID file was saved and select it, then click open.
• Select upload. When the upload is complete, the page updates to reflect success or failure.

Restore factory default EDID

When you no longer want a custom EDID assigned to an input port, you can restore the input port to use the factory default EDID. Currently there is no way to tell if your input port is using a custom EDID. If you are unsure, restoring to factory default is the best approach.

Restore the default EDID using the Admin panel

• Log in to the Admin panel as admin.
• From the Inputs menu, select the source you want to restore. The source configuration page opens.
• Scroll to the EDID section and select restore.
• When the default EDID is applied, the page updates to reflect success or failure.

Unstretch the output video

The device preserves the aspect ratio of your input video signal by default when you add the source to a layout using the custom layout editor. If you've changed the default setting, the image is stretched to match the output frame size.

To prevent the image from looking stretched, you can use the custom layout editor to preserve the video source's aspect ratio.

Unstretching the image causes a matte (black bars) to appear on the sides or top and bottom of the output.

Unstretch the output video to preserve the video source's aspect ratio using the Admin panel

• Connect to the Admin panel and log in as admin.
• From the Channels menu, select a channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor page opens.
• In the layouts list, select the row for the layout you want.
• In the items list below the layout editing area, select the video source. The video source settings appear.
• Check Keep aspect ratio when scaling and click Save.

Remove the combing effect on images

When frames are interlaced, artifacts from one frame may appear on the next frame. This happens when a fast motion video is interlaced.

Since each frame is captured from a different point in time, the action captured in one frame is carried over to the next frame. The result is a blurred image and horizontal lines running across the video.

Convert an interlaced source signal to a non-interlaced signal using the Admin panel

• Log in to the Admin panel as admin.
• From the Inputs menu, click the source name. The configuration page for the source opens.
• Check Enable deinterlace and click Apply.

Device differences

• Pearl Nano: "This feature is not available using the local console on the Pearl Nano." — applies to uploading a new EDID (not bolded in the source).
• Pearl-2: "Unstretch the output video" ends with an additional cross-reference sentence not present in Pearl Mini's or Pearl Nexus's own guides: "To remove these see Remove black bars (matte) from the video."
• Pearl Nano: Nano's own guide documents only the intro paragraphs, "Upload a new EDID," and "Restore factory default EDID" for this topic — it never reaches "Unstretch the output video" or "Remove the combing effect on images."