NEON AtomOS 10.25 - Setup Guide

The NEON ‘Your Reference’ Color Management release

The AtomOS 10.25 firmware and software has been built with our new NEON color pipeline and other enhancements related to controlling your NEON monitor. We look forward to hearing your feedback.

 

Setting up your NEON monitor

There are four parts to setting up the monitor as described below. it is important that all these steps are completed to make sure you are in full control of your NEON monitor. You will need the following items of software and hardware to complete the upgrade process:

 

Required Hardware

• Atomos BBRCU - Button Bar and 2.5mm to 2.5mm jack cable (you should have received this with your NEON).

• Either a Calibrite ColorChecker Display Pro / Display Plus Colorimeter or an X-Rite I1DisplayPro Colorimeter is required to calibrate the NEON.

• An Atomos USB to Serial Calibration cable (USB A - ATOMCAB004 or USB-C ATOMCAB018) required to connect the computer to the NEON MCU for calibration.

• SSD or other compatible media to load the Firmware onto the NEON.

• Master Caddy Docking Station to copy the Firmware from your computer onto the SSD.

• PC or Mac to run the Calibrator software

 

Required Software

A zip file containing:

• ATOMNEO_10.25.zip – this file contains the ATOMNEO.FW Firmware

• The Atomos Calibrator v2.1.8 application

  • macOS (64-bit) - Calibrator_2.1.8.dmg

  • Windows (64 - bit) - Calibrator_2.1.8.msi

The AtomRemote.app – is available for download as described below.

 

Install the NEON monitor AtomOS 10.25 Firmware

There is a detailed guide to this procedure on the Atomos website:

https://atomos.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/226859128-How-do-I-update-AtomOS-Firmware-

1. Unzip the ATOMNEO_10.25.zip file and copy the ATOMNEO.FW Firmware to your SSD drive.

2. Ensure that your NEON is not powered on

3. Insert the SSD into the NEON

4. Power on your NEON

5. The NEON will display the progress of the upgrade on screen

When the screen goes black the Firmware is installed

 

Install the NEON AtomRemote app

The AtomRemote app allows you to control recording, syncing, and playback on NEON and provides access to the real-time production tools in AtomOS that are built into NEON. The AtomRemote app is available on both iOS and macOS. Unfortunately, the AtomRemote app is not supported on Windows or Android.

 

AtomRemote iOS App

The iOS version of the AtomRemote app allows you to control NEON over Bluetooth from a compatible iOS device running iOS 12 or later and the AtomRemote app. To download and install AtomRemote on your device, scan the QR code below to be taken directly to the AtomRemote app in the Apple App Store or visit the iOS app store:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/atomremote/id1468547361

When the AtomRemote app has been installed you will need to connect to the NEON via a Bluetooth connection, launch the app and follow the instructions as shown below.

 

AtomRemote Desktop App

The desktop version of the AtomRemote app has the same functionality as the iOS app, and allows you to control NEON over Bluetooth from a Mac running macOS 10.15 or later. You can download the AtomRemote for macOS from the Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/atomremote/id1468547361

1. Launch the the AtomRemote app and ensure that you have selected 'For NEON' from the options on screen.

2. To start the pairing process, press the main power button on the rear of NEON twice or press the power button on the MCU once.

3. Tap/click on the Search button on the app. Both the app and the NEON will search for each other.

4. When the NEON and the app have discovered one another, they will display a Pairing ID code. If the code displayed on the app matches the Pairing Code displayed on the NEON, then tap/click on the Accept Code Above button.

5. Starting Pairing will be displayed on the app, and when paired your iOS device/Mac computer will be linked to NEON.

6. A page with an overview of the NEON configuration will then be displayed on the app.

For information on how to use the AtomRemote app, please refer to the NEON 10.25 - FAQ page.

 

Install the NEON Calibrator App

The Atomos Calibrator App is available for macOS and Windows, and can be downloaded here: https://www.atomos.com/calibration

 

macOS

To install the Calibrator App, double click to open the Calibrator_2.1.8.dmg file and then drag the Calibrator icon to the Applications folder.

Windows

To install the Calibrator App, you will need to run the installer ‘Calibrator_2.1.8.msi’ file and follow the install instructions.

 

Calibrating your NEON monitor

The final stage of the set-up process is to Calibrate the NEON monitor. This is important to make sure that the images are displayed accurately as you would expect them to. For the process to work correctly, the NEON monitor needs to be switched on with pictures on the screen, and the Colorimeter plugged into your computer for at least 30 minutes before you begin the calibration. Calibration should be performed in a dark environment, at a temperature between 22˚C to 30˚C.

The full guide to calibrating the monitor is here:Atomos Display Calibration

This process is almost identical to the one described in the guide linked above, except that on completion of the calibration process you are presented with an option to save a report that contains details of the calibration. Click on Save Report to download a copy of the report to your computer, and share it with us at the following email address: neon@atomos.com

Please refer to the Atomos Calibrator Report Guide once you have generated the report. This guide will help you to understand the results of the report.

There is more info and guides about the Atomos Calibrator here: https://www.atomos.com/calibration

 

Setup is complete

Your NEON is now configured and ready for you to begin using with this software. Outlined below are the major changes in this release. Now you can unplug the Atomos USB to Serial Calibration cable from the Remote Port on the MCU and use the 2.5mm to 2.5mm jack cable to connect the Button Bar (BBRCU) to the Remote Port. A guide to the button operation is below.

 

Functionality of the Button Bar Remote Control Unit (BBRCU)

The control changes that have been implemented in this firmware release, move two of the most common settings changes, input/output and Color Spaces, from the AtomRemote app to the buttons on the BBRCU.

 

Button brightness

When the Button Bar is first plugged in, some of the buttons light up. If they are white, it means that you can select or change a setting. If the button is green, then that item is selected. The brightness of the buttons can be adjusted using the Up and Down arrows when on the top level of the menus, ie: when no function key has been pressed. Note that if you do not see any of the buttons glowing, the brightness may be turned all the way down. In this case, simply use the Up arrow to increase the brightness.

 

Menu Button

If the menu is not visible on the screen, press the Menu button at the top left of the button bar to bring the on-screen menu interface into view. When selected, the menu button will glow green and the other buttons will be illuminated.

 

Play Button

Pressing the Play button switches the monitor into play mode and allows the viewing of content stored on the SSD drive. You can switch back to the monitor/record mode by pressing the F5 button and choosing an HDMI or SDI input. The F5 button is the unmarked button below the ‘Play’ button on the right side of the button bar.

 

Selecting Color Space

Once the Menu button has been pressed, press the F1 button to bring up the color space options. Buttons 1-4 allow you to select the following options:

	Button 1	Button 2	Button 3	Button 4
Color Space	REC. 709	PQ	HLG	Camera Log
Gamut	REC. 709	P3	P3	P3
White Point	D65	D65	D65	D65
EOTF	Gamma 2.4	PQ	HLG	Log
Luminance	100 nits	1000 nits	1000 nits	1000 nits
Range	Narrow/ legal	Full	Full	Full

 

Selection of the Camera LOG options is available directly from the Input page in the AtomRemote app.

 

Selecting Input Source or Output options:

Press the unmarked button below the ‘Play’ button on the right side of the button bar to select Input/Output.

 

Input Selection

The input source signal menu provides the selection of HDMI and various SDI options. Buttons 1 and 2 allow you to select the following options:

	Button 1	Button 2	Button 3	Button 4
1st Press	SDI Auto	HDMI 1.4
2nd Press	SDI 1	HDMI 2.0
3rd Press	SDI 2
4th Press	SDI Dual Link

 

NOTES:

1. When switching between input sources (SDI and HDMI) the screen will go blank momentarily and return on the selected input. The menu will be dismissed.

 

Output Options

Pressing the illuminated right-pointing arrow button (after the unmarked button has been pressed), will display the Output Options menu. Press button 1 repeatedly to cycle through the options below. Press buttons 2-4 to toggle between enabled (Green) /disabled (white) for the functions listed below. Press the left arrow button to return to the input menu.

	Button 1	Button 2	Button 3	Button 4
1st Press	SDI Auto	Downscale 4K to HD	DCI Crop 17:9 to 16:9	Enable /Disable Timecode on HDMI
2nd Press	SDI Level A
3rd Press	SDI Level B

 

NOTES:

1. Record functionality is now only available from the AtomRemote app, by selecting Timecode Trigger or tapping the record button.

2. When initially accessing the Output Options menu, buttons 2 for Downscale 4K to HD and button 3 for DCI Crop 17:9 to 16:9 on the Button Bar will glow green to indicate that the functions are enabled. In some cases these functions will be incorrectly enabled, such as where the input signal is 16:9 HD 1080p.

3. The downscale to HD option allows an SDI 4K to HD down conversion to be applied to the output, which allows you to send a 4K input signal to an HD device. This will scale 4K to 2K and UHD will be scaled to HD 1080p.

4. DCI Crop will crop an SDI DCI 17:9 4K image or 2K image input to 16:9

5. The HDMI timecode option allows for the embedded time code or time code generated in NEON to be looped out or disabled. The option to turn timecode off is useful when connecting to consumer equipment, as it may disrupt some devices that are not intended to receive embedded timecode.

We have created a more in-depth guide on using NEON 10.25 on the Atomos support site called NEON 10.25 - Frequently Asked Questions. This guide is based on frequently asked questions and will be regularly updated.

 

Reverting to the previously released 10.24 firmware version

In order to reverse the 10.25 firmware to the 10.24 release version, you need to install firmware version 10.24 on your NEON. You also need to download and install the 'release' versions of the Atomos Calibrator software (Ver 2.0.50) and the AtomRemote app (Ver 1.1.1) so that everything will work together correctly.

Firmware version 10.24 for NEON can be downloaded from atomos.com/product-support

There is a detailed guide on updating AtomOS firmware here: https://atomos.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/226859128-How-do-I-update-AtomOS-Firmware-

The 'release' version of the Atomos Calibrator can be downloaded from atomos.com/calibration

The 'release' version of the AtomRemote app is available for download on the iOS and Mac App Store.

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/atomremote/id1468547361