Statesman brings user-friendly, time-saving and flexible control and status monitoring to the Crystal Vision product range.

This Windows based system makes it easy to configure and operate the remote-enabled interface and keying modules using a PC.

Statesman 4 has been designed to work over Ethernet meaning you can control your system from anywhere.

You don't even need special cables: just plug it into your normal Ethernet network using industry standard CAT5 cables.

The software is now available in two versions: as the full Statesman and as Statesman Lite - a free version of the software which works without a dongle. Find out more...

The full version of Statesman 4 is available in two variants: Single PC and Multi PC.

'Single PC' is for those who want to connect just one PC to multiple frames via Ethernet and uses an SQLite database.

'Multi PC' has been designed for those who want Statesman control from multiple PCs on a network and offers the security and scalability of the powerful MySQL database system. The Statesman database does not have to be located on the master PC but can instead be on the main company server, for example.

For those who need it, the RS422 system is also fully supported.

There are two essential items you need to use Statesman: a free CD containing the basic software and a USB dongle which fits into the USB port on the master computer.

An enabling code (available on disk or by e-mail) empowers the dongle with the features the user is entitled to have, including the number of boards able to be controlled.

The dongle comes with a licence for two boards and entitles the user to a year's maintenance which includes support and any software upgrades.

Additional licences can be purchased for individual boards, allowing Statesman to adapt perfectly to every size of application - large or small.

The Statesman product GUIs are regularly updated and the latest GUIs can be downloaded from here.

With Statesman comes flexibility. The control pane is split into two sections, meaning you can either view two different boards at the same time or two sub-menus for the same board.

Statesman 4's interface presents your system information to you using a logical, easy-to-access structure thanks to four new tabs.

Select the System layout tab to see your frames and the boards they contain. Alternatively choose the A to Z tab to view all the boards in alphabetical order.

The remaining tab shows any composite modules you've created.

This means you can get at any information you need with very few clicks of the mouse.

Get the latest product GUIs for your copy of Statesman or Statesman Lite here.

Providing see-at-a-glance status monitoring, Statesman can be used to monitor the current state of the boards - either by examining control values and virtual LED settings or by setting alarms.

Each board has a customised set of alarm options.

Clicking on a board name from the Statesman Settings/Alarm Settings menu (right) reveals a list of all possible alarms for that board, which can be set by selecting options in the Setting and various Action fields.

The Setting field is used to determine the action taken when an alarm condition occurs:

Statesman can also be used for real-time control of boards.

Each board has a specially designed GUI, with the large, clear display offering controls presented in a user-friendly graphical manner - resulting in instinctive operation of even the most complex module.

The sliders, dials, trackerballs, buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons and routing grids allow easy selection of options with a simple click of the mouse.

All control options are easily available from tabs which line up across the screen, while windows can be user-resized for convenience.

Yellow sticky notes (right) can be used as reminders, to highlight information or to hide controls.

Attaching a note is easy: right-click any control menu tab and select Write Note, and then enter the required text in the box provided. The notes can be moved or resized for optimum placement.

Macros enable sequences of commands or menu operations to be recorded and played back at a later time.

This feature is intended to be used to automate the process of setting up effects which need to be applied in sequence on a regular basis. Macros can also be used to react to alarm conditions by activating automatic changes - for example, video going off air could trigger a macro to set a router to display a holding screen. You can clearly see all the macros running on your system using the box in the bottom right hand corner of the main GUI.

Controls can be ganged to enable them to maintain the same value when moved - especially useful for sliders. A popular application could be to fade several pictures up at the same time, for example. The ganged controls can be taken from as many different boards as you like: just build a composite module first.

Composite modules are custom modules created from components taken from different boards. They are generally used to limit user interaction, simplify operation or assemble features for specific control purposes. Creating composite modules is easy and is done through the Composite Modules Designer on the Statesman Settings menu. Group boxes are created and populated with controls which are dragged from the donor modules. Both the composite module and the group boxes can be given relevant names. Here we have created a composite module from two donor modules - an LKEY211 linear keyer and a TANDEM-200 audio embedder/de-embedder. Clicking on the TANDEM-200 name in the left hand window highlights in red the controls which come from that module. This would help confusion if you were using multiple boards of the same type, for example. Duplicating composite modules provides a fast way of creating a number of similar composite modules that only differ in minor detail.

Click to view Composite Modules Designer

Statesman does all the hard work for you - and saves you time too.

Adding boards to the system is automatic and will typically take less than ten seconds, even for large installations. You can easily nominate which boards are to be covered by your purchased licences by using the Select Boards to Control menu. Once you're up and running, operation of boards is instant.

Right-click on a board to change its name to something which clearly identifies it, up to 32 characters long. The original name can later be reset if required.

Statesman provides a fast method of applying the same settings to a number of identical boards by allowing you to copy any settings from one board to another. The board settings can be saved to either the database or a separate file, both for back-up security purposes and to allow studios to be set up in the same way.

The ability to store any presets as well as the current settings gives you the power to completely restore a board.

You can back up the Statesman system itself, including users, alarms, board renaming and composite modules, and restore it from file. This means that – should the worst happen – you can quickly have an identical Statesman system up and running without having to re-enter the details.

If you need different people in your company to have access to different levels of control, no problem. Statesman’s user management tools provide password controlled operator access with selectable visibility and operation capability on a frame and board basis.

In the User Settings menu names can be assigned so that each user sees different and meaningful names for the same frames and modules. The modules in client copies of Statesman can be temporarily locked to prevent control access.

The Update Control Panel Data menu allows you to import a file from Crystal Vision. This may have a replacement GUI for an existing board which has just gained a new feature, or a complete GUI for a brand new board. Get the latest product GUIs for your copy of Statesman or Statesman Lite here.

Assistance is offered by a standard Windows Help file, making Statesman even easier to use.

Statesman is a product for everyone, whether you need to control or monitor large installations, or whether you have a small system which incorporates boards with the powerful features that really benefit from the intuitive control offered by a GUI.

To run Statesman you need a computer running Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7, a USB port for the dongle and control via TCP/IP or an RS232/422 COM port.

Statesman Lite allows easy installation of your Crystal Vision boards – for free.

Statesman Lite makes it easy to select the required board options during installation, view the inputs present and save the chosen settings to a PC.

To use Statesman Lite, you need either an active or Statesman frame (indicated by an ‘AE’ or ‘SE’ in the name) and remote-enabled boards. Statesman Lite can connect to multiple frames over an Ethernet network.

Statesman Lite also makes it easy to upgrade to the full version of Statesman, which includes alarms generation on a fault state, macro recording and the creation of composite modules. To upgrade you simply need to buy Statesman, plug in a dongle and enter your installation code.

Statesman Lite is available for download here. Alternatively it is available on a CD from Crystal Vision - all customers who order an 'AE' or 'SE' frame will be automatically shipped a Statesman Lite CD.

Get the latest product GUIs for your copy of Statesman Lite here.

Not sure which version of Statesman you need? View our comparison chart.

The demo version of Statesman allows you to see just what the software can do for you.

Showing the GUIs for all the Crystal Vision boards, the demo version works without a dongle and allows you to fully explore Statesman’s functionality.

The operational screens of every product can be opened and the controls operated. All the available alarms can viewed and composite modules can be created. No real boards can be operated by the software and changes made to board configurations are not saved.

The Statesman demo version is free of charge for customers to evaluate and is available on the main Statesman CD. Installing the software will add a Statesman demo item to your Windows Start menu, which you can click on to start the program.

Statesman CDs are available from Crystal Vision on request, or the demo version can be downloaded here.