# Beam Essentials UI

The Essentials UI is a simplified operating view for MK.IO Beam devices, designed for day to day monitoring and channel control. Use it to check channel health at a glance, review active alarms, and create new channels without configuring the underlying services directly.

You can access a device's Essentials UI locally at the device address, or remotely through MK.IO. For remote access, see [Access the remote device UI](/mkio/how-to/managing-edge-devices/access-the-remote-device-ui).

> **Warning:** The **MK.IO Beam Essentials UI** requires Beam version `1.12.0` or higher, and is only available for new customers or fresh Beam ISO installations.

The Essentials UI also introduces the **Channels API**. This API presents everything the device is doing as a number of _channels_, where one channel can cover the input, the processing, and the output of a single service. It is the API behind the Beam Essentials UI, and it runs on the device.

For more information and user guides see: [Channels API guides](/api-guides/how-to/channels/)

## Essentials and Advanced views

The device UI is split into two views, available from a toggle in the top right corner of the header.

- **Essentials**: day to day operations and monitoring. Channels are presented as a single unified concept, with live thumbnails and clear status.
- **Advanced**: deeper engineering and service level configuration, exposing the underlying services, alarms, servers, and templates that power each channel. See [Advanced interface overview](/beam/web-interface) for Advanced view documentation.

Both views operate on the same underlying system. Advanced gives full configuration access at the service level, while Essentials presents that configuration as unified channels.

A device presents one or the other, never both. A device with the Essentials view manages workflows as _channels_, and a device without it manages them as _feeds_. If the documentation you are reading refers to feeds, you are in the wrong set of pages: see [Advanced interface overview](/beam/web-interface).

### Switch to the Advanced interface

The **Essentials** and **Advanced** buttons sit together in the top right of the header, next to the help and account icons. The current view is the highlighted one.

Select **Advanced** when you need something the Essentials view does not cover, such as reception and gateway configuration beyond the channel wizard, service level settings, servers, or templates. Select **Essentials** to come back.

Both views act on the same device, so a change made in one is visible in the other.

The first time you open the Essentials view, a welcome dialog introduces the interface, with links to a short video and to this documentation.

![Welcome dialog introducing Beam Essentials, shown over the dashboard on first use](/_machine-assets/8834cb661c94cd2ecf9a360aed895e3238841d52b6be818ed6e17be098ef3c33.jpg)

## Dashboard

Opening a device in the Essentials view displays the dashboard, showing every channel running on that device.

### Quick controls

Below the header, the dashboard provides:

- **View only alarmed**: a toggle that filters the dashboard to show only channels that currently have alarms.
- **Filter**: a search field to filter the channel list by name.
- **New channel**: opens the channel creation wizard. See [Create a channel](/beam/essentials/create-a-channel), or [Create a reception channel](/beam/essentials/create-a-reception-channel) for the **Reception (Decoding)** workflow.

![Essentials dashboard showing the channel grid, status panel, and active alarms panel](/_machine-assets/7274e6510dc79229d4d4806e5e0fa0d0563412c0dfb48e671486975ee2987bfe.jpg)

### Status panel

In the top right of the dashboard, three summary metrics show the device's current load: **CPU Usage**, **Unit up-time**, and **Temperature**. A dash in place of a value means that reading is not available on this device.

Below the summary metrics, a second panel identifies the device: **Software version** and **Installed hardware**.

![Status panel with CPU usage, unit up-time, temperature, software version, and installed hardware, next to the active alarms panel](/_machine-assets/737abd5cbd3a44b396cadfeefd7be42a761feb332b66fd5e5c619fb15c67dd2b.png)

### Active alarms panel

Below the status panel, the active alarms panel lists every active alarm across the device, sorted by alarm severity and recency. Each entry shows a timestamp, a severity badge, a title, and a description of the fault, usually including the affected service name.

Severity levels are **Critical**, **Major**, and **Notice**. For a full breakdown of alarm types and how to configure alarm overrides, see [Manage alarms](/beam/system-admin/maintenance/manage-alarms).

### Channel cards

The channel card grid is the main part of the dashboard. Each card represents a channel on the device and shows:

- Its **On Air** or **Stopped** status, and a live video thumbnail when it is on air and healthy (a stopped or unhealthy channel shows **No thumbnail** instead).
- Its **Video** parameters (resolution, codec, bitrate, and bit depth) and **Audio** parameters (codec, and mode and bitrate where applicable).
- A signal diagram showing the input and output type for the channel, for example **SDI** into **UDP**, or **ASI** into **SDI**, connected by a line of status dots.

When a channel has an active alarm, the card makes it clear:

- The thumbnail area shows a severity badge, for example a red **Critical** badge.
- The card background and the signal diagram dots turn red or orange to match the alarm severity.

![A channel card with a critical alarm: red badge, red signal diagram, and video parameters](/_machine-assets/1b7447cfa2b0324f8ca49539965b12f86fe1a78c498b2528a23c4ae896e30965.png)

## View channel details

Select a channel card to open its detail view.

At the top of the page, you can see the channel name, its workflow label, and its status.

- Select **Stop** to take the channel off air.
- Select the three dot menu for additional actions.
- Use the channel selector on the left to move to a different channel without returning to the dashboard.

Below the video preview, **Input status** and **Output status** report the live condition of the channel:

- **Input status** shows the input **Type** and **Status** (for example **Not receiving**), and **Service** identification.
- **Output status** shows the output **Type**, and its **Video scaling** and **Dynamic range** settings.

The active alarms panel on the right stays scoped to the selected channel, and shows **No alarm** when the channel is healthy.

![Channel detail view showing the video preview, channel selector, and no active alarms](/_machine-assets/8744e7f45c9d8d5e82229b1a6488e1bd789404e40293f21909846700fdfa15da.jpg)

## Edit channel settings

From a channel's detail view, use the three dot menu to open its settings. Each section lists the channel's current configuration, with an independent **Modify** button:

- **Channel display name**
- **Workflow**: the channel's type, for example **Reception (Decoding)**.
- **Input**: input type, slot or port, and TS packet size.
- **Audio**: configured audio tracks, with an **+ Add** button for adding another.
- **Output**: output type, and slot or port.

![Channel settings page with channel display name, workflow, input, audio, and output sections, each with a Modify button](/_machine-assets/1c31414363b886336111f4b18a9d1267f0f9e75877be1e8e93f9b52ed6a8fc5b.png)