Jump to content

Wireless Network


Hwang

Recommended Posts

Hello everybody.


We ask for your valuable advice regarding network issues.
The contents of the inquiry are related to the network connection between the production server and the display server.
The location where the projector is installed is 100 meters away, and between them is a vehicle-only road.
So it is a difficult environment to connect the network by wire.
In this case, we would like to hear advice on network connectivity.
I want to know if there is a wireless or other way.
I would like to get some suggestions on how to do it.
Of course, recommendations for networked equipment are also good.

Thank you.

network issue.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest DavidA

Hi!

Do you have free line of sight between the locations with projectors and WATCHOUT server? Wireless connectivity in a point-to-point environment should be high quality and not cause any issues for WATCHOUT as far as I can tell. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Dataton Partner

WIFI could be possible BUT do not expect frame accurate sync between devices on a wifi network due to the data packet overhead and uncontrollable data rates in wifi networks. Also you'd need to take into account that only three 2.4GHz networks can live together without interfering each other. I assume that there are many people using wifi in such an environment and in the end they all share the bandwidth.

There are wifi access points with high power and beam transmission which you would use for longer bridges (two ap talking to each other) between networks. They are very strong and focused but not legal in every country.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for answer.
I am currently checking with a telecommunications provider in Korea.
We will need a test, but we are reviewing it positively.

They commonly want to know how much data traffic is between servers.

Please tell me the data communication method and data communication bps(?) between servers.

Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Dataton Partner

The only moment where you need a higher bandwidth is when you transfer your media to the display computers. During playback the data rate is very low. The cluster master sends a heartbeat which is timing critical but does not really produce data traffic and the cluster members send a short string every few moments to show their existance in the network (that's what you see when opening the network window).

I don't have data rates but it is very low.

The only moment when the data rate is higher is when you push content to the display computers or when you use NDI, Artnet or streaming sources.

The moment when you establish the cluster is also slightly more critical since the master has some timeout and if the players do not report back in the given time the cluster might not work as expected. This is usually only critical in very big installations with many display computers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for your kind answer.

There is one more thing I want to ask.

If the product server and the display server are assumed to use different external network, is communication between these two servers possible in the watchout program?

Is it possible to be'online' like using an internal network?

If possible, what should we prepare and set up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderator
42 minutes ago, Hwang said:

Thank you very much for your kind answer.

There is one more thing I want to ask.

If the product server and the display server are assumed to use different external network, is communication between these two servers possible in the watchout program?

Probably not. File transfer will likely work as it is TCP connection. But play will not work and synch will not work properly as those communicaitons are UDP broadcast, and broadcast typically will not work with an external network.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, technically play/sync messages are multicast, so they may work across networks, assuming IGMP is configured on routers to allow for this. But in general, as Jim says, this is to be avoided unless you have a very good grip on your network infrastructure an its configuration.

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/10/2020 at 12:04 PM, jfk said:

Probably not. File transfer will likely work as it is TCP connection. But play will not work and synch will not work properly as those communicaitons are UDP broadcast, and broadcast typically will not work with an external network.

 

 

On 6/11/2020 at 12:54 AM, Mike Fahl said:

Well, technically play/sync messages are multicast, so they may work across networks, assuming IGMP is configured on routers to allow for this. But in general, as Jim says, this is to be avoided unless you have a very good grip on your network infrastructure an its configuration.

Mike

Thanks for a lot of help.

We ask for help once more.

Are WATCHOUT's file transfer, play, and synchronization done in a multicast way?
We plan to consult with network engineers regarding external network configuration.
I want to tell them what the network configuration should be when using WATCHOUT.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, that's really for Dataton to answer, but unless things have changed since I made it (which I doubt), file transfers and general commands use TCP while play/pause, time synchronization, variables, etc use UDP multicast. Note that the port used for the multicast is dynamically chosen, so there's no known fixed port here. The same goes for the multicast address, which will be from the "administratively scoped" range (all this from memory, and with the above caveat).

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Another option is to use multiple production computers and just send TCP/UDP control commands. Then you could quite easily control everything over pretty much any network connection, even the internet. Bitfocus Companion (for sending the commands to multiple clusters) and ZeroTier (for connecting computers in separate networks over the internet) could probably solve it.

It would influence the technical production design and workflow quite a bit, but it's an option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...