| Name: | sACN DMX |
| Version: | 6.7.2 |
| Available for: | Manager V7 and Manager V6 (Lite & Pro), Showmaster (Mini, Pro, ST & LE) |
| Limitation In: | Showmaster Mini |
| Device Brand: | sACN |
| Resources Types: | DMX512 |
Overview
sACN (ESTA specification E1.31 - 2009) is a subset of the ACN protocol suite, designed to transfer DMX512-A [DMX] packets over an IP network (Ethernet). This standard uses multicast addressing to provide a mechanism to partition traffic for distinct universes of DMX512-A [DMX] data.
A sACN transmitter (sender) is also known as a source with an unique identifier (internally managed) and a name. Under the MRC, the name of a source is composed by the prefix “Medialon” and the name given to the resource (for example “Medialon sACN DMX Line 1”.
Installation
No specific installation is required.
Setup
Setup
sACN DMX 512 resources can be mounted in your project. Select DMX Ports node in the Browser to display them.
If you wish to configure the DMX Resources, select the resource in the Lister and use right click menu.
Open the Setup Resource window:
Name
Name given to the resource. This name, prefixed with “Medialon” will be the name of the sACN source.
Universe
Lets you configure which Universe is used (1 to 64000). Other values are reserved and must not be used in sACN.
Direction
Determines whether the resource is Input or Output.
Output Priority
Determines the output stream priority (1 to 200). Other values are reserved and must not be used in sACN. A priority of 100 is considered as a normal priority.
Transmit per channel priority frame
Determines if a special sACN frame must be transmitted to indicate the priority per channel. This frame is also known as “DDh” frame. Although the MRC allows to transmit this frame, the channel priority cannot be changed per channel, therefore all channels will have the same ‘Output Priority’ value.
Concurrent Priority Behavior
The MRC allows to receive multiple streams on the same universe, managed by priority. However, in the case where multiple streams would have the same priority, a merge is performed across channels. This settings defines how this merge is performed:
- “Last Received Take Precedence”: no actual merge is done, the latest received frame overwrite the previous one. If the resource receives only one source (i.e. per universe), this is the preferred mode as it reduces the input data processing. However, if the resource receives multiple sources, this mode may result in data flicking, depending on the data content.
- “Highest Takes Precedence (HTP) merging”: The merge gives the priority to the highest value (for a given channel, the one with the highest DMX value will be taken).
- “Lowest Takes Precedence (LTP) merging”: The merge gives the priority to the lowest value (for a given channel, the one with the lowest DMX value will be taken).
Stream Max Update Delay
Determines the maximum delay a stream has to update its data. After this delay, if no data are received for this stream, the stream and its associated data are considered no longer valid. This value has a significant impact in those two cases:
- When a detected stream with a higher priority is no longer received, this timeout allows to consider again streams with a lower priority.
- When merging is used, as each stream has an impact on the channels values, when a stream is no longer received, this timeout allows to restore appropriate channel values according to actual received steams.
Network Adapter to use
Determines on which network adapter the streams are sent and received. The selected network adapter must match the physical network (Wifi or cabled ethernet) to which sACN devices are connected. ACNs streams being transmitted using multicast UDP, this parameter must be properly set according to your network configuration.
Note: two resources with the same universe (for instance an input and an output resources) must have the same selected network adapter.
Patch
Any channel of the DMX resource can be redirected through a Patch modified to your needs:
- Orange channels are patched.
- Red channels indicate a conflict with another index. 2 indexes are patched to the same channel.
Initial Output Level
You may choose to Reset all the Outputs to 0 when the project is started, or keep the last values that were sent.
Revisions
V 6.0.0
- Initial version.
V 6.0.1
- Fixed: Initialization caused Manager/Showmster to hang on Windows 8.1+
V 6.1.0
- Added: Third party extension for Showmaster LE, ST.
- Added: Compatibility for Overture CS.
V 6.7.0
- Improved: Support for High DPI displays (require Manager 6.7.0+ or Showmaster Editor 2.7.0+)
- Changed: Compatibility for Manager 6.7.0 and Showmaster Editor 2.7.0