Avolites titan console network problems

[Tomo]

Direct connection tends to be unstable or not come up when connecting Windows/Mac (esp. laptops) to consoles or other network devices.

 

It appears to be related to power saving features, modern machines have become quite aggressive about shutting down hardware components, even if very briefly to save a few joules.

 

Combined with MDI/MDI-X this seems to cause occasional loss-of-connection issues.

[James Remo]

Yes, always use a switch. And it should be a gigabit switch.

 

Care to expand on this? A full 48 universes broadcasting works out at about 9Mbps by my (generous with the numbers) maths. The 4 universes I'm looking at today have peaked at 0.63 Mbps, - with midi data on the same network - which sits about right with my calculations. Pixel map a stadium and I'd agree with you, but as a blanket rule?

[Judge]

James, a similar conversation took place a while back on this, and the conclusion was ..

"A lot more data is passing than just the DMX, to keep the consoles synced."

 

And if that is what is recommended by Avolites then I'll go with that. Its not as if they cost much more than a 10/100 unit anyway.

[James Remo]

Yep, I had taken that into account, my measured network traffic included a main and backup desk syncing over the network, plus midi data AND clock from two ableton machines to two resolume machines. Still didn't get over 0.7 Mbps. Received wisdom doesn't prove anything, measurements that back up theoretical calculations - that I trust. Your price point reasoning is valid though, it's harder not to buy a gigabit switch nowadays.