Some software that generates Art-net recommends, in their manuals, to use 30-40 Art-net universes over Broadcast. We decided that is simply not enough!
First two versions of Art-Net protocol allowed only broadcast messages. In broadcast, every device on the network receives all of the universes. Even those that the device is not using. This might not be a problem for small number of Art-Net universes. But if you work on digital LED pixel installations, it’s often a problem – frame rate of the projected video drops significantly.
Unicast
We usually recommend to use unicast where device receives only universes it will use. Function supported since version 3 of Art-net protocol. This allows you to keep high frame rate for the video (especially important for LED pixel installations).
Slow configuration
The problem is, it usually takes some time to configure all the devices and according universes. But while testing new installation, you want to see the result immediately. Therefore, the broadcast is still practical.
Brief look into different Art-net software manuals reveal that maximum recommended universes is not more than 30 or 40 over broadcast. Reason? To keep high frame rate.
160 Art-Net universes over broadcast? NO PROBLEM!
As you might know, we’ve released new version of LED Strip Studio software recently, which allows you to use your Art-Net to SPI controllers with our software. And we’ve decided to test the throughput for the broadcast.
We’ve compared the performance to other software products. We’ve used 160 universes in test. 160 universes allows you to control about 27,000 individual LED pixels (quite a lot). The results were amazing!
You can see that the frame rate drops to less than 10 frames per second. In addition, the image is destroyed.
LED Strip Studio software is able to keep 33 frames per second at 160 Art-Net universes without any problem! This is the performance we need for big installations!
Should you use Art-net broadcast?
Again, we don’t recommend to use broadcast for the final installation. You will most probably overload the network. We recommend to configure all devices to receive only universes they actually need. Rest assured that we have you covered in situations when you need to use Broadcast with large number of Art-net universes.