ACE and Dante over fibre

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This topic contains 11 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of pealsound pealsound 11 years, 4 months ago.

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  • #23196
    Profile photo of pealsound
    pealsound
    Participant

    I’m thinking of making the switch from copper to fibre. Do any of you have experience or advice as how best to do it. Are the TP Link boxes (mentioned in an A&H advice sheet) any good, or should I be spending thousands on Yellowbrick transceivers?

    I’m running an OB van so I’ll need to run ACE, Dante (laptop for recording in the van, Mix rack – with Dante card on stage) and a composite video camera feed. I’m aware that the TP link boxes require two fibres, one each way.

    Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!

    IDR48 – T112 – Dante card

    #30825
    Profile photo of Mr-B
    Mr-B
    Participant

    I and at least one other use Level 1 Giggabit switches GSW 0841 for the link between the mix rack and surface, have been for about 4 years now.
    This unit is pretty cheap and has 1 SFP port on the back which will take either a single mode or a multimode fibre module. I personally use the Multimode Neutrik pre-made fibre cable (150m though other lengths are available) and custom made a connection panel using off the shelf components. Obviously you need one of these switches at each end.
    The switch is configured into a number of discrete channels as is required, for me that is Ether-Sound 1, iLive network 2 then a couple of spares. The system works just fine, never missed a beat, I also use Spanning tree protocol so that I can use a standard CAT5e cable below 100m to provide a backup if the fibre fails. Obviously the total bandwith of the link is still only 1 Giggabit, though the internal backbone of the switch is greater.

    My whole system cost me less than £1,000, I would recommend putting a UPS at each end, also make sure the switch does not get too hot.

    Hope this helps.

    #30830
    Profile photo of SteffenR
    SteffenR
    Participant

    http://www.teqsas.de they have tourgrade switches with fibre and copper ports

    SRV-AVB
    R-72, iDR-16, xDR-16, Dante

    #30831
    Profile photo of pealsound
    pealsound
    Participant

    quote:


    [
    The switch is configured into a number of discrete channels as is required, for me that is Ether-Sound 1, iLive network 2 then a couple of spares.


    Thanks for all that info… How do you configure the discrete channels? Presumably using a computer. Does that then need to remain connected to either switch or can you leave them “free standing”?

    IDR48 – T112 – Dante card

    #30837
    Profile photo of Mr-B
    Mr-B
    Participant

    After you have set it up and stored the setting it is stand alone, only time you then need a computer is to change something.
    There are more expensive switches for sure but these seem to work and at less than £100 each end a bit of a bargain.

    #31994
    Profile photo of pealsound
    pealsound
    Participant

    Mr B

    Can I just clarify, you are using iLive Network to connect surface to rack and not ACE?

    J

    IDR48 – T112 – Dante card

    #31995
    Profile photo of Rexeltw
    Rexeltw
    Participant

    No, the network port doesn’t send any audio. If you want to use a fibre option you simply tunnel the ACE (or Ethersound/DANTE/etc) through the switch at both ends. Does that make sense?

    .

    Just remember kids no matter how good your mixing is you can’t polish a turd…

    #31997
    Profile photo of pealsound
    pealsound
    Participant

    Sorry, I should clarify.

    I have started using fibre, but am having problems with ACE.

    Dante, iLive network and all other CAT5 traffic works absolutely perfectly over 150m of single mode fibre with Yellobrik OBD1510-E switches at each end.

    ACE has it’s own dedicated switch and fibre line, so there’s no other network traffic to interfere, but the system will not always boot. Unfortunately, this is an intermittent fault so it’s hard to pin down exactly whats going on. I need to use ACE as I require audio I/O at the surface.

    A&H tech support are investigating, but I’m trying to find somebody who has successfully used ACE over fibre.

    IDR48 – T112 – Dante card

    #31999
    Profile photo of Rexeltw
    Rexeltw
    Participant

    Well we mostly run Ethersound over the fibre network but I have used ACE when the occasion arises. I’ll ask our network guy on Monday if there are any differences you need to know about.

    .

    Just remember kids no matter how good your mixing is you can’t polish a turd…

    #32011
    Profile photo of Mr-B
    Mr-B
    Participant

    If Memory serves when I spoke with the factory on this subject the answer was ACE uses pretty much all of the bandwidth of a 100Mbs link so a simple media converter at each end or a switch with an SFP module linked by fibre, most simple fibre links are around 1.2Gbs bandwidth so all works well, even leaves you a couple of extra V-Lans available for other things.

    Ian B.

    #32015
    Profile photo of papromike
    papromike
    Participant

    We use the HP Pro Curve converters and generally will do 3 seperate Vlans.

    1 Vlan for ACE
    1 Vlan for COM
    1 VLan for Dante

    Make sure you enable Diffserve (DSCP) and give the ACE a High Priority rating in order to keep the word clock packet layers in priority.

    Vice President of Sales
    Allen & Heath USA

    #32026
    Profile photo of pealsound
    pealsound
    Participant

    Thanks papromike

    I don’t need to use Vlans as I have a dedicated hardware switch for ACE.

    The Yellobrik OBD1510-E is capable of running at 10, 100 or 1000 mBit/sec. When it is connected to an ACE port, the led indicators show that it has auto selected a speed of 100mBit/sec.

    Assuming you use a gigabit switch, can I ask, does your ACE circuit auto sense 100mBit/sec or is at forced speed setting. There is a suggestion that ACE may be having problems negotiating line speed, but I don’t know how to verify this.

    IDR48 – T112 – Dante card

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