[SpazzParticipant]

UPDATE! I found said document.

https://www.allen-heath.com/media/AH-dLive-for-IT-managers.pdf

BUT (you knew it was coming) I have criticism:

1.) It’s titled …for IT Managers not audio guys, system techs, band engineers, console operators, screeches, so forth.
2.) It’s buried in the Resources area of the site, which searches only by tags it seems.
3.) The only tag attributed to this document is ‘White Papers’ – not dLive as many others are.
4.) Searching the Resources area for ‘network*’ turned up with nothing since no document in the repository is tagged as such.

Look, all (especially A&H product management), I’m not here to be inflammatory. This is my first exposure to anything digital from A&H. Seriously – the last A&H I was on was an ML4K or 5K. I’ve genuinely enjoyed my experiences with the dLive platform over the last few short months. I do, however, see opportunities for better dissemination of relevant operational information (e.g. network topology and bridging behaviours, show file locations in Director…) that will make new users of the family immediately successful rather than having to pop in here on the forum looking for tribal knowledge. That’s probably the only reason I created an account – because I couldn’t find things documented and ended up here thanks to the almighty oracle of the internet.

Front-line guys aren’t going to read a paper that says it’s for IT geeks. Shoot, I’m one by my second trade, and it took too much persistence even to find the blasted paper! Do your users a favor – especially your new ones! After all, they are the most important. The fanboys will usually keep being fanboys – it’s the brand-new, have-never-touched-one-before users you have to convince — you want them feeling comfortable and secure their first time behind it or they won’t get behind YOU. That’s all I have for now. Thanks for reading. And here’s to the next new dLive user!

[SpazzParticipant]

Thanks for the information on the I/O cards. But is the fact that the (giga)ACE link bridges the control network ports on both ends documented? I could not confirm that behaviour using the equipment and software manuals without coming to the forum and relying upon either (1) someone already having posed the question or (2) waiting for an asynchronous reply to my own inquiry.

If some publicly available document exists, I’d be interested to know of its location. If it doesn’t exist, perhaps it should?

The way the dLive hardware looks and feels, it’s quite understandable that most users are going to assume that the components, from a networking perspective, are endpoint devices, not bridged via their backhaul link. So, if they’re like me and don’t bother deploying STP on a straight-line topology, or don’t know differently, they could put themselves in a quandary without sufficient knowledge of the source of their self-induced problems.

[SpazzParticipant]

Yep, thanks, Sherlock. Very informative and productive response. Read that before my first show advance a few months back. BUT —

1.) Does the manual discuss the folder structure?
2.) If you are getting a show file emailed to you, is it clear in the manual how to load that file into Director?
3.) What about transferring an emailed file to a surface or rack?

(Hint: the answers are NO. So, the RTFM retort you offered in this case is less than helpful.)

Most consoles these days (and from the past) are looking in the root of the removable mass storage file system for files to transfer. Additionally, their offline editors tend to offer more direct methods of data manipulation, e.g. Open, Save, Save as, etc. (again, at large, but not universally – I’m looking at you, Congo). That’s what most of the world is used to, whether they’re screetches or squints.

There’s nothing wrong with a support forum such as A&H provides, and it is quite a worthwhile resource. The point is no one should have to go digging through it to get a show loaded on a desk or offline editor when the majority of the world offers a more straightforward method that most users have muscle memory built to accomplish without thought. That’s what the manual is for, after all – to be a comprehensive reference. The passage you provided is far from that objective. If happen to own one (or work for a house who does), you might not understand the hair pulling and consternation, as you likely started with the hardware at your fingertips. We hired guns don’t often have that opportunity.

Like I said, I found the solution. However, at an altitude of 38,000 ft I didn’t have this forum at my disposal and was left with only my computer and my powers of deduction.

So, I say again, to A&H’s technical writers: Your brand-new users are baffled by this obscure process. Please address in your documentation. Some of us don’t have the luxury of time or unfettered internet access to figure out your file management quirks before our first show on your desk – quite a nice one, I might add. Arming oneself with software, a file, and a manual should be all that is required. Thank you for your consideration.

[SpazzParticipant]

@oleglaptsai and anyone else on a Mac:

You don’t have to stick your files in the application package. Here’s what I did to figure out how it worked:

In Director under the system tab, choose your desktop for the USB path. Then store a show (which will by default put it in the application package since that is “system storage” from Director’s perspective) and copy it to USB. You’ll see a folder populate on your desktop named AllenHeath-dLive and underneath it will be Libraries and Shows. I assume from here you can figure out where your show was exported <wink>. The kicker is that this folder structure has to be copied to your actual USB stick (starting with the AllenHeath-dLive folder) in order for the live system to find your show. You could do the same fact-finding process with a USB stick – I just did it that way since my first exposure to dLive was getting a show advance via email.

I ended up pointing Director at my iCloud drive so it’s with me and up-to-date with whatever Mac I have at my disposal that week. If any of you Mac people are power users, you could probably even set up an Automator script to sync the folder location on your machine with a specific USB stick that you use on your shows. I haven’t gotten around to trying that yet. Kids and day jobs, you know…

@ A&H folks – the documentation on this process is lacking at best. Please make it easier for the new users you hope to adopt in the future.

[SpazzParticipant]

Chiming in here. Is it also true that there is not static screen real estate for the clock? The only place I see it on our C3500s is the system status screen; when many other manufacturers have room carved out for the clock at all times.

[SpazzParticipant]

@senny, I would venture to guess that your switch has STP enabled then which would prevent a bridge loop. The behaviour I witnessed when I did so (on a switch with STP disabled) was a packet storm that even caused the CDM rack and C surface to lose connectivity to each other.

@nicola, is this documented anywhere? I’ve come across the same behaviour in the last few shows and suspected that this was the situation – as control was fine until I tried plugging in both the rack and surface to the control network. I couldn’t find it mentioned in the dLive firmware guide or the few network-specific white papers I found on the site.

Out of curiosity, is this internal interface bridging also a “feature” with the I/O card slots? I have a Dante 64×64 card in switched mode in the rack – had the same thing happen when connecting the control port on the I/O card to the network.

[Author]

Posts