sACN and ArtNet

Question

Hello! 
 I'm runing a Win7 CongoJR with Cobalt on. 
 I am now using sACN over ethernet to my gateway. But I also have some ArtNet only devices and I wonder if it's bad to run dubble protocols out from the JR on the same ethernet port. I would like to keep the sACN line for DMX in and so. 
 I guess It will be up to 5-8 universes in total. 
 Thanks.

Richard · Accepted Answer

The Art-Net and sACN universe counts in their specification/standards are the absolute maximums. They are the theoretical limit if you had infinite bandwidth and infinite processing capability. In real life, you have neither of those. Art-Net (Art-DMX) tops out at around 4-8 universes. This is primarily because the receiving devices can't cope and the switches think it looks like an attack on the network infrastructure. Some networks and receiving devices can handle more, some cannot. Art-Net 2/3 can increase the universe count if you have a small number of receiving devices that each want multiple universes, but they don't work at all if you have "many" receivers. 
 sACN tops out at around 150 universes on 100Mb/s network links, with any number of receiving devices. To go higher you need managed switches and at least some gigabit or better backbones. General rules of thumb: - Maximum of 4 universes of Art-Net Art-DMX, unless you really have to. - All universes of sACN. 
 (As Corey said, Art-Net 4 lets you use sACN instead, so do that if you can.)

corey cascio · Answer

Hi Johannes, 
 unfortunately this is not just a yes or no answer. 
 Its like asking if you could drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi at the same time. 
 Yes, if you had two straws, and drank small amounts from both glasses, this would work at the same time. 
 But if two People held two five gallon buckets of the Coca-Cola and Pepsi drinks above your head and started pouring, 
 the experience would not be as effective. 
 Yes, you can send sACN and Artnet out of one of the network adapters at the same time, but because Artnet 1 & 2 can use lots of the network bandwidth under certain cirumstances, its best to try and limit the number of Artnet Universes to only 1 or 2 universes, specially depending on the number of devices and types of traffic on the network. 
 As sACN is very light weight, having ca. 8x sACN Universes alongside1x Universe Artnet out of the Cobalt should work ok.

sACN and ArtNet

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