Quote Originally Posted by Sandals512
thats a decent idea, but that would then lead to having that app open on all of them, possibly creating more work during heavier loads.

Not necessarily - The 'Soft DP200' would only have to work on ONE Mac (or a totally separate one to a catalyst server?.) since it would be decoding and sending to all relevant Artnet universes, and therefore devices, on the same ethernet Artnet network.

Catalyst already has the ability to patch to a specific Artnet DMX universe. So only one instance of the 'Soft DP2000' would have to be running on ONE Server in a network?. I guess the only limitation would be how many DMX universes a DP2000 can decode?. This could be more for a 'soft DP2000'??

I program catalyst shows with a 'spare' server sitting next to me at FOH. I use it as a 'remote control' server. I run catalyst to access its remote functions and the remote preview screens (albeit layers 1-4 - not 5-8!!!) I also use VNC and other network tools to communicate with servers, over ethernet, at remote backstage locations. The last show I set up had no keyboards, mice or monitors in the servers? we just used VNC to access the servers when necessary and a Chronosync to update the content from the FOH server?.

My point is: On shows where you would need this level of technology, you would probably have a decent network environment set-up. Therefore - running the 'soft DP2000' application on the FOH server would be a viable option. (in this scenario)

SO you wouldn?t have to run it on all Catalyst Servers - which would save processing? For simpler shows - you probably wouldn?t be using a HogIII anyway??!! Even then - a few universes on 2 servers probably wouldn?t add much to the overall system strain with an app running on one server...