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.
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.
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”?
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…
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.
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…
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.
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.