My config :
- Cisco Catalyst 3560G (WS-C3560G-48TS version 12.2(55)SE7)
- Axia iQ QOR32
- PC Windows 8 with Axia Driver 2.6.1.18 and Intel Gigabit Network Card
We are having a similar problem here in Austin. Within a 15 minute period of recording we caught 4 of these drops. These drop occur all the time. There is no period of logging that I have checked that did not have these drops in it.
I have torn my network apart looking for the root cause. We have the same setup as you. The network hardware is a Cisco 2948G configured to Axia specs per their documentation. My network is running nominally at about 200Mbit. None of the switch ports are logging any errors. I do not believe that my switch is the cause.
I placed my automation on an analog ASI 6640 card and brought it into the Axia via an Analog IO. I wanted to discount my automation system and the Axia IP Audio driver as the culprit. I double punched the analog output and logged it on a separate computer. I had the drop outs on my main VMIX but not on the analog outputs. This confirmed that my drop outs are an Axia issue.
I then took a iProfiler log of the output of my PGM1 bus on my element console and compared that to my main VMIX output to my STL. I found that the PGM1 bus of the board did not have the drop outs and the VMIX output did.
So, at this point I am gearing up to swap my Studio Engine with another one I have on site to see if the problem is in the VMIX. The studio engine is running at around 80% utilization. I have streamlined my VMIX's to get that percentage lower with no avail. The drop outs persist.
I would like to hear if you ever were able to isolate and fix this issue on your network. It would be nice to find that out before I go and swap my gear around.
In Fabien's case, the drop outs may be in the input to the PC. The evidence of this is in the RxUr and RxSeqErr.
RxUr is an under run counter, which is a situation where the receiver buffer went empty before another packet was received. This can cause audio break
RxSeqErr is sequence error counter, each packet has a sequence ID and it is expected that the next packet in the stream is one more than the previous. If not, SeqErr. This is evident of dropped packets.
This performance can be due to network issues or windows antivirus software or Firewall software.
In KFMK's case, the engine utilization is rather high. Which hardware version of Engine and which software. It is possible the engine isn't able to keep up to the load. In older software versions, the CPU utilization reporting was not able to show peak utilization. At 80%, it is likely the CPU is peaking at 100% occasionally and a lost cycle may occur. Attempt to reduce mic processing on any channels that have them applied to see if this reduces the utilization and the drops.
You can also attempt to reduce amount of inputs into the Engine... or make more of those inputs standard stream over Live stream.
Before I forget: You guys rock. You have been great with the help and I really appreciate it!!
I was wondering about high CPU utilization myself. I can move some of my mixes around to reduce the load on this studio engine. I have 2 engines and the other one is barely used. I have set almost all of the streams for my vmixes to standard stereo as well. This did not have a noticeable effect on the utilization.
I was also wondering if a CPU upgrade to the unit might be in order. The unit takes a Core Duo 2500. The Core2Duo 7500 is a direct drop in replacement. maybe reducing the mixes and upgrading the CPU will help.
Thanks for all the help so far!
AXIA_milos wrote:In KFMK's case, the engine utilization is rather high. Which hardware version of Engine and which software. It is possible the engine isn't able to keep up to the load. In older software versions, the CPU utilization reporting was not able to show peak utilization. At 80%, it is likely the CPU is peaking at 100% occasionally and a lost cycle may occur. Attempt to reduce mic processing on any channels that have them applied to see if this reduces the utilization and the drops.
You can also attempt to reduce amount of inputs into the Engine... or make more of those inputs standard stream over Live stream.
I just spoke with the support tech on your case and he will work with you on attempting to reduce CPU. Drop in CPU is not a very common practice. A customer in France did this and I'm not sure how successful that was as they later upgraded to the Fanless Engines. We later saw their original units and they did some tweaking to the BIOS which caused issues for us. We don't have any experience with upgrading the CPU, so if you do so, you will be a little on your own. First lets get the CPU utilization lowered. If we can't, I will suggest looking at upgrade options to the Fanless Engines.
