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Aetria related FAQs

  • What are the features of Aetria Workstation Standard and Pro?
    The differences are specified on the Aetria datasheet and summarized below:
    FeatureStandardProfessional
    Number of Workstation MonitorsUp to 4Unlimited
    HD Monitor SupportYesYes
    4K Monitor SupportYesYes
    Mixed HD and 4K Monitor SupportNoYes
    Create Desktop TemplatesYesYes
    Access Aetria Network Sources (via user rights management)YesYes
    ActiveSQX and/or Video Capture SupportNoYes
    Access to Aetria Network Manager and Command Center ComponentsYesYes
  • This is an AVoIP solution yet you still require a VSN wall controller?

    A video wall controller is not required to use Aetria.

    You can create purely AVoIP switched matrixes using either Arqa or Aligo devices to connect sources directly to screens. The addition of a VSN wall controller adds a huge level of flexibility in terms of creating multiple video walls, visualization of a large number of source types, local applications and full windowing capability across the display surfaces.

  • How many simultaneous Datapath Agent connections does Aetria Workstation support?
    It is limited only by the processing power and network bandwidth of the Aetria Workstation, and testing is recommended in each case.
  • What frame rate / colour depth does Datapath Agent support?
    Datapath Agent streams are provided in 16-bit format.
  • What does Datapath Agent support for multi-head sources look like (how does the operator interact with the remote system)?
    Datapath Agent makes a single session between the client and each host, and can stream up to a 4K resolution. Multi-headed sources with total desktop resolution up to 4K can therefore be used. The stream appears as a downscaled client window at the operator end which includes the entire remote surface within one window, or just a part of it.
  • Can Arqa be upgraded to handle HDCP (consistent with Aligo) in an Aetria system?

    No.

  • What advantages does Aetria offer versus WallControl 10 Pro in a basic deployment?
    Aetria is a solution for the full control room including remote access to secured network distributed sources and focuses much more on live operator workstation interactivity as well as collaborative sharing of critical information with peers, rather than just a video wall manipulation tool. It also aims to simplify the system design and deployment challenges in a way that has not been done before.
  • Can I “upgrade” a WallControl 10 already installed in a VSN to Aetria?
    Please contact our Sales Team if you are interested in upgrading an existing WallControl 10 and VSN installation.
  • How does the Aetria Network Manager “redundancy” work if I have multiple geographic locations? Can I have a Aetria Network Manager in one location and a redundant Aetria Network Manager in another location? Will both locations continue to work if the link between them goes down? Buying four Network Managers to implement redundancy for this scenario seems excessive.

    Redundancy at this time means having two Aetria Network Managers in the same building and connected to the same LAN. These will track each other and support automatic failover.

  • How does audio distribution work with Aligo / Aetria Workstation / Aetria WallControl?

    Aligo audio capabilities are specified on the datasheet.

    Aetria Workstation uses the in-built windows mixer to listen to audio from remote streams which can be enabled and selected via the interface for each source.

  • Can I crop a portion of the 4K60 source to be compressed over the 1GbE?
    The high compression ratio of SQX streams means that the full stream for each input can always be sent with very little wasted bandwidth. As the decoding end streams can be cropped out to view only the portion of interest via ActiveSQX cropping.
  • Are we encoding in NV12, YUV 4:2:0 or other?
    The codec is capable of 4:2:2 encoding for premium quality, but at launch it will use 4:2:0 for the widest compatibility with decoders.
  • Do we encode video and audio or only video?

    Video and audio is encoded.

  • How many Screens can be connected to Aetria Workstation?

    8 screens. These can be in either 4K or HD.

  • Is the connection between Aetria Workstation and a Datapath Agent source encrypted?
    The session passwords are encrypted. The video data stream is not.
  • What is the CPU, memory and network requirements on both the source and the Aetria Workstation for a Datapath Agent connection?
    The bandwidth and processing requirements for Datapath Agent depend entirely on content being sent and is most suitable for static images. Only the moving parts in the image are sent for each frame, so static images use much less bandwidth than moving video, which will have a lower update rate. It can use anywhere between 10Kbps up to a much higher amount depending on content.
  • What are my options to KVM to a remote system when using Aetria Workstation if I am not permitted to install Datapath Agent on any source?

    Either Arqa or Aligo transmitters can be used in this case. Both of these options provide a fully accelerated intra-frame encoding scheme that is designed from the outset to send live video streams by computing the whole frame, on every frame. These methods also require no direct network connectivity to the remote source, making them suitable for applications that require ‘pixel only’ interaction with secured sources and where more intensive day-to-day interactivity is also required.

    For Aetria Workstations that require KVM connectivity to remote sources without installing Agent on the source itself, then Arqa receivers can be used at the workstation with capture cards installed.

  • If I have a multi-head Aetria Workstation, can I have a template with a single window drop area that is larger than a single screen or crosses a bezel?
    Currently templates are applied within individual workstation screens, with a minimum division of 2 sources per screen. To achieve one source per screen, four sources can be placed on each screen and maximized which will snap each to the full screen size.
  • Can Aetria Workstation run on a Datapath controller with several displays connected to the controller’s Datapath graphics outputs?

    Yes. In this instance the controller would require an Aetria Workstation license and not an Aetria WallControl license.

    A Datapath specified platform for Aetria Workstation can support up to two Image4K graphics cards, and Vision capture but the software running on it is very much Aetria Workstation, so it should not be expected to support all the functions of an Aetria Wall Controller.

    The primary job of Aetria Workstation is to integrate many types of applications onto one surface and to promote free working and collaboration between operators on any workstation whilst keeping workflow fast, efficient and usable. Since the platform used can also be any that runs Windows 10, then extra care should be taken when considering using the workstation itself to run any graphically intensive or CPU intensive applications such as those that use DirectX or OpenGL, as in these situations workstation performance is not quantifiable by Datapath and depends entirely on the specific applications used.

    In some cases, it may be best to run these applications on a dedicated hardware platform that has been specifically performance tuned to run them, and then simply visualise that platform with KVM control from any workstation. In this way the workstation resource itself is not used, which allows a much more scalable interaction with multiple applications of this type from any workstation, resulting in a better user experience for the operator and bringing an unlimited amount of processing power to each operator from any location where there is a workstation terminal.

  • Will Aetria allow an entire video wall to be shared as a single stream to another location (understanding the video fidelity limitations)?

    Entire video walls for live viewing can be replicated using Aligo at full frame rate, but they are not sent as a single stream. Where we have this kind of requirement, we suggest using Aligo transmitters as outputs from a VSN, and then replicate each stream to as many screens as needed using Aligo network multicasting as a scalable performance guaranteed method or replicating screens within any size of deployment.

  • Can Aetria Workstation stop and start (and position / reposition) locally installed applications on a layout change / user login?

    Yes, providing multiple users all have access to the same applications then the application will open for any user.

  • Can I use the Aetria API (eg from a Crestron controller or a Stream Deck) to change the remote system(s) that an Aligo receiver connects to?
    The API will allow similar functionality to what is offered with WallControl 10 i.e. layout changing etc allowing users to focus on which sources go to which displays, rather than considering the specific device routing.
  • Can the Quant integration be used in an “unmanned” mode? Can I have a server in the rack room with multiple open windows and connect to any of those windows without a user having to click a “permission” button on the server?
    Quant is currently not supported within Aetria.
  • Does Aetria support IPv6?
    Aetria operates on a private and closed network on which all Aligo devices communicate to and from the Aetria Network Manager using IPv6. In that sense, it supports IPv6. The only time this becomes important for a customer to know, is when choosing and configuring the network switch itself. This needs to be IPv6 enabled for routing and for mDNS discovery services to operate. Otherwise, it is entirely transparent to the user.
  • Can I turn off the AES Encryption on the 1GbE for viewing on unencrypted endpoints like SOC in a display, mobile phone, storage device? If so, how is that done?
    You cannot turn on or off AES Encryption for an SQX or DS10G stream, but ActiveSQX will support the encryption in future updates to accommodate Aetria. However, one copy of each SQX stream is available via password protected unicast RTSP if this is enabled via the Aetria interface for that source. This allows authorized users to access particular streams on their laptops or mobile devices without requiring encryption/decryption if the admin has allowed it.
  • Can a user configure the 1GbE stream for restreaming?
    How we manage encoding of sources and what level of user configurability we offer to the user is currently under consideration. Initially a subset of encoding profiles will be chosen and dependent on our quality and streaming reliability validation.