Stereo Tool

I have 2 studios running music automation 24/7, and if the connection goes down at the main studio I need the MPX signal from the remote studio to take over til the main studio signal returns.

How do I setup this functionality?

Do I have to use a particular encoder version? (1, 2, 3, or 4?)

I tried setting the silence detection slider for local playback to 5 seconds (we absolutely never have 5 seconds of natural silence) but not actually checking to use local playback, and entered the port for the second MPX stream (different and port forwarded) and tried the combinations for either one or both having priority checks selected, and even manually stopped the main studio MPX encoding, which only resulted in dead air, with no switching to the remote studio stream.

Both studios are the same distance away, and use the same Fiber provider, so it shouldn't be a difference in connection quality... nothing seems to make the remote studio ever connect.

I get the idea that maybe there's something wrong with the Version 4 encoder? (If so, why is it in StereoTool:IO:uMPX settings without a note that it doesn't work with uMPX Receiver?
(speaking of notes, there used to be rollover notes for most things, and now I am not really seeing those for much of anything in the newest version of ST)

I am hoping to be able to get this working, and then add a 3rd MPX license if I can set order of priority beyond the 1st and 2nd...

Any help, and maybe a new MPX/uMPX manual that actually covers setting up a live backup source to feed a uMPX receiver from 2 locations would be very much appreciated.
I do want the 3rd for doing live remotes, where the remote could take over simply by starting up a laptop pre-configured for staff to use at remote locations with sufficient bandwidth and low latency. I think it should be able to do it, since there are more than 2 possible entries for sources in the uMPX receiver.

I did read in the recent changelog that it's newer than what we are running now, so it's time for an upgrade... Planning on a late night upgrade at the transmitter site, soon.


Thanks in advance,
Aaron

Did I post the question in the wrong category of the forums?

Without a manual or Wiki to consult, that leaves me asking in here.

I have a studio that's supposed to go live Monday and apparently nobody knows how to have a second source streaming to a MicroMPX receiver to do failover switching from a stopped stream to a secondary or backup stream using priority...

Hopefully someone that knows why the 2nd stream doesn't work, when I manually stop the primary studio Stereo Tool fron encoding will show up with something helpful.

I can add that the main studio, which has been running for years, uses Version 4 of the MPX encoder streamer, and so should the backup studio. I made the settings exactly the same as the main studio, but the Transmitter site micro MPX never switches to it whether the priority check box is selected for either stream on the receive end. (yes, the 2nd stream is on a different port, and that port is forwarded through the router)

That's more details.

All sites are fiber and gigabit ethernet, so latencies are under 25ms end to end between the Micro MPX receiver and either source.


If anyone can help, it would be very much appreciated.

I've posted your issue in the Discord and haven't received a reply there either. I hope you find your answer in time.

edit: Ah, you're a prince, Hans.

Sorry, we're busy setting up for a trade show. Here's what I've answered to a support ticket about this issue:
No - I recommend always using version 4 for best results, but it doesn't affect failover.
There is no silence detector in the MicroMPX decoder, so I don't understand what you did. There is a silence detector in Stereo Tool, but that doesn't appear to be what you're describing here.

If you disable the MPX encoding completely, it should switch over to the backup stream as soon as a new keyframe arrives - typically that's within 250 ms, depending on the encoder settings the maximum possible time is 5 seconds.
Version 4 works fine and is currently in use at thousands of stations. I do assume that you have a version 4 decoder as well?
Well, you can set which one has priority. Actually in the code they have priority levels, but we have never exported that to the user interface because nobody has ever needed that, so far anyway... So you can mark 1 or 2 as priority. Whenever one of the priority streams comes in it will immediately take over.
Ah, so that's why you want levels... We don't have that now, at least not in the GUI...
I don't know which version you're using, but if the decoder has room for multiple ports, it's a pretty new one and switchover should work flawlessly. I don't know what's going on. From your email it seemed that the 2nd signal does't arrive at all, that would point at some network (potentially port forwarding) issue.

Ok, so something must be wrong with that 2nd stream. I can't tell you what it is - but there is no difference between the main and backup stream, so if it doesn't work, that means that it doesn't arrive at the decoder.

Do you get any error messages? If you use encryption of the streams, and haven't set the password on the new one, that could explain things - but you should immediately see lots of error messages in that case.

Thing to test: Check the network traffic in Task Manager on the decoder system. When you start the 2nd encoder, the amount of data should significantly increase. If it doesn't, the data doesn't arrive at the target system at all.