Tips
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We at MitreBox love discovering secrets and have created this section for you, the AV professional. We'll share things that we've learned from others and on the job. And by all means, if you have a tip you would like to share, please write us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your nuggets of truth! Regards, The MitreBox Guys |
Tip #6: IP AddressesWe have centered on a new paradigm for assigning IP's to control systems, and I think it works well. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is wonderful and makes connecting to a network much faster than connecting to a non-DHCP network. However, care should be used when configuring your network so that address conflicts do not occur, the master machine's address can be easily resolved and any machine substitutions can be quickly made. We recommend that the master controller have a fixed address. And rather than use the MAC address assigning capability of the router, place the master's address (and any other fixed address) outside the pool of DCHP addresses. For example, if your DHCP range is from 100 to 199 you can configure your network as
-dbi Tip #5: Useful WiFi ToolsHaving good tools sure helps when time is important (and who's time isn't?). When diagnosing wireless Ethernet issues having a good picture of the wireless environment helps when choosing channels for the Access Point you may be setting up. Here are some good tools: inSSIDer from MetaGeek.http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider This tool uses your computer's wireless interface to graphically shows the strength of the signals bombarding you at any given time. It will plot a graph of signal strength vs. time and signal strength vs. frequency. Very handy.
Also useful is Network Stumblerhttp://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/ NetStumbler was my staple in investigating the wireless networks around me until I found inSSIDer. All the Best, -dbi Tip #4: What to do in a crowded Linksys wireless environmentDear Readers, I found myself in a building that had (and I asked) 200 wireless access points. I was trying to implement a wireless network for a Crestron system. And as you would expect, the wireless panel had a hard time connecting to the master controller. This caused the panel to act erratically and was not going to be a good solution. I tried altering the channel settings on the Linksys router so that the router was using the least used channel. I also tried leaving the router on 'auto' so that it chose the best channel. Neither solution worked. In the end, the solution that worked was to use a Netgear router. Once it was set up, the panel never dropped it's connection to the master. -dbi Tip #3: N-mode Wi-Fi Routing Can, and Will, Hurt You (If you're an AMX panel)!OK, it won't actually do your body any physical harm (that we know of), but if you deal with AMX wireless (Wi-Fi) touchpanels N-mode Wi-Fi can lock them up. As you may know, the WiFi standard has three protocols in use today, 802.11b, 802.11g and the recently released 802.11n. We have written this tip to let you know that the current models (as of 2010) of AMX panels that utilize WiFi, specifically the MVP-8400 and MVP-5200 families, have problems when communicating with a router which is set to the 802.11n. Sometimes, these panels will lock up and have to be reset. I have seen this once, and this problem was verified with AMX technical support. Make sure when you are setting up a wireless router to work with your AMX system that you set the router to a mix of 'b and g', not to 'n'. -dbi Tip #2: Choosing Channels on a Wi-Fi RouterEthernet 802.11b and 802.11g are wireless Ethernet (Wi-Fi) standards that have been with a while. And I thought I had a good working knowledge of how the standard worked, but I didn't know one crucial bit of information. In America, there are 11 channels used for Wi-Fi. These are labeled channels 1 through 11. The fact I didn't know was that each of the channels overlap in frequencies! So, if you select channel 1 for one access point, and channel 2 for another in close proximity. These two access points will interfere with each other. If you do not want your Access Points to overlap you must only set them to channels 1, 6 and 11. Channels 1, 6 and 11 will not interfere with each other. Happy Radiating! -dbi Tip #1: My New Eiki no LikeyFor anyone who uses Eiki Projectors and controls them via RS232: Certain new Eiki projectors have a "Standby Mode" that saves power when the projector is off by shutting down certain "non-essential" projector components, like the RS232 card and Ethernet port. The factory default config sets this mode to "Eco" which means that if the projector is already on, all the commands work. If the projector is off, no commands work, including the ON command. This is a problem. When you need to control one of these projectors with RS232, make sure you set the Standby Mode to "Network" instead of "Eco." Menu -> Settings -> Standby mode -> Set to "Network" Known models affected: LC-XBL20, LC-XBL25 John King |
