The Statistics page gives you an opportunity to view the real-time data sent or received by a transmitter or receiver when connected to a channel. By default, the Statistics are disabled on each of the endpoints.
Enabling the Statistics
[+] AIM v5.x and below
[-] AIM v6.x
- Open the AIM's web interface.
- From the Side Menu, click on System Care and choose Statistics
- You will see a list of Receivers and Transmitters that are connected to the AIM Manager. Depending on how many endpoints you have, you may need to setup through pages to find the Receiver or Transmitter that you wish to check. Some of the columns can be filtered using the Search icon.
- On the row containing the endpoint you wish to access, you need to enable the statistics by click on the graph icon.
- When the endpoints statistics are enabled, the name of the endpoint turns into a link. The link points you directly to the endpoints own web pages when clicked.
Example Pages
- The screenshot below was taken from an ALIF2000R which had very little screen activity. The graph shows multiple data series, with RX bandwidth shown as the red line and the Frame Rate is cyan, as indicated in the legend.
- The following screenshot is from an ALIF2100, but is similar for an ALIF102, ALIF1100 and ALIF4000:-
Understanding the Statistics
On the Statistics page, you will see a legend in the bottom left-hand corner. The colours and labels change depending on whether you are viewing a transmitter or receiver and how many video heads are available.
Frame Count
This is the video refresh rate shown in hertz, the graphs right-hand x-axis shows the scale. For a stable connection, the Frame Count should remain constant. If you have multiple video heads, then there are two Frame Counters, one for each video head.
Bandwidth (Mbit/s)
On the left x-axis of the graph, it shows the data in Megabits per second (Mbit/s). The amount of bandwidth available depends on the endpoint model, and its network connection type. Models with two network interfaces can be teamed, allowing the video stream to be split across both ports, effectively doubling the available bandwidth. Exceeding the available bandwidth will affect the video frame rate. The Receiver and Transmitter must have both network interfaces connected and be reachable for teaming to work.
RX & TX Bandwidth
The graph shown is dependant on whether you are accessing a Receiver or Transmitter.
- Receiver: When viewing a Receiver, the RX bandwidth data series is the primary activity shown. The TX bandwidth series is typically flat, but may show activity when data is sent back to the Transmitter, for example when using a USB flash drive.
- Transmitter: When viewing a Transmitter, the TX bandwidth data series is the primary activity shown. The RX bandwidth series is usually flat, but may increase if a large amount of USB data is being received from a Receiver.
Troubleshooting
- Ensure that the RX or TX bandwidth remains within the maximum available limit. A static video image should require little bandwidth; if it is already using several hundred Mbit/s when static and increased activity causes it to exceed the available bandwidth, the host may be dithering its video output.
- Should you experience blinding/artifacts or intermittent loss of video, this is the result of packet loss. Causes of packet loss:-
- Insufficient network bandwidth. Ensure that you have provisioned the network bandwidth between switches.
- IGMP has not been configured or configured correctly.
Solutions
Video Dithering or Noise Reduction
When the video is output is idle, the video data sent and received should be neglectable. However, if you are finding that bandwidth is high then this can be the result of video dithering or video noise that can be introduced if you are doing any kind of video conversion. The second generation of Infinity (does not include the ALIF1000's) has a function called Magic Eye. With this enabled, it can help to reduce the bandwidth.
Changing the Compression
On the second generation of Infinity endpoints (not ALIF1000's), their codecs support compression. You can change the video compression from Pixel Perfect to Smoothest Video (not available on ALIF1000's) this further reduces the data bandwidth overhead.
Use Teaming
When using both the SFP and copper ports on the endpoints (both TX and RX) you double the amount of bandwidth available. This is sometimes necessary if you are using dual video outputs and there is a lot of activity on both video heads at the same time.