Tieline TLG3 GUI saving multiple connection settings?

[Ryan]

Does anybody know if/when it will be possible to save multiple connection settings in the remote GUI?  Or if it isn't an upcoming feature can I modify some of the files to allow something similar?

Here is the deal.  I have 3 Commander G3 rack mounts in a central gear room that will need to be controlled remotely (within the same building) from different control rooms depending on what is shooting.  The problem is that the people in the control rooms are generally less technical and would prefer not to have to remember multiple IP addresses and have to re-enter them every time they want to connect.

Ideally, I'd love an option to save multiple connections in the application similar to a phone book but I realize that is a bit of work.  I'd be happy if I could just create 3 separate shortcuts or batch files on the desktop that would launch one GUI at a time without having to enter the IP addresses.

Heck, if you could even change the behavior of the 'save connection settings' dialog so that clicking "NO" didn't blow away any previously saved connection settings, at least then I could instruct the operators to open a batch file that launches all 3 GUIs then close the ones they don't need so that other rooms can connect to those.

Anyhow, sorry for the long post and slight rant but I feel like the omission of a saved connection list in this GUI app is a problem, especially when that functionality is built into the toolbox software.

[Mohsen]

Hi Ryan

My name is Mohsen and I am a software engineer at Tieline head office in  Australia.

I think there is a simple solution for your request.  You can open multiple connections from within the one instance of the G3 GUI.  Click "Add Codec" button on the toolbar. Make sure you use TCP connections, as UDP is limited to one.

If you do this, then click “Yes” in the Save connection settings dialog box when exiting the app. The next time it is reopened it should reconnect to all codecs.

I hope this helps
Cheers
Mohsen

[Ryan]

Hi Mohsen,

Thanks for the quick reply but I don't think that will work for me and here's why...

In my particular case, if a GUI is opened in one room with 3 open TCP connections as you recommend, then somebody in another room cannot open a TCP connection to any of those 3 codecs because it seems that you can only remotely control a codec from one computer at a time unless you connect one computer TCP and the other UDP.  Even then, that is a maximum of two rooms that could run this GUI simultaneously.

Your solution would work if the person in the control room could open the GUI with 3 saved connections, close the 2 that they aren't using, and then still be able to re-launch the GUI with those 3 connections saved.  As it stands now, if I close two of the connections and exit the app, my choices are to save current connection (which is only one codec at that point) or don't save (which doesn't revert to the last saved connection configuration, but instead completely erases the connection history).  If the "don't save" function would just revert to the last saved connection configuration then your solution might work.

Please let me know if I missed something or am doing something incorrectly because it's entirely possible.

[Mohsen]

Hi Ryan

Sorry, now I see your point.
You are absolutely right, and unfortunately there is no easy workaround to this with the current G3 GUI program.

In the next few weeks we are releasing a completely new Codec Management System  which, among other features, should address this issue.

I invite you to fill in a Customer Support Query form with your contact details and Subject=“Awaiting CMS Release” so that my colleagues notify you as soon as the release is available. Maybe you can get a demo even sooner!

Cheers
Mohsen

[Anthony S]

Hi Ryan,


The Codec Management System (CMS) includes a proxy service that is designed to allow multiple CMS installations to connect to a G3 at once. The following diagram depicts how this may be used.





There are 2 very useful scenarios in which this can be used:


1) The scenario where you simply want to allow multiple CMS installations to connect to a single G3 at once, where all CMS installations are on the same LAN. Note. in this scenario, you could just make one of the CMS PCs the server. The only requirement is that the CMS Proxy Server installation is running when connections are required by other CMS installations.
2) The scenario where you have your G3s on a separate LAN/WAN from your CMS installations. For example, your G3s may be on the publicly accessible internet or a distribution WAN (the red network) and your other PC's on you local private LAN (the blue network). This just requires that the CMS Proxy Server above has 2 NICs (one for each network) or the appropriate routes set for it.


The CMS Proxy Server is just a normal CMS installation, but with different configuration. For example the CMS Proxy Server above might have the following set:





While each of the other PC's would have this setting (assuming the CMS Proxy Server IP address is 192.168.0.5):





Once this is setup, you just work with Codec IP addresses as you normally would in the CMS.


Since the CMS contains a G3 GUI (as well as other very useful codec management features) and configuration is saved between startups and can be different for each PC it is installed on, this should provide for your specific needs.