AVKans PTZ control

[jwsmith1965]

I have the camera AV-E20-NDI from AVKans. They tell me it is PTZoptics visca compatible. Using there software it will control but only with UDP 1259. If I put port 1259 in the PTZoptics connection it fails to connect with no entry in the log file of companion. Is there a way to force the PTZoptics to use UDP and not TCP

[josephdadams]

The Sony visca one uses UDP

[jwsmith1965]

Thanks for the reply!

I tried the sony visca and have attached data comparing AVKans software output to Sony visca from companion. The sony visca connection does attach to the camera, according to the companion screen. I used wireshark to compare the data. Notice that the sony visca adds 8 extra bytes of data to the camera command. I also used "packet sender" to send the basic command data and it will control the camera. If possible to modify the sony visca connection to remove the extra data maybe it will control. avkans camera debug.pdf

[josephdadams]

what about the lumens-visca module?

[jwsmith1965]

I will try it later today. I did not know it was visca since 'visca' was not in the name on companion.

Thanks!

On 2023-03-23 09:49, Joseph Adams wrote:

what about the lumens-visca module?

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[jwsmith1965]

I just tried lumens and it is very similar to sony data package. It has extra data at the beginning of the command data (capturing the data with wireshark). camera just ignores it. Any other ideas?

[josephdadams]

Other than your original suggestion, no. The module needs to be rewritten for companion v3 API anyway, I'll transfer this over to that repo and we can consider it a feature request

[jwnichols3]

I recently purchased an AVKANS AV-JOY-IP controller and it only supports UPD. I opened a support ticket to see if there is a firmware update and the support team let me know that AV-JOY-IP chipset doesn't support TCP. I asked if there are plans to support TCP and the response is "No. We are considering a new controller."

Adding UDP support to the Visca module is most welcomed!

[josephdadams]

The Sony visca module uses UDP

[jswalden]

As best I can tell, this issue is more or less a request for the PTZOptics module to support not merely a TCP connection to the camera, but alternatively a UDP connection.

I don't think this is desirable. TCP provides ordering and guarantee of receipt of sent and received data -- the absence of which on small-scale A/V networks probably rarely happens, but is at least a theoretical undesired complication. UDP reordering is especially unideal depending on the commands sent: reordering preset recalls could be especially visibly bad.

More, at least based on my limited testing, PTZOptics supports UDP using literally the same VISCA packet structure as with TCP. But if you lack the extra eight bytes present in the "encapsulated" VISCA protocol, in the presence of unfortunate reordering of packets I don't think you can associate responses with commands/inquiries any more, not perfectly, because you don't get the sequence number you need to do it. Which means, with current code representing commands/inquiries as promises that resolve/reject when the command/inquiry response is received, I'm not even sure you can do that any more.

That all adds up to enough reason to close this as not wanted, IMO. (And all the more so when it sounds like other camera control modules do actually speak UDP.)