Is a special switch(s) required when putting show in multicast mode?

[Greg.Ca]

I've always used unicast mode as this has always worked. Is there an advantage with high universe counts and high channel counts to go to multicast?

And if that is the case, is there a special type of switch that is required when going to multicast mode? IGMP snooping?

I really don't know the advantages and disadvantages of either unicast or multicast. Can someone explain the differences, advantages and disadvantages of both unicast or multicast?

Thanks --Greg--

[jnealand]

I've read a number of good posts on unicast vs multicast on doityourselfchristmas.com.  I would suggest going there and doing a search.  This is a question like should I power everything off during the day.  Ask 100 users and get 100 answers.  Everyone has an opinion.  I'm a multicast user mainly because I started with DLA smart strings and that was the only option I was aware of plus I do not use any controllers that that get an IP address.  At least so far.  Also multicast seems a lot easier to manage for me.

[drlucas]

This may help --> likely the same thing that Jim mentioned..

http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=E1.31_(Streaming-ACN)_Protocol#Advantages_of_Unicast_vs._Multicast

I don't really think it matters on a home network....if you were setting this up in a commercial environment with a complex network with firewalls you might then have to do some real consideration, but I don't spend time worrying about this. Most my setup is unicast when I do my testing in xlights to the FPD.

[ronp]

Unicast is not in the specification for ACN E1.31. This was added for the original San Device controller that used a Wiznet Ethernet adapter. This adapter only supports 6 connections or six IP addresses. So using this controller limits you to 6 universes of data. A uni-cast controller establishes an IP address with the controlling computer, where multicast messages have pre-defined IP addresses and just broadcast the data on the network.

With unicast your router will know which port the computer is on and only send the messages to the correct port. If a message is broadcast, it will go out all of the ports. If the controller supports the IGMP message sets, it will tell the router which ports it is support for broadcast messages. So in the end, there is very little difference between the two message sets.

However, it is recommended that you use a separate network or a Falcon Pi player for your show. This way your internet traffic does not interfere with the timing of your show messages. In reality if you don't have a large show it really shouldn't matter, it is just best practice.

Ron