Manuals/Userful Network Video Wall/Release Notes/8.0

Copyright © 2020 Userful Corporation. All rights reserved.
(Updated 2020.02.26)

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Introduction

Userful Network Video Wall™ enables you to group many displays to form a large display using one host PC/server. Userful's video wall solution is designed to use both the CPU and the GPU to maximize performance.

Component Package Versions

• Userful Control Center: userful-control-center-0.7.163.345e853-1.el7.x86_64
• EST Driver: nhci-0.9.21-1dkms.userful2.25.52bee5f.el7.x86_64
• SMSC Driver: xf86-video-smsc-2.3.36.7998178-1.el7.x86_64

Bundled with CentOS 7.1 (with Xorg-1.15.0-33.el7.userful0_1.x86_64 and kernel version kernel-3.10.0-229.7.2.el7.x86_64)

Installation

Download Userful Network Video Wall™ 8.0 ISO and create an installation disk You can also use a USB key to install the ISO.

Features

Userful Network Video Wall™ 8.0 comes with exciting new features and improvements.

Video Wall Enhancements

• Optimized video wall playback for CPU utilization
• Optimized switching between session containers
• Enabled high frame-rate videos to playback at 30fps with reasonable CPU usage
• Enhanced MJPEG encoder in SMSC driver
• Improved calibration process
• Improved playback synchronization
• Improved general stability

Ability to Preset Video Wall Zones

• Create presets layouts to output multiple content sources on a video wall. For more information, visit Zone Settings
• Intuitive drag and drop interface to assign zones to session containers
• Start and Stop zone playback with one click
• Choose canvas size, select input station, route sound to host PC/server or input station and enable GPU Acceleration for the zone

More Session Containers, More Possibilities

• Added Program Runner session container for running full-screen X Windows applications
• Added DVD Player session container (optional download)
• Added Blackmagic DeckLink Capture session container for Blackmagic's DeckLink and Intensity Pro HDMI capture cards
• Added Video Capture session container to support:
  • V4L based HDMI/SDI Capture Cards
  • USB Webcams

Userful Network Video Wall™ 8.0 supports multiple capture cards. Talk to your Userful representative for more info.
Integration with New Content Management System

• PADS4 Viewer
• Signagelive Player
• UIEvolution

Control Center Improvements

• Significant performance improvement and responsiveness
• Bring up Station's Settings by clicking any station under Station Mapping
• Added ability to renumber the Station IDs
• Improved Manage Licensing UI
• Added support for persistent Web Browser sessions
• Added new Slideshow Timer option for Signage Player session container
• Fixed "Drag and Drop" support for Internet
• Intelligent updates of changed session container sessions
• Web GUI improvements for tablets

Core Enhancements

• Upgraded to base RHEL 7.1/CentOS 7.1
• Significant performance improvements
  • Faster host PC/server start up and shutdown
  • Efficient Station start up and shutdown
• Additional diagnostics for host PC/server
• Additional network and zero-client diagnostics
• Improved logging and “report a problem” tools
• Added Automatic Firmware update process
• Improved licensing model
• Upgraded Google Chrome to version 44

Support for New Hardware

• Added support for Intel® Broadwell CPU and 5th-generation Intel® GPUs
• Added support for USB-only video walls

License Agreement

This product includes commercial software that is licensed, not sold, and is governed by an End User License Agreement (EULA). By installing, copying or using this software you acknowledge that you have read and understand this Agreement, and agree to be bound by this EULA's terms and conditions. You can review the terms of this EULA either by visiting the online copy of the EULA or by consulting the Userful-EULA.txt file included with your download.

Unlicensed Version

Userful Network Video Wall™ will operate as an unlicensed version until you purchase an appropriate license for your system. You can purchase a license from your Userful representative or visit Licensing Guide for details.

Limitations of this Version: The Userful Network Video Wall™ unlicensed software is fully functional, but will display a brief license reminder on all displays every 20 minutes or so.

What's New

• Added ability to preset video wall zones for easy switching between different layout configurations
• Significant performance improvements for host PC and zero-client start up and shut down
• Optimized video wall playback for CPU utilization and switching between session containers
• Improved calibration process and playback synchronization
• Added new session containers
  • Program Runner, to run the full-screen window applications
  • Blackmagic DeckLink Capture, to support Blackmagic's DeckLink and Intensity Pro cards
  • Video Capture, to capture live TV, V4L based HDMI/SDI cards and webcams
• Integration with New Content Management System
  • PADS4 Viewer
  • Signagelive Player
  • UIEvolution
• Added support of YUAN capture cards
• Added support for Intel® Broadwell
• Added additional diagnostics for host PC, zero-clients and network
• Enhanced MJPEG encoder in new SMSC driver
• New and improved EST driver for network stability
• Improved Control Center performance and responsiveness
• Improved general stability
• Upgraded based to CentOS 7.1

Known Issues

These are the known issues with this release of Userful Network Video Wall™.

• Atrust M321 zero-client device doesn't properly support DVI->HDMI or DVI->VGA converters (10744)
  • Workaround: Use DVI monitors only on the Atrust M321

• Images larger than 10800 x 8552 pixels may not display (10769)

Workaround: Keep images smaller than 10800 pixels wide and 8552 pixels tall

• Video wall Color Calibration does not work with host PC/server (10843)

• Color Calibration will not reapply after zero client is manually disconnected/reconnected (10861)
  • Workaround: Restart or reset the zero client

• Blackmagic session container lists down resolutions not supported by the hardware (10870)
  • Workaround: Confirm that your HDMI source media supports the resolution and frame-rate the HDMI Capture session is configured to use.

• HDMI audio not currently supported (10896)

• Nvidia onboard not supported in video wall install (10916)
  • Workaround: Userful Network Video Wall is optimized for Intel® GPUs. Use a Intel® 4th generation GPU for the best results

• Duplicate display IDs can show up in Rise Vision (CMS) interface (11029)

• When Duplicate IP address are detected in the network, the warning message displayed in Control Center is cramped (11150)

• If LAN subnet of the host PC/server overlaps with VPN (userful-remote) subnet, it will disconnect all connected zero-client devices (11160)

• Inside Scaling on rotated Signage Player video walls does not scale properly (11178)

Workaround: Use Outside Scaling

• Images with odd number of pixels not properly supported on Video Walls (11196)

Workaround: Ensure images have even number of pixels

• Control Center will make an attempt to identify frozen stations, however sometimes a station may freeze without Control Center being able to recognize it (11555)

Workaround: If a station is frozen, restart it (using "Ctrl + Alt + Backspace") and restart the host PC/server

• The browser may report the host PC/server is running on the IP 0.0.0.0, when starting Control Center early after bootup (11562)

Workaround: The problem may fix itself automatically after a few moments. Restart browser and try again

• The Show Station ID feature may not work on stations running a Linux Desktop which has been locked by the screensaver (11589)

Workaround: Unlock or disable the screensaver, then press Show Station IDs button in Control Center

• Slow USB storage transfer speeds on Linux Desktop (11612)

• Display Link devices not supported (11654)

Workaround: Display Link GPU does not provide adequate bandwidth to support video playback. Use an SMSC GPU based zero-client

• TN-750 and TN-502 devices are not supported in Video Wall solution(11668)

• Same user logged in on multiple stations cannot output sound properly (11672)

• When calibrating a video wall, unrelated video walls will be shut down. This is required because the calibration process needs to be exclusive to the host PC/server (11868)

• 3 x 3 GPU accelerated video wall can get lagged on systems without AVX2 support (11895)

Workaround: Use a host PC/server with a CPU with AVX2 support, and a 4th generation GPU or better.

• Using Blackmagic Design DeckLink Duo HDMI Capture card, transitions between HDMI capture sources can result in a flicker of 0.5 to 1.0 seconds (11918)

• Audio playback is not supported for Network Streamer Session Container (11927)

• Adding and removing a row in grid video wall can cause the video wall to miscalculate its sizes (11978)

Workaround: Close and reopen the video wall calibration dialog to resolve. Note that running video walls are unaffected by this problem

• SMSC networked zero-clients connected to fast ethernet switch may get a black screen when changing session containers (12005)

Workaround: Use a Gigabit Switch on all zero-clients and host PC/server network connections

• When modifying the station's name and location from Control Center, cannot use non-ASCII character (12035)

Workaround: Use 7-bit ASCII characters only

• The Extended Support value does not show up in the Manage Licensing dialog in Control Center (12116)

Workaround: Contact your Userful representative to confirm the status of your extended support license

• Kiosk mode toggle will not become enabled after moving 3 or more session containers away from an existing group (12121)

Workaround: Be sure to manually verify the status of kiosk mode boolean after reassigning stations to Session Container

• Linux Desktop session container is not compatible with SELinux security extension (12139)

Workaround: Do not enable SELinux if you want to use the Linux Desktop session container type

• Network Streamer works effectively with RTSP over UDP network, RTSP over TCP network is not supported (12234)

• ThinNetwork zero-devices are listed as "USB Device" under Control Center > Network Stations (12262)

Workaround: This is a cosmetic issue and will be corrected in future release.

• If Control Center is opened via multiple browser windows, duplicate System Diagnostics alert popups (12271)

Workaround: This is a cosmetic issue and can be safely ignored.

• Once an Artistic Layout video wall is created and saved, you cannot switch it back to a Grid Layout
  • Workaround: Delete the Artistic Layout configuration and create a new video wall

• Mapping a GPU-Accelerated Video Wall to supported session containers disables onboard station

• Offline stations may appear "online" under Station Mapping > Network Stations (12098)
  • Workaround: Wait for few seconds and refresh Control Center

• Plugin/out of USB hub from a Atrust m321 zero-client device does not wake a station from DPMS sleep (12181)

• Control Center > Broadcast Alerts displays message for 1 minute even if the time interval is greater than 1 minute (12287)
  • Workaround: This will be corrected in future release.