2N® Indoor Touch - How to deal with the Unicast x Multicast settings?

If you use 2N® Indoor Touch as an answering unit for 2N IP Intercom in the local network, the video stream from the 2N IP Intercom can be received over the unicast of multicast communication. This guide briefly summarizes when and how to use one of these options, however for a detailed explanation see please the corresponding FAQ with the complete Network requirements.

There are two ways how the video stream from the 2N IP Intercoms can be received by the 2N® Indoor Touch in the local network:

  1. Unicast (suitable for up to 3pcs of 2N® Indoor Touch)
     easy to setup - factory default value, works smoothly over Wi-Fi, no need for smart active network parts (eg. managed switch, advanced Wi-Fi access point etc.)
     limitation of up to 3 devices to simultaneously watch the stream from the 2N IP Intercom, no audio listen in (audio preview)

  2. Multicast (suitable for 3+pcs of 2N® Indoor Touch)
     unlimited devices to watch the video stream from 2N IP Intercom, audio listen in (audio preview), optimised network bandwidth usage
     smart active network parts with multicast support required (especially for Wi-Fi)

Multicast network requirements:

  • LAN - a smart managed switch with the IGMP Snooping support to avoid overloading of the switch/network throughput.
  • Wi-Fi - access point with the multicast helper feature support (alternative names eg.: Wi-Fi multicast, Multicast Routing across Wi-Fi etc.), which can translate the multicast stream to a unicast stream and increase the transfer rate.

How to set 2N® Indoor Touch?

The configuration of video parameters can be found in the "Settings" section of the 2N® IP Mobile application. Go to the section "Settings - Video" in order to adjust the parameters (the factory default value is Unicast), see the pictures below.

There is also an adjustable timeout for the video deactivation in a range of 1 - 30 minutes (the factory default value is 2 minutes). The 2N® IP Mobile application stops receiving of the Unicast/Multicast stream after exceeding of this timeout, see the picture below.

             

It is recommended to use a reasonably low value of the timeout in order to save the overall network bandwidth.

For further details how to set the 2N® Indoor Touch and 2N IP Intercom see please this FAQ: 2N® Indoor Touch - How to setup call from/to 2N IP Intercom? 

Note

In order to perform correctly, all components are required to be interconnected over appropriate Ethernet/Wi-Fi network parts as described in this FAQ: Network requirements - What LAN/Wi-Fi infrastructure do I need?.

It is high recommended to use a physically dedicated LAN or a virtually dedicated VLAN with corresponding parameters. Insufficiently dimensed network infrastructure and active network parts may cause an overload of the network communication such as packet loss or delays with a direct impact on the communication smoothness.

Unicast x Multicast video preview bandwidth

Standardised testing picture being streamed from 2N® IP Verso intercom to the 2N® IP Mobile application.

Multicast (VGA 640x480/15 fps)

Unicast