iViewer 4 connection issue

[Trish]

I'm having issues with iViewer 4 where the controller stops, for
example, turning on/off the TV after a few days. I'm hoping to gain
some insight into exactly how/when the connection from iViewer 4 is
established and maintained.

There are four controllers in the house, and they are talking with
various Global Cache units. Everything works fine in all the rooms,
but after a few days, things just stop working. There are no "remote
wars" going on: only one controller knows about each TV, the multi-
room amplifier is connected to an iTach IP2SL unit allowing mulitple
connections, etc. The iPods (latest OS) are left in docks to maintain
power, normally do not sleep, etc. Restarting iViewer 4 usually
corrects the situation (sometimes the Global Cache unit needs to be
rebooted). Oh, maintain constant connection has been ticked, and the
wireless devices are connecting using WPA2.

My questions are:
- has anyone else experienced issues like this?
- has anyone had issues with Global Cache boxes dropping the
connection?
- should I be having them go into standby instead of leaving them on
at all times?
- how does maintain constant connection work?
- How often does it try to re-connect if the connection is
dropped?
- if the iPod does go into standby, does it try to maintain the
connection, or does it reconnect when waking up (I know with iOS 4,
the wifi stays on when in standby)?
- how does it work if I don't maintain the constant connection?
- does it connect, issue the command and then disconnect?
- does it connect, issue a command and then keep the connection
until it gets kicked off by another device?

Any info or experiences with this type of issue would be very useful
in trying to fault find. I'll call Global Cache next and post anything
helpful for others.

Thanks in advance,
Trish

[Jarrod Bell]

- You shouldn't need to put the device into standby.
- Maintain constant connection does exactly what it says. If the
connection is dropped it will try every 3 or so seconds to reconnect.
- In standby it will attempt to remain connected, but iViewer gets
little processing time in sleep and when not the foreground app. So long
as you have latest iOS firmware installed.
- If you dont maintain constant connection, it will connect, send its
message then disconnect to allow other iOS (or other TCP Clients) to
connect to the device. This is only needed when using devices such as
GC100 which only allow a single connection at a time.

One thing is to make sure your GUI file only has one system defined per
IP address and port combination. For example, if you have two systems
defined with the same IP and port, then this will use up two of the
available connections on the end device.

Jarrod

[Trish]

Thank you, Jarrod for confirming things work as I expected. I did have
the BluRay and cable box defined seperately on port 4998, so I'll fix
that.

After speaking with Global Cache, I learned that they have experienced
issues with the WiFi iTach units dropping out at times (Most of our
issues have been with the wireless units).. The LEDs still flash
indicating they are on the network, but they aren't. There is a new
firmware they just released about a week ago that addresses this
issue:

http://www.globalcache.com/support/itachfirmwareupdates/

Trish

[Jarrod Bell]

Thanks for reporting back with that info. I'm sure other GlobalCache
users will appreciate it too!

Jarrod

[Nahshon Williams]

Indeed . . I was just considering getting a wifi unit . . . CAT6 cable
it is then . . . .

[Trish]

Just wanted to follow up on this thread with experience from the
field...

Nanshon - I have found the wired units to be bullet proof (IR, RS232
and contact closure).

Upon performing the firmware upgrade, the gateway on all WiFi units
was reset to the default. It took a minute to figure this on out when
the network went down after doing the upgrade, and thought it might
help to post it here to help anyone else who experiences this. Upon
resetting the gateway on all the units, my connection issues have been
addressed.

Trish