Default display resolution (Windows ec2 server)

Hi Joe,

did you try the following parameter:

console-session-default-layout String session [] Default screen resolution and position for console sessions — Specifies the default screen resolution and position for console sessions. If this is set, DCV sets the requested layout at startup. Each monitor can be configured with resolution (w,h) and position (x,y). All specified monitors are enabled. Default layout example value: [{'w':<800>, 'h':<600>, 'x':<0>, 'y': <0>}, {'w':<1024>, 'h':<768>, 'x':<800>,'y':<0>}]

from https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/adminguide/config-param-ref.html

Best regards,
Karsten

Hi Karsten,

Yes, I did try that console-session-default-layout value but I still seemed to get 1024x768 after a reboot. I might have gotten the syntax of the string wrong though - on the docs it mentions:

Default layout example value: [{'w':<800>, 'h':<600>, 'x':<0>, 'y': <0>}, {'w':<1024>, 'h':<768>, 'x':<800>,'y':<0>}]

On the Windows registry would that mean including either the square or curly brackets? And are both screens needed there or could I specify just a single screen? (which presumably would be: 'w':<1920>, 'h':<1080>, 'x':<0>, 'y': <0>
Or: {'w':<1920>, 'h':<1080>, 'x':<0>, 'y': <0>}

Many thanks!
Joe

Hi Joe,

should be with square and curly brackets : [{'w':<1920>, 'h':<1080>, 'x':<0>, 'y': <0>}].

Seems it is eating the config due to the square brackets ;)) SB for opening and closing square brackets SB{'w':<1920>, 'h':<1080>, 'x':<0>, 'y': <0>}SB

Which reg key are you setting in case this does not work?

Best regards,
Karsten

Edited by: KarstenNISP on Oct 16, 2020 6:07 AM

Hi Karsten,

I was sure I'd tried every variation of brackets but obviously not as that's definitely done the trick! Fantastic - many thanks.

Oh, one other quick question - I noticed I had quite a bit of lag on the audio stream coming from my ec2 instance today but having delved into the docs there doesn't seem to be a way to tweak the audio latency. Is it tied to the frame rate or is there much of a difference in audio latency between Best Quality vs Best Responsiveness? (I was on Best Responsiveness today btw).

Thanks again,
Joe

Hi Joe,

hey great to hear it worked! With best quality you will consume bandwidth but assuming you have enough it is the latency of your connection causing the lag. You can check the latency in the information about your connection at Settings (wheel upper left) -> Streaming Mode -> Display Streaming Metrics (Keep Best responsiveness)   

Best regards,
Karsten

Thanks Karsten,

My stats showed my latency at a pretty constant 25ms all day and the audio delay seemed to be a constant 1500ms so I'm not sure it was my connection causing it. That said, I'll do some more testing and see if I can narrow down whether it's worse with specific applications running on the instance, etc.

One final question (I promise!) - is it possible to get the instances to log into Windows when they're started without needing me to connect a client? Again, I'm fairly sure with the right registry setting it is possible but I've not managed to achieve it!

Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,

1.5 sec delay sounds quite high - maybe you can check with the AWS support if they can help further here as we dont have the details of your environment there?

Related to the Windows startup - would you like to turn off the DCV authentication maybe? Or the Windows session should initiate itself immediately without connecting with the DCV client?

Regards,
Karsten

Hi Karsten,

Yes, the 1.5 second delay is a really weird and irritating one - I've tested spinning up a few ec2 g4dn instances from the NICE DCV AMI and nothing else running but even playing a web video or simple mp4 from the desktop has the same issue. I can only assume it might be something to do with my client - I know the audio is in sync on the server itself as my main production server is able to stream out RTMP or SRT streams and they're fine, I just can't monitor them at the moment!

With regards to the auto logon stuff, I think I've worked out what I need it to do using Microsoft's AutoLogon application. Essentially I need to be able to spin up multiple lightweight capture servers and stream their video output to my main production instance using NDI. I think I've now got it worked out the way I want so that the instances automatically log onto windows at 1920x1080 resolution and they open up the NDI Tools Scan Converter app which allows me to capture and control via KVM without needing to manually log into each instance.

If I can only crack that audio lag I'll be happy! Is the HTML5 client still available anywhere by the way? I see it referenced in the docs but can't find a link.

Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,

thanks for the interesting update! Autologon looking good! Audio lag less - maybe indeed the client as we usually do not see these issues.

The HTML5 client is essentially your browser opening https://IP_ADDR_OF_YOUR_DCV_RUNNING_INSTANCE:8443 - or your DNS name of course where you then can apply certificates as well.

Best regards,
Karsten

Edited by: KarstenNISP on Oct 21, 2020 7:11 AM

Hi, Joe!

Did you ever figure out the audio sync issue?
I am struggling with the same problem..

Remi

Hi Remi,

No, I've not yet managed to crack the audio sync issue here - I've been using a separate SRT stream to verify my output is in sync and behaving itself but it's not ideal. I wonder if the new QUIC UDP protocol in 2020.2 might help but if not upgraded my main production server yet to test it as we've been live all the last couple of weeks.

Karsten - thanks for your reply and a bit of a d'oh moment about the html5 client from my side!! I'm going to give that a try today to see if I get anything different in terms of the audio lag vs the standard Windows client.

• UPDATE -
  So I just did that quick test with the HTML5 client (which is great by the way, and useful to know that's available in a pinch if I need to use a device where I don't have access to a main client) but no change to the audio sync issues.
  Remi - did you deploy your instance from the AMI or did you install and configure on an existing instance? My machine was deployed from the NICE DCV AMI so wanted to see if we can narrow down potential sources for the issue. I'm seeing the same audio lag on any application the system runs - my typical use is vMix but tests with VLC, online videos and other applications seem the same so it must be something to do with either how the system is sending the video and audio data or the way it's being processed and played out on the client side.
  Karsten - any ideas on potential avenues I could explore to help narrow down a cause?

All the best,
Joe

Edited by: joemurphy on Nov 19, 2020 1:21 PM
Added notes on HTML5 test.