HARDWARE RECOMMENDATIONS

There are recommendations for the computers running WATCHOUT Producer and WATCHOUT Manager to ensure smooth performance in show preparation and operation.

NOTE: The requirements will be updated continously.

PRODUCER

The computer running the Producer software should have the following minimum system requirements.

  • Windows 10 or above
  • WATCHOUT version 7 is a 64-bit application
  • GPU required API is Vulkan 1.3
  • CPU supported AVX instruction set

TESTED PRODUCER HARDWARE

NVIDIA GPUs
  • Pascal Quadro series and later AMD discrete GPUs
  • AMD Radeon Pro Vii (driver: AMD software: Pro edition 23.Q1.1)
AMD integrated GPUs
  • AMD RX Vega (AMD Ryzen 7 4700U)
  • AMD Radeon Graphics (AMD Ryzen embedded V2718)

VISUAL RENDER

  • Windows 10 or above
  • WATCHOUT 7 is a 64-bit application
  • GPU required API are openGL 4.4 / DirectX 11
  • CPU supported AVX instruction set

TESTED VISUAL RENDERER HARDWARE

NVIDIA GPUs
  • Pascal Quadro series and later

WATCHPAX MEDIA SERVERS

The Dataton WATCHPAX range of servers are optimized for WATCHOUT playback. WATCHPAX 40, 42, 60 and 62 media servers can be upgraded to WATCHOUT version 7. WATCHPAX servers shipped from October 2023 will have the upgrade already applied.

The WATCHOUT version 7 upgrade for WATCHPAX 40, 42, 60, 62 servers is a license upgrade and a new image file will have to be installed. Please contact Dataton or your local Premium Partner for information on this process.

CUSTOM SERVERS

If you have an AMD graphics card, use Windows 10 as AMD has not released drivers for Windows 11, at the time of writing. If you intend to install and use Dante® then ensure there is no WIFI card, or disable any WIFI cards.

ASSET MANAGER

The Asset Manager should have a large, fast hard drive or multiple drives, as well as a GPU that supports Vulkan 1.3. This is where you store your media files which may be both large and numerous. As a rule of thumb, double up the amount of storage capacity you think you will need.

NETWORK

The computers running the Producer and Manager software must be connected using an ethernet network. A typical system has 1 Gigabit ethernet network ports on all computers and a high-quality ethernet switch with the required number of ports to connect the computers.

NOTE: A wireless network may work but is generally not recommended for reliability reasons and affects synchronization accuracy among display computers.