What is NaViSet Administrator?
NaViSet Administrator is Sharp's display management software for centrally monitoring, controlling, managing, and reporting on supported Sharp and NEC displays, projectors, and related devices. It gives IT and AV teams detailed visibility into their display fleet and allows many routine management and troubleshooting tasks to be performed remotely.
What is the difference between NaViSet Administrator 2 and NaViSet Administrator Server Edition?
NaViSet Administrator 2 (NA2) is a free solution designed for smaller to medium-sized installations and individual administrators.
NaViSet Administrator Server Edition (NASE) is designed for larger and enterprise environments. It adds centralized server-based management, multiple simultaneous users, role-based access, web browser access, advanced security, remote display connectivity, and integration capabilities.
Which operating systems are supported?
NaViSet Administrator 2 is available for Windows and macOS.
NaViSet Administrator Server Edition uses a Windows-based central server. Its management Console application is available for both Windows and macOS, and users can also access Server Edition through a supported web browser.
What are the main benefits of NaViSet Administrator?
NaViSet Administrator helps organizations reduce the time and effort required to manage display deployments. Administrators can monitor device health, troubleshoot problems, change settings, automate routine tasks, maintain asset information, and generate reports without repeatedly visiting individual displays.
Can NaViSet Administrator manage displays at multiple locations?
Yes. Devices can be organized and managed across buildings, campuses, departments, and other locations from a central interface.
NaViSet Administrator Server Edition also supports secure management of compatible displays at geographically remote locations through NaViSet Secure.
Can displays at remote sites be managed over the Internet?
Yes. With NaViSet Administrator Server Edition and compatible displays, NaViSet Secure enables displays at remote locations to be securely paired and managed over the Internet without requiring inbound firewall configuration or a VPN.
This can simplify support for geographically distributed installations such as retail locations, transportation facilities, corporate offices, and other remote sites.
How does NaViSet Administrator help reduce IT and AV support workload?
Administrators can remotely check device status, diagnose many problems, change supported settings, automate routine operations, and gather information from multiple displays without visiting each device individually.
This can reduce manual work, shorten troubleshooting time, and help avoid unnecessary on-site service visits.
Can NaViSet Administrator automatically monitor for problems?
Yes. NaViSet Administrator can perform scheduled or recurring checks for conditions such as diagnostic errors, excessive temperatures, fan failures, signal problems, and other device conditions.
Administrators can be notified when attention is required, helping support teams identify and respond to problems sooner.
Does NaViSet Administrator support asset and lifecycle management?
Yes. NaViSet Administrator can collect and maintain information such as model and serial number, firmware version, operating hours, device settings, status, and asset information.
This provides organizations with better visibility into their display inventory and can support maintenance, planning, and replacement decisions throughout the equipment lifecycle.
Can NaViSet Administrator generate reports?
Yes. Administrators can collect device status, settings, usage, diagnostic, and asset information across multiple devices and generate reports without gathering the information manually from each location.
Report data can also be exported for further analysis, documentation, or planning.
What types of devices can NaViSet Administrator manage?
Depending on the product edition and device model, NaViSet Administrator supports Sharp and NEC large-format displays, projectors, desktop displays, selected PJLink-compatible devices, and Windows PCs.
For Windows PCs, NaViSet Administrator can monitor selected system information and perform supported operations such as restart, shutdown, and Wake-on-LAN. This can be especially useful when a PC is part of the display installation.
NaViSet Administrator Server Edition also supports compatible NovaStar H-series dvLED controllers.
Is NaViSet Administrator a cloud-based service?
NaViSet Administrator is designed around customer-controlled management rather than requiring display-management data to be stored in a Sharp cloud service.
NaViSet Administrator Server Edition runs on the customer's own Windows server or virtual machine. Optional secure connectivity services can help establish connections to supported remote displays while display-management information remains on the customer's Server Edition system.
Can NaViSet Administrator integrate with other IT or AV management systems?
Yes. NaViSet Administrator Server Edition provides integration capabilities that allow detailed display information to be incorporated into third-party monitoring, dashboard, and management systems.
This allows organizations to continue using their broader IT or AV management tools while also taking advantage of the detailed Sharp display information and controls available through NaViSet Administrator.
Does NaViSet Administrator replace a digital signage CMS or AV control system?
No. NaViSet Administrator is focused on device management, including display health, configuration, control, diagnostics, asset information, automation, and reporting.
It is designed to complement content management systems and broader AV or enterprise management platforms rather than replace them.
Is NaViSet Administrator suitable for enterprise deployments?
Yes. NaViSet Administrator 2 provides a practical solution for smaller and medium-sized installations, while NaViSet Administrator Server Edition is specifically designed for larger enterprise environments requiring centralized services, multiple users, access controls, browser access, secure remote connectivity, and integration with other systems.
Can Task schedules be created with different start times for different days of the week - for example to power on displays at different times on different days?
Yes. Simply create a Task with the desired Start Schedule times and days of the week to run. Then duplicate that task and edit it to change the start times and other days of the week. Repeat as necessary. So the end result is that there are multiple Tasks performing the same operation, but on different days and start times.
Can two instances of the application share the same NaViSet administrator database file simultaneously?
No. The database can only be opened by one instance at any one time.
Can the database used by NaViSet administrator be accessed by other software?
No. The database format is proprietary. Device information can be exported via delimited text files and Excel files.
Can RS232 Splitters or Y adapters be used to connect multiple displays?
No. This will result in communication collisions and is an illegal topology for RS232 communications.
What happens when there is a time change such as DST (Daylight saving time)?
Tasks that are currently inactive will automatically be rescheduled to take into account the new time from the host computer whenever it is changed. If tasks are running when the time change occurs, a message will be included in the task results indicating the time change.
If the same brightness and color settings are applied to multiple displays will they look exactly the same?
For most display models, no. Since each display is different due to the age, usage, and normal tolerances, the same color setting values applied to different displays will result in some brightness and/or color differences.
The results of a Task show numerous Last Query Still Running warning messages. What does this mean?
The task has not completed before the next time it is scheduled to poll has been reached. Increase the polling interval time to allow the task to complete on all of the devices specified.
What happens to any scheduled tasks if NaViSet administrator is closed? Do they need to be rescheduled?
NaViSet administrator needs to be running in order for a scheduled task to start and run. If it is not running when a task is scheduled to start, then the task will be rescheduled for the next time period as soon as the application is run again. all tasks are automatically rescheduled whenever NaViSet administrator is started and do not need to be manually rescheduled, however tasks missed will not be caught up.
How much network bandwidth does NaViSet administrator use?
Communications to each device uses a minimal amount of network bandwidth - typically several kilobytes for most operations.
How long would it take to perform an operation on a large number of devices?
NaViSet administrator can communicate to multiple different devices in parallel, which speeds up operation by allowing simultaneous connections, and allows more operations to be performed while waiting for other devices to respond to commands. Up to 30 connections can be used by selecting Maximum simultaneous network connections in the application Preferences. Assuming that all 30 connections are used with the maximum possible efficiency, then operations on all devices will complete at 30 times the speed of performing the operation on all devices in serial using one connection. Depending on the device, connection type, and operation being performed, operation times are typically between 5 seconds to 1 minute. Example: approximately how long would it take to power off 1000 displays? Assuming a power off operation takes 15 seconds to perform on a device, if performed serially using one connection the total time would be about 15 seconds x 1000 = 15000 seconds (over 4 hours). If 30 connections are used, then the time is 15 x 1000 ÷ 30 = 500 seconds (just over 8 minutes). It is assumed that no other operations are being performed at the same time.
Is it possible to connect to a display that is connected via RS232 to the local computer?
Yes. Install and configure the LAN to RS232 Bridge application on the local computer. add the display to the device tree in the same way as any other device, but use either the computer's actual IP address, network name, or the IP address 127.0.0.1.